Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

“Okay, from what the Oracle told me, we have to get into Hinansho city. How are we going to do it?” Tempest started.

“They can detect supers, so don’t forget we have to get by that,” Yuki said.

“We can use the old Manticorps transport, it shouldn’t stand out,” Grimdark added.

“That’s good, what else?” Tempest encouraged.

“What about Leto? He’s gotten us in before. For relatively cheap too, we just need to get him memory modules for his network,” Darik suggested.

“He’s still working on that thing?” Seneschal asked in surprise. “How many years has it been?”

“Decades, at least,” Darik replied. “And he never leaves his little lab. You sure his stuff is current enough to get us in?”

“He’s a hermit, but he’s connected,” Tempest said. “But that brings up a point—What can we expect to find there? Anyone else been to Hinansho before?”

Prime nodded slightly and Grimdark raised his arm, as if he were answering a question in class.

“I wouldn’t trust seeing Kenway with less than four people,” Grimdark warned.

“Agreed. I would prefer at least six, but we’ll have to see what Leto can get for us. Yuki, I assume you can make contact with him and make him an offer? Start with the standard and see what he counters with,” Tempest said.

“On it.” Yuki began typing furiously.

“Where do we get memory modules? Does the manor have any?” Aurora asked.

“If it did, they’d be pretty old, and there have been massive changes in data storage capacity since the manor was made. I have some contacts that can get us what we need,” Seneschal offered.

“So assuming Leto can get us the codes to get in, what about cloaking so we’re not detected as supers?” Darik asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“Leto has access to that, but he is outsourcing it to someone. He’ll do it but he’ll charge us a premium and we won’t be able to get a lot of cloaks either,” Yuki added, blowing a large bubble and popping it with a *crack*.

“I can outfit the ship so anyone inside would be able to avoid the sensors,” Grimdark volunteered.

“Good, anyone able to help Grimdark with the ship?”

Yuki raised a hand quickly without looking away from her screen and resumed typing.

“I might as well volunteer too. Everyone needs me to crawl around dusty innards of ships to connect things. I’ll pitch in too.” Darik held the back of his neck and leaned his head backward, anticipating the cramped spaces in his future.

“I can help with the scramblers and configuring everything,” Aurora added.

“So we’ve got our transport, and Leto has the rest of what we need. Anything else we need before we go?” Tempest asked, leaning on the table and assessing his team proudly.

Aurora raised a hand a bit tentatively.

“I’ve been working on some new suit designs, if anyone is interested. I was going to head to the Foundry to see if I could perfect some prototypes. We need to unlock Fabrication, if it’s okay with Gus, but then we can manufacture designs I have been working on.”

“I’d be interested to see what you’ve come up with.” Tempest nodded to Aurora. “What do you think, Gus?”

“Yeah, that sounds good, allocate the points. We’re still good on FP, aren’t we?”

“Uh, boss…” Yuki interrupted. “We got a problem. Leto says he’s finished his network and doesn’t need any memory cores. Says he doesn’t need money either.” Yuki winced as she read the demands.

“So what now?” Tempest rubbed his eyes then slid up to massage his temples. “There’s nothing that he wants?”

Yuki typed some more then settled back in her chair.

“There is, but I don’t think you’re going to like it…”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Bad Times

“Lay it on me,” Tempest groaned dejectedly.

“Well, don’t kill the messenger… but Leto says that he doesn’t need anything from anyone anymore.” Yuki held her breath expecting Tempest to explode at yet another obstacle.

Instead he just hung his head and asked, “And?”

“…and that includes credits or memory modules. He does say that you can run an errand for him and that he’ll get us what we need.”

“That sounds ominous,” Grimdark stated in his deadpan voice.

“It gets better. He says he already has two interested parties en route to do this task and he doesn’t care who does it, but he’s only paying the first to get there.”

“Where is it? We may not have time for long detours.”

“The good news is that it’s in Hinansho, so two birds with one stone.”

“If he gets us into Hinansho and gives us cloaks then that’s all we need, right?” Tempest figured, voice sounding more optimistic.

“Yes and no. If we fail, he says he’ll turn us in for a bounty for being in Hinansho without authorization and disable our shrouds so we’ll be stuck inside—”

“That little snake!” an incensed Aurora shouted. “After all we’ve done for that little creep.”

“How much of a lead time do we have?” Tempest asked Yuki.

“Only a couple of hours…”

“Dammit! No rest for the weary, I suppose. Can you track our competition?”

“I can but as soon as I connect, they can track us as well… Is it worth it?”

“Yes, no use in rushing over there if there’s no chance of success.”

“On it. Okay, two other identical pings to the data package we need to deliver, and one’s from the mainland, one from the Communist Conglomerate, but they’re far enough away to not be a factor. We should be able to arrive with a sliver ahead of the mainland team if we leave in, like… ten minutes.”

“You heard her, let’s get that transport ready! You three will have to make your changes and outfit the ship on the trip there. Grab everything you’ll need—no, grab more than you need, just in case, but make it fast!” Tempest barked at Grimdark, Yuki, and Darik, and the rest of the Crew took off.

“Is this how it always is?” Gus asked BoJack in a stage whisper.

“Pretty much par for the course. Usually it’s like running down the street naked at ninety miles