Osar led the Terrans to a large, heavily-fortified door. Even to Cid’s eye the door clearly looked like it had not been part of the ship’s original design, its bulky frame and utilitarian form clashing with the yacht’s décor.
“This is the Predator’s primary vault, where Lugthal kept the rarest and most expensive items that they had acquired during the past year.”
Cid tried hard to keep the scowl from his face, noting how his companions, particularly the Captain, reacted with suppressed excitement at the news. He understood the allure of treasure of course, and knew, in an abstract rather than practical way, that money was important, but truly, he was more interested in how the esoteric sensors worked than the things it may be guarding.
It was an attitude that had gotten him more than a few odd looks from his colleagues over the years.
The truth that would have shocked his fellow researchers and scientists was that Cid didn’t truly have to work for Halden-Xiao: If he had wanted to, he could have set up his own cutting-edge laboratory and conducted his own research. Or he could have done as his siblings had and just whiled away his time in endless revelries and all the myriad delights available to the aristos of the Union plutocracy. Whatever he could have materially desired, he could have gotten, and few of even the richest and most powerful of his peers could have gainsaid him.
This was because he was the son of Ferrus Artherian, Senator-for-Life of the Twenty-five Worlds of the Heidam Cluster as well as Planetary President-elect of Artheria, Jurmal, and Arcadia III. His was a charmed existence from birth, and he would have turned far, far different had he not been taken in by his maternal aunt, the independent Far-Trader Mirral Ir-Veda when he was ten years old.
His aunt Mirral took him a-roving, introducing him to the wider galaxy where his father’s reputation and power did not have as overbearing an insulating effect on his experiences. Treated as part of the crew, and subtly encouraged by his stern aunt, Cid learned under various craft-masters the practical applications of science and mathematics, biology and xenobiology and all its myriad disciplines, as well as electronics, machinery and cyber-systems maintenance. Physical activities however, like self-defense and even regular exercise, were never Cid’s forte, which led him to eschew most physical activities all together.
By the time he returned home to begin his tertiary studies in the prestigious Artherian National University he had become estranged from his father’s side of the family. Habitually quiet and studious, Cid had earned his academic honors and graduated, before applying and getting hired as a junior researcher at Halden-Xiao on the strength of his graduation paper on combat cybernetics.
In Halden-Xiao he had been mentored by some of the finest personal armor and weapon developers to be found anywhere in the galaxy, and soon he had developed his expertise into the field of combat augmentation and small engagement enhancement. Within a few years he was heading up a team of experts who would tailor-manufacture personal armaments for H-X operatives and very exclusive private entities.
Ten years in the cutting edge of technological advancement had of course left their scars on his personality and psyche, but Cid had maintained his love of learning new things throughout his career. Which was why, when news trickled down the grapevine that H-X had gotten their hands on something extraordinary, Cid had pulled every favor and ounce of influence he had within the Corporation to be placed in the team that was sent to the Urivail Facility to study a captured dragon.
When he had first awakened after the explosion, alone, injured, and terrified, it was all Cid could do to stagger along with the help of Osar and take refuge in the small room Eric and Serra had found him in. Then he had gained the System, and his excitement soared! Here was an entire universe with as yet unknown rules and physical laws, all bound together by a mystical substance called aether and an invisible, all-pervading guiding framework capable of harnessing that aether and begin transforming both the flesh and minds of the creatures it touched!
He had so many questions, and each new thing he learned gave him more questions to ask!
“Alert! Quasi-electronic scans have been detected and employed on you.”
Cid, alerted by his implant, casually looked around the room, trying to find where the scans were coming from. There was not too much to see; the vault was a clean white room lit by a floor and ceiling of luminescent tiles lined with several shelves containing slim black boxes made of some dark, polished wood. As far as Cid could make out, the only possible source of the scans was a line of glyphs etched into the floor beneath the doorframe, and several more that were carved into the edging of the shelves.
“Scanning has ceased.”
Unlike many of his colleagues, Cid had never opted for a personality chip to be added to his AI’s firmware, believing a personality detracted from the work the AI was meant to do. He hadn’t even given his AI a name. However, ever since he had received the System, he had begun to see some changes in the way his old reliable assistant was behaving.
Was it possible his AI was actually gaining the capability for independent thought?
The idea was both terrifying and fascinating.
Perhaps its time I started thinking up a name for the old chip: Wouldn't want to make it mad!
As his companions walked past him and into the room, Cid studied each of them, trying to judge how he would try to improve their fighting capacity as if he was back in his lab with his team and they were his projects.
Eric Rama presented as a typical male of Pan-Asian descent, with a compact, lithely muscled build, almond-shaped eyes and dark hair that was beginning to show white at the temples. His still youthful face was lined by the burden and cares of active command, but they also gave his otherwise stern visage a much-needed softness and relatability. Additional fine lines around the eyes and a certain gravity in the way the man moved and talked showed the influence of chronostatic treatments and maybe even rejuvenation therapy, expensive but definitely within the means of someone with Eric’s reputation and history, which of course, Cid wasn’t even supposed to know about. No obvious implants or cybernetics, although since Cid had been involved in designing the augmentation program for the entire H-X Security Corps he was sure the old soldier had several combat enhancements and modifications underneath his tanned skin.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Has the System modified or changed any of that ex-universe material? That was another thing he wanted to explore.
“Subject Eric Rama appears to have reduced metallo-ceramic mass inconsistent with observations made prior to translation to the current location.”
Cid hummed an acknowledgement at his AI’s unsolicited information. That had been one of the more jarring changes in his AI’s performance; it should not have been able to comment at all unless Cid asked it to; that was definitely part of its programming. in fact, it was something that Cid had personally made sure of, going as far as bribing the technician in charge of his chip in order to get exactly what he wanted.
“From recent observations it is suggested that combat optimizations on the subject would be most beneficial if they focused on improving speed and/or reaction time as well as burst strength enhancement.”
Cid found himself nodding along with his AI’s observations, which were exactly the same as what Cid himself would have presented to his team if Eric had been designated as a new augmentation project. The Captain’s fighting style was somewhat like a ranger or skirmisher, strike from long range as long as that was viable, then switching to a blitz offense in order to get in and out fast and deal maximum damage while doing so. He was certainly not a front-line combatant.
The xenosapient Osar Baratuu on the other hand, most definitely was. The Urgan stood around 196 centimeters, with long, muscled arms that ended in blunt fingers with black nails. He was humanoid enough in shape, but exaggeratedly so to Cid’s eyes. His rough features, fierce slanted eyes, gray skin, and chin tentacles highlighted his otherness, but his calm demeanor made him easy for the Terrans to relate to. Cid judged that with Osar increased defense and enhanced strength and stamina would be the way to go, probably with the addition of external hardware to clear the field and create opportunities for attack or disengagement.
“Mini explosives would be a viable force multiplier.”
Explosives, of course. Were chemical reactions similar in this universe? Could he trust the physics to perform within the parameters he knew and understood? Cid frowned, finding out how physics and chemistry worked in this new universe would have to be one of his top priorities: Everything else would necessarily have to follow after.
Serra Jakobin was a more intriguing subject, in more ways than one.
Judging by her physical appearance, Cid would place her ethnicity somewhere in the Eurasian to Pan-Pacific side of the human gene-pool, although there was very high chance his visual assessment would be way off. The Diaspora may have scattered humanity to the stars but the subsequent merging of various disparate political and societal entities into what was now the Union had created a certain homogeneity to the human race.
Ms. Jakobin was about 178 centimeters in height, with black cropped hair, large expressive eyes, full lips, and the type of facial bone structure that would have made her remarkable in any company, her features marked by three parallel scars running horizontally across each of her cheeks. The scars shone out pale against her dark skin, several shades darker than Eric’s at any rate, but they hardly detracted from her appearance. Her physique was sturdy and compact, with well-muscled limbs that hinted at explosive strength. Being a member of the Hexguard, Cid was pretty sure Serra had some modifications but certainly not as extensive as what Eric had.
Her fighting style though was as brute force as they came, with little to no subtlety and yet her System-generated abilities seemed to focus on long-range damage and healing. Of all his companions, she was the most complicated to figure out, and therefore more interesting. Perhaps something to improve her speed and positioning ability? Was it possible to augment her energy-based abilities?
“Cid! Come over here!”
Cid started; his musings interrupted by Osar’s deep voice calling him over.
The Urgan had set up his table once again and, with Eric’s and Serra’s help had taken down two of the long wooden boxes and opened them. They had gone through the contents of those and now presented Cid with a single item.
It was a Beast Core.
The object was almost perfectly spherical, somewhat fuzzy on the edges as if not truly physically present, in the middle of which floated a dull gleam that slowly changed color through all the shades of green and blue.
“Take it.”
Reaching out his hand, Cid took hold of the Core. The amorphous surface was surprisingly soft and yielding under his palms, cool and vibrating with energy to his touch. A window appeared before him.
You have obtained a Vethrad Squall Dreamer Core (Mythic Beast Core).
Aspects: Aether, Magic, and Water
Do you wish to make this your Prime Core? Yes/No
Cid looked up, scanning the faces of his companions lit from below by the light from the core he held. They nodded, each in turn.
“Accept it, Cid.” Eric said softly.
Licking his suddenly dry lips, Cid looked down at the core.
Yes.
Eric approvingly watched the core disappear from Cid’s hands.
All of them had finally obtained their Prime Cores, marking a significant improvement to their developing teams’ capabilities. As the light faded from around the scientist Eric walked around the table and clapped the man’s shoulders.
“Choose a type and some abilities, Cid,” He said, “If you have questions just ask and we’ll try to help you out.”
At the scientists’ nod Eric walked away to check on the other spatial chests in the room, leaving Osar and Serra to converge on Cid with a barrage of questions.
“There are twenty spatial chests in total within the room, sir,” Pig began as soon as Eric walked towards one of the shelves. “At a capacity of fifty cubic meters each, this room alone has potentially provided us with a very substantial amount of material. I am still unsure of value conversions but it would be safe to say that we are rich, sir.”
Eric nodded absently as he ran his hand over the finely-grained wood of the lid of one of the storage chests. It was truly quite a windfall, and it was very likely that within this ship their little crew had obtained wealth beyond anything they had ever had before in their lives. But to what end? Eric asked himself. What was their purpose? What could they use this wealth for?
He had never been a religious person, though Father Antonio at the orphanage sure had tried to make him so. He believed in something greater of course, since in his experience the universe was just too large and mysterious, and too purposefully made to make any other logical sense, but whether that was because of God, or Buddha, or the Force, or whatever else higher power was present in their old universe, he had never really settled down on in his mind. But being here now, with a series of seemingly coincidental events that had led them to this point in time, he was seriously pondering if there was anything like Fate or Destiny moving the strings somewhere in the shadows.
His roving fingers encountered a panel recessed into the back wall.
Glyphs flared into life, outlining a doorway that slid smoothly to the side to reveal another room deeper into the vault.
It was an armory.
Melee weapons of every size and description lined the leftmost wall, while racks on the rightmost wall held what looked like this universe’s version of firearms and other similar devices. In the middle of the room was a magnificent suit of combat armor, all done in gleaming ivory and almost maroon red, flanked by display cases of several more pieces of armor.
The others came up behind him, gasping at the weapons displayed.
But before eric could step into the room, Luna made contact, her voice booming within the closed confines of the vault.
[Commander, we have an urgent problem.]