Dramatis Personae
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Lloyd
When L-93 had offered to augment him he'd assumed the computer was going to rework his equipment or something. Engineering and manufacturing was it's professed function, after all. There was also the fact that the machine's existing structure was created by repurposing Lloyd's old Wayfinder skiff. What Lloyd hadn't been expecting was that L-93 would repurpose him. The machine had assured him the augments would be intuitive. So far it wasn't wrong.
The computer had changed something about his etheric sense and now he could draw etheric power into the terrestrial like his nervous system had been wired by the Slipknot Guild. When he'd kicked on the pivot L-93 gave him the whole world changed. He could see both the terrestrial and sidereal at once and he was able to tap the etheric in spite of the interdiction on the building. He could see the shifts in power as the OMNI woman threw glowing walls at him. It was simplicity itself to push them away and break those walls just by stretching his hands out and letting the ether respond to his actions.
It was a lot to get used to. After the first rush of power he pulled back, worried that he was going to lose control of the energy and cause serious damage to the building. Worse, he could hear L-93 talking to him through the pivot point in his hand. "Signal strength is at 82%," the machine's voice said. "Not the strongest in my database but more than double that of the OMNI node. Her computational assist is very far removed from here. I calculate a 72% chance it is located on Coldstone, a 26% chance it is located on Brightpulse with the balance of probabilities including other planets in the system or in synchronous orbit around the star."
"I didn't follow that," Lloyd muttered, snatching for the woman with one hand, the glowing ether duplicate of his hand matching the move. She pushed the glowing hand aside with a measured use of her walls.
"Regrettable but irrelevant. Lucy, the node you are dealing with, shows 38% signal strength, which is significant, and demonstrates a great deal of control over it. You must change tactics. Your chance of driving off this opponent is currently 23% and will result in a fatality the majority of the time. Her superior experience in etheric combat more than outweighs the advantages in available power and analysis you receive from my proximity."
Lloyd swiped at her again with one hand. Lucy rolled her shimmering walls into a tube and let his attack strike one end. The other smashed through the wall and she dove through the resulting round hole, scampering out of sight. "Point taken," he muttered. "Do the girls have their ship up and running yet? If they're ready to go we can just make a run for it."
"They are running the final warm-ups on the Skybreak's engines right now but there are other logistical factors to take into account. Node Lucy and her accomplices might be able to follow you if not dealt a suitable setback. If you simply jumped to the ship there is a 83% chance they will follow you before the ship can jump off planet."
Lloyd collected his lancer off the floor and checked the magazine. Thirty three rounds left. He wasn't sure how useful it was going to be given Lucy's ability to create moving force walls with nothing but her hands but it never hurt to have options. He plucked a smoke grenade off his bandoleer and tossed it through the hole in the wall then peeked back out into the hallway. At the moment it was clear.
The grenade went off and smoke belched back through the hole in the wall and, a few seconds later, more seeped around the edges of the next door down the hall. However the door itself stayed closed. Lloyd docked back into his room and considered his next move. "How do we play this, 93? She's got one of these pivot gizmos, can I just smash that and keep her from tailing us?"
"She is not reliant on her pivot to turn sidereal, Lloyd," the computer told him. "However it would cut her off from direct contact with the larger Network and, without computational assistance, it is unlikely she could navigate the sidereal with the precision necessary to jump onto the Skybreak. The safest route is to induce an etheric shock in the pivot."
"Well I didn't grab an etheric disruptor from the armory. What are my other options? Can I just steal it?"
"OMNI will be able to track the pivot so keeping it in your possession is not recommended. You can channel the necessary energy to disable it via your own pivot so the additional equipment is not required. Be advised, I believe Mr. Hammer has suffered severe injuries. He may require medical attention."
Lloyd grimaced as indecision gripped him. No one on Wireburn like thieftakers; they were nosy, unaccountable and self important as a rule and when they showed up the Lawmen weren't far behind. However Hammer didn't strike him as a bad guy. Yes, he'd wrecked Lloyd's apartment but he'd done it fighting a thug who was probably up to no good there.
On the other hand, Lucy was clearly the biggest threat in the building. She had the direct backing of one of OMNI's AI and a lot of experience using their augmentations. He sidled up to the hole she'd cut in the wall and quickly peeked around the lip of it to see what was going on over there. The smoke was clearing and Lloyd could make out a golden bubble in one corner. Apparently Lucy's shields were air tight.
Lloyd clicked his tongue and looked around, trying to work out a good follow-up move. His eye fell on the room's windows. Maybe it was time to make an exit. He lifted his etheric pivot, wound up and hit the hardened plastic with a glowing fist as hard as he could. A thin crack appeared on the first hit, the clear sheet spider-webbed on the second and it burst into a dozen tiny pieces on the third. Lloyd let the etheric power go and headed towards the empty window.
A barrier blinked into place over it before he was halfway there. He spun and saw Lucy peeking through the hole, shaking her head in disapproval. "Do you think I'm deaf?"
He opened his mouth to say something then realized she was a distraction a split second before her muscle peeked around the door frame and sprayed the room with fletchettes. Lloyd managed to get his etheric hands back just in time to deflect them. He saw the big man's eyes widen in surprise right before Lloyd shoved one of his glowing appendages out the door in an attempt to grab him. The other man got out of the way and Lloyd's etheric hand shot out into the hallway. A second later a grenade bounced into the room and Lloyd had to spin his pivot and slap both glowing hands over it before it went off.
Since he'd been able to break one of Lucy's shields a second ago he assumed his ether hands wouldn't survive the blast. However she could still make them so he didn't think it would be that much of a difficulty. He was wrong. When the grenade went off the blast shredded them and his etheric sense went haywire, creating a sense of vertigo similar to taking a punch directly on the chin. The room spun around him and he staggered to one knee.
Then the room spun again when one of Lucy's barriers slammed into his back and sent him rolling across the floor. A second later a booted foot carefully rolled him over onto his back. Lloyd was looking up at Lucy's enforcer, who carefully pushed Lloyd's etheric pivot away from his hand with one toe. "This has been a very unusual job, Miss Luck."
"I can include a bonus to make up for it," she said as she climbed back through the wall.
"I'm not complaining." The man picked up the pivot and crossed over to the open window and looked out. "A little variety keeps things fresh. However I think it's time to call it a day. The interdiction on the building is gone and this place is too exposed."
"Give me that." Lucy approached him, one hand held out for Lloyd's pivot.
He gave the pivot a curious look then held it out to her. "What is it?"
"A liabi-"
A blur went past the window then a titanic noise burst through the room. Both Lucy and her partner were sent tumbling as a wall of sound slammed into them and even Lloyd felt the impact tug on his face and clothing. Ears ringing, Lloyd got up on all fours and scrambled forward, snatching up his pivot and kicking the other man in the head as hard as he could. Lucy lay stunned, moving slowly but too disoriented to do anything as he grabbed her pivot, too. Then he spun fully into the sidereal.
"93, I got the pivot. What now?"
"There is not time to demonstrate how to disable it. It can wait until you are back on the Skybreak."
"Right. I'll get down to the launch bay."
"We have already departed. You will have to jump here."
"The ship doesn't have a beacon."
"I can serve as a beacon as long as you still have possession of my pivot. However the ship is currently decelerating from supersonic speed and it will not be safe for you to jump here until we come to a halt."
"Was that sonic boom you?" Lloyd snorted. "Ballsy move."
"I am grateful for that compliment, if that was what it was. I would suggest you use the ten seconds you have to retrieve Mr. Hammer before jumping out to meet us."
"Give me the directions."
It took more than ten seconds to stagger through the sidereal to the place L-93 told him Hammer was but not much more. The thieftaker wasn't looking good but he was standing under his own power. When he saw Lloyd he croaked, "What's the word?"
"We're leaving." Lloyd got an arm under the other man's shoulder to help hold him up. "Can you handle a jump?"
"So long as you know where to go."
"Then let's get out of here." They spun into the sidereal and left the offices behind them.
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