Walking into the hangar, the gigantic form of Belial was standing proud against the opposing wall. Scaffolding had already been risen and placed around the mech. Small drones were climbing up and down over the mech, scaffolding, and the other crates arrayed around it. "Seems like the drones have pieced most of the armor back together. I found most of the schematics for it and its armaments within its databank we retrieved." Letting out a long whistle, "Wow, I'm still taken back by it," Staring at the mech, remembering all the different warframes he had seen in Caliber one, and in tournaments. "I've never seen anything like it, even by today's standard." "That isn't even the best part, Leo, I mean Leopold." Zero started walking towards the warframe. Quickly following, we walked behind the mech scaffolding. Sparks falling on us from the repair drones attaching plates above. The wide back section came into view. Down the center, a segmented spine along the back held reactive armor plating. A twin set of thrusters were embedded within the plating on either side of the spine right over the shoulder. "Now check this out," the reactive plating along the spine retreated revealing the inner frame, canisters, and radiators of some sort. The one thing I had never seen was the single glowing sphere housed within a copper and glass circuit. "That is the generator," Zero said. Pointing at the glowing core nestled behind the spine, "That's the generator?" "Yes. Prototype reactor made by 'Solomon Industries'. From the looks of it, they were on the way to showcase it," Zero said. "Is its output any good?" moving closer to inspect it. "From the initial readings, they would be beyond any reactor to date. This little guy has almost as much power as the fusion reactor aboard an Arbiter battleship." Zero said. Looking at Zero with astonishment, "That output can't be right." "It's remarkable. It's similar to the Valik's own reactors, much weaker but almost the same form factor. This base has five such reactors powering its functions." "We are getting off-topic," a projection of Belial and another mech which was roughly the same in size and weight floated above Zero's hand, "So much is different with the design. The frame is roughly the same, but the generator, thrusters, and armor are unique and are of high quality. Another unique feature is the frame, which doesn't rely on just motors, hydraulics, and some form of actuators to power its movement. They are bundles of synthetic muscles held within its armor, powering its mobility and strength, similar to an Arbiter's body," Zero finished. Taking a minute processing, "What about weapons? Did we find any?" "No, it seemed to use the standard handheld variety during the time of its manufacturing. The style is more rare but still produced. There are embedded weapons hidden inside the hands, but they're for close-range combat only. We don't have enough materials or resources to produce any ranged weapon at this moment from the databank we found, which held a small range of them," Zero said. Taking a step back and looking over it before we walked around to the front. The armor was clean and polished enough to see his own reflection on its surface. The drones were finishing and moving off to the side one by one. "When can I pilot it?" "Right now, I have a digital replica ready within a clean copy of Caliber, one I procured. Just head back to your room and you can test it out." I didn't need to hear anymore. The faster I logged in some hours in CO, the sooner I would be able to pilot it in real life. A smile was across my face, then a thought popped up. "Oh, when are we going to sign up for the, "guild?" "I have been doing some research into them. They are owned by Nebula system like we suspected. It's an organization that is controlled by an AI operator to dole out missions for its guild members. Members can sign up for free, but must complete operations to "level up" within the guild. It's actually pretty interesting. It uses the operator's own AI to record and monitor the missions from proof of completion." "Can't Nebula spy on its users, then?" "No, the AI operator cannot relay or store any information related to the users, the only time it will notify anyone is if the user breaks the terms of service of the guild or reports a crime they have committed or seen to the respective authorities." Walking into the teleporter and leaving Zero's avatar behind in the hanger, "Okay, what makes it different from any other mercenary guild then?" "For starters, you can get premium Nebula merchandise. The guild will pay a salary to pros and streamers as well." "Wait, streamers, pros, what is this twitch?" "No, twitch having been rebranded is an entertainment platform. The guild allows streams of users and pros who are essentially their top users and or their respective teams. They can compete against each other in rankings and in sanctioned matches. There are multiple benefits to the guild that are not talked about, like gaining sponsorship or become an affiliate of Nebula as a whole." Arriving at the door of my room and entering. "When do we sign up, and are there any negatives?" "For negatives I have found little, besides becoming a target of the guild, which I am happy to report we did, we were spotted on Coquin and the guild released a bounty for our capture." a page popped up in the corner of my HUD showing my hooded face right before killing the Arbiter. "Leo Thomas Connors - Wanted alive." Capture unharmed, if possible. Wanted for treason against the United Gaian Federation and respective allies for war crimes. Bounty of 1,000,000 credits transferred upon safe delivery. Leo Connors is armed and dangerous, approach with extreme caution. Rank: B "Holy shit," I said out loud. "Indeed, it seems the Arbiter did see our face right before its termination. The jammer should have stopped the transmission of the arbiter back to the cradle, but it seems things have changed since my absence," he said. Only nodding, and stripping down to be more comfortable. "We will have to find out a way to fix that or find a different solution." "True, I have already begun research, but not having a test subject is difficult." Laying down in the pod and the lid sealing with a hiss. Closing my eyes and opening them I was already within the Caliber one's navigation menu, Zero it seems had already created the profile and the only thing remaining was his nickname, a name hovering already within, "Zero Reaper," laughing internally before I confirmed it, knowing there was no way a name like that would have already been taken, but to my amazement, it was approved instantly. "How, that...having even a two-word name was extremely hard to get when I started playing when I was a teen...." "I just purchased the original account, knowing you would try it by a 98.6 percent chance a few minutes ago." Shaking my head and smiling. I really did like the name. I miss my old account, so many fond memories slaying it with his buddies from high school. "Welcome, Leopold Smith, Aka Zero Reaper (Designation: Reaper) The menu shifted, and I was brought into an all-white room, one I recognized very well. Zero had brought me into the stock training module. "Haven't seen this place in years." "It does leaves something for the imagination," the voice of Zero came through my head. The module was just a stark white cube with nothing in it, no doors or windows. Just flat, blindingly white walls perfectly lighted by non-existent fixtures. It always reminded me of an operating room, too sterile. The only noise was my own breathing, besides the beating of my heart. Found within the perfect replica of my avatar of my body. Something that I would change later. Looking around the room, remembering there was once a challenge to see who could last the longest within the absolute silence of this room. "What?" Zero asked. "Nothing, just remembering something from before." "I see. Shall I upload the Belial?" "Yes, please." The room expanded to fit the warframe that was being constructed out of nothing before me. It only took a couple of seconds to complete the image. Belial was now standing in the center of the room. It looked menacing. It now held a rifle cradled in its arms. It kneeled down, and the cockpit split open. Feeling a flight suit appear on me, I pulled myself inside. "The UI, and some other functions, appear to be quite out of date. I'll collect more data and begin a retrofit. Until then, what would you like to do?" Thinking for a second, "Bring me to a player vs. AI scenario please." The scenario began to upload before the white room was replaced by red sand. Recognizing it as a terraformed Mars. The valley, if I remember right. An older map, but one I knew well enough. "Guide me through the safety, and start-up sequence, please." "Will do. First, secure yourself within the harness. Below your seat is a lever that is an ejection module. The entire cockpit and core will separate from the frame and bring you away from the mech. There is another lever below this that can be pulled together to eject only the cockpit in case of core meltdown. A new handy feature that Solomon included with this model. There is a fire suppression system built inside. You have rations, air, and everything else to survive within the escape pod for two full weeks, it seems." Nodding, "There is armaments and a survival pack within the pod as well. Now I'll show you how to manually start the frame, as well as any other features." It took the better part of a half-hour to learn how to do everything manually, though Zero was tied into it, and as long as we were together, he could operate most of the mech himself remotely. "I can operate this mech completely remotely," Zero added. "I thought there was something that blocked AI control over this. Is this because you're not a normal AI?" "Rude, No. This is because this specific warframe was made prior to the AI accord, which forced a kill-switch to be mandatory in all heavy machinery and frames." "Do we need to install one, for legal reasons?" "Technically no, any frames and machinery made before the accord didn't have to get one installed as it was too costly for farmers, and civilian companies who relied on their older models." Nodding, "I see, that's good." "It is, technically this and everything else is legally yours and claimed effective 5 seconds ago." Going through the ignition sequence and seeing everything passing inspection. "That's good. What about the derelict?" "That as well. We will have to tow it back. We can salvage it for materials and anything else. I have also calculated the likely whereabouts of the other half of the ship as well." (Check this for the derelict.) The whole cockpit began to vibrate as the warframe began to come online as pumps and servo motors whirled up. "Caliber, one seems to be trying to fill in any blanks. It doesn't have data on it seems." The controls were similar to my old Cerberus, so moving around was like riding a bike, eighty tons of armored bike. Zero had me run an obstacle course which took I failed on the first time. The acceleration and movement were different from the bulky old Cerberus compared to Belial. Lighter with what seemed like twice as much power to the limbs made fine controls difficult. "Let's run the course one more time. I'll remove the restrictions this time." "Restrictions?" I asked. "Yeah, that was at about sixty percent power." Blinking, "That wasn't all out?" "No, did you want me to from the start?" "I... no, let's just start." Accelerating forward, Belial crashed straight through the obstacle wall, failing the test. Starting again, lowering the throttle and increasing the fine control over my own hands, did I finally control Belial well enough control as to not destroy everything. "I can help with fine control and some small upgrades will further allow you to better control this frame." Nodding, "Okay, work on the upgrades and help me with what you can. Run me through some scenarios, will you?" The first scenario was a simple point A to point B through a large city, treating it like the ground was lava and made it across the city only using the roofs of buildings and jump jets. The second added some monsters which were easily dispatched with the weapon systems. The next was a fight against some warframes ranging from medium to heavy and finally assault class. Zero kept sending them until I became overwhelmed and lost in a survival-style match that spanned the city. Every day I trained in the simulator, and a few times around the hanger in the real thing. Practical lessons were as important or more important than the simulations, plus it gave more data for the Caliber one to pull from. It still had most of the statistics and stats set as classified, which was within our right as the one uploading the data so competitors couldn't steal anything from CO by data mining. The controls started to feel second nature now and knowing every inch of the machine from top to bottom. Zero suddenly stopped a scenario that I was in. "We have a situation." Said in his rich Welsh accent. "Show me." The scenario faded away and was replaced by images of outside the base. In the blackness of space, a lone ship was stopped. "I believe you have something of mine!" a voice said. It didn't have a single note of an accent. "Zero, who is that?" "I believe it is the Arbiter we killed. Somehow, it tracked us here. Running a scan now." "I can wait here, or better yet, I'll go get some of my fellow arbiters to sniff you out." "Found it. The jacket had a hidden sensor hidden within it, though the base should have blacked it. Give me a second. Done." "I see you found the sensor. Either way, I know it is here and I want to make a deal with you." The voice said. "What should we do?" I asked. "Let's hear him out. He doesn't know where we are, just we are here in this sector." "Open a channel with him, discreetly. Oh, can we move this base if need be?" "Yes, and no. Need more resources to do that." "Shit." "Channel open." "Excuse me, what is the deal?" I asked. "If you're who I think you are, let us talk and I'll keep your whereabouts completely secret, and, of course, you give me back my jacket." "Who do you think I am?" I asked. "Leo Connor, and I presume a Varik AI or Arbiter is helping you as well." "Comms muted," Zero said, "He knows who we are. He could send the Arbiters here if he wanted to and they would be here within a few minutes, not enough time to escape. I propose we give his jacket back and hear him out. Opening comms now." "I will give your jacket back as long as you don't reveal our base." "Deal." "Zero will lead your ship in." The scenario began again. Completing it by the time Zero informed me that the Arbiter's ship was entering the Hanger. Leaving the pod and heading to the hanger, finding the small ship the Arbiter was using was just finish its landing procedure. The hatch opened and out dropped an arbiter. It looked at me first, and then it panned its head over towards the shadow in the corner which Zero's avatar was positioned just in case. Zero confirmed that once it was inside, he could Jam any signals leaving, even going as far as testing it since the last few incidents seemed to be his outdated knowledge. He also said that his Avatar body could easily take down a single Arbiter, and I didn't doubt it plus he had the entire bases defense systems at his disposal. Putting his hand up, "Hi!" came from the Arbiter who righted himself. The voice was dull, but I couldn't help it but crack a smile. Putting up a hand, "Hello, welcome to my home." Zero walked out, "Welcome." Bowing slightly, "Thank you, Leo, and Zero, for inviting me into your home." Stepping forward and handing the Arbiter his folded jacket. "Thank you." "Sorry for you know... killing you and taking it." "No worries," putting it on. "It has some sentimental value, is all." "What do I call you by chance?" I asked, curious. "Mind if we talk somewhere less... hanger-y?" "Yeah," motioning with my hand to get him to follow. Arriving in the rec room. The arbiter sat down and put its legs up on the table, "Call me, Cid." "Nice to meet you, Cid. You mentioned you wanted to talk. What about?" Zero's avatar stood near the wall. The avatar looked up at it, then back to me. "I have a feeling you're going to do something big in the future, and I find myself out of work. So, I would like to apply for a position with you and Zero here in whatever you are doing until either I get bored or find something better." I looked at Zero, astonished by what I was hearing. An avatar wanted to join us. Zero seemed to read my thoughts, "Having an Arbiter as an ally could be greatly beneficial for our goals, but the decision fall on you. I believe he won't reveal our position either way." "We could use your help. Not much for pay right now, though. Though I need some reassurances about keeping me and Zero safe." "I have already started filtering out anything related to you and Zero from the Arbiters just in case I die randomly again, so don't worry." "Good, thank you," I said. "So, what's next?" the Arbiter said, crossing his legs. Which made a loud clanging that was grating to the ears. Wincing from the sound, "Sorry, I'll be upgrade this body soon." "We need funds, and to find out a way to either prove I'm innocent, or to prove that I'm not a terrorist." "Wait, wait.. you should fill me in on what happened quick," he leaned forward, "give me all the deets," he said sounding excited. "I was there that day, you know. I was still with the Arbiter then."