Chapter 112 Getting drunk. (Patreon)

Edited by the Great and powerful Aldous

Big thanks to Aldous for edited while he was sick. Way to go, bud.

Hey only a bit late. I'll take that. This chapter is pretty much an epilogue for that last arc. This next arc with be dark. Much darker than this one. Just so everyone knows, blue boxes are a pain. Even if they don't show up here in patreon. I added them because I got a lot of feed back about skipping the rewards last time few times they finished a mission. I also wanted to show what a typical chat message between friends was like, so enjoy.

Chapter 112

Getting Drunk

Freya woke up to a blinking dot on her HUD. It wasn’t a message, so she knew it had to be her rewards for the mission. She ignored the light as she got up and took a shower. Once she was done she sat down on the couch in just a towel in her living room. Taking a deep breath she mentally clicked the blinking light. What she found was very different from what she expected. She thought the mission was a failure or at least only partially complete, but according to what she was reading the October thought differently.

You have completed the mission successfully.

You are awarded 400,000 E-points, 45,273 skill points and 45,273 mod points.

Mission completion bonus: 106,966 Credits.

Bonus mission 1: For gaining intel on the Ketica previously not known, you are award 50,000 E-points, 2,000 skill points, 2,000 mod points and 700 credits

Bonus mission 2: For leading a team to aid Militia and civilians on the planet Karma who were trapped in a factory, you are award 50,000 E-points, 2,000 skill points, 2,000 mod points and 700 credits

Bonus mission 3: For surviving an ambush and saving Militia and Marine lives, you are award 50,000 E-points, 2,000 skill points, 2,000 mod points and 700 credits

Bonus mission 4: For finding and injuring a non-construct Ketica, you are award 38,501 E-points, 2,000 skill points, 2,000 mod points and 700 credits

Pilot skill advanced +4 for piloting a civilian plane with proficiency in combat.

Advanced Drone Operator skill advanced + 18 for skillfully using the weapons on a Respawn Dropship against the enemy during an operation.

Personal AI has grown + 23 levels due to skillful and imaginative use during several operations in the mission. Personal AI growth is nearly complete.

Congratulations! You have leveled up.

Congratulations! You have leveled up.

Congratulations! You have leveled up...

Congratulations! You have leveled up.

2,495.23 of 28,500.58 E-points needed for advancement to the next level.

Freya whistled at the rewards. They were by far the largest rewards she had ever been awarded and that included her last real-world mission. Looking at just the Enlisted points alone, which amounted to 598,501, she got enough points to nearly level 21 times. She was only a bit more than two thousand shy of that last level.

On top of that she was also rich again with getting a total of 109,766 credits from the mission. She also got 53,273 mod and skill points which she thought was insane. She had already planned out what to do with her mod points and some of her skill points. The money, she had no idea what to do with. She thought about sending some home to her village on Earth, but she knew that everyone she had known was either an old person now or dead. Who would she send it to, she wondered?

She did note several things about her rewards, or rather the lack of several things. First, She didn’t think they completed the mission. Sure, they got some intel on the Ketica, but all that led to was more questions. They still had no idea what the Ketica wanted or how to stop the war. She did kind of learn why the war started, but would it be limited to just this planet or were there more Ketica en-route to other planets? Sure, they now knew that the last emperor of the Terran Empire betrayed them, but they still didn’t know how to prove to the aliens that they were not like him. They had no idea how to prove that they were trustworthy.

She also expected to get some penalty for kicking off the ambush because of the faulty active camouflage on the plane, but there was no mention of it. She was sure there had to be some form of fault placed on her, but according to her rewards, all she got was a bonus mission completion reward for saving a few people. Nothing was said about all the people who died, not zeroed but died, because of her. They were never coming back, and it was all her fault. She felt dirty for getting the reward for it.

Looking over the second bonus award for saving the people at the factory, she felt she was getting way over-rewarded. A lot of militia had died during the rescue. Sure, they had saved a bunch of civilians, but what about the militia? She was responsible for saving them too. She felt the reward was overblown because she saved a small amount of them, but got the rest of them killed. She sat on her couch for a while, feeling depressed as her mind went over the mission and pointed out all of her mistakes as well as all the people who died because of them.

Message from:  Corporal Monkeyman

To: Corporal O’Malley

Hey, you up for some heavy drinking at Pop’s?

Glad for the distraction and wanting to get drunk to forget about what just happened, she replied.

Message from: Corporal O’Malley

To: Corporal Monkeyman

Very much so. What time?

Message from: Corporal Lurch

To: Corporal O’Malley, Corporal Monkeyman

You guys see the rewards we got from that mission? I can’t wait to spend it. You guys want to meet up at the training facility?

Message from:   Corporal Monkeyman

To: Corporal O’Malley, Corporal Lurch

We were just about to message you about coming out to Pop’s with us. We can stop by the training facility on the way out.

Feeling a bit disgusted at herself, but not wanting to rock the boat, she agreed to meet them there. Getting up off the couch, she went to her bedroom and got dressed in her working uniform. Taking a second to look at herself in the mirror, she quickly left her bedroom. She didn’t know what to expect, but the person looking back at her looked normal. She kind of expected her reflection to show something, but all she saw was the same thing she saw in the mirror every time she looked, just like always.

She found Lurch already at the training facility working on the console there. He looked up briefly and gave her a smile then he turned back to what he was doing. She went to the other console and went to the Mod page. The first thing she did was to raise her memory mod equal to her Perception, Agility, Dexterity, and Processing Speed. Doing the math, she then bumped them up to 1,790. From 1,750 and onward, it cost her 35 mod points to raise the mod up once. That left her with 110 points so she added a single point in Perception, Agility, and Dexterity. She thought about putting some points in Strength, Health, and Health Regen, but changed her mind at the last second.

Pulling up the Skill page she went looking for any and all skills related to underwater fighting. She found some, but most of the skills were related to fighting in a high resistance environment. Meaning that the very environment would hinder a person trying to move just because of how thick it was. She added them all.

Then she had to add a few more vehicle skills because of some prerequisites that were needed. They were for specialized vehicles used in high resistance environments. Once she added them all, a new warfare skill popped up on her screen, called heavy resistant environment warfare. It even had a badge which would appear on her status screen. It would allow her to gain more credits when she was in that type of environment.

It wasn’t as great as her cyber warfare badge which reduced her overall experience needed to level up by 5%. She added the new warfare training to the list as well. Getting it and everything to the max level cost her a lot of skill points, but she had a bunch to spare so she wasn’t too put out because of it. Then she went looking for more warfare badges, but either they were all hidden or they weren’t popping up on her list for some other reason because she didn’t find any more of them.

She did find a skill set for her Personal AI while she was looking for more badges. It would teach her how to better use her Personal AI. It cost a lot. More than she had ever spent on anything else before. She quickly added it, wincing at how many skill points she lost. She didn’t regret it though. She knew just how useful that thing had been so far. She did note that it required her to take a few bachelor level classes in biology and genetics.

Under advanced drone skills, she noted that there was an update she needed to take for her skill. She added that, plus a pilot continuing credit class that she needed to keep her pilot's license current. She also had to add an update to the OTIDS skill, even though she had never used an OTIDS outside of a sim mission before. It was a very inexpensive update costing only a single skill point so she wasn’t too annoyed to add it.

She looked over at Lurch only to find him gone, and in his place was Monkeyman, who looked sad. He was tapping a lot on the screen in front of him. She turned away from him and accepted all of her purchases. She turned back towards him and found that he was looking at her.

“Easy come, easy go.” He told her with a sad smile.

“Spending a bunch of skill points?” She asked him, not really understanding what he meant by his quote.

“That and all those sweet mod points.” He said as he tapped yet another thing on his screen.

“See you when I’m done.” She told him, as she went to the door and unlocked it.

“See you on the other side.” He told her, giving her a sloppy salute as she stepped into the light.

Her training on resistant environments included all sorts of environments, from heavy gravity worlds to thick gas worlds that were so thick they might as well be filled with liquid. Moving in those environments took a whole set of new skills and vehicles. She learned how to operate an exoskeleton in worlds that were far too heavy for the average human to survive comfortably. She also learned that she needed special drugs and medical equipment just to be on one of those planets.

Underwater combat was just an update on what she learned when she was in boot camp. There were some special oils that she could use to reduce her friction in the water, but other than some very cool vehicles there wasn’t a lot to help her out when she had to fight underwater. There were some tactics she learned, but it really wasn’t anything special. Mostly she learned that it was a bad idea to fight underwater without mechanical help.

Her college classes were about the brain and how it interacted with her Personal AI. She found it fascinating. The AI basically was a growth that allowed a person to interact with electrical signals. If used correctly, it would be like having another appendage. One that could interact with any electrical device that wasn’t a closed circuit. Even then there were ways around closed circuits. It’s maxed growth was around level 200, but the skill a person had with it could still grow. It just wouldn’t be recorded.

The classes on their use were taught by people who had had them for years. All her instructors were pilots and had mostly used them when flying, so that was what she mostly learned from them. What was worse was that most of them had artificially induced growth so they weren’t as powerful as they could have been. There were a few who had grown them like she did, but most of her instructors hadn’t.

The genetics classes she took helped her understand how the AI was grown in her brain and how it branched throughout her nervous system. Her Personal AI would be bigger and more extensive than someone who had artificially grown it. It would also be more reactive, but she knew that already. She just learned why it was that way.

She also learned that the most important thing for a Personal AI was the processing speed. The AI used the same nervous system as its host so the faster that worked the faster and better it worked. Freya made a special note to keep advancing it whenever she could. Right now it was sitting at 1,790 which was still kind of low for a Personal AI. The lowest recommended Mod point for that stat was 2,500.

The updates were annoying, but she sat through them. Her continuing credit classes were fun. Especially the classes where she flew in various different environments and over different planets. The easier one was where she flew in a high-traffic environment where there was a lot of in-system traffic around the planet with the occasional rare FTL ship tossed in. It was very boring as she had to wait on everyone to get to where they were going.

She also had to pay more attention to the regulations and laws than normal. Not only on how fast she could go, but when she had to give way to another ship that was coming in on a closing course. There were some normal classes and tests she had to take, but they weren’t anything special. She easily passed them with flying colors. The emergency classes where something went wrong kind of felt repetitive and a few of them she had personal experience of in the past.

That made her realize that she hadn’t got a notice about an investigation into her crashing the plane or severely damaging the dropship. She could guess why she didn’t get a notice about the dropship damage. She mostly assumed it was because she hadn’t been the one flying at the time. If there was an investigation then she assumed it would fall squarely on Fred’s head. She had no idea why there hadn’t been one for the plane she flew. It didn’t matter that it was a civilian aircraft; she crashed it so there should be an investigation. She only now realized that there hadn’t been one.

Her OTIDS training was there because there had been a breakthrough in one time infantry drop ships. The dropships could and now would drop to the planet faster. She had to take a few simulated drops courses to feel the increased gravity and the hard impart the new OTIDS made when it landed. The landing hurt her knees a bit, but the pain quickly faded away as the sides of the dropship fell away, a gift from an infusion of medicine built right into the ship. The annoying part was the training forced her to go on ten simulated drops. Her knees hurt every time, and there was nothing she could do about it but wait for the medicine to kick in.

After her continuing credit classes, she completed all of her training. She did pay a few credits to refly a few sims that she had flown in the past. She noted she was a much better pilot now than she had been way back when she first went through training. In the past it was a nightmare flying those courses, now it was only exciting. She also didn’t crash like she did when she first flew those courses.

Status Screen

Name: Freya O’Malley

Rank: Corporal Level: 34

Template:  Sniper

Enlisted points:  4,009,151

Credits:             332,449

Skill points:         22,001

Mod points:      5

Weapons:

E.S.I. Multi Heavy ASO

• 3 shot option
• Duralogistic shock absorbers with Nexus sound reducers
• Mega Colax purified battery pod (x4)
• Twenty heat sinks
• LNG rod ammo
• Angler 57 rifle scope with MAS vision
• High intensity lens

Armor:

Wrath EC Tier 5

• Massimio Strength & Friction assistance
• Mega Colax battery pod (x4)
• Cloudforge
• Sensor alert
• Seven drones
• Memory Expansion Module
• Ove Standard Battery
• AIT Stealth boost

Side weapons:

Irish Nester

• Mega Colax purified battery pod (x2)
• NG explosive rod ammo

Wingols 90-90

• HPSG ammo rod (20 rounds)

Asy Minor short barrel energy rifle

• Colax purified battery

Basic combat knife

Vehicles:

Dropships:

• Goozden 501 Medium-Armored Respawn Dropship
• Goozden 127 Light-Armored Respawn Dropship

Adav two person Scout Quad

• Stealth suite

Wetware mods

Health

Level: 100

Health Regen

Level: 100

Strength

Level: 150

Perception

Level: 1,791

Agility

Level: 1,791

Dexterity:

Level: 1,791

Memory

Level: 1,790

Processing speed

Level: 1,790

Personal AI

Level: 174

Skills cont:

Zero G Maneuvering

Level 5

Advanced Shipboard Tactics

N/A

Spaceborn Vessel

Systems

List

Martial Arts:

Líng Zhònglì Zhàndòu

Level 5

Master

Awareness Skills

List

Dropship Deployment Tactics (Single ship)

Level 15

General Rifle skills

List

Shooting skills

List

Advanced Targeting

N/A

Small unit tactics (Human)

List

Small unit tactics (Alien)

List

Government and Cultural training (Human)

List

Space and high atmospheric ship warfare and tactics

(Enlisted)

List

High atmospheric resistance combat

List

Skills:

Enhanced sensing

Level: 2

Tracking

Level: 5

Acrobatics

Level: 5

One time infantry Drop ship

Level: 1

Special Warfare

N/A

FTL Communication

Phd.+ Postgrad

FTL Communication

Alien Engineering

Phd.

FTL Communication Corporate

MS.

Alien Behavior and Culture

BS.

Engineer

Master

Advanced Drone Operator

Level: 56

Piloting

Level: 29

Silent Walking

Level: 5

Silent Combat Running

Level: 5

Hacking

Level: 5

Zero G. Combat

N/A

Bomb Making

*Non template skill*

Level 10

Driving Skills

List

First Sniper training

Complete

Government and Cultural training (Alien)

List

Leadership

(Squad level)

Level 10

(Completed)

Medic

*Non template skill*

Level 10

Weapons officer Second seat small combat craft

(Enlisted)

List

Hardware mods: Suicide mod

Medals: Gold E Sharpshooter, Silver Cluster (With Honors)     Badges: Cyber Warfare, Heavy Resistant Environment Warfare

Freya noted that all her water and heavy resistant environment combat got listed under high atmospheric resistance combat, including her vehicle training. It kind of annoyed her because there were a lot of classes under the list, but she knew that her status screen was getting a bit long. She guessed it was fine to have all that training, which she had to admit was all related, under one list. It fit better somehow.

She also noted that all her classes for her Personal AI weren’t on her screen as well. When she went looking for a reason why on the training facility in-training screen, she found that all the classes were listed classified confidential. Meaning that she couldn’t talk about it even though it wasn’t that high as far as classified stuff went. Like all classified stuff, it wouldn’t be listed on her status screen. It would be listed on her classified file, though, but that wasn’t something that she had access to just yet. She needed to be a sergeant and be in a platoon leader position to get access to it even though it was her record.

That made her wonder just what was on her classified record. She assumed it would have her listed as a psychic. Maybe all the training she got for it that she only remembered a little bit of. It might even have some kind of mention about her visions, but knowing how important it was to keep those away from people she thought there might not be. But now, she was sure, the document would have a recording of her Personal AI training on it, otherwise it didn’t happen. The Marines like to record everything and if it wasn’t recorded somewhere then, as far as they were concerned, it didn’t happen.

Now with her training done, and the extra fun she had with flying some of the old training courses, she was ready to leave. She summoned the exit door and stepped into the light. The world shifted under her as her body caught up with all the mods she put into her body. She somehow remained upright as her body adjusted to the difference. It passed fairly quickly, unlike the previous times where she had to meditate until she felt normal again.

When she opened her eyes she found Lurch sitting on the floor in a lotus position, meditating. She moved out of the way in case someone else exited the training facility through the door and waited for Lurch to adjust to his stats. It wasn’t long before the door opened again and Monkeyman stepped through it and stopped just outside it. He gave her a wink then looked down at the unmoving Lurch sitting in front of them.

“He forget to adjust to his increased stats before he left?” He asked her, not bothering to ask Lurch.

“I guess?” Freya replied. “I just got out here myself.”

“Give me a few more seconds.” Lurch said without warning. His eyes never opened to see who was talking.

“Did anyone message BT?” Freya asked as she waited on her team mate.

“Yeah, didn’t get a response, so I assumed he had better things to do.” Monkeyman told her, frowning a bit.

Freya checked her messages and noted she still hadn’t got any orders. It was starting to worry her as she knew there was still a battle being fought below them. She knew they had to be in a slow shipboard timeframe, but not getting orders was very unusual. It was especially worrisome because there were only nine members of their platoon left and their platoon leader had been replaced because Mother had died on the planet. What was the protocol for that? She had no idea, and that was making her scared there wasn’t one.

Lurch finally opened his eyes and stood up.

“Let’s go.” Monkeyman said, nearly jumping up and down in his excitement to go out.

She didn’t see anyone as they left the barracks and they weren’t stopped at the door when they unlocked it to leave. She felt like they were doing something wrong even though there were no orders for them to be confined to their camp. If Monkeyman felt the same he didn’t show it as they walked down the corridor towards Pop’s. He bounced around and didn’t stop talking about a bunch of stupid things that had happened in the past before Freya had met him. He was so distracting, that she nearly didn’t notice that the concourse seemed quieter than usual. She noted that they didn’t pass a single marine as they walked towards the restaurant/bar.

Monkeyman was the first one through the door and he stopped just inside. Freya found out why as soon as she walked up beside him. The place was completely empty. A thing she had never seen before. It was only after thinking about it for a few seconds that she realized that most, if not all, the marines who would normally be there were on the mission planet.

“We got this place to ourselves.” Monkeyman said excitedly. “Come one, let's get our drink on.”

“Where do we sit?” Freya asked, only to feel stupid as she looked around at all the empty tables around them.

“This one looks good.” Monkeyman said, running to a table in the middle of Pop’s. He sat down and started looking at the menu inside the table. “I got the first round. That mission left me flush like the best run at the tables I’ve ever had.”

“Poker.” Lurch told her when she gave him a confused look.

She nodded her understanding and sat down as an android walked up to their table with their beer bottles. Freya found herself browsing the music selection. Normally, the music list was extremely long so she had never paid for a song before. Now she dropped a bunch of credits, more than was wise, and started off a ten-song playlist.

She was deep into her fourth beer and the playlist was on the eighth song when someone dropped a huge pitcher of beer onto their table. Freya had been browsing more songs, but at the sound she looked up. She found herself looking at Sergeant Kruz who looked very drunk. She gave them a smile and sat down at their table.

“What’s happening? Is my platoon getting drunk without me?” She asked as she pushed a bunch of glasses towards them.

“We were trying.” Monkeyman replied, not sounding all that put out that their new platoon leader was joining  them. He reached over, accepted a glass and poured himself a beer from the pitcher.

“We got orders yet?” Lurch asked, as he too accepted a glass. Freya frowned, but joined them in accepting a glass. Kruz, to Freya's surprise, poured her beer for her.

“Yes, but that can wait.” Kruz told them right before she finished pouring herself a glass and raising it up. “To what’s left of the Honey Badgers.”

Freya cheered with the rest, but felt it was a very inappropriate cheer. She watched her platoon leader drink nearly half her glass before she stopped. Freya took a big swig of the beer and noted it wasn’t her normal beer choice. The beer tasted much better than any beer she ever had before. She looked at it and smiled, despite herself.

“Just so you all know, we are all that’s left of the Honey Badgers.” Sergeant Kruz told them. “Cannon got tapped to run her own spec ops platoon. She’s already been sent down to the planet to help with training what’s left of the militia. I say good on her!” Kruz said, raising her glass for another cheer. Freya raised her glass and drank with her platoon mates.

“What happened to BT?” Lurch asked. “I tried to message him, but he’s not responding.”

“He’s out.” Kruz said, waving her hand. “Like out, out. He got medically discharged. The shrinks tried to put him back together, but apparently they couldn’t. He took an early out. I hope he gets what he needs out there.”

“Hear, hear.” Monkeyman said, refilling Kruz’s glass before raising his own. They all drank to BT’s health.

“Fred and Dess have also been sent down to the planet as replacement platoon leaders.” Kruz said, looking deep into her glass. “The word I’m getting is they are getting hammered. The Ketica are growing new constructs, making every fight unpredictable. That’s where we come in. Thompson wants us to take your dropship down to the planet, as most of the ships are gone. They need respawn points, or at least they think they do. Lots of corrupted data out there. Not many people respawning.”

“We are to leave the ship behind and merge with another spec ops platoon.” Kruz continued. “I’m going to be the platoon leader. They have a guy who is going to be my second. That leaves you, Magic. I want you to be my third.”

“I hated you, you know.” Kruz said, looking up at her from her beer. “You were one of those Earthers, and my family has a long history with you people. But even I have to admit you are good at what you do. By Tom’s Butthole, you are the only team leader who was able to keep all of her people alive. That's more than anyone else can say, including me.”

“Gee, thanks.” Freya said sarcastically. To her surprise, Sergeant Kruz smiled.

“You’re all right for an Earther.” Kruz said, drunkenly. “Now drink up, we have a mission to get to.”

“When?” Lurch asked as everyone else drank their glass dry.

“As soon as the beer is done.” Kruz said, pouring them another round. There was, Freya noted, still half a pitcher to go.