Chapter 36
After the lunch break, the intel team had decided to go over the information they’d recovered, and they wouldn’t need Lyndis for the remainder of the day. As a result, she found herself heading over to the company HQ offices. First Sergeant Cabral was already going through boxes of paperwork when she arrived, but Captain Williams was only just waking up. Apparently, he’d fallen asleep reviewing paperwork after the meeting yesterday. She had a quick chat with Matt about the interrogation and relayed the information she’d been cleared to reveal, before grabbing her own box of paperwork and typing up notes to help the Captain write the letters for next of kin.
The work was honestly a bit depressing for her, as she felt very responsible for the loss of life. When the captain ordered her and the First sergeant to check in with the company’s personnel, she was a bit relieved. She would likely remember these few hours for the rest of her career if not her entire life.
At the end of the day, she briefly considered calling Captain Miller again but decided against it. While the man made for a good booty call or on-again-off-again boy toy, she didn’t want him to start thinking she was interested in a long-term relationship. In Lyndis’ experience, men tended to catch feelings if you weren’t upfront about things from the get-go. On one hand, it was slightly endearing, but on the other, it could get quite annoying when two men you just wanted to fuck occasionally started giving each other dirty looks if they passed in a hallway.
So instead, Lyndis went home early and decided to call it a night. Instead of sleeping peacefully as she had the night before, her dreams were haunted by shadows and darkness. When she woke up, there was a message on her Pers-e-comm from both the intel team and Captain Williams. Both basically asked her the same thing, to head to the system store node, and acquire the items the elf had mentioned. In spite of the fact that the elf seemed to have a change of heart, they couldn’t take the chance that a powerful, high-level commander of the elf forces was somehow manipulating her. Something like the mother she kept referring to was likely powerful enough to exert considerable influence, and since humanity didn’t really have a lot of experience with exactly what the system could and couldn’t do, it was best to trust at least partially what the elf had said.
Lyndis showered and dressed in her duty uniform, making a mental note to go over her dress uniform as soon as she could. It wouldn’t be acceptable for anything to be off with her uniform during the ceremony the next day. There hadn’t really been any changes with her medals or anything since she wore it last, but you had to check things or they might get out of alignment during travel or moving the dress uniform between your luggage and your closet.
After a hasty breakfast, Lyndis drove over to the CIF building. Even at the early hour the parking lot was much more full than she had expected, but she supposed that the message base command had sent must have interested people enough to check out the system node. As soon as she entered the building, she knew something was different. It was almost like being in an airplane during take off. The change in pressure and momentum induced a specific kind of anxiety or excitement that gripped you until the plane reached altitude.
She experienced the same change when the door to the warehouse closed. An enchanting white glow seemed to pull you in. Some supply soldiers were putting up rope barriers to organize foot traffic when things inevitably got busier, but between Lyndis’ rank and her orders to obtain the items the elf had mentioned, she skipped the line entirely, eliciting a few angry whispers, but she couldn’t care less. She had legitimate business to do, anyone who didn’t like that could fuck right off, regardless of if they were a private, or a gods damn general.
As she walked toward the floating white cube that was apparently the system node, she noticed the glow increase slightly. Something about that tickled the back of her awareness, but she couldn't figure out why. When Lyndis was about 5 steps away, a doorway-sized section of the cube’s surface fuzzed into a somewhat smokey substance, which somehow seemed to welcome her, like a childhood friend.
Before Lyndis could really process why she felt that way, she’d walked into the doorway and found herself in a different world. By habit, she slowly turned around, trying to get her bearings. There didn’t seem to be any kind of glowing exit, and she briefly worried about how she would return to earth when she was done, but she quickly realized worrying was pointless. If people had been entering the shop and not coming back out, the base command team would have closed access.
A bunch of green clouds floated through a pink sky, providing an interesting contrast to the rows upon rows of shelves 3 or 4 times taller than she was. The items lining the shelves must have been the product offerings from the shop, and each was illuminated seemingly by its own Sunbeam shining down from the blue star high in the sky.
Immediately in front of her stood a wooden desk, roughly waist high, with a white marble top. Behind the circular desk, and at eye level, stood several hovering, slightly glowing cubes, seeming to be miniature representations of the system shop node she’d walked into moments ago. Lyndis guessed that the desk served as some kind of information node, but she decided to wander the shelves a bit. She really needed a moment of R&R over this two-day period, and she’d take it now if she could.
It didn’t take her long to notice that the world and shelves seemed to move as she walked, keeping the information desk no more than 20 steps or so behind her. She supposed that could be helpful, in case she decided to access the information desk, but it also had her worried. If she got lost in this place and couldn’t find the way out, what would happen to her? Instead of focusing on that, Lyndis decided to just continue with what she was doing. The temperature and humidity were slightly different from what she was used to in Georgia, and she was actually kind of enjoying the walk.
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She’d wandered past everything from what appeared to be recently harvested monster parts to something that was labeled as [destroyer class energy compressor] listed at 12 million credits. The thing had been a perfect cube barely 4 square inches to a side, but something told her it was much larger in reality.
In fact, Lyndis began to suspect that everything on the shelves was adjusted in at least some way by the system, since everything she’d seen managed to fit perfectly in its assigned space, no items crowding others out, and nothing hidden behind a row of similar products.
After what felt like an hour or so, Lyndis spotted another shopper browsing as she was. At her current distance, she couldn’t make out much other than the general humanoid features of the other shopper, but it was honestly something of a comfort to know she wasn’t alone.
“Is there anything I can help you find? You don’t seem to be lost, but you haven’t given anything more than a cursory inspection since you got here.” a voice spoke from behind her.
Lyndis nearly jumped out of her skin, hand instinctively reaching for her sidearm holster before she remembered she didn’t have one with her. Turning around slowly, she noticed one of the cubes at the desk had been replaced by something she could only describe as a fairy dragon.
The creature was just as large as she had always imagined a dragon would be, but instead of scales, it had what seemed to be an exoskeleton, similar to a grasshopper. In fact, now that she thought about it, the resemblance was fairly obvious. The creature had two pairs of wings, currently folded along its back, and 6 legs, the rear pair obviously designed to support large leaps.
On the other hand, the exoskeleton seemed to be made from something she wasn’t familiar with. In the strange blue light, it glittered with every color of the rainbow.
The dragon spoke again. “While I do appreciate a bit of admiration from time to time, I think you have something you wanted to accomplish while you are here. Is there something I can help you with?”
Lyndis’ jaw dropped. The creature hadn’t moved its mouth in any way. Was it using some kind of telepathy to speak with her?
“Indeed. I am unable to speak the way you are familiar with. Instead, I project the words I want you to hear directly into the center of your neural cortex which is responsible for processing speech.”
“Well, I guess I don’t need to reply by speaking then? I can just think of my answers?” Lyndis replied audibly.
“You can respond however you’d like. While I can’t speak the way you do, I can hear things just fine.” The dragon replied. “Now, what can I help you with?”
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt. I’m looking for a [Prisoner of War Contract] and a [Subservience Collar]. I suppose while I’m here I might also do a bit of personal shopping after I find the right version of the other items I need. Maybe you can direct me to the kinds of gear and skills that a level 5 [Battlesuit Pilot] would be able to use?” Lyndis asked.
A few hours later, Lyndis had found everything she needed, and a couple of items she’d hoped might exist as well. She even had money left over, both in the company fund and in her personal account. She’d decided to open a company savings account under her own prerogative, which would allow any member of the company to deposit money, but only she, Captain Williams, and First Sergeant Cabral could withdraw funds for purchases. She would wait until tomorrow to tell the other two though. Besides, she still needed to read through all the documentation that’d come with the account.
As Lyndis hurried out of the warehouse and toward the MP HQ, she felt a sense of excitement. Despite the specter hanging over her in the form of the ceremony tomorrow, she felt that maybe humanity might have finally started to turn the tide. And the items in her Soul Storage would be extra steps in that direction.
Congrats!
You spent $700 USC from [Savage Company Funds Account] on a [(Tier 3) Prisoner of War Contract] and a [(Tier 2) Subservience Collar]
Congrats!
You spent (1) gear token to acquire [Standard (Tier 1) System Battlesuit] and basic information about it.
You spent (1) upgrade token to upgrade [Standard (Tier 1) System Battlesuit] to [(Rare-Masterwork) Battlesuit of the Loyal Commander] and basic information about it.
[(Rare-Masterwork) Battlesuit of the Loyal Commander] is an unexpected battlesuit that receives powerups and additional equipment capabilities based on the other battlesuits in its sphere of influence. Due to the (Rare-Masterwork) quality of the suite, it has a very basic self-repair function and will adapt to follow the advanced path and mastery of the pilot. This suit will scale with the level and ability of the pilot.
Congrats!
You spent (1) skill token to acquire [Adaptable Battlesuit Mastery] and basic information about it.
[Adaptable Battlesuit Mastery] allows the user to maximize the possible skills and abilities that an adaptable battlesuit may acquire.
Congrats!
You have spent $400 USC for a [Neural Cortex Implant] and basic information about it.
This [Neural Cortex Implant] allows the user to access their system bank account information, load system standard data packets, and upgrade the throughput of their [Cybernetic Hardpoint] connection.