Chapter 104 Emotions (Patreon)

Edited by Aldous

Sorry work is crazy busy. This is last week's chapter. I'm working on this week now. Hopefully, I'll get it out sometime early this week. Sage of Humanities' next chapter is done, but I haven't had the time to go over it like I want to. It should be out late tonight or early tomorrow. 

Chapter 104

Emotions

Freya woke to an odd buzzing feeling in her left foot. Irritated, she tried to kick the weird buzzing thing away, but when she tried, she stubbed her toe. Cursing, she opened her eyes and found herself inside her dropship. She was in a medical cot next to several other cots which had people in them. They were laying lengthwise, so she knew someone had to have folded the chairs into the floor for the cots to fit. She did note while most of the cots were empty the people in the occupied ones looked pretty bad off.

Looking down she spotted what she had stubbed her toe on. It was a small metal boot device that covered her foot from just above her ankle to the tips of her toes. It took a second for her medical knowledge to kick in, but she recognized the portable medical cloning device. It wasn’t one she had seen during her medic skill training, but it looked close enough that she could recognize the general shape.

The device and several others were designed to preserve and regrow lost appendages like her foot. She had very minimal training on similar devices, so she knew just enough to put one on to preserve the damaged tissue. It took a skilled operator to use the device to regrow a limb. That told her that not only did she make it back, but Maddog was here and helping her.

She looked around for him and spotted him sitting on the floor near the ramp to the ship. He was messing around with his holo tablet, leaning on the bulkhead of her ship. It took her a second to realize that he was writing up a report. The biggest thing she learned in her medical training was just how annoying the paperwork was. Sometimes writing up the paperwork took just as long if not longer than to see and fix a person.

He must have been monitoring her because he looked up not long afterwards and spotted her. Freya nodded to him as he stood up. She was still laying down, but had used her arm to lift herself up a bit so that she could see him. He turned off his holo tablet and waved to her as he walked towards her.

“Good morning. How do you feel?” He asked her as he crouched down at the head of her cot.

“Still alive?” She replied with a shrug. In fact she felt fine. She wasn’t in pain nor was she tired anymore. The only thing that she truly felt was annoyed at the device that was buzzing on her foot.

“Liar.” Maddog replied with a good-natured chuckle. “The good news is that you only have two more minutes on that thing before we can take it off. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Got hit by shrapnel trying to get out of there.” Freya replied. “What’s the damage, Doc?”

“Well, your suit severed your foot when it detected severe chemical burns to it. It’s supposed to do that, so don’t freak out. It detected you were in a hostile environment, which in this case was the ammonia that you were crawling in.” He told her.

“It detected progressive chemical burns, and, to preserve your life, it tried to seal itself above the burns, and amputate the damaged part of your body. In this case, your foot. Unfortunately, your suit was damaged and it didn’t get a clean amputation. It tried again when it didn’t get a good seal. It did it again, and took off another few inches. This time it got a clean amputation and a good seal.” He said with a smile.

“Now all we have to do is wait for your foot to regrow, and you’re back to active duty.” He said looking down at his arm.

“How is Cannon?” Freya asked as she suddenly remembered her old boss getting zeroed out.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot you didn’t hear.” Maddoc said, looking grave. “She respawned back here several hours ago.”

“Jackhole!” Freya yelled and hit him in the arm, which he shrugged off without looking hurt at all.

“Sorry, couldn’t resist.” Maddog replied with a big grin. “She left out of here a couple of hours ago with the scout team from Third Squad. She’s headed out to train another batch of militia. I hope it goes better the second time than the first time.”

“How many of the militia made it out?” Freya asked, looking over at the people in the cots. They didn’t look like marines, but she also didn’t recognize them from the ammonia plant either. Then again she didn’t try to memorize their faces when she met them briefly at the quick meeting Cannon had set up before that attack.

“Eighteen.” Maddog replied. “Twelve from the first group, and six that crawled their way back with you guys.”

“Damn, there were sixty-eight of them.” Freya said, looking down. For them, there was no respawn. They were just armed civilians with a bit of training. They didn’t have the same privileges that the full-time armed services had. They weren’t immortal.

“You got eighteen out.” Maddog said, nodded to her. “That’s not including all the civilians that couldn’t fight.”

“I saw a bit of your fight.” He continued nodding his head towards the front of the ship. Freya turned and looked. She saw both Mother and Captain Thompson huddled around the command and control station. “It was a good fight. I don’t think anyone else could have done better.”

“We should have had more people. Maybe a full squad…” Freya started to say, but Maddog stopped her.

“And what?” He asked her. “Those walls were paper thin. And they had mortars. You’re lucky that they didn’t just bomb the plant to Tom’s paradise and call it a day. You did the best that you could have. Can you do better next time? I don’t see it, but probably. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. You did the best that you could with what you had. And got more civilians and militia back than would have made it if you didn’t go. That's the best that you could have hoped for, sister.”

Freya nodded, not sure what to believe. It was her first mission leading her team, and she wasn’t sure if she would have called it a success. “Eighteen.” She thought to herself. “Eighteen out of sixty-eight.”

She was pulled from her dark thoughts when her foot stopped vibrating. Maddoc immediately started to undo the straps. Once he was done, he cracked the device and pulled her foot out. She looked at her foot and shook her head. It looked normal. There were no scars or blemishes. She wiggled her toes when Maddog asked her to. Then she rolled her foot when he continued his exam.

“You’re good to go.” He told her, putting her foot down onto the cot. “Your suit is done, and I’m not sure if they brought your weapons back with you or not, so I suggest you get new armor and weapons.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Freya said, swinging her body around so that she could put her feet on the ground. She put some weight on her left foot, but it felt fine. She stood up, still cautious, but her foot held her weight and felt perfectly fine.

She strolled away as Maddog went back to the ramp and sat down. She watched him pull out his holo tablet as she stripped down, and walked to the lockers. A few seconds later she felt the warm printer fluid as it printed her new armor onto her. When it was done, she reached down, pulled out her weapons and equipped them. She picked up her ruined armor and tossed it into the locker to be recycled.

She left Mother and Captain Thompson alone because they looked really busy. Instead she went off to look for Drake, her squad leader. According to her mini map he was just inside the waystation. She also looked for the rest of her team, and spotted them deeper in the waystation. Their icons marked them as sleeping. In fact, according to her mini map, the waystation looked really crowded. She guessed that was why they put the aid station in the ship. It was the only place they had room to put it.

Freya found Drake where her mini map showed him, just inside below the door to the waystation. He was standing in front of another marine, talking to her. The Marine looked familiar from behind. Freya was not sure where she had seen her, but she couldn’t get over the impression that she had met this woman before. She quickly checked her mini map, but all it told her was that the person in front of her was in the Marines and was a sergeant, which was normal since the woman was clearly not in Freya’s platoon. What she did notice was that on her mini map a major of the Marines was walking up the ladder behind Drake.

Freya thought about leaving her boss so he could talk to the sergeant and the major, but she really needed to find out what he wanted her to do next. Drake was standing at the end of the stairs that led down deeper into the waystation. Knowing that there was no way to avoid them, she decided to interrupt them and see what he wanted her to do. With a sigh, Freya kept walking down and waved at Drake over the woman’s shoulder.

“Hey, Magic.” Drake said lazily. “I’ll get with you in a sec.”

The sergeant turned around and Freya smiled. Sergeant Leni smiled back. “Magic!” She yelled. “Damn glad to see you.”

“Good to see you too, Sergeant Leni.” Freya replied, holding out her hand for her old assistant platoon leader to shake. The other woman ignored it and hugged Freya instead. Sergeant Leni patted Freya’s back hard at the end of the hug before pulling back.

“Sorry marines, it’s time to work. Sergeant Leni, with me.” A strong, deep voice called out from behind her old sergeant. “Sergeant Drake, I expect Mother and Captain Thompson will want you as well.”

Freya stood at attention as the marine major that had been on her mini map got to where they were standing. He didn’t stop walking though and kept on going up the stairs and out of the waystation. Sergeant Leni gave her a sad smile, and nodded to the major as he walked by. Freya spotted Drake rolling his eyes as he watched the major climb the stairs.

“Seems like duty calls.” Sergeant Leni said sadly. “It’s really good to see you again, Magic.”

“I’ll see you again.” Freya replied, not sure if she was lying or not.

“Your guys are down below. Make sure they’re ok. I’ve got a feeling we aren't going to be staying here much longer.” Drake said, nodding towards the stairs that led deeper into the waystation.

Freya did as she ordered, giving her old sergeant a wave goodbye before she left. She found Lurch and BT asleep while Monkeyman sat next to the two, wide-awake and reading something on his holo tablet. They were tucked in a corner at the far end of the metal catwalk that was filled with sleeping marines. Freya carefully stepped over the unknown marines as she walked towards her team, trying not to wake anyone up. Monkeyman however spotted her as she made her way towards him.

“Glad to see you up and about, ma shiv.” He whispered. “If it wasn’t for the denial spheres I would have shot you back there, and saved time regrowing your foot.”

“If I wasn’t worried about the denial spheres things would have gone down very differently.” Freya replied, whispering back.

“I figured.” Monkeyman replied. “You hear anything?”

“Something’s up.” Freya said, sitting down next to him. “Thompson and Mother are all excited about something. The major in charge of these wayward marines passed me on the stairs to go to a meeting with them.”

“Good. I need some action. This mission has been boring so far.” Monkeyman said with a smile. Freya chuckled and shook her head.

“Get some rest. I’ll keep watch.” Freya told him.

“Fine, but just this once.” Monkeyman said, sounding sarcastic. “It’s not like I’ve been asleep for the past five or so hours while they regrew my foot. Seriously, it would have been far faster if they let you respawn.”

“And let my data get corrupted to save a few hours?” Freya said, shaking her head slowly.

“Fine. Use logic to counter my argument.” Monkeyman said, as he closed out his holo tablet.

“Get some sleep.” Freya said as she opened her own tablet and started browsing the start menu. “Hey Monkeyman, thanks. For back there I mean.”

“You part of the gang.” Monkeyman said as he turned onto his side and closed his eyes. “What kinda gang leader would I be if I let ma shiv die?”

“I thought I was the gang leader now?” She asked him, slightly amused.

“And you are. I’m just the man behind the throne.” He told her as he blindly reached out and patted her on her leg. Freya chuckled and let the man behind the throne fall asleep.

Two hours later, Freya was in the middle of an article about some new technology that threatened to make her surveillance drone obsolete when she got a message from Drake. The new communication array used a very specific FTL particle and it’s decay rate allowed it to transmit a more secure signal. Drones based on her design used many different kinds of particles tagged with information.

The problem with her design was that people were getting better at figuring out which particles had the information and decoding the signal was getting easier and easier. The new technology would eliminate that as there was no information piggybacking on the particle. This new particle was, for all intents and purposes, the information. That supposedly made decoding the information so much harder. Or at least that was what the article was suggesting. She wasn’t that sure, but was very interested in the design.

“Magic, I got a job for you.” Drake said over the radio. “Get your team up, and meet me topside.”

“Roger that.” Freya replied, closing her tablet and putting it away in her backpack, all the while telling herself that she needed to buy a holographic one like everyone else was using.

“Everyone, time to get up.” Freya said over the team’s talk around-channel. “We got a job.”

“Just five more minutes, Ma.” Monkeyman complained.

“If I have to be up, so do you.” Freya said, tapping his leg with her foot. He gave her the finger, but got up just the same.

Once her team was up, she led them through the sleeping marines and up the stairs, where she met Drake, who was waiting for her by the dropship's ramp. He waved them on and retreated into the dropship. As soon as Freya started climbing up the ramp she spotted that someone had moved all the wounded and the medical equipment. She assumed that Maddog did the work as he wasn’t in the back of the ship anymore.

Instead of an aid station, the back of the dropship was full of the command staff of both the spec ops team and the marines from the diplomatic ship. Freya knew that, since Fred was the pilot of the ship, she was technically not part of the command staff unless Mother had plans to change that. She was just a team leader until such time as she became the pilot again.

She noted that Sergeant Leni was standing next to the major and another sergeant. She gave Freya a smile, but she looked distracted. The command staff was hovering over a portable holo table with a map of the continent on it plus some of the ocean floor to the west. There were also a bunch of marines she didn’t recognize along with the scout team from Unicorn’s squad there as well. She gave Thaddeus, their team leader, a nod. He nodded back.

“Now that we are all here, let's get started.” The major said, looking at the map. “As you can see here on the ocean floor we have a Ketica installation. We believe this installation is a bio construct factory. We also believe that there will be at least one Ketica officer at the site to oversee it. Our joint mission with our spec ops friends will be to attack this factory. I want to take this factory with ground forces instead of just blowing it up because I know there has to be a treasure trove of information inside it.”

“Our spec ops friends also need a live Ketica officer to interrogate, so this falls within their mission parameters as well. To do this, we need a staging point and a means of moving a lot of marines to the staging site. Mother is in charge of setting up the staging site, which will be just off the coast, here.” The major said, pointing to the map, then moved back and waved at Mother. “Mother, if you will.”

“We have a two-part plan to set the site up. First, we need transport. I have contacted a militia base here.” Mother said, stepping forward and pointing to a blue dot on the map. Freya noted that it was nearly on the other side of the continent.

“I have one of my people already heading there. She should be there in a few hours. According to what I was told, they have a large atmospheric cargo ship hidden there. Apparently, they used it to transport construction mechs around the planet. The problem is obvious. It can’t fly without some type of active camo to hide it.”  Mother told them.

“Good news is that, as long as we can supply a device to them, they can attach it to the ship. The bad news is that they don’t have a pilot. Magic, that's where you come in. We’re going to pick up Cannon on the way then drop your team off at their base. Cannon’s job is to get them trained and organized. According to our information, they outfitted a bunch of Mechs with improvised weapons.Your job is to drop off the active camo generator and wait for them to install it. Then you are to fly the ship to the staging point with as many Mechs and pilots as you can find. The major has a few Mech pilots, but not enough to outfit an entire platoon. Cannon will be able to help you get those pilots.”

“As this is going on, Thaddeus, you and your team will be dropped off at the staging point. You will set up active camo generators, as well as as many defenses as you can. You will be reinforced with a platoon from the diplomatic ship once the generators are up and running, but you will be on your own until we get back. We want to minimize the amount of times we fly over tp this waystation so we will drop Magic and her team off first then your team, Thaddeus. We will then head back and pick up your reinforcements and return to you as soon as we can.” Mother said, looking at Second Squad’s scout leader. “Questions?”

“Sergeant Leni will bring her platoon to reinforce your team, Thaddeus.” The major said, also looking at Thaddeus. “She will take over the staging point once she is on the ground. Your job will be to scout around the staging area, but you will not go near the factory. I do not want to set this off before everything is ready.”

“Yes, sir.” Thaddeus replied, looking annoyed.

“Sir, if I may? Do we have any info on what type of ship I’ll be flying?” Freya asked, wondering if it was a drone ship that she would have to despawn to fly. She knew that some of the colonial service ships were drone ships. It was a safety measure for planets with extreme atmospheres.

“I do not have that information at this time.” The major replied, turning his gaze to her.

“If it’s a drone ship, fly it on remote. Do not zero yourself out for any reason.” Thompson told her, speaking for the first time.

“Yes, ma’am.” Freya replied, nodding.

“Any other questions?” The major asked.

Thaddeus had a few questions, but they were mostly about what the major wanted for the defenses of the staging site. In Freya’s opinion they were dumb questions to ask. Her opinion was vindicated when Mother answered by saying, “Same defenses as we would put up for the dropship.”

“You have ten minutes before we leave. Get yourselves supplied with everything you need.” The major told them.

Freya wanted to talk to Sergeant Leni, but she was busy with the command staff and Thaddeus. Mother separated from the command staff a few seconds after the meeting broke up. She walked up to Freya and waved her towards the back of the ship. They stopped by the command and control station.

“You ok?” Mother asked.

“Good to go.” Freya replied, confused.

“I just wanted to make sure. That was a pretty crazy mission. You impressed me with the way you commanded your team, and got the civilians out. Keep up the good work.” Mother told her with a smile. It kind of freaked Freya out a bit as she was unsure why Mother was acting so nice. Before she could think about it more, Mother started talking again. “We are printing your generators up now. They should be done before we lift off.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Freya replied.

“Okay, I need to talk to Thaddeus. Send him my way, please.” Mother said, standing up straight.

After sending Thaddeus to talk to Mother, she joined her team as they sat down. Lurch nodded to Mother and asked, “What did Mother want?”

“She asked me if I was okay.” Freya replied, looking over to where Mother was talking to Thaddeus. “It was kind of weird, you know.”

“She probably wanted to make sure you weren’t freaked out by almost dying for reals.” Monkeyman said, playing with his rifle, his accent creeping in a little bit there at the end.

“No respawns.” Freya replied, suddenly understanding.

“Yeah.” Monkeyman said with a grin. “Fun times.”

“By Tom’s thumb, you're crazy.” Lurch said, pulling out a chair from the floor.

“What?” Monkeyman asked, sounding amused. “Tell me you didn’t have fun on that last mission.”

“I was scared out of my mind.” Lurch replied, shaking his head as Freya bent over and pulled up a chair for herself.

“What about you, ma shiv?” He asked her, as he too pulled up a chair from the floor and sat in it.

“Honestly, it felt the same as any mission I’ve been on.” Freya replied, after thinking on it. “It’s kind of weird, you know. I’m not scared. I think I should be, but I’m not. Does that sound weird?”

“Nah, that’s the best way to think about it.” Monkeyman replied. “Me, I find it more exciting. It’s like we are playing in the championships. That last mission feels more real somehow. I know that I can zero out for the last time, but that only makes it better.”

“I’m like Magic, I didn’t think about it until we got back.” BT said, as he too sat down beside them. “But I’m from a frontier world. We had a lot of predators that could and did eat people. Now that I think about it, it feels like I’m back home hunting again.”

“Feels good, right?” Monkeyman asked him with a big smile.

“You’re all crazy.” Lurch replied, shaking his head. “I got two battle nuts with me, and my boss is in denial.”

“Come on.” Monkeyman said, looking at him. “You can’t tell me you didn’t have fun on that last mission.”

“No, it was fun, but I was scared out of my mind the whole time.” He replied.

“You did a good job, though.” Freya told him.

“Yeah, I know, but I was still scared out of my mind.” Lurch replied.

Freya didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything. The conversion died after that, but Freya still thought about it. She really didn’t feel that anything was different with her last mission. She didn’t feel the excitement that Monkeyman felt. That wasn't to say she didn’t have fun. She did, but aside from the clinical thought that anyone who died might not come back, she really didn’t have any feelings about it. She was worried about Cannon when she got zeroed, but not in the moment. She only thought about it when she woke up on the dropship. She wondered if there was something wrong with her.