Chapter 6

Faktuus, The Claiming Hand

Frankie, Nikola, Siam, and I were gathered together in the mess hall. We had a number of food available and I satisfied myself with some type of macaroni and cheese. I had no idea what the macaroni was made of, nor why it was orange. It seemed my meals while on missions were always orange. On the side, I had a small salad, and some coffee at the end.

“Any thoughts on the ship, Nikola?” Siam said.

“Oh, I've got a lot of thoughts,” Nikola said.

“Anything worth mentioning?” Frankie said. “I’ve been stuck with this bozo all day.” She stabbed her fork at me and glared challengingly. “You can bet your ass I’ve been bored out of my mind. If I’d known I was gonna be a babysitter, I’d have sat this one out. So please, tell me something interesting!”

Siam laughed silently as he spooned what looked like oatmeal into his mouth. Then his eyes shone with mirth as he watched me.

“Like I’ve mentioned before,” Nikola said. “Solodon and Miconia are not enemies. It’s more appropriate to consider them as siblings.”

“Ha!” Siam said. “That’s because siblings don’t mind beating each other up every once in a while.”

“That’s why I’m certain this will escalate,” Nikola said softly. The mood changed in the room. The sound of eating paused for a moment. Then the clattering of utensils and plates gradually filled the room once more. “The Leaf Cloud galaxy is rich in resources. The Solodon ship has invaded the orbital sovereignty of Miconia. Miconia isn’t going to let that go so easily.”

“Captain Silas mentioned something about that,” I said.

“That’s all blue sky,” Nikola said.

“Blue sky?” I said.

“Clear and plain.”

“I see.”

“The problem is the Solodon ship itself,” Nikola continued. “There has been no activity for a couple of weeks now. None of us has intercepted a single signal. Something’s wrong. Something inside the ship.”

“That’s what Uzik was saying,” Siam said. “Unfortunately, getting inside isn’t as easy as just knocking and being let in.”

“Yea?” Frankie said, raising her eyebrows. “Tell that to Dani.”

“Dani wants to just kick the door in and get straight to the point,” Siam said.

“Why can’t we just barge in?” I said.

“Solodons are fiercely protective of their ships,” Siam said. “We need permission first. It’s also protocol.”

“Protocol isn’t really Dani’s style,” Frankie said. “Give her the chance, and she’ll bust in and handle things in the blink of an eye.”

“That’s why Uzik picked Dani to accompany him,” Siam said. “He can keep an eye on her that way. She’s gotten herself in trouble a few times because ‘protocol isn’t her style.’”

“She’s gotten your whole team into trouble a few times,” Nikola said.

“I guess you're right,” Siam said. “Hard to keep an eye on her I guess. Sometimes, I guess I just forget to keep an eye on her.” He gave me a small wink.

“Yea right,” Frankie said. “You ‘forget’ to keep an eye on her when she’s right in front of you, doing shit she’s not supposed to do.”

“That must be the other reason Uzik took her with him,” Nikola said. “To keep you two from getting into trouble.”

The rest of our meal was spent listening to Frankie complain how slow I was at my training. She hadn’t had to deal with someone so behind on their training and naturally sluggish ever before. I just smiled and took it. No reason to rock the boat when this was only my second mission, and everyone had Frankie in such high regard.

“I’m going to grab a few things from my room,” Frankie said. “Then the Cyborg and I are going to do some tri-5.1 training.”

“Tri-5.1 training,” Nikola said. “I haven’t done that in years.”

Frankie left the room and after a few moments, Siam and Nikola scooted closer to me.

“She’s different towards you,” Nikola said.

“I know what it is,” Siam said.

“What?” I said. “What is it? She’s always coming down hard on me. Ever since we first met.”

“I’ve never seen her give someone as much shit as she’s giving you,” Nikola said. “You must have really pissed her off about something.”

“I nearly destroyed my previous Cymech helmet and gloves,” I confessed.

“Now that’s something sure to piss her off,” Nikola said. “Isn’t that right Siam?”

“Yea,” Siam said. “That’ll definitely do it, but that’s not what’s going on.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Nothing to worry about,” Siam said. “You’d better go and meet up with Frankie for your training. She hates when she’s behind schedule.”

“Is that what it is?” I said.

I met up with Frankie at the habitation and we both got into our mechs. I followed her out the deployment chamber and we floated out into space. She propelled herself down beneath the FreeWheel and waved me to come closer.

“Do you know how to tether your mech to the FreeWheel?” Frankie said.

Once our mechs were tethered in place, they wouldn’t move until untethered. Then Frankie had me obscure the visor of both my Cymech helmet and my mech.

“Your Vox is going to guide you through the training ok?”

“Sounds good,” I said.

[Tri-5.1 spatial awareness training program downloaded,] Pipper said. [Would you like to engage the training program, Cymech?]

[Yes, Pipper,] I thought.

I closed my eyes and waited. A few seconds later, I heard a soft musical tone to my left.

[The sound you heard is your key reference. Whenever the program revolves and rotates, you will hear that sound until movement ceases. You must then orient your position to face the key reference dead center. You will use mental commands and I will execute those commands.]

[So I’ll say something like up, down, left, right?] I said.

[Precisely. You can use more complex directions if you’d like as well. You can orient yourself in this spatial simulation by using degrees, or more abstract words as well such as U-turn.]

[Alright. I guess I’m ready.]

The training was like sitting in a ball of moving speakers that rolled around, while the user stayed upright. It was quite easy. I was able to center the key reference every time. Then the training got harder and harder. First, the speed at which the spatial simulation moved began to increase until it felt like I was spinning uncontrollably through space. I was starting to get dizzy, and the spinning made me disoriented. If I wasn’t secure in my Cymech suit and mech, I would have fallen several times over already.

Training like this while dizzy was an absolute nightmare. When the simulation sped up, I began to fail every single time. At that point, Pipper reduced the speed, and instead added a new key reference. It was a ship that moved around, and I was supposed to locate both key references, one after the other. I was able to find the ship key reference a couple of times, but otherwise it mostly got away from me.

[I wish this was a visual training,] I thought to Pipper. [Sound isn’t going to help me in space, and I’m not going to be guessing where ships are, right? I’ll be using my eyes to see where they’re heading.]

[You’ll be using sight, in addition to IMINT technology,] Pipper said. [Light reflections will also be converted into acoustic data, so you will be able to hear objects in space. This training is especially helpful for battle when speed and maneuverability can easily disorient even the most experienced Cymechs.

[Brother,] Orion said. [Urgent signal incoming from commander Uzik.]

“FreeWheel team,” Uzik said, his voice coming in loud and clear from SIGINT. “I need Gnath, and Siam to meet us at Faktuus, The Claiming Hand.”

“That’s the name of the Solodon ship, I take it?” Siam said, his voice just as clear as Uzik’s.

“Travel in tandem,” Uzik said.