“Now I see why you uploaded so many videos and simulation games.”
Mark got a message from the team. “Looks like time for more testing.”
“All right. I’ll be watching your vitals from here,” Ava also picked herself off from the coffin and walked over to her workstation. “Have fun.”
“Oodles and oodles,” Mark replied sarcastically as once again he was swarmed by the excited development team.
Finally, the excitement had worked its way through the development team. With all of the tests complete, they pored over the data and left Mark to his own devices.
“Pullo on the net.”
“Connect me.” Sarah automatically initialized the step-down program they’d finished thoroughly testing.
“All right, looks like based on what the design team says, you’re fully functional.”
“Woo-hoo—I’m normal,” Mark said sarcastically.
“Anyway, they’ll be departing tonight with the spare suit for Roma.” Sarah already flashed him the information.
“Yes, sir.” Mark couldn’t hide the bite in his words.
“I’m sorry it’s so sudden.”
“It’s the military—everything’s sudden, before you sit there and wait.”
“Ain’t that the truth of it? I trust you’ll see to the details.”
“On it already.”
“Of course you are. Talk soon.” Pullo cut the channel.
***
“What the fuck is that?” Carla said.
A set of powered armor walked into the hangar. She had to blink a few times. It was so dark, the light around it seemed to be absorbed by it. It was the same as the carbon hendral layer of the legionnaires’ shields buried beneath other metals. They followed the crowd of VIPs the Shadow was supposed to be escorting.
“No idea. There isn’t anything in the NIAI data archives either,” Liviana reported from beside Carla. Above the group, a ten-foot-tall seamless armorite crate hovered underneath a grav lift. Loading bots took over, carrying the crate away into the stealth ship’s tiny cargo hold.
A black-haired man—apparently the leader of the crowd of VIPs—carried his single duffel over his arm.
“By the gods, what is that smell?” His eyes actually watered at the smell. In the rush to get the ship ready, the recycler had been suspiciously left untouched, much to the angry words of the captain and the crew.
Great way to start off. Chen put the engineering section’s problems to words. “Our waste recycler was broken on our previous mission and the engineers were unable to fix it.” He smiled sweetly but he so wanted to growl.
The man’s face was thunderous as he turned to his people. Carla felt the worst as the man opened his mouth to condemn them.
“All right. Gomez, get us some raw parts. Maxine, I want an overlay for the ship, including a full list of problems and necessary upgrades. Jess, hook up a forge to the main fusion plant. Mark, could you hook up the ship to the flush system?”
The group split up, smiles—actual smiles—on their faces as they set to work. Carla was amazed as scanners appeared, with the group of VIPs happily doing the work of ship engineers. The one presumably named Jess walked past Carla with a good-sized box in her arms, one of the trio of hyped-up individuals excitedly talking.
The massive suit hoisted the three-ton tube and attached it to the ship’s flush system. Gomez and his team where already pulling grav carts covered in what looked like broken parts.
“Why are you getting broken parts?”
“Come and see. Oh, and I’m Charles, by the way,” he said after getting a look from a stunning blonde. “Not my fault I forget niceties,” he muttered under his breath. “First officer Carla and my engineering head Liviana.”
“Pleasure.” He shook their hands and led them inside the ship. “It really isn’t any better inside here.” He waved his hand in an attempt to dissipate the smell, giving up after a few moments as they entered the main power plant of the stealth ship.
The box that Jess had brought in was now opened up and connected to a direct power feed to the fusion plant. Liviana studied the work, nodding in satisfaction. The box had two openings, one at the top—which was a silver mass of nanites and a tray.
“Let’s get some air fresheners for the meantime, Jess.” Dutifully she put in something on the view screen interface to the side of the box. The nanites moved as a solid object was pushed out of the tray. Carla and Liviana watched in rapt awe as an air recycler was produced. One of Jess’s crew picked it up, their eyes glistening as they handed it to Charles, who promptly turned it on and replaced the foul smell with vanilla.
“Better.”
“Maxine just finished her scans. Everything’s internal and Gomez’s got the parts we need. He’s on his way in.”
“I’m going to box whoever made this thing ’round the damned head.” Gomez could be heard yelling as he squeezed through the stealth ship’s tiny corridors. “All right, here you go.” He stood at the entrance of the room and handed what looked like a split armorite beam to Liviana.
“Put it in the shiny stuff,” he said under his breath, just audible to everyone else as Liviana’s ears went beet-red as she did so. The nanites devoured the materials as brand-new parts spit out of the tray.
“I bet you weren’t ever shown what a forge was, were you?”
“No, sir. I only saw them in training manuals; they’re rarer than carbon hendral,” Liviana said in rapt awe as Carla looked at the tiny box in similar surprise.
Gomez was handed parts from along the human chain he’d made through the ship, handing them to Liviana, who gave them to Jess’s crew, who sorted them out along the side of the wall or put them into the forge.
“Everyone, once they get one, is focused on making useless junk, not stuff that will be of any use.” Charles threw his arms up in annoyance as he walked out. Carla tailed him as they squeezed past Gomez’s bulk and outside again.
“Maxine?” Charles said over a net. Including Carla, Gomez, Liviana, and Jess, there was another person on the net but Carla’s NIAI couldn’t identify it.
“Completed scans of the entire ship with Mark’s help,” she said by way of explanation. “The structure is fine. It’s due for a software upgrade. The recycler system we can do in flight, as well as work on the power and weapon systems. The heat sync systems need to have some dock maintenance. Other than that, it’s basically just what we want to do. I accessed the prototype’s database and it showed me how to get thirty percent more out of the power plants.”
“How? It would go past capacity,” Liviana interjected.
“It would surpass its current capacity yes, but by increasing the reflective effect of the shielding and increasing the accuracy of the lasers and refinement system of the bottle, it’s easily possible,” a voice rumbled, talking just slow enough for them to understand. “Flushing the waste system now. I put my parts underneath the recycler list. Jess, there’s also some minor leaking here.”
“Estimate till ready?” Charles asked the group.
“You’re fine right now; you can do all of the stuff in jump or sub-light.”
“Will you guys ever stop tinkering with everything you see?” another voice said, in faux angry tones as it came onto the net.
“We were just leaving and then we found out no one fixed the waste recycler,” Maxine replied from the ramp as Carla came out. Although Maxine was a great looking blonde, the brunette in front of her was a stunner.
“You just want to see if the tricks you’ve learned from Mark will work, don’t you?”
“Girl’s got to show off at some time.” Maxine flicked her hair.
The speaker cracked a smile; the brunette did the same.
A straight knockout, Carla thought as the captain opened a private net.
“Carla, you mind telling me why there’s people running around my ship pulling things apart and there’s a box that makes things seemingly miraculously out of my main power plant?”
/>
“Captain, they’re fixing our recycler system and giving us a few upgrades.”
“What kind of upgrades?”
“More power from the power plants, something about weapon systems, and a software upgrade. Ask one of them, but be nice—they’re also our VIPs.”
“I’ll do that. Chen out.”
Mark, the mysterious suited man, asked her to join a private net with him and Charles.
“I was wondering if you could do me a favor,” he started off.
“With what?”
“I have two satellites I want to send into the system to do some further analysis of it, but it would take weeks with me using the launcher here. I was wondering if you could drop them off on your way to the jump point. They have sub-light systems, so they can guide themselves to where’s best and I can attach them to your hull so they don’t take up any room.”
“So that’s what you’re working on?” Charles said.
“I’ll need to see them first.” Carla rubbed her chin in thought.
“Here you are.” Two cylinders were brought in on an anti-grav lift, covered in folded solar arrays. Thrusters protruded from the rear and the sides.
“Liviana, could we give these a lift?” She sent a picture of them to her.
“Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ten minutes later, Chen okayed them.
The massive suit took off his helmet. A silver line appeared where it joined to his neck. He attached it to his chest; his face and veins seemed weird for a split second, making Carla think it had never happened. She shrugged and she turned. The three men—Charles, Mark, and Chen—were walking on the catwalk which connected with the stealth ship’s cradle and furiously talking about upgrades.
Once it became clear they were doing their best to not only repair Chen’s ship but upgrade it, they’d become instant friends, with Chen doing all he could to help.
“Well, the next time you’re in Roma, look me up for a beer, Mark.”
“Certainly will, Captain Chen. Though I think you’ll soon regret taking Charles and his crew on. They might decide they want to redesign the whole ship in mid-flight.”
“Well, the stealth ship has been in production for ten years. Even off the base model, there are modifications we could make—newer, high-density weapon systems for sure. The propulsion…”
“You are not pulling my ship apart until it’s safely in a dock. For now, just the easy stuff,” Chen said in a warning tone.
Charles just smiled as he made some notes. Chen shook his head, grinning, his own eyes alight with the thoughts and ideas for a new stealth ship.
The development team met up with the four of them as they said their final good-byes, leaving Ava and Mark on the catwalk. The catwalk withdrew as the cradle moved to the accelerator line.
Sirens sounded as the AI warned every one of the line being put into use. Hatches opened to the sky. The AI, satisfied everyone was clear of the line, magnetized it and hurled the stealth ship out of the base and through the atmosphere into the space beyond.
“I’m going to miss them,” Ava said as the hatches closed behind the ship. She and Mark turned back to the hatch that would take them into the barracks.
“Me too.” Mark put his helmet back, fusing it back together.
“I heard you’re being put on active duty with my crew.”
“Yup, looks like you’re stuck with me a little longer. Want to introduce me?”
“Sure thing.” Ava twirled around, Mark in tow.
“When’re you going to tell them what those satellites are really for?”
“A man never reveals his GOTH plan.”
“Right,” Ava said in a tone that made it clear she didn’t understand what in the hell he’d just said.
Chapter 13
Legionnaire Tower
Roma, Hellenic system
6/3351
It had been three weeks since Chen had left when Damus contacted Pullo.
“Hello, Pullo. It’s been awhile.”
“Yes, Commander of Roma’s Legions.”
“I’ll cut through the shit. The information Chen provided us is scary—terrifying, in fact. I’ve got orders from the senate to proceed with manufacturing the weapon systems as fast as possible based on schematics and information provided by Charles’s team. Though there’s a catch: for us to make weapons, the suits need to take a backburner, which means I’ll only have enough suits for twenty in five months’ time.”
“Twenty? What about the forges?”
“They’re all being turned over to re-arm, and bring everything to fighting trim. The weapon systems we know and the suits we can make with people, so they want to go with that.”
“I agree in being safe and while the forges are new, they could help us immensely. We could make a suit in a day. Mark says he’ll only be able to make one every six months by himself and he’s rated as a level fourteen morph.”
Damus’s eyebrows looked as though they were racing for the ceiling. “I didn’t know he was that high of a morph. It still doesn’t change anything; the senate likes to go with the tried and tested methods. Including with the suits.”
“This doesn’t sound good.”
“The merger initiative that will be run by Martin Faust will look into the advantages and disadvantages of the suit; they’re to test the suit and report back to me and the senate on their findings.”
“That could take years!”
“Yes, but I didn’t tell you anything.”
“Sir?”
“I was wondering how our recruiting was going on Crisidium and if they were using the forges they wanted.”
“They’re currently under attack but since we’ve cleared out our AO, we’re coordinating a relief force. I believe they’ve been interested in the forge technology and would like to get some. I’m thinking we could ask them to make some armor for troops who wish to join or need new armor.” The two men’s eyes glinted conspiratorially.
“As is their right. After Mark’s work, it might be beneficial to see if he fits into a leader’s role, training these new recruits.”
“Yes, sir. I agree it will be most beneficial to the new recruits.” Pullo and Damus locked eyes, silent agreement passing between them.
“Well, good luck, Legatus, for the people.”
“Always.” Pullo finished the saying as they cut the connection. The hologram turned to that of Crisidium, one of two surviving city-states left on Tricticus.
***
Centurion Michales felt the now familiar shudders through the floor and saw the water in his bulb shake as Mark walked back inside the Death Dealers’ barracks. The Death Dealers still stared at the Pluto-powered armor suit. It was hard not to.
“Seems you’ve gone up a few pay grades since I last saw you.” Michales grinned. His NIAI highlighted the rank change to a centurion. It was uncommon, but Michales and Mark would work it out.
Mark took off his helmet; the room watched as nanites sluiced together and then retreated down his neck. “I was happy just being a damned grunt. Now I have to do all of this thinking stuff.” Mark sighed with emphasis.
“You thinking, that’s rich,” Ava said from her bunk, to the laughs of the others.
Michales grinned with them. Mark had quickly shown he was a natural leader and damned smart, plus his nanites meant they’d found it easier to get their gear repaired by him instead of the engineers, who were swamped with fixing the base still.
“I’m not here to take your place, Michales. Just give me an open spot. I’ll be an evocatus if need be. I don’t want to disrupt the command structure.”
A wave of relief washed over Michales. He did not want to have leadership disputes with this man, and he’d seen him in just training.
“Thanks, Mark. In that case, can you take over the fourth line? Guertex was transferred.” Michales streamed the information to Mark.
“I’m on it,” Mark said as Sarah streamed information of the twenty people he was
now in charge of.
“The fourth contubernium is used to weed out which commanders will proceed and which will fail. It’s their job to test the commanders,” she informed him.
A smile touched Mark’s lips at the implied challenge.
Michales opened a private channel, using his NIAI, so his lips didn’t move as he walked back to his bunk and Mark turned to his contubernium’s bunks. “Look after fourth contubernium. They’re a good bunch.”
“I will, Centurion. Any tips?”
“Ask Dominik.”
“Thank you, Centurion.”
Mark walked away, seeking out Evocatus Dominik.
Chapter 14
Camp Epsilon
Tricticus, Emarl system
6/3351
“Suits locked up. Walk and talk.” As helmets went on and weapons were checked, Michales continued the briefing to all of the decani, the men and women who led the contuberniums. They’d heard it hundreds of times over the last week.
“We’re finally going to provide support to Crisidium.” A 3-D map opened in front of all of the contubernium, showing a blob of armorite that seemed to have grown out of a mountain range, stretching to a natural harbor and farmland covered in a brilliant blue sea. “We’re going to be attached with the Ape Killers. Crisidium’s been breached in a few places, so we need to end this quickly. Questions?”
“How bad are the breaches?” Alexandra, the second contubernium’s leader, asked.
“They’ve gotten through five blast doors in some areas. Updates from the net are available.”
Sarah flashed the readouts to Mark, who passed it down to Dominik and Xers, his decani.
“Anything else?” Everyone readied themselves and their gear, indicating they didn’t have any further questions.
“All right, see to your contuberniums,” Michales said, dismissing them all.
Mark went through the same diatribe with his contubernium, letting the decanus assign roles.
They entered a cavernous hangar with Bellona and Badger land transports. They had massive angled blast shields that would shrug off the heaviest Maraukian fire raised in the air as centuriae loaded into transport holds were lowered into place. The transport holds were simple crates with harnesses lining the walls and the center aisle. Each connected to the Badger’s power plants and external weaponry.
The Tenth Awakens (Maraukian War Book 1) Page 12