alexclaw

B2-40 - Time and Hiveships…

“I am the Mistress of Time, bow before my might,” Maya stated as she stood in the center of the milling Cage. Bell paused from where he was carrying a crate of items and glared at her.

“Mistress of Time, you’re needed by your little friends,” he said before walking on. Maya raised her middle finger as he walked away. “Stop being childish.”

“I mean Yosi is still suitably impressed that I can stop time. Right, Yosi?”

“Yes, Maya. Your powers are impressive a...

B2-39 - Chuckles

“Well, shit,” Maya said as silence reigned within the Cage.

“At least… at least all of the flying rogue AIs have left the area… and well, pretty much every rogue AI in a ten kilometer radius,” Yosi said softly.

“Can it force its way through the door?” Bell asked.

“I rightly do not know. I would assume a Tier 3 creature would be stronger than a Tier 2 system tech wall, even if we’re technically in a different dimension than the RSH.”

“...

B2-38 - Ain't No St. Crispin's

Tension filled the Cage as Maya stepped up to the control panel. She looked out at the twenty-seven faces that stared back at her, the Tarvana, Badblood, Bell, and Yosi. Fear was evident, but they all stood firm and ready.

Maya was impressed by the adaptability of the Tarvana. They had gone from cowering in fear inside of a panic room to wailing about Whiteclaw’s death, but now they were all solidly behind Badblood and they followed her without question. They were under leveled and go...

B2 - 37 - Pickman's Challenger

“We do technically over-level the rogue AIs,” Maya said chewing a ration bar. The crew were gathered in the mess hall, a standard day passing since Bell and Maya had returned.

Weariness was etched into their faces, it wasn’t just the fact that they had been busting their asses the last standard day, there was also the addition of mana being slowly leached out of them. The mana purge was still in full swing and Maya hadn’t realized how much mana was used in normal everyday things...

B2-36 - Mana Abhors a Vacuum

Ideas were running wild in Maya’s head as they made their way back to the Hanganathorie. An entire standard day had passed since the rogue AIs had chased them from the watering hole, but it seemed they too had better things to do than wait for a few annoying SIL to show their faces.

They dug themselves out of the trash pile and with some trepidation and caution, scanned their environment to ensure that nothing was laying in wait.

Maya glanced back at the gleaming sea of...

B2-35 - Like in the Marvel Movies

The roars of the rogue AIs filled the air, a trumpeting sound that announced her doom. Maya stood firm, taking a moment to summon the mana pulse mines that she had packed for such an occasion. She tossed them around the railguns in a small arc. It wouldn’t stop the rogue AIs if the used ranged weapons, but if they tried to rush the guns they were in for a surprise.

Bell’s figure was dwindling in the distance, but Maya still didn’t chase after him. A calm settled down ar...

B2-34 - Watering Hole

“I must say that’s the most insane thing you’ve said in the last few months,” Bell said. “I thought you had gotten better in your decision making.”

“What’s insane about heading toward the mana bloom while scores of high leveled rogue AIs are flapping, crawling, rolling, and skipping their way toward the only mana source that exists?” Maya asked.

“All of it.”

Maya chuckled as she looked toward the west. “There’s mana in that direction. We need mana. ...

B2-33 - Purged

Maya had to give Yosi credit where it was due. She had been the main face of the trading in Ibadan and although Maya hadn’t gone over what she had purchased or traded or even sold, one thing Yosi had obtained was a decent amount of gasoline. As vehicles and generators of newer make didn’t work anymore due to the mana saturation doing weird stuff to the electronics, Yosi had gotten a fairly good deal on gasoline.

Although life had changed for Maya, she still kept the small...

B2-32 - Maintenance

The armored beetle screamed as Maya shoved the sawed off railgun into its abdomen and fired both marsani slugs.  The resulting explosion knocked her back, slamming her hard against the hull of the Hangy.  She immediately threw herself forward as a hissing blade embedded itself in the spot she occupied.  

The railgun was lost so she summoned the last weapon she had on her, a low-grade marsani axe.  An ant reared up before her, it’s deadly blade...

B2-31- Swarm

“How do these assholes know exactly when to crash our party?” Maya demanded as she exited the Cage onto the bridge of the Bonita’s Revenge. Bell looked up with relief as she entered, followed by Yosi and Nan.  

Roci stood by the threshold and grumbled as Maya sent the Cage back to the Hangy and the mess hall. She was on offloading duty as Maya dealt with the rogue AI attack. She pulled up the view screen and pulled out a rogue tech tablet connected to Tender’s me...

B2-30 - Replenish

Maya flopped down onto a comfortable chair as the last customer exited the shop. It wasn’t that there weren’t anyone else interested in buying stuff, she had just run out of things to sell. Even the excess duracloth that she had was snatched up by people once she explained it could be made into tents or other things. That was after all the emergency tents she had made were taken by Oyekan and Adenuga.  

She should have been happy, but Maya stared at the stress filled...

B2-29 - Ibadan

Maya rapped her knuckles upon the marsani block and grinned. “Solid work, Scotty,” she said. 

“Thank you, Maya. I had trouble with the tolerances, as the cutter is not a fine machining instrument.” 

“I gotcha, bud. Until we can find or make a machining… machine, you’re our best bet to create these things. Keep up the good work,” Maya heard a thump making its way toward her and looked to see a drone walking across the open space of the manufactu...

B2-28 - Breakfast at Hangy’s

Rogue tech programming was difficult. Maya stared at the tablet screen once more and then grumbled. The Rogue AI manufacturing module before her rumbled as it received the block of marsani and began cutting away. 

Originally when Tender had found the manufacturing module, Maya had hopes that it would be able to make all the things she needed on the ship. But life happened, Shen came, she returned to Earth, Yosi was found, and all the other things that had occurred caused...

B2-27 - Badblood

“I’m not going to cheat you out of your labor and possessions,” Maya stated. “Do you know the value of this stone?” 

Maya lifted a mana stone from the pile that sat before her. It was an extraordinary amount of stones. From what she could tell, the gobbolds… no the Children or Tarvana (if untranslated), consumed a stone a day to keep starvation at bay. Along with what they could find, either minerals consumed from the dirt itself or from old bio-trash they fo...

B2-26 - Gobbolds

“I bet there’s an achievement for losing consciousness,” Maya muttered as she sat in the dark. She had been only out for ten minutes, according to her computer’s clock. When it came to fights, battles, or anything really; it seemed she always found a way to lose consciousness. 

The darkness of the hole she sat within didn’t entirely bother her. Maya didn’t know if it was the mental changes that had occurred when she added the attribute points or if she just w...

B2-25 - Exhibition

“Well, the existence of other life in this place shouldn’t be a surprise,” Maya said. She pulled open a window, picked up a scout rat and set it down upon the hood of the buggy. The rat scurried forward, lifted its head and began scanning the area. Zono had dumped the information he had on the beings into her computer and she had transferred the data to the rat; system tech and rogue tech could talk to one another, but with some translation issues. The tablet that Bell carrie...

B2-24 - Cheater

Maya dropped down onto the deck, the aged metal creaking beneath her armored boots. She stopped, crouching low and peering around a corner. In her HUD she spotted the outline of  mechanical monster, six armed and hulking. It stood perfectly still, it’s massive bulk almost blending into the scarred and trashed corridor. 

“Junk Monster, nine o’clock,” Maya muttered.  

“That’s not its name,” Roci’s voice came over her comm. “It’s called a...

B2-23 - Base of Operations

Maya groaned and opened her eyes. She immediately shut them. The world spun for a moment, turning the overhead lights into a kaleidoscope of color and nausea. 

“Ah, you’re awake,” a voice said. 

Maya opened her eyes slowly; she saw Nan looking over her. Nan wasn’t in her usual demonic form, she was in her human form. The blue eyed woman smiled at her, revealing sharp teeth that was… comforting. 

“How long was I out?” Maya asked. 

“Th...

B2-22 - A Foothold

“Tender!” the small robot screamed out in… joy? 

George turned his head to see the small robotic creature suddenly tearing through the modules toward the Pris airlock.  

“It can speak?” Hanna asked in surprise. 

“I think it knows who that is at our door,” George said. “Tender? Strange name.” 

“What’s with that Maya Emporium thing?” Inez asked. 

“Perhaps we should have asked the robot,” Izumi replied,...

B2-21 - Rocket Roci

Roci knew they had been something else before. Something different than what they were now. Roci could still remember some of that life before they became Roci; a life of constant fighting or searching. Alway searching, always hungry, in a way. 

In the dim memories from their past life, Roci knew they had been ordered around. A dangerous figure, a commanding figure had controlled their life. It had told them where to go, what to do, it had lead them into fights, into anc...

B2-20 Stiff Upper Lip

Boom!

The heavy blast door protecting Captain Huvano’s personal suite hit the deck in a loud crash, sending delicate decorative figurines tumbling to the floor. Maya stepped through the billowing smoke and residual heat, covered head to toe in battle armor. 

“Just needed a little nudge,” she said, her voice muffled through the helmet. 

“I believe five kilos of Helix explosive gel is more than a little nudge,” Tender said as he trailed ...

B2-19 - Space Race

Kignarva Class 3 Deep Scanning Module System Liquidation - All the equipment to get a Kignarva Deep Scanner up and running, mid grade, Tier 1 - 300,000

5 metric tons Biomass - It’s biomass, people. Low grade, Tier 1 - 5,000

200 programable processors, low grade, Tier 1 - 60,000

2 metric tons, alchemical material, mana trace confirmed by System - 120,000

1 metric ton, ‘junk’ mana batteries, various grades...