War Core, Chapter 24.

Chapter 24.

Hugh was led out of the restaurant, Valery kindly picking up the tab. He hadn’t noticed the prices on the menu, being too excited to eat, and his meal had cost Valery five reward points. Not a lot, but Hugh could see how the small charges could add up during his leave. He would need to be frugal with his points, not wanting to waste them on too many luxuries if a burger and fries could be considered a luxury item.

It wasn’t too far to the hospitality center, which was only a small kiosk located near the shaft they used to change levels. As Hugh activated the kiosk notifications appeared, asking if he wanted to claim his rewards. Hitting yes, Hugh watched as information displayed about his rewards.

Congratulations! You have acquired the following three items.

1. Each campaign reward includes another twenty-four hour leave pass. This item is bound to your core and cannot be sold or traded.

2. Free entry into the War Core trials. Test your skills and see how far you can go. Enter now for the chance to earn points and prizes.

3. A crate of hypervelocity rounds. These rounds do double the damage of standard ammunition and can be used by any weapon of your choice. The number of rounds in the crate will be determined by the caliber selected.

“Hey, not bad, the ammo is always good to help dig you out of a tough fight, you’ll see a new option on your interface to activate consumables,” Valery said, having been looking over Hugh’s shoulder while he collected the rewards.

“That’s nice, as is always getting another leave. What’s the deal with these trials I have an entry for?” Hugh asked.

“We’ll head to the games now; I have one of those entries to use from my last campaign reward. It enters you into a simulated battle that will showcase a particular form of core combat. The better you do, the better your prize at the end. Normally, I wouldn’t bother, the entry fees are too high, and the type of challenges you can choose from are too random for me to waste points on, but when the entry is free, it a good chance to learn. You can also sell the entry, there is a type of auction system here where cores can sell everything from their services a mercenary, to rewards you’ve earned. The entry fee is normally a hundred points, so you can typically sell these for around sixty-five or so. Not a bad option if you don’t want the challenge,” Valery said.

“I think since it’s free, I’ll give it a shot. What kind of stuff can you win?” Hugh asked.

“I’ve only made it past three levels, but when I did, I got just over a hundred and fifty credits, and a heavy mech skin,” Valery told him.

“Well winning more than the entry fee isn’t the worst thing, but what is a mech skin?” Hugh asked.

“Oh, it’s strictly a cosmetic enhancement and once you activate one, you have the option of changing the looks of that class of mech. I don’t care for them, and usually sell them if they’re not bound to my core. Of course, you may like the bling, some of my soldiers have said they like it when I throw a skin on now and then,” Valery answered. That was interesting and all these little tidbits kept pushing him toward believing Maddison’s theory that this was all some big form of entertainment for the GCA, and we were just toys to them.

“Do you want to go to the game’s first, or do you want to show me the shopping stuff?” Hugh asked, not sure if he was up for a challenge just yet.

“The games are three levels down, we’ll stop at the shops on the way,” Valery said. They got to use the almost magical lift system again, and it was just as much fun the second time Hugh tried it. Two levels down, several corridors led off from the central hub, each lined with brightly lit shops.

“Do you have a favorite shop to use?” Hugh asked, wondering if Valery had stalked out the best deals.

“No, they are all mostly the same, but each one can sometimes have an item unique to that particular store. Frankly, I found it wasted too much time to blunder around trying to find a unique deal, so I just go to the closest one if I feel the need to buy something. Here, take a look, I think you’ll be a bit surprised at what’s for sale. Just remember my warning about spending all your points,” Valery said, leading Hugh into the first shop he found. The store had holographic signs showed images of past battles, with mechs wearing outrageous looking skins. Hugh activated the kiosk inside the store, it’s interface nearly identical to the one at the hospitality center.

Welcome to the GCA shopping experience, please feel free to browse our offerings. Select the following categories.

1. Mercenary Contracts.

2. Unit purchases.

3. Consumables.

4. Personal.

5. Unique store items. N/A, unique items are sold out at this location. Check back later for new deals arriving daily.

It looked like Valery was busy on another kiosk, so Hugh took his time to review all the offerings. Starting with mercenary contracts, he saw that you could hire other War Cores to assist you either in a single battle, or through an entire campaign. The costs were far too high for Hugh’s limited budget. He wanted to save his points for leveling up his core, but he could see the advantage a merc company could give in if a particular battle looked like it would be difficult. The main problem he could see was that he contracts had to be purchased ahead of time, and you would never know if an upcoming campaign would be one that a particular merc group would fit into.

Another intriguing option was intriguing the ability to offer your own services for a fee. There was a lock that required the core be at least level five, but it was an option for Hugh to consider in the future. Unit purchases followed along the same lines, spend some points to purchase a certain number of units from another cores’ arsenal. It looked like these were sold directly by the GCA and were just copies of what other cores were using. Given the limited effectiveness Hugh had seen from the AI controlled units, the option of purchasing units wasn’t all that appealing. He would check with the advisors back home, if his soldiers could pilot the mechs, that would make a huge difference.

Consumables had more of the upgraded ammo for sale, and there were even some variants with secondary abilities that would corrode armor, penetrate shields, and the like, but they were all kind of expensive. Still, having a supply of specialty ammo wouldn’t be a bad idea, giving him some extra flexibility in a tough fight. Hugh would consider purchasing some before his leave was over, but he didn’t want to jump into buying anything until he knew all his options.

A subset of the consumable’s menu allowed him to purchase defense turrets with various armaments. The least expensive examples were simple, single weapon turrets like those used in the first training missions. As the cost increased, so did the firepower. The most expensive options were complete defensive systems including a small minefield, cannons, machineguns, AI controlled infantry, and indirect fire weapons similar to mortars. Something like this could really turn the tide of a battle. A drone would be required to deploy the structure, and the more complex the design, the longer it took to activate, so there was a risk it could be interrupted or destroyed before it was complete.

The personal tab, now, that was the jackpot. Lower cost items included adding hours to your leave, saving money on meal plans, and preferred pricing on other entertainment on the station. It was here that Hugh made his first purchase, spending 25 points for a ten-meal plan. He could choose any of the restaurants that catered to human biology, and given how good the burger was earlier, Hugh knew he would save a few points with it in the long run, confident he could pack in several meals over the course of his leave. There at the bottom of cost chart, past expensive spa treatments and other foolishness, was the grand prize. Here was the one thing he had been wanting to find out since the day he had been placed inside the War Core.

Physical Reconstruction. Pre-purchase a new physical form for yourself. The new form will be constructed for you once your core is eligible for retirement. This upgrade requires the purchase of a retirement contract. The cost for Physical Reconstruction is 1,000,000 points and that does not include the cost of the retirement contract.

Hugh jumped back to the personal menu, searching for retirement contract.

Retirement Contract: Complete your service as a War Core and retire back to your home planet. Retired cores will be housed in a server complex on your homeworld and can interact with their world through virtual means. Please note that it is highly recommended that you purchase a physical reconstruction to go along with your retirement, but you can opt for just the retirement and lead a purely digital existence. The retirement contract has a price of 500,000 points. While you can purchase the contract at any time, to exercise it, your core must have attained a minimum level of 100 and must have completed any outstanding campaigns.

“I can see from the look on your face that you just found the physical reconstruction option,” Valery said.

“Yeah, so it is possible,” Hugh said, finding some hope for the first time in a long time. He just might be able to return to the land of the living on a permanent basis.

“Yes, but it will take you some time. I’ve been doing this since the 1960’s and I’m only level forty-two. Of course, I probably stunted my growth a bit when I first started by purchasing too many things here at the store. Don’t get too hung up on it, just file it in the back of your mind and don’t let the possibility of returning to your body throw off your game. Other cores have been so focused on returning that they forgot they had to win, and win a lot, for it to become a reality,” Valery said.

“Out of curiosity, what is the highest level of a human War Core?” Hugh asked.

“That would be one of the Chinese cores, Hsin, he’s level fifty-seven. Rumor among the cores I’ve interacted with here on the station is that a human core was retired and reconstructed. I suppose its possible that one of the first cores could have hit level one hundred and gathered enough points to purchase his body back, but nobody official will confirm or deny it. The GCA is likely locking that information for some reason. They do weird stuff like that, prevent things that shouldn’t be a big deal from being known. How does it hurt their cause if a human core was returned to the real world, after all, it would be a big motivator for the rest of us to try our hardest?” Valery told him.

“Do you know how many points Hsin has?” Hugh asked.

“Ha, no, that’s like asking someone how much is in their bank account, it’s not a polite thing to do,” Valery replied. That brought up another question, one that he hadn’t though of until finding out about the store.

“It may not be polite, but what did it cost you to give my country the chance for another core, to make me a core?” Hugh said.

“A lot, perhaps too much. I will not tell you all the details, only know that it wasn’t cheap, and you need to do your best to justify the sacrifices that were made. I’m not talking about the points, those can be won back eventually, you know the true cost I speak of,” Valery replied.

“I do, and thank you for what you did. I’m not happy at what has become of me and how it happened, but I appreciate your sacrifice, and that of your soldiers,” Hugh said, knowing the true cost were the dead Russian soldiers that had been carried out of their pods during that campaign. He also had to think about how much longer Valery would have to risk his life as a core, the points spent for hiring mercenaries for that campaign had to have set back his future retirement.

“Maybe you can return the favor someday, but we’ll pray it’s never needed, da? Too much doom and gloom, let’s finish up our purchases and head to the games, so you can use your free trial,” Valery said, his expression brightening.

Hugh jumped back into the kiosk; Valery helped him decide on a few more purchases. While his new friend had cautioned Hugh to be frugal, a few emergency items were not a bad thing. With Valery’s guidance, Hugh purchased another crate of the hypervelocity ammo, a pair of simple defense turrets, and, oddly enough, two squads of medium mechs from a race called the Durhass. While Valery had confirmed buying AI controlled mechs was usually a bad investment, these were melee specialists and given humanity’s focus on ranged firepower, the mechs Hugh bought may turn the tide if a foe tried to exploit that weakness. The purchases left him with a reward point balance of 250. He had a long climb to make it to a thousand points and level three, but with the purchases, he felt more confident it was achievable.

They left the store, Hugh reminding himself to return at some point and explore the other shops if he got bored. The possibility of some unique store items intrigued him. The shopping trip complete, they headed to the level where the games were held. Hugh wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and in his mind, he pictured a huge arena to rival the Colosseum of ancient Rome, but what he found was something closer to an old dingy arcade from the eighties. The “arena” consisted of rows of combat pods designed to fit the various races.

“So, I’ve got the free pass, what do I do now?” Hugh asked.

“Hit the kiosk and pick a pod, preferably one without any dubious stains or smells, and then wait while it activates. I don’t know what your first trial will be, typically it’s something easy to do, but you need to try and progress as far as you can, the higher level you achieve, the better your reward. I’ve never had much luck with these, but hopefully, you’ll do better than I do,” Valery said.

“Sounds good, will you be here when I’m done?” Hugh asked. He didn’t want to ruin the guy’s fun or make him feel he had to babysit Hugh for the entire leave, but he was a bit apprehensive on being on his own among all the weird races wandering about.

“Yes, I should be, but I do have to take care of some personal business. If I’m not here, let’s meet back at the restaurant at 1800 hours, station time,” Valery replied. A chronometer was placed in his view, whatever they had done to his flesh and blood brain when they reconstructed him for leave, included a clock. Hugh tried to pick out a clean pod, they were surprisingly poorly kept, not something he expected from the station. A suitable candidate was found, and he lowered himself in, wondering if he was experiencing the same thing his soldiers did when they participated in one of his battles.