B3-12 - Customer Service (Patreon)

“Well, there are limitations to everything.” Maya sighed and tossed the tablet onto the table.

“It seemed your teleportation device worked remarkably well,” George said looking at his own tablet.

“Yeah, but it’s not Star Trek and we just can’t beam things everywhere. A few kilometers away from the device is fine, local sensors and scanners can gain enough detail to ensure that the things teleported aren’t disrupted. But if we’re talking tens of kilometers, then things get a little wonky.”

“Let me guess,” Hanna said. “Weird splicing creating an amalgamation of horrors?”

“Totally.”

“I was teleported,” Bell said, “when we were fighting the hiveship. It is not a pleasant experience.”

Yuri frowned at the news. “But we can try,” he said.

“I know you’re eager to get back to Russia and all, but we’re dealing with half understood technology and even I’m coming up to the limits of what engineering knowledge was dumped into me,” Maya said.  She pulled up a hologram and displayed it on the table, it was a large machine that seemed to be made of random welded pieces and cables.

“Ah, you’re aesthetically pleasing design work,” Hanna remarked.

Maya ignored the jab. “This is like the signature gun we made, it’s bigger, more powerful, and, we hope, will be able to reach the surface of Earth from orbit. I’m calling it the Big Signature Gun in the Sky.  It’ll provide us with a stable dimensional link to wherever the beam hits, thereby allowing us to move material goods to that location.”

“So we can beam items to people.”

“Not really, it’s pretty finicky and needs constant calibrations. We can beam one thing to one location, then we’re talking maybe another few hours of resets and tightening screws. It’s not the teleporter, all it is doing is ‘hardening’ the dimensional link to an area, real teleporters designed by real System tech engineers could do it better. But for now it’s all I’ve got.”

“Then it’s not that useful,” Yuri said. “It will not allow us to teleport more materials and supplies to embattled groups.”

“You’re totally right,” Maya said. “That’s why me and the gear heads have been pillaging our gathered blueprints and patents. Tender, if you please, roll that beautiful engineering footage.”

Tender rose to his feet, looking at the gathered people.

“As you might not know, there is a thing called System Assisted Logistics Network. In effect, it allows one to purchase logistic tokens that can be added to finished goods, then those goods are teleported, by the System, to pallets and shipping containers specially designed to handle them.” Tender brought up holograms of the blueprints for the pallets and containers they had been awarded. “These pallets and shipping containers are how items are sold and moved through a economically developed star system.”

“Do we have access to it?” Yuri asked.

“No. This universe is barely within the first stages of Integration, the economic grade of this planet barely registers. Until more infrastructure, more economic development occurs, you will be locked out of the System Assisted Logistics Network.

“But the pallets and shipping containers are the key,” Tender displayed another blueprint. “We have reversed engineered the shipping containers, they are in fact not that difficult to understand.”

“They’re basically signature amplifiers and condensers,” Maya said excitedly.

The Astronauts looked at her.

“This means,” Tender continued, “that if we modify a shipping containers, we will not need the Big Signature Gun in the Sky to beam items down. We will only need it to beam a shipping container down and then the container will do the rest. It will make ti far easier to teleport goods and items to the container itself.”

George and Yuri looked suitably impressed.

“Wait! That’s not all!” Maya cried, jumping up. She happily raised another hologram. It was a blocky box attached to the shipping container, a large screen and keyboard protruding out of it. On the side of the container in large letters was: Sullivan Box; premier vending service.

There was a groan from Hanna and George.

“What?” Maya demanded.

“Why do you come up with such horrid names?” George asked.

Maya scoffed. “Horrid?” She looked to Tender who only shrugged.

“They seem reasonable, boss,” he said.

“Anyway.” Maya said. “This is the bleeding edge of my technological understanding.” The holograms changed, showing the teleporter, the Big Signature Gun, and the shipping container, along with another blueprint that appeared. “This is a Kiosk. It’s basically a vending machine. Load in your stuff and sell it.”

“You’re going to set up vending machines of guns and armor?” Yuri asked.

“Easy there, buddy. Don’t jump to conclusions,” Maya said. “Anyway, we hacked the Kiosk programming and did some mumbo jumbo Frankenstien stuff to it. Now we got this,” Maya gestured to the shipping container, “and we hooked it up to this.” Maya brought up a dimensional storage box. “After digging through the innards of the hiveship, we realized that sneaky bugger was summoning items and more drones from storage containers. In the end, it was a direct line from the dimensional storage container to the teleporter and then to death by my hands.”

“Oh.” Hanna said, understanding. “You are going to teleport down the shipping containers and then use this kiosk stuff to allow people to teleport down supplies and material.”

“With a decent margin of profit,” Maya added. “The power consumption is going to be a holy terror. Even with all the liquid mana we have, we’re going to run low at the rate we’re using it.”

“Can’t you find more?” Yuri asked.

“Oh, sure. Condensed mana is literally just lying around the RSH,” Maya said.

“Technically it was,” Tender remarked. Maya shot him a glare.

“That takes us back to the joyous issue of manpower,” Maya said. “Scotty is going to start building the containers, Tender is working on the hiveship, Roci is working on getting us power with the mana netting, Veskari is the only pilot we have, Nan is making food and medicine, Yosi is setting up the inventory system and programming the purchasing orders, and I’m being awesome. That leaves us with no one to man Big Sig.”

“Ah,” the Astronauts all replied. They looked at one another.

“George and I are the only ones who have trained with the satellites. Our collective abilities and skills are needed to find more human strongholds on Earth,” Yuri said quickly.

“I’m a budding [Alchemist] and not an engineer!” Hanna cried out

“Veskari is teaching me to become a pilot,” Zoya responded.

“Not it!” Izumi cried.

Everyone looked to Inez.

“Shit,” she said.

***

Maya exited the meeting room Tender at her side. She opened another door and entered an even larger room. The sheer volume of the noise within the space nearly knocked her back. She winced as people shouted, cried, and threw out curses.

The four members of the Chimbote Council sat on a raised dias. Before them were hundreds of men and women in various states of distress or anger. Maya leaned against a wall as people continued shouting, faces twisted into masks of rage.

“Kill them all!” a man cried.

“Torture them!” another yelled. “They don’t deserve quick deaths!”

The Trial, as Maya called it, was still on-going. It had been two RSH days and people were still arriving, telling the horrors that were committed at the hands of Samanco and his men. Maya had tried to listen in, but the stories were too much. How could humans do such things to one another?

The four council members had it rough, the entire ire of the region was focused on them and they were on the front lines where the vitriol and screaming was the thickest. She had commend them for their actions; Maya knew she probably would have only lasted a day before being emotionally unable to withstand the torrent of misery they were under.

Witness accounts, first hand stories, and even the satellite imagery and scans were being brought out in a court case against the various members of Samanco’s gang. The Chimbote council wanted this to be legal, for a trial to occur and Maya agreed with them. They were building new nation, one based on laws and people, not another mini dictatorship like Samanco’s.

It was still a mock trial, though. There was too much evidence against Samanco’s men, but going through the motions meant something. Even if they were all sentenced to death, it would be via a verdict of their peers.

Over seven hundred men were trapped in a frozen chamber of time. They would not age, hunger, or suffer until the trial was over. Maya knew she could have just ended them all, with a thought. One moment they would be there, the next they would have been consumed by the Cage; their experience points and mana being added to the tank that enveloped the Cage.

But that was exactly what she was trying to avoid. She was the highest leveled human, she had access to such great technology and powers, she had amassed great wealth and could probably conqueror every human settlement on the planet if she wanted. The teleporter and the rogue AI drones were far more than enough to make her the ruler of Earth.

Maya turned away from the screaming crowds and opened a door. Tender followed her and she closed it.

***

Bell was teaching in a classroom. Hanna had gained some levels in alchemy and so had the men and women who harvested the landsharks. There was interest in the occupational ability as many realized it would lead to potion making.

Maya watched as the eager students pelted him with questions. Before they had been terrified of him, blue skin and four armed; he was nothing like they had ever seen. Now, they were at ease in his presence, learning from him and joking with him.

She smiled at the sight and opened another door.

***

Commerce was still on-going.

There were always stuff to sell and stuff to buy. Yosi occasionally manned the buying and selling booth, Maya hadn’t had a chance to operate it in a long time. She was too busy trying to take her mind off of the trial.

“This is a Kenzon light weave, it’s mostly used for mages, but its can also be used by scouts or stealth orientated builds,” Maya said to the young woman before her. The woman was nodding along, looking at the black fabric in Maya’s hands. “The double stitches are made with a plant matter called Hovakin, it readily moves mana about the body. It’s not enchanted, therefore you will still have the one enchantment slot available.”

Maya summoned a dagger, and sliced it across the fabric. “As you can see, it is resistant to most slashing and piercing attacks, but it’s considered light armor, therefore I wouldn’t try to run into a hail of gunfire with it.”

“But it’ll protect me against the monsters?” the woman asked.

“Yeah, to a point. Not everything is one hundred percent protection, especially with these low-grade gear.”

“Can’t I get a better one?” the woman asked. “This mid-grade one is only a bit higher in price, but its more durable and protective than this one. Can’t I buy that one?”

“You can,” Maya said, “but it won’t benefit you that well. Until you’ve reached level 25 and entered mid-grade, you can only use low-grade gear. It’s not that you can’t wear or own mid-grade, it just is not very efficient to do so. There are higher mana channeling requirements for the enchanted gear, and others rely upon the Skills and abilities you have. At low-grade, it’s your skills that will keep you alive. At mid-grade, it’s your skills and your gear that will keep you alive.”

“So its just generic stuff until I can level up?” the woman asked.

“Yup.”

The woman sighed and then nodded. “Fine. I’ll buy it,” she said.

“That’ll be two hundred and fifty credits,” Maya said. “If you’ll step into the dressing room, you’ll be sized and the auto-seamer will adjust the suit to fit you.”

The woman nodded and moved over to a door that opened against the wall.

“Next,” Maya called.

A man marched into the room, looking irritated.

“I’ve been waiting forever,” he stated.

“I’m sorry about the wait, but it’s been pretty hectic here lately,” Maya said, giving a smile.

“I don’t need excuses,” the man muttered. He slapped down a sword on the counter. “I need to return this.”

“Pardon?”

“My dumbass son purchased this the other day from that lizard girl. She told him he’d be a great warrior or something, took all his damn credits. Now it turns out he’s got no Skills or abilities to use the damn thing. I want a refund.”

Maya frowned, picking up the weapon. Her computer automatically scanned the sword and began sorting through the files to find who it had belonged to. She held back her sigh as she realized it would have to sync with Yosi’s computer and the records they kept. She really should have spent more time actually working to sell things, that way her records would have been up to date.

“Can I have the name of the purchaser?” Maya asked.

“What does it matter? It’s your stuff, you’re the only one who sells this garbage. Give me a refund.”

“Well, it’s best if we check it against our records. And to see what the reason was that the purchaser didn’t want it.”

“I already told you. The dumb kid can’t use it,” the man sighed dramatically. “Y’know what? Get me your boss. That black girl. May Salvador or whatever. Tell her to come here, I need someone who is not a fucking moron.”

“There’s no need for that language,” Maya said.

The man snorted. “I get it, you’re American, right? Think you’re better than us poor as shit Peruvians? Out here, we’re not some delicate little bitches, we call it like it is. If someone says you’re a moron, then you’re a moron. Got it, girl? Now, get me that fucking boss of yours.”

“It’ll be a moment, sir,” Maya said, feigning fear.

“Tell her ass to hurry up, I don’t have all fucking day,” the man said, seeing her wilt before his presence.

“Of course, sir.”

“Do you know what level I am? Seven. So don’t fuck around with me. I fought Samanco’s men. I liberated those poor fuckers across the bay,” the man announced. “This is how you treat people? Jerking them around and forcing them to wait for that bitch May to deign to come talk to me, a paying customer?”

The sword rose up in a hologram before Maya. She skimmed through the information and her wilting demeanor changed.

“This sword,” she said. “Where did you get it?”

“I already fucking told you. My-“ the man gagged as a hand rose up from the deck. It gripped him around the neck and lifted him off the ground.

“This weapon was given to Luis Martin,” Maya said, her voice going cold. “Luis died fighting against Samanco’s men. He died freeing poor victims of that heinous fucker’s rampage. He died a god damn hero.”

The man’s eyes widen in terror as Maya stepped from behind the counter.

“They didn’t find his body. They said there was an explosion, one of the Samanco’s diehards blew themselves up, killed Luis and five other liberators, and forty civilians.” The cage warped and the man was pulled downward, facing Maya eye to eye. “Where the fuck did you get this sword.”

“I-I-“ the man gasped, the sharp smell of urine filled the room.

“Where is his body, asshole,” Maya snapped.

“I-“ tears began in the man’s eyes.

“I don’t know who you are,” Maya said. “Are you one of Samanco’s men? Do you think I don’t know who everyone was that went to fight Samanco? Do you think you could rob a corpse, hide the body, and come back into my fucking shop and try to sell me his weapon?”

The man thumped agains the bulkhead, screaming out in pain. Maya saw that his left arm was bent in an unnatural angle. He stared at Maya in horror, realization finally dawning upon him.

“Every weapon we sell is recorded, every person we sell to is known to us, every man and woman who risked their lives to free those poor captives, I remembered their faces.” Maya stalked to the man. “I don’t remember you.”

“Boss,” Tender’s voice cut through her rage.

“What!”

“They’ve finished the trial. The verdict is going to be read soon,” he said. He glanced down at the sobbing man. “Everything okay?”

Maya clamped down on the rage and anger she felt. She took a long breath and stared at the ceiling. She blinked her eyes, realizing she had been crying also.

“I’m fine, Tender,” she said calmly. “I’m just a little rusty with my customer service skills.” Maya smiled and turned to the sobbing man. “This fucker, he’s robbing corpses. He knows where Luis Martin’s body is. Find out if he’s working with anyone else, find out where the body is, and then ban him and anyone working with him forevermore from the Cage.”

“On it, boss,” Tender said. He paused and set a hand on her shoulder. “If you need to talk, I am here for you.”

“It’s fine, Tender,” Maya forced a smile. “Just a little frazzled from all of this.”

“Understood.”

***

“Death,” Joshua stated.

“Death,” Veronica said.

“D-Death,” Juan stammered.

“Death,” Ramon said coldly.

Maya watched as the crowd silently looked upon the Chimbote council. The verdict was in, the evidence had been seen, and now the seven hundred men were doomed to die. A profound silence filled the large chamber.

“This is justice,” Maya said into the silence. All heads turned to her, hundreds of men and women. “This is justice that we have done here. The multiverse is filled with people like Samanco. People who would rule over others in blood thirsty and tyrannical ways, who only see the death and misery they cause as their right, just because they have high levels.”

Maya walked down the center of the chamber. “Power. That is all anyone cares about. What are your levels, what Skills do you have, what is your Tier. Integration changed a lot of things, but it didn’t change the fact that power means control over people; power means ruling over them; power means dominating them. Look upon Samanco’s camps, look upon the places he conquered, look upon the men who followed him. That is what unchecked power leads to.”

Maya raised her hand and behind the dias the four council members sat, the wall began to change. It became opaque, the shadows of figures behind the frosty wall. Then it became translucent, showing hundreds of men neatly secured in man-sized boxes. They were still armed, armored, and their faces warped into fear, anger, or bloodlust, frozen in the moment they had been teleported into the Cage.

“Power has no need for justice,” Maya stated. “Power defies justice. But in the end, if we believe in it, if we truly want it, then justice will prevail. Justice, reason, and morality are the cornerstones of our species.

“Any who would go against that, any who would seek to slaughter their fellow man, they stand against us. We have a great war ahead of us, a war of survival, a war that will engulf the entire planet. Everyday the changes to this planet grow stronger and stronger, the monsters deadlier, the mana renders more terrible. Our world is being ripped apart by Integration, but if we work together, we will survive it. It will not be Power that does it, it will not be men like Samanco who will save humanity, it will be you.” Maya pointed to the crowd.

“You are the soldiers that will defend humanity in the coming days. They will be dark and fretful days, but you will stand against the tide of change that is happening.

“Samanco is not the only one, there are many more like him. The bodies pile up as every day passes. People like Samanco will fall eventually, they are not sustainable. They only know how to destroy, not build. It will be you who rebuild and that foundation will be built upon one concept, Justice. Justice for all.”

Maya looked at the crowd as the silently stared back at her.

“Every man or woman who seeks to rule through blood and suffering, they shall not stand long. Any who seeks to extinguish life on a massive scale shall not survive long. They shall face justice and it will be swift.”

Maya snapped her fingers. All seven hundred men suddenly came to life, they looked around shocked and horrified. Their faces peering out of the translucent box they were trapped with in.

Maya turned to the wall of men.

“You have been tried and found guilty of your crimes against humanity,” Maya declared. “Your punishment is death.”

They could hear her, but their voices were silent. The men began banging upon the walls, yelling, or trying to use their weapons to free themselves.

“Death.” Maya said.

The Cage warped and a collective gasp filled the chamber.

Quest: Justice for All

The collapse of your world has brought forth monsters who prey upon the weak through blood and suffering. Destroy all those who would slaughter unnecessarily, who would commit crimes against SIL.

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Rewards: EXP & Loot