Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 9

The roar from the crowd shook the air even more than it had before. I wasn’t sure how many people were watching in the stands, but it seemed a good portion of them were taking my side.

Without Destiny there to help observe my opponent, I couldn’t get a precise reading on Xavier’s combat level. Unlike his rank E psionic level, his combat level measured the full scope of his physical abilities. It didn’t speak to his martial skill directly, however. Even without Destiny’s help, I’d built up a huge body of experience while in Freedom. His psionics gave him an edge in speed, but without using his aura, he’d have to depend upon the speed of his body alone. I couldn’t pinpoint his exact combat level, but I could get pretty close.

He tightened up his offense, throwing tight jabs and a cross here and there, without over-extending. I used Apotho to shield against each attack. Because of his slow down in speed, finding the right angle to block wasn’t difficult. There was one unexpected side effect of his technique though. He had the rare ability to extend Akonizo beyond the weapon he bolstered, his fist in this case, but because it wasn’t as concentrated, there was overspill from his technique, and it bombarded my body outside of the surface I’d chosen to shield.

His first few combinations sent me staggering backward.

There were cheers in response, but a large segment of the crowd had fallen silent— those cheering for me.

Solidifying my walls brought my internal energy under control. As he lunged forward to attack again, I covered my hand in Apotho to block it, but that was just a feint. With a quick step to the side, my psionics cycled to Voli and a bolt of orange, Rank F energy hammered into his ribs.

The silver glow over Xavier’s hands faded as he brought his internal energy to a stop and solidified it into Petra. The blow had obviously pained him, but, with his energy focused elsewhere, it should have caused far more damage. It seemed these Genesis guys had worked out some tricks of their own after all.

When his aura flashed into life a moment later, I saw the beginnings of a pattern. Letting him attack once again, I cradled fist with an Othisi push, shielded against it with Apotho, and then cycled down to Petra to fend against his energy’s overflow. As he continued to assault, his weakness became clear. The pattern I thought I noticed wasn’t just his fighting rhythm, but he was unable to switch between psionic notes quickly. That just made things easy.

With each combination he threw, I always countered with a bolt of energy to his stomach or legs.

The response of the crowd was tenser, but it seemed my supporters had recovered. Though Xavier looked to be driving me back, I was also following up with an attack of my own. Now that I’d figure out how to handle his energy overflow, it was only a matter of time before I won out.

I heard the clicking of the far door opening and closing before I saw who’d joined us. Xavier continued to attack, but I shot a Voli to at back knee which gave me the opportunity to glance away and see Staff Sergeant Brice running right at me.

It seemed Colonel Edmond hadn’t been honest about wanting to build a bridge between the Genesis and Freedom participants. Not that I was surprised.

The boos had replaced the cheering from a moment before. Even the Genesis participants in the audience didn’t seem to appreciate an unfair fight.

In truth, this was better for me than the colonel realized. I couldn’t guarantee that I would win since I was sure Brice had also unlocked rank E psionics, but I was being underestimated. The time for playing things safe was over.

Jumping back, my stance changed from defensive to a loose one that would allow for speed and freedom of movement. Besides my closest friends behind closed doors, I hadn’t sparred with anyone since we’d defeated the world boss. It seemed a little early to be showing it to the world, but this should also act as a good test. The bandit simulation usually offered more consistent opponents than sparring with real fighters, but the one thing it lacked was the creativity a human being could make use of at a moment’s notice. The simulation’s AI was efficient and could learn, but sometimes it was a person’s inefficiency that could cause the most surprise and even win them the fight.

With both fighters glowing in silver auras closing in on me at incredible speed, I made no physical movement but was suddenly launched into the air. My unnatural movement confused them both, for it wasn’t my legs that propelled me up and over their heads, but an Othisi push through my feet. As I flew ten feet in the air in an arch, I flipped to while aiming and blasting them both in the back with a Voli bolt. Their momentum was too much. It sent them sprawling.

Even though they fell, with the speed of rank E psionics, they were up and after me before I’d even touched down. My aura flared orange, and I lunged to the side as they neared. It forced one of them to face me one on one.

Instead of blocking or dodging, I lunged again, heading directly in Xavier’s direction. As I kicked off with psionic strength, my aura disappeared in the last instant and Othisi pushed me forward even faster. I wasn’t as fast as they were with my aura alone, but if I made full use of psionic combinations, I could surpass them.

Xavier desperately drew his aura into his fist and struck out.

Knocking it away with a shielded hand, I drove my other fist into his gut in the same motion. This time he crumbled to his knees and let out a large gasp. He’d still likely get up, but now he knew, they both knew, that I could hurt them.

Brice arrived a moment later with his fists covered in bolstered energy just as Xavier had. The fact that they could both use such a rare ability forced me to rethink my original assumptions. One thing was clear, something was going on and it wasn’t what I expected.

***

From behind a one-way paneled wall, Liam Sullivan watched the young man who had crushed his hand and healed it only to crush it again as he fought against two top one thousand ranked Genesis participants. Not only was he holding his own, but it was unclear who would win.

Liam ignored the audience’s reaction. He expected as much after he’d studied this Lucius Edwards extensively, watching all of his fights and combat decisions, repeatedly.

“As you said, Major Sullivan,” Colonel Edmond said from where he stood a few feet away. “Two opponents were necessary.”

Gritting his teeth, Liam made sure not to betray any emotion. “Forgive me, Colonel. I may have been wrong. We might need a third.”

“You’re saying he won’t run out of fuel before our two guys will? Enlighten me.”

“His energy management is among the best I have seen. And he’s not cruel. Even though there are two of them, Xavier and Brice have kept everything within the rules, and so will he.”

The Colonel snickered. “Not cruel?”

“When he threatened me in Freedom, I had already escalated things first by taking the girl hostage. He’s cruel only when he needs to be, which is what we need.”

“That’s why you signed off on him?”

“That, and if it were called for, his two opponents right now would already be dead. No energy blasts to the head were a safety precaution for their sake, not his.”

“I agree with your assessment,” A woman’s voice came from behind.

It wasn’t just one set of footsteps walk into the room, it was three. As Liam turned, he saw the young woman Lucius had partnered with and the two men that seemed to follow her everywhere. Both men stopped at the door and stood off to the side as she continued forward.

“Colonel Victoria Golshan,” Edmond said, waving her forward and he made space for her to watch with them.

“Colonel Edmond,” she replied with a polite turn of the head. She wore a Space Force formal uniform with a skirt. Only her hair wasn’t strictly to policy. Her hair was back in a braid a foot too long. There were exceptions in place for celebrities like her, but she hadn’t taken her liberties to the extreme “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

As the two shared formalities, Liam stepped back to give them space.

“So you agree that your man could win against both of mine if it were a fight to the death?” Edmond asked, watching her as she observed the fight below.

“We’ll find out soon enough once the competition begins.” She beamed. “Virtually, of course. There’s something I’d add though, knowing Lucius as I do.”

“Oh?”

“The reason he hasn’t won yet is partially because he’s enjoying himself, though you could never tell by his look.”

Edmond guffawed loudly. “Is he now?”

“He’s also noticed that you’re up to something.” She turned and looked the seasoned colonel in the eye. “I approve of what you’re doing, but this will be the last time it happens. Are we agreed?”

“And what am I doing?” He looked more than just humored but intrigued.

“You are taking advantage of Lucius’s fame and the fact that he’s close to breaking into psionic rank E. Both of the men he’s fighting have a fairly rare ability that allows them to batter his psionic defense with every attack. You hope this overflow of energy will cause his psionics to respond by bursting past his normal power limit and forcing him to breakthrough.”

Liam saw that Colonel Edmond was genuinely astounded, but she continued on. “It will indeed have a positive impact on morale between the people from Genesis and Freedom. Instead of solely looking at Genesis participants as competition, those from Freedom will respond with gratitude when they see the match was just a pretense to help Lucius breakthrough. And those from Genesis will get to hold on to their illusion of superiority, for now.”

“Mmm,” Edmond replied with a satisfied grin. “I knew you were bright, but this competition between battalions is going to be funner than I thought.”

“So you agree then? No more using forcing breakthroughs with my men. When I beat you I wouldn’t want it to be said that the only reason we won was because you helped develop my men. Today will be the only exception because I agree with the reason for doing it.”

“Agreed. Would you at least join me for the rest of the show?”

When she agreed, Liam turned to watch the fight below but continued to keep an eye on the two competing colonels. Even though this woman had only been an official member of the United States military for a day, she technically outranked him. It was congress’s own fault for deciding to treat Codename: Freedom as a money-making scheme as well as a military operation. Not that they would be the ones to deal with the mess.

A double surge of silver light drew Liam’s attention.

Lucius had been assaulting the staff sergeants from odd angles with extreme bursts of speed before falling back to a defensive stance momentarily. He had just ended one such assault that sent Brice staggering to the side. As the man recovered, Xavier joined with him, and they attacked from both flanks at once. Lucius moved back and two one side so that he could manage one opponent at a time, but he was forced to block the blows from Brice and Xavier’s follow-up just a split second later.

It looked as if he had blocked every punch thrown, but Lucius suddenly rocked back and jerked forward at the waist to fall to his knee.

Liam saw a subtle flex of Victoria’s jaw in her peripherals. He saw her relax a moment later, then glanced back just in time to see silver light erupt from the fallen man as he shot up from his knees and sent Xavier flying with a straight kick right to the sternum.

Staff Sergeant Brice began backing up with his hands up in surrender.

Seeing the man’s response, Lucius stopped pursuing his opponents and examined his new aura.

Xavier got up a moment later, laughing painfully as he did. The Staff Sergeant drop his aura, indicating the fight was over. This had never been a match to see who would win.

“Since you’ll be working together, I’ll leave you two to discuss the future,” Colonel Edmond said, heading for the exit.

Liam waited until he heard the man leave before he dared to look at the girl he’d once held hostage. As he did, his shame bubbled up inside of him. “Colonel,” he said, unsure if he should stick to formality or stand his ground.

“Congratulations on your promotion, Major,” she replied, staring at him— unwavering.

He smiled awkwardly, before dropping the expression entirely. “I suppose I have you to thank for that?”

She grinned. “No thanks are required.”

Noticing movement, Liam's eyes shot upward to notice numerous microdrones spreading out. In moments, they had come to a stop and there was a sudden hum that spread throughout the private view room filled with boxed seats they hadn’t bothered to use.

“Everything’s secure,” the plane-looking man at the door said a moment later. Liam remembered the man’s name was Peter Hinson. He had entered Freedom as a Lieutenant Colonel, a rank higher than Liam and just under Victoria.

Watching relief settle over the girl’s face, Liam was just the opposite of relieved. What is going on?

“Just to being, we will not be using this method Colonel Edmond used to force the members of our battalion to breakthrough.”

He opened his mouth to say something before stopping himself. He decided to take a cautious approach. “May I ask why?”

“It’s more harmful than helpful for most of our soldiers. The only reason I didn’t cause a fuss was because Lucius has already unlocked most of his psionic abilities. If used on someone that hasn’t, it can make it more difficult for them to unlock them in the future. Not impossible, but more troublesome.”

Hearing her reasoning, Liam’s nerves began to settle. “And you know this? There’s a lot of theories, but Edmond’s method gets results.”

“You’ll have to trust me on this.”

“Trust?”

“What rank is your psionics at right now, Liam?” Her words were blunt, but it didn’t seem like she was purposely mocking him. The use of his name forced him to remember that they were once friends. They were both guild leaders in Freedom that were allied together until he betrayed her.

“Rank G,” he said, knowing she would’ve already known this anyways.

She smiled as if that was evidence enough. “This isn’t a theory I’ve read about or one I’ve made up on my own. I haven’t shown off my psionics often, but as the person who is going to help me train up a battalion of men and women, you need to understand something that I don’t share publicly. I am far more sensitive to psionic energy than normal. Most people don’t get much further than feeling its movement in their body, but I feel everything. Psionics are not like a muscle you improve through extreme effort or force. It is a delicate instrument that must be refined over time. Its sensors must be fine-tuned and even its most subtle uses must be understood. With practice, it does get stronger, but its sensitivity can easily be damaged, especially before it’s fully developed and understood. That’s why it’s rare for there to be people like Lucius and Mel who have unlocked so many abilities.”

Narrowing his brow at the revelation, Liam wondered if it was a bluff. He knew she was talented, but… “So we’re going to base our training off how psionics feel to you? Even if what you say is true, isn’t it naïve to think psionics works the same way for everyone?”

“Then let me prove it.” Holding up her hand between them, she placed it facing palm up. An aura of red shot up her arm until it covered her hand as well. Then, she began to move her fingers as if playing a piano upside down. The psionic energy moved with her in an underwhelming display, at first. Then a single finger turned orange while the rest of her aura remained red. As if she were juggling a ball or coin, the energy passed from finger to finger with a level of control he’d rarely seen. It wasn’t something everyone could do, but it wasn’t unheard of either. Then the orange glow changed to a rich silver, and Liam took a step back.

Hadn’t she only reached rank F with her psionics?

When her entire aura turned orange and the energy passing from finger to finger changed from silver to red, then back again, he started to have the sinking suspicion that she wasn’t bluffing.

Her entire aura glowed silver, then suddenly went out. At least the light surrounding her body had. Liam's eyes had settled on the small sphere of silver that floated about an inch off her palm. He’d seen someone gather energy into their hand before throwing a bolt, and even gather in the palm, but such control… Then she waved her other hand over the sphere and a second perfectly formed psionic sphere was formed next to it, encircling the first sphere in an orbit with a radius of a few inches.

He found it difficult to speak, or even swallow to wet his throat. The second orb wasn’t just a perfectly controlled bolt of psionic energy, it was a different color than the first and she was holding on to both of them. It was orange. When the third one appeared with a red glow, he thought there was nothing else that could shock him, until a fourth, silver sphere appeared and circled the others.

She held her palm up for a moment for him to watch before swiping her other hand and gathering the orbs as if they were a couple of marbles and throwing up her arm and twisting her wrist. The four spheres were encircling her just a few feet over her head as a hint of an aura covered her body. Then she held up both hands and silver spheres started to form and circle until there were more than six tracing their own unique orbits above her palms and around her arms and wrists.

He was quickly covered in a cold sweat and didn’t dare to move.

In the next instant, she made a few exaggerated hand motions, and the spheres were all gone.

“What do you want?” He said weakly.

She chuckled before letting out a long sigh. “I’m not threatening you, silly. Though I suppose it’s time we had that talk.” Pursing her lips, she took a step forward. “I considered you a friend, and yet you took me hostage and placed a blade to my throat. You probably believe the reason I requested to have you join my battalion was, at least in part, to get revenge. But no. That is the furthest thing from reality. I know why you did it. I’ve seen images of your two young daughters. Their beautiful, Liam. Their father was willing to play the role of the bad guy in hopes of keeping them safe. Let’s show them that you were just an actor playing a role, shall we not?”

As she swept forward and grabbed his hand, he was too startled to respond. She wrapped his arm over her shoulder and slipped her hand around his waist as she posed for a picture. “Smile,” Victoria said.

Multiple microdrones were waiting and the corners of his mouth turned up even though he didn’t remember giving his mouth permission to grin.

“How are they?” She asked, and Peter, who was still standing to the side of the entrance, answered. “They look good.”

Then she nodded and pulled away from him, but it wasn’t disgust looking back at him. “You’ll receive a copy in a minute on your personal account. You have my permission to show it to your girls and tell them you’re just an actor and we are actually friends. The same image will be used in a public article we are issuing to multiple major new organizations with a similar, but a more realistic message. One that says we have come to an understanding and that we’ve agreed to work together.”

Liam caught himself trembling, but he couldn’t completely stop it. “Is this blackmail?”

“No, it’s the truth. At least, I hope it will be.” Twisting her head to the side, she gave him a look that made her look far younger than she was actions suggested before she added. “You have assessed Lucius correctly. Are you offended that I’ve looked into you and done an assessment of my own? You’ve also taught me a lesson which I must thank you for.”

“Which is?”

“I never suspected you of betraying us. Even during the act, I never felt any malice or killing intent. It made me realize that an enemy might not always desire violence, and can even be clinical as they attack.”

“I…” No response came to mind, for there was nothing else left to say.

“I need your help, Liam,” she said, reaching out and squeezing his wrist before walking over to look through the one-way panel down into the arena. “Colonel Edmond is good at what he does. Excellent even. I acknowledge that there’s a lot I have to learn from him. But he’s treating psionics like it’s a new technology that will simply take time to master and then implement.”

Taking a few moments to gather himself, Liam came to a decision before walking over to stand next to her. “Is he wrong?”

“In any other situation, probably not, but we lack the time to deal with mistakes like the one he made today with the stunt used on Lucius.”

When she glanced at him to see his response, he nodded. “You will have the freedom to train your battalion for the next year, but if you don’t come out on top by the end of Vanguard, the Colonel that wins the most contests will get determine the methods all battalions use in the future.”

“Then we will win.”

He hesitated to say anything but, then again, she hadn’t stopped him from giving his opinion once. “Edmond’s battalion has one of the best chances of winning because he has the largest number of top five hundred Genesis participants in his group. He’s not the only one though. Those ranked in the top five hundred are on a different level than Staff Sergeants Xavier and Brice. These are special forces guys that also happened to have high psionic talent. Even Xavier and Brice, if given their gear of choice, they’d probably win more battles against your Major Lucius Edwards than they would lose.”

“Ours not mine,” she corrected him. “He’s on our side.”

“Pardon. Ours. Right. Some of the highest-ranked participants from Genesis are almost on par with some of the founders. You’re familiar with them? A founder is a member of the original group that first unlocked their psionic more than a decade ago now. They’re some of the most powerful psionic users we have.”

“I am. And good. If they couldn’t push him, then this would be a waste of time.”

“You think he will really be able to catch up to them? And why all the focus on one guy?”

She didn’t look up from the arena below, but he noticed her wistful expression. “Not just him. Not only will he catch up with them, he has to. I didn’t want you on my side, Liam just because I wanted your help in winning a game. I plan on winning the war and catching up with the founders is only the beginning. If that’s our limit, then we’ve already lost. And you’ve studied Lucius’s fights. You saw him today, and in the battle against the world boss, yes?”

“I have.”

“Then you’ve noticed it too, even if you’re not quite sure what it might be. He’s realized the game has changed. That might sound obvious since psionics have been added, but how many participants from Genesis and Freedom have really taken steps to go beyond using the same fighting methods with just added speed and strength. Is a psionic blast just another projectile weapon, or is it something more? Or as Lucius’s opponents had extended compressed energy from their fists, is that all it is? While Lucius won’t win Vanguard by himself, I expect him to lead our men and women into a whole new concept of combat and war. He is developing his own style whether we help him or not, and his friends will follow him just to keep up. So let’s help him, Liam.”

He remained silent for a few minutes while he carefully considered all that had passed between them. He then addressed her. “Will Lucius even work with me? We’re the same rank, and he has every reason to hate me.”

“I will speak with him.”

“And that’s all it will take.”

“Yes.”

“Then I will do as you ask.”

With a spin as if she hadn’t even been paying attention to what was going on below, Victoria faced him. “Great. I’m going to go congratulate a friend on his breakthrough. Peter will stay here and walk you through what we have planned.” With a cuff on the arm, she walked toward the exit. A moment later, Oliver disappeared with her and only Peter remained.

As the man controlling the drones that continued to shroud the room in secrecy approached, Liam reassessed his thoughts on the girl he’d once held hostage. He’d thought her wise beyond her years and a natural leader, but after the conversation, they’d just had, how she’d put him in his place, and made him feel like he was truly many ranks beneath her. He shuddered. There was only one conclusion he could make. She was dangerous.

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Note: There's a lot of nuance information in this chapter that might be tweaked in the future. All the little pieces are coming together though in preparation.