Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 15

“Lastly, get everyone inside the gate. Once there, I’ll install our perimeter wall so that we have more than this fence to depend upon for whatever they throw at us,” Victoria concluded in her message to the leadership team.

There weren’t many of us, but those that had been placed in the voice channel were equivalent in rank to sub-guild leaders in Freedom. All our past partnerships had come to full fruition. We were all a part of one guild, Prodos, or as it was called now, the Prodos Battalion.

The clock ticked down to eleven minutes.

Destiny and I had already arrived at the closest gate. Most of the direction was being done through rank-specific voice channels. There were far more communication options available to us now that we were able to make use of modern tech so we weren’t limited to Freedom’s group or guild chat functions. So much of it was automated as well. One last thing for me to worry about. Our AIs were taking care of sorting people into their squads and platoons. Despite that, there could’ve been far more people running around lost, but most of us had been in a situation like this before. We knew crisis—we knew how to fight.

I was waving people in through the gate. There was hardly a face I didn’t recognize. I could feel the tension. There was as much excitement as fear. This is what they’d been waiting for.

Destiny kept track of my men as they arrived. I was expected to lead three companies, or more than six hundred people. There were four gates to our skeleton-base, and each one had a similar number. I’d already known it, but our battalion was bloated to the point of being closer to a brigade than and actual battalion. I don’t know if Victoria had done something, or the circumstance had simply forced the hand of those in charge. She had asked for a thousand people and had been given far more. She hadn’t complained. The only drawback was that we have to limit the number of troops we could take into the battalion competitions. As for setting up our base and dealing with planet Hectate, there was no such limit.

Seeing a friend’s too-handsome mug as he waded through the mass of forming up soldiers, I had the sudden urge to throw something at him. He wore a similar headset my own that road high on his brow and left his vision unobstructed unless necessary. The lenses were only lowered enough to relay info to his upper peripheral vision. His hair had been trimmed close to his scalp and his copper skin tone had darkened since I’d last seen him.

Barrell

Rank: Captain

Combat Level: Rank D

Psionic Leve: Rank F

He exited through the front line and found me immediately. I could see he was trying to keep a professional air, but one side of his mouth inched up and he couldn’t hide his smirk.

“Major,” he called out as he marched over. Stopping a few yards away, he saluted.

I knew he probably just liked being able to put me in a uncomfortable position, but I didn’t hesitate to return it.

“Reporting for goblin stomping duty,” he jeered.

Giving him a once over as I chuckled, I was able to get a detailed breakdown of each piece of equipment he was wearing at a glance. He was wearing two layers of ballistic armor. One was similar to the full-body suit I was wearing and the second just covered his torso. He’d also purchased dark, hard-plastic pauldrons, or shoulder pads. It looked like he couldn’t live without the option of tackling his opponents even here.

It was his spear that caught my eye. I quickly scanned its description and found what I expected. It would enhance his weapon bolstering ability.

Seeing me eye his weapon, he pulled it to himself like he was hugging something dear. “No spear?” he asked.

Shrugging, I glanced around to make sure no one was behind me then reached out my hand. My precaution was probably unnecessary. I simply have to get use to it. My shadow drone appeared a moment later with enough flying precision to place my spear’s shaft in my hand. As I gripped it, Shadow undid its hold before flying up and out of the way.

Even though Destiny was hovering fifty feet overhead to observe the enemy, there wasn’t a second of lag as she observed me and responded to my personal needs. She’d always been impressive, but I knew she was capable of processing more information now than she ever had before.

His jaw dropped as he watched the drone fly off. “What was that?”

“We call it, Shadow. It’s an inventory drone that follows you around and carries your stuff. I also bought a larger one I call Mule that carries a lot more stuff.”

The lenses of his headset lowered as he scanned the drone’s details, and he was momentarily quiet. “So expensive… But whatever,” he mumbled.

A moment later, an identical shadow drone appeared beside him. He poked at the air a few times with his finger, then an extra spear and sword appeared strapped to his drone. A moment later, a round Hoplon Pshield appeared hanging from it as well.

Unlike my own shield, his was the kind that used his aura or bolstering ability and modified it to psionic shielding energy.

Glancing down, I tightened my grip on my own shield’s handle and held it at an angle to get a better look. Unlike my sword, the material used was worthy of a shield even without psionic energy flowing through it. It would stop rifle rounds and blades alike. Feeding it my shielding energy would make it even more durable than the full-body shield on my belt. Because of its limited surface area and ability to boost my shielding energy, it fit me well.

Lethality Hoplon Pshield Model 3a

Armor Type: Psionic

Grade: Rank D

Energy Source: User

Bonus: 13% defense boost to the Psionic Shielding ability

Strong Against

Damage Type: Kinetic, Plasma, Laser, Hyper-velocity, Psionic, Chemical, Energy, Sonic

Weak Against

Damage Type: Specialty Ammunition, Chemical (Some gases)

“Excuse me,” called a voice from the crowd. I could only heard it because Destiny had filtered it out.

Barrell stepped to the side as our blond-headed friend led the girl I’d once saved from the leader of one of the dark guild in Freedom. The guy had been a real piece of work.

Her hair was even blonder than his and placed in a tight braid. She was an ex-gamer who had always roleplayed a villainous character, but that had all been for show. She was still a flirt, and even her fighting style was rogish. However, she directed all of that energy to one person now. The man at her side.

“Mel,” I said, smacking him on the shoulder before he got the same idea as Barrell.

Mel

Rank: Captain

Combat Level: Rank D

Psionic Leve: Rank F

With a nod, I also address his girlfriend and fellow Captain. “Olivia. You guys are looking good.”

Olivia

Rank: Captain

Combat Level: Rank E+

Psionic Leve: Rank F

“Though not as good as this guy,” I said, reaching out to the side and pushing Barrell. “He spent our time off sunbathing.” As I teased him, I glanced at the timer, not nearly as relaxed as I seemed.

“I did not,” he objected. “It was only one day.”

Olivia was quick to laugh, but Mel, who had changed quite a bit during our time in Freedom, ignored it.

“Just give the word,” he replied. “We’re ready.”

I couldn’t help but notice his countenance wasn’t as severe as it had once been, but he was still had a singleminded resolve. At least he seemed more at peace.

I glanced at Oliva, and she caught on quickly. Her grin said everything that needed to be said. With a squint of my eyes, I looked away. After her ordeal with the monstrous man that had abused her in Freedom, she had come to my room and offered herself to me, but then left soon after, apologizing. Her time under the man’s abuse had been harder on her than she’d known. Victoria had even tried to encourage me to go after her, which I rejected outright. It took Olivia some time to recover, and I wasn’t the one that was there for her. Mel was. I still felt a little uncomfortable around her, but I was glad things ended up the way they had.

As good as it was to see them, I did a quick scan of our surroundings and Destiny reported that only a few stragglers had yet to arrive.

“Okay. Get your men ready to move as soon as Victoria gives word,” I commanded. “Once the walls are up, we’ll need our best marksmen to head to the towers.” She’d given us a brief description of what she was about to build in her battalion wide announcement.

“I’ll take care of it,” Mel replied.

A familiar face that towered over the rest of our men headed our way.

Ma Zixin

Rank: Captain

Combat Level: Rank D

Psionic Leve: Rank F

The once guild Prodos Lieutenant was over seven feet tall and had helped us take the armory in the battle for the goblin city. His hair was shaved up the sides and spiked in the front.

“Captain Ma,” I said in greeting.

He snapped his feet together and saluted me with as much vigor as Barrell had—minus the scoffing. “Major Edwards,” he replied. “Most of my company is accounted for. Awaiting order.”

“Good to see you again, Captain.” I said, glancing at the clock. Nine minutes to go. I addressed them all. “Join your men and be ready.”

I watched them go as I left out a long breath. Today had already held a few surprises, but now I was confident we’d be able to face anything they threw at us. This was the same group of men and women that had completed the world quest in Freedom months before the developers thought possible. They’d been some of the best athletes and gamers in the world. After what we’d been through, I considered them so much more.

It was kind of humorous, however, seeing everyone equipped with modern versions of melee weapons and bond armor. There were a few firearms here and there strapped to belts or shoulders, but those were the only exceptions. I glanced again at the countdown. Eight minutes to go.

Were we making a mistake relying only on our psionics?

“How many men are left outside the fence?” I said, addressing Destiny.

“Forty-seven people left,” she replied through my headset. “They should be inside the gate in approximately thirty-three seconds.”

“You scared?” I asked, glancing up at the largest drone in the air above.

“Me?” I could hear the tremor in her voice.

I couldn’t even imagine what she was going through. She’d only been able to feel as a human does for what, half an hour tops? “If you like, I can shoot you with a psionic bolt or two to test out your force field.”

“Don’t you dare point your spear at me. We went over basic gun safety. Did you forget?”

“Says the person who just finished shooting me with every kind of firearm known to man.”

“That doesn’t count. I monitor your heart rate, brainwaves, and all of your bodily systems for that matter. I’ve also been observing you for over a decade. I have master control of your headset and all of your defensive gear. I can also sense the slightest change of psionic energy circulating through your system. It’s statistically impossible for me to accidentally shoot you when your psionic shields are down even if you try to fool me. And even if I did, my aim is such that the wound you’d receive could be healed in minutes.”

“Now you’re just bragging.”

There was no way she didn’t notice that I was trying to calm her synthetic nerves, so she switched to a playful tone. “Should I deny my awesomeness?”

“Then why are you frightened? Don’t you trust your force field?”

She hesitated. “But what if it hurts?”

My expression darkened. “Can you feel pain?”

“Not exactly. Maybe…”

“If you have to, hide yourself and depend on Wink and your microdrones for reconnaissance.”

“I know. Wink is already out there getting a count of the enemy and a read on their energy levels.”

“They have psionics?” I asked. I would’ve been surprised if they didn’t.

“Most of them are rank G with a few rank Fs sprinkled in, but there’s over twenty thousand. I’m still working on a reliable estimate.”

“Victoria knows?”

“I do,” her voice sounded through my headset through our private connection. “We’ve been able to confirm these mobs are spawning about ten miles out, so it’s impossible to know what else the devs might throw at us. The best we can hope for is to spot new spawned creatures twenty minutes before they reach us. Destiny, I want you to call out new waves of creatures as they appear.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she replied.

“Lucius, hold Mel and Barrell back to conserve your strength. I can’t help but think back to the Hobgoblin boss they threw at us our first night in Freedom. They knew most starting cities wouldn’t be able to defeat it.”

“So why wouldn’t they use the same trick today?” I asked.

“That what I’m thinking.”

“Okay. We’ll be ready.”

As the countdown timer reached seven minutes remaining, Victoria sent out a battalion-wide message. Fort Prodos was about to make its first upgrade.

There was a pickup in chatter among the six hundred people behind me. Everyone knew much of the base’s design had already been predetermined, but, even for those close to her who were given more information, we only had a smattering of details.

A shadow fell over the entire area. Glancing up, I couldn’t have missed the castle floating there if I wanted to. It covered the sky like a massive mouth, ready to swallow our mediocre base whole with all of us in it. That’s exactly what it did. With fangs of steel as long as small skyscrapers jutting out of its base every ten yards, it truly looked like an abominable ancient beast that fed on planets for food.

Our base's defensive walls started to fall from the sky. As the structure’s steel fangs touched the ground, they pierced it with little resistance. It looked like the entire base was trapped in a steel prison as it pierced further into the earth.

“Every structure must be anchored,” Victoria sent to me privately.

I lifted my gaze to see the stone walls that were many yards thick and had to weigh countless tons. Anchor them from what?

She could see through my headset, so she knew what I was looking at. “A company of Ekseliksi Elite could psionically push our wall into ruin in minutes. It’s expensive, but with the anchoring it could take them weeks.”

I nodded, knowing she would take it as an acknowledgment. It reminded me that today’s test was just that to her. A small test. Her gaze was focused on a far-off, much more powerful enemy—the Ekseliksi Elite. I’d just reached rank E psionics. I couldn’t even imagine what rank D psionics was like…

As the multiple-mile-wide structure touched down, the earth under our feet didn’t rumble as I expected it to. I didn’t wait for my thoughts to settle.

“Let’s go,” I called, allowing Destiny to send my voice through the appropriate audio channels to all of my men as I took off at a jog.

The original fenced area of our skeleton-base was almost a mile wide, but it easily fit inside the new defensive wall structure like a baby’s crib inside the room of a house. They’d given Victoria more than two battalion’s worth of Freedom participants, but she wasn’t planning for our current number, but an entire city’s worth of people.

As we reached the gates, they were already open. They was simple enough. A thick slab of steel had been drawn upward to let us pass beneath.

Mel took his men up the rampart. Only after I was exiting the gate did I realize it was only the first gate of two.

Seeing my confusion, Destiny projected a three-dimensional version of the overall structure into my peripherals. If I had the time, I would’ve stopped right there and explored the inner wall first out of sheer awe. It was nearly two hundred feet tall, and five yards thick at the thinnest point. There were two overlooking towers and a walkway atop the wall connecting them.

I was leading my men into a courtyard between the inner and outer gates. The space was shaped similarly to a giant eye with plenty of room for my six hundred men to form up. Doing so outside the outer gate would be foolish.

The outer wall bowed out, and with the outer gate open, it would funnel the enemy in so that we had control over how many goblins we faced at a time. This outer wall also had its own rampart and two more guard towers. It was only a hundred feet high so that the inner wall looked down on the outer and would have a good view of the courtyard between them.

Coming to a stop near the outer gate, I called for everyone to form up in an extended shield wall. Making use of two full companies of two hundred men each, our numbers were light if we wanted to try to fill up the courtyard, but we could still make good use of its advantages.

I quickly communicated what I saw of the outer rampart to Mel who was already nearing the top of the inner towers.

“I have two platoons on their way to man the outer towers,” he replied. Destiny highlighted his location so that I could wave at him atop his tower.

He was sending half of his men. “Are all of your men set up for bolt casting?”

“Absolutely. I’m sending Jerrek and his platoon to be the frontline casters. You know how they are. Not the most accurate men I have, but they make up for it with enthusiasm.”

Scanning the field, I saw the spiky blue-headed guy coming my way from the back of the formation.

Jerrek

Rank: First Lieutenant

Combat Level: Rank E+

Psionic Leve: Rank F

As he passed, words didn’t pass between us, but he lifted a white shafted spear as if waving. He’d also played a villain of sorts in the early days of Freedom, but after his sister Oliva was taken, the game had ended for him. He was still a bit unruly, as were his men, but they’d started following Mel after he and Jerrek’s sister had gotten together. They’d proved themselves many times over.

Looking at the clock, I saw that there were less than five minutes remaining.

“What do you think?” Victoria suddenly asked. “We’re not going to be stuck outside the city gates this time.”

I chuckled. “It’s perfect. I’m assuming we’re going to open the outer gates and let them funnel in?”

“Right. Also, I have an update. The new count of the enemy is thirty thousand, and Lucius, there are a few dozen Hobgoblins. Four of them even have rank F psionics.”

I didn’t respond right away as I tried to estimate how strong that would make such a hulking creature.

“You okay?” she said with a measured tone.

I frowned. That first night in Freedom a Hobgoblin had shattered my back and it had taken me hours to heal. The pain was so bad that I’d passed out multiple times. My psychological recovery took far longer, but it no longer bothered me. Victoria had been there and had the psionic ability to heal me, but she hadn’t been able to. Only a few human beings had unlocked the ability to heal up to that point in history. If she came out on the first night of Freedom with such an ability, then there was no way her secrets wouldn’t survive the following scrutiny. No, not even a Hobgoblin with Rank F psionics bothered me. What did was that I knew she still felt guilty about not helping.

“Do you want me to take out all four of them, or leave some for the others?”

I could almost hear her eyes roll back in her head. “They are likely the bosses but be ready just in case something else is thrown at us.”

“Will do.”

The outer gates were raised, and it was now possible to see the approaching goblin horde. That phrase took on a new meaning. They wore the same ballistic body armor that was now popular amongst my own men. There was also the glow of psionic shielding covering their bodies that were likely coming from field generators similar to my Pshield Refinement Belt. Some were even using energy fields with a blue or green hum similar to those used by Destiny and Mule. It wasn’t really goblins they were sending at us, but low-end Ekseliksi warriors wearing goblin skins.

I decided it was time to move. As much as I wanted to get the first crack at them, I knew I need to save my energy as Victoria had suggested. I hurried through the line of my men and stopped to address Barrell who was standing in the back with a few Lieutenants.

“I’m going to get a better view,” I said, motioning to the top inner wall. “Only personally engage if you have to. Once the hobgoblins with psionics arrive, I’m going to grab Mel and the three of us will—”

“Do what we do best,” he said lightly.

Pounding the rim of his shoulder pads with my knuckles, I took off at a jog. I made it to the top of the inner wall with two minutes to spare. Looking out over the courtyard, and beyond the outer wall, a sea of dust and bodies were moving toward us like an unorganized mob. Perhaps comparing them to the Ekseliksi was giving them too much credit.

Finding Mel, I was soon standing beside him. “Let’s not waste any energy. Tell Jerrek to not fire until they’ve already entered the outer gate. The enemy will bottleneck at the entrance if they don’t come to a stop and form up. Tell him not to aim for those directly against the wall but twenty yards out. We want them tripping up, but not build them a mound of bodies to climb.”

“Got it,” he replied.

We stood there and waited, watching them come. I kept one eye on the enemy and another on the timer. With one minute to go, I could make out details of individual goblins.

The countdown reached one minute to go, and a voice filled the air as a system announcement sounded for all to hear.

“Welcome, to Vanguard. You are about to participate in the first planetary event. Every planet under Earth’s influence will be experiencing a similar event. You won’t be competing directly with other battalions, but you will be competing with them for viewers. At the end of the event, your battalions will be ranked according to who has the highest total views, as well as the highest peak viewers, and be rewarded with Battalion Points, or BP, depending upon how well your battalion places. These points can be used by your Colonels for base upgrades, and the total amount earned when Vanguard comes to an end one year from now will be tallied. The battalion with the highest point total will be the winner. Billions of SP will be up for grabs for the soldiers of highest ranked battalions, as will a large sum of BP for your battalions.

“So survive, yes, but if you have any intention of winning then that won’t be enough. The battalion that puts on the best show, wins. Oh, and individuals will have the opportunity to win bonus SP if they put on an exceptional performance voted on by those watching. Best of luck! And if you die, make sure you do so in a spectacular fashion.”

As soon as the voice stopped, a scoreboard appeared in the sky overhead. I ignored it and tried to get a gauge on how my men below were responding but I was too far away. I tried to quickly calculate how long it would take to descend the stairs. The announcement’s timing couldn’t have been any worse. The goblins had arrived.

Hopefully, none of my men did anything stupid after hearing about rewards for performance. I trusted the lot of them, but it was almost like the people running the planetary event were taunting us into doing something foolish.

There was a sudden battalion announcement. “Our strategy has not changed,” Victoria demanded. “Pick your moments wisely. I’ll personally reward the best performing individuals and squads.”

“Good follow-up,” I said, not sure if Victoria would be listening through our private line. Saying she would reward individuals personally could indirectly also be taken as a threat. To be rewarded by the system but not your battalion would be a pretty harsh rebuke. And the addition of squad rewards was a good reminder that other people were counting on you.

“You like that?” she replied. “It makes me think of this guy I knew once. For some reason, he got it into his head that he needed to breakthrough a line of this goblin army we were fighting and cut off the toes of their hobgoblin leader.”

“Ouch,” I said, shaking my head at the memory. It had been a foolish move, even if it helped me recover from having my back shattered in pieces.

“Here they come,” Mel said, rising up on the balls of his feet even though another couple inches of height wouldn’t help him get a better vantage from where we were two hundred feet up.

Six or seven goblins entered the courtyard at almost the same time. Another dozen were a stride behind them, and hundreds followed.

Our shield wall stood with the confidence of an imposing dragon. Spears glowing in red and orange struck forward with little resistance. The goblin’s psionic shielding was rank G at best. The first few dozen mobs fell before they had even reached our shields.

A second surge of goblins blew through the entrance as the forward bulk of the enemy arrived. It was already crowded enough that Jerrek and his men would be unable to miss.

Grabbing my friend’s shoulder, I gave the command. “Let’s begin.”

The first real smile Mel had given me all day spread across his face and he issued the order.

Jerrek’s men came to their feet all at once. Their psionic energy was already building and a wall of a hundred psionic bolts slammed into the congested throng outside our gates.

The sound of the goblin’s death squeal wasn’t one I had missed.