Aug 23, 2024 9:35:18 GMT
Post by Liek on Aug 23, 2024 9:35:18 GMT
Sharp popping and cracking echoed among the hills and trees bordering the training camp the 545th Special Operations Platoon ‘Tri-Stars’ used as their home base. Soldiers from across the three squads where all gathered at the shooting range to sharpen and practice their marksmanship. The sun had already descended to mark the midpoint of the afternoon as the men and women practised, some using conventional firearms while others used the experimental energy weapons they had been provided by the Research and Development Department. Despite the unusual range of weapons the soldiers remain focused, their eyes locked on the targets downrange.
However, one among them stood out. The youngest of their number, a teenager with messy brown hair who was definitely not wearing regulation clothing concealing a powerful body that put even the largest of the soldiers to shame. This young man was in fact their commanding officer, Lieutenant Liek Galswith. And he was one of the few people on Earth who could wield the mythical power of Ki… and the only known living person able to draw on the fabled power of Orgone.
“Man…” Surge, Liek’s second in command, sighed next to him as she set her weapon back in a storage rack, “These things must look like toys compared to what you can do, huh?”
The teen hummed in thought before replying, “Not really, the Fury used technology to wield their power, and they maintained an interplanetary empire for several millennia. I mean, sure, they where more advanced then Earth, but it’s only a matter of time before humanity is reaching for the same heights in their own way.”
“Heh…” the young woman laughed, “You make it sound like Earth is going to try to start its own galactic empire.” She smirked, the idea being absolutely absurd to her. In her mind Earth’s leadership where too demure to try such an aggressive approach to interplanetary diplomacy.
“Are you sure?” Liek replied, “The Fury didn’t build their empire on the back of conquest and oppression. They peacefully integrated their neighbours by first winning their favour with military alliances, then becoming indispensable to trade, then, after generations of good relations, their neighbours would willingly integrate their governments…” The young man looked over at his 2IC with a serious look on his face and an expression that looked out of place on the young man, “Do you really think Earth couldn’t do the same?”
The question left the woman silent. She could see the logic. Now that he’d said it aloud she could even see the Earth government doing just that. Heck, in a way she could see it happening now with the Namekian and Cerealian refugees. Even if their worlds where reclaimed and they rebuilt their independent governments both species would be reliant on Earth for protection. It would be inevitable for that nominal independence to erode and both species to formally integrate with Earth by popular demand.
Now that the idea had been planted in the woman’s head it scared her, not just because of the implications, but because a guy two years younger then her, who apparently hadn’t experienced society as a whole until just a short time before meeting her, was the one talking about such things. An eighteen year old who hadn’t even voted in an election before had just dropped some long game galactic domination politics on her like it was the most casual thing to talk about. Surge didn’t even have a ten year plan for her own life, and this kid was planning how to conquer the galaxy? The hell are you supposed to respond to that?
After a long pause Liek looked at his friend, “Hey, Surge?”
Almost scared to ask the woman looked at her leader, “Yeah, Liek?”
Slowly the teen looked over at the older woman with unnervingly innocent eyes, “Can you teach me to use a rifle?”
The green haired woman sputtered at the question as it completely flew against her expectations and train of thought, “Teach you…? Why? You’re a walking weapon of mass destruction!” She flailed her arms about to emphasis her confusion, “Why would you want to know how to use a rifle.”
“Well…” The boy looked at the woman with a smile, “I want to understand you all better. If I know more about how to use your weapons I feel like I would have better expectations of what everyone can do?”
“It’s not a bad idea.” Sergeant Watts noted as he walked over, he then laughed, “But don’t bother asking Surge, she’s better with that arm cannon thing then a rifle.” The young man knew the arm cannon the large human male was referring to was the ki blaster Surge had taken a liking to. His comment earning a scoff and a pout from the woman, but she didn’t argue the point since he was right.
“Alright then, Watts, can you teach me?” Liek asked.
Watts grinned, “Sure thing boss!” He gestured for the younger officer to follow him, which Liek did, and lead him over to a bench on which one of the special forces rifles was laid out. Gesturing to the weapon Watts started his explanation.
“Alright, so this is an M-44 Garland. It’s fires a standard five five six by forty five round through a magnetic coil acceleration barrel, making it one of the most powerful rifles currently in use by the Earth Defence Forces.” Watts explained before admitting, “No, I don’t know what half those words mean, or how it works.” He stepped back and gestured for the teen to pick up the weapon.
As Liek placed his hands on the rifle Watts instructed, “Right, first things first, always assume a firearm is loaded. Second, never point it at someone unless you intend to shoot.” Liek nodded and carefully picked up the rifle, Watts nodding in appreciation at the youth keeping his fingers far from the trigger as he did so.
Over the course of the next several minutes Watts ran Liek through how to hold the rifle properly, trigger discipline, how to look down the sights and steady his breathing. The hybrid listened intently and was actually surprised about how informative some of the instruction was, the youth having never realised how much both his breathing and heartbeat influenced how steady his hands where. During the explanation on how to aim Corporal Diaz, the platoon’s sniping specialist had actually pitched in, explaining in more detail then Watts and offering more tips and tricks, making Liek appreciate the man’s skills even more. All the while the rest of the platoon milled about and exchanged curious glances, after all, it wasn’t every day they saw a walking nuke like Liek looking down the sights of a rifle.
After walking Liek through the process of loading the weapon and settling into position to shoot Watts continued, “Alright, Liek. Just focus on hitting the target. No need to rush… just maintain control… aim… and…”
“Squeeze the trigger…” Liek stated softly, confirming he’d been following the Corporal’s words. Exhaling slowly the young man steadied his aim as best he could, his fingering moving to hover over the trigger. All those watching sat with baited breath as the young man’s finger wrapped around the trigger.
He squeezed and the rifle kicked back, the recoil barely registering to the youth as it was absorbed by the massive power dwelling within him, the bullet rocketing from the barrel towards the target. A tiny hole appeared a few inches to the right of the bullseye. The young man wasn’t sure how that would rank for a good shot, but he considered it a fairly decent result. The platoon nodded in approval as Liek chuckled, “Felt weird not being able to adjust the course mid flight.”
“Still.” Watts mused, “Not bad for a first timer. No worse then most of use on our first tries.” He then noted that Liek hadn’t moved, “Oh? You want to keep practising?”
The teen nodded, “Yeah, more I know about how you guys fight, the better I can be at leading!” His words earned smiles from the platoon. Here was a what was practically a God by there reckoning wanting to know how things where at their level, rather then looking down from on high, and that was something they could respect.
-----
The next day found Liek standing in General Akubra’s office as the old man read aloud from a file, “We’ve been getting some unusual reports about an island located in the Southern ocean, at first we wrote it off as people seeing things or some isolated community not wanting visitors and scaring people away.” The old man leaned his chin on his fist, his elbow on the desk as he continued, “These sightings include such stories as disembodied voices, shadow figures and glowing eyes staring from the shadows between the trees.” The old man hummed as he looked over the file again, “If things had stayed at just strange sightings we’d be leaving things well enough alone. There are legal provisions in place granting isolated communities the right to their isolation, at most we’d advise people to just stay away.” He sighed, “That is until people started going missing.”
The teen nodded quietly. Jenkins had recently talked his ear off about paranormal investigation channels he liked to binge watch and the contents of those channels. For the most part it all seemed like silly made up content that got a lot of clicks, which was why so much was made, and absolutely not something worth throwing EDF resources at. At most Earth Defence Force involvement should be to leak details to the more legitimate paranormal investigators to have them expend resources, they may even find out what was really going on without the EDF having to lift a finger. But if people where actually disappearing then it was a different story, there was an actual threat to the people of Earth and any investigators sent would be at risk, EDF or otherwise. The same was true if the threat was entirely mundane.
“Gallus Delta, 43, disappeared while on a scuba tour to the area four weeks ago. Quanta Deus, 52, disappeared when his group went ashore to rest two weeks ago. Amalia Silver, 16, disappeared four days ago when her group of friends decided to explore the island.” The general read out, “And that’s just a sample.” He sighed, “It doesn’t matter if this is actual paranormal activity, a highly aggressive isolationist tribe or something else. This has to stop and it has to stop now. Liek, head out to the island and resolve this issue. Peacefully if you can, though the King has issued you with full authority to wipe the island from the map if you have to.” He looked Liek in the eye, “Of course, we’d rather you didn’t annihilate and entire ecosystem, but if ‘nuke it from orbit’ is the only viable option…”
The young man nodded, “I understand completely, Sir.” He understood that reference and fully agreed that having that option on the table was a perfectly valid response. Not that he intended to take it. What did he look like? One of those Empire Saiyans?
-----
The teen came to a halt several kilometres in the air and looked down at the island that was the epicentre of the disappearances and apparent paranormal activity. Folding his arms the teen frowned and recalled the end of the conversation he’d had the General before heading straight here.
“So why me?” The young man had asked, “Why not the rest of the Tr-Stars? Or that other unit, the Beowolves?”
“Because, while the island doesn’t have an official name yet…” The General leaned forward and said softly, “It was called Point Beta by the J Numbers.”
That… had certainly gotten the young man’s attention in a big way. His grandmother hadn’t told him all the details but she had told him enough for him to know what Point Beta was. During the early days of the Secret War, when the four teens focus had simply been on avoiding the Fury and not fighting back they had been intercepted while hiding out on an island in the southern oceans. They had been hunted down by Cay-luum and they engaged him in a desperate attempt to drive him off and get away, however members of the Fury Spy caste had used the battle as an opportunity to get the drop on Rudee and capture him. Only the timely intervention of Carolina ended with the girl’s driving off Cay-luum after.
Point Beta was where the Spy Caste had taken Rudee after, intending to strip him of his armour, the armour he’d inherited from his father, wanting to present the armour to Gar-ravan to garner glory and a chance to rise out of their caste. Considering Fury society only had three castes, the Royal Family in a caste all their own, the honourable caste which included everyone from the Knight Lords to the lowest street sweeper, and the Spy Caste who where the dishonourable dregs of society, the cowardly and underhanded, it was clear why the Spies would try such means to elevate themselves.
But their ambitions where short lived as the J Number girls assaulted the island with a fury and decimated the Spies who died to a man in a vain hope to be more then dirt, using every dirty trick they could come up with. Cay-luum even appeared just long enough to execute the leader of the spies detachment for his dishonourable conduct in the battle.
The island had recovered well in the century since that battle, the tropical foliage regrowing to cover the scars that had changed and torn the landscape and the wildlife had recovered their numbers enough to the teen to be able to see flocks of tropical birds among the trees and some kind of large predatory cat stalking along a beach.
Closing his eyes the young man hearkened back to his training with Korin and reached out with his senses, excising assumptions and expectations from his mind to allow his senses to freely sweep over the island in search of anything out of place. For many long minutes he floated silently as the waves broke gently on the shoreline and wind rustled through the trees, delving deeper and deeper into his senses. Life flowed over the island from the flora and fauna but something… something was strange. He couldn’t sense anything out of place. Nothing that should be causing the kind of disappearances that had been reported.
Sure, there was evidence of predatory animals, but those should have left signs of an attack, not just cause people to disappear. Just as frustration was about to claim the young man the light of the sun reflected off something on the surface and landed on the youth’s closed eyes. Grunting Liek opened his eyes to see what was causing the reflection and spotted a glint from among the foliage. Folding closer, to right over the trees, the youth descended through the branches to where he’d seen the light coming from.
As his boots crunched on the detritus he saw what was reflecting the light, a scuba tank that had been cleaved in half, the inside of the tank resting towards the sky. Well, at least he had a clue as to what happened to Gallus Delta. Squatting down the youth took a closer look at the piece of tank, specifically at the cut. It was clean, frighteningly clean. It was too perfect for it to have been a pressure explosion that sent it flying, and too clean for any Earth made blade. It also didn’t show signs of having been super heated to make the cut easier, which ruled out blades made from energy, heat or high-frequency vibrations. No, this was mono-molecular…
And the only ones able to make weapons like that that the teenager knew of where…
The boys danger senses screamed in alarm and the youth leapt to the side just in time to avoid taking a crystalline sword in the back. Looking over at his attacked the youth gasped in shock!
There a figure stood, wreathed in an ethereal green glow, eyes blazing red. A man clad in armour the young man recognised to be of Fury make, specifically a mass-produced Kial-Ro model used by the lowliest soldiers. The visible portion of his face was gaunt and emotionless, his eyes glowing through the visor of his helmet. His entire body, along with the armour, was the same almost white-green, lit with an internal glow, darkening only around the edges. Clasped in his right hand was a Ri-tai Orgone Sword hilt, the generated blade still attached as it pulled the weapon out of the ground. Clasped was a standard issue shield with integrated Orgone bolt gun.
Widening his eyes the hybrid youth realised this was something that should have ceased to exist a century ago! Gritting his teeth he muttered, “An Orgone Mirage…? But whats controlling it?” Then it clicked as he avoided another swipe from the Mirage’s sword before folding away as the echo fired it’s bolt gun.
The diaries of the J Numbers had mentioned something about Point Beta, a detail he’d over looked until that moment; the Spies hadn’t come to this place by chance, it wasn’t just some out of the way hidden base. It was being set up as a staging point for the invasion, a place to quickly gather soldiers to launch attacks on nearby military bases and population centres. And in order to prepare the location for that role materials and resources needed to be quickly relocated in secret. And what better way then through the Fury’s Cloud Fold? But having people Fold in and out was energy, time and manpower intensive. So another means was set up in advance, and it was the duty of the spies to carry out the manual labour part of the plan. That method was an Orgo Gate that could establish a stable Fold Point between two locations, allowing rapid two-way transfer of materials.
And the J Numbers never mentioned anything about actually destroying it.
It stood to reason that something like that would have an automated defence system, and after being left unattended for a hundred years it was no doubt starting to degrade and malfunction. Liek rocketed out of the underbrush and punched his way through the Mirage before launching himself back into the air to escape the resulting explosion. If he was right then the malfunctioning Orgo Gate’s Mirage defence system had slaughtered the mission people quickly and silently enough to avoid detection, while leaving the others alone to maintain the cover of secrecy it was programmed to maintain, oblivious that the war was long over.
Being a piece of technology he couldn’t sense it, but his destruction of that first Mirage would no doubt cause the Gate to up his threat level, prioritising his defeat to ensure no threat could expose it. And right on cue three more Mirages emerged from the forest, three folds and as many attacks later and they exploded in the youth’s wake. More Mirages emerged from the forest, all from a single point and Liek smirked.
The gate had given away it’s position and the young man Folded directly to it. And as Liek had expected, there it was, looking worse for wear with a tree growing through part of it, panels half torn off by the foliage, moss hanging from the top of it and it’s internal lights flickering weakly. But it’s Orgone extractor was still thrumming, drawing in the holy energy, the beating heart of the ancient machine. For a moment he was conflicted, this was a piece of Fury history, the last functioning Orgo Gate in existence. A priceless relic. But, at the same time, it was a threat that had claimed the lives of innocent people.
Gritting his teeth he launched himself at the machine, his hands glowing as he materialised Orgone around them…
-----
“So… that’s what was going on…” General Akubra sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Stroking his beard he mused, “To think something like that was still operating after a hundred years… Our eggheads would sell their first borns to get their hands on something like that.” He lifted his gaze towards Liek with a questioning look in his eyes.
“I’ve taken the remains of the Gate somewhere safe.” Liek replied, “I don’t think the Earth is ready for the technology just yet.”
“I agree.” The General replied, though while Liek’s reasoning was based only on uncertainty of how the people of Earth may use, or misuse the potential of Fury technology, the old man had a more certain reason. He straight up didn’t want the Red Ribbon gaining access. Sighing the General nodded, “Well, good job Liek. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank you, General.”
WC: 3,548
PL: 89,759
Weighted PL: 22,439.75
Zenny: 26,963
Bonuses: Looters (-25% due to racial)
Super Heavy Weights 75% bonus
Pre-Workout Mix 10% Bonus
Quest Rewards: 30% Bonus to PL and Zenny for first 3000 words
Total Bonus: 115% Bonus to PL and 37.5% to Zenny for first 3000 words
Total Bonus: 85% Bonus to PL and 7.5% to Zenny after 3000 words
However, one among them stood out. The youngest of their number, a teenager with messy brown hair who was definitely not wearing regulation clothing concealing a powerful body that put even the largest of the soldiers to shame. This young man was in fact their commanding officer, Lieutenant Liek Galswith. And he was one of the few people on Earth who could wield the mythical power of Ki… and the only known living person able to draw on the fabled power of Orgone.
“Man…” Surge, Liek’s second in command, sighed next to him as she set her weapon back in a storage rack, “These things must look like toys compared to what you can do, huh?”
The teen hummed in thought before replying, “Not really, the Fury used technology to wield their power, and they maintained an interplanetary empire for several millennia. I mean, sure, they where more advanced then Earth, but it’s only a matter of time before humanity is reaching for the same heights in their own way.”
“Heh…” the young woman laughed, “You make it sound like Earth is going to try to start its own galactic empire.” She smirked, the idea being absolutely absurd to her. In her mind Earth’s leadership where too demure to try such an aggressive approach to interplanetary diplomacy.
“Are you sure?” Liek replied, “The Fury didn’t build their empire on the back of conquest and oppression. They peacefully integrated their neighbours by first winning their favour with military alliances, then becoming indispensable to trade, then, after generations of good relations, their neighbours would willingly integrate their governments…” The young man looked over at his 2IC with a serious look on his face and an expression that looked out of place on the young man, “Do you really think Earth couldn’t do the same?”
The question left the woman silent. She could see the logic. Now that he’d said it aloud she could even see the Earth government doing just that. Heck, in a way she could see it happening now with the Namekian and Cerealian refugees. Even if their worlds where reclaimed and they rebuilt their independent governments both species would be reliant on Earth for protection. It would be inevitable for that nominal independence to erode and both species to formally integrate with Earth by popular demand.
Now that the idea had been planted in the woman’s head it scared her, not just because of the implications, but because a guy two years younger then her, who apparently hadn’t experienced society as a whole until just a short time before meeting her, was the one talking about such things. An eighteen year old who hadn’t even voted in an election before had just dropped some long game galactic domination politics on her like it was the most casual thing to talk about. Surge didn’t even have a ten year plan for her own life, and this kid was planning how to conquer the galaxy? The hell are you supposed to respond to that?
After a long pause Liek looked at his friend, “Hey, Surge?”
Almost scared to ask the woman looked at her leader, “Yeah, Liek?”
Slowly the teen looked over at the older woman with unnervingly innocent eyes, “Can you teach me to use a rifle?”
The green haired woman sputtered at the question as it completely flew against her expectations and train of thought, “Teach you…? Why? You’re a walking weapon of mass destruction!” She flailed her arms about to emphasis her confusion, “Why would you want to know how to use a rifle.”
“Well…” The boy looked at the woman with a smile, “I want to understand you all better. If I know more about how to use your weapons I feel like I would have better expectations of what everyone can do?”
“It’s not a bad idea.” Sergeant Watts noted as he walked over, he then laughed, “But don’t bother asking Surge, she’s better with that arm cannon thing then a rifle.” The young man knew the arm cannon the large human male was referring to was the ki blaster Surge had taken a liking to. His comment earning a scoff and a pout from the woman, but she didn’t argue the point since he was right.
“Alright then, Watts, can you teach me?” Liek asked.
Watts grinned, “Sure thing boss!” He gestured for the younger officer to follow him, which Liek did, and lead him over to a bench on which one of the special forces rifles was laid out. Gesturing to the weapon Watts started his explanation.
“Alright, so this is an M-44 Garland. It’s fires a standard five five six by forty five round through a magnetic coil acceleration barrel, making it one of the most powerful rifles currently in use by the Earth Defence Forces.” Watts explained before admitting, “No, I don’t know what half those words mean, or how it works.” He stepped back and gestured for the teen to pick up the weapon.
As Liek placed his hands on the rifle Watts instructed, “Right, first things first, always assume a firearm is loaded. Second, never point it at someone unless you intend to shoot.” Liek nodded and carefully picked up the rifle, Watts nodding in appreciation at the youth keeping his fingers far from the trigger as he did so.
Over the course of the next several minutes Watts ran Liek through how to hold the rifle properly, trigger discipline, how to look down the sights and steady his breathing. The hybrid listened intently and was actually surprised about how informative some of the instruction was, the youth having never realised how much both his breathing and heartbeat influenced how steady his hands where. During the explanation on how to aim Corporal Diaz, the platoon’s sniping specialist had actually pitched in, explaining in more detail then Watts and offering more tips and tricks, making Liek appreciate the man’s skills even more. All the while the rest of the platoon milled about and exchanged curious glances, after all, it wasn’t every day they saw a walking nuke like Liek looking down the sights of a rifle.
After walking Liek through the process of loading the weapon and settling into position to shoot Watts continued, “Alright, Liek. Just focus on hitting the target. No need to rush… just maintain control… aim… and…”
“Squeeze the trigger…” Liek stated softly, confirming he’d been following the Corporal’s words. Exhaling slowly the young man steadied his aim as best he could, his fingering moving to hover over the trigger. All those watching sat with baited breath as the young man’s finger wrapped around the trigger.
He squeezed and the rifle kicked back, the recoil barely registering to the youth as it was absorbed by the massive power dwelling within him, the bullet rocketing from the barrel towards the target. A tiny hole appeared a few inches to the right of the bullseye. The young man wasn’t sure how that would rank for a good shot, but he considered it a fairly decent result. The platoon nodded in approval as Liek chuckled, “Felt weird not being able to adjust the course mid flight.”
“Still.” Watts mused, “Not bad for a first timer. No worse then most of use on our first tries.” He then noted that Liek hadn’t moved, “Oh? You want to keep practising?”
The teen nodded, “Yeah, more I know about how you guys fight, the better I can be at leading!” His words earned smiles from the platoon. Here was a what was practically a God by there reckoning wanting to know how things where at their level, rather then looking down from on high, and that was something they could respect.
-----
The next day found Liek standing in General Akubra’s office as the old man read aloud from a file, “We’ve been getting some unusual reports about an island located in the Southern ocean, at first we wrote it off as people seeing things or some isolated community not wanting visitors and scaring people away.” The old man leaned his chin on his fist, his elbow on the desk as he continued, “These sightings include such stories as disembodied voices, shadow figures and glowing eyes staring from the shadows between the trees.” The old man hummed as he looked over the file again, “If things had stayed at just strange sightings we’d be leaving things well enough alone. There are legal provisions in place granting isolated communities the right to their isolation, at most we’d advise people to just stay away.” He sighed, “That is until people started going missing.”
The teen nodded quietly. Jenkins had recently talked his ear off about paranormal investigation channels he liked to binge watch and the contents of those channels. For the most part it all seemed like silly made up content that got a lot of clicks, which was why so much was made, and absolutely not something worth throwing EDF resources at. At most Earth Defence Force involvement should be to leak details to the more legitimate paranormal investigators to have them expend resources, they may even find out what was really going on without the EDF having to lift a finger. But if people where actually disappearing then it was a different story, there was an actual threat to the people of Earth and any investigators sent would be at risk, EDF or otherwise. The same was true if the threat was entirely mundane.
“Gallus Delta, 43, disappeared while on a scuba tour to the area four weeks ago. Quanta Deus, 52, disappeared when his group went ashore to rest two weeks ago. Amalia Silver, 16, disappeared four days ago when her group of friends decided to explore the island.” The general read out, “And that’s just a sample.” He sighed, “It doesn’t matter if this is actual paranormal activity, a highly aggressive isolationist tribe or something else. This has to stop and it has to stop now. Liek, head out to the island and resolve this issue. Peacefully if you can, though the King has issued you with full authority to wipe the island from the map if you have to.” He looked Liek in the eye, “Of course, we’d rather you didn’t annihilate and entire ecosystem, but if ‘nuke it from orbit’ is the only viable option…”
The young man nodded, “I understand completely, Sir.” He understood that reference and fully agreed that having that option on the table was a perfectly valid response. Not that he intended to take it. What did he look like? One of those Empire Saiyans?
-----
The teen came to a halt several kilometres in the air and looked down at the island that was the epicentre of the disappearances and apparent paranormal activity. Folding his arms the teen frowned and recalled the end of the conversation he’d had the General before heading straight here.
“So why me?” The young man had asked, “Why not the rest of the Tr-Stars? Or that other unit, the Beowolves?”
“Because, while the island doesn’t have an official name yet…” The General leaned forward and said softly, “It was called Point Beta by the J Numbers.”
That… had certainly gotten the young man’s attention in a big way. His grandmother hadn’t told him all the details but she had told him enough for him to know what Point Beta was. During the early days of the Secret War, when the four teens focus had simply been on avoiding the Fury and not fighting back they had been intercepted while hiding out on an island in the southern oceans. They had been hunted down by Cay-luum and they engaged him in a desperate attempt to drive him off and get away, however members of the Fury Spy caste had used the battle as an opportunity to get the drop on Rudee and capture him. Only the timely intervention of Carolina ended with the girl’s driving off Cay-luum after.
Point Beta was where the Spy Caste had taken Rudee after, intending to strip him of his armour, the armour he’d inherited from his father, wanting to present the armour to Gar-ravan to garner glory and a chance to rise out of their caste. Considering Fury society only had three castes, the Royal Family in a caste all their own, the honourable caste which included everyone from the Knight Lords to the lowest street sweeper, and the Spy Caste who where the dishonourable dregs of society, the cowardly and underhanded, it was clear why the Spies would try such means to elevate themselves.
But their ambitions where short lived as the J Number girls assaulted the island with a fury and decimated the Spies who died to a man in a vain hope to be more then dirt, using every dirty trick they could come up with. Cay-luum even appeared just long enough to execute the leader of the spies detachment for his dishonourable conduct in the battle.
The island had recovered well in the century since that battle, the tropical foliage regrowing to cover the scars that had changed and torn the landscape and the wildlife had recovered their numbers enough to the teen to be able to see flocks of tropical birds among the trees and some kind of large predatory cat stalking along a beach.
Closing his eyes the young man hearkened back to his training with Korin and reached out with his senses, excising assumptions and expectations from his mind to allow his senses to freely sweep over the island in search of anything out of place. For many long minutes he floated silently as the waves broke gently on the shoreline and wind rustled through the trees, delving deeper and deeper into his senses. Life flowed over the island from the flora and fauna but something… something was strange. He couldn’t sense anything out of place. Nothing that should be causing the kind of disappearances that had been reported.
Sure, there was evidence of predatory animals, but those should have left signs of an attack, not just cause people to disappear. Just as frustration was about to claim the young man the light of the sun reflected off something on the surface and landed on the youth’s closed eyes. Grunting Liek opened his eyes to see what was causing the reflection and spotted a glint from among the foliage. Folding closer, to right over the trees, the youth descended through the branches to where he’d seen the light coming from.
As his boots crunched on the detritus he saw what was reflecting the light, a scuba tank that had been cleaved in half, the inside of the tank resting towards the sky. Well, at least he had a clue as to what happened to Gallus Delta. Squatting down the youth took a closer look at the piece of tank, specifically at the cut. It was clean, frighteningly clean. It was too perfect for it to have been a pressure explosion that sent it flying, and too clean for any Earth made blade. It also didn’t show signs of having been super heated to make the cut easier, which ruled out blades made from energy, heat or high-frequency vibrations. No, this was mono-molecular…
And the only ones able to make weapons like that that the teenager knew of where…
The boys danger senses screamed in alarm and the youth leapt to the side just in time to avoid taking a crystalline sword in the back. Looking over at his attacked the youth gasped in shock!
There a figure stood, wreathed in an ethereal green glow, eyes blazing red. A man clad in armour the young man recognised to be of Fury make, specifically a mass-produced Kial-Ro model used by the lowliest soldiers. The visible portion of his face was gaunt and emotionless, his eyes glowing through the visor of his helmet. His entire body, along with the armour, was the same almost white-green, lit with an internal glow, darkening only around the edges. Clasped in his right hand was a Ri-tai Orgone Sword hilt, the generated blade still attached as it pulled the weapon out of the ground. Clasped was a standard issue shield with integrated Orgone bolt gun.
Widening his eyes the hybrid youth realised this was something that should have ceased to exist a century ago! Gritting his teeth he muttered, “An Orgone Mirage…? But whats controlling it?” Then it clicked as he avoided another swipe from the Mirage’s sword before folding away as the echo fired it’s bolt gun.
The diaries of the J Numbers had mentioned something about Point Beta, a detail he’d over looked until that moment; the Spies hadn’t come to this place by chance, it wasn’t just some out of the way hidden base. It was being set up as a staging point for the invasion, a place to quickly gather soldiers to launch attacks on nearby military bases and population centres. And in order to prepare the location for that role materials and resources needed to be quickly relocated in secret. And what better way then through the Fury’s Cloud Fold? But having people Fold in and out was energy, time and manpower intensive. So another means was set up in advance, and it was the duty of the spies to carry out the manual labour part of the plan. That method was an Orgo Gate that could establish a stable Fold Point between two locations, allowing rapid two-way transfer of materials.
And the J Numbers never mentioned anything about actually destroying it.
It stood to reason that something like that would have an automated defence system, and after being left unattended for a hundred years it was no doubt starting to degrade and malfunction. Liek rocketed out of the underbrush and punched his way through the Mirage before launching himself back into the air to escape the resulting explosion. If he was right then the malfunctioning Orgo Gate’s Mirage defence system had slaughtered the mission people quickly and silently enough to avoid detection, while leaving the others alone to maintain the cover of secrecy it was programmed to maintain, oblivious that the war was long over.
Being a piece of technology he couldn’t sense it, but his destruction of that first Mirage would no doubt cause the Gate to up his threat level, prioritising his defeat to ensure no threat could expose it. And right on cue three more Mirages emerged from the forest, three folds and as many attacks later and they exploded in the youth’s wake. More Mirages emerged from the forest, all from a single point and Liek smirked.
The gate had given away it’s position and the young man Folded directly to it. And as Liek had expected, there it was, looking worse for wear with a tree growing through part of it, panels half torn off by the foliage, moss hanging from the top of it and it’s internal lights flickering weakly. But it’s Orgone extractor was still thrumming, drawing in the holy energy, the beating heart of the ancient machine. For a moment he was conflicted, this was a piece of Fury history, the last functioning Orgo Gate in existence. A priceless relic. But, at the same time, it was a threat that had claimed the lives of innocent people.
Gritting his teeth he launched himself at the machine, his hands glowing as he materialised Orgone around them…
-----
“So… that’s what was going on…” General Akubra sighed as he leaned back in his chair. Stroking his beard he mused, “To think something like that was still operating after a hundred years… Our eggheads would sell their first borns to get their hands on something like that.” He lifted his gaze towards Liek with a questioning look in his eyes.
“I’ve taken the remains of the Gate somewhere safe.” Liek replied, “I don’t think the Earth is ready for the technology just yet.”
“I agree.” The General replied, though while Liek’s reasoning was based only on uncertainty of how the people of Earth may use, or misuse the potential of Fury technology, the old man had a more certain reason. He straight up didn’t want the Red Ribbon gaining access. Sighing the General nodded, “Well, good job Liek. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank you, General.”
WC: 3,548
PL: 89,759
Weighted PL: 22,439.75
Zenny: 26,963
Bonuses: Looters (-25% due to racial)
Super Heavy Weights 75% bonus
Pre-Workout Mix 10% Bonus
Quest Rewards: 30% Bonus to PL and Zenny for first 3000 words
Total Bonus: 115% Bonus to PL and 37.5% to Zenny for first 3000 words
Total Bonus: 85% Bonus to PL and 7.5% to Zenny after 3000 words
