Chapter 15

-(Fenicia)-

Vice city ship Gladius

I recovered my weapon harness and my pistol from the locker room with practiced monotony. It was the last time I was seeing this place, so much of my pain and doubts were expressed here. It’s where I was shown a world where brute force does not always works. That to achieve victory you have to deceive, cheat, crush your enemies; destroy the basis of their power, their subordinates, resources and everything they hold dear. Akito made me read books on the art of war as seen by the humans, to be frank this race is without honor. But the way they wage war and treat their enemies even in peace makes me think of what they have now compared to my own people. The humans are spread out, everywhere and they are smart –well most of them are- and technologically more advanced than the Saryan who depend on their goods and services. My race is all about honor, and it seems that honor cannot feed the needy. It is hard to swallow, but I am flexible enough to realize that I have to expand my mind and keep it open. I like the culture of my people but it seems that they are living in a dream. I woke up from it, and decided that I should explore the half of me that I don’t know about. Those instincts that I forced down most of my childhood I decided to listen to them when I was exiled; my abilities to process information and think outside the box, and circumvent problems instead of facing them like a Saryan do it. I remember being beaten by my father because of that.

I giggled, those were fun times. NOT.

I strapped the harness to myself, checked my pistol for tempering. On the HUD the locking mechanism of the pistol is alright, the ammo is full, the targeting computer is in its optimal state. The weapon went into my thigh sheath. I took the duffel bag in the locker containing my belongings.

I vocalized a command to my A.I. nanny.

“SONG. Contact Fa on her com tablet, Text only.”

Without a word I sat on the bench near the locker and took out my com tablet from the bag; the lit screen flickered and went to the communication tab. I thought the message that need to be sent, it’s amazing how I became used to neural-interface when I was used to manual systems since I was exiled.

Feni01: Za’ar*, I’m done with training

Ten second later Fa answered me.

AmazingEngineer: GREAT. One day though you’ll have to tell me what Za’ar means.

Feni01: One day.

I took my Star Gazer from my duffel bag and put them on. They are something akin to goggles with an embedded HUD system, the same that you get in the helmet of the Centurion armor. These goggles synchronize with most computer systems and com tablets. Placing my duffel bag around my neck I proceeded to leave the locker room, crossed the hall of the training center and was out of this place. As usual the urban landscape of Gladius is pristine, inside the gigantic city ship an arcology of towering white chromed buildings and city blocks could be seen with the occasional nature surrounding it. There were parks, trees and there is even a district with an artificial sea. Flying transports and drones could be seen in the false sky. Everyone looked busy and in a hurry.

Lot of information appeared in the text chat with Fa, a map of the place I am at.

Song interrupted my musing.

Feni, you have received a notification.

“Show me.”

January 05. 01. 2457 (457 AC)

Dear Fenicia,

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of the activation of your Centurion rank first class status. Previously, it was inactive because you didn’t receive the training or received the compressed knowledge of the Vice Corporation law book. Now, you are judged to be apt to command and build your own Core Team with those exceptionally gifted individuals that have been chosen for you (attached documents) with recommendation.

You are inheriting a great team, and I’m sure that your ability to lead by example in motivating others will make them even more effective and productive. I expect we’ll be hearing about some stellar results about your future operations.

Congratulations and good luck in your new position – onward and upward!

Sincerely,

Helena Theresa Vice.

Listing:

- Ell Evan. Centurion 3rd class, Infiltration, Recon, Intelligence.

- Kalan Suimei. Centurion 3rd class, Pilot, Astrogator, Intelligence.

- Kisora Suimei. Centurion 3rd class, Pilot, Special Situation Agent.

- Michael T. Scott. Psionic Assault specialist, Marksman.

- Vincent Macleod. Centurion 4th class, Science Officer.

- Sharah Phis. Centurion 1st class, Second in Command of the Kranicar squad.

- Charles Elba. Centurion 2nd class, Weapon Master, Assault Specialist.

- Tyler Jones. Centurion 4th class, Psionic Assault Specialist.

- Janice Simarin. Centurion 4th class, Psionic Assault Specialist.

- Rhaj Sing. Centurion 3rd class, Tech specialist.

- Amahle Sun. Centurion 4th class, Psionic Combat Vanguard.

- Ann Zell. Centurion 4th class, Field Combat Medic Psionic Healing.

- Bryn Erikson. Centurion 2nd class Security and field defense specialist.

Rage exploded in me when I read the following name after Vincent Macleod; to say that I can’t tolerate Sharah Phis would be a understatement.

Feni calm down! You are throwing EMP everywhere!

Huh? The avatar of SONG came in my field of view, long white hair, a beautiful face with two sapphire like eyes and an athletic form. She looked like she was pleading or begging me...

I looked around me to see the arcs of electricity flying wildly, striking at ... everything. Ok. First, Fenicia calm down. Breathe, think about something that make you happy. Suddenly, Fa entered my thoughts and I remembered the sound of her voice, the feeling of her skin on mine, her kisses ... The electricity stopped surging from my body.

Better, Feni remember that you should keep your calm?

“Read the fucking Notification.”

She did and raged too.

How can she?! That Helena woman is always messing with us!

It’s strange how SONG and I got attached to each other, at the start I disliked her for just being what she is. But when my mom proposed to unshackle her-basically free her from her programming- and make her my very own AI assistant I changed view on her. Now she is my very own best friend. I wish I had her with me when I was without the Saint Patrick’s crew.

“My relationship with her daughter seems to put her in a tizzy.”

But, Fa and you are so cute togeth-

I looked at her, with my favorite dark look.

“I.AM.NOT.CUTE”

Frustrated, I walked aimlessly thinking about that list I just received. This was just the core team that I was stuck with by the Tyrant; the woman has been hindering me or forcing me to choose something I wouldn’t normally. And I have no doubt that half of that team is in her pocket. I have been exploring the memories Idunn erased from my mind when I woke up six month ago in her lab, at first it was difficult to explore the memory cube and unlink myself from the pain and despair I felt at this time of my life when I was tortured. And it was difficult to make the memories into information, like being detached from it. But there are things that still stayed with me from that time. I have a more difficult time to let things go ... my instinct and upbringing pushes me to obtain revenge. Helena will pay her disrespect, but thinking about Fa I won’t do anything too ... permanent to her. The Traffic of flying vehicles in the sky became even more cluttered and I realized that it was already midday. There were suddenly more people on the street, going to have lunch, flooding eateries and do things that corporate wage slaves do. Thinking that I should get home and ponder about the notifications and my problem with my girlfriend’s mom I called on an automated transport vehicle. It took one minute for the sleek silvery transport to arrive, I climbed inside and it took off. In minutes I was out of the military district of the City Ship, synthetic music blasted out of the speakers behind me. On my Stargazer goggles I could see a map of the city, different holo-sign and panels showed me trending and interesting pot of the city.

Hey, let’s go fight! Fight and drink!

SONG pointed her finger toward a place, ok more to a blue holographic panel signaling that the ‘Pharaoh’ was this way. I sighed, it was a nice place. There you could drink, dance, sing, fight, have sex with male and female into the sex industry. Some kind of layered pleasure palace combined with a gladiatorial coliseum. The hologram showed the picture of a naked woman, a glass with a little cocktail umbrella in it and finally a two crossed swords. It suddenly changed into an arrow showing the way; it must be because of the neural interface because I am thinking about it. The pharaoh is also one of the favorite places of Fa and SONG.

The hopeful gaze of my Virtual Assistant made me cave and I selected with a thought to go to the famous establishment. Well I need a good blue sun cocktail anyway.

Vice city ship Gladius, The pharaoh 30 minutes later

It is always nice to come here it reminded me of home, the fighting pit under a emerald statue of a woman in a subjective pose, people cheering for their fighter. The big Egyptian like palace was behind the emerald beauty, hieroglyph markings shining on each side of the arch forming the door. Glowing hologram showed the symbol of Horus as a gigantic sign and landmark. I entered through the arch and lot of holo-ads assaulted me, drinks, women, men were shown promising to cater to my ‘needs’. With a thought I banished them and went to my favorite floor ‘the bar and dance’ level. Blue-purple light assaulted my eyes, dominating everything around me. I could see some free and rich party-pack people entering along with me; the females were dressed to kill. I wasn’t wearing any dress or fancy shoes like those human females seemed to favor, but having a bodysuit on, showing off my body made coming here a bit embarrassing. But I won’t let it bother me, I was tougher than that. In the center of the receiving areas pillars with the favorite dancers and escort towered. It reminded me of the Hall of champions back on Saryna. Proof that the more things change the more they stay the same. Because of the advanced tech in the palace SONG could take advantage of the holo-projector strewn in the entire palace, everyone could see SONG’s avatar and ... let’s say she got games with most of the males and females A.I. even some humans. I don’t know how it works for the synthetic people, Idunn and Fa tried to explain it to me and that it was the way an avatar was constructed that attracted other A.I. the code and the architecture had to be elegant and efficient. And by the way all of SONG’s admirers looked at her she was blazing HOT like a supernova. With a Kranicar patented glare she prevented anyone to accost her and we were left in peace. I directly took the elevator to the second floor where the bar is. Surprise it’s full, Synth music played in the air, some played billiards others were discussing with drinks in hand in private boxes, scantily clad Thelian females waitresses served the drinks and smiled to the creep who wanted to bag a alien tiger girl.