Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Once again, Jerik was forced to reflect on just how much effort it took to maintain a platoon. Organizing close to thirty different people was its own kind of headache, particularly for someone who’d never viewed himself as any kind of leader. He had the mental faculties, he was convinced, but the actual thing, managing it all, was a unique kind of headache. Most taxing of all was, as he soon discovered, planning a raid.

The time was right. A few more expeditions outside of the walls of Zenken had seen his soldiers gain the requisite experience, improve their gear, and even further sharpen their combat skills. They’d killed two or three other legendary beasts outside of the Griffon, and they tackled every challenge that Jerik and Menora had thrown at them. Naturally, this led to their general confidence beginning to rise rapidly.

Even during their assigned rest times, Jerik would occasionally catch one of the platoon members doing training on their own, either running through the obstacle course a few times a day, or fighting each other in simulated battles. One day, Jerik had even woke to find the entire platoon missing save for Morgan. She’d told him that the platoon had set out early in the day for an impromptu training mission. Mission was putting it lightly, he thought, when he’d found them. It was nothing more than a mock-war with training rounds.

Still, he hardly recognized them. In less than two months, they’d been transformed from average run-of-the-mill soldiers to near-elites. He tested them again, individually, putting them through an obstacle course of his own design. They had no way of knowing what the course would contain, but each one came through with acceptable time. Some of them even soared above his expectations, like Nicholas and Jack.

Speaking of Nicholas, he thought, it was nearly time to go to his workshop. Nicholas had sent him a message just under an hour ago, asking him to meet in the workshop after the lunch hour. There were no details in the message, just the young engineer excitedly saying the he had a great surprise. Jerik thought it might have something to do with the Tek suits. At least, he hoped so. They’d come in handy for the raid they were going to take on soon.

Jerik’s feet scuffed quietly as he wound his way through the long tunnels of their base compound, the sound echoing on the stone walls. Nicholas had claimed about half of the cellar in the basement as his workshop. It had a direct air channel to the surface for his forge, and he had room for a wide variety of tables. As Jerik reached the door to the room and pushed it open, he could instantly make out Nicholas at one such table. He was wearing an odd set of goggles and hunched over his current project. Some kind of chip, Jerik saw.

“Just a second,” Nicholas said tersely, not even looking up to see who’d entered. “I’m very focused, and I can’t afford to mess this one up. I don’t have any more electro-fluid.”

Jerik leaned against the wall immediately adjacent to the door and watched. The chip that Nicholas was working on was tiny, almost an inch across. But the tool he held was tracing golden lines with the thickness of a hair. There had to be hundreds of them spiderwebbing across the face of the chip. Despite how small it was, it was already glowing brightly. That was probably why he had the goggles, he thought.

“There!” Nicholas said, leaning back and letting out a satisfied sigh. He finally looked up. “Oh! Hey boss.”

“You sound surprised to find me on time,” Jerik said, raising an eyebrow. He inclined his head towards the chip. “What’s that for?”

“My suit.”

“What does it do?”

“Well,” Nicholas said slowly, gingerly picking up the chip and crossing over to the bench by his forge, “If I did it right, it should function as a shield.”

Jerik obviously didn’t know much about the crafting side of everything in Menora, but he did know that items that generated a shield generally didn’t have to be so complex. He pointed this out, and Nicholas let out a chuckle. “Don’t worry, it’s worth it. I had to put a lot of functions into this chip. We’ll see if I’m right soon enough.”

He slid the chip into a reader on the small terminal he’d set up on the table. The computer immediately flared to life, its bright blue light illuminating his face. He squinted against the sudden blare, and quickly went to work on the keyboard. He looked intensely focused as he read through something, but a smile was slowly forming on his face. As Jerik watched, it widened into a broad grin of exultation.

“Yes!” He cried, thumping his fist into the table. It jostled the readers, and he immediately looked nervous. “Oops. Well, it definitely works. Just have to load these precepts…”

Jerik crossed the room to watch over the young man’s shoulder. The process made no sense to him whatsoever. All he could see was Nicholas typing out long strings of words and numbers, his fingers a blur. After a few minutes of silent work, the screen flashed to black, then booted up once again, showing a progress bar. It quickly slid from zero percent to one hundred, then a [Success] message blinked. After this, the screen went dark once again, and stayed that way.

“Fingers crossed.” Nicholas took the chip out of the reader, then carried it over to the opposite corner of the room. For the first time, Jerik noticed the odd shape of what looked like something covered in cloth. Nicholas turned to look at him, still grinning widely. “Turn around. It’s a surprise.”

After a few seconds of bewildered silence, Jerik turned to face the forge. He could hear the sound of the cloth cover being removed, then a whirring sound, presumably some kind of small drill or screwdriver. Then silence for a few seconds. Finally, there came the sound of buckles being snapped closed, and finally, a zipper. Jerik was just wondering how long he’d have to wait when he heard Nicholas’ voice, albeit… different. It was as though it were muffled by a window.

“Turn around.”

He turned, and felt his jaw drop. Nicholas had hurriedly put on what looked like a suit of plastic armor. Even as he watched, the pieces were moving slightly, either clicking into place, jutting out, or actually moving. It was a very lean design, like Nicolas’ actual body, with broad shoulders and tapered, narrow hips. The dominant colors seemed to be red and silver, with dyed plates of metal on the shins, thighs, torso, forearms, and shoulders.

“Nice,” Jerik commented, his brain too stunned to think of much else. “I didn’t think you could make one so quickly.”

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“It was a challenge,” Nicholas admitted, tapping the side of his helmet. The white eyes faded, and the entire thing opened like a mouth, revealing his actual face. To his surprise, it faded almost completely, settling into what looked like a thick necklace resting around his throat. “But I didn’t just make mine. Catch.”

He threw what looked like a small vest at Jerik, who caught it, feeling the light-weigh material. “It’s almost entirely Tek, so it’s a lot lighter than mine.”

Jerik didn’t waste any time in pulling the garment over his shirt. It fit snug over his shirt, but not so tight as to be uncomfortable. Somehow, Nicholas had gotten his measurements perfectly. It felt rather like wearing a bulletproof vest, he thought. He looked down at his torso now encased, and frowned thoughtfully. “It doesn’t look like much.”

Nicholas let out a laugh. “That’s not the entire suit. It’s just how you carry it. Sleek, right?”

Jerik gave a slow nod, not seeing where his friend was going with this. Nicholas stepped forward, the metal boots making much less noise than expected, and tapped on the center, right over his heart. At once, a bright white light appeared there, and the vest grew warm. It also immediately constricted to fit him skin-tight. Straps snaked out of the sides of the thick garment to wrap more securely across his shoulders, ribs, and even around his groin, making a harness of sorts.

“I have to mold each piece to you,” The young engineer explained. “It won’t take this long every time. Just this once, for the fitting.”

He flitted back to the table on which he’d been making the chip, and picked up a pair of gauntlets, then slid them onto Jerik’s arms. They were quickly followed by similar pieces for his forearms. Each of them were a dull grey in color, and felt no heavier than normal clothes. The left gauntlet had several slots in it, just as it had in the design Jerik had seen before. Finally, Nicholas handed him what looked like another bulletproof vest, but this had pauldrons of the same material jutting out from the sides in an exotic pattern.

“Put that on,” Nicholas advised, stepping back a few paces. “Then say ‘Link’.”

Jerik did as he suggested, shifting a little uncomfortably as the last piece was fit very tightly. “Link.”

At once, a pulse went through the circuitry that he only now noticed, behind each plate. The individual plates began shifting, changing shape to contour exactly to his limbs. The gauntlets shrank, as did the bracers, and expanded to cover his limbs properly. They all spread to connect to the torso, until, in a matter of seconds, he was covered to the neck by a thick suit. It felt like a wet suit, but the pattern of the armor plates remained on his forearms. His chest was an intricate weave of armor plates.

“Looks good,” Nicholas commented, studying the process keenly. “It’s entirely modular. Yours doesn’t have as many modes as mine, but I put a lot of computing power towards disguise and movement. You’ll fly fast. Plus, you have a lot of options for weaponry.”

He reached forward to grab Jerik’s left arm, tapping the metal plate there with a tek knife. At once, the weapon stuck to the suit. Positioned perfectly for him to grab it in an instant, he realized. Then he was handed a simple rifle, and told to sling it over his back like he would if it was carried by a strap. When he did, the weapon stuck to his back at once, held in place by some kind of electromagnet.

“The colors just basic right now. But tell me what you want, and I can spray it on later.”

“What am I suppose to do for a helmet?” Jerik asked. “Does it have one built-in?”

“It will,” Nicholas replied, grabbing one more thing from the table and holding it out. It was a pair of sunglasses, Jerik noticed. He looked at the young man with a deadpan expression. “Just put them on and say ‘Link’ again.”

Jerik did so. It was a little alarming to feel something growing across his face, covering it completely. He experienced a small thrill of nerves as, for a moment, he felt his air cut off, but then it passed, and his vision was filled with a bright display. It was still the same view, but now a screen had been laid over it. Nicholas gave him a small wave, and a small window appeared to his right, showing his basic public information.

“You’ve linked it to the feeds,” Jerik said. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“Oh, there’s plenty more to it than that,” Nicholas said, grinning. He touched the thick band of metal around his neck, and it instantly reformed into his helmet. A small text block in the corner of his vision said [Systems Operational. Ready for Use]. As if Nicholas knew what had just happened, he gestured towards the door.

“Ready to take it for a test drive?”

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