Seras Streams
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DMA - B2 - Chapter 17 – Preparations and a return
🕑 Added 2024-11-17 19:02:05 +0000 UTCCommander Victoria sat at her temporary desk in one of the large warehouses just outside of Pheracorp headquarters. The lights shifted to their emergency mode, and she received the notification over her sliverscreen that the whole city was on reserve power. She knew it could last for a full week at regular functionality, and then in emergency reserve mode it could last another seven days.
She took stock of the forces that she had been able to pull together on such short notice. Assets from all up and down South America and Pheracorp’s holdings on the continent. More forces were headed their way.
The 2 remaining Streetrunner crews they had on payroll had abandoned their contracts. The one crew that faced Flicker had someone livestreaming the video, and that had gone out onto the Webnet. What did I really expect? Mercenaries always jump ship when it begins to show any signs of taking on water. No one wants to face off against someone like that.
She had 300 mechs that were combat-focused, 2300 megacorp security and military personnel, 12 military-grade helos, and 3 honest-to-God tanks. Still…she didn’t think it would be enough.
Troxanir had shared the capabilities of stealth that Flicker had access to – and Victoria knew that she had to try and force a confrontation in a confined space to use the fog-cloud method that the powerful Ascendant had suggested. Thanks to that entity’s power, she could find Flicker’s exact location by sensing distortions in space…but only within 500 feet of her location.
She was, effectively, limited to indoors. And it made sense that headquarters itself would be the next target. But what are they after? It could be some of the upper personnel. Maybe the recent acquisition that they tried to get their hands on in that Streetrunner crew ruse? Maybe the servers? She scratched her head and went through the numbers again, cross-referencing the blueprints and schematics of the building. She had to ensure that they had evenly spread out forces since she had no clue what their target would be.
They have to go in through one of the three towers. I can assign 1 tank to each entrance, 4 helos, 500 personnel, and 100 mechs apiece. That leaves me with 800 security to have at the entrances at the various floors in case they try to get in on a higher level.
The plan was coming together, and she nodded with affirmed resolve as she sent off the orders through her sliverscreen. Now…to get my gear in order.
>>>---<<<
The APC arrived at the jetty and Jace hopped out of the back doors, sprinting down the smooth, slick, concrete surface. His foot-knives carved gouges assisting in his traction as he got to the first of the wind turbines.
He was on the center-most jetty. The waves were pounding on either side, and he got splashed with the salty, acrid spray. Holding up his hands, he grinned, knowing what he was going to do would cause a shock for the whole world if it worked how he envisioned; since it should be visible from orbital satellites. “I want to destroy the structures these wind turbines sit upon, and raise the ground higher than the city’s skyscrapers. Geomancy – activate.”
The ground around him trembled tremendously as a bead of brown surged out from his fingertips and into the concrete before passing through. Far in front of Jace, the concrete shattered and dumped the turbines into the ocean. Looking in either direction, he saw the same feat replicated up and down the coastline – affecting all but the farthest of the turbines.
But more impressive was the next effect. Directly in front of Jace, rising from the depths, an enormous wall of stone rose from the bowels of the Earth and cascaded high, high up into the sky. He had no clue how thick it was, but the structure grew in height until it towered over the surrounding skyline.
Running back to the APC, he saw the shocked faces of all three of his companions. “How the hell did you do that?” Greg asked.
“Spell,” Jace replied as he closed the door. “If Priam did it? He could affect way larger areas. But…that’s an Archmage spell…Skill.”
“Oh, that reminds me!” Priam pulled out his small, silver tube and whacked Jace’s head with it.
“Ow,” Jace said as he rubbed the light impact mark – more reflexively saying ‘ow’ than out of actual pain. “What’s that for?”
“I can raise your soul energy coefficient. It’s up to 30% now! I can do that once per day, but only once a week for each person.” He grinned, “It’s how I’m up at 190%!”
“Was hitting me really needed?”
“Nope! But I thought a quick whack would be funny,” Priam said with a grin.
Greg did some quick math on his fingers and looked at the bunny boy with his mouth wide open. “You could affect-”
“49.5-mile radius from my position, yes!” Priam clapped his hands. “That’s one reason I want to get that Godheart and put the dead deity to rest. Imagine the spell I could get from it?! A divine one, at that!”
Greg chuckled and looked at Jace, “You found a cool kid to bring on board.”
“Hey! I’m not a kid!”
Jace and Greg shared a look, and Jace looked over at Priam, “You’re right. Sorry for Greg’s mistake. To us – you’re a kid. But I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that.”
“Why are we even here?” Quinn asked no one in particular as her dour behavior took over once more and she drove the APC back towards the city. “You can just change the world around us.”
“About that,” Ollie said as he poked his head out of Jace’s hood. “Archmage spells are potent – but doing them too much can destabilize the fabric of reality.” He tapped Jace on the head, “You need to lay off of the Archmage spells for a while. If not, then things get weird as localized laws of physics and reality change.”
Jace nodded, “Right. Good to know.”
“A built-in limiter,” Priam said as he nodded. “I know the gods cannot do vast miracles constantly due to a similar limitation. The few times they had to, horrible plagues, storms, even world-spanning apocalypses occurred.” He shook his head, “Dark times from my world’s history. I never experienced those, but my dad was around for one of the famines.”
I need to be more careful with using these, then. Jace nodded and patted Priam’s shoulder. “Now…how long to São Paulo?”
“A day on the main highway,” Quinn replied tersely.
“Good. We’re going into dangerous territory. Better be as prepared as possible.” Jace looked up at Ollie and poked him under the chin. “Time to level up.”
“You’ve got enough Stardust for one level.”
“Let’s do it. As for a Skill, let’s do Ruination Razor up to (Rank 3). And, that Rare (Variable) Boon – let’s convert that to a Skill Evolution and apply it to that Skill.”
“You got it!”
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Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 3)
Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 66]
Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3) [Reflecting], Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], Dark Matter Dart [Exploding] (Rank 4), Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) [Innervating], Dark Energy Beam (Rank 12) [Limited Range], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10), Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Ruination Razor (Rank 3) [Wrecking], Steel Gale Stride (1/day), Arbiter's Anathema (3/day), Shadow Nebula Smokescreen (1/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Archmage Geomancy (1/day), Archmage Hydromancy (1/day), Archmage Pyromancy (1/day)
Stardust: 1,100
Equipment: (Returning) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Aegisleather, Ghostlight Grapnel Arm, (Thrice Judged) Anathema Arm, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Steelstalker Sabatons, (Terrifying) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, Mind's Eye Amulet, Thellor's Everguard, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x52), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, flint bar, flashlight, Omnitech prosthetic repair module (x2 charges), (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll, 28,000 creds, 38x throwing knife, x2 micro-EMP charge, traditional lockpick set, e-pick
Boons: x4 Uncommon (Variable)
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Ruination Razor (Rank 3) – As Rank 1, but lasts for the next three strikes.
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[Using Boon: Rare (Skill Evolution).]
[Applying to Skill.]
[Skill Name: Ruination Razor.]
[Evolution Name: Wrecking.]
[Effect: The strikes will always destroy the structure beyond repair.]
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Useful, Jace thought. I could use that on the building itself. Three strikes, all three structures that make it up – bring it down from the ground. But…no, we need the server active to plug in this tech-plague. Maybe after we, I don’t know, pull the fire alarm? Get everyone out? I can bring it down after.
“Right,” he muttered. “The rest of you should use whatever Stardust and Boons you got and are comfortable using right now. This is going to be one hell of a fight…and I’ve got a plan to get us there in a way no one will expect.”
Greg chuckled, “Not enough Stardust. And, no Boons to use.”
Priam grinned, “One level’s worth.”
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Name: Priam Westerfold (Aspirant, Tier 3)
Power [Class Level]: Pulsar [Priest 58]
Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Pulsar Ward (Rank 20) [Multi-Target], Pulsar Physic (Rank 10) [Contingent], Priest's Benediction (Rank 13) [Enduring], Priest's Smite (Rank 10) [Marking], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 7), Soul Restoration (1/day)
Stardust: 300
Equipment: (Light) Archpriest Vestments, (Conservation) Soul Warden Writ, (Insightful) Dad's Hat, (Light) Venture Pack, survival meals (x58), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, 20,000 creds
Boons: Common (Information)
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Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 7) - Any Skill the user uses has its energy cost reduced by 35%
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Greg leaned in, “So, what’s the entry plan?”
Jace smiled, “We’re going to fall upwards.” Greg screwed up his face in a look of sheer confusion, and Priam just began chuckling. Jace looked back to the front at Quinn’s hidden face. “What’s the plan for you?”
“Tell me where you want to be dropped off. Then I’m booking it for the portal leading to The Cosmic Corridor.”
“What? Why?”
Quinn shook her head, “I have my computers. I can take those back home to Khrox, and using my Broker Skills, connect to the Webnet through The Cosmic System. I can do a Webwalker’s actual job – sitting in a comfortable, safe location…and giving information, schematics, layouts, enemy comms, the whole lot.” She pointed to a small lockbox, “There are well-concealed earpieces in there that link up to your sliverscreen – and your Wayfinders can connect to your sliverscreens. We’ll have secure audio feeds – and with your Wayfinder’s permission, video feeds from their point of view.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Priam said as he opened the container, pulled out one of the earpieces, and began trying to fit it into his long, floppy ear.
Jace clambered up to the front passenger seat and saw Quinn’s shoulders trembling. “You…you okay?”
“No,” she whispered. “I’m scared shitless. I almost died. I’m not cut out for this.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze, but he could tell that panicked tone apart from any other with troubling ease. The same tone he had heard himself speak with when he was younger and still learning the ropes of the street folk.
“I understand,” he replied, softly. “It’s okay. We’ll do just fine, us three on this side of the portal.” He sighed and joked, “It will suck losing our driver. I liked being able to just sit in the back the whole time, play around on the sliverscreen, or sleep.”
Quinn showed the faintest traces of a smile on the edges of her lips. “I don’t like you…and I doubt you like me. We’re allies – nothing more. That cool with you?”
Jace nodded, “Fine by me. You get my back, I got yours.”
Quinn’s traces of a smile widened ever-so-slightly, and the trembling in her shoulders stilled a little bit. “Deal.”
He held his hands in front of her and made a series of complicated gestures. Street-folk sign language. ‘I forgive you. I get not wanting to be friends. But we street folk have to watch out for each other.’ “Even off world,” he finished, since they didn’t have a sign for ‘off world’.
She held up her right hand and replied with a similar series of gestures. ‘Thank you. Stick together to survive.’
Jace heard Greg and Priam muttering in the back, and the bunny boy asked, “What’s up with the weird finger-puppets?”
>>>---<<<
Quinn pulled the APC up to the outskirts of the city, just on the edge of where the buildings began to slowly rise up in earnest. The trio got out of the vehicle.
The game plan was to traverse the rooftops using Jace’s Skills and speed. They would hit the Pheracorp headquarters, and then escape through The Cosmic Corridor’s portal, regroup, and decide which continent they’d go to next and which megacorp they would hit.
For her part, it was easy – Quinn just drove into the city and was left completely alone. From listening to the chatter, she knew that all of Pheracorp’s forces were pulled back to their headquarters. They even left the portal to The Cosmic Corridor wide open since it was locked from their perspective.
She was able to drive the APC right through the large, blue, flat pane and arrived in the black space with the Stardust-to-creds machine, and the panel with the various buttons.
To her surprise, Mizarion and Casey were both there. The spider-centaur-lady was dressed in a fine dress jacket from the waist-up, and her large, arachnid body was bedecked in gemstones that glittered like thousands of tiny eyes. Mizarion was dressed in a dashing trench coat. “Back so soon?” he asked with a sly grin.
Quinn got out of the APC and nodded, “Yeah. Why are you two here?”
“We got word you were coming back early and were instructed to escort you. Star Daddy wants a word.”
Quinn gulped down the lump in her throat and shook her head, “Not yet. I have to get home and set up my Webwalker rig to support the trio back on Earth.”
The two Ascendants for the Star Council glanced at each other and then nodded, “Fine,” Casey said. “I’ll buy you a few days. But he expects a report in-person as to why you’re abandoning the miss-”
“I’m not,” Quinn said as she stared daggers at the spider-woman. “I am doing my job which is Webwalking. I can’t do that when I’m getting fucking anti-tank rounds shot at my skull!” She tapped her wrist-panel furiously and sent her logs to the two Ascendants, whose eyes flickered slightly with the information scrolling across their gaze. “See?”
Mizarion frowned and nodded, “I get it. You’re not a combatant.” He looked at Casey and smiled, “I’ll smooth things over with Star Poppa-”
“You know he hates when you use the wrong name.”
Mizarion laughed, “It’s fine! He likes me! I make him laugh.” He looked at Quinn, “Casey will go with you and keep you safe.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said as she felt relief wash over her.
Mizarion left, and Quinn got back into the vehicle with the spider lady. Leaving the black space, they traversed The Cosmic Corridor, entered Khrox, and pulled up in front of Jace’s building.
After getting out, Casey helped Quinn carry all of her gear up the stairs, which to Quinn’s shock when she opened the door, led right into her apartment. Casey helped her move the stuff in, and then went down to the APC, her spider-lower-half shifting forms and compressing until she was more akin to a human in size with compressed legs. “I’ll get this vehicle to storage in case you want to access it in the future. Good luck with your Webwalking.”
Quinn went right to her apartment, popped into the hygiene station, set up her rig, and interfaced it with The Cosmic System…well, she tried. She got some error messages. I’ll need to get around the firewalls. As she sat down in her pajama-bottoms with her fluffy slippers and frumpy coat – she heard a knock at the door. Getting up, she answered it and found Sera…well, X, as Quinn now knew, standing on the other side.
And she looked pissed.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?”
“Helping your Signer,” Quinn replied.
Sera’s/X’s eyebrow twitched, and the shorter woman nodded tersely, handing a data stick to Quinn, “You’ll need this to go from Cosmic System to Webnet. It’s got built-in firewalls. Don’t try to hack my tech – it’ll fry your system.”
“How come I didn’t appear in the Entry Hall?”
“When you bring non-allowed folks into the building, they’re limited to your Apartment – and your apartment only. Speaking of that, since you’ve fallen out of favor with Jace, I’m shifting floors around a bit. You’ll no longer share a floor with Priam.” She smirked, “I’m happy you’re helping Jace out still, but I knew you weren’t cut out for field work. A behind-the-scenes person, just like me.”
“Yeah, well, you know I’m good at what I do-”
“I know,” Sera/X replied. “If you do make it to Ascendant, I wouldn’t mind employing your services – for the proper pay of course.” She handed a sheet of actual paper to Quinn with ink markings on it. “Rip this in half, it’ll convert your creds to Stardust once again, and give you a flat 1,000 Stardust for your work helping Jace bring down the megacorps.”
Quinn frowned, “Why are you being so nice to me? I practically abandoned your Signer.”
“Well, you gave up that foolish endeavor of trying to win his heart on behalf of your faction – nice try, by the way.”
How the hell did she know? Quinn thought.
Sera/X continued, “I also know that the Star Council is better for Earth than any other faction. And you won’t just be helping Jace out with this mutually-aligned, joint task. I plan on paying you handsomely for your services.” She smiled sweetly, but there was a hidden venom behind the expression.
Quinn nodded, “Right. Earth, first. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got maybe thirty minutes before they get to the headquarters.”
Sera/X nodded and vanished immediately; warping away despite being inside the building.
Quinn looked down at the paper and ripped it in half.
//////////////////////////
[Stardust Acquired: 1050]
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Puts me right at 1,500 Stardust, she thought. 1,000 away from taking my first level in an Advanced Class. The thought of sticking in her base Class had crossed her mind, but she had every Broker Skill she could think of that she wanted. At this point, rushing to Ascendant as fast as possible to become functionally immortal seemed like the smart decision.
But…lingering in the back of her head was the side-conversation she had overheard between Greg and his Wayfinder, Darrin. How Greg planned on reaching Tier 10. Quinn also knew that Jace was planning on achieving Tier 10, and reasoned that Priam would, also.
And that made her feel left out. Not for the first time in her life, she felt the fear of missing out creep into her mind. Fine then. They all want to hit Tier 10? So will I. But I’m doing it my way. No risking my neck. Just the safety of the Star Market, and sitting here at my console…where I belong.
Plus…being the only Tier 10 information-gathering and merchant-type Class has to have some type of sweet, hidden benefit.
She spent the 1,500 Stardust to level up.
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Name: Quinn Cipher (Aspirant, Tier 3)
Power [Class Level]: Star [Broker 53]
Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Broker's Instinct (Rank 8), Broker's Contract (Rank 20), Broker's Fee (Rank 16), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10)
Stardust: 0
Equipment: Broker's interface, Broker's starting gear, Webwalker Implants, Pheracorp Bionic Brain Mk. 1, Pheracorp Bionic Eyes Mk. 1, (Light) Venture Pack, survival meals (x58), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, Enduralife Guardian AR, General Logistics 9mm Pistol, x8 micro-EMP charge
Boons: None
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Broker’s Instinct (Rank 9) - As Rank 6, but the probability of the individual having the information is 100%.
//////////////////////////
She shut the door before sitting down at her computer once more, inserting the data stick, and beginning the process of re-hacking into Pheracorp’s Webnet servers.
Time to do what I do best. And no need to worry about manipulating emotions, or weird spy shit like that. Just me, my computer, and my abilities. She got up, went to the interface, and acquired plentiful snacks and drinks before returning to her computer and plugging her biotech-enhanced brain directly into her rig. That’s better, she thought as she took a sip of the crisp, clean water that she would have killed for back in her street folk days.
She felt happy for the first time in a long time.
Comments
Seras Streams
No I don’t take this the wrong way. This type of criticism is good. I can try to add in more foreshadowing with some comments characters make through books 1-2 when they are back from the editors.
Joshua Zollinger
Even Star Father and Troxanir are only T8, right? I'd assumed they were just the ones we knew about because they were pertinent to the story. If there is a reason, it hasn't really been alluded to by this point. Maybe I'm just missing it... but I'm usually pretty good about theory crafting and picking up on foreshadowing and I'm seeing nothing. In the first couple of chapters it was explained as the "rush to immortality", but that has just bothered me as a plot hole the entire time. It's not even true immortality... you can be killed, you just won't die of old age. If your lifespan is 10 years, then absolutely rush that. If your lifespan is 1500 years already? Maybe for some people, but not everyone. A risky path like Jace's can get you to T3 in... what's it been? 2 months? Sure, he has some advantages due to his relationship with X, but it's not like he's the only one who has reached T3 in that time even from Earth. There are countless worlds, and the minimum population to enter the system is 10 billion. I see a 0% chance that the lure of "you won't die to old age" is strong enough to prevent trillions of individuals from shooting for an obvious route to power, even with just a human lifespan. Even with exponential caps to personal stardust gain (ie something that would have given you 100,000,000 stardust in T1 only gives you 1 stardust in T9, and you need 5000x more per level), stardust is still a currency. It's not like you have to farm your own stardust to level. Trade is a thing, and we know there are plenty of goods and services even at low levels that can make you tens of thousands per sale. If there's a downside to levelling, it really hasn't been foreshadowed well. The information is coming from Wayfinders (aka AI who are tied to the System itself) as well as the System Administrator/assistant creator, so it's not like there are hidden T10's killing people off. There are foreshadowed unknowns, but it hasn't felt like any of those tie into this issue. Maybe if the whole system were brand new and nobody had time to level that much yet...? but there are at least supposedly documented events from hundreds of years ago. And that still doesn't explain why some mega-wealthy individual wouldn't just spend a fraction of their wealth for maximum personal power. Idk... it sounds like you have a reason and I look forward to the reveal, but right now it feel like that reveal will come out of nowhere for the sake of the plot rather than feeling "real". (And don't take this criticism the wrong way. I'm enjoying the story; I'm just having to suspend disbelief to do so and I felt that worth pointing out)
Seras Streams
You have pointed out something that is possibly a reason. Why are there no T9 / T10 Signers aside from seemingly Star Father and Troxanir? HMMMMM. *insert meme image here* AKA - there is a reason why people don't get so powerful. And, the more mundane 'NOW' answer is; rush to immortality. Having an eternal lifespan where only injury can really kill you (or really bad diseases / poisons, but even then you probably have a Skill to deal with healing of some type) is very enticing. Heck, if I was in Jace's prosthetic legs (hehe), and didn't have a dead sister? I'd rush for immortality right away and then focus on Boons to overcome my lack of progression. But that's just me.
Joshua Zollinger
It's weirder for me that nobody else in the entire System has attempted to/successfully pushed for higher tier before. Especially since ranking up just takes "money", and there are risk-free ways to get that even if you discount the obvious things like generational wealth. Quinn is planning to, without any significant starting capital, work her way up to Tier 10 following Jace's example just from using her merchant skills. There is a way to convert credits to stardust and vice versa... why hasn't the owner of a megacorporation just converted .001% of their wealth into enough stardust to cap both? Jace is on a time limit since he has a specific goal with a deadline, so he's going for high-risk, high-reward to get there fast... but the inhabitants of AA's planet live for 1500 years. 4-ish years for a human is 75-ish years to them assuming similar perceptions of time. Is immortality such a draw that not a single one of them decided to take the equivalent of getting a bachelor's degree to safely gather enough stardust for some additional power? In the entire multiverse encompassed by the System, not a single person has successfully tried to maximize the benefit of their rankups? It's such an obvious path to additional power and skills that the lack of anyone doing it is almost more unbelievable than the system existing in the first place!
VoidAutarch
I prefer the other reaching tier 10 as well. It's helps the cosmic system and Jace will have more reliable allies. Besides they are all unique and no two tier 10s will be alike as far as I am aware.
Seras Streams
This is a fair point. Don't worry, our MC is still going to be SUPER special. I mean, he is the ONLY Dark Matter user in existence. It gets even better when he gets his Ascended Power.
EsZeus
Kinda sad to see the MC losing his USP of reaching Tier 10. If no one ever reached it, why should some randoms now having success? The MC, because of all the shit going on and all his benefits, yes. But for me it's always the most obvious plot hole, when a story suddenly tries to push every other character around the MC to the same heights. For the sake of... Accompanying him. But this notion destroy the uniqueness of the MC in every story. Or, it is fine if it's a multiple lead character story. But here we have 1 MC. And this should be clear and he must be different. If everyone could just reach Tier10, then this would already happened :)
