“Don’t worry about it. Hey, Chief!” Kaiden called.
His EI appeared above the table. “Morning, squadmates. We all ready for the day? Get into the Animus and train for the end-all-be-all test of the year.”
“I think he’s auditioning to be the squad’s mascot,” the ace joked. “That, or the all-important cheerleader.”
“Hello, Chief. It has been a while since we last interacted.” Kaitō’s avatar appeared on the tablet’s screen.
Chief turned slowly to the tablet, “Hey…Kaitō! How have…you been?” he responded, his words sounding stilted.
“He still seems to have problems with Chiyo’s EI,” Genos whispered to Kaiden.
“Hey, man, at least he isn’t insulting him, and that sounded like an actual greeting with a bit of small talk. Baby steps,” the soldier suggested nonchalantly as he finished his eggs and moved on to his bacon. “Hey, Chief, can Chiyo send you her info and graphs and all that and you display it for us?”
“Of course I can. That is but one of many powers I have at my disposal,” Chief declared as he turned to look at the infiltrator. “I just need you to send me the files you want me to show and I’ll get right on it.”
“Thank you, Chief,” she said with a nod. “Kaitō, would you please transfer the files and vids we found to Chief?”
Kaiden’s EI jostled around in the air, his eye widening. “Wait, Kaitō is gonna send them to me?”
“It would be the fastest way,” Chiyo reminded him.
“What’s wrong, Chief?” the ace asked.
The EI spun around and lowered himself in the air until he was face to face with Kaiden. “It’s just…I mean, I can do it and all, but for an EI to transfer anything to another EI, they have to interact and exchange the info by putting it directly into our memory, and it’s… Look, it’s kinda invasive, you know?”
Kaiden smiled slyly at the EI. “So what’s the problem? Just let Kaitō get in you and pour out his data stream into your system, and you can pop out the info in about nine seconds or so.”
Chief’s eye narrowed. “You’re not making this easier, you know.”
“Not my job, now suck it up. I’m talking about Kaitō’s—”
“I know what you’re saying.” The EI cut him off, then sighed and looked at the tablet. “Just get it over with.”
“Acknowledging. Transferring vids, files, and other information,” Kaitō stated.
Chief’s eye glowed brighter and darkened for a few seconds, showing that the information was being transferred. “Transfer complete. Now get out while I do my thing.”
“Certainly. Thank you for your cooperation, Chief,” Kaitō said and disappeared from the tablet screen.
“Thanks for making it quick, at least.” The EI sighed. “All right, what do you need, Chiyo?”
“Please bring up the vids—as many as you can without sacrificing resolution and without the screen being too small,” she requested.
“You only got eighteen here. Shouldn’t be a problem.” Chief’s orb disappeared and was replaced by eighteen virtual screens in rows of three.
“Well done,” Chiyo said approvingly. “These were a few videos I found on a few greysites.”
“Greysites?” Genos asked.
“They are basically secret websites that are created by clever hackers or scripters and are also called limbo servers. They host their own personal version of the internet but have special access points or workarounds that only those with special permissions or who know where to find them can access. Or if you have enough skill in hacking and know where to look,” she added. “They are from various years. Some run as little as eight seconds and others are as long as two minutes.”
“Doesn’t give us a lot to work with either way, but I’m guessing it’s more like a puzzle than a complete picture?” Kaiden inquired.
She nodded. “A good way of looking at it. A few videos seem to be from the same tests, but most are different. Chief, would you please play the videos?”
“All of them at once?” the EI asked.
“Yes, please.” The screens played, and Kaiden looked through them. All but two were in first person, and those last were stationary, looking in one direction like they had been taken from a camera set up on a tripod.
“The environments are different in a lot of these,” Genos noted. “Most seem to be indoors, but others are in a jungle or desert.”
“Good eye, Genos,” Chiyo said, “but the entire test is technically indoors.”
“So they are using terraforming tech or something like that in a few of the rooms?” Kaiden asked as he continued to watch the screens.
“Technically, they are simply using the capabilities of the Animus. Creating multiple environments in a single setting shouldn’t be that difficult for the system,” the infiltrator explained. “But take a look here.” She pointed at a screen in the middle of the third row.
The soldier watched as two teams of three fired on each other in a hallway. There was a bright flash, and the hallway became a war-torn street. Mechs fell from the sky and activated, firing on the teams as the screen looped back to the beginning. “The advisors changed the environment.”
“Didn’t the head monitor say at the meeting last night that this would be one of the challenges?” Genos asked.
“He did, but what interested me was that flash of light. I don’t think that was the advisors tampering with the environment.”
“Why’s that?” Kaiden couldn’t see what she had picked up on.
“You told me that the first time you entered the Animus it was with Professor Laurie, correct?” Chiyo asked.
“Yeah, because of my implant and all that.”
“You said that he swapped maps on you, and the same thing happened during your Synapse and loadout lesson with Adviser Faraji.”
“You have a good memory,” he admitted, “but what are you getting at?”
“The way the environment swapped in that vid. It was so quick, and the way the mechs loaded in and immediately attacked the surrounding initiates? If that was done with an advisor at the controls, there would have been at least a few seconds of darkness as that segment of the map was swapped out. Then the mechs would have to be loaded, and even once they are, it takes them a few moments to activate and become hostile. Whatever or whoever is in charge of swapping or adding in new obstacles isn’t doing it from the consoles in the AC.”
“Maybe it’s Laurie or a batch of his technicians,” the ace suggested. “This seems like the kind of thing he would get his jollies from.”
“Possibly. He would have the tech and direct access to the Animus systems. You can try getting him to talk, but I doubt you’ll get much.”
“I’ll bring a can of paint into his office and threaten to stain his clean carpet. That should work.” Kaiden snickered.
“Please don’t get yourself booted from the Academy before the test is done.” Chiyo sighed. “Besides, I’m still curious about the speed and suddenness of the change. The techs Laurie has at his disposal are some of the best, and they could simply have prepared formats and changes at the ready. But I think it might be something more advanced than that.”
“What do you suppose it could be?” Genos asked.
“It’s speculation, but perhaps it’s an EI within the Animus itself,” Chiyo stated.
Kaiden finished off his meal and tossed his fork on the tray. “Controlling it like the advisors would?”
“No. I mean that it is within the Animus, and specifically within the map itself. It would explain how all the rooms can change so suddenly and how they can be tailored to each team within reach and react in such a way that it corresponds to their style of fighting and weaknesses. It would also explain how it can do so on a whim.”
“But Chiyo, if that was the case, couldn’t a hacker like you potentially take control of it? That seems like a large flaw,” the Tsuna pointed out.
“That is true, but like I said, it’s merely speculation on m
y part. Something to consider as we prepare for the test.”
Kaiden tapped his fingers on the table. “That may be something to consider. Did you happen to find out anything about that team that actually won the test, as Zhang put it?”
“Only an old article,” Chiyo said after finishing her juice. “Chief, would you bring that up, please?”
The screens disappeared one by one and were replaced with a news article from the Nexus Chronicle declaring the winners of the 2176 Squad Test.
Kaiden read through the beginning of the article quickly. “I’m not seeing any names here.”
“They’ve been redacted, from what I can tell,” she stated. “All I could find was that the team was comprised of a marksman, a hacker, and an exotechnician.”
“What is an exotechnician?” Genos inquired.
“A type of medic. Biologists use serums and herbs and all that stuff to heal. Exotechs use gadgets and doodads. It’s great when you have a good one, but they like to use the latest stuff available and a lot of their new tech is often tested in the field to… Let’s go with mixed results,” Kaiden explained.
“The article says nothing about what they did or how they accomplished their ‘true victory’ as it says here.” Chiyo shrugged. “For now, I don’t have much else other than I can confirm that it happened at some point. I suggest we focus on sharpening our skills to win this test the ‘traditional’ way.”
“That’s a good place to start.” The ace looked around as more and more students began to leave and head for the Animus Center. “Looks like we should be heading that way. It’s gonna be filling up real soon.”
“If we have to wait, we can use the time to figure out what mission we should undertake,” the infiltrator suggested.
“Don’t have to worry about that. You and I are rank three. We get our own special room.” Kaiden beamed.
“But kin Jaxon said that there were only so many of those rooms. Will any be available?” Genos fretted.
“Don’t worry, Genos. Nothing on Jaxon, but he’s still rank two. Rank threes have a few extra rooms available to them. Though to be fair, those might also be taken, considering we have to worry about the whole Academy being there.”
“Then we should depart,” Chiyo stated as she stood with her tray in hand. “Once we get there, we need to quickly decide what mission we are going to do.”
“I’ve got that covered,” the soldier announced as he picked up his tray. “Y’all feel like having a ‘clash?’”
Chapter Fourteen
Kaiden materialized in the dropship’s hold, and Chiyo and Genos appeared beside him. “Welcome to Air Jericho. I can’t promise a smooth flight, but I can promise a future of fun times and a bit of ultra-violence.”
“Funny.” Chiyo deadpanned as she opened her loadout screen. “Before I make my decisions, do you care to fill us in on what we will face in this match, Kaiden?”
“I can’t say I’ve ever participated in a clash before,” Genos admitted. “What is it, exactly?”
“Okay, listen up. Actually, Chief, do you wanna help out here?”
“After you just got up and left me at the table? What happened to never leaving your squad behind?” Chief fumed as he appeared in the center of the hold.
“Cool your jets, Chief. You’re tethered to my head. It’s not like I can lose you,” Kaiden countered.
“It’s the thought that counts, dumbass.”
The ace rolled his eyes. “Get over yourself and give our friends here a rundown, would ya?”
“Fine, fine, but only because I’m a team player.”
“Yeah, your past actions have proved that indisputably. Just start talkin’.”
Chief changed into a large display of the map they were in, showing a substantial jungle island with a building at the center. “All right, the name of the game is Clash, and here’s what you gotta do.”
Depictions of Kaiden, Chiyo, and Genos appeared on one side of the map, and six non-descript figures appeared on the other. “It’s two teams trying to collect as much ‘rep’ as possible. You can do this a number of ways—killing mercs and droids, sabotaging devices, hacking into nodules, that type of stuff. The first group to make it to one thousand points wins.”
“Sounds almost exactly like what we will need to do in the Squad Test,” Genos noted.
“Two teams? Are we in a scrim?” Chiyo asked.
“Nah, the other team is artificial and controlled by the Animus.”
“They have six members?” Genos questioned, looking at the six figures on the map.
“I amped it up a bit. Figured we should get used to being outnumbered since, you know, we’ll be dealing with two hundred and ninety-seven other initiates, along with all the mobs on the map,” Kaiden explained.
“A good idea, Kaiden, but what specifically are we up against?” Chiyo inquired.
“Can’t say,” he replied.
“Still keeping us in the dark, then?” the mechanist asked.
He shook his head. “No, I really don’t know. I set the divisions for the opponents but not the class.”
“Can you tell us what their divisions are, at least?”
“You got two soldiers, two technicians, and two engineers. Beyond that, it’s up in the air,” Chief informed them.
“A mirror image of us with twice the members,” Chiyo noticed.
“So I should base my loadout on a straight battle troop, then?” Genos considered his options.
“Safe bet, but you have to remember there are also mercs and droids in the facility and that those technicians could be anything from hackers to agents or even infiltrators like Chiyo. Might get lucky and get a translator, though. That should make for easy pickings.”
“On the engineer side, there could be pilots or mech-jocks. We need to make sure they can’t get into their respective vehicles if that’s the case. Otherwise, we’ll be at a huge disadvantage,” Chiyo stated.
Kaiden nodded as he flipped through his loadout. “Agreed. But I would suggest we play it safe and not engage right away.” He looked up to see his teammates staring at him. “What are you looking at me like that for?”
“You…suggested we don’t immediately engage the enemy. That’s almost concerning, coming from you,” Genos said, perplexed.
“Maybe something went wrong during his sync?” the infiltrator suggested.
“I’m fine. But at this point, the important thing is to get the points. We get a good number for taking them out, but we lose points if we die.”
“You have infinite lives in this mission. But like Sir Trigger-Happy said, you lose about twenty percent of your points if you die. And that’s if only one of you eat it,” Chief warned.
“The opposing team probably isn’t up to snuff compared to us, but they are supposed to be way better than the grunts we usually handle. On top of that, they are better equipped. I don’t know how many of them it will take to defeat me—if they can at all—but I know how many they have, and it might be enough,” Kaiden reasoned.
“So how would you recommend we complete this mission?” Chiyo asked.
“Well, I don’t think the normal way will work. Not enough time to get you set up, and even if we did, they would probably catch on a lot faster than the normal mobs do. You would be targeted for the rest of the match,” Kaiden advised.
“So we should stay on our feet then?” Genos suggested.
The soldier nodded. “We’ll focus on taking out the trash mercs and getting nodes and all that. Those are worth a lot more than simply gunning down whatever gets in our way. Unless it’s big, then we kill it and get a shit-ton of points.”
“Don’t forget the other payloads,” Chief reminded him.
“Payloads?” Genos questioned the EI.
The map disappeared and was replaced by images of a large mech, a black server with glowing lights, and a power core. “Payloads are specific targets that yield five hundred points or more. As Kaiden mentioned, you can take out a powerful e
nemy and gain a lot of points, but if you can hack into a server with high-end security or rewire a power core, those are also payloads connected to your classes.”
“I recommend we go for the power core or the server. The big enemies are lots of fun, but it leaves us open to ambushes from the enemy team, and there’s a good chance the big bastards can take us out too,” Kaiden stated.
“It seems clear that you have done this sort of mission before?” the Tsuna inquired.
“Ran it a couple times with Flynn’s team. First time was easy. Second time, the enemy team rubber-banded like utter bastards, and we only won by ten points,” he explained.
“Might I ask how many members the other team had when you ran those missions?” she asked.
“First time was an even four and four, the next time was four against five.”
“And now it’s three against six,” she muttered.
“Like I said, better to get used to stacked odds now than during the test,” Kaiden responded. “We’ve got this. No worries.”
“Two minutes to touch-down, guys,” Chief warned.
Kaiden closed out his loadout screen, and a kinetic auto rifle appeared in his hands. “All right, y’all pick your loadouts, and let’s get ready to get in there.”
The group approached the fortress on the island, and Kaiden looked around for side entrances or paths near the large main doors.
“How do y’all wanna play this?” he asked, looking back at his squadmates.
“A full stealth approach wouldn’t be practical here,” Genos advised. “We could potentially wait for the other team to begin, creating a distraction and allowing us to swoop in and catch the guards unaware.”
“Where is the other team? Do we know that?” Chiyo asked.
The soldier pointed at the building. “The other team gets dropped off on the opposite side of the island. We won’t run into them right away.”
“Then I recommend we sneak inside and try to silently take out as many as we can. I’ll get a map if one is available and try to access as many nodes and terminals as I can to boost our score,” Chiyo offered.
Animus series Boxed Set Page 74