Everyone’s eyes lit up like it was Festivas morning as they walked into the Brekinar family treasury.
It was a massive square room, wider than any other room in the house, with numerous rows of protective cases inlaid on either side of the floor. Inside those cases, numerous Morphic stones sat on velvet cushions, their bodies wrapped in transparent protective tape that suppressed their glow. Even suppressed, they glittered like an army of expertly smoothed gemstones, sitting on their little cushions with a regal aura. The treasury sort of looked like a high-end jewelry stone. If the jewelry store also doubled as an unregulated blaster dealership. The unregulated blasters were on the wall, with nearly every make and model conceivable lining the whole room. Jordan spotted antiques, specialty models, and even some kinetic weapons. A small sapphire Codex was embedded into the wall below each weapon, and there were enough of them that even their passive light was enough to bathe the whole room in a soft, sky-blue glow.
The only fly in the ointment, Jordan noticed, was that there were quite a few open slots in those cases. Many of the Morphic stones were already gone. As he and the Pioneers looked around, Plincaron offered an explanation for the whole layout, “The stones are held with special preservatives to minimize lost energy. They usually don’t lose much even without the tape, but it makes sense to use it if you can afford it. The Codices on the wall mostly store ammo and other weapons. They should be indexed by the weapons above them, so you’ll be able to find other copies of each weapon, along with the appropriate ammo type, in each storage.”
“How do you know all this?” Stan questioned. Plincaron just shrugged, “The family head had a similar treasury, though I remember it being smaller.”
“This one's empty.” Zufall rumbled out with a frown, tapping one of the Codex’s with two thick fingers. Plincaron pursed his lips with a frown of his own, before speculating, “I suspect that a lot of the stones and supplies have already been removed for other usage, likely to supplement the war effort. What remains is the leftovers.”
“And the Codices aren’t locked?”
“The Brekinar left them unlocked for easy access after they moved the supplies.” Markus called back, the veteran looking around contemplatively as he answered Zufall’s question, “Makes ‘em easier to access again. Most wouldn’t dare to steal from the Clan, and they know it. Oran gave us permission to take what we want, though, so feel free to help yourselves.”
And with that, they were off to the races. Fortunately, many of the more specialty weapons still had some ammo left in their Codices, so each of the men found something unique that they liked. Jordan watched as Zufall caressed an energy grenade launcher like he would a newborn babe. Ramirez grabbed a long laser rifle geared toward piercing armor, while O’Riley marveled as he hefted a massive, minigun-like blaster. Stan stood next to the man, tersely muttering, “O’Riley, if you accidentally kill me with that thing, I will come back to haunt you.”
“Who said anything about accidentally?”
The ex-con only grumbled in response, then turned around and grabbed two laser pistols that were also geared for rapid fire. Jordan was already pretty happy with his blaster rifle, but he still chose to grab a laser weapon with a projectile that imitated buckshot. He also managed to grab more high explosives to replenish his stock, and a few other trinkets and gizmos that might be useful. With that accomplished, they turned to raid the other, more potent supplies.
“Time to make Gamma.” Peralta muttered with a small grin, rubbing his hands together as he and Plincaron moved to open one of the cases containing some shiny emerald-colored stones. At some point, Zufall had gone back outside and brought in the metal crates. Jordan and Ramirez helped him open them, and they found more ammo, a bunch of medical stims, and some E and D class Morphic stones. The greatest prizes from the crates were two neatly packaged Beta class stones, both of which were immediately tossed over to Markus. He accepted them with a grunt and turned back to fiddling strangely with something on the wall. Jordan had half a mind to ask his father what he was doing, but he decided it’d be more productive to help the others with sorting and distributing the Morphic stones.
As they were all obtaining what they wanted, they heard a triumphant noise come from over where the Colonel was. Then, with a loud beep, the wall swung open, revealing a hidden adjoining room. Markus chuckled wryly as he walked inside, the other Pioneers watching in shock. They exchanged glances and collectively shrugged. They left the Colonel to his exploration as they continued to distribute the loot in front of them. Jordan got what he wanted and then some, his mind working quickly as he carefully selected numerous E class and D class stones. He even got a G class stone, which he ecstatically tucked away with all his other loot.
As they were finishing up, Markus walked out of the secret room and into their little huddle. He grunted, “Wasn’t too much in there, believe it or not. Some stones for me to use, some 630 to recharge my tech, and a few useful weapons. That said, I did have a few things you fellows could use.”
He pulled out a little round disk, colored a deep violet, and flipped it to Jordan. Awed, the young man caught it and held it up to the light, mumbling, “Is this…a Scion Tablet?”
Markus gave an affirmative nod, explaining for the sake of the men who may have never seen it before, “Absorb that with your Codex, and it will temporarily reinforce your body, minimizing any Psionic damage you may receive. Excellent for raising up young talent without cutting into their future too much.”
He retrieved four more tablets from storage and flipped one to each of the rookies, “I found five of those, one for each of you. They’re best used by you young ones, since we old folks are already past our sell-by date.”
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“But you’re much stronger than we are!”, Ramirez protested, “Making you guys even stronger would improve our chances of survival.”
“The tablets work much better for weaker fighters. They’re not perfect, and they won’t allow you to become Alpha class overnight. They’ll only allow you to absorb more than usual, but don’t get cocky. You still need to avoid an overdose.”
Adding to Markus’s diatribe, Scalia commented, “Don’t think too hard about it, kids. Just remember ol’ Tony when you become military bigshots.”
That prompted smiles all around, and Jordan inclined his head in gratitude, “Thank you, all of you. We won’t let you down.”
The other rookies mimicked his posture, echoing their own gratitude. Well, Gon vibrated somberly, but Jordan assumed he was grateful. But the Colonel wasn’t done, “I also found these.”
He pulled six more objects out of storage, waving them around for all the men to see. They resembled emerald-colored computer chips, though unlike computer chips, they glowed with a soft internal light. Several of the Pioneers gasped at the sight, and Lao muttered, “Integrated Tech…I’ve never seen so many of them in one place.”
“Even if it’s just Toshak tech, that’s good stuff.”, Scalia muttered, eyes round like dinner plates. Markus narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he waved the tech, musing, “They’re useless for me, Peralta, and Plincaron, since we already have tech. That means…”
“Toshak Integrated Tech is relatively low-quality, so I’m not sure how good they’ll be for the youngsters.”, Hernandez sagely observed, “Warp and Meta Tech have a much higher ceiling for growth, and removing Tech after installation is near impossible….”
“I’ll take it!” Stan said, his eyes gleaming with barely concealed greed as he tapped his foot energetically. After another streak of bidding, it was decided that Stan, Ramirez, and the four Techless vets would all receive Integrated Tech. Gon, Jordan, and O’Riley would hold out for something better. Perhaps it was more dangerous for them in the here and now, but it would improve their future potential. And Jordan suspected that their war had only just begun, so he was happy playing the long game.
With all the resources distributed, each man went off into their own corners and started processing what they’d recently obtained. Jordan was no different, moving back to his room and going into a lotus position. Time to see what he could do.
…
User Name: Jordan Markus Haraldson
Age: 19
Pioneer Class: Delta
Rank: Sergeant
Status
Strength: 230 -> 382
Dexterity: 294 -> 470
Constitution: 216 -> 356
Adaptability: 211 -> 353
Psyche: 281 -> 499
Psionic Capacities:
Slot 1: Teleportation (Delta) (MP=3/21)
- User can Teleport using Psionic Energy.
- Travel through space nigh-instantaneously to a specific location, determined by User’s gaze.
- User moves through any obstacle, so long as vision is not obstructed.
Slot 2: Hypersight (Delta) (MP=3/21)
- User massively increases visual processing speed using Psionic Energy.
- User’s perspective slows, allowing them to examine or react to anything in front of them more easily.
- Despite a slowed perspective, note that this doesn’t increase user movement speed. This Capacity cannot save a User from something they cannot evade at standard speed.
Slot 3: Myriad Arms (Delta) (MP=3/21)
- User heavily enforces both arms with Psionic energy.
- Arms temporarily experience a massive boost to speed and a minor boost to strength.
- Though the increase is very temporary, the cooldown is shorter than most bodily enhancement Capacities, allowing semi-regular usage. However, beware the hefty cost.
Personal Attributes:
Slot 1: Eyes of the Hound (Delta) (MP=3/15)
- Considerably improves the quality of User’s vision.
- User can see much further and can more easily spot details and weak points on their target.
- Scales with Adaptability (D).
Slot 2: Warrior’s Physique (Gamma) (MP=0/42)
- Considerable enhancement of User’s natural Strength.
- Considerable enhancement of User’s natural Dexterity.
- Scales with Strength (D) and Dexterity (D).
Slot 3: Reactive Mind (Delta) (MP=3/15)
- Improves Psionic Capacity activation speed and User reaction time.
- Significant enhancement of User’s natural Psyche.
- Scales with Psyche (D) and Adaptability (E).
Slot 4: Efficient Psyche (Gamma) (MP=0/42)
- Lower Mental Energy Costs for Capacity activation.
- Improves User’s ability to process information.
- Scales with Psyche (D) and Adaptability (E).
Slot 5: Survivor’s Physique (Delta) (MP=3/15)
- Significant enhancement of natural Constitution
- Significant enhancement of natural Adaptability
- Scales with Constitution (E) and Adaptability (E).
Integrated Technologies:
Slot 1: Empty
Jordan scrutinized his stat increases with narrow eyes, mildly worried yet overall excited. He might have overdone it a bit, even with the Scion Tablet to protect him. Those things weren’t perfect, after all. He still probably sustained a good amount of Psionic damage, which was somewhat depressing. However, getting stronger was always fun, and he had made a stupendous leap. As a Mid-grade Delta class that was just a hair from High-grade, he had a much greater chance to survive his imminent redeployment.
And it was imminent. He was recovered and in better shape than ever, and he suspected that the other men were the same. It had been a few hours since they’d all split off, but Jordan was waiting for the call. In theory, they could continue to sit here and eat through the Brekinars’ pantry, but Jordan doubted that was the plan. As they sat here, the battlefield roared louder than ever in the distance. Those men needed help.
Exactly as expected, he only needed to wait another hour before he got a message from his father, “Come Downstairs. We have new orders.”
Time to go.