They milled around the courtyard as people continued to trickle in. Barten felt somewhat cooped up and wanted a chance to run or something. To deal with the energy that he had surging in him along with trying out the new things that appeared in his status.

He was thinking about trying mediation for perception training. It would be quite the challenge to fully perceive everything that was going on. As the soldiers were milling around. Several of them were likewise full of energy. Bouncing on the balls of their feet or looking like they were getting ready to run a marathon.

Barten found a nice spot off to the side to sit down. He closed his eyes, breathed slowly for a moment, and then slowly opened them. Trying to look at everything at once. Only the first thing that he saw was Jamieson’s face right in front of his. “What?” Barten asked as he leaned back.

Jamieson sat down beside him. “For now, try not to talk too much about your upgraded status. Maybe to Myles. But not to anyone else. Just in case.”

“You think that someone here has been…”

“We don’t know. Only way to tell is to get them to make a mistake. And that’s assuming that they don’t have full access to the memories of the hosts. If it’s partial access, or if they are bad actors then it might be possible.”

Barten sighed. “I hate the fact that we need to suspect everyone. How do you know that I’m safe even? How do I know if you’re safe?”

Jamieson smiled. “I’m safe cause of my awesome hat. Protects me from anything those xenos bastards might try. And you’re safe because I saved you. Dane too, as I got the one trying to steal his body.”

“Shouldn’t we go right to command with your worries?”

“I think that they already know. Everyone here was someone who had their dav downed and had to be rescued. Dane was right. They always seem to know more than they let on.” Jamieson sat with him for a moment more before he took off to speak with Young and Guntherson.

Barten took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Trying to center himself again. He slowly noticed the ground in front of him. Then the soldiers standing nearby. Hearing their voices as they talked. It wasn’t enough to understand everything they were saying at once. But it was possible to hone in on a single conversation. Most were worried about why they were stuck there. While others were talking about the battle. There were also those morning the fallen, either quietly to themselves or with those that had memories to share.

At some point Barten covered the entire courtyard and his perception pushed up against the buildings. He wondered if he could somehow go ever farther. But his idea was delayed due to hearing more footsteps coming down the corridor.

A moment later Commander Gale appeared with a contingent of armed soldiers. They were carrying normal guns and not plasma ones. Which told of Jamieson’s point. That they already knew that something was up. They were also all wearing face masks

The crowd clamored when they saw the Commander enter the courtyard. But it quickly quieted down once they noticed the guns. “First off, let me say thank you. For risking your lives fighting for our world. We have lost several of our friends and comrades. And we will remember them.

“Next is that we are still determining just how many have fallen. Reports are in about a possible contagion for those that have come into contact with the type 4s, the humanoid variant. For now we will be running tests on the survivors while keeping you quarantined.” She looked around them all for a moment. As almost if she was waiting for something.

“With that said. Please do your best to cooperate. It is for the safety of the base as well as those who haven’t been exposed yet,” she said. With a nod to the soldiers with her Commander Gale turned and walked away by herself. The armed soldiers spread out and blocked the corridor.

Barten noticed a flash of silver when Commander Gale turned around. It looked like she was wearing a hat much like Jamieson did. The guards left behind were also wearing hats. But from what Barten could see they were lacking the silver lining that showed on Jamieson’s hat.

A door opened on the opposite side and several soldiers with guns stepped out of it. One of the sergeants stepped forward and spoke, “We’ll be calling in you one by one. Both for testing and to answer some questions about the extent of your contact with the type 4s. Please comply without much fuss.” she said and then called out several names. One of them being Dane’s.

“Oh hey Sergeant Morris. Fancy meeting you here,” Dane said as he approached. “I don’t feel sick at all. Is there anything that we should be looking out for? Sniffles? Fever? Cough? Pooping?”

Morris shook her head and waved him on. “Just keep moving please.”

“Oh, okay,” Dane said and nodded before walking through the door.

Those that left did not return to the courtyard. And one by one they were called away. When it was finally Barten’s turn he jumped to his feet. Glad to have something to do other than waiting or meditating. He found himself directed to a small meeting room with two people waiting for him.

“Barten, good to see that you made it out,” Sergeant Myles said. “This is Dr Bradford and she will be checking you out.”

It didn’t take long for Bradford to give Barten the once over. She took some blood, checked his eyes, and hooked him up to several scanners. “Everything looks okay on my front, Bradford said. She then nodded to Myles then left the room.

“Alright. We need to submit a report if you’ve come into contact with one of the type 4s,” Myles said as he opened his laptop. “What happened after your dav was downed?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Barten took a moment and a deep breath. And then told Myles everything that had happened to him. He didn’t leave anything out. Not even his upgraded system and the new windows that appeared in front of him. Myles sat there for a moment and looked between his laptop and Barten. “There have been reports on the upgraded chip from other locations. Though none as in depth as yours.”

Barten shrugged. “Maybe they kept something back. Maybe there were… taken over. From what I can tell Jamieson and myself should be safe. Free. Dane too.”

“You said that Dane was left behind by Jamieson as he rushed to your defense?” Barten nodded. “So it’s possible that another type 4 appeared afterwards and Dane is also compromised.”

“I… hadn’t thought of that. He also didn’t ever shut up. So I guess that I kind of assumed that he was the same.” Barten looked at his hands for a moment. He grasped them slowly, pulling his fingers into a tight fist. “What now? Am I free of suspicion?”

“That…” Myles shared a look with Barten for a moment before he nodded. “I don’t believe that you are lying to me, or that you have been compromised. But the final decision isn’t up to me. So for now, lay low. Keep an eye out for anyone that is acting differently. We can’t have all these pilots out of combat for so long. But it’s better than putting someone into a dav that could do some real damage to the base.”

Barten closed his eyes for a moment. Nodded and spoke, “Okay.” He opened his eyes. “I’ll work with Jamieson to root out anyone who appears to be acting strange.”

“That would be for the best. Given that Jamieson was wearing his hat with the psychic blocking built into it he should be safe. Until you are absolutely certain don’t share any of what we’ve spoken about with anyone. Keep up the charade of the potential disease until we pull you out.”

Barten laughed. “Never got a chance to play a spy before. Though I never expected to be spying on my own forces.”

Myles showed a grim smile. “It’s just the reality of the situation.”

One of the good things about getting the meeting with Myles done was he was led to a mess hall. The food wasn’t great. If anything it was almost terrible. But it was hot and filled his stomach. There were times when Barten had to deal with worse food. So he would make do for now. Knowing that there were better days in the future helped as well.

Barten found that he once again had an ample amount of free time. And without any of the locations or equipment that they used to build up their stats he only had one option. He really wanted to see if anything had changed with his system upgrade. And so he returned to perception training.

Something that he had never done was training his perception during the night. Which led to him sitting cross legged in the courtyard that they had put them in before. It wasn’t anything special. Just a paved section between the buildings. At some point they had brought in some planters with some flowers. Just enough green to really feel how much greenery was lacking.

Barten sat there in the cool night air and looked up at the stars. He found that it brought a sort of peace. And when he performed the meditation he felt like he was able to push himself a little more than he had that afternoon. The darkness seemed a little lighter. The stars were a little brighter. The armed soldiers shifting from foot to foot. And the noises of the soldiers who had returned socializing inside.

When he finished his meditation Barten found that there was a small blue light at the edge of his vision. He tried to look at it and a window appeared before him.

—

Your hard work has paid off! And you have gained +1 perception due to your efforts.

—

Barten smiled to himself and opened his status.

—

Kyle Barten

Level 3 Pilot

Titles: Progenitor

Unspent stats: 3

Stats:

Strength: 12

Constitution: 15

Agility: 12

Dexterity: 16

Perception: 17 (new +1)

Psychic Res: 17

Skills

Shooting 1, Piloting 3, Running 2

Unspent skill points: 1

—

It was nice seeing that he could still grow the same as he did before. He had also considered spending his free points. But decided that it wouldn’t hurt to wait on that for a little while longer. There shouldn’t be any expectation of combat until after he was cleared.

There was a scrape by the door. And when Barten looked up he found Smith walking towards him. “Barten, here you are. We’ve been wondering. Why are you out here all by yourself?”

Barten shook his head. “I just wanted to get some clear air. The combat today has taken a toll on me. Both from fighting in the davs, and then retreating off of the battlefield.”

“I see. It was quite unprecedented. I’m just glad that we all made it back alright. It wouldn’t do to have our squad fall apart.”

“How are the others holding up? Did you guys have to fight your way through the beetles and millipedes like we did?”

“No. It was pretty easy for us. Well. We got lost, really. Conners thought that he had the right way, and made us try that first. But then as it turned it we were going north instead of east back to base. Monroe still hasn’t let him live it down.”

“I’ll be inside in a bit,” Barten said and yawned. “Need to find sleep sometime soon as well.”

After Smith had left there was rumble as a dav walked out of Alpha Base. It was tall enough that it was possible to see it over the buildings. And Barten could see well enough in the dark to just make it out. When it reached the sentry on duty they traded places and the relieved dav started walking back the way the first one came.

Another took into the air and flew off towards the object. The blue light of its thruster seemed bright in the darkness. Even though Barten was stuck there, on a mission to doubt his friends and comrades, he still had hope. That everyone will be okay. That there was still time to reach his new goal. He hadn't had the chance to get into one of the davs with wings yet.

With a grunt, which almost served as a reminder that he was getting old, Barten stood and joined with the others. There was a large common room where most people spent their time. Dane had just finished telling some sort of joke that brought on groans. Conners was yelling at him about it not being funny while Monroe laughed to herself. Jamieson sat near the wall of the room, watching everyone with a gleam in his eye and his hands bunched into fists.

It would be alright.