“Gotta stay focused,” Zelda said. She was being diplomatic, he knew. Likely she was more aggravated than she was letting on. He knew how important it was that they keep leveling. But there were limits to how long one could focus. And besides, Odditor’s stream had been a rush.
I see why people like it.
“That was a close one,” Titus said, opening a private comm channel with Kaiden. A moment later he added Thorne to it too. “You guys saw that, right? She almost made it!”
“That burrowing grachnid at the end was kind of a dirty trick,” Thorne said. She paused. “But it was pretty cool, too.”
Kaiden was only half listening, though. He’d pulled up his character sheet and assigned his new stat points to dexterity.
Character
Name:
Kaiden
Race:
Human
Level:
37
Class:
Enhanced Warden
Attributes
Strength:
52 (+2)
Intelligence:
46
Endurance:
52
Perception:
46
Dexterity:
132 (+2)
Unassigned:
0
Abilities
Kickback
Shield Bash
Hammer Toss
Lightspeed
Improved Enhanced Senses
Riposte
Flash Bang
Improved Blur
Onslaught
Enfeebling Strike
Slayer (passive)
Hamstring
Matter Shift
Perks
Turen Tinkering
Stat points assigned, his full attention could now be turned to the new ability he’d unlocked.
Ooh buddy, this looks fun.
Ability: Matter Shift
You glow with infused charge for one second, then teleport from your current location to another within 20 feet.
Cast time: 1 second.
Cost: 40 charge.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
“Check this out, guys,” Kaiden said to everyone as he screencapped the ability and sent it to them. “Forty charge is a lot to use, but this is basically a free flank. Need me behind an enemy healer? No problem. As long as I have forty charge and one second of time, it’s done.”
“That could be very tactical when used correctly,” Zelda said, no doubt reading through the ability. “But we have to make sure you don’t overcommit and get cut off.”
“Eh, I’ll be fine. Combine this with Lightspeed or Kickback and no one’s going to be able to keep up with me.”
“I learned that one the hard way,” Thorne chimed in.
Oh, true that. Kaiden thought back to when he’d squared off with her in the hangar of the Anakoni.
“It’s all good,” Thorne said with a laugh. “Considering how things have shaken out, it’s a darn good thing you kicked my ass then.”
Kaiden couldn’t hold back a triumphant smile. He was glad he was in his turret and not face to face with her. He didn’t want to gloat, but he had outplayed her that day.
The Veritas II shook as the pilot kicked the engines back up to full speed. The ship they’d crippled disappeared behind them. In theory, the security force that had assigned the quest to them was supposed to come and board it, then retake the vessel. Whether or not the game actually played that out, Kaiden wasn’t sure. The ship was just as likely to despawn once they were out of range. He’d have liked to hang around to find out, but while they were grinding as much as possible, they were still doing their best to stay on course toward NC451. Had to be close by now, actually.
He was distracted as several screenshots popped up in his vision: everyone else's abilities.
“Check that,” Titus said through comms. “Nothing flashy, but it’s a solid upgrade.”
Ability: Improved Volt Field (passive, replaces Volt Field)
Send a current across your armor, causing 50% of base damage as electrical damage to all melee attackers.
Cost: 40% of total shield capacity. This ability is passive when activated and is toggled on and off.
Nice! The unimproved Volt Field had dealt thirty percent base damage at the cost of thirty percent of shield capacity. The improved version dealt twenty percent more damage for only ten percent more of shield capacity.
Zelda’s new ability was next. Thankfully they all had pretty much the same amount of experience so leveling happened at around the same time. Thorne was on a completely different track, though. Judging from the lack of a screenshot, Kaiden figured she hadn’t unlocked anything in their grinding so far. She had to be due soon, though.
He turned his attention to Zelda’s screenshot.
Ability: Improved Atmospheric Charge (replaces Atmospheric Charge)
Allows you access to an alternate source of charge, drawing energy from your surroundings at a rate of 7 charge every 1 second in combat.
“I’ve been a bit starved on charge lately,” she said. “Shield Linking with Titus has helped, but as we’ve faced stronger opponents I’ve needed to really unload attack after attack on them. Especially considering I’m the only respectable DPS in this group,” she said, a taunting note to her voice.
“Hey now,” Thorne fired back. “I have a very big hammer that has something to say about that.”
“Pshh. That hammer isn’t gonna help you if you can’t get close enough to hit me.”
“Alright, alright,” Titus said. “We’re preparing to storm Warden HQ, you know. There’ll be plenty of enemies for both of you.”
“We’ll see who takes more down,” Thorne said and from the confidence in her voice Kaiden could envision the smirk on her face.
“Captains,” Acton’s voice cut in. “If you’re quite done, we’ve arrived.”
Chapter Twenty
“This is privately owned space. Access is restricted without special permission. Depart the area or you will be fired upon,” a robotic voice said as Kaiden arrived at the cockpit. His turret was the forwardmost on the ship so he had a shorter walk than everyone else.
Looking out of the windshield, Kaiden could see the moon NC451 below them. From their current altitude it looked to be covered entirely in ocean, a deep, green-blue sea that covered all visible parts of the planetoid.
“This is privately owned space. Access is restricted without special permission. Depart the area or you will be fired upon.” The message played again.
“Their orbital turrets just came online, Captain,” Acton said. “We might not want to push our luck here.”
We’re not getting turned away again. Not after that mess on Kyraxis.
“Put me on,” Kaiden said. A moment later a message appeared in his vision, confirming he was broadcasting down to the surface. “This is Kaiden, captain of the…” He paused. “SS Andronicus. We have information for Odditor. Information he’ll want to hear.”
Silence followed
