Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 12

Destiny’s reaction was extreme, but she recovered in a few short minutes. After calming down, she turned from her surroundings and rested her eyes upon me. She then came to her feet on my chest and hopped up to land on the top of her drone. Facing me, she smoothed out her skirt.

“Well, this is embarrassing,” she said with a giggle. “And just look at me.”

Her image disappeared before reappearing a second later in her adult form and in military formal dress. Then she gave me a cordial grin as if nothing had happened. “Now, are you ready?”

I didn’t respond with words as I came to my feet and glared at her.

“Fine,” she said, looking away. “I’ll be okay. I have a limbic system now, so…”

“So?”

Without turning back to face me, she gave me a sideways glance. “I feel now.” She spun away with a huff.

“As in…”

Even if she was facing away, I saw her shrug.

There was a long silence that I was wondering how best to breach when she spoke first. “How do you do it? I mean, I know how, but I’m having an emotional response to every byte of data I take in. I can’t turn it off. This is a very inconvenient way to functions.”

“I suppose it is,” I replied, scratching the back of my head. “You were the one that helped me figure it all out. Is it not the same?”

“Is it? Yes. And not at all. I think—I think I’m going to have to spend some time going through my memories to see if I can attach emotion to my old directives. I know how to respond to you to give us the best chance of accomplishing our desired outcome, but to apply it to myself—a piece is missing.”

After all the talk about needing to create a healthy separation between Destiny and myself, this happens. I chuckled aloud and put on a strong face for the AI that practically raised me. “Take all the time you need. And if you need my help in any way, I command you to ask me.”

“Whatever, numbskull,” she replied with a halfhearted chuckle. She glanced back and I saw the gratitude written all over her face.

There was a question I wanted to ask but wasn’t sure if I should. I decided to take the chance. “Did you really not feel emotion before? You’ve always been so different compared to other AI.”

Fully facing me, she scrunched up her face and scratched her nose before answering. I took it as a good sign. “I’m sorry, Lucius, but no. I understand—or understood—emotions better than most AI because your emotional state was one of my main areas of study.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said shyly.

“You haven’t, numbskull. Who says that anyway?”

Her face lit up in response. It made me wonder if it was her first genuine smile.

“I’m adorable so my vocabulary must reflect that reality. And numbskull is often considered a less offensive insult and can even be used as a term of endearment in the right context.”

“If that’s the case.” I stepped forward and bent forward until we were face to face. “I love you too, drone head.”

Inclining her brow, she didn’t look impressed. “What was that? You’re basically defining my current state and trying to pretend it’s offensive. I’ll let it slide for now, but next time try harder.”

“Your personality sure hasn’t changed.”

“I am who I am. Now.” She reached out with her holographic form and knocked on my forehead. “Let’s get down to business.”

Straightening up, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are you sure you don’t need some more time to process?”

“It can wait.” She darted away with her drone under feet and came to a stop in the clearing ten yard above the ground. Folding her hands together behind her back, she continued. “Are you ready to go on a shopping spree that would make every tyrant throughout human history salivate like a starving dog?”

“That good, huh?”

“You have no idea.” With a wave of her hand, a myriad of display tables slid out of nowhere to appear in front of me as if they’d been sitting off to the side. The field before me was suddenly filled with firearms, battlearmor, vehicles, and accessories. The tables closest to me held handguns of all kinds. Rifles were in the next row. Then came machineguns, laser and plasma cannons, rail rifles, and larger weapons that could be carried only by the strongest soldiers. Behind them were weapons that would’ve had to be mounted on something. The weapons behind them were even larger and could probably only be mounted to tanks or at a stationary position. And they weren’t even the largest weapons there. Beyond those were actually tanks, combat drones, and mechs.

I stood there in a daze as the world of modern warfare was laid out in front of me like an all tou can eat buffet. It made me wonder how the Ekseliksi could even compete. A strong sense of foreboding overtook me. Not only could they compete, but they could win. If they relied on psionics and physical strength, how powerful were they really? My inability to gage their really prowess chilling.

My eyes came to rest on one of the massive mechs, humanoid robots, that could be piloted by a person or AI. Many models that ranged from the size of small homes to ten storied buildings were lined up in the back. A century ago, these machines were the pinnacle of military tech and ruled the battlefield. It was only when power sources that could safely and consistently provide personnel energy shielding, or personal force fields, that mechs began to lose their superiority. They were still a large part of humanity’s combat strategy, but they weren’t sufficient.

Destiny’s drone flew toward me slowly. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “Here. This is your new headset. Put it on.”

An item appeared before me on a stand. As soon as I took it the stand disappeared. This headset was supposedly biosynthetic so psionics shouldn’t have much effect on it. It was teal in color and looked like hard plastic. It strapped over and around my ears, then behind my head and over my brow. The design was secure enough that even a push of psionic energy wouldn’t jostle it.

“Now, activate your psionic shielding all over your body.”

“What?” I replied.

A tentacle reached downward from the rear of her drone with a pale skin-like texture.

That’s creepy.

When I saw she was reaching for a handgun and the end of her tentacle split into two fingers and a thumb, I activated my shielding as she said.

The motion was smooth and alarmingly fast. As soon as she had ahold of the gun, she pointed it at me and pulled the trigger.

As the round pinged off the psionic energy covering my chest, I clenched up like a turtle escaping into its shell.

“What are you doing?” I scolded, fearing her new upgrades were driving her mad. “After all your lectures on gun safety—”

Her phantom visage just laughed at me. “Do you really want me to give you time to prepare yourself? It’s better this way. Besides, you’re using rank E shielding. Rank F would block a round of this caliber. Rank G might even stop a round fired at the right angle. As for your current limit…” She was suddenly scanning through the firearms a row back. When she found what she was looking for, she put down the handgun and flew over to what looked like an antique hunting rifle. Without hesitation, she grabbed it with her tentacle, aimed, and fired.

My headset limited the decibels, but it still allowed the noise to be loud enough that it sent an uncontrollable shiver down my spine. After the second round slammed into my chest in approximately the same spot, I staggered backward from the force and felt around frantically for a bullet hole, but there was nothing. I was bulletproof?

“That was a .30-06 cartridge that, besides the alloy and charge, has changed very little in the last four hundred years. And you’re only at the beginning stages of psionic rank E. Once you near rank D you’ll be able to block all but the heaviest custom sniper rounds from rail rifles. Now focus your attention on the rifle. I have even better sensors than before, so anything you zone in on I’ll bring up details on.”

As I did, a micro-projector appeared in an unintrusive manner from my new headset strapped over my brow. Unlike Freedom, Vanguard required hardware to bring up my augmented interface.

Denning Ultralite Mag-loaded Classic

Ammunition: .30-06 Springfield and variances

Effective Range: 1,000 – 2,200 (Ammunition dependent)

Damage Type: Kinetic

Direct Impact Damage: 578 – 1,891 at 100 yards (Ammunition dependent)

Strong Against:

Armor type: Sonic, Ballistic

Weak Against:

Armor type: Psionic, Energy, Magnetic, Metal Alloy Plating

I took a moment to scan in carefully. The damage type made sense, but I gave the armor type a second look. Destiny noticed and began to explain.

“Armor type is broken up into general categories, but each one might have dozens, or even hundreds of sub-categories. For example, energy shielding can be further broken up into energy fields, jolt armor, and even have offensive types. Energy fields are the most common and there are many different types of tech that generate them. Even the type of energy generated can have a drastic effect on how effective they are against different types of damage. You’re probably asking yourself, what about other types of ammunition? Let’s give them a try.”

The moment I saw her smirk I tried to object, but part of me wanted to know. My indecisiveness decided for me.

Destiny’s tentacle grabbed ahold of a back mounted laser turret and active it.

ShoulderBuddy MK Burno 3.1

Ammunition: Power Pack

Effective Range: 1 Mile

Damage Type: Class 5 Laser

Direct Impact Damage: 620 per second at 100 yards

Strong Against:

Armor type: Ballistic, Magnetic, Metal Alloy Plating

Weak Against:

Armor type: Psionic, Energy, Sonic

Such weapons weren’t as flashy as they were in games, and the laser’s beam was invisible to the eye. If they weren’t held on a target for few a second the damage would only cause surface level burns. They could give troops that weren’t geared appropriately a hard time, but they were especially affective against drones and equipment. As for me, I wasn’t sure she’d fired it at me until I felt the heat growing on the surface of my chest, but after a few seconds, it wasn’t even uncomfortable. There wasn’t any visible light coming from where the laser was hitting me.

With a tap, she turned off the turret and grabbed a rail riffle.

I moved to step back, but she had already fired. There was a sharp pain as if someone had walked up and poked me in the chest. It only rocked my balance.

R12 Rifle

Ammunition: .15 Wart (Warhead Tiny)

Effective Range: 2 Miles (Limited by Optics)

Damage Type: Hyper-velocity

Direct Impact Damage: 500 to 900 at 100 yards (Ammunition dependent)

Strong Against:

Armor type: Sonic, Ballistic

Weak Against:

Armor type: Psionic, Energy, Magnetic, Metal Alloy Plating

“These generally use smaller rounds than old fashioned firearms even though their velocity is drastically higher. It’s the larger rail rifles you’ll have to be worried about,” she said while continuing to browse. “Awww. Here we go.”

Her tentacle sat the rail riffle down and grabbed the grip of a weapon with an extra thick rectangular barrel. There was a flash of light, and immediately some type of lens covered my eyes. Looking down there was a mass of glowing light that seemed to stick to semitranslucent white light that formed a field an inch or so above my skin. I didn’t feel any pushback from the projectile, but it was even hotter than the laser. Thankfully, it only lasted a few seconds until it flickered out and disappeared entirely.

I closely examined what she had shot me with.

PC Dragon Spit 3950

Ammunition: Plas-Pack

Effective Range: 50 yard

Damage Type: Plasma

Direct Impact Damage: 2,800 at 10 yards

Strong Against:

Armor type: Sonic, Metal Alloy Plating, Ballistic

Weak Against:

Armor type: Magnetic, Psionic, Energy

“Plasma weapons can be nasty,” she commented, looking the weapon over. “But the cartridgeless kind like this one are only good for fifty yards at most since the plasma dissipates quickly. The ones that use a cartridge discharge it like a physical round and it bursts when it hits its target, activating the plasma. It gives them a better range and they take longer to dissipate. Against rank E psionic shielding though it’s probably the most useless type of damage unless you’re being hit with enough of it to cook you alive from outside your psionic shielding. Higher end lasers weapons are much better at creating the necessary heat. What are we missing? Oh yeah.”

She returned to the first row of weapons and picked up an old style grenade before tossing it at my feet. It took all of my self-control not to move.

WM MK VI

Ammunition: One time use

Effective Range: 5 yards

Damage Type: Kinetic

Direct Impact Damage: 1,200 at 10 feet

Strong Against:

Armor type: Sonic, Metal Alloy Plating, Ballistic

Weak Against:

Armor type: Magnetic, Psionic, Energy

When it burst, a cloud of smoke engulfed me. I half expected to be thrown back, but I only stumbled back a couple steps. I didn’t need to wait for the smoke to clear to know I was still uninjured.

“And that’s all for our demonstration,” she said with a melodramatic bow. “There are also energy and chemical weapons that don’t generally have smaller counterparts, so I skipped them. Suffice it to say, the Ekseliksi aren’t easy to kill. And Lucius, with rank E psionics, you’re only at the level of their average soldier. Their elite units are rank D.”

I immediately thought back to my fight with Sergeants Brice and Xavier. They’d been much better than the average Freedom participant and had given me a challenge. It was like a bad joke.

“Destiny,” I said, forcing myself to smile. “Thank you for shooting me.”

She froze momentarily as if unsure how to react. Then she glared as me as if I had done something wrong and turned away. “Whatever, numbskull.”

“Come on, drone head. I think it’s time you show me the good stuff.”

Despite sticking out her tongue, she waved her hand, and the mountain of weaponry slid away to be replaced with a smaller assortment of gear. In many ways, it was far less impressive, but the various types of body armor and melee weapons implied some very obvious uses to a psionic user.

I walked toward the closest table and picked up what looked like a short-bladed rapier. Its blade was also far wider than the typical fencing weapon. Its grip caught my attention, for it wasn’t straight, but more closely resembling a handgun.

Lethality Short Psword Model 2

Ammunition: Psionic (User dependent)

Effective Range: Melee, or 50 yards (User dependent)

Damage Type: Psionic

Direct Impact Damage: 600 – 1,800 Melee, or 1,400 at 50 yards (Assuming Rank E Psionics)

Strong Against:

Armor type: Sonic, Ballistic, Metal Alloy Plating, Magnetic

Weak Against:

Armor type: Psionic, Energy

Destiny didn’t wait to describe the weapon. “This can double as a psionic sword and bolt caster. The material is made up mostly of synthetic collagen. So like bone, it is very durable, though using it against metal without channeling psionic energy through it is a quick way to break it. Using destructive or shielding psionics make it even more durable than steel. You can also funnel a psionic bolt through its blade and fire it with a higher rate of precision than normally possible. The only problem is with the grip’s design. What you gain in greater control over a psionic bolt, you lose in the ability to use it as a slashing weapon.”

Nodding that I understood, I held it out in a twohanded grip and aimed carefully at the horizon. A surge of power flowed out of me and into the weapon. The transfer of energy was nearly instant as if it were a part of me. A silver bolt shot off into the distance. “It’s easy enough to use.”

“Yes. And it can be yours for 435,000 SP.”

Cringing, I held it up to try to see if there was something special about the weapon I had missed. It didn’t look like collagen or bone, but more like a light-tinted metal. It even had some weight to it. “Why is it so expensive?”

“This material is still in the early stages of development so there’s no quick manufacturing method for it yet. It does have some of the best attributes of psionic based weapons though. Most will restrict you to using destructive type psionic energy, or the focusing of one’s psionic aura. It’s what most psionics users have access to, afterall.”

“I see,” I replied with a nod. “Then let’s get into specifics. Tell me what you think is the best, and we’ll go from there.”

“Okay, but first, are you ready to exchange your one billion cryptos for SP?”

Her question was like getting smacked upside the head, so I place my hand to my cheek and did just that—not that it helped. Just 100,000 cryptos would’ve seemed like a small fortune to me a year ago, but I was now seriously considering exchanging a ten thousand times that. During my two week vacation, I’d been busy. Even if I went through with it, I still had over two hundred million cryptos set aside to fall back on. There was also the promise of more to come with other advertising deals. Might as well get it over with. It’s not like I really planned on sitting on the money anyway. “Do it.”

“Done. And… the exchange is complete. If I might suggest, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Here’s your purchase history for comparison.”

Account History

Starting Balance: 207,875,000 SP (Note: Awarded for contributions in Codename: Freedom.)

Rank – Major: -75,000,000 SP

Trans-Cog Synth 1 by Phantom Lynk: -17,500,000 SP

Peter’s Kit: -54,500,000 SP

Class C Biosynthetic Minimalistic Headset and Lifetime Service Plan: -3,000,000 SP

Crypto to SP Exchange: +1,000,000,000

Current Total: 1,056,610,000 SP

Bringing her hands together in a loud clap, Destiny rubbed them together as if she were preparing to dig into her favorite meal. “Now,” she said with obvious excitement, “Let’s spend it.”