Nando came next and gave Kaiden a slight but sharp nod.
“Let’s make this count, huh?” he said. “Make a difference. One for the better this time.”
A few more booths opened in response to the Maximus leadership showing their support. The group at the center of the room was, impossibly, growing.
They’re... they’re with us, Kaiden thought, seeing it but still having trouble believing it.
And then, one by one, the other booths opened and more and more players emerged until the entire room seemed a flood of motion and bodies.
They gathered at the center of the room as one. There was no shouting, no exclamations, no cheers. But Kaiden had his answer.
The Syndicate was with them.
Chapter Fifty-Three
With The Syndicate behind them, there was nothing more to do except assemble the biggest army possible, fine-tune the battle plan, then hit the Warden Corps with every single thing they had.
Maximus brought the elite fighters. Odditor brought the ships, the manpower of the guilds he led, and, of course, his menagerie of monsters. The Syndicate brought the rest, which was to say, all of the above and then some. Even with their full backing behind the endeavor, few members of The Syndicate actually turned up to fight themselves. Instead they sent ships and soldiers and a good legion or two of loyal NPCs. A hodgepodge army that, if Kaiden was being honest with himself, actually seemed to have a pretty good chance of pulling this whole thing off.
It’d taken two days to assemble all of the forces at – or more appropriately, above – The Syndicate’s base on Aqukinho. With everything else in order, the wait was unbearable, but Thorne had suggested they grind as much as possible during that time. It was a welcome relief from nitpicking the battle plan over and over again, and in the end had paid dividends beyond just giving Kaiden’s mind a much-needed distraction. He and Zelda had picked up two levels, putting them both at fifty-two, while thanks to his extra EXP from his heroics in the arena, Titus was almost even with Thorne. They’d also gained two levels each and were painfully close to fifty-three. No new abilities for anyone, but a search online revealed those would come with the next level. Kaiden had half a mind to push through and get the remaining EXP needed, but when it was a choice between that and delaying the now assembled fleet, well, that was a tough call. Every moment spent waiting was another moment the Warden Corps might notice the massive fleet – even if it was assembling in a backwater corner of the galaxy.
No; the element of surprise was more important than a few new abilities. The attack had to move forward.
“Thank you, Braker,” Kaiden said. He’d taken the database back from the NPC several days ago – right before he’d discovered Killswitch – but he’d never properly thanked the mechanic. Technically he was an NPC and thus not sentient, but on the eve of such a monumental battle, Kaiden found himself feeling sentimental. He smiled and patted Braker on the shoulder. “You did a good job holding on to this for so long.”
The mechanic gave a quick nod.
“Got a ship needs fixin’, I’m your man.”
“If we get through this alive, we’ll promote you to head mechanic!” Titus said with a smile as he slapped the NPC on the back.
Braker gave another quick nod, indistinguishable from the first one.
“Ship’s running just fine, Captain.”
“All right, enough doting,” Acton said. “Back to work.” He snapped his fingers and shooed the mechanic from the cockpit. When Braker was gone, Acton returned to his co-pilot seat.
“Give them too much praise and they’ll get big heads,” he grumbled.
“Zelda,” Kaiden said, turning to her and holding out the database. “Keep it safe. Though I know I don’t need to tell you that.”
She took it carefully in hand.
“It’s the key to the whole plan,” she said and looked down to the open padlock. She added it to her inventory, and the small thing – on which so much hinged – disappeared from sight. Zelda looked up to everyone around her on the bridge of the Veritas II. “I know you’ll do your best to keep me alive, but if I go down, you loot me. Instantly. Custos is a PVP zone and we can’t lose the database. It’s more important than any of us.”
“The database, your hammer-rifle, anything else of value you have on you. Couldn’t pass up profit like that, after all,” Titus said with a wink.
Kaiden knew he was joking but he punched the big man in the shoulder anyway. Though perhaps a bit harder than he’d intended.
I’m on edge, he realized. There was no pain in Nova, but even so, Kaiden could feel how tense he was. Every bit of him was coiled as if ready to spring into motion. But he wouldn’t be doing that on the bridge of the Veritas II. Even if they were hurtling toward the coming fight as fast as their engines could carry them.
Take a breath. We got this. We’re as prepared as we can be. He forced himself to take several deep breaths.
Somehow during all of the grinding they’d found time to send Acton and the Veritas II off to the nearest turen space station to purchase new upgrades. Defense drones had been the bulk of the purchase and they weren’t even for the Veritas II, but for the Borrelly. Kaiden pulled up their information for one last review before things got crazy.
Mk. 5 Proximity Defense Drone Launchers
Rarity: Rare
Durability: 100%
Capacity: 10 drones
Quick facts: With the push of a button these launchers will deploy autonomous defense drones around the perimeter of your ship. When active, these drones will engage any incoming hostile objects including missiles, torpedoes, and enemy ships.
They’d loaded the drones with explosive ballistic rounds so they’d have a better chance at bringing down missiles and torpedoes in particular.
The second upgrade had also been for the Borrelly – a multi-facing shield generator. Normally
