Cost: 30 charge.
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Thorne eyes were distant, no doubt reading the abilities he’d sent her. “Yeah, I’m familiar with these. Shield Linking with a blast warden is a classic strategy,” she said, speaking to Titus and Zelda at the front of the group. “The shielder absorbs the damage and the blaster spews it right back out at the attacker.”
“Pretty much what we were thinking,” Zelda agreed.
“Just need a target to practice it on.” Titus cracked his knuckles. “Can’t wait.”
“Hamstring is also essential,” Thorne continued. “Allows an enhanced warden to operate a bit more in a rogue-like capacity. Get in behind the enemy, then hamstring their important players. Makes it far easier to take them out of the fight.”
“I haven’t tried it yet, but the potential is definitely there,” Kaiden said as he imagined using the ability in combat.
He was dragged back to the present as they arrived in the main section of the ship. Acton stood there, waiting for them.
“Acton,” Kaiden said, nodding to him. “This is Thorne. She’s a guest of ours. Going to be helping us.”
The first office gave a half bow, then extended a hand.
“Caesarius Acton, ma’am. It is a distinct pleasure to meet you. If there’s any way I can be of service, please don’t hesitate to call on me.”
Thorne hesitated a moment, seemingly taken aback by his overly formal manner.
Kaiden leaned over with a whisper. “He’s always like that. You’ll get used to it.”
“Huh.” Thorne clasped Acton’s hand and gave it a shake. When that was done, Acton straightened back into his usually rigid posture.
“The repairs to the ship are complete, Captains. We’re back in perfect working order and the crew stands ready. Additionally, we’ve replenished the numbers of our boarding crew, as requested. Seeing as this is a turen station and not exactly at a prominent crossroads, the only option available was turen marksmen. You’ll find our barracks now occupied by them and the survivors from our last… adventure, who have tiered up thanks to the hell you put them through. After these expenditures, our credit balance is at 20,230.”
As he spoke, Kaiden pulled up a menu detailing the specifics of their ship. Sure enough, it was fully repaired. And under ‘boarding crew’ it now listed their new hires and veteran survivors.
Boarding Crew (6 human marines), Journeyman, tier 4
Boarding Crew (14 turen marksmen), Journeyman, tier 3
There was more specific information available on the units themselves, but Kaiden wasn’t interested in that at the moment. For the time being, it was just important they had boarding crew.
“Very good, Acton,” Zelda said. “Let’s put those remaining credits to use, huh? I was perusing upgrade options for the ship. I saw there’s a more efficient shield system we could pick up. The Mark 5 All-Stops, I believe.”
“Very good, Captain.”
“And there was some turen hull armor in stock, I noticed. Let’s refit our hull with it.” She looked at Kaiden and Titus. “It’ll give the ship a ten percent armor increase while slimming down our profile, reducing the range at which we can be spotted on radar.”
When has she had time to go through all of that? Kaiden shook his head, amazed as usual at her foresight.
“Absolutely,” Kaiden said looking at Zelda, then to the first mate. “Let’s do all of that.”
“Most assuredly, sir. Though that will deplete our account almost entirely.”
“About that,” Thorne said, then shrugged. “I’ve a fair few credits lying around. Easy to stockpile when the Corps was paying for everything,” she said with a sheepish grin.
“How much?” Zelda asked.
“It’s not a limitless amount,” Thorne said bluntly. “But it’s enough to help us kit out our army, once we have one. Or buy some last-minute upgrades for the ship, once we know better what it’ll need.”
“Fair enough,” Zelda said.
Good to know we’ll have some additional funds to fall back on should we need it, Kaiden thought.
“Purchase those upgrades, Acton,” Zelda said.
“Very well, Captain,” Acton said, then returned to the cockpit. As he did, a message appeared in Kaiden’s vision.
“Guys, I have good news,” he said, smiling as he read the text.
Friend request to Recruz: sent.
Status: accepted.
Chapter Twelve
“Yo, what’s up?” Recruz’s voice came through the call as the video clicked on and an image resolved from a blurry picture into something more coherent. A projection of Recruz’s head, the tops of his shoulders, and a bit of background hung in the air in front of Kaiden.
“Hey there, uh, Recruz. This is Kaiden,” he said, trying not to act nervous and failing spectacularly.
“He knows who you are. The magical technology of caller ID exists in Nova, believe it or not,” Zelda whispered sharply.
“I know, I know,” Kaiden said, shooing her away then turning back to the video call. Recruz stared back at him, seemingly unimpressed. He wore a helmet with a tinted glass front that made it difficult to make out his exact features. In the background, it looked to be chaos. At least a dozen or so figures were duking it out in a battle, abilities and explosions firing off left and right.
Recruz didn’t even wince as steaming soil and a few pieces of what might have once been a voidspawn rained down on top of him.
“Hey, uh, so. It looks like you’re busy. I just wanted to call and see if we could maybe, uh, set up a meeting with…” Kaiden hesitated. Really should have thought this out more. God, this is going to sound stupid. “With the leader of Maximus?”
Recruz must have hit a setting in his helmet as the glass front de-tinted, revealing his face. It was laughing, deep and long. He shook his head and caught his breath.
“Hey man, good one.” He glanced over his shoulder, then ducked as another player flew through the air just past him. He turned back to the video call.
“Look, Kaiden. If you want to join Maximus, that’s cool. I don’t need to give you
