A little more info on the games here, and Hector's last level-up for a while. Next chapter might have a bit of a time skip.

Cheers,

Plum

10 – Debts to Pay

As was his habit, Hector woke early. When he opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and stared into the darkness of his little room, everything felt strange for a moment. He got lost between his old life and this new one. Maybe it was the thrum of the impulse drive, or the cramped bunk, but he could almost imagine he was a young man again, traveling on an Imperial transport to a deployment.

//In a way, you are a young man again.//

Quit reading my thoughts.

//Well, stop thinking so loudly.//

Hector snorted and sat up on the side of his bed. He had some blinking message notifications and a system update to read, but he didn’t feel like it just yet. Just in case the messages were time-sensitive, he said, “Summarize the messages for me.”

//Burton wants to meet with you in the conference room adjacent to the bridge. He says today’s training will be in the “classroom.”//

Hector grunted, standing and walking into the bathroom.

//Paige has been granted access to some of the House Ventress libraries. Mae is providing pertinent documents. She started studying them last night, but anticipates it taking several days—at least.//

While he listened, Hector started the shower and stood under the steaming water.

//Gladia reminds you of your promise to visit Freddy, though she doesn’t say so directly. She just talks about his progress and his frustration at being bored. Then, she goes into a lengthy diatribe about how he was such a good boy, always listening to her, until he became a teen. Since then, he’s been trying to forge his own path and often takes an opposing position to her, even if he knows she’s right.//

Hector washed his hair, smiling at Evie’s summary. In a way, he was glad he hadn’t listened to the message himself, but part of him wanted to—just to see what Gladia sounded like when she recounted her frustrations with her son. “Anything else?”

//Two more: a note from Lemon checking to see that you’re okay. She says she doesn’t like how you’ve been “making yourself sick” day after day. Finally, there’s a message from Sass. She’s eager to talk to you about her progress with her Aura Blade.//

Being on the ship, with all the people he’d grown close to, really had a way of highlighting to Hector how poorly he’d done when it came to avoiding connections—not becoming too attached. Really screwed that up, didn’t I? Even Iris and Gladia were growing on him, but he wasn’t stupid enough to believe they didn’t have ulterior motives—nor that they wouldn’t sell him out or use him if it furthered their causes.

Speaking of causes, I really need to talk to the team sometime—ideally before I get them mixed up in a battle with Imperial forces or something.

//You believe Orin, Lemon, Sass, and Demon haven’t dropped hints to Mathews and the others?//

Hector frowned as he got out of the shower and dried off. I guess the cat’s probably out of the bag. They aren’t stupid.

//Still, I agree that it would be appropriate to have a meeting.//

Yeah—give ’em one more chance to get out before we cross some sort of line.

Hector let himself ruminate as he got dressed, but after he’d pulled his boots on, he said, “Okay, show me the report.”

A window expanded on his AUI, displaying his level-up gains:

//Corpus vivum conditioning complete and level 15 advancement has been applied. Nascent pathways have broadened, leading to new avenues of advancement and novel aura abilities. This was a keystone level for your Veilborn Duelist archetype, and pathway branches have manifested. Level results are as follows:

·       Strengthened aura pathways, increasing maximum load—use caution when exploring this limit to avoid aura overload.

·       Aura Pool increased from 124 to 142.

·       Potentia threaded through skeletal muscle fibers, enhancing contractile power and raising Strength from 31 to 34.

·       Neuromuscular pathways refined, reducing physical response time and raising Speed from 31 to 35.

Aura Potentia Available: 65

End Report.//

Hector grunted in approval as he absorbed the numbers. After a moment, he asked, “What kind of pathway branches?”

Another window appeared:

//Available Advancement Opportunities:

·       Level Advance 15 -> 16. Cost: 342 aura potentia.

·       Skill merger opportunity detected: Shadow Stalk + Ghost Reaver -> Unknown hybrid. Purchase Cost: 126 aura potentia.

·       Branching, one-way ability pathway. Choose from:

o   Phase Pathways 4 – Further enhance aura pathways capable of matter-state transition. Purchase Cost: 175 aura potentia.

o   Veilborn Senses 2: Improve cognitive processing of sensory input, effectively boosting your Perception attribute. Results will vary based on individual and baseline Perception. Purchase Cost: 75 aura potentia.

·       Branching, one-way ability pathway. Choose from:

o   Enhanced Speed Boost – Broaden the pathways for this attribute boost, resulting in better performance per aura expended. Purchase Cost: 100 aura potentia.

o   Enhanced Neuromuscular Pathways – A one-time permanent boost to your Speed attribute. Purchase Cost: 100 aura potentia.

End Report.//

Hector studied the new “branching” options and, while some were clearly solid improvements, he was kind of glad that none of them felt absolutely critical for his current advancement. It made it easier to accept the fact that he couldn’t afford any of them.

//Just keep them in the back of your mind while you’re waiting for more potentia.//

Yeah.

Hector was still early for his meeting with Burton, so when he left his room, he took his time and angled his steps toward Lemon’s door. He hesitated, second-guessing his impulse to check in with her. What if I wake up the kid?

//Or her…//

Yeah. Good point. Just send her a message, would you?

//Of course. Something reassuring?//

Hector started walking, grunting his agreement. Evie would probably be better with words than he would. He stopped as another thought occurred to him. “What about Sass?”

//Most likely also sleeping…//

Yeah…damn. He continued to the elevator and was surprised to see Demon standing there.

When he saw Hector approaching, he nodded in greeting. “Morning, sir.”

“You’re up early,” Hector said, noting that the elevator was en route.

“Always.”

“Yeah?”

“Well,” Demon said, frowning. “Since prison.”

“Ah, right. It was the IG that did it to me.” The elevator arrived, and they both stepped aboard. Hector looked down at Demon; he seemed smaller than when he’d first met him back at Pete’s gym. He supposed they hadn’t really met; Hector had seen him.

“You’ve changed,” the man said, apparently thinking along similar lines. “Aura levels?”

Hector nodded. “For the most part.” He saw an opening to satisfy his curiosity and asked, “Why are you so against aura systems?”

Demon scratched his short, dark hair, staring at the elevator door as he obviously considered his words carefully. When the elevator came to the mess hall deck and stopped, he said, “I don’t know, exactly. I think it’s because it took me years of hard work to master myself. I don’t want to complicate things…” He tapped his temple. “Up here.” The elevator door opened, and he stepped off, looking back at Hector. “Going to eat?”

“I have to meet Burton. I’ll see you in the training bay later.”

The other man nodded, turning and padding away without another word. Hector selected the bridge level and rode the rest of the way up in silence. He liked how straightforward Demon was, and he was a good enough fighter—and smart enough—to be useful with or without an aura system.

A few minutes later, he stepped into the conference room and groaned inwardly when he saw that Burton was there ahead of him. The big man laughed, sipping a mug of steaming coffee. “Thought you’d get here before me, did you?”

Hector walked to the end of the table and sat down across from him. A coffee pot and several mugs sat in the middle of the table, along with a tray of creamer packets—some sweetened and some not. As he poured himself a cup, he said, “Why do you say that?”

“It’s all over your face, my friend.”

I doubt it.

When he didn’t respond aloud, Burton said, “They’ll be bringing breakfast soon, but I figure we can get started. I’ll start by saying I’d prefer we don’t bullshit each other. You know who I work for, and you know what he’s up against. Nothing you tell me is going to get you into any trouble, because we need you pretty damn badly for our plan. With that understanding, do you think you can be honest with me?”

Hector sipped his coffee, skipping the creamer packets. He looked Burton in the face, his eyes drifting down to his ridiculous but well-groomed mustache. “Who do you work for? Just Sparling, or do you consider yourself a Ventress man? Are you aligned with Gladia and her brother?”

“I’ve never met the brother—Loyal, right? No, I’m a Sparling man, but if he’s working with Lady Gladia, then so am I. Full stop.”

Hector nodded.

Burton growled softly. “And you?”

“What about me?”

“Who are you, dammit!”

Hector sighed. “I thought you didn’t want any lies?”

“Well, I know you’re lying with that damn ID of yours!”

Hector knew Gladia and the others already doubted his Hector “Valerius” ID, so he didn’t see any point in denying. “Yeah, it’s fake.”

“Good. That’s something. I also know you used to be in Invicti, and don’t even try to argue some bullshit that you trained with a veteran—that’s what your little protégé thinks.”

It was Hector’s turn to growl, and he leaned forward menacingly as he replied, “You leave Sass out of it! I don’t want her feeling like she has to make excuses for me.”

Burton held up one of his heavy hands, shaking his head. “Just a friendly conversation. Anyway, are you going to talk to me about your fighting style?”

“You know enough. You’ve seen what I can do.”

“Exactly. We don’t need some Imperial agent infiltrating this movement.” Burton stood, and Hector saw the heavy blaster he had slung low on his thigh. He didn’t react. A blaster wasn’t a threat to him—not when he was already close enough to strike. “I’m going to recommend to Gladia that we turn this ship around. I guess you probably think you can kill us all, but I’ve got some cards up my sleeve, chum, and I promise you this much, I’ll take this whole damn ship apart before I let you have control.”

Hector sighed and leaned back in his seat. “Just sit down, Burton. I’m not an Imperial agent.”

Burton glowered, but it was clear to Hector that he was bluffing, and though the man didn’t exactly say as much, he did sit down. “I’m listening.”

Hector tapped the back of his skull. “You know I’ve got a neurodeck, right?” When Burton nodded, Hector said, “I’m not ready to talk about who exactly I am, but I’ll tell you this much: I’m sworn to vengeance against House Lautrec.”

“Vengeance?” Burton hastily reached into his breast pocket and retrieved his little comb. As he ran it through his mustache, he said, “Lautrec?” He locked his dark eyes on Hector’s. “The entire house? The emperor?”

Hector nodded. “That’s right. All the way to the top.”

“So…”

“So, you see, Burton, Gladia’s not using me, and neither is Sparling. I’m using them.” He glanced at the tiny network node in the center of the ceiling. “You get all that, Gladia?”

Burton combed his mustache a few more times, mulling over Hector’s words. “I need—”

“You don’t need anything. You want some proof. Something that will say I’m who I say I am and that I won’t betray you. Well, there’s nothing I could give you that the Empire couldn’t have falsified. You’re playing a dangerous game with dangerous people, but I’ve already done more for Gladia’s cause than you have. I killed an Imperial loyalist—Balus Ventress—and I saved Gladia from arrest, trial, and public execution. I saved her son from certain death in the rift. I saved her right-hand man when Lux was about to rip his head off, root and stem. Now, do me a favor and quit wasting my time.”

Burton cleared his throat and glanced at the same network node Hector had been looking at. “Fair enough. For the record, Gladia said just about the same thing when I told her I wanted to confront you.” He gestured toward the wall, and the lights dimmed as a crystal-glass display flickered to life, projecting a high-resolution, three-dimensional image of a map. Hector thought it looked like an obstacle course.

“So we really are having some classroom time?”

Burton laughed, nodding. “That’s right. We’re going to be spending a lot of time in here, Hector, because, let’s be honest: I can’t teach you much when it comes to fighting. I don’t know who you were, but I can say you’re the best damn fighter I’ve ever tried to train. Maybe I taught more talented kids, but they didn’t know what you know. They didn’t have your cool—your ability to turn every goddamn disadvantage around. That kind of thing only comes with experience and a lot of it.”

“I still need practice, and I need to keep working with Sass—with my team.”

“Yeah, of course.” Burton waved a hand. “We’ll run drills daily, but I think where I can really help you is in knowledge of the Games. So, today, we’re going to talk about the first Game—the one at Heliarch’s Rest.”

Hector nodded, turning to the screen. Heliarch’s Rest was the name of one of the major cities in the trench. “I’m listening.”

“Known as the Game at Heliarch, the first contest of the season is big—not everyone can get in, but there are a lot of slots. We’re talking six thousand entrants, and only five hundred will move on. If you consider that, it’s the Game where you’re most likely to be eliminated.”

Hector frowned, looking at the screen as its display shifted:

Game at Heliarch: 6000 -> 500          8.3% advancement rate.Game at Cydran: 500 -> 100              20% advancement rate.Game at Aurelian: 100 -> 50              50% advancement rate.Game at Redfall: 50 -> 25                  50% advancement rate.Game at Tharsis: 25 -> 1st, 2nd, 3rd     12% placement rate.

Burton watched his face as Hector took it in, then he nodded. “You see? We need you in the top three. Three out of six thousand. Your ability to fight, your skill with aura—they’ll take you far, but they won’t take you all the way. You’re going to need to understand the Games. Heliarch’s the worst one—chaos incarnate. I’m going to teach you how to see through the madness, to understand the systems at play, and to capitalize on that knowledge to ensure you’re one of the five hundred who move on to Cydran Vale.”

Hector wasn’t completely clueless; he’d had Evie read up on the Games, and he knew that there were hundreds of deaths every year, especially in the first one—sometimes thousands. It was a true old-school bloodsport, but he wasn’t surprised; the Empire encouraged such contests, so long as they were in charge. It kept the masses entertained, and it gave the strong among them an outlet—a place to expend the energy that might otherwise be turned against their lofty overlords.

“The first one is longer, right?”

“That’s right. Several days at least—sometimes a full week. It will all depend on how they tune it—what sort of challenge they devise. I’ve got some insider information, though, so we’re starting out ahead of the pack. The Game at Heliarch will determine a lot, Hector. It’s where alliances are forged, the weak and unlucky are culled, and sponsors are earned.”

“Sponsors?”

Burton nodded. “Patrons. You’ll win potentia in the Games, but you can also earn it from Royals who take a liking to you. They’re all given an allotment to dispense. If you’re going to make it through all the Games and survive what you have to do after, then you’re going to need all the potentia you can get.” He brushed his mustache, staring at Hector. “Am I wrong?”

Hector shook his head. “You’re not,” he said, and then, to himself: I’ll need it to kill the traitors in House Ventress, too.

//You’ll need it to survive.//

Hector couldn’t fault Evie for not wanting to die. Even so, he didn’t want to give her false hope. I’ll try, Evie, but every breath I take in this body is stolen. We’ve got debts to pay, and nothing is guaranteed.