That should do it, Selina." I said, closing the archeotech up and stepping back from my neural transductor. We were locked in my workshop, her usual bodyguards outside and Snuffles in the corner. But apart from that, we were alone. Picking up the small ring, I toss it over to her. "Give it a try. It should be working now."
Her eyes lit up as she slipped it on and then held up her hand, clenching it in the activation sequence. The silver ring flared, the large gem on top burning brightly, but thankfully didn't fire. It fired an incredibly potent plasma round and would have vaporised most items in my workshop.
Deactivating it, the glow faded until it looked like any other well-crafted ring. She ran it several more times, ensuring it was smooth. Which I understood; if you were going to trust your life to something, you wanted to know it would work.
She was just lucky it was something I could fix; the weapon itself was far beyond my skills. Most of my knowledge was of machines, like those found in labs or factories. Less about weapons, I had enough to carry me over so that I was fine for all but the most complicated weapons, which the digital weapons most certainly were. It revolved exclusively around miniaturisation, so I needed to strain myself using my neural transductor to make the smallest of movements to make the replacements.
Lucky for me, it was the circuitry and fuse, so it was relatively easy for me to fix. Just print a few replacements with the fab, each the size of a grain of sand and then slot them in. Easy. Not.
What gave me more grief was recharging the thing. The batteries had been drained over the millennia, and the process to recharge them was needlessly complicated. But I'd managed. Enough that it was at maximum charge (two shots). Two powerful plasma shots that I wasn't confident even my armour could stop.
She'd picked it up from a treasure seeker who'd made it out of the same vault where I found my chip. That and some data drives, which he sold to a tech priest or something. Either way, by the time he was done, he was a proper success story, with enough credits to live in the spire pampering himself for the rest of his life.
Granted, only the low spire, with the poorer merchants and mid-to-high level administrators of the hive, but it was better than most anywhere else. You had a view of the sky for one.
"Thank you Aleric." She said when she had finished testing it. "Can you recharge it?"
"No problem. Yes, it won't be quick though, and don't use it too often; it is surprisingly finicky."
"But I can test a few shots at the range?"
"Yeah sure, when you have emptied it, bring it to me and I can recharge it."
She gave me a warm smile, but it came out more scary than anything else as she said, "Remember, not a word."
"As always, it will stay between us."
It was obvious why she wanted it kept between us, not even her guards to know. It was her ace in the hole. That and digital weapons were rare beyond measure. She didn't have a chance to get one normally, and it was only because it was found here that she got it. It was likely the only one of a few I would see in my life.
Well, under normal circumstances. I planned to make some one day. That and shields.
I was still working on the shield within the sword handle. A powerful refractor shield. I was able to copy it now that the fab was up and running, but I'd been slightly overconfident when I thought I would be able to copy it.
And by 'slightly' I meant very overconfident.
Progress had been slow, with one problem after another. Things I didn't even know to check for. Still, each try was getting better and better, with my most recent prototype a success.
Very successful actually, able to take a surprising amount of punishment, be that several shots even from my monster or explosives. The only slight disadvantage of it was its size, coming in at twice my height and easily three times my weight—it wasn't the most portable thing in the world.
If it wouldn't draw so much attention, I would give it to the gang and may still do so. Maybe install one at the HQ and the Fortress or something. I did run into a bit of 'lost in translation', which almost got me into trouble. From my fragments, I knew the shield as a refractor shield. But having access to so much more information, I knew it wasn't what the Imperium called them.
They were similar but several cuts above. The ones I knew, like the sword, were ubiquitous across the Federation, throwing up multiple interlocking and interweaving energy fields that gave a massive amount of protection.
This shield would absorb the damage of every kind, first cushioning the blow, then dispersing the energy through the entire shield, shedding as much energy as possible. Whatever was left went into the capacity bank, which, once full, would fail, shedding the energy quickly and recharging, ready to be used again.
The interweaving shields meant that as one fell, another one was always ready to take its place. It was also incredibly efficient; with the interweaving energy fields, the most effective kind blocked it.
Far better than the Imperium's refractor shields, which were unreliable, weaker, and worse in pretty much every way that counted.
Though I was sure most of that unreliability came from poor maintenance.
At the door, she reached for the control panel before pausing. "There's a meeting in four hours, in the normal room. I want you to come along."
Surprised, I asked, "Okay. Anything I need to know for it?"
"Hmm, no just come."
"Got it."
"Thanks again Aleric." Selina said before heading out, her guards and two mastiffs fell in around her. I took a moment to admire them, some of my best with only Snuffles above them. And that was only because of the relics I got from the hardcase cyber mastiff. Otherwise, they were absolute units of muscle and metal. Only a handful of people could command them: only myself, Selina obviously and then Lanto, Zardelle and her guards. That was it.
I stared after her, lost in thought, only disturbed when a whine and a cold metal nose pressed against my hand. Jumping, I laughed and reached down to stroke him. "There's a good boy. Is it food time?"
"Woof." Snuffle barked, ears pricked, tail wagging, bouncing up onto his back paws.
"I think it must be." I said in a baby voice.
I put out his dinner, a bone from a large beast, and then set about clearing up my workspace. Ideas and thoughts swirled through my mind, thinking over what I'd learnt from the weapon and how I could use it going forward.
Mostly around the principle of miniaturisation, not so much the plasma weapon. I'd need to look into how they were made, but it would require me to create a whole workshop of new machines. Something I wasn't really keen on doing.
Snuffles fed and distracted by his toys, I moved over to the cogitator, sitting down to my usual hour of research. Something I'd started doing when we gained access to the various databases, particularly the nobles. I was surprised by how much information they had access to, but then maybe I shouldn't be. I tried to cross-check as much of it as possible and take things with a pinch of salt. Especially those that claimed one family was better than the other, which popped up everywhere.
I still kept well clear from the Mechanicus systems, like the servitors, as well as something I had come to call the Layer. No idea what others called it.
It was hard to describe.
It was like there was a layer on top of everything, connected to all the networks within the hive, pulling all the data into a kind of sea. I had no way to access it, seemingly needing some codes or even technology to even interact with it.
I had to go through the normal networks or databases if I wanted something, unlike the layer, in which you could seemingly pull data from anywhere. How it actually worked in practice, I had no idea and the way it looked, or maybe it was the way the data moved, was eerie—unnerving.
So I was happy to leave it well enough alone. I'd actually discovered it by accident, having not noticed it to start with. It was only when I was looking at some servitors that I realised they were connected to something and investigated.
I stayed a bit longer than usual, reading a fascinating report on the Schola Progenium—a school within the church to train orphans. Both fascinating and horrifying. The brutality and ruthlessness within it were sadly unsurprising and what I had come to expect from the Imperium. Fail badly enough, and they could be converted into a servitor or dead.
I wasn't sure which outcome was worse.
More importantly, many of the applicants were of noble backgrounds. Either fallen houses or just those no longer wanted, or members that had become an embarrassment to their house.
That done, I was tempted to skip meditation for the day, but I forced myself to sit on a rug made specially for that purpose. I had painstakingly woven the scripture into it, double and triple checking it to make sure it was 100% right. The wards, if that was what they were, were pulled from my fragment, helping me fall deeper and faster into my meditations as well as make advancements faster.
If they were actually active, I wasn't sure, not having a way to test them. But I thought they were, though maybe that was just the placebo effect. Either way, I found it calming so settled into it quickly, spending several hours slowly strengthening my mind, soul and their connection and ownership of the body.
A distant alarm broke my focus.
Sighing, I stood and started locking up—it was time for the meeting. With Snuffles in tow, I nodded at the few guards I met before being let in. I was the first in, so sat down in one of the corners and waited. It wasn't long before the door opened and Selina and Lanto walked in.
Standing, I clasped arms with Lanto and greeted Selina. I hugged Zardelle when she came in and then Peggi as well. Not something I'd expected, but we had become quite close with all the work we did together.
The final few, Orleth and Rawna, filed in chatting and laughing before Selina cleared her throat and started the meeting. Even then, the atmosphere was much more relaxed than in normal meetings.
"We've been aggressively pushing for certain territories and recruiting. Given all that, I think it's time we started to reorganise."
"Already?" Zardelle asked, concerned.
"Yes. Not quickly, but I want it done while we have some calm.
"Makes sense. What did you have in mind?" Peggi asked.
"Firstly, we'll be expanding our recognised roles. For example, Peggi, I want you to formalise Larz's role in counterintelligence. With all the fresh blood in the gang, I want to make sure we don't let in too many rats. Also, keep an eye on the prominent figures too. Not here, all those in the room are above reproach and have proven themselves."
I felt a glow of pride to be included in that, and saw as I looked around the room, I wasn't the only one.
"As you are aware, several territory leaders have tried to make backroom deals. We cannot allow this. Aleric has dealt with them, but we need to stay vigilant. I also want to add another role. Both you and Aleric can work out how you want this done, but we can speak more about that later. Lanto?"
"Right, I have thought long and hard about this. The changes are pretty straightforward and obvious. Right now, we are pretty decentralised, with a very loose command structure. But with the coming war and the vast numbers of fighters we will have, this can't continue. So, we'll restructure to be closer to the PDF, as that is what I know."
He then proceeded to give a detailed breakdown of how he envisioned it. Laying it all out there. Which, as he said, was very close to a standing army. With recruits and soldiers grouped into 10-to-100-man teams and led by a sergeant and a captain.
They'd handle the most thankless jobs, like guarding and holding defensive fortifications. From our most recent conflicts, we had a pretty good ratio of soldiers to recruits in these squads. Then there would be more specialised units and teams. Like teams specialised in fortifications and so on.
"What about our elites?" I asked, already seeing an issue with his plan. They were all incredibly prestigious, both inside and outside the gang. Removing them was not going to sit well with people. Hell, a few years ago I would have been livid if it had happened to me.
"Good question." Lanto said, nodding his head at me. "They'll stay the same. The specialised units, like the Red Corsairs or our scouts, will have their own structure. On your encouragement Aleric, Adira will be the overall commander of all scouting teams, and Zardelle will do the same for all the Elite squads."
We talked for hours, going through each division, breaking down how they'd work, change and any issues or concerns there might be.
Most didn't really change; like Peggi, they were just formalising their structure, but some, like Rawna, had larger shifts, who suddenly had command of an army whose sole purpose was to protect our trading and smuggling operations. That would require significant changes to make it work smoothly.
Finally, it came to me.
"Aleric." Selina said. "As we have discussed, you are getting a fair amount of new work across multiple divisions—from your work with Lanto, better equipping our soldiers. To Peggi and your support in her operations."
"It is time to formalise this and give you a new position as our Fixer. This won't change what you do on the day-to-day, but it will give you the formal title for what you have been doing for the last few years."
Grinning, I thanked her before asking more about the role to make sure I understood it fully.
I had.
I was officially part of the inner circle and at the very top of the gang. Years of work and effort, and I had made it. Now I just needed to keep it.
---
Over the rumble of the engines of the truck, the vox crackles to life, and Zardelle's voice came through. 'We're almost at the target. Ready up.'
All around me, the rest of the team did their last-minute checks on their weapons. I pulled my pistol from its holster and gave it one last look over before activating my helmet. The screen flickered to life, displaying new information like temperature and humidity as well as evening out the darkness so I could see everything clearly.
With a flick of my mind, I banished most of it as I didn't need it at the moment. The majority of it was designed to help me aim at long ranges, highlighting what my gun was pointed at, variables I might need to consider and so on.
Glancing over to the far side, I could see my Monster clamped to the wall. I wouldn't be needing it this time. Ever since I'd finished off my new carapace armour, I'd been feeling much more confident.
I still wasn't foolish enough to volunteer for close-quarters missions, but in instances like this where my overwatch would be almost pointless, I was more than happy to get involved.
I still needed to find or make the correct cable to attach my pistol to my impulse unit. With my Monster I had not seen the need, but that had been changing recently. The pistol itself had a wireless connector, but I would need to put in a lot of work to make my MIU have one. With my fab, it was within reach, but I wasn't sure it was worth the investment quite yet.
The MIU itself had been entirely rebuilt and was now as I'd first envisioned it. Surgically inserted deep within my skull, fully shielded, and the old, ugly metal connection removed.
The truck accelerated, the rumbling of the engine rising in pitch. A thump came from outside as we blasted through the barricade and hurtled into the compound of the small-time gang. We were told the name of the gang, but I didn't bother remembering it. After today, it would only be a footnote.
The truck's brakes were slammed on, and before it had come to a stop, the back hatch was dropped. We piled out with practised ease and formed up in several groups and charged to our entry points.
Already, mine and Snuffles' auspex packages pinged, mapping the structure and the environment around me, giving me the floor plan of the building we were breaching, with a small 3D representation appearing on my display.
In places like this, it worked perfectly, but in other areas, like if there was too much radiation, it could interfere with the sensors, making the building plan unreliable, so it could never be fully trusted. But it gave us an idea, which was enough.
With a thought, I synced the layout to Zardelle and Katra's displays. A new feature I'd had added to both mine and their helmets.
I lined up behind Katra as she slammed into the wall, back pressed against it, minimising our exposure to gunfire. Catiel, at the front of our group, lined up against the wall we were breaching, pulled out a small shaped charge, and stuck it to the surface. Leaning away from it, he counted down over the speaker.
"3. 2. 1."
The explosion rocked the building, followed by two more as the other team breached.
A clean circular hole was melted through the metal and concrete walls. Without missing a beat and ignoring the glowing edges of the superheated concrete, Catiel stepped in, gun already barking as he cleared the room, the rest of the team close behind him.
I followed Katra, with Snuffles behind me. My gun swept through the room, checking corners and blind spots. Keeping Katra's back covered, just like I had been trained by Zardelle, Lanto and the leftover knowledge from my soldier fragments.
Room by room, corridor by corridor, we cleared the building. Few of them even had the chance to put up a fight, and those that did offered little resistance.
Within minutes, we had cleared the building, killing off most of the gang. As Katra called in 'clear' over the vox, Zardells and Brix sounded off as well. With the place clear, Zardelle said. 'Okay. You know the drill. Catiel, Katra place the charges, everyone else to the truck.'
Once I was back at the truck, I found a corner to keep watch as the rest piled in—staying as overwatch. But it wasn't needed. Within minutes, we were all in the truck, and it was roaring away back the way we had come. In the distance, we heard the deep, chesty thump as the charges detonated, collapsing the building.
Mission complete.
We'd done dozens of missions like it by this point, and the other units the same. Hitting the gangs around us hard, focusing on the smaller ones or those that were getting supplied. With a clear plan on securing our flanks.
And it was working.
The gangs that survived our attacks all turned inwards as they fought amongst themselves for control of the gang. The bigger gangs we hit had a similar problem, but even worse, as the gangs around them sensed their weakness and pounced on them.
Back at base, I decided not to put the paperwork off. Logging everything in the system and requesting new supplies. I was lucky it had been an easy mission, so we hadn't used much. That done, I moved over and grabbed Katra and Zardelle's equipment, making sure nothing was amiss. Something that had become a habit of mine. If I had the time, I would do the rest of the unit as well, but today I had other plans.
Checking my chrono, I headed for the gun range, Snuffles in tow. To meet the kid I had taken under my wing.
I say kid, he was the same age, if not older. But he felt younger, maybe that was my past life speaking or the knowledge fragments. Jereks had shone during the war, getting noticed by Lanto much like me. But his rise afterwards was far more conventional than my meteoric one.
Having proven his courage by sticking with Lanto, he'd earned his respect, so he spent much of the conflict with Lanto or other elite units. He had made steady progress up the ranks as a soldier and then a veteran. His steady hand and ruthlessness made him well respected in the gang, and his empathy and willingness to get stuck in, got him liked.
In light of the recent meeting and my supposed promotion. I still wasn't convinced it was. It seemed to me a lot more work for little gains. Snorting, I shook my head. If anyone heard me think that…
But in light of my promotion, Lantos's request to train the kid up made sense now.
I'd been training him off and on for years, mostly as a favour to Lanto. But his enthusiasm had slowly converted me as well. The last few months, this had increased in intensity until I was training him most days. The only times I didn't were when he was out on missions. I had already made a railgun similar to mine, which he was making good use of by all accounts.
I had also made his helmet, not quite as advanced as mine, but it still had all the essential features: advanced comms, zoom, night vision and so on. He also wore some of the rejects from my carapace armour, so the plating he had was some of the best in the gang. Combined with some of the flak Lanto got him, he was amongst the best equipped gangers. Maybe not up to the elite champions, but it wasn't far off.
Reaching the range, I saw him in the corner. Flagging him over, we made our way to the main targets, the furthest out and got set up. "Jareks. How'd the mission go?"
"Thumper. It went well."
I struggled not to roll my eyes as soon as I heard the nickname. If I ever found out who gave it to me, I'd strangle them. Whoever it was, it had spread with most gangers calling me it now. I was just thankful those who knew me didn't.
Merek had tried, but after a few unfortunate encounters with dog shit, he'd gotten the message and stopped. It felt cool the first few times I was called it, named after the sound of my Monster, but I quickly found it cringy.
I shot him an unimpressed glare. "Anything interesting?"
Smirking, knowing exactly what he was doing, he said. "Nothing to bring up. A small band of raiders and another monster swarm came from the Wastes, but otherwise it was all quiet on the Wall."
"Good." I was about to continue when I saw an old friend. Moving away, I said. "Get warmed up and start to practise on the 400m target. I will be back in a mo." Jogging over to the grizzled woman with glowing bionic eyes. "Adira!"
She turned, nodded to the man she was talking to, a soldier from her unit, if I wasn't mistaken and moved to greet me. "Aleric, come down from on high to greet us, lowly captains."
I snorted and clasped her arm. Ever since she'd led me during the push over the bridge, we had stayed in touch, not close but in touch. I even made some equipment for her—nothing groundbreaking, but still better than most.
She had put it to good use, making a bigger name for herself, part of the reason I had been able to push to get her the promotion. Getting allies and friends into important positions was never a bad thing.
"Hardly. How did Jereks do?" Ever since I had started to train him, he had been moved to the scouts team and, eventually, care of Lanto, ended up in Adira's elite squad.
"Good. Not quite as good an instinct as you, but I can't deny his skill. If I didn't know you were training him, I would think we had another prodigy on our hands."
Grinning, I said. "I can safely say he is not that. He just puts in a fuck ton of work."
"I know, I've seen him. He is lucky he has Lanto backing him with the number of rounds he goes through in a week. I had a look one time, and he goes through at least 200 rounds a week."
"Don't I know it. I had to hammer into his head that the rifles get wear and tear, and after 1000 to 2000 rounds, they start to lose accuracy. Now, with what he uses, that is likely in the 5000-plus range, but still not something he could ignore. He must come to me asking for a new barrel every couple of months."
"Crazy kid. But can't complain about the results. He must be amongst our best shooters. And those tricks you are teaching him are paying off. I didn't have to shout at him today, unlike many in the unit."
"Really? What happened?
"Oh. Just a swarm of cystmites"
"Another? They are awfully active, aren't they? Didn't you have one last week, or was this just the leftovers?"
"Yep. Certainly feels like it. I wouldn't have said so. They were too large of a swarm for that. Maybe there had been a new drug dumped from the Virelia?
"I haven't heard anything. But I will ask Peggi and get it checked out. Anything stand out about them?"
"Naa, same old, same old. Fast and relentless until we kill enough of them and their collective intelligence dies off. Although one odd thing was the spines along their back seemed really uniform. Like in geometric patterns."
"That isn't uncommon, is it? I thought a few breeds over the years had them?"
"Yeah, a swarm or two, but this is the fourth swarm this year that had them."
"Maybe they have killed the others off." I said, shrugging. "But I can raise it as well."
"Thanks. As you said. Probably nothing."
We chatted a little longer before she headed off to bed, and I returned to my concentrating student. I stayed back at first, watching him shoot.
It was smooth; I'd give him that. Everything looked natural and flowed as it should. If he kept that up even under pressure, he would do well. Although he should be after all this time.
I squinted to watch the targets more closely. The targets were far off, and I had been surprisingly reluctant to get any more bionics. I wasn't entirely sure why, maybe fear of losing myself or something like that. But I had not added any bionics, even when I was sure that with some work, I could make some worth adding.
But the longer I had been putting it off, the more it nagged at me, and I knew before too long I would have to give in and make some. To sell to the gang if nothing else. Most didn't have a choice, adding them out of necessity. Losing an arm or leg to machinery or beasts and needing it replaced, even if it was inferior to what was there before. They had no choice.
I blinked, refocusing, as Jereks hit another bullseye and nodded to myself. His aim was consistent, but the rhythm was off. He was trying to fire too quickly, too unevenly.
I watched a few more shots and was happy to see the micro-flinches had vanished, which had been a major problem for him. Especially when he first started using the new gun. Having watched enough, I then made my way over.
"Jereks, pause a second." I said when I neared. I could hear his breathing, not as steady or controlled as it should be; he had been picking up some bad habits, it would seem. Sitting next to him, I asked. "What's the rush?" Jereks glanced at me, fingers still resting near the trigger housing, his eyes twitched as he opened his mouth only to close it again. "You're landing the shots, impressively so in fact. But you are rushing the next. Not smoothly like I showed you…"
"I know. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
"So why the rush? You're not timing it with your breathing, and I am betting it is the same with your heart. So, what's on your mind?"
"It's the Wall."
"Go on."
"I feel useless when the swarm comes. I can pick them off, but there are always more."
Ah, it made sense now. Nodding understandingly, I paused, thinking how best to phrase it. "I understand and get your frustration. I feel the same. But unfortunately, that isn't our role. As a sniper, you should be looking for priority targets. A stronger monster, or one that has slipped through the line. Not competing on how many kills you can get. Your shots need to matter."
"I know, I know," he muttered. "But there are so many and…"
Clapping him on the shoulder, I said. "Then the answer is pretty obvious. Take an autogun with you."
He blinked at me, confused. "Huh?"
I chuckled. "Don't give me that look. When you're on the Wall, you are not out in the field, so take an autogun as well and use that when there's a swarm. But you are still a lookout, so I don't want to hear from Adira that you are getting tunnel vision. You need to keep a wide perspective. Understand?"
He nodded, grinning, already looking much happier.
"Good." I gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Then I'll leave the practice of that with you. Now get back to shooting as I taught you. A few more rounds and then we can go have a walk and practise finding good spots to shoot from."
"Thanks Aleric."
I was overall happy when we left the shooting range; it had been some good training. There was more for him to work on, but much of it now was just needed experience, and with the armour I gave him, he should live long enough to gain it.
We walked through the winding streets, alleyways and walkways, pointing out good places to set up and why, quizzing him on the answers and filling in any gaps. He was pretty good at it by this point, so I didn't have much to add for most of it. About halfway through the planned training, Jereks hesitantly asked. "Why don't you have a ritual when you shoot?"
"Ritual?" I asked, frowning slightly, a twinge of concern creeping in. Had rumours spread about my Belief fragment practice? That could be bad. Very bad.
"Yeah, a ritual. I was shooting with this old timer, and he had a whole ritual. He blessed his gun with holy oils from the priests and then muttered a prayer, 'For the Emperor. For the silence. For the void between screams. Whenever he takes his shot."
Looking at him sharply. "Who?"
He blinked, clearly caught off guard by my abruptness. "Uh, just one of the squad mates."
"Yes..." I said drawing it out leadingly.
Jereks hesitated, sensing something wrong but still answered. "Err, Hannak."
Nodding, I didn't recognise the name, and I made a mental note to check him out later.
"What's the problem?"
I didn't respond immediately, thinking carefully before I answered. I needed to decide how much to tell him.
"It's probably nothing." I said slowly. "If he is blessing the Emperor, then I am sure it will be fine. As for why I don't bless my gun and all that. Too inefficient really. I focus on results."
I kept talking it over, distracting him while I turned the ritual over in my mind. On the surface, it looked okay, but if he was part of a death cult, there could be problems ahead. In my research, I found that many, if not most, of the death cults worshipped the Emperor in some form. Often twisted and perverted yes, but at least in some form.
I knew of a few cults around the underhive, even using some of them for certain missions. But none should be in the gang, and if they were… that wasn't good. If they saw us in a good light, fine, and the ones I knew of did.
As long as we fell in line with their worldview. But if we didn't, they were fanatically hostile. It would also depend on how extreme they were. Some were okay, but others were clearly going too far, like eating alive babies to get in touch with the Origin and therefore their god. That was clearly asking for trouble.
So yes, I wanted them far from the gang.