"You should not be so timid just go in and stab the drone." Jin said from his sitting position next to me. We were watching Michael fight or at least trying to fight the drone, father was tending to the fulsers that we had captured.
While we made short work of the drones that were herding the fulsers, Michel had proven to not be skilled with a sword or with fighting, in general, to be completely honest.
"Easier said than done do you see the sharp claws on that thing?" Michel said while engaging in a staring contest whit the drone "Those things could rip me to shreds if I am not careful.". I could not help but sigh my side effect telling me that he truly was afraid and not just spinning lyes. With a thought I willed the system to manifest the prompt that I have no down all the others had checked before the fight... well perhaps not Michel.
RX herding outreach
A robot with a low processing capability that is used to heard fulsers. Its slender body and powerful legs permit it to run at high speeds whiles the claws that it is equipped with are used to scare predators form the herd.
Determined to be no threat to Selium armor users because of the low density of Selium in its claws or beak.
Judging by the description and the look of the drone it most likely was using Selium do mimick the properties of some sort of steel, or at least what used to be stell, and that would not be enough to do any damage to any Selium armor since the densities that where employed in them where very high and the properties that those densities permitted where sometimes hard to imagine. So, in essence, the droid was just scary looking and presented no threat probably why father decided to make Michel fight one.
After watching this standoff for another minute I could not help myself but say "Michel use the system to identify the drone."
I could see confusion building up in him, with my side effect, which culminated in him asking "How do I do that?"
"Just will it with your mind and it will appear." I could not fathom how he was so oblivious of the system and the world. In all the travels with my family, I had never met someone that new nothing like him. And as I watched his emotions I could practically see how he was trying to make the prompt appear the excitement when he succeeded, the shame when he most likely finished reading the prompt and finally the panic when the droid had taken advantage of his distraction and wrestled him to the ground.
Before I could go help him I heard my father say throw the armor private commes his voice resounding in my head, "So what do you think of him?"
His figure was towering next to me, trying to analyze the screaming figure on the ground. I looked up at him, at the scar that ran across his face and an involuntary pang of guilt could still be felt in my heart even after all these years.
"He is as you see, as far as I can tell he is not faking any of it."
"His stance is awful and the way he underestimated the power of the armor when he first used it make it pretty clear that he is not really a combatant" added Jin throw the commes while at the same time cheering on Michel to fight harder with lowed cheers.
"I agree he is not a combatant so no threat to us..." but before I could finish up the sentence Jin finished it for me
"So we should take him with us? You are beeing to kind again." he said whiles still cheering Michel on with a bright smile.
"Jin you are beeing to callous again. Leah is right there is no need to leave him stranded here when there is no real cost to us." father reprimanded.
"We still don't know if he is a local, we don't really know anything about him yet" Jin said in protest
"From all you have seen do you really believe he lives on this barren rock? There is nothing but grass and droids here whit the occasional small critter. There is no way he would not be malnourished if he lived here and not to mention his personality and his ability" I said pausing to take in the screaming figure on the ground "I don't need to know more about him to know that he needs help"
I could see the resignation in Jins emotions he still wanted to disagree but he knew he would not win the argument. I sight another pang of guilt cursing throw my body I wish he had not changed, I wish he still that his cheerful personality had not been reduced to just a mask to hide the bitterness in his heart and to protect the wounds he was not willing to admit that had not yet heald.
"Then it is decided, we shall bring him to an anchored fragment and of the offchance that he opens up to us, we will offer him a spot in ower scavenging operation. He is a trigger user after all and with a bit of training..." a desperate plea for help echoed in the background "a lot of training he will be a useful asset to this team"
Jin sighed and leisure made his way to the fight where he casually swatted the drone to the side with a kick that sent it flying a couple of meters. The drone regained its balance before it even hit the ground and watched wearily Jin who was helping Michel get back to his feet.
"You need to calm down" came fathers voice "you have to remember that the armor is not your real body no mather how indistinguishable it feels"
Confusion was rising again in Michel, I could see it and could already hear the question that would arise so I decided to answer now to speed thing along "Triggers construct a fake Selium body inside them from the users own Selium reserve that is what is referred to as armors when you use a trigger your body is minimized and preserved inside the trigger witch gets placed somewhere inside the armor depending on the model."
"The trigger can pretty much be considered indestructible as long as it is supplied with Selium in case you were worried about that" Jin added from the side.
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"What do you mean minimized?" but his confusion seemed to only grow. Before I could explain any further father cut in "You will see after you finish that drone. We will have to do it to the fulsers to transport them back since ower ship is not big enough to carry them all"
And his confusion was instantly replaced by panic again "I still have to fight that thing?"
"Yes." came fathers replay his words to the point and ignorant of any emotions, the legion training surfacing again as it always did when he was concentrating on a task.
I could not help but sigh "You don't have to panic you won't get hurt and we are also here, to be honest with you this is the best opportunity for you to get used to your armor" I said as much to reassure him as I did to tell my father what his emotional state was so he would not push him too far.
"O...ok..." came his hesitant reply determination starting to fill his body, I could also notice another misguided emotion when he was glancing at me... I should be careful about that one so that it may not sower our relationship in the future when he gathers up the courage but until then it will probably help him to push forward with a little prodding so I will let it be for now.
And so began his training, with father explaining to Michel how to fight and Jin offering pointers from time to time all whiles Michel was facing the long leged herding drone.
I deactivated my armor to conserver Selium and sat back down to enjoy the show
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It was a couple of hours later when Michel finally managed to defeat the drone. He had gotten better at wielding the sword he's swings beeing a lot more precise and his control over the armor was finally adequate.
"Finally!" came his tired reply as he plopped down on the grown.
"You forgot to pick up your loot" Jin said from the side.
"Loot?" Michel perked up "Can something be salvaged from the drone?"
"Yes." replied father "Although the body of the drone will evaporate as all Selium constructs do over time, it's energy source will remain and can be reused" he said while leaning down to pull out the energy core of the drone who was slowly dissolving into moths of lights but before he could reach it Jin screamed
"Duck" but it was too late as what looked like a long beam of light came from the distance and decapitated father's armor. The armor started spewing light from the severed parts and cracking, next it exploded a comet of light shooting throw the sky out of the shards atmosphere towards where ower ship was anchored.
The beam of light bent upwards and afterword starting retracting forming back into the shape of a sword blade in the hands of a humanoid droid.
"Sh*t" I said while reactivating my armor meanwhile Jin who had his mid-range gun materialize while he was still trying to warn us was already firing at the drone.
I prompted the system to see what the thing was already dreading the answer.
RX honor guard
A highly intelligent robot that is equipped with slots. This robot used to be employed as a bodyguard for nobles in a kingdom in the past the proficiency of the robot in welding weapons varies depending on the hows that own it as it was a tradition to spar with this robots to improve there combat capabilities
And exactly as I feard the thing was slotted and had yet an unknown number of abilities and judging on how it had appeared from behind a hill right when our guard was at it's lowest it probably was intelligent enough to lay in ambush for some time and observe us as the same time.
I made the jets that I had in my two back slots come out and started flying towards the robot prepared to hinder it's mobility so that Jin may get a shot.
Whiles making my way toward the enemy I told Michel threw the comms "Start running you will only hinder us we will come to find you after the fight is over." after which I paid him no more attention as I had to focus at the robot that was evading most of Jin's fire and blocking the shots Jin placed in his path. If it wasn't for Jin's side effect I am sure he would have been cut down already.
I formed a volatile Selium spear from a slot in my armors hand and threw it at the robot. It managed to dodge the slow projectile easily but when the spear hit the grown it exploded pushing the robot airborn. Jin was firing his weapon at the robot who could no longer doge. But the thing was still managing to block the projectiles from Jin's weapon with his sword.
As it was only a matter of seconds till the dam thing would land again and we would be where we started I formed another spear in my hands and charged my trusters flaring up on my back.
When my spear was moments from impacting the robot and ending its existence, the thing unable to attack me because of Jin's suppression fire I hear Jin shout threw the commes "Watch out!"
Next thing I know the robot materializes a transparent sheld from his other hand blocking Jin's fire and makes his sword extend again making it hit the ground and pushing its body away from my spear and positioning itself so that I would obstruct Jin's line of fire. Next whit the sword still embedded in the ground it kicked me in the side pushing me in the path of the projectiles that Jin had fired earlier to suppress the robot.
Next, a voice could be heard in my head
Armor integrity compromised initializing ejection
And I started flying towards the ship surrounded by light as my father did before me. The fight ending in mere moments since it started
After a couple of moments, I was next to the beacon at our ship steering intensely at it.
Father came immediately in the room but before he could say anything, another moth of light landed next to the beacon passing threw an outlet that was connected to the void outside.
"I managed to get one of its arms but that thing was tough " Jin said still trying to orient himself after arriving at the ship, dread started to overwhelm me as I was still staring at the beacon in the ship.
"What is the mather?" father asked noticing my distress
Turning slowly towards them I was pale as a sheet as the word escaped my moth "We never gave Michel the beacon's key his armor won't eject him out of that place."