After dinner, the officers and I headed to the lowest level of the base. "This is where we keep the recovered weapons and gear," explained Colonel Goldman. "We have limited samples overall. So the ones that have been reserved for your use - they cost a lot to gain." I knew that he meant in lives, not money. "You have my word that I will treat the samples with appropriate respect." “That’s all we ask for,” replied Goldman. The first sample we examined was a pile of what looked like broken-down junk. “What is that?” I inquired. “Pieces from the wreckage of an alien transport vehicle,” explained Fraser. “Scientists have been taking samples from it for years to try and work out the material. Not much luck.” I nodded in acknowledgement. DAMAGED RAPTOR JEEP MOTOR PART OF A RAPTOR COMBAT JEEP, THIS WAS BADLY DAMAGED IN BATTLE. I pushed my power into Analyze. VERY LITTLE CAN BE LEARNT FROM THIS DEVICE. HOWEVER, SOME EXOTIC ALLOYS ARE USED IN ITS CONSTRUCTION. REVERSE ENGINEER THE MATERIALS TO LEARN MORE. I frowned. “I’d like to break off a piece for some testing. You won’t get it back, though.” “Go ahead,” nodded Goldman. I selected a fragment that seemed to be especially shiny and invoked Reverse Engineering. Blue light spewed out of me in a rush, selecting the piece and dissolving it. The officers took a slow step backwards. When the lightshow had ended, the fragment had dissolved, leaving a two-inch hole in one of the motor struts. The rest of the sample was intact. YOU HAVE ANALYZED A SAMPLE OF ALIEN VEHICLE ARMOR, WHICH IS EXTREMELY ADVANCED COMPARED TO HUMAN TECHNOLOGY. NEW QUEST ALERT: DISCOVER TITANWEAVE. REVERSE ENGINEER 100 SAMPLES OF TITANWEAVE ARMOR TO UNLOCK BLUEPRINTS FOR THIS MATERIAL. CURRENT: 1/100 SAMPLES. Yeah, that was going to take some explaining. “The aliens seem to use a material called Titanweave,” I told the officers. “I need to analyze a hundred samples of it like this before I can figure out some particularly useful information.” The Colonel frowned. “I don’t think we have that much material available, but you can try.” “What’s that?” I asked Dr. Shapiro. The object might have been a tower, once. Now, it was a warped, twisted hulk of metal. “That’s a shield tower,” replied Shapiro. “The aliens used it to create a force shield.” “Does it work anything like a masking field?” “We think not. Masking fields conceal people. A force shield basically creates an impenetrable barrier between what it’s protecting and the outside world. Like the planetary shield that protects Earth.” “Oh,” I nodded. “The aliens set up shield towers?” “Yes. These generate a field covering an area about the size of a small stadium. They’re rarely used - we suspect they may be pretty expensive.” “So if you’re inside the shield people outside can’t shoot you.” “Well - the alien shields aren’t as good as Earth’s planetary shield. For starters, the planetary shield provides complete coverage; the alien shields, however, only provide overhead coverage. It’s essentially like putting a dome on top of your location.” “That’s still good. It protects them from bombs?” “And artillery. And paratroopers. And anything else you can throw at them from the air.” “How did this one get so… warped, then?” “Well, that’s one weakness of the alien shields. About five feet from the ground, they weaken. You still can’t shoot through them; but you can walk through.” “... walk through?” “It’s like pushing through a wall of taffy,” commented Fraser. “If you walk slowly. If you run, or try to move too fast - the force shield gets stronger.” He shrugged. “Soldiers have to step through gently, then they’re on the other side. Doesn’t work at a height above five feet, so you need to duck or crawl through.” “And once they’re on the other side,” rumbled Goldman, “they can take out the tower. That’s how we secured this one.” “Can I….” “Be our guest.” I used Analyze on it. WRECKED SHIELD TOWER THE ALIEN FORCES USE THIS TO PROVIDE PROTECTION TO KEY INSTALLATIONS AND GROUND FORCES. EASY TO SET UP AND USE, THESE MASS-PRODUCED UNITS ARE WEAK COMPARED TO THE SHIELD GENERATORS ON MAIN LINE SHIPS. HOWEVER, SHIELDING TECHNOLOGY IS BEYOND YOUR CURRENT ABILITIES TO CREATE OR USE. OBJECT IS TOO DAMAGED TO BE REVERSE ENGINEERED. CANNOT REVERSE ENGINEER. REQUIRES MECHANIC LEVEL 45, ENERGY SYSTEMS LEVEL 10, HIERARCHY LORE LEVEL 10, GRAVITIC SYSTEMS LEVEL 5. So Reverse Engineering had limitations. That was sobering. We went through a variety of alien samples, all of which had been recovered at great expense. According to my power, most of it was junk, unsalvageable, too advanced or too wrecked to reverse engineer. However, the plasma rifles were not. The first plasma rifle I saw was in fragments. “Smashed in Seattle,” explained Major Fraser. “Still a very valuable piece. Can you get something out of it?” I used Analyze first. SARNAK PLASMA RIFLE +100 DAMAGE/HIT +25% BURN, 4 SHOTS / MINUTE REVERSE ENGINEER? Y/N “I … would like to try,” I replied, “but it’ll consume the rifle.” Fraser looked at the Colonel, who nodded. “It’s been sitting here in pieces anyway. We’ve got plenty more of them lying around.” He snorted. “At least twenty of which are thanks to you.” “If you think you can build a functional one,” added Shapiro, “then the expenditure would be worth it.” I nodded, then used Reverse Engineering. YOU HAVE ANALYZED A SAMPLE OF ALIEN WEAPONRY, WHICH IS EXTREMELY ADVANCED COMPARED TO HUMAN TECHNOLOGY. EXPLOSIVES SKILL UPGRADED TO LEVEL 5. NEW QUEST ALERT: UNLOCK PLASMA WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY. REVERSE ENGINEER 10 DAMAGED PLASMA WEAPONS AND 1 INTACT PLASMA WEAPON TO UNLOCK THE BLUEPRINTS TO YOUR FIRST PLASMA WEAPON. “I can get part of the way, but I’ll need nine more samples and at least one intact weapon to consume in order to actually understand how these can be made. Or at least, get an idea in that direction.” The Colonel frowned. “The damaged samples aren’t a problem. The intact weapon, though…” He trailed off. “See how much you can get.” We went through more of the devices. The Army folks were content to let me use Reverse Engineering on a variety of odds and ends the aliens had left behind, including damaged plasma rifles. One of the devices looked like a telescoping baton of some sort. I picked it up idly and used Observe. TEST OF PERCEPTION: PASSED DAMAGED Q-PHASE STUNNER USED BY HIERARCHY PERSONNEL TO SUBDUE, PARALYZE AND RENDER TARGETS UNCONSCIOUS, THE Q-PHASE STUNNER IS ABLE TO KNOCK OUT ANY INTELLIGENT LIFE-FORM, IRRESPECTIVE OF SPECIES, WITHOUT ACTUALLY KILLING THEM. A PATHBREAKING INVENTION, THIS DEVICE WON ITS INVENTOR HIGH RECOGNITION IN THE COUNCILS OF THE HIERARCHY. I stared for a moment, shocked. Q-phase Blast Effect. The status effect that had kept Paul Drake unconscious for months. It had been the aliens. I paused, carefully. “Can I consume this?” Fraser nodded. “Be our guest. We have no idea what that is, anyway.” I carefully ran first Analyze over it, then Reverse Engineering. SKILL UPGRADED: MINDSTRIKE. MINDSTRIKE UPGRADES TO LEVEL 2. +20 DAMAGE. SKILL UPGRADED: ELECTRONIC ARTS. ELECTRONIC ARTS INCREASES TO LEVEL 9. NEW BLUEPRINT UNLOCKED: Q-PHASE SCANNER COMPONENT. ALLOWS YOU TO SCAN AND DETECT THE USE OF Q-PHASE WEAPONRY WITHIN A RANGE OF 5 KM. WITH PROPER ENHANCEMENTS, YOU CAN LOCATE YOUR FOES PRECISELY. SCANNER COMPONENT REQUIRES POWER ARMOR WITH COMPONENT SLOTS TO USE. “The aliens use these as stun weapons,” I explained. “They are designed to knock out any other alien of any species.” “Without the need for calibration?” asked Shapiro. “I assume so.” “Why would they need stun weapons?” mused Goldman. “To collect samples?” Fraser shrugged. “We still don’t have a clear idea for why these raids are carried out.” “We don’t know their rules of engagement either,” commented Shapiro. “It’s likely they may have specific conditions under which they are not allowed to kill.” “Like abduction,” muttered Goldman darkly. It was close to five a.m. when we were done. I’d kept analyzing - and reverse engineering - various fragments and broken pieces throughout. Most had yielded nothing of use. However, several of my skills had advanced - Mechanic now stood at Level 23. Most importantly, though, Electronic Arts had advanced to Level 11, giving me the last of the four skills I needed to unlock Powered Armor Forging. QUEST COMPLETED. ALL FOUR PREREQUISITES FOR POWERED ARMOR FORGING UNLOCKED. +1000 XP. NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: POWERED ARMOR FORGING. The three officers escorted me to the same room from where I'd arrived, where the Traveler was waiting. "We hope you learnt something useful from the whole experience, Belessar," said Colonel Goldman. "I did indeed. I hope my insights were helpful to you." "That they were. Let's keep up the information exchange, then? I'm sure you'll have more insights from future battles." “Here’s hoping,” I smiled, thinking of the quest I’d gained along the Origin of the Powers questline. NEW QUEST ALERT: SPEAKING WITH THE ENEMY. THE TRUTH OF THE ALIENS’ INTENTIONS CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD BY SPEAKING TO THE ALIENS THEMSELVES. NOT ALL ALIEN SPECIES ARE EQUAL, HOWEVER. THE FACTION CALLED THE BONES OF THE HIERARCHY SEEMS LESS IMPORTANT THAN THE SPINE OF THE HIERARCHY. FIND AN ALIEN BELONGING TO THE SPINE OF THE HIERARCHY AND ASK THEM WHY THEY’RE ATTACKING EARTH. HOPEFULLY THEY WILL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, IN RETURN FOR SOMETHING USEFUL. OF COURSE, SINCE YOU DON’T KNOW THE LANGUAGE OF THE ALIENS, YOU’LL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM FIRST. INCREASE HIERARCHY LORE TO LEVEL 10 IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK, AND WHOM TO ASK. REWARD: 8,000 XP + 1 ALIEN TECHNOLOGY UNLOCKED + 3 ATTRIBUTE POINTS.