Chapter 164 - Orbital Smuggling

The hovertruck rumbled and jostled as Ceres tried to stabilize himself in the cargo container, gripping onto his exosuit that was propped up in the middle like a mannequin.

He did not wear the exosuit yet during the transportation, as the exosuit was designed for space. It was a reasonable assumption on Ceres’s part that if he tried to walk on the ground with the exosuit, it might suffer incredible amounts of fatigue.

The mass budget just was not designed for atmospheric and ground combat!

He wasn’t the only one in the cargo container – Victoria, Amelia, Shai’li and Tyson were with him. It had been less than two minutes since they entered the container, and he was starting to slightly regret it.

The squad was being transported to the smuggling ship that would take them up to orbit in separate cargo containers. While Ceres was struggling to keep his balance, Tyson was already sitting cross-legged on the floor, chewing on a nutri-paste bar he took from the large amount nearby.

The nutri-paste bags lined the walls, causing the container to be a lot more cramped.

“Sit down, the journey is going to be pretty long.” Tyson motioned to Ceres.

“How far away is this smuggling ship?” Ceres grumbled.

“Well I can tell you that it is basically on the opposite side of the planet. With the speed that we’re travelling at, probably would be about 10 hours minimum, maybe more. We should be heading to the Deryus Peaks now.” Tyson replied.

“Oh-ho, my favourite place! I did most of my training there, great for building resilience!” Shai’li joined the conversation, reminiscing.

“There’s a town or outpost at the Deryus Peaks?” Ceres quizzed.

“It’s actually something similar to Rockhold but on the surface, and it’s a lot more stable and milder. It’s the best place for catching a ride to orbit without being caught.” Tyson explained.

“How so? I thought the enforcers would be able to see any launches from anywhere on the planet even when we hacked them. Don’t they have a global constellation?”

“Yes, but the criminal group that runs the place is one of the best at stealth operations. I don’t know too many details, but I suspect that the stealth vessel that they are providing us with is probably purchased from them as well. That combined with our hacks should be enough to mask our launch.”

“Wouldn’t the enforcers know about this location though? I assume they have been in business for more than a few decades now.”

“Ah, that’s the beauty of it!” Shai’li excitedly pointed out. “The combination of their stealth equipment plus the terrain makes it hard to pinpoint their true location of the launch. Also, the criminal group has a sizeable amount of civilian groups registered with the Consortium serving as a buffer in the same region.”

“However, that will be a problem once the New Saint enforcers actually manage to scale up large enough to cover the entire planet. They are already increasing their recruitment drive en masse.” Tyson sighed in resignation.

“That’s exactly why we need to hit Haui’s Moon with everything we got. The fate of the rebellion rests on us!” Shai’li nodded.

Ceres frowned, knowing that the upcoming mission was extremely pivotal. He never got to talk to Ardan before leaving, though he suspected that the White Fang was not even present in the base.

It was going to be a long journey, so Ceres decided to get to know his squad a little better, asking about why they joined the rebellion.

“Me? Heh, it’s quite a flimsy reason, but I was once charged with hacking the enforcer systems and changing the names of every enforcer to some form of profanity. The rebellion managed to save me in transit, and I’ve been running solo missions ever since.” Tyson shrugged.

“Huh? I heard you were caught because you uploaded porn to the training dataset of the spaceport AI!” Shai’li squinted her eyes at Tyson who just laughed it off.

“Let’s just say I’m a very prolific hacker.” Tyson smiled. “Shai’Li here has a more interesting story, though I must admit I only know rumours.”

“Oh? Tell me, I’m curious.” Shai’li leaned over.

“From the depths of the Dreyfus Peak, a previously exiled daughter of the criminal organization’s boss suddenly reappeared five years after her drastic failure at passing the infamous infiltrator test.” Tyson began to speak like an old storyteller.

“Despite her being exiled to the bottom of the peaks, she somehow managed to make her way back to the top, eventually brutalizing the local population as well as half of the criminal organization. Her sheer strength was an antithesis to her former organization, who focused on stealth!”

Shai’li roared in laughter, slapping her thighs. “HAHAHA, I didn’t know the story had been spun so far!”

Tyson shrugged again: “Only repeating what I heard.”

“The truth is much more simple- I myself decided to go to the depths and climb back up myself without any help!” Shai’li patted her bulging muscular arms. “Took about seven years, but damn was it worth it.”

“What about the beating up people part?” Ceres asked out of curiosity.

“Oh, that was part of the training too. The guards thought I was a marauder of some sort. Took about a few months to get the point across.”

Ceres and Tyson exchanged knowing looks. Internally they already decided to not piss off Shai’li where possible.

“But why join the rebellion?” Ceres continued asking.

“Oh, I needed something to train against! Joining the enforcers meant I’ll be beating up losers, but what if I joined the underdogs? That’s why I’m here!” Shai’li grinned, her logic impeccable.

Ceres immediately labelled her as a crazier Braton. He hoped that when he rescued Braton from the prison, it wouldn’t come to this.

Ardan had already changed so much, Ceres wasn’t sure if he could handle any more changes in his friends.

An awkward silence passed as the three of them stared at Victoria, who had been sitting slightly further away but was still obviously invested in the conversation.

Her face blushed, instead taking out her multi-terminal and typed rapidly.

Soon, a message appeared on all three of their multi-terminals. Ceres excitedly opened it, hoping it was Victoria’s backstory.

He still hasn’t gotten full approval from Victoria regarding the modified rifle, but at least she agreed to bring it along.

[Victoria: Stop looking at me and Ted like that you filthy mongrels! I’m not going to tell you guys shit! Fuck off and look somewhere else!]

The faces of the three other squad members were stunned, but Shai’li soon laughed it off. Ceres facepalmed, cursing at himself for forgetting that the squad was made up of troublemakers.

Wait, did this make him a troublemaker too?

He looked up to see the other three members staring at him intently, implying that it was his turn.

“Erm, well, I used to be an exosuit repairer in the Rockhold Arena until I took a shot to the knee. I got a few weird exotics embedded in my body from god knows who, and I think it’s the enforcers, so I guess I’m here.” Ceres summarized without revealing his true identity.

“I’ve heard of the White Fang personally recruiting you!” Shai’li recalled with excitement. “I myself went a few rounds in the Rockhold Arena, before that fat fuck Saul kicked me out for killing too many exobeasts. Like, isn’t that the point?!”

“When you say exotics, you mean like artificial transcendence? Something similar to Riker then. How long do you have to live?” Tyson asked.

“Riker has exotics?”

“Yea, it’s embedded into his back. Apparently, he’ll die in two years without medical support. His experiment was considered botched.”

Ceres was slightly surprised. He recalled Riker’s nose bleeding slightly during the duel, though he had assumed it was due to the continuous impacts that the warhammer had inflicted on him.

He did remember seeing some of Riker’s emotions being drained into a few black spots on his body. Were those the exotics?

“I don’t know exactly how long I have to live...” Ceres never really thought about whether he was living on borrowed time.

Would the black goo in his body negatively affect his age? What if he was actually dying from within, the extra strength he had obtained in exchange for his lifespan?

“So what’s the gimmick? Not having to sleep forever?” Tyson continued asking, interested.

“I basically have a generic boost on strength and reaction speed. As for the sleep thing, that’s just insomnia.” Ceres laughed nervously.

“Oh, you’re strong?! Can we arm wrestle?” Shai’li asked with a glint of curiosity, already flexing her arms as warm-up.

“Maybe not, I’ve been working non-stop to...” Ceres paused when he noticed the darkening expression on both Shai’li and Victoria’s faces, with Tyson desperately mouthing words to warn Ceres.

“Uh sure, I’ll give it a shot. I might lose in a few seconds though.” Ceres finally relented, taking the hint. He had nowhere to run to in the small container eitherway.

The two opponents lay on the floor, resting their elbows as they clasped each other’s palms. Victoria gripped her rifle even harder as her eyes widened, taking in everything. Tyson was curious whether the famous berserker Shai’li could actually be defeated in a contest of raw strength.

If Ceres had his way, he would have rejected it immediately. Ceres considered himself to be a fairly big guy, having grown far beyond his original height of 1.7 meters.

However, Shai’li’s hands dwarfed his, his own fingers struggling to get a grip on the absolutely huge palm!

“Whenever you’re ready, boy,” Shai’li smirked.

Ceres nodded, before slightly pushing with a bit of strength. However, in a single instant, Ceres almost lost as the sudden force exerted by Shai’li overwhelmed his arm.

In a moment of haste, as though in response to the perceived threat, the black goo surged within’s Ceres arm, hardening his bone structure. Ceres’s hand was pushed to the limit, almost touching the floor in submission.

Shai’li eyes widened as she tried to push Ceres just a centimetre more, but it felt like she was pushing a concrete building. “Wha…” She grunted as her face began to strain, the veins popping.

Ceres too heaved rapidly as he struggled to lift it up. A surge of emotions from both himself and Shai’li began to power him rapidly, allowing him to slowly inch Shai’li’s hand slightly back up to their starting position.

Tyson let out a whistle, watching Ceres go toe to toe with Shai’li. “Damn, looks like our exosuit repairer isn’t a pushover in strength too.”

“Don’t get cocky, kid!” Shai’li smirked under the strain. Her grip intensified, trying to crush Ceres’s hand. However, with the black goo supporting his hand from within, his hand remained firm and stable for a good two minutes.

Ceres could feel an increasing urge of hunger wailing from deep within him, the black goo crying to come out in its full form. Instead of risking exposure, Ceres suddenly let go of his strength, wanting to lose.

Due to the sudden motion, Ceres was slammed onto his back on the floor from the sudden spin caused by Shai’li winning.

“Whew, you’re a tough nut to crack, but not that tough after all!” Shai’li grinned in a victorious expression, patting her hands to wipe the copious amount of sweat away.

Ceres groaned as he tried to get up, the sudden slam hurting him slightly. Despite his enhancements, Ceres wasn’t invulnerable.

“So… you’re next, Tyson. Don’t think I didn’t catch you warning him.” Shai’li stared daggers into Tyson, who hurriedly looked away.

“Ah, erm, my right arm is twitching. I feel a deep power emerging from within, must be a malfunction. I’ll have to pass sorry.” Tyson suddenly clutched his arm in feigned agony.

Victoria let out a little laugh but immediately clamped up when Shai’li suddenly locked onto her. “Don’t think you can run forever, you little punk. One day you shall arm wrestle me!” Shai’li wagged her finger at her.

The atmosphere was significantly improved compared to the previous awkward atmosphere when they first met in the squad room. Over the next few hours, they exchanged stories and jokes to pass the time.

Ceres continuously paid attention to the exterior of the hovertruck, trying to use his senses to detect any lifeforms around. He was fairly certain at one point that they were passing through Rockhold, caught in a sort of traffic jam, but now they were travelling through a desolate tunnel, no doubt heading for the aforementioned Dreyfus Peaks

“Wait, that’s the reason why Sierra was pissed at you? Damn you’re dumb as a rock.” Sierra laughed as Ceres explained why he and Sierra seemed to always be at odds with each other..

A message from Victoria appeared on Ceres’s multi-terminal: [I thought you guys were straight up fucking, and maybe you slid it into the wrong hole, which was why she was so angry at you because you didn’t use the lube that Virlo Pharmas recently released on sale…]

Ceres didn’t even know how to respond to her, simply choosing to ignore the message.

“Wait then what about you and the White Fang? Everyone knows you’re making out with each other.” Sierra pushed the topic even further.

Ceres almost choked on his own saliva. “Wha… I don’t even know him that well! Who the hell is coming up with this kind of story?”

Tyson shrugged. “I don’t know, but I got all five volumes right here on my multi.”

Victoria visibly stood up straighter, sending a series of messages rapidly with obvious haste to Tyson. Tyson laughed: “No way in hell I’m giving them to you, I don’t have the right to distribute. You can find out who the author is and ask her yourself.”

A gaze of annoyance briefly flashed on Victoria’s face, before returning to the shy aloof expression she always had. Sierra couldn’t stop laughing at all, unable to speak without breaking out into laughter again.

Before she could catch her breath, the hovertruck suddenly began to slow down. “Looks like we’re coming up on a checkpoint. Set up now.” Tyson patted Ceres’s shoulder, who nodded.

The four of them began their work, stuffing the exosuits as far away from the entrance of the cargo container as much as possible.

Once done, they started to reposition the nutri-paste bags towards the entrance, covering themselves from view. “Okay, stick close to me.” Tyson opened his mechanical thigh’s concealed compartment, retrieving a black looking Tesla-coil object.

Upon activation, a weird humming sound could be felt around them. “You guys need to be closer, otherwise we’ll be spotted!” Tyson urged.

The four squad members squeezed together, their bodies completely flat against each other. “Don’t get any ideas about me, boys.” Shai’li teased as her large muscular body took up most of the space.

Tyson was about to reply on the lack of sexual attraction but held his tongue instead. It was better to keep some things to oneself.

The hovertruck eventually came to a halt, with a few muffled sounds going on outside. Ceres could clearly see a few figures talking to the hovertruck driver outside, holding rifles and what seemed to be a riot shield, though Ceres could only guess.

A gruff voice wafted in from the entrance of the cargo container. “Open it up! I don’t care what you say, the entire planet is under the New Saint enforcers now. Don’t think I don’t know you guys been smuggling here non-stop, it’s practically an urban legend.”

The hovertruck driver didn’t argue, opening up the container. The gruff enforcer stared at the heaps of nutri-paste. “You.” He pointed to an accompanying Athen Defender. “Scan the container for any lifeforms or things that are not nutri-paste.”

The Athen Defender complied, upon which Tyson rapidly pressed a few dials on the object he was holding, aiming it in the direction of the enforcer. His mechanical eyes glowed red as he used thermal imaging to observe the movement of the Athen Defender.

“Huh… I’m getting something weird… oh wait never mind, looks like the entire cargo container is full of nutri-paste.” The Athen Defender replied with an inexperienced tone, revealing his rookie background.

“Hmph, all right. Move along then.” The gruff enforcer shooed the hovertruck driver away, who bowed and got back on the hovertruck.

The hovertruck flew for a good twenty more minutes before the squad finally let out a sigh of relief. “How does that device work?”

“Oh, this mimicking device? I effectively run the same kind of scan he did on our nutri-paste, then I blast out the exact same radiation to overwhelm his scanner. This means any of the active waves that he sends out basically gets drowned out, and I send back a fake active wave, bluffing his active scanner.” Tyson proudly puffed his mechanical chest out before stuffing the device back into his thigh.

“I can smell the difference in the air. We’re about five minutes from our destination.” Shai’li sniffed the air coming in from outside.

“Do we have to move our exosuits out?” Ceres asked.

“Nope, the smuggling ship will just load us on just like this, and we’re off. Don’t be sad, you’ll get to see a launch in person yourself. Maybe when we get back from Haui’s Moon!” Shai’li replied.

Ceres nodded, but internally he was a bit sad. He wanted to watch the launch through a window where possible, however, he had no choice.

He decided to take a nap in the cargo container after they moved back all the nutri-paste into its original location. It’s been a long time since he had a proper sleep.

The rest of the squad took a break as well, ignoring the droning metallic sounds that echoed through the cargo container. The hovertruck had effectively dropped them off, and all they had to do was wait in the container and stay silent.

A few hours later, the roar of the engine could be heard, violently shaking the cargo container.

Ceres woke up groggily, but his eyes quickly widened. “Shit, hold the nutri-paste bags in place!”

Tyson suddenly caught on to what was about to happen, quickly taking out a few pre-prepared magnetic nets and tying as many nutri-paste bags as they could to the container, latching the ends of the net onto the metallic walls of the container.

Ceres ran around the exosuit as the container rumbled, barely keeping his balance. His hands moved fast, tapping each of the exosuit’s processor core to activate the magnetic clamps on its feet, preventing it from toppling over.

The feeling of gravity began to slowly tilt, with the squad members slowly sliding towards the entrance of the cargo container. Slowly dropping onto the door of the cargo container which was now the floor, Ceres noticed the seams of the door had already been sealed sometime during his nap.

The smuggling ship began to climb vertically as fast as it could, shooting up from a mass driver hidden in the mountains. Thanks to the height advantage of the mountains, the smuggling ship took only a few mins to reach low planet orbit, but that was not the final destination.

Ceres began to float slowly as the atmospheric drag began to decrease significantly. The bags floated as they pushed outwards against the net, caught in a constantly changing flux of collisions with the other bags around it.

Shai’li and Victoria too began to marvel at the wonders of microgravity. Sure, they had trained for it in the VR pod, but the real thing always felt different.

Ceres gasped as he kicked against the door, propelling him towards the other end of the container, laughing. Six years ago, he said he was going to leave the planet in a ship. Sure, he had been to the Thorn Chamber multiple times, but he felt like it didn’t count.

This time though, he could truly enjoy the feeling of weightlessness.

He had done it. He was in space.