Unity

by Carl Stubblefield

  After seeing the Oracle and hearing that they would be heading to Hinansho, she started trying to design cloaks and stealth devices that could conceal one’s identity. She had barely begun when she was forcefully woken, and ejected from her workshop. She had not been able to complete the design she was working on and as a result her progress was lost. She angrily looked around for the source of the disturbance to see a drone zip by her window.

  Pressing her face to the plastisteel window to get a better look outside, she could see there were over twenty of the small craft, pummeling the transport with different colored beams of energy.

  The transport groaned then the fuselage tore. In an instant, Aurora removed her seatbelt and was flying to match the trajectory of the ship. The engines managed to maintain some stability in the front half of the ship, however the back half began to tumble down and was lost amid the clouds, swallowed almost immediately.

  Wind whipped everywhere and she had to squint as she used the chairs to anchor herself as the ship began to shimmy and lose altitude. She saw Jet sawing through Darik’s belt and then allowing him to get astride like he was a witch. She saw the little man wince as he tried to maintain himself stably on the polearm, clinging on for dear life. Whatever ability Jet had to move was severely compromised with the added weight of the super, but they disappeared out the torn roof of the transport as Jet began to slow their descent. Darik’s curses were lost as the transport fell away from them.

  Aurora found Yuki, whose eyes were bulging out of her head. She knew Yuki needed to be ferried, as she had no flight skills of her own. Aurora held her as she fumbled one-handed with the release. Her tray table was down and she tried to stabilize her laptop as it jumped around with her other hand. At last she got the belt loose and she grabbed the laptop close to her, hugging it tightly. Aurora grabbed her under the arms and began to lift. As the ship continued to fall away, she saw Pulse burning through Grimdark’s seatbelt and then the transport pulled away, engines still propelling the craft forward.

  Aurora arched her back and pulled, trying to balance her MP usage to slow their descent while still maintaining enough to stay aloft. She alternated with flying and free-fall until they got closer to the ground to minimize their acceleration and then gave it all she had. The skill leveled off about a hundred feet above the ground, giving just enough of a boost to slow them from a ‘certain injury’ to a ‘this is going to hurt’ level of speed.

  They hit and rolled, and a large -56 flashed in red along the side of her display. Fortunately, she had managed to steer towards a gently sloped meadow amid the trees. Yuki held on to her computer, tucked in the fetal position as she bled off momentum and rolled down the hill. Despite the landing zone being softer than usual, Aurora hit her shoulder hard on a rock before she came to a stop and pain shot down her arm. Another -118 flashed, along with an Incapacitated debuff to her left arm.

  She finally rolled to a stop and shook as the pain intensified with her arm akimbo, straining the already wounded area. The impact drove the air out of her lungs and she gasped desperately until she could pull in some ragged breaths as she stared up at the overcast skies.

  Miraculously, Yuki was unscathed and ran to her side after ensuring her laptop was intact and seeing that Aurora was hurt. As gently as she could, Yuki pulled Aurora’s arm down next to her body, wincing as Aurora gasped in pain. After panting briefly, Aurora visibly settled.

  As the adrenaline burned away, she felt fatigue set over her like a lead blanket. She closed her eyes and tried to manage her pain using a focusing technique they had been taught at the academy. An out-of-place high-pitched whirring caused her to snap her eyes open. Three drones approached out of the sky, flying directly towards the women.

  Yuki forward rolled and deftly picked up her laptop. She began typing, staring at the drones approaching ever closer. Aurora tensed as she saw the beam guns underneath the drones begin to cycle up as they charged. In unison, a red light burned to life and they fired.

  Chapter Twelve

  Cruel to be Kind

  Aurora flinched as the superheated rock near her exploded, pelting her with debris and kicking up a plume of dirt. The tang of singed hair and dust filled the air. Just as she was about to cough, a hand slid over her mouth. Blinking away the grit she saw Yuki there with her finger over her lips. Turning back to her screen she continued typing, occasionally wiping dust away from the screen. The whirring of the drones dropped in intensity. A slight breeze began to clear the haze around them.

  Yuki sent a party invite and Aurora accepted. It was customary to drop all party links when a mission was over so people could relax on the trip back to base. Unfortunately, that meant they were on their own until they found the rest of the Crew.

  “Okay, we should be in the clear now,” Yuki replied, the edge evident in her voice. “I altered their targeting and have changed their checksum algorithms to show mission completion and targets eradicated. We should follow them to see who is behind all this.”

  Yuki turned to her laptop and three tracking dots appeared on Aurora’s minimap.

  She whimpered as she sat up and the weight of her arm stressed her dislocated shoulder.

  “There’s no way we’re going to keep up with them,” Aurora gasped as the drones sped off into the distance.

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ve installed a file that should ping us when they get to anywhere there is a free connection. We’re tuned in on their frequency, and I’ve set them to track even when we get out of direct transmission range. I just love the connectivity the satellite matrix allows.” She looked up at the ever-darkening clouds. “Those could be a problem though. I’m only at 37% battery life on the laptop. I can use solar to recharge but with this much cover, it’ll be harder to get a satellite link as well as recharge my laptop. Without it, it’s going to be a lot harder to get back to civilization. First, we have to see who attacked us and why.

  “Who even knows where we are? And they only brought drones to a super fight? Seems more like a delaying tactic rather than an attack. We should be on our guard for what comes next.”

  Aurora had to agree. A glance at her display showed that it was a little past 5 PM, and that it would soon be dark and cold. Snow capped the tops of the mountain ranges nearby and the sun was almost slipping behind one of the large mountains. A stab of pain drove out any attempts to plan for the future.

  Aurora got to her feet, brushing off the dust as much as possible. Her shoulder was clearly dislocated, and Yuki’s eyes followed hers as she assessed the damage.

  “Let me know when you’re ready,” Yuki acknowledged, shaking her arms to loosen up before getting herself in a balanced stance for the gruesome task ahead. The academy was good at getting you trained to expect the unexpected. Especially with challenges that fell outside your power’s skill set.

  “Can you pull some of those gels out of my pocket? The red ones, they’re on that side.”

  “How many?”

  “Two. No, three. Take any if you need some for yourself.” Aurora winced as she had to hold her wrist and support her arm, the mere weight of it caused stabbing pain all around her shoulder socket. “It feels like… hot icepicks are jammed in there,” she grunted through clenched teeth. She instinctively clutched her arm closer to her

  “Here.” Yuki held out the gels and Aurora opened her mouth for Yuki to put them inside. She bit the corner of one and slowly sucked out some of the gel. Her breathing slowed as it eased the edge of the pain.

  Aurora knelt down so the shorter woman could get into position. Finally, she released the protective tension on her arm, allowing Yuki to put firm hands on her inner bicep and outer forearm. With a grim look, Aurora nodded to Yuki.

  Aurora had to fight back the scream that wanted to rip through her, but she had to keep the gels in place. Her nostrils flared like an angry bull as she tried to breathe through the pain. Yuki exerted an ever-increasing pressure on her arm, and Aurora was glad she wasn’t standing as th
e torment intensified, or she would have buckled and fell as the intense pain caused her whole body to tremble.

  With a *pop*, the joint reseated and there was another burst of pain. Aurora bit down on the gels in agony as the intense pain finally began to diminish. Yuki eased her to the ground as she went boneless, her rigid muscles draining away their tension and with the release she slumped down.

  She continued to hear unsettling gurgling and cracking noises and saw her suit ripple as the damage was repaired from the inside, distending the skin and suit as they worked. After her breathing had returned to normal and the easing of the pain-induced vertigo, she wiped away some tears that had combined with the flour-like dust covering her.

  Yuki helped her to her feet and she slowly began to move the arm again, testing its range of motion, massaging her upper arm and shoulder as she rotated and twisted. In a couple minutes, the pain was replaced with a mild itch as the Nth began the next phase of repairing the muscles and damaged tissue now that the bone was reset.

  Finally feeling a bit better, she took in more of her surroundings. They were fortunate to have found a small clearing with a tiny creek running through it. Due to its slow movement, the water was green with algae and other swampy-looking materials, and didn’t look appealing to drink.

  The area was encircled by tall conifers, and a mountain range encircled them. Since she had fallen asleep to design, she had no estimate for how far the transport had gone or where they possibly could be. A chill wind blew past and she hugged herself and massaged her upper arms to generate a little heat while she took in the situation.

  Before she could ask, Yuki slid something from her display and Aurora’s minimap updated. They were somewhere in Colorado, their exact location unclear, but a large yellow circle on the minimap displayed their most probable position.

  “Let’s get a shelter built, then maybe I can cobble something together so we don’t lose any juice for this laptop.”

  Wondering if her crafting skill would work, she activated Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Under the Soldier tab she found simple plans for forts and barriers to withstand infantry advances. A cave would be ideal, or at least a rocky wall to reflect some heat and give a little less area to guard from the elements and predators.

  A subskill under the Soldier tab was called Quartermaster. Curious, she activated this skill and a ring pinged out to about twenty feet before rebounding to her and disappearing. A few branches were highlighted, as well as some components and kindling for a campfire. That would save time hunting for things, but they still needed a place to make it through the night.

  Sliding the display over to Yuki, she could then see the highlighted objects. She looked at a downed log here that had the name:

  Downed Timber (Small)

  Component in small shelter, crude-tier weapons, and basic frameworks. More blueprints available from experimentation or increasing skill level.

  Breakdown for following components:

  Firewood

  Kindling

  Ash

  Sap

  “If you want to gather some stuff for a fire, I’ll try to find someplace I can build a shelter.”

  Yuki threw a thumbs up and tore into a piece of gum she had, chewing aggressively as she gathered pine cones and small twigs.

  Aurora walked up the meadow and found an area where some trees were growing in a small alcove. The area below was clear, but large branches reached up over the area, giving it extensive cover above. Enough so that it would protect them from the rain.

  “I think I found it; bring what you’ve gathered over here and we’ll set up,” Aurora urged on the mental link.

  Yuki came kicking some larger pine cones with arms already loaded with smaller versions that occasionally shifted and abandoned ship, leaving a trail of them as she tried to balance the ungainly kindling.

  Aurora had already started gathering branches, fallen leaves and dead grass to make mattresses for them. With the raw elements highlighted, she quickly found what she needed. By concentrating her Ion Storm into a beam, she was able to adjust the heavier parts that would make the frame of the mattresses so there was less to drag.

  “I’m seeing the value of sleeves on uniforms now,” Yuki griped as she saw the scratches on her arms where the pine cones had dug in and pinched or scraped.

  The two returned to their tasks and when Aurora had finished, she got the design up to the point where she could save it.

  Save template? (Y/N)

  250 XP gained for crafting Leaf Mattress 1.0

  Tier: Rudimentary

  Aurora hit yes and looked at what she had wrought. They looked like tiny pigsties filled with leaves and grass. They were only about a foot and a half tall, but they should be high enough to keep them from getting wet or rolling down the hill.

  Yuki hadn’t been a slouch while she was making their beds. A fire pit had been dug and lined with smooth, wide rocks. A square log-cabin with thin branches leaning against it was in the center of the pit, and dry pine needles peeked through the tiny spaces left in the construction.

  Smiling her way, Aurora thanked Yuki and pulsed a small burst of energy into the center of the pine needles, controlling the flow so that it didn’t collapse the wood. The tree above should offer enough protection from rain. They didn’t have any tarps or waterproof materials that could serve as a tent, but the idea stirred Yuki to action.

  Yuki knelt and removed a large belt and buckle from her outfit. Flipping it over, she unzipped a long zipper that extended from one side to another, revealing two folded rolls inside. These she unfurled above and below the plane of the belt, and two flaps consisting of multiple zippers were aligned in series on the material, each having at least ten zippers about two feet wide.

  Opening the fourth zipper on the top flap, Yuki stretched the mouth wide and retrieved a small penlight from the open hole. Holding it in place with her teeth, she aimed the small beam inside, and reached in and pawed around the compartment.

  Aurora peeked over and saw that it was very organized, but everything was packed in super tight.

  Yuki found what she was looking for and set down the light and leaned into the zipper. After a brief tug-of-war, she came back with a handful of silver squares in cellophane pouches. She closed the zipper and grinned like the cat that got the cream.

  “They’re space blankets! Have you ever used them?” Yuki huffed in exasperation.

  “I’ve heard of them, but why would you have them?”

  “Computers are delicate things; you’ve got to protect them from the extremes, both hot and cold. These things can be a lifesaver in the right situations. And we just happened to find one of those.”

  They unpackaged the blankets which seemed to have a -5 debuff on stealth with the noisy way they crackled and murmured as the crinkly material rustled against itself as the women bundled up by the fire. They were smaller squares, only about four feet on a side, but Yuki had pulled out six packages. They were able to mummify themselves adequately just before the ambient temperature plummeted noticeably when the sun dropped below the mountains.

  Yuki turned back to the zippers and came back with some instant ramen cups and two large bottles of water. She also had some contraption that looked like an oil filter that she added water to and set next to the fire, dropping in some twigs and pulling a tiny hot coal to add to the center of the cylinder of the strange contraption. When the fire was going, Yuki pulled out a narrow teakettle and set it atop the tiny stove. Finally, she set out a line of wood to keep it going. Aurora gave a curious glance.

  “It’s a BioLite Campstove. It generates electricity. The narrow kettle heats the water a lot more quickly as all the water is above the flame.” She cocked her head and put her arms on her hips. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You’re much more… prepared than I ever thought you would be, like an Asian Mary Poppins.”

  “You can blame my mom for that. She always overpacked, and it must h
ave carried over. Still, these are the best for holding all my gear. I have everything I could possibly need right at my fingertips.”

  They stared at the fire as it slowly cracked and popped, occasionally adding in another piece of wood. Yuki plugged a USB into the BioLite and the laptop, being careful to keep it as far away from the flames as possible without tugging on the small cord and tipping the tiny campstove.

  When the water was hot enough, they made their ramen and ate quietly, both trying to process the day and what tomorrow would look like. The warm broth helped thaw the chill that Aurora didn’t even know was settling upon her as she wound down from the excitement of the day.

  Aurora looked at Yuki, and realized that she really didn’t know her that well. Casual acquaintances that could recognize each other, but she knew nothing of Yuki’s upbringing, how she got her powers or why she had come on this of all missions.

  “So what’s your story, Yuki? We usually don’t see a lot of hackers in the field; they like their lairs, takeout, and fountain Mt. Dew. What brings you out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  Her eyes pinched in suspicion. She stared a good minute at Aurora, as if assessing her intentions then relaxed. “Might as well tell someone.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Break My Stride

  “How do you see me?” Yuki asked, lips pressed into a tight line.

  “You’re part of the team—”

  “No no no!” She violently extended her raised palm, stopping Aurora from continuing. Yuki closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. “Before this mission, how did I fit into the Faction?” She spoke slowly, each word having a slight edge as she carefully enunciated them.