Aidan was still trying to catch his bearings when a beefy arm encircled his shoulders, but he looked to the side and found his friend Guzman giving him an enthusiastic hug.
“Hey, brother.” He greeted.
“Hey yourself,” Guzman released him and gave Aidan a once over. “That tutorial is one hell of a ride, isn’t it?”
“You repelled a couple boarding parties on a starship, too?” Aidan questioned.
Guzman gave him a blank look. “Hell no, I defended a desert fortress from a wave of insectoid aliens. It was a Dune meets Starship Troopers romance kind of thing.” He chuckled.
“Romance?” Aidan’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, I fell in love with my weapons.” Guzman guffawed. “Everything outside the tutorial sucks.”
“Sounds intense,” Aidan commented as he looked around. He was surprised at what he saw. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he was in the middle of an expeditionary camp. There were tents reinforced with sandbags, obligatory group showers, and a bunch of military grunts going about their business. He saw a squad of troops coming into the camp from beyond the earthen fortifications around the base.
Outside of the camp, it looked like an idyllic paradise. Rich green fields stretched for miles before fading into dense forests. Far in the distance, he spotted blue mountains stretching into the clouds and capped with snow. He certainly wasn’t in Virginia anymore. Guzman interrupted his appraisal of the scenery.
“It was, but then again, everyone’s tutorials are. Some people don’t like to talk about the experience, but you seem to have come out alright.”
Aidan spared a grin for his friend. “I completed the mission. I repelled the boarders, saved the ship, and got it home. The aliens were big bastards, but I managed okay.” The envoy frowned. “Couldn’t save the captain, though.”
Guzman laughed. “Well, hopefully, you have a better track record out here.”
“Where is here?” Aidan asked while gesturing around them.
“The short answer is that you’re in Camp Plymouth. For the longer version, I’ll tell you on the way to the armory,” his friend promised. “We have to get you kitted out. You won’t be able to go on any patrols wearing nothing but your skin suit.”
“At least the System allows you that much.” Aidan quipped. “I was afraid I’d be dropped from the tutorial wearing nothing but my birthday suit. It’s a less fashionable version of the skin suit, I promise.”
“I don’t doubt that at all, man. Here, set your respawn point before we leave.”
“Respawn point?” Aidan asked.
“Yeah, welcome to the System,” Sparky said before joking. “If you die, you come back to life as a shittier version of yourself. It’s like a reverse reincarnation.”
Noticing his friend’s confusion, Guzman explained. “Just think the word ‘respawn point,’ and the System will prompt you. You want to always select a safe location to respawn. It’s standard operating procedure to set it somewhere in the camp. That way, if you die while out on patrol, you’ll come back to camp without whatever experience you earned on the way to your next level, but at least you’ll be safe.”
Aidan nodded his understanding and did as Guzman instructed.
Your current respawn point is: N/A. Set Camp Plymouth as your respawn point?
Y/N
Aidan mentally accepted the prompt and indicated to Sparky that he was finished.
“Great, follow me,” Guzman said.
Guzman led Aidan through the camp and quickly briefed him on the current situation. “So, the nerds have figured out that the world as we know it has been radically changed under the System. All the continents have been pushed together into a continent they’re calling Novopangea.”
“That’s a thing?” Aidan asked.
It’s a thing, Astra answered. The Earth was halfway to returning to a single continent anyway. All the System did was speed up the process by four hundred and fifty million years. It figured that your people were too spread out across the various continents to have any chance of unifying in a reasonable time frame.
“Apparently,” Guzman cheerfully replied. “The Americas are roughly in the same position they were on our Earth, but now we have the other continents smashed against us to the left and right. The brass made some projections and they think that China, India, and Eastern Europe now lay to the West of us while Western Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are to the East.”
“Have we made contact with any of our allies?” Aidan asked.
“No, not in the System, at least. The various leaders have communicated with each other in our world, but even the Five Eyes keep things close to the vest. Each nation has various scientists and researchers trying to decode some encrypted data package slowly revealing System secrets to us.”
“Interesting,” Aidan commented. “Where did the data come from?”
Guzman took a right turn somewhere near the back third of the camp as he responded.
“You remember that weird glitch that happened about nine months ago? Every phone, tablet, or computer system on the planet started bugging out with a bunch of weird symbols.”
“Yeah, I remember. The news said it was just some kind of bug in the various operating system.”
“That was the cover,” Guzman said with a smirk. “About a year ago, the boys at STRATCOMM noticed a giant object hanging out in a nearby Lagrange point. Shortly after, the data package was transmitted to every sophisticated computing device worldwide.”
Guzman paused just outside of a large tent to continue his story.
“Word on the street is that it took another three months for a little-known scientist named Dr. Tamira Smith to decode enough data to sound the alarm. Our government pounced and hired her directly from the think tank she worked for. That was about the time our government asked the Aussies to take a look at the sky and figure out what the hell was orbiting our planet. It didn’t take the spooks long to put two and two together to make five.”
“The data package came from the object in the sky?” Aidan answered.
“Bingo,” his friend confirmed.
“The fed said other nations were already in the system?” Aidan asked.
“The fed?” Guzman repeated with raised eyebrows. “So it was Marsh who approached you before meeting me at the Range?”
Aidan nodded and his friend swore. “He’s a nice enough guy, but the fusion center is up our ass all the time. They have a hard time putting pressure on the civilians in camp, so they put it on us instead,” Guzman grumbled.
Aidan wasn’t sure what to say, but he didn’t have to.
“Whatever, you don’t need to care about the camp politics yet,” he groused before answering Aidan’s question.
“Apparently, someone in our government dicked up, because the information still made it out to our adversaries. America informed its allies, and China informed theirs. Invisible lines are being drawn between factions and every nation on the planet is in an arms race to reveal more of what they’re calling the Codex.”
“Has any of the data been relevant at a tactical level?”
“Sure,” Guzman nodded. “You’re wearing it.” Guzman gestured to the skin suit. “The Codex has engrams to cover all kinds of tech. Look around you. Everything in this camp came from an engram decoded from the data. The first engram was for a replicator—think an industrial-sized 3-D printer for just about everything—after that, we unlocked engrams for everything else. Each day brings new things that we need to find resources for. That’s not all, we also learned that the Codex only contains the basics. If we want truly life-changing technology, we’re supposed to find more engrams out there.” Sparky gestured to the world outside the camp before continuing.
“I’m sure the other factions are moving just as quickly because the biggest surprise in all this data is that it hides a countdown. We’re not sure what it’s counting down to or how long the countdown is for, but we know it has world-changing implications like everything else we’ve found.”
Guzman put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and invited him to enter the large tent. “Speaking of replicators, this is our temporary armory. We print what we can, but we have limited materials and even fewer engrams. One of our primary objectives is to explore and find more engrams in the wider world.”
Aiden ducked under the tent’s flap and faced a burly red-haired man wearing a pair of futuristic optics. Behind him, dozens of crates were stacked in orderly rows. In the corner of the tent, a cross between a 3-D printer and an oven took up most of the corner. Aidan noted it with some interest but turned his attention to the man instead. The armorer was studying the guts of a disassembled rifle on a crate in front of him. He carried a screwdriver in a beefy hand and looked like he was trying to pry out one of the components. He glanced up as Guzman entered behind Aidan and flipped up the optic.
“Gentlemen,” he greeted with a nod. “What can I help you with?”
“Hey McKay, the good Major just arrived and needs to get kitted up.”
Aidan nodded along with his friend’s introduction and held out a hand. “Name’s Steele.”
McKay shook Aidan’s hand and continued. “Nice to meet you. We don’t have ranks around here yet, but I’m McKay, the company armorer. That doesn’t mean much. It just means I press the buttons on the replicator and make minor repairs when possible. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do more interesting things when I level up my weapon manufacturing, armor manufacturing, and repair skills.”
“Good luck,” Aidan said in a friendly tone. “It’ll be nice to get some custom work done.”
“One day,” the armorer agreed. “So, what class did you end up with?”
“I’m a diplomat,” Aidan sheepishly said.
Sputtering erupted behind him, which quickly morphed into full-blown laughter. “What did you say?” Guzman managed to get out between laughs.
Aidan noticed that even the armorer was giving him a funny look. The envoy sighed heavily.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“I ended up becoming a diplomat. Somehow convincing the crew to help me repel boarders meant I was acting….diplomatically.”
Guzman’s laughing turned into outright howling. “A fucking diplomat! You?!” He wheezed. “You have the political skill of a fart in church.”
Aidan let the laughing continue for a few more seconds before he had enough. “Alright. Alright. I know it’s funny. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter. I still acquired all the other skills associated with being an operator. I have skills in medium armor, light weapons, small arms, and targeting.”
The Envoy pointed his palm at the disassembled rifle. “I even have this.”
As he spoke, the rifle pieces started floating in the air and began knitting themselves back together. A fully assembled rifle dropped to the crate in a few seconds. McKay picked it up and started carefully inspecting it for mistakes. The awe was written across his face.
The sight caused Guzman’s laughing to abruptly come to an end. “Shit,” he said softly. “We don’t have any psionic users yet.”
Guzman turned toward his friend. “What does a diplomat need with psychic powers?”
Aidan shrugged. “It’s supposed to protect me from mental manipulation and allow me to subtly affect the thoughts of the people I’m negotiating with.”
“Hearts and minds,” his old friend said flatly.
“Hearts and minds,” Aidan agreed.
Guzman’s gaze turned pensive. “I think I have a job for you. We’ll need to run it by the boss, but I think it’s worth doing.”
“You’re not the boss around here?” Aidan asked.
“Not even close,” his friend shrugged. “You might be surprised to know, but we actually have a civvie in charge.”
“That is a surprise,” Aidan said with a raised eyebrow.
“Whatever, I’ll explain it later,” Guzman promised before glancing at the armorer.
“McKay, get him whatever he needs. He’ll take priority over any other lowbies showing up today.”
McKay set the rifle down and shrugged good-naturedly. “Fine by me,” he agreed. “You said you needed medium armor?”
“Yeah, and I’d prefer a kinetic rifle over a laser weapon if we have them.”
The armorer nodded, “we do, but ammunition is in short supply. Most of the guys like using the lasers because they’re quiet, and most of the trouble we’ve run into hasn’t been equipped with ablative armor. You sure you still want it?”
“I do,” Aidan said confidently. “In my tutorial, most of the enemies I fought had armor that practically nullified lasers. I’d rather stick with what I know.”
Authority increased to level 2! You have earned 10 experience.
Aidan noted the notification with a measure of surprise but resolved to ask Astra about it later. Meanwhile, McKay shuffled around in the stacked crates behind him. He pulled out a plate carrier, a thigh holster, a pair of boots, and a pair of reinforced gloves. Finally, he found a matte black visor that looked like it attached directly to the user’s face.
Equipment settled, McKay picked out a couple of weapons. He found some sort of heavy revolver with a case of loose rounds, a rifle, and ten magazines to join the growing pile of items. Finally, he topped it with a fixed-blade combat knife.
“Alright,” McKay began to introduce the items to Aidan. “We’ve got your typical plate carrier with a knife sheath and three magazine pouches. A pulse rifle that fires a three-round burst of kinetic ammo.” He looked up at Aidan and shrugged apologetically, “we don’t have any specialty ammo nor full auto kinetic rifles.”
“No worries,” Aidan nodded. “The burst is good enough.”
“Good,” the armorer continued. “Then, moving on, you have a dual-action hand cannon equipped with high explosive rounds, a targeting visor, and your typical pair of gloves and boots.”
The Envoy looked through the equipment and noted their descriptions.
XSM1/BBA Medium Plate Carrier
XSM1/AUE Light Utility Holster
XSM1/BUA Medium Combat Boots
XSM1/BUA Medium Utility Gloves
XSM1/AUE Light Targeting Visor
XSM1/A Burst Rifle
XSM1/M Combat Knife
“Hey, McKay,” Aidan called.
“What’s up?”
“What’s with this nomenclature system?” the Envoy questioned. “I saw something similar in my tutorial.”
“Oh, that?” McKay shrugged. “One of the logisticians came up with it. Apparently, it’s incredibly important for the bean counters and the box kickers,” the armorer rolled his eyes at the system’s relative importance.
“XSM stands for Experimental System Model.” The man rolled his eyes again. “Except, everything is experimental until we get our bearings in the system. Once we do that and decide on standard load-outs for various classes, they’ll change the nomenclatures to just ‘SM.’ As for the stuff after the slash, each letter corresponds to some attribute of the equipment. I don’t have them all memorized, but I know for armor, the first letter is the class, the second is the purpose, and the third is the level of protection. For weapons, the letter just tells you what kind of ammunition or projectile it fires.”
“Interesting,” Aidan commented. “Do you have the info written down somewhere? It would be useful for me to learn the attributes to help our spooks classify any enemy equipment we come across.”
“Sorry,” the armorer apologized. “I don’t have it, but I’m sure you can find one of the log-O’s and grab a copy.”
Aidan donned the gloves and boots and then slipped on the familiar plate carrier. While he was doing that, he asked Astra about the classifications.
If I can get a written copy, can you memorize it?
Can the very old and incredibly talented artificial intelligence memorize a mere equipment list? Yes, Astra assured. Why do you want it?
I want to start building our own little database of weapons. With your abilities, we can help our faction optimize load outs, classify enemy weaponry, and have a tactical advantage against similarly technologically advanced foes. We should be able to fight smarter even if we’re at a power parity.
I see you’re taking your Envoy duties seriously. Aidan could hear the smile in his companion’s voice.
Well, you’ve got to be useful for something, Aidan joked. You can’t keep living in my head rent-free.
It must be SO hard for you to have the most advanced piece of technology your civilization has ever imagined sitting in your skull. Remind me to help you cry about it later.
Aidan suppressed a chuckle. It would be awkward if anyone else knew that he was talking to voices in his head.
He quickly strapped the thigh holster on. After loading the hand cannon, he put the rest of the rounds in his inventory. He did the same thing with his rifle magazines and then attached the knife horizontally above his magazine pouches. He made sure he could draw it quickly with his off-hand. With a smooth motion, he stashed the entire rifle and visor in his inventory. The pistol and knife would be enough to handle any trouble in camp. If necessary, he could draw the gun from his inventory with barely a thought.
Authority increased to level 3! You have earned 15 experience.
Guzman trilled a low whistle. “Damn, man, you do that so fluidly. I have difficulty manipulating my inventory even at the best of times. I have to really concentrate to pull anything out and put it back in. You’re barely glancing at the items.”
Aidan felt uncomfortable with the praise. “I got a lot of practice during my tutorial,” he explained.
“I bet,” Guzman said wistfully before turning to the armorer. “Thanks, McKay. We’ll stop by if we break any of your shit.”
The red-haired man chucked. “See that you do. I’m trying to get my skills up.”
“Wow, never heard an armorer say something like that,” Aiden quipped.
“The world’s all backward and turned upside down,” McKay said philosophically.
The other two men heartily agreed before exiting the tent. When they were outside, Guzman pulled Aidan aside.
“Alright, brother. I’m going to go see the boss. We still have a full day ahead of us, and I think she’ll agree to send us off on a mission to meet the locals now that we have a certified diplomat on this side of the System. Go ahead and find your tent. One of the logisticians should’ve gotten it set up before you arrived. It’ll be marked with the same ID as your pod. I’ll be there soon to pick you up.”
“You don’t want me to go with you?” Aidan wondered.
Guzman gave an awkward laugh. “It wouldn’t help anything and might just complicate matters. Remember that fringe scientist I told you about? Dr. Tamira Smith is our boss inside the System. Outside of it, we report to Marsh. She doesn’t really care about the military members in the camp and prefers to spend her time with the other scientists or holed up in her tent by herself. She’s hyper-focused on decoding the Codex and only interacts with us when she needs us to do something to support that effort. She treats the military like dogs and doesn’t even want us near her tent when she’s inside.”
Aidan could tell that Sparky was annoyed with the civilian leadership but didn’t interrupt his friend.
“Since I was one of the first military members in the system, the other guys look to me for unofficial guidance. I organized the teams, coordinated our patrols, and have been slowly expanding our zone of influence in the region. I keep asking Marsh for more people because we’re woefully lacking in firepower out here, but Dr. Smith would rather bring in more academics. Since our government still considers this a scientific mission, not a military one, her word counts for more.”
Aidan suppressed the uneasiness he felt over such a shaky leadership structure. He knew from his conversation with Astra that this scientific mission would quickly get hot. The envoy made up his mind to communicate the urgency to Marsh while trying to keep his status as the System Envoy under wraps. The situation couldn’t last long at scale, and if he had any say in things, he would push to get as many Americans into the System as realistically possible. Their adversaries weren’t going to be taking things easy.
The envoy sighed at the problems on the horizon but realized he needed to worry about those things tomorrow. Today, he just needed to get the lay of the land.
“Alright, man, I’ll meet you at the tent.”
With a final nod, Guzman strode toward the center of the camp, and Aidan paced toward the smaller tents where the troops likely slept. He struck up a conversation with Astra while he walked.
So what’s up with the Authority level-ups?
Authority and notoriety are instrumental in an Envoy’s work. Astra helpfully informed. Gaining more notoriety and authority subtly influences the behavior of those around you. With high levels in the two stats, you’ll find that consensus building is more straightforward, people will be more likely to do what you want, and you’ll be able to unify your species through intimidation, charm, or diplomacy.
Aidan nodded thoughtfully before asking another question. How do I increase my authority?
Any action, behavior, or comment that increases someone’s impression of you will increase your authority. Be forewarned, authority is just as easy to lose as it is to earn.
Makes sense, it works the same way in real life, Aidan commented as he found a sign pointing the way to the G tents. What about notoriety?
Notoriety is even easier. The more people who know about you, the higher your notoriety. You can be known for terrible crimes or for honorable deeds. It doesn’t really matter—they both go into your notoriety score. Slaying someone with more notoriety will cause your own notoriety to level faster. However, the same isn’t true for authority. The stat is more situational.
Aidan located his tent and ducked under the flap. Inside he found a small cot and a footlocker. The envoy wasn’t sure why they bothered with the footlocker when everyone had their own private inventory. When he placed a palm on the footlocker, he discovered its use. It was a second inventory with another twenty-five slots to fill.
This isn’t a safe place to store your gear. Do you want me to secure the stash for you? Astra asked helpfully.
Aidan thought about it. Do you think it’ll raise a red flag? It might reveal more skills than I’m comfortable with.
It’s not a big deal, Astra gave the equivalent of a mental shrug. Anyone with a low level of electronics would be able to do the same.
Aidan nodded his assent. Let’s do it, then.
AI Operations increased to level 2! You have earned 10 experience.
Nice, Aidan praised his companion.
Oh, this is nothing, The AI said dismissively. Wait until AI Operations is at a higher level. I’ll be able to do all kinds of things.
Aidan stashed his plate carrier but left his boots, gloves, and pistol on before lying on the cot.
How do I level up AI Operations more? He asked his companion.
The first levels come pretty quickly. Once you put on the visor, I’ll be able to interface with it and start revealing people’s names, levels, and classes. Continuously doing that will raise the skill by a few points. The higher the skill, the more data we can get from other people’s character sheets.
Aidan wondered where the information he had been able to see during the tutorial had gone to. Still, it didn’t make sense to him. Aren’t you lodged somewhere in my brain? Why can’t you just use my eyes to collect the data?
If you had synthetic eyes, I could. That’s probably an upgrade you should consider getting, by the way. We could do so many things. Night vision, infrared, electroreception—it’s all possible.
Aidan stopped the AI before she could go down a rabbit hole.
Yeah, but I can see everything else. I still get the System notifications and can check my health, mana, and stamina.
The envoy could hear his companion sigh.
Those are all internal things, Aidan. There isn’t any data that you have to acquire from somewhere else. The System is as much a part of your body as your soul. The two can’t be separated. We need some sort of interface to be able to connect outside information to our shared consciousness.
Aidan laced his fingers behind his head and stared up at the shiny black fabric of his tent.
Got it. Do you have any info on the Codex?
None that I can provide, the AI said apologetically. You’ll have to figure that stuff out on your own. It’s all part of the assimilation process. Certain things need to happen in their own time.
Aidan rolled his eyes but didn’t argue with Astra. It was counterproductive. They were on the same team, and he intuitively felt she would help him if she could. He was about to ask another question when he heard Guzman calling his name outside the tent.
He rolled his feet to the ground and equipped his vest with a thought. He exited the tent to find Guzman waiting for him.
“What’s up, man.”
“Told you it wouldn’t take long,” his friend said by way of greeting. “You figure out how to use your stash?”
“Yeah,” Aidan said casually. “Keyed it to my ID and everything.”
Guzman shot him a strange look. “That was quick,” he commented with a glance at the footlocker behind Aidan.
“What can I say,” Aidan joked, “maybe I’m just better than you.”
His friend’s strange look evaporated as he chuckled. “Only in your dreams, brother.”
“So what are we doing?” Aidan asked.
“We’re going to scrounge up a few more team members, and then we’re off to win some hearts and minds!”