Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 24

As soon as I opened my eyes, I knew something wasn’t right. I woke with people in white coats surrounding my cube’s platform. I was lying there groggy as if waking from a not so restful sleep.

“Destiny?” I said, my voice coming out in a dry-mouthed whisper.

“Here,” she replied. Her round purple drone flew across the room to hover before me. “Don’t worry. You overused your psionics so instead of waking up right after the battle, you’ve been out.”

“How long?”

“Just over twelve hours.”

“We won?”

“Yes. The enemy was destroyed, and we placed first in every category.”

“I’m assuming everyone died…”

“Everyone in the immediate area of the Ekseliksi elite, yes.”

I just shook my head. “I’m leaving,” I called out to those below my cube’s platform. There were a number of warnings issued, but I ignored them. I could feel my internal energy healing me as it usually did. With a quick cycle to Othisi, I pushed off any instruments they had hooked up to me and tossed my legs off the side.

Destiny didn’t argue but gave me a kind reminder. “Clothes.”

I’d landed garmentless, caring little for such things. The only thing that mattered to me at that moment was that I had seen most of my friends die, and even though I knew they’d still be in one piece, I was going to check on them.

When I headed for the door where my old gear was kept, there was a military standard drone, similar to that of Destiny’s Vanguard chassis, waiting for me.

“Major Lucius Edwards,” the drone greeted with an even tone. “The gear that you purchased in Vanguard that doesn’t have a build time has been delivered to your quarters. Your bags were also delivered there. I have brought you a change of clothing, defensive gear, and your new headset for your convenience.”

With the same metallic tentacles Destiny had made use of, it reached out to me. There hung the same model of ballistic suit and undergarments I’d purchased in Vanguard. I got dressed without delay.

Much of my gear would take a few days to be manufactured, including Destiny’s new drone kit and brain. I probably wouldn’t see Wink outside of Vanguard for just as long. That went for my shadow drone and mule as well.

That line of thinking returned my mind to Destiny and her newfound emotional state. Without my father’s brain and her new frame, it seemed she’d return to an emotional state until the manufacturing process was done.

“How are you doing?” I asked as I slipped on my shoes and marched out of the cube.

“I—” Her voice cut off from her drone’s speakers and she continued where only I could hear through my headset. “I’m okay right now. I don’t have direct access to the Vanguard version of myself which I set to explore my memories so that I can upload my thoughts and… feelings on things, once my brain is ready.”

“So you can’t feel right now?”

“You could say that. It’s given me time to process. So I’m thankful…”

I didn’t respond, hearing in her tone that she needed time—as strange as that was. It brought up another issue. If Destiny was truly going to be able to feel, how were Victoria and my Ekseliksi friends going to react? Had they already noticed?

Even though she didn’t speak much, Destiny still informed me that everyone I wanted to check on was already in training. She reassured me that all reports on their mental health statuses were good, so she led me to my personal quarters for the first time. I currently had a short-term medical leave status which was set to expire at noon.

When I arrived at my room that was located in a long hall that reminded me of a dorm or sparsely decorated hotel, I placed my hand on the nob-less, white-paneled door. The sensors in the door scanned my palm and it opened inward only to find boxes filling the space and nearly stacked to the ceiling in places.

Standing their gawking, Destiny snapped out of her own head and started to explain. “My fault. I should’ve had you purchase a personal storage space right away, but we were interrupted by the event, and I was distracted... Much of what was already built and in storage on base has been delivered to us here. I’d recommend renting a storage space much larger than we currently need so that we don’t have to worry about moving gear in the future. The cost is only 1,500 SP a month.”

“Do it, please,” I replied. “Do we have to move it all ourselves?”

“No. I’ll order some service drones. You have free access to a few as long as they aren’t being used by your neighbors. Right now, four of them are available. Before that though.” The lenses of my headset slipped over my eyes and suddenly there were several packages highlighted. “These are more personal effects like clothing, defensive gear that you’ll be wearing every day, and I assume you want to have a psword with you at all times?”

“I can do that?”

“You have been cleared for small arms, yes. Not everyone is given such freedom on base, but because a year of your life is public record, they have enough data to determine you’re stable.”

I croaked out a laugh at that.

At Destiny’s direction, I began going through a few of the packages she had highlighted. Many of them were obviously not government packaged, for they had company logos and varying designs. I already wore my Lethality Pshield Refinement Belt, but I came across its substitute in a metallic case with carbon fiber writing with Sizzle Tech etched across its surface. It was my 7th gen E-Field that I could wear if I ever ran low on psionic energy. There were two latches, which I undid, and lifted the lid. The bangles for my wrists and ankles were secure in black foam in the corners, and the neck bangle lay in the center. It was not government packaged. This was done by a company that took pride in its work, taking advantage of this opportunity of displaying their product in the best light.

I was interrupted by Destiny. “Major Liam Sullivan has requested a meeting. Victoria has commanded him to debrief the leadership team…”

My first thought was to blow him off, but if Victoria requested it then she had her reasons. “Let's get this over with then.”

Before leaving the room, I made sure to have found psword and strapped it to my waist. They were probably right about me being stable, but I wasn’t past a little passive intimidation.

***

The room Destiny led me to was the blandest office I could imagine. White walls, floor, and ceiling. A desk of polished grey. The lighting came from every direction since what lined the room were smart panels. There just wasn’t anything to focus on. Destiny was waiting outside in the hall, but at least I could talk to her while I waited for Liam to get there.

It seemed that even Victoria was in training, for I received a message from her thanking me for meeting with the man that had held her hostage. She requested that I gave him a chance.

Even though he arrived ten minutes later, it still felt like a much longer wait. There weren’t many other people that could make me so irate just by thinking about them as he did. Still, I tried to keep myself under control as he walked into the room.

“Liam,” I said, standing. The greeting was much more personal than he seemed to expect.

“Lucius,” he replied.

He was a friendly looking black man, even fatherly. Outside of his betrayal, I’d viewed him as sincere and naturally empathetic. I’d even looked up to him. I didn’t know how to justify that with what he’d done.

Taking a seat, he leaned forward and looked me in the eye. Seeing that kindly look of his staring back at me threatened to rial me up.

“Nothing about meeting like this is easy after what I’ve done to you and your friends,” he started. “You can stop this at any time and leave the room. It will not reflect on you negatively in any way. Are we clear?”

“What’s the point, Liam?” I responded. “Victoria requested it, so I’m here. I’ll work with you without complaint but tell me straight. As far as I’m concerned, there’s peace between us, but that’s it. No friendship. Nothing else. And I don’t trust you.”

He threw out his hands as if giving way. “Very well. My job is to help you with your training. Not the physical aspects, but the emotional. Outside of losing soldiers and primary weapon systems, the single most devastating thing to a military force is low morale. You want me to tell you straight, so I’ll just come out and say it. You just lost a fight in which you watched many of your closest friends die. How are you feeling?”

I chuckled at the idea of us having low morale. I wanted to object to us losing the fight, but I knew that he wasn’t referring to the entire battle, so I didn’t go there. “How am I feeling?” Victoria had mentioned he was a clinical psychologist. I’d expected something like this, so I started listing things in the most distant manner possibly just to get it over with. When I said I’d work with him, I meant it. “Angry—at myself for not being strong enough and at whoever is in charge of Vanguard for putting us in such a position… Worried about Kline, Barrell, Mel, Vector, and Drool.” As I named names, I started to lose my clinical edge and my passion slipped through. “Treetop, Huan, Isamu, Cornelius, and even Heather. Marabella—” By the time I said the last name it came out as a snarl. I wasn’t just remembering the people I’d seen die but was seeing the images of what had happened as if they’d been burned into my retinas.

Liam began to say something, but I kept going. “They did well. Exactly what we needed them to. And we won, because of them. But.”

“But?”

I shrugged myself to go on. “But if we fought a squad, maybe just a couple, Ekseliksi elites as we are now then they’d wipe us out. One of them almost did just that. And what of their even greater warriors? That’s just rank D psionics. What about rank C or even B if there is such a thing. They don’t need an army. Just one or a few ridiculously strong soldiers and they could win the entire war.”

That didn’t take long. I internally rebuked myself for my loss of control. When Liam didn’t say anything, I looked up to find him studying me.

“Sorry,” I said a few uncomfortable moments later. “I’m just trying to figure out what the point of this is. Not this meeting, but Vanguard. The whole thing. I can see the purpose behind learning basic military protocol, but half a day dedicated to it? That’s a lot of physical and psionic training we could be doing. We could be getting stronger. Maybe if we could limit the marching and other basics to an hour over a longer period, or to our downtime between workout sessions… I get why Colonel Edmond is frustrated with the situation. Maybe our second half of the day in the Vanguard simulation will be more beneficial, but Prodos didn’t need dozens of its best men and women to experience another simulated death to motivate them.”

Liam snorted, drawing my attention. “The colonel knows you well.”

“Victoria?”

He nodded.

“She doesn’t miss much,” I acknowledged. “What did she say?”

“That you’d be underwhelmed with the training here. And thanks to the upper brass’s zealous approach to yesterday’s event, they’ve provided a few extra benefits they hadn’t planned.”

I leaned forward when he didn’t immediately explain.

“You get your wish. When you leave here, you’ll head straight to The Jungle for combat parkour training. Then you’ll get an early lunch and head back to your cube. Tomorrow will be a little different. You’ll start the day with basic training, then move on to combat parkour and strap into your cube by 10:00 AM. Most Vanguard events won’t begin until 4:00 PM, so that will give you time for personalized training. Also, I know you don’t sleep much, so I’ll send your AI a schedule of the facilities you have access to at any point of the day. Anything you want to ask me before you go?”

“That’s it, Liam? You asked me what, two or three questions? What am I missing?”

He sat back in his chair and cupped his hands behind his head. “What’s the problem? Is there something you’re hiding? Because in all honesty, Lucius, you’re extremely easy to read. That’s not a bad thing. I knew from the hostility I felt walking into the room that you hadn’t lost your motivation to fight. We’ll have these talks once in a while and I’ll keep an eye on you during the events. That will be it. I’m sure we’ll be working together when it comes to training our men, but other than that…”

“Our men?” I replied, trying not to come off as overreacting.

“That’s the colonel’s doing. She’s been quick to remind me that I should be referring to them as my men too, and not just hers, whether I like it or not.”

“Then I suggest you do. I’ll take my leave.” As I stood and headed for the door, I stopped short and turned back to him. “How’s Heather handling what happened?”

“Oh, she’s as fine as can be expected.”

“Can you give her my best, and tell her thank you for what she did for me?”

He smiled broadly. “About that. She’s requested to transfer directly under your lead and to be a part of Captain Barrell and his team. They’re scouts, right?”

“They are…”

“Then I’d highly recommend her to you.”

Closing my eyes to hold back a cringe, I replied. “I don’t think she’d be a good fit. For Barrell’s platoon in particular.”

“Let me give you some unsolicited advice,” he said, his tone turning somber. “Give her a shot. She can be a bit of a tease, but that’s my fault. In Freedom, I made her into a bit of a spy. But she isn’t one in any traditional sense. Not really. She can be a very charming girl and I taught her enough about people to take advantage of it. But that has nothing to do with why I think you should make use of her. Her psionic talent is something your captain could make use of, and, more than that, she’s exceedingly driven. As a matter of fact, in that aspect, she reminds me of you.”

I was about to say that he’d probably just use her to keep an eye on me, but he was on Victoria’s intelligence team. He’d have full access to most everything I said and did even without her. “Okay. We’ll give her a shot. However, it’s not just her I’ll be evaluating, but also how the team responds to her. If she’s too much of a distraction for them, even if she puts in the work, she’s out.”

“Good.”

And with that, I left.