Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 21

We entered the command control room that was laid out in a half-pie shape. There were rows of chairs near the back with only the last two having desks. Rounding toward the front, three hov-chairs that could be adjusted in almost every way imaginable faced the rest of the room. Only from the central one was there a set of gear hanging from the ceiling. The headset was all-inclusive, covering the head like a helmet and cutting off all senses. There were also haptic gloves that reached up to the elbow. This was no full-dive system that put you into a dreamlike state. It was more of a traditional VR system designed to interface while the user was conscious.

I noticed a few more familiar faces filing in and taking their seats. Junction, Prodos’s communication guy from Freedom, was the first to reach his seat and was swiping through screens as if he’d never left.

“Lucius,” Victoria called from the front of the room. “Take a seat.”

She motioned me to a chair on the front row. I watched her eyes dart about under the clear lenses of a headset similar to my own. She gave me small increments of attention before shifting. Her mind must’ve been working at full bore.

As I moved to sit, she held a hand up, stopping me. A few seconds later, she addressed me. “Upper half. Strip.”

I stilled my tongue from saying something distracting and began slipping out of the top of my skin-tight ballistic layer. The sweat-soaked undershirt came next. Sitting with my naked back to the room, I waited as she exchanged a few words with Peter.

When she finally turned to me, I heard a whimper slip out with a pent-up breath. “We should be safe to get started,” she said.

I had every intention of saying something encouraging and semi-flirtatious, but there was something about her that seemed more than distracted. “You okay?” I asked softly.

As she drew near, I expected her to place her hand on my back. When a sharp prick of pain came from the back of my arm, I spun to see her threatening me with an exaggerated pinching motion.

“Feel better?” I asked with a glare.

“One more.”

As she moved in, I lunged in my seat toward her legs.

She jumped back, but I didn’t pursue.

Her glare overpowered my own, as her eyes motioned toward the others in the room.

I inclined my chin as if to say, “So what?”

With a roll of her eyes, she returned to my side, daring me to continue. “I can’t believe you,” she said under her breath.

“Hey. But I didn’t, did I?”

“Likely excuse. Now lean forward. I need access to your middle and lower back.”

Doing as she asked, I half expected her to reach for my arm again, but she didn’t. It was always a fine line between helping her decompress in the moment and becoming a nuisance. If she didn’t push it, then neither would I.

Her hand started high on my middle back. “You need to loosen your walls and let your energy move on its own. Even after I begin, don’t try to slow it down or control its flow.”

“Yes, Colonel.”

Feeling a tiny pinch on my arm, I didn’t retaliate.

“Good boy. Here we go,” she said.

Her energy pressed into my system like a wave of warmth. She traced my spine as her hand slowly move lower. I felt a prick of guilt at the current situation. We were readying to face an enemy that would likely cause the deaths of many of our men, yet here I was enjoying Victoria’s attention. I couldn’t help it. After the way we’d left things in Freedom, this was the most intimate moment I’d had with her, and yet the room was filled with people. Not that I cared. As much as she felt for me, I knew she intended to distance herself. It was a real possibility that I’d never hold her in that way again.

“So you’re okay?” I asked again.

“How can I be?”

Once again, encouraging words evaded me as I remembered back to the disparity between me and the goblin soldiers once I’d activated my rank E psionics.

“Will we even be able to touch him?”

With her behind me, it was difficult to read the break in the conversation, but I already suspected it was bad. “You might be able to, but the others… Even amongst the elite, there’s a large gap between the best and the worst of them, and they have a wide range of specialties. His speed will be at a level you’ve never faced before. I might just be sending you, all of you, out to die.”

“Good,” I said, raising my voice to a normal level. “The only things I fought in the last few months of Freedom were bandits with rank E psionics. It’s Achilles' fault. His learn-more-from-losing-than-winning philosophy. Now that I’ve reached rank E and I get to fight someone at rank D, it’s a great chance to learn. It’s what he’d call fun.”

“Lucius…”

I reached back. Her hand found mine and I gave it a squeeze.

“I never thought I’d say this but dying in simulation isn’t that bad. I don’t like the pain, but, to a certain extent, you do grow used to it.” Interrupting the energy flowing between us, I pulled her hand and spun until I could see her. “Victoria, I know what I signed up for. All of us do. So you just do what you have to.”

Releasing her hand, I turned back.

Her other hand pressed into my back a few moments later, and then we sat in silence. A minute passed, and she slipped her unbusy hand onto my shoulder and returned my squeeze from earlier.

When she finally removed her hand from my back, she revealed what she had found. “It’s safe for you to fight, but you’ll last half an hour at most before reaching your limit. Probably less than that.”

“I’ll take it,” I said, coming to my feet and picking up my undershirt off the floor.

“Colonel,” a vaguely familiar voice pulled my attention.

Looking back, I saw Heather Esper in a sky blue ballistic bodysuit with her fiery hair done back in a tight braid. The skintight suits weren’t as flattering as they sounded, for the material was thick and pockets were covering the torso where steel plates could be added. Still, she wore it as well as any woman could manage.

Seeing her incline a brow as she checked me out added extra incentive for me to get my shirt on quickly. She didn’t incite the same reaction in me that I had when I saw her boss Liam, but I didn’t trust her. She’d sabotaged Prodos countless times in Freedom from the shadows.

“Captain,” Victoria replied, spotting her reaction at seeing me.

Instead of backing down when getting caught, Heather returned a look as if Victoria was the one being naughty.

“Liam briefed you?” Victoria said without care.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“It’s a long shot, and you’ll likely be killed.”

Heather gave her a single-shouldered shrug. “Yeah.”

Stepping back, Victoria gave me a sideways glance. “Captain Esper here has a special ability that might disrupt the Ekseliksi’s internal energy flow and give you a chance to injure him.” Motioning back to the woman, she commanded. “Show him.”

Giving me an innocent look, Heather held up her hand, “High five.”

Victoria nodded me on, so I reached out and placed my palm against hers. A sudden pulsating wave of psionic energy flowed through me. The oscillation of her energy was intense. Even solidifying my internal walls didn’t completely defend against it.

Pulling my hand away, I shook it. My energy flow returned to normal a few seconds later. “What was that?”

Heather let out a cocky giggle, replying, “Magic.”

“She moves between the shielding and enhancing spectrums swiftly,” Victoria instructed. “Causing a psionic tremor. Its effect you felt. There’s no guarantee it will work on a rank D, but if he’s not expecting it, then it should give you a single opening.”

Looking at the girl in a new light, I observed her.

Heather

Rank: Captain

Combat Level: Rank E+

Psionic Level: Rank F

I shared my thoughts. “It could give us a few second window… But how are we going to get her close enough?”

“A multi-pronged attack. You’ll need to pull back to get in position to take advantage of the opening. Then we’ll send a wave of men from all sides. The more distractions the better. We’ll try to hide Heather in the chaos. Even if she fails, it still might be enough to give you or one of our heavy hitters a shot.”

It would have to do. It reminded me of the strategy we often used in Freedom when fighting large mobs. “I think Barrell and his men should escort her.”

“The one that likes me?” Heather jeered. “I’m being sent to my death and you’re shameless enough to try and set me up with your friend at the same time?”

I immediately regretted making the suggestion. Everything in Freedom had been publicly accessible, as was Barrell’s every mention of her. With both of their popularity, it would be odd for her not to hear of it. “He’s the Captain of Prodos’s scouts, and his men are amongst the most skilled at hit and run tactics. If anyone is fast enough to have a chance… But you’re probably right. Forgive me. It would just add another complication.”

She cleared her throat to cut me off. “You can’t just promise a girl something, then take it back.”

Standing there with my mouth half-open, I wasn’t sure how to respond. Victoria saved me. “Then join him with his men at the northern gate, Captain. The Major will be joining you in a few minutes. Dismissed.”

With a dainty nod of her head, the woman spun and headed for the door.

“Was that wise?” I asked.

“She’ll only push so far.”

Seeing that she seemed to know a lot about her, I gave her a questioning look, which she answered.

“She dropped out of college and abandoned her future athletic career to join the military just before Freedom began. Her brother and his family were off-planet when they were attacked. Don’t let her act fool you. Her reason for being here is more personal than most.”

“That at least explains why she was helping Liam.”

“He recruited her right away. Sorry for not telling you about him. I planned on doing so, just not so soon.”

I bumped her with my shoulder to make clear I wasn’t upset—at her. I found the man in question sitting in the back of the room lost in his work. “Why exactly is he here, anyway.”

“He’s a clinical psychologist with a second doctorate in the field of military anthropology. In Freedom, he was charged with infiltrating the player’s leadership structure and testing those with the most potential.”

“He took you hostage and put a knife to your throat for a test?” I growled.

“A stress test, yes. We passed if you were wondering.”

I didn’t like it, but what could I do. So I nudged her again.

“So what if we fail?” I asked.

“Will be left with a siege. There’s another possibility of winning, but it’s risky…”

Hearing the tone of her voice, I didn’t push for an explanation.

“Then I’ll just have to win. Wish me luck,” I said, giving her a wink, then heading for the door.

Her voice came softly through my headset, “Good luck.”

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We'll be returning to the action tomorrow. Let me know if any of this sounds stilted. 

Cheers!