“What’s he on about?” Flynn wondered aloud. Kaiden knocked him in the ribs as payback. “Now you’re simply being childish,” the marksman huffed.
“You will leave this theater and immediately head to the Animus Center. Over the summer, we added two new wings to the building and increased the capacity by two hundred pods,” Durand informed them. “You will find a pod, and once you sync, you will be sent on a training mission with two teammates chosen at random. Your objectives are unique and your map will be procedurally generated. Your success is dependent on you working together, and your score will determine your starting classes and privileges for the beginning of the year.”
As the crowd erupted in surprised chatter, the holoscreens disappeared. Kaiden removed his legs from the rail and leaned over to look at Durand, who stood confidently in the center of the stage. “Welcome to the Advanced Class.”
Chapter Five
“Hurry up, students. Find a pod and get in,” an advisor yelled and herded the advanced class into the Animus hall.
“Best of luck to you guys,” Luke called as they turned the corner. “Me and the guys want to check out the new wings and pods.”
“Do you think they had a new paint job or something?” Kaiden joked. “Let me know how y’all do. Later!” His and Flynn’s teams entered Hall Three.
“I didn’t think we would be thrown in this quickly,” Flynn admitted as they headed to the far end of the room and the remaining pods. “I’m not complaining. Back in the saddle, I suppose you would say.”
“I would indeed. So, how random do you think this will be?” Kaiden asked and entered the first available pod.
“I’m not sure, but I did hear some things discussed during my time working with the Tech Department,” Chiyo answered and selected the pod beside Kaiden.
“Oh? What has he brewed up now and how are we suckered in?” Kaiden asked, his voice droll and gruff with displeasure.
“There’s no need to worry about anything malicious. When I worked with the professor, he mentioned that he had updated aspects of the Animus, smoothed out the transition of the sync, and increased the ability of certain processes. The fact that the chancellor mentioned that the maps are procedurally generated and not crafted as usual must mean he’s already implemented the features.”
“And we’ll probably be the Guinea pigs, joy,” Kaiden muttered.
“You know, friend Kaiden, you talk about this professor in a rather disapproving tone, but isn’t he the reason you have Chief and that unique device?” Genos asked from the pod across from him.
“You’ll learn first impressions mean a hell of a lot on Earth, Genos.” Kaiden sighed. “And he made a terrible one. Not that I say it to his face, but I sometimes wonder if there’s some sort of self-destruct command in that thing he implanted.”
“Get ready for sync, everyone,” an advisor instructed as he walked down the hall and inspected the pods. “Are you all ready?” he asked the group.
“I feel right comfy, but I’m kinda surprised Akello isn’t here. I usually end up with her,” Kaiden noted.
“Advisor Faraji is working in the new east wing for the time being. She’s overseeing the entire wing,” the monitor stated.
“Akello got a promotion? I thought she had only been made an advisor last year,” Chiyo commented.
“That’s not how she sees it.” The advisor chuckled. “But she was a pod tech and Animus instructor before getting the advisor position, so she has the smarts and know-how to be an overseer. But it’s not her official position at the moment. You can ask her once you get back. Closing the pods!” He shouted his last words as the Animus pods sealed.
The ace relaxed as the now familiar process began and he smiled to himself as he drifted off. He never would have thought that he would consider this almost nostalgic.
When Kaiden opened his eyes, he wore his normal coat and armor and the HUD of his visor activated as he looked at his surroundings. He was in a rec room—or, at least, what appeared to be a rather lonely one. Tables and chairs were neatly arranged and nondescript. The room had no windows and only a single door in the front.
A couple of flashes in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Two other advanced students appeared. One was a woman dressed in a dark-gray vest over a long-sleeved black shirt and dark pants with high-heeled shoes. Her short brown hair was cut in a bob with gold stripes on the left. She looked curiously at Kaiden with rounded hazel eyes before they both turned to the third member of their party, someone Kaiden recognized.
“Mack? Is that you?” he asked in surprise.
The vanguard spread his arms wide and almost slammed them into the girl. “Kaiden! What’s happening, man?” he bellowed. “Show some love.”
“I guess I don’t have to worry about being dumped with two scrubs. How have you been since the test?” he asked and raised a fist that the taller man bumped quickly.
“I’ve done all right. I spent the break working out with my brothers,” he explained and folded his large arms across his even larger chest.
“Are they here in Nexus too?” Kaiden asked.
“Nah. Two of them serve in the American Guard, and the other is a Marine in the WCM. They put me through my paces, I can promise you that, but not enough to stop me getting a different kind of action during the break.” He snickered.
“Has a big guy like you got yourself a big girl, then?” Kaiden inquired.
“Of a sort—a tourist chick from the east coast. She wanted to see Graceland and take a crawl through Beale Street and all that. I showed her around, and she showed me a good time,” he boasted. “I didn’t get her number or network info, but she found me on my social page before I came back and it seems she might be interested enough to make a return trip next year. Take another ride on the big Mack!”
Kaiden laughed and shook his head before turning to the girl again, “Sorry there, madame. He’s not always such a dog.”
“Unless you’re talking hound dog,” Mack jested.
“Who might you be?” the ace asked her and ignored his friend.
The girl composed herself quickly. She straightened and held her hands behind her back. “My name is Lancia Guðmundsdóttir, Logistics Division, Diplomat Class.”
“Good Lord, that’s a mouthful,” Kaiden muttered. “I haven’t worked with a diplomat before, but I can already tell you that you’re definitely ahead of me in that department if we aren’t allowed to negotiate physically.”
“That would usually be frowned upon,” she stated and still stood at attention.
“I appreciate the show of courtesy, but you can relax. We’re obviously not the biggest sticklers for conduct here,” Kaiden told her and nodded at Mack who now sat on one of the tables. The top sagged under his massive weight.
She nodded and relaxed infinitesimally. “Thanks, but as a diplomat, the code of conduct is sacred. Soldiers keep up with weapons skills and conditions, so they are always at peak performance. We constantly practice etiquette and stature to keep our skills up to par.”
“That’s commendable, but it also sounds like a class I won’t moonlight in anytime soon,” Kaiden snarked. “Do you have any firearms skills or martial training?”
“I spend most of my points in my class tree and in general talents. I have the basic firearms training that every student learns in prep and in the initiate year,” she explained.
“So you’re here for something different, which is kinda obvious. I guess you and I will do the dirty work, Mack.”
“That’s the kind of work daddy likes.” He nodded and punched a fist into his open palm.
“Simmer down, big guy. We don’t even know what the hell we’re supposed to do yet,” Kaiden admonished and looked around the room. “I don’t see a board or anything. Should we wait for instructions or something?”
A rapid beeping issued from a small console on a table in the corner. Kaiden glanced at his companions. Mack shrugged while Lancia stepped cautiously toward it. Th
e console continued to beep and a small amber light flashed in sync with the noise. She clicked the answer button.
“Good evening lady and gentlemen,” a voice greeted them in crisp tones. “This is your mission. You are to escort your team’s diplomat to her shuttle through the terminal beyond the door of this room. Once inside, fly the shuttle to its destination, where you will disembark and the diplomat will meet her contacts. Her objectives will be transferred to her EI at the completion of this message, as will the soldiers’. Your final score will be tallied at the end and will comprise a mix of how many hostiles are eliminated, the number of objectives accomplished by the diplomat during her negotiation, and lives lost. The mission can continue if the soldiers die but if the diplomat falls, the test will end, and you will all fail.”
“Nice of them to think of us,” Kaiden grunted.
Mack shrugged. “It comes with the territory, right?”
“For how much I pay to come here, I would like to think we’re worth more and are less expendable than a rental guard,” Kaiden retorted.
Mack leaned his head back in thought before he raised a finger to the ceiling and looked at Kaiden. “To be fair, that’s our contract. Someone else will pay for us and we work it off, so it’s free, in a way.”
Kaiden waved him off. “That’s called indentured servitude, which isn’t much better. And I’ll be damned if I’ll suck up to some fat cat who thinks I’ll call him ‘sir’ for five years or something.”
Mack laughed. “Maybe you should have given that more thought before signing up.”
“My hindsight is exemplary, trust me. And I’m already dealing with it.”
The large man cocked his head questioningly, but before he could say anything, Lancia held up a hand as the instructions came to an end. “You have your mission, the first of your advanced year. We wish you well. Hominum ultra.” The message ended with a click and the console disappeared in white light.
A loadout screen appeared in front of Kaiden, and he scrolled through the options. “Will you go with heavy weapons, Mack?”
“I am the weapon,” he stated. “As far as firearms are concerned, I’ll go with a hand cannon. A Mark Two Buster, Sigma Munitions model. I’ll add a caster attachment to my gauntlets to enable me to throw my barriers and some thermals— Wait, I guess that would be bad in enclosed spaces, huh?”
“It usually ends in lost body parts—for you and them. Better stick with shocks,” Kaiden advised. “For your melee weapon, you should try a shock gauntlet. I hear there are some new models that will actually increase the power of shields around your hands.”
“I already have one,” he said with mirth in his voice. “The things pack a wallop. My brother Anthony let me test one over the break.”
Kaiden nodded approvingly. “What are your options, Ms. Negotiator?”
“Mine are limited, as fighting isn’t my field of expertise,” she admitted. “Sidearm, melee, one gadget.”
“Take a Servitor. It packs a punch that can shatter most low-level barriers and requires minimal charge-up. It can also fire a couple of dozen rounds before you need to vent it. As for melee, take whatever you’re comfortable with, but we’ll make sure they don’t get close enough that you have to use it— Actually, change of thought. Grab a blade.”
“Why?” she asked.
“From what the message hinted at, it doesn’t look like our job ends when you start yours. Something may go down, so it would be better to have more offensive options just in case. Besides, it would be more intimidating when you do start negotiations,” Kaiden offered.
“Threatening the people I’m supposed to haggle with isn’t the friendliest display.” She sighed. “But I’ll take it into consideration.”
“You should also grab a barrier projector and some armor,” Kaiden said. “I’m not sure if that’s normal for y’all. But in battlefields, an exposed body makes for an attractive target, particularly the head. If it’s no trouble, it would make our job easier.”
“I have a preload for armor for most of my normal missions, but fighting isn’t usually involved,” she explained. She tapped a button on her loadout screen and a set of light armor, white with blue accents, appeared around her. “I’ll add a stealth mod.” She pressed another button and her armor changed to black as the blue accents faded.
“Good idea. Let me finish up here.” Kaiden looked through his options. He opted to go with his normal loadout but decided to add a machine gun and scanned quickly for one in particular. Once he found it, he smiled and selected it, then added a plasma blade, shock grenades, and a serum injector for his gadgets. He closed the screen out as his choices materialized on him, slid Debonair into its holster, and checked his belt for his items.
To test the new addition to his usual gadgets, he flicked his wrist and the hilt of the plasma blade slid from his gauntlet and appeared in his hand. He pressed the trigger and the blade released. It was smaller than his normal blade but easier to retrieve in tight situations. He held the button down and it began to glow. Despite its size, it would still cut through almost anything.
“Nice choice, Kaiden.” Mack complimented him and examined the machine gun. “Is that a Tempest?”
Kaiden nodded and held it up, “I’ve played around with some fun things too. I bought one for myself and a couple of mods to go with it. It cost me a lot in cred but made up for itself quickly.”
“I would hope so.” The vanguard chuckled. “There’s no fun in dropping a lot of creds on something that you’re only gonna use at the range.” They looked at Lancia who finished making her choices.
She closed her screen out as a rounded helmet appeared on her head. “I’m ready to go when you two are.”
“Let’s get to it,” Mack declared and thumped his chest. “Don’t worry about a thing. Nothing will touch you before we get on that ship.”
“Afterwards, however, it’s completely possible,” Kaiden scoffed as he moved to the door.
The large man rubbed the back of his head. “He’s joking, of course.”
“I know I’m in good hands. You seem rather confident and him…” She looked at Kaiden for a moment. “I know what he’s capable of. Everyone from last year does by now.”
“No kidding. You should have seen him during the Death Match,” Mack confided and drew a deep breath. “Of course, I helped him out at the beginning and destroyed a Goliath class droid.”
“Impressive.” She smiled. “As much as I would like to see you in action, I’d be happy to not run into a Goliath during this mission.”
“Shame. It could make for some good action.” The vanguard sounded disappointed.
“As much as I would like to sit around and hear you two talk about how great I am, we should move. I didn’t have much for breakfast because I didn’t expect to get my happy ass tossed back in so quickly, so let’s do this. I get grumpy when I’m peckish,” Kaiden ordered.
Mack nodded, and he and Lancia joined him at the door. The ace pushed the switch to open the doors, his gun at the ready. A dark tunnel yawned ahead of them. They looked out in confusion before glow strips illuminated the ground and portions of the ceiling. The lights snaked through the tunnel and split into multiple paths as the rest of the room appeared. They stared at a winding trail of halls and paths across a vast space.
“I can barely see a thing,” Lancia gasped.
“Have your EI adjust the light sensitivity in your visors,” Kaiden suggested. “It’ll make it easier, but I hope no one has any flashbangs.”
“So we gotta make our way to the shuttle and take out potential hostiles without being able to see them coming?” Mack questioned.
“I’m sure they’ll be as blind as we are. Plus, the glow strips will light our path,” Kaiden stated and put his gun away. “What’s wrong, Mack, scared of things that go bump in the dark?”
The vanguard slammed his fists together and his armor surged with energy as his barriers activated. “Heh, hell no. They’re scared of me.”<
br />
Chapter Six
The group made their way along the illumined paths with the amber light of the glow strips their only means of navigation. They reached a split in the path where one direction continued ahead and the other led them to the left. Lancia stopped them, pointed down the left hallway, and beckoned them to follow.
“Do you have a map?” Kaiden whispered over their comm link.
“No, but I was given a compass that provides directions to the port,” she explained. “It was loaded in with my objective.”
“That’s handy,” Mack stated. “What exactly do you have to do once we get to this meeting place?”
“Right now, my only objectives are ‘get to the shuttle’ and ‘don’t die’ once we arrive. I’ll inform you of the rest when I get them,” she promised. Kaiden looked around for enemies, cameras, turrets, or anything that could be a potential danger as they moved on. So far, nothing seemed remotely threatening. All he saw were the pathways and the low lights of the glow strips.
“I don’t like this. I know it’s cliché and everything, but it’s too damn quiet,” Chief grunted, and his eye looked around in Kaiden’s HUD as if scanning the surroundings.
“Do you think they will port the hostiles in like they did during the Death Match?” Kaiden asked aloud.
“Maybe. At least it would be something,” Mack huffed. “There’s something creepy about walking around in an empty terminal. I guess I’m used to them being so busy that to see it this uninhabited is kind of unnerving.”
Lancia lifted her hand to stroke the top of her opposite arm. “It’s eerie, I’ll admit, but it’s better than laser fire and bullets coming at you from all sides.”
“That’s actually more of our native element,” Mack jested.
They reached another break in the path, but Lancia continued directly ahead, and the others followed. “I can certainly appreciate your bravery, but the less of a mess this is, the quicker we can finish and the higher the score.”
Animus series Boxed Set Page 96