"Anni, get up! School!"

Kellin choked on the coffee he'd just been taking a sip of, certain he'd been laying down to sleep just moments ago but finding himself well-rested and... at home, no less. Some of the burning liquid spilt down onto his legs and seeped through his robe, hot but not so much that he'd need to dance about in pain. Reaching down and touching the spot with wonder, he felt how damp it had already become.

It would leave a stain.

"Dad!"

A light smack to his shoulder brought his eyes back up, his daughter's upset face directly in front of him.

"I just got you that!" she complained, eyebrows creased in mock hurt. "You didn't even try and figure it out today, either! You're always so distracted these days."

"I'm sorry sweetheart," he responded on reflex, putting his coffee cup down on the table and looking down at his wet lap. "I... should get it in the wash-" he started, beginning to stand before he shook his head, the interaction playing out before him identical to his past.

A different day than the last time he'd dreamt like this, each detail recorded... perfectly. The clock on the wall, the slightly chipped cup, each scratch and groove in the table he enjoyed picking at...

"Good morning Annabelle. Would you like some toast and eggs?" came the voice from the kitchen, Kellin turning and watching as Gypsy appeared in the same doorway as always, emotionless as Anni tackled her in yet another hug.

"Always, sweetheart!" she called up to the AI, mocking Kellin's voice and letting go before Gypsy could complain.

Arms spread out to the side like an airplane, she ran to sit down next to Kellin, full of energy as always.

"Hey da-*static*-tain, we need to-*static*-ot a one hundred on my last test?!" she said excitedly, sitting down with a big smile on. "Mrs. Sona said I-*static*-eave now, Captain!" came the scream of his first lieutenant, one of his oldest friends interrupting his daughter.

It hurt to see a man he thought he'd never speak to again.

"Dev, evac is-"

"They won't come!" the man interrupted, shaking the collar of Kellin's uniform violently. "You know they won't; we need to move!"

Kellin shook his head, holding it with his hands as Gypsy's voice relayed the probability they'd show.

Lifting his eyes, the kitchen and his daughter were gone. He was standing in his suit, surrounded by the men he'd been given command of to extract materials from Redmond's surface. They were all situated in a semi-circle, huddled up against a cliff and looking out across the multitude of stone pillars in between them and the forward base for this planet. Above sat the flat stone mushroom tops of each pillar, barely any of the sky beyond visible in between the caps, like a broken apart and neverending parking structure into the horizon.

They'd set up a small defense here but all knew it would delay the enemy's approach for a minute at most; staying was in no way an option.

The probability Gypsy had relayed was above 63%, just like he remembered from the last time he'd seen these men alive. Of course, the statistics wouldn't change.

Kellin felt his mouth open as words he didn't choose to speak came out from memory, playing the scene before him. He didn't stop it this time.

"Lieutenant. It's too late to change our minds now. We have our orders. We stay for evac."

The man's face drooped as Kellin continued, the last thing he'd ever said to his best friend a lie.

"We will get out of this alive, all of us, just like always."

The gunfire that had been a background noise on occasion prior to this point in his memory exploded all around them with a vengeance, drowning out his Lieutenant's next words.

In the moment, he'd not known what Devon had said, assuming the man was yelling at him for incompetence. After two minutes, the Savul overran their barriers. After another ten, five of his men were left alive. A minute later, Devon grabbed ahold of Kellin's suit and shoved him into a crevice, blocking the exit with his own and setting off several dead men's Combat Suit reactors at once.

*Boom*

Kellin woke up with a loud gasp, grabbing at the bed next to him. The bright explosion faded away instantly as he opened his eyes, scanning the dark space around him for Savul, unfocused and confused until a dim blue light began to light up the Hutch. Realization dawned on his sweaty face as he slowly began to calm down, remembering where he was.

Lifting his body up a bit, Kellin pulled himself to the edge of the bed and sat, head in hands, slowing his breathing before standing up. Turning around, he reached up to the spot in between the two bunks and pulled out a drawer filled with black shorts, another with white t-shirts, and a last with briefs. He turned again and began walking toward the bathroom, a dark expression clouding his face.

-Good morning, Captain Finnel-

The voice startled him, body freezing up for a split second before he nodded in acknowledgment, continuing toward the bathroom.

-Gypsy-

He entered the bathroom and shut the divider, turning on the shower to help mitigate the morning chill before handling his morning needs.

An hour later, the divider opened as Kellin exited the bathroom, feeling lighter in both mind and body. A glance up showed the indirect lighting all across the ceiling had been turned on since he'd been gone. Breathing in through his nose, a familiar smell wafted over him from the kitchen stove on the opposite end of their Hutch.

It wasn't that welcome of a smell this morning, unfortunately.

"Toast and eggs have been made, Captain Finnel." Gypsy stated, a mechanical arm attached to the vent hood above the stove just finishing up its last turn of the over-medium eggs in a pan below.

Kellin looked downward for a moment before shifting his view over to the toaster, exhaling and putting on a light smile.

"Thank you, Gyps. I'm surprised they had the materials for it."

He moved to the cabinet near the stove, grabbed a plate and a fork, then sat down at the computer desk. The food went down without effort, not harboring much taste. With breakfast out of the way, Kellin pushed the plate to the side and brought the keyboard up out of the metal surface, hitting the power button in the upper corner of it to activate the screen interface before him.

"How about we get our weapons, spend some [Credits], and settle into this new body, hmm?"

Two beeps later, Kellin brought up their [Status] page and made it available for public viewing, turning it slightly toward the suit. He scrolled to the bottom of their [Status] until he found the [Equipment] section.

[Equipment*:

Cannister Rifle:

Damage: 5

Ammo: 10

Durability: N/A

Upgrades: N/A]

[*Please select Class Equipment]

Kellin stood up and moved toward the Repair Bay, pulling his trusty [Cannister Rifle] off the Combat Suit and moving the heavy gun over to the crafting table they'd chosen to ignore the day before. When he set the gun down, a couple of notifications popped up before him.

[Congratulations! Individual Kellin Finnel/Gypsy has interacted with a Profession oriented: Crafting Zone for the first time! Professions based on Crafting aptitude now available!]

[Note: If you would like another Profession, you will need to be offered an apprenticeship through another individual]

Pausing momentarily to read the paragraph, Kellin then closed out the notification and moved back to the desk, sitting down again.

"We can handle that later; Moving the gun here lets us see if it'll disappear or change after picking the new weapons," he said aloud. "Now then, you said you were trying to find an optimal setup?"

"That is correct."

"What did you find?" he followed up without delay, finding that trying to get her to explain willingly was hit and miss so far.

"... new data has rendered initial calculations void. Suggested weapon choices: Gauss Rifle, Wave Pistol and Combat Knife."

Kellin considered the options, not exactly hating them, then moved his eyes back to the [Equipment] tab and willed it to expand.

[Equipment*:

Cannister Rifle:

Damage: 5

Ammo: 10

Durability: N/A

Upgrades: N/A]

[*Please select Class Equipment]

[Class Equipment choices available(Choose Two):

Gauss Rifle ---- Wave Pistol and Pistol ---- Wave Pistol and Combat Knife ---- Combat Blade]

[Note: Weapon combination variable during Equip]

Focusing on the [Gauss Rifle] allowed him to view specific information about it.

[Gauss Rifle:

Damage: 3

Fire Rate: 500/M

Ammo: 0

Durability: 30/30

Upgrades: None]

[Wave Pistol:

Damage: 2

Ammo: 0

Durability: 15/15

Upgrades: None

Weapon Special - Wave: Channel Pistol with Energy or Mana for .5 to 2.5 seconds, releasing a shockwave holding properties of the resource used to knock back enemy individuals in a wide cone from the barrel. Distance of knock dependent on enemy individual mass.

Resource Cost: 10-50

Knockback(Human): 1-10 feet

Mana Charge: 1-20 damage, double effects of knockback

Energy Charge: 2-40 damage

Weapon barrel must be empty to use ability

Individual must be stationary to charge]

[Pistol:

Damage: 10

Ammo: 0

Durability: 20/20

Upgrades: None]

[Combat Knife:

Damage: 2-7

Durability: 40/40

Upgrades: None

Weapon Special - Affix: Equip blade underneath any Assult type Rifle]

[Combat Blade:

Damage: 7-20

Durability: 50/50

Upgrades: None]

Kellin finished going through the list before considering Gypsy's choices, finding he wasn't exactly against them. The [Wave Pistol] felt like a must, despite its massive drawbacks. Two and a half seconds of remaining stationary along with it only dealing 20 damage for nearly half his mana resource sounded painful, but it also gave them a lot of disengage potential depending on the strength of that knockback at lower charges. He knew the [Gauss Rifle] would be a solid pick for anything he'd encounter with the same general strength of a mature Swarmling, noticing the listed fire rate was lower than the same guns the Empire output. Either way, it would be fine for now and he agreed a knife would be better to have over the [Pistol] in the event they had to come into close combat.

"I'm curious, what were your previous choices?" he asked, wondering what had made her change her mind.

"... initial choices: [Wave Pistol], [Pistol], [Combat Blade]," she relented, Kellin's eyebrows raising a bit confused.

"How is that an ideal combo?" he asked.

The blade did massive damage, but it would in no way outperform the rifle.

Just as she began speaking, Kellin facepalmed as he realized the major advantage of the melee weapon.

"Blade requires no ammo to utilize," she stated.

Costing nothing to use was massive when low on [Credits] like they were. Usually, others with specialized [Professions] crafted ammo for the military to use, leaving them free to upgrade their weapons and supporting [Skills] for said weapons.

With no artisans to support, however...

"Yeah, that's huge," he conceded. "Why change your tune in that case?" he added as an afterthought.

"Original ideal: AI utilizes Combat Suit as frontline, Captain Finnel supporting with [Disruption] and [Wave Pistol]. Option no longer viable. AI unable to pilot suit alone. If staying [Equipped], option retains viability."

Kellin thought back to the previous night, the image of the suit's leg standing straight up causing a laugh build up in his chest that he quickly held down, clearing his throat a few times.

It would be one hell of a surprise to whatever they faced, at least.

"W-well that's true," he nodded. "Let's hear what [Disruption] does before we make any choices here, then," he continued, changing the subject. "We should also see what Class [Evolutions] are available to us. Maybe a [Profession] too. Since it'll be related to crafting, maybe it'll make it so we can craft bullets," he added before thinking about the rest they needed to go through and scowling. "Damn. [Passives] from the [Class] need to be gone through as well... Alright. Let's start from the top. We'll put the [Equipment] choice on the backburner for now."

"Suggestion: View numbers related to [Stat] increases," she added before he got into it.

"Any we can buy right now?" he asked, receiving a lower-pitched two-toned beep in response, indicative of a negative answer. "Then later," he affirmed. "[Disruption] first."

Two normal beeps sounded out as Kellin pulled up a note page on the computer screen before him and got to work.