Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 18

I blinked, fighting through my grogginess. The last thing I’d expected was to actually nod off with the little I needed to sleep these days.

Without even waiting for me to ask the question, Destiny chimed in. “You’ve only been out for a few minutes.”

Straightening in my seat against the cool stone at my back, I took in Mel’s sharpshooters lined up on the rampart. Most of them weren’t using swords or spears that were designed to second as projectile weapons, but actual rifles. Focusing on one held by the soldier closest to me, I psi-rifle. Its use was as obvious as the weapon’s naming scheme. It funneled the psionic energy from the caster and made it easier to aim.

“They’re weaker than large-caliber traditional rifles and the rail variety, but they can be shot endlessly until the caster doesn’t run out of energy. Until a caster reaches rank E at least…” Destiny said.

“How are my men?” I asked.

“Fine. They made a quick retreat after getting you out.”

“And the rest?”

“A few small injuries. Nothing serious. A little restless, maybe.”

“Good.” I took a few seconds to sort out my thoughts. “Are you still flirting with the goblins out there?”

“I beg your pardon,” she huffed. “A girl goes out of her way to cheer you on and this is the thanks I get?”

“So no?”

The lenses of my headset lowered and she appeared in a miniature state standing on my knee with her arms crossed while still wearing the cheerleader get up. She slowly mouthed, “No.”

Her eyes drifted down and to the side, and her posture slumped. Her transition from emotion to emotion was always precise, but after years of interacting with her, I couldn’t help but notice she didn’t seem to be in control.

“You okay?”

Looking up, she looked flustered that she’d been caught. That didn’t stop her from sharing her thoughts. “Yeah… In the moment, I just felt the excitement, but thinking back, what I did was rather embarrassing, wasn’t it?”

My mouth opened and closed a few times before I could speak. “You, embarrassed?”

She gave an exaggerated shrug.

I’d almost forgotten that her upgrades had come with significant changes. I felt the sudden urge to be careful with my response. “Don’t be silly. There’s nothing embarrassing about adorable girls doing adorable things. Did our views go up?”

Her face lit up if only a moment. She went into analytical mode for a few seconds then seemed to return to normal. “Flatterer,” she said, cupping her hands over her skirt as if embarrassed. “Thank you.”

The sounds of battle brought me out of the conversation, reminding me of our current dilemma.

“Can I get an aerial view of our gate? How are the others doing?”

Standing up straight, she brought her feet together and her clothing changed with the speed of a quick-change artist. Wearing a military formal dress, her tone and demeanor became serious. “Cornelius is up. Would you like to watch?”

Pushing myself off the wall, I came to my feet. “Show me.”

***

Liam watched Cornelius’s approach to ‘causing a spectacle,’ and wasn’t sure it would be enough. The veteran combat master had set a contest between his three Captains that whoever got the most kills would receive a prize. They each took a squad and drove into the goblin ranks. It had a gamer vs athlete dynamic with Captain Vector as one of the most famous gamers facing off with two famous athlete Captains. It was a wise decision that would pull fans from many different market segments, but it was still more of the same.

Much of Freedom’s popularity had been because it was something new. Seeing some of your favorite celebs getting stronger and more skilled while being tested through medieval combat was a great combination, but, after a year, much of the novelty had worn off. At least Major Lucius’s spectacle had had some drama to it. One moment he looked like he was in real trouble, then the next he’d taken it up to a whole new level. Liam had experienced rank E psionics before, but rarely was it matched with a rank C physique. There was no doubt that Victoria had found herself a good seed. A great one even, though he still doubted that her faith in the young man was founded.

It didn’t take long before the data showed that he was right. There was a boost in viewers when Major Harrison took his turn and two dozen snuggle-bots fell from the sky. There’d been a large transport drone that had been hovering overhead. It seemed the old engineer had a soft spot for heavy machinery. These snuggle-bots were so named because they were one of the smaller varieties of combat mechs—they were really just walking hunks of metal. Harrison had a few squads strap in and march into the goblin mob. Over large fists of steel shattered force fields and skulls alike. The mechs had basic energy shields fending off most glancing blows, and the steel plating defending their internals was inches thick at the narrowest parts. Even still, the mechs took damage.

After a few minutes of the mech’s rampage, the viewership took a sharp dip. Adding more modern tech had been a good idea, but the other, more traditional battalions, were already making use of even more advanced machinery.

Kline did his best to keep their top stop, but it wouldn’t be enough. The last thing Liam had expected from the man was to take a more modern approach, but he remembered that the man had military service.

Similar to Lucius’s approach, Kline’s formation of men split down the middle. With a puke-green bag in one hand, he grabbed something from inside and nonchalantly chucked it into the goblin horde. He threw one after another, spreading the items through their ranks, but nothing seemed to happen. After throwing thirty of the small, misshaped items, he handed his bag to his shadow and grabbed an exotic battleaxe from the drone. The alloy of the axe blades had a blue tint. When the goblins were about to reach him through the gap created in the formation, he held up his hand and snapped his fingers. At the mouth of the gap, a concussion sounded dropping a few of the closest goblins and sending more staggering.

Kline’s aura flared, and the orange light continued up his axe’s shaft and to each blade. It wasn’t the poleaxe he was known for, but the shorter weapon was much easier for him to use in tighter quarters. He rushed forward, devastating anything that got in his path. He waded through the goblins and past the front line of his men, only for another explosion to go off a few yards from his head, and he took advantage of the chaos and cut his way toward the small pillar of smoke.

Each time things got tight, another explosion went off in what seemed the perfect location to give him some breathing room.

Liam couldn’t help but be impressed. Kline hadn’t just been randomly throwing the small explosives but had placed them exactly where he wanted them. He was now setting them off at will, controlling the flow of the battle with them.

Their viewer numbers had stopped declining, but first place still slipped from their grasp as the Founding Father’s battalion took the top spot. Being blind to the other events seemed rather cruel, but Liam didn’t need to watch to have all the information he needed. He already suspected what the point of all this was.

He waited another half hour until they fell to third place. With a swipe of his hand, the popup windows shrunk to a miniature state and resigned themselves to the corner of his peripheral vision. He scanned the control center that felt sparsely populated for its size. Colonel Victoria Golshan sat at the head of the room strapped into a combat general’s console. Most combat generals liked to recline or even lay back in their seats, but she sat up and even had the armrests pushed out of reach. Her headset was a fully immersive one, that covered her neck and shoulders, cutting her off from her immediate surroundings. Also an oddity, she wore haptic gloves and was very animated while she worked. They weren’t the quirks of a newbie. He’d known she’d had the necessary hours in simulation to be qualified, but she seemed more comfortable than most veterans he’d observed.

As soon as he’d pulled away from his screens, Liam was spotted and Oliver, her Lieutenant Colonel ranked bodyguard said a few things under his breath.

“Is everything okay?” Victoria’s voice carried from across the room. The headset covering her features seemed to dissolve so that he could see her face. It was just a projection of her face augmented over her headgear to make communication more natural.

Glancing around the room, he found that a handful of other members of the Prodos intelligence team only glanced up from their desks to see who she was addressing then went back to their work. Colonel Golshan had chosen a smaller group than he’d expected her to. Normally, new command would overcompensate by bringing in more experts than needed. With the competence of AI, machine learning, and quantum computing, much of the intelligence analysis that used to be done by hundreds of people was mostly automated. She had about six people including her security freak Lieutenant Colonel Peter Hinson. He was sitting at the desk closest to her and wore a headset almost as immersive as her own.

Liam tried to grin, but it felt off. “I have a suspicion.”

Victoria drew her mouth into a fine line and replied. “Please, Liam. Speak your mind.”

He straightened himself in his chair. “Something feels off. It’s no surprise that military brass might not be happy with you after using popular opinion to force their hand to fundamentally change Vanguard.”

When he said that she had no objections to his assessment of the situation, he went on. “It seems shortsighted that those making the calls would decide to put Prodos in a less favorable position where it was obvious it would be impossible for us to win. They might get their revenge in the short term, but even if we don’t win today, our men and women have true fans. The truest kind won’t take kindly to the referees, or game devs, in this case, interfering with their team's likelihood of winning. If the game comes off as unfair, the same people that they feared would’ve backed you during Freedom will just as easily back you now.”

“Meaning?”

“I might be overthinking it, but I think this is just the calm before the storm.”

Peter’s headset also dissolved, revealing his face. “We’ve certainly made enough enemies. Jayden comes to mind. He’s of the political class, and even if he stayed out of Vanguard, that doesn’t mean he didn’t call in some favors…”

Shaking his head, Liam replied. “Perhaps, but I think you might be underestimating how much Victoria’s stunt offended some. There are men like Colonel Edmon that are proud, and practical. He doesn’t like this as much as the rest of them, but he’s not blind. He’ll work with you because he knows there’s value to be had. However, in the highest ranks, things become much more political. There are good people there, don’t get me wrong, but there are others that wouldn’t care if they turned Vanguard into a dumpster fire just to get their way. That makes me fear for a worst-case scenario.”

Victoria gave Peter a grave look. “It could be the first night of Freedom all over again. Except…” She spaced out momentarily before issuing a command. “Destiny, keep as close an eye on new spawns as you can. If anything new appears, inform me right away. Peter, have the AI come up with most possible scenarios with these new variables.”

“Oh it,” he replied.

When her gaze fell back on him, Liam felt a bit like squirming in his seat.

“Liam, tell me everything you know about who might be calling the shots. What do you think we should expect?”