With the discovery I would need six, maybe even seven sparks to reach the next threshold for the Technician I was trying to decide what to focus on next when what I had been dreading, happened. I wasn't sure why, but the gangs in Glow Gate were stable, not like some that rise and fall within the month.
Maybe it was the abundance of resources, or maybe it was the Court's stabilising influence. Rumour had it that the Bosses were from higher in the hive and had moved down for reasons unknown. I didn't bother to listen to the rumours as each was more ridiculous than the last. The one I put the most credence in was, she moved down due to her daughter's mutations.
And even that I wasn't fully sure about. A sexy Amazonian space elf came to mind when I saw her, so the mutation was not a bad thing. Regardless, the Boss and the others she brought were more like a family gang, like how I imagine the Mafia are from my old life.
If that was the case, I doubted I would ever find out. Regardless, the Court was far less expansionist than most. Happy with what they had. Or that's the impression they gave off; I was not naive enough to think that they might not have ambitions behind the scenes.
But the most dangerous time for anyone in a settlement was gang warfare. Well, that wasn't strictly true. A plague, death cult, mutant horde, were worse. So now thinking about it, gang violence was pretty low on the scale, but it was by far the most common.
Anyway, I was browsing through the commercia, if you could even call it that. The merchants called it that, but to me it was just a small market, not much more. I was looking for any good deals now that the Tidefall had finished. With it done, many people were trying to trade off goods before they moved on, so there were likely to be some good deals out there.
I focused on damaged components or items that I might be able to fix up.
I had just managed to get an amazing find, to the point I checked it hadn't been tampered with, as I couldn't see a reason for selling it otherwise. It was a bit battered and would need some TLC, but even my cursory look over it showed me why it wasn't working and was an easy fix.
My spark given knowledge called it a neural transductor. I wouldn't be able to use some of the more advanced functions as that required a mind link to function, but I could still manually control it. It was a black box about 30cm by 30cm and far heavier than it looked. Once activated, it unfolded into a series of mechanical arms that could make incredibly precise movements. In the scale of nanometres and had many of the common tools and even some of the not-so-common. From wrenches and screw drivers to more technical things like multimeters and scanners to see more information on whatever I was working on.
Best of all, it would give me some protection when working on more exotic or toxic items, because even with the googles and gloves I had, I didn't trust them to protect me.
I was striding home, moving with a purpose, when I saw a disturbance in the traffic flow. I had quickly learned that when moving you never want to look in a hurry, it makes people curious about what you are up to.
Maybe you had something worth stealing?
As I got closer, I could see people shifting around a group of 7 hivers. Clearly gang members, all with The Midnight Courts colours and symbols. You could always tell how important a ganger was, or in fact anyone really, with what they wore.
It wasn't foolproof, but it was a solid start. Low-level gangers had simple black and red armbands while higher-ups had far more intricate symbols, tattoos and armour. These gangers were obviously well off with full shiny black armour over the important areas, and the polarons had the court symbol, an eye with a spike coming from the bottom eyelid, all painted in red.
Some had cloaks, others hoods covering their faces. They were as diverse as their clothes, some with heavy augments from augmetic eyes to full arm replacements. One was a brute of a man, easily standing at 7ft tall and with a hard, rocky texture to his skin, marking him as a mutant or abhuman.
Which was basically an accepted human mutant. How this was decided, I hoped to never find out.
In the centre of this group, clearly guarded, was a man I recognised. You would be hard pressed to find someone on this side of Glow Gate who didn't know him, Lanto, the right-hand man of Selina, the leader of the Midnight Courts and if the rumour were true, her lover.
He was a hard-looking man, with black but greying hair and well maintained beard. Clearly a strong body and at 6 feet an intimidating sight. But to me, the most disconcerting part was how he carried himself.
I could clearly see the training in the way he moved, so maybe the rumours were true and he was a deserter from the Planetary Defence Force.
He was the best equipped of them all, with well-made armour that covered most of him. Although weirdly unprotective. I would have expected him to wear the most protective armour he could. A las-rifle slung over one shoulder, and I could even make out what I thought was a plasma pistol on his hip, which was incredibly rare. So much so, I only knew what it was from my spark-given knowledge.
But they weren't what drew my attention. A handful of people were moving toward Lanto with a purpose in their step. Apart from moving against the flow of people, I couldn't tell you why my intuition was screaming that they meant trouble, and it was clear where they were heading. Not in words at least, it was just the feeling that they were bad news.
I couldn't spot any gang colours on them, but that didn't mean much. They could be new or moving into the area for any number of reasons. Without thinking, I loosened my pistol from its holster so I could be drawn at a moment's notice.
The group spread out, with some moving ahead of the others.
Without thinking about it, I moved up a broken set of stairs at the side of the street to get some elevation and a clear line of sight. By now, Lanto had spotted them and nudged his guards. But it was too late, with a wordless cry, the gangers threw themselves forward, weapons drawn.
Those at the back drew autoguns, one even drew a heavy stubber, which was a rare weapon to find down here. Picture a heavy machine gun, and then double it, and you would get that monster. Those at the front mostly drew blades, shivs or knives, but 2 drew shotguns from their long jackets.
Now that I thought about it, maybe that was what set my eldritch given senses off. Down here in the hive and without proper ventilation, it was incredibly hot, where most people wore next to nothing, except armour.
I had a split-second decision whether I wanted to get involved, which came back as a yes. A high-ranking gang member dying could only spell disaster for the gang and therefore me. Gun out, I sighted it on the first ganger at the back, the one with the heavy stubber. I took a breath, released it and pulled the trigger.
My laspistol hissed, kicking back slightly as the superheated bolt of kinetic energy left the barrel, followed by a cracking sound as it ionised the air around it. My shot was drowned out by the screams and gunfire; the heavy stubbers' roar was deafening in the narrow street.
I didn't watch as my first shot struck the man in the heart, tearing through his weak armour and dropping him instantly. I was already sighted on the next. A breath, a caress of the trigger and the next was dropped.
Then the next and the next. The fifth must have sensed something wrong; maybe it was his compatriots not firing, but he was just starting to turn around when my fifth shot hit him high in the chest.
I glanced at the melee around Lanto; several of the court members had fallen, but the two shotguns were dealt with and as the surprise wore off the ambushers were quickly overwhelmed.
Realising I stood in full view of everyone, I started to slink down, hopefully avoiding notice when Lanto's voice cut through the noise. "You come here." Looking back, I could see him clearly pointing at me. For a moment, I was tempted to ignore it and slink away anyway, but he had seen my face and I was relatively well known by now.
Reluctantly, I moved towards him and his guards, forcing myself to remain calm; they were even more intimidating closer up. I had just helped them, but even knowing that, I could not help but want to slip into the shadows where I preferred.
As I neared the ring of guards standing around Lanto, they parted for me. The gang leader broke off his conversation with one of his men and turned his full attention to me. I could see his piercing eyes dissecting me.
"Good shooting. What's your name?"
"Aleric."
"Thanks for the assist. Come by the HQ in, actually, do you have a chrono?" He paused as I nodded, "Good, then come to the HQ in 3 hours. Ask for me at the door, they'll let you in."
Nodding again, I started to slip away, very much happy to leave. I had barely turned when he called out again. "Wait," turning back, I saw him reach down to rip off a pistol which looked very similar to the Colt from my past memories. My spark given memories called it a stubgun but I knew it as a slugger. It and the other slug-throwing guns were the most common guns seen in the undercity.
Not that it was surprising. It was a simple weapon to fabricate, even by subpar manufactorums and the bullets were easy to come by. It was also mechanical, so easier to maintain. Which was a must since many of them were poorly made or maintained, making them unreliable and inaccurate.
"To the victors go the spoils." he said, passing me the gun as well as several clips. "Off you go." He dismissed me with a tilt of his head.
Thanking him, I slipped away, breaking into a fast walk when I was out of sight, and headed home, barely doing my usual precautions before shutting myself in, letting out a long sigh of relief. Sitting there, I could feel my body wanting to panic, but my mind was dead calm, like you would expect of someone who had been through gunfights hundreds of times in the past.
It was the first time I'd felt any cognitive dissonance and I did not enjoy it. Would not recommend. I was also beating myself up for getting involved. I still thought it was the best choice, and hopefully this was my in to the gang and their protection. But I couldn't help but doubt my choice. Once I could feel both my mind and body settle and sync up again, I turned to my prizes.
I placed the neural transductor in the corner, ready to be tinkered with. Next, I placed my new gun aside. I wanted to work on it, but something far more important was on my mind. Once the battle concluded, a burst of reddish flame flashed in my mind. I had hit another milestone. Brighter than my regular ones, but not nearly as bright as the one I received at ten fragments. I prodded it and quickly learned that it was for taking an active part in a large shootout.
They also had an inclination. Today I learned. This one, unsurprisingly, was focused towards combat. I could use it for other things, but it was far less effective. Without thinking too deeply, I already knew where it was going and slotted it into my soldier fragment.
As with all of them, I guided it, but let it spread out broader than some, as I wanted this one to cover many different aspects of combat. I made sure it was more focused on the personal combat and safety than the team tactics. Still, there was a little of that in there as well.
As the spark took effect, I barely had time to see the fragment's name change from soldier to warrior before the wave of knowledge knocked me out cold, fully this time rather than the semi-consciousness I'd experienced before.