Kiara peeked through the blinds out into the snow-covered Arch Street of downtown Philadelphia. The stark white landscape was silent and empty, giving an eerie sense of calm.
"I'm not seeing anything," she told Chen, her voice barely above a whisper.
"The Hub said the coast was clear," Chen replied, glancing at the alien device in his hand.
"It was clear five minutes ago," she countered. "Hub, will you warn us if the enemy is near?"
"Affirmative. That is the default protocol. The highest-ranking member of the Defense Force may change the settings using the manual interface at the Hub station," the Hub responded in its usual emotionless tone.
"If we survive this, I am absolutely taking a deep dive into those settings," Chen said, a hint of determination in his voice.
"You are the one with the alien plasma cutter," she reminded him. "The success of this mission is up to you."
Chen stood a bit straighter at her words. She had noticed a strange sense of confidence from her fellow cadet since he had started recovering from whatever the alien creatures had done to him.
It wasn't that she could find fault in anything he had done recently. She just wasn't sure if this was him or something else. She had to admit she didn't really know Chen. Some people do rise to the occasion, she reminded herself. She hoped she was one of those people.
"Ready?" Chen asked, his grip tightening on the tool.
"Ready," she replied, taking a deep breath. "Let's get this done."
They stepped out into the frigid air, the snow crunching under their boots as they made their way towards the downed Raptor unit. The mechanical creature lay lifeless in the street, its once menacing form now a source of vital materials.
Kiara scanned the area, her senses on high alert. "Stay sharp," she whispered.
They moved across the street, towards the clump of snow which was covering the enemy unit they had seen when they first crossed through the hazy barrier. Kiara was still trying to piece together everything that had transpired in that space. Much had been said, important things, and she could remember telling herself that she needed to remember what they said. But those memories were as hazy as the walls of the room they had come here from. Chen wasn't the only one that had been affected. That manipulation by the tiny aliens filled her with a sense of deep unease when she thought about it. Even if they were super cute.
They reached the snow covered lump on the other side of Arch Street.
"This is it," she said.
Chen activated the Field Salvage Tool, and a holographic overlay appeared, revealing the layout of the defeated machine under the snow.
She looked up and down the empty road, wishing she had binoculars or even that electrician's tool that the alien had taken from Chen.
"What were the components we needed again?" Chen asked.
Kiara pulled out her notepad. "Primary locomotion servo, neural pathway relay, exoskeletal plating segment, power cell cluster."
"One of each, right?" he said.
"Yes, one of each."
Chen began studying the screen of the FST.
She kept her eyes on the street and waited for Chen to figure out how the tool worked.
"Hmm," Chen said.
"What is it showing you?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Not sure yet," he said, "it didn't come with an instruction manual."
Chen was the only one who could see the output of the tool. After a few non-committal noises from Chen she reached out her hand. "Let me see that," she said.
"Hey, this is the first time I've used this," he said.
"You used it to make the Hub," she said.
"It did that by itself," he countered, "I just held it."
"Okay, so what are you looking at on that thing?" she asked.
Chen turned the tool so that she could see the display at an angle. The FST highlighted what she assumed to be the locations on the body of the Raptor unit where they could get the components they needed.
She studied the symbols and numbers on the display. "What do these symbols mean?"
"One sec," he said.
Chen turned the tool away from her so that he could get a better look. She kept her head up and her eyes on the corners. If the enemy did show up, she did not have a plan other than running back to the mail store and locking the door inside the room where the Hub was set up.
Chen turned the FST back around to demonstrate what he had figured out. "Touching the symbol reveals the name of the component." He did so and the symbol expanded, showing the text: Primary Locomotion Servo.
"Servo," she said, and double checked the notepad. "Perfect, that is on the list. What are the numbers then?" she asked, pointing to the percentages next to the symbols.
Chen tapped the number beside the servo symbol. "The number represents the percentage chance of successful extraction," he explained, tapping the number 83 next to the servo symbol. 83.033% Extraction Chance
She noticed other symbols and numbers scattered across the display. "What about these other components? There's way more than four different symbols. They might not be on the list but we should learn what is available, right?"
"Absolutely," he said. She studied Chen's gesture with the interface as he touched another symbol, revealing Photosite Panicle with a 60% chance. "No idea what that is, but some of these components might be useful for future upgrades or repairs," he said.
"Do you mind if I check out the interface?" she asked, her finger hovering near the display.
"Go for it," he said.
She went through each area and selected the icons. She discovered there was more detailed information if you kept your finger on the thing you were interested in.
"There's more to this, Chen. I'll explain it in a second," she began. "The colors aren't related to chance. Well, they are, but it's more complicated than that. There are different things it has a chance to extract. Cyan is the regular success chance, but orange is the chance to drop an extra item, and magenta is the chance to upgrade the component. This one here has a one hundred percent chance to get one servo and a small chance to get an upgrade. Let's start with that one."
"We can do it that way," Chen said, studying the display. "But there's also the option of targeting the areas most likely to give us multiple components."
"But if we don't get everything on the list, we're going to have to find another unit to salvage," she reasoned. "That's our primary mission. Get that done first, and then we can see what our options are."
"Okay, but let's also think about speed," Chen said. "I don't want to spend any more time out in the open than we have to."
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"Our safety comes first," Kiara said, keeping her voice steady. "If we have to abandon this, we do. The Hub says run, you run. Got it?"
Chen nodded, understanding the gravity of her words. "Got it."
They approached the Raptor unit, the FST guiding them to the first target area. The section near the central torso had a high chance for a neural pathway relay and a power cell cluster.
Chen carefully positioned the plasma cutter, following the FST's guided extraction process. The tool hummed as it sliced through the exoskeleton, revealing the intricate machinery within.
"Easy does it," Kiara muttered, feeling the tension rise.
The first cut revealed a tangled mess of wires and circuits. Chen navigated through the components, his movements precise and deliberate. "Here it is," he said, extracting the neural pathway relay. "One down."
"Good job," Kiara said.
Chen studied the screen, looking for the next target.
"Let's target the section near the lower torso," he suggested. "It has a 60% chance for primary locomotion servos and a 40% chance for exoskeletal plating."
Chen moved to the indicated area, repeating the process. The laser guided plasma cutter made quick work of the tough exterior, exposing the inner workings of the Raptor unit.
Chen sighed, looking at the results of the extraction. "Just more of the electromunium," he said.
"One failure from those odds is damned lucky, Chen," she said, "we've been working from the high probabilities on down."
Chen nodded. "We've got three more chances at the servo," he said, "that was our best shot though."
They needed all three chances but they finally got the second item on their list and a few other components that might come in handy later.
"That's two," Chen said, holding the component up before dropping it in his pack.
"Great," Kiara said. "Now, we need the exoskeletal plating and the power cell cluster."
Chen consulted the FST again. "The section near the upper left limb has a 50% chance for exoskeletal plating and a 30% chance for a power cell cluster."
"Let's go for it," Kiara said, her eyes scanning the area for any signs of danger.
Chen cut into the specified section, carefully extracting the exoskeletal plating. The FST indicated success, highlighting the component in green.
"Got it," he said, holding up the plating.
"Watch out," she said, pulling Chen by the arm. She had seen what he could not. When Chen removed the supporting section of the unit, the snow began to shift.
They watched as the remainder of the unit split into two halves, snow collapsing down to fill the gaps.
"Get down but keep your eyes open," she said, crouching down behind a drift.
Chen followed suit, crouching beside her. The world seemed to hold its breath as they scanned their surroundings, waiting for any sign of movement. The snow had settled, but the tension remained thick in the air.
"That was close," Chen whispered.
"Yeah," she replied, her eyes never leaving the scene. "We need to be more careful. We just got lucky twice. Success on a fifty-fifty and dodging the collapse. Let's get the last component and get out of here."
"I mean," Chen said, "I don't think we were in any danger." Chen indicated the pile of snow and metallic parts, which was now below the level of their knees.
"I'm more concerned about our lack of situational awareness," she said.
"We're cool, Mendez," he said. "The Hub will warn us if it spots the enemy and the store is right there across the street. Let's just keep grinding on this salvage."
Kiara checked the area again, looking for any signs of the enemy. "All right," she said, "let's keep going."
Chen checked the FST again. "We've got sixteen, no, seventeen more extraction locations. The area near the central power core has a 40% chance for a power cell cluster and a 20% chance for additional neural pathway relays."
"Do it," she said.
Chen focused on the next target, his hands steady as he operated the FST. The tool hummed softly, emitting a faint blue glow as it highlighted the extraction points. Finally, he extracted the power cell cluster with an exaggerated fist pump. They didn't get the extra relay but that was still a big win. More importantly, they had everything they needed. She reached out her hand for a high five.
They had managed to extract several all of the critical components: the servo, relay, plating, and power cell. Additionally, they had some partial successes and other materials that could potentially be useful, including the panicle and a tertiary potentiometer. They attempted to extract the optical array lens and the haptic microcontroller but the odds were not in their favor.
Despite her earlier wish to get the last component and return to the Hub, they both wanted to see how much more they could get.
She knew they were pushing their luck but the armor was surprisingly comfortable in the snow. And so Kiara kept watch as Chen continued to pick away at the salvage.
"What do you remember about what the aliens said back there?" she asked Chen.
"Drix and Cheeluu?" he said.
"Other than their names," she said.
"Cheeluu said that we shouldn't have been able to find them until after we had done something." he said, continuing to work the extraction tool.
She nodded. That was jogging her memory. Something about being clever.
"They gave you the tool because you were clever," she said.
"They took my multimeter though," Chen said, still evidently upset about losing it.
Chen was grousing about failing two high-probability extractions in a row when she sensed movement in the distance.
She saw the Raptor before the Hub sent the warning. They had no weapons; they could only run. She belatedly realized that four hundred meters from the location of the Hub was not an exceptionally wide circle. The Raptors could not hear, so she had no hesitation in shouting.
"Incursion units approaching," the Hub said in their ears at the same time she was yelling, "Chen. Raptors. My two o'clock. Get your bag and run!"
Chen's head snapped up at her call. He quickly stuffed the last salvaged component into his pack and slung it over his shoulder. The urgency in Kiara's voice spurred him into action. They didn't have time to carefully pack or secure everything; speed was their only concern now.
They sprinted away from the wreckage, snow crunching under their boots as they made a beeline for the mail store. The Raptors were closing in, their three-legged gait moving with unsettling mechanical precision. Chen and Kiara pushed their untested armor to its limits, she could feel that it was somehow aiding their escape and propelling them forward.
They could hear the faint whirring of the Raptors' servos as they ran. The tension was almost unbearable, but they didn't look back. The mail store came into view, and with a final burst of speed, they reached the door and dashed inside.
"Storeroom, hurry!" Kiara urged Chen along, no time to stop. The front of the building was all glass. She could hear the machine pounding against it as they rushed into the back room.
The sound of shattering glass came in tandem with her dive through the door.
"Incursion units approaching," the Hub repeated unnecessarily.
As she slid into the storeroom, Chen slammed the door and quickly locked it, both of them breathing heavily. The sounds of the enemy grew louder from the other side.
Still on the floor, she pointed at the Hub. "Give it everything," she said.
Chen shrugged the pack off his shoulders. She saw an eerie calmness in the man's eyes.
"We need guns," he said.
"Please provide the salvaged components," the Hub said.