Chapter 59

Acronyms Decryptions and Drugs: ADD

I am there holding the details of the ten-day contract in my hand, and I pause. For a second I was half tempted to sign. Then I realize a few things. First, the contract only states that it will take me to the unspecified location, nothing about taking me back once the contract is complete. Second, I have money now, even after having to literally buy all my military academy gear at cost. Third, I realize now that I am impaired in a minor way.

Pausing for a moment, I realize I am not impaired by mental attacks. Instead, it takes me a minute to realize I have been drugged, if ever so slightly. At this point I realize I am exceptionally easy to take advantage of while drugged.

To test my hypothesis that I am drugged, I cast Cleanse on myself.

Within seconds I feel a slight fog that had been covering my mind slowly lift. My thoughts seem to become more my own, and that is when I realize I was right. Then I wonder how many times I had been influenced by such actions in the past.

Still holding the ePen in my hand, I pause. Then turn my gaze to the handler.

“Bravo, by the way. That was either the worst BRO-CODE recruitment, or the best.” I begin, first trying to butter up the handler.

“What?” She asks.

I nod, realizing that the term might not translate well. “Here, we humans call the type of recruitment Rendius tried to be BRO-CODE. It is an acronym. Ballistic Recruitment Operations, or BRO. This is the main category, the belief that operatives who are brought in as part of a team who have already fought together are more likely to stay together. The designation afterwards changes, CODE is the most common, then comes CORD, COLD, CONE, and COIL. They are generally presented in that order as that is their most common way you can expect to see them.”

She is fully invested at this point as she is staring at me intently. I still need time for my Cleanse to do its work, so I continue. Knowing this is likely a breach of some form of NDA from a past life, but since I didn’t sign those in this lifetime I continue.

“CODE, short for Combat Operations: Defend and Evade. This is the most common form of the operation meant to instill comradery and faith in the new team that the proposed operative is being brought in on. From there we have in descending order CORD, short for Combat Operations: Rescue and Destroy, sort of a fun two-fer, where you rescue a close friend of the operative and then get to destroy something on the way. Sort of costly unless you are in enemy territory. My guess is that you didn’t have a target you felt I was close to?”

The handler just pauses, as she looks at me. Then I swear I see her take down notes on her communicator. I give her a second to record the two that I’ve already mentioned. The Dwenvarian text appearing before me backwards as she types. Judging by her response I assume they didn’t even know such an operation was an option.

I guess they are new to this whole thing, finally I think to myself as I realize I am teaching space dwarfs to be subtle. What will happen next?

“All right, you mentioned a few others?”

“Yes, as you can imagine they are all Combat Operations in some way shape or form. From Cord we go to COLD, for Locate and Destroy. Then Cone, for Neutralize and Evade. Then the worst one Infiltrate and Liberate, only useful if the people in question have some type of dirt that they need to be removed from their names. Also, only useful if it can be proven that the information in question is only stored at one location.” I explain.

“Very interesting.” The Handler says, as she records everything down on her recorder.

By now my mind is completely clear of the influence from the foreign substance, and I can think clearly. With that I try to figure out exactly when I was introduced to the substance. Finally, I just ask.

“Was it the food?” I ask.

“What?” She asks genuinely confused.

“The drugs. I am guessing a mild opiate, or some kind of inhibiter?” I guess, by the way I am coming down and suddenly more in control of my own mental faculties.

She pauses for a minute, then looks from me to the passed out Rendius, or Goldhammer, as he is more commonly known. Then a spark comes to her mind.

“I think I know, but before I tell you, do you know about older stage Dwenvarians?”

“Older stage?” I ask, suddenly I wonder. Then the thought hits me. “Is he dying?”

She pauses, “what? No! Of course not. He is just getting to that point in his career where he will no longer be able to go out on missions, as he currently is.” She stated.

I nod understandingly. Then I look at his long salt and pepper beard that has a lot more salt than pepper at this point.

“I see.” I say, as I look over to Rendius with pity. It is always sad to see a good operative who will have to be taken from the field. I can only imagine what this means for the Dwenvarians, as he is a legend among their kind. Who will bring fear into the hearts of others.

“No, I don’t believe you do. But there is a biological option that generally happens to Dwenvarian males who get to a certain point. When they are getting close to their final hunt, they feel it. The alcohol does less and less, and partly due to this their glands act up and help tag other males. Tag is the human slang for this process. In our culture this is considered quite the honor. But by being tagged you have been noted as one of the elite warriors that Rendius would want to go on a final hunt with.”

In a way, I feel honored. This is a rite of passage. “A sort of win one for the gipper?” I ask.

The handler just stares at me.

After I say it, I realize it is an old slang anyways. “You know, a final hurrah. Going out with your head held high because you gave it everything you had? That sort of thing?” I ask.

Hearing this, the handler thinks about it, then nods slightly. “That is part of it, though I will admit, you are the first human I have ever heard about being tagged in such a way. In a way you should feel excited. This is quite the honor, especially to be chosen by the Goldhammer.”

Then as if hearing his name brought him back from whatever depths he was in, he began to rise. “Yoo, you called?”

Hearing his stir, the handler just smiled brightly at him for a moment. “Welcome back. Do you think you have it in you to entertain some ladies?” The handler asked.

Hearing that, Goldhammer let out a long sigh. “If I must.”

Snap!

The handler snapped her fingers. Instantly a lot of the forced conversations that had been going on around us suddenly died off. Then several very lovely Dwenvarians came from out behind the bar. Many were scantily clad, with clothes that their mothers would likely be ashamed they were seen in public wearing, let alone a bar. Still, no one seemed to bat an eye.

At the same time the handler just spoke in her motherly tone. “I think you do protest too much. Remember this is for our future.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He said, as he began sitting up. Then his eyes lit up as he saw me. “You’re still here?” He said, as he sounded excited by my very presence.

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but feel a little excited. Here it was a living legend, the Goldhammer himself, was happy that I was still here with him.

Then Goldhammer, or Rendius, turned to the handler. “He signed the contract, right?”

“He has not signed the contract.”

Hearing that Rendius turned his full attention to me. “Oh, come on. You need to sign the contract. This is my last hunt. I need a warrior I can trust, a warrior like you.”

“How do you know you can trust me?” I ask.

He just stares at me for a minute, then exclaims. “Anyone who can kill off hundreds of Prolaxians, including two magic wielding menaces that we have never seen in one go, by himself, is someone that you can trust in battle. Add to that the fact that you were in a ship without any weapons, and you were still able to not just kill the little buggers but do so handedly.” He shakes his head, as many of the beautiful Dwenvarians begin to come around him and start cooing for his attention. He still only has eyes for me.

“That is a man I want to be with. A man I must be with for my final hunt.” Rendius says, as he turns from me to his handler.

“We are working on it. Now go and enjoy yourself while you can.” The handler said.

I felt a few stray hands on me. I turn to see that a few of the girls that had come to entertain Rendius have taken an interest in me.

“Oh, is he the one we are here for?” One girl asks from right behind me.

I am normally okay with people being close, but such intimate touching on my shoulders is a no. I don’t know what it is, I think it has something to do with my childhood when I got severe sun poisoning on my shoulders and flinched whenever my brother would touch my badly burnt shoulders. I have been so traumatized by that time of my life, that I still find myself flinching when someone touches my shoulders, even today.

Fortunately, I am saved by Rendius. “Hands off. He is mine… I mean, my bro.”

Hearing that, all the girls who had been drawn to me, suddenly stop then take an involuntary half step back.

“Too bad.”

“Yeah, he is a cutie.”

“Well, if that’s the way it is, then I will need someone to fill this longing in my loins…I mean heart.” A third female says, as she seems to be the leader. With a concerted effort, she grabs hold of Rendius and begins lifting him out from the far open side of the booth.

“Let go of me you harpies, I can move on my own.” Rendius says, as he almost looks sad by the fact that he will have to entertain a half dozen beautiful women tonight.

The women of course move in, and all seem to grab him from different angles. In the end he is moving, but pretty much as a casualty. When he leaves, I turn back to the handler.

“Will he be all right?”

“Oh, he complains a lot, but he knows this is for the best.” The handler exclaims while waiving a hand in the air.

“Is his time really that short?” I ask, not wanting to broach the true subject of death. As I doubt, he will likely reincarnate like I have. That or even if he will reincarnate, it would still be hundreds of years before my birth, let alone this moment.

“Unfortunately. Soon he will have to split his time between field work and raising babies.”

Hearing that, I look back at him and see the number of women who are all with him. Then a thought hits me, “he is going to try to impregnate all of those women?” I ask.

“That’s the plan.” She says, then seeing my reaction she adds. “At the very least it should be a whole lot of fun in the process.”

“Well yeah.” I state. Then I wonder about the health care benefits. Clearly, they are highly valued in Dwenvarian society. At least that is what I have gathered from watching these little exchanges.

Finally, with Rendius and his entourage of women gone, I turn back to the handler.

“All right.” She begins, as apparently, we are getting to the sales pitch portion of this program. “Let’s get down to business. The boss has taken a liking to you. Even given you preferential Bro treatment. This means, we can do a few things. Given his impressive track record, we can do quite a bit to make this happen. The reason I offered a ten-day contract is that is the longest we think it should take.”

I am sort of confused. I know there is a subject she is talking around, but for the life of me, but I can’t quite understand what.

“To be clear this is a hunting contract, right? We go out hunt Prolaxians then stop once the time is met?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“Well, there is a slight problem. I want it guaranteed that I can have a return to any place I deem worthy once the contract is up.”

“Done.”

Chirp.

With that, I hear a ding come through and new clause is added to my ten-day contract. This portion is now in green that allows me to be transported at any time after the completion of the contract to any place I wish, at the cost of the Dwenvarians. I like it, loosely worded, so I I could take on a second contract there or do something else entirely.

Nodding to myself, the handler continues.

“Anything else?”

I pause as I think about the question. Then I realize something. “I will need equipment. I have money, but I don’t have access to any major catalogues.”

“Done.”

Chirp.

Another new bullet is added to my contract that allows me to purchase military grade equipment that is not combative in nature. Anything that will be combative will be provided by the operatives in the field, at which point I will hand them over once the mission is over.

I read it, then re-read it. Then wonder if I should.

“Out of curiosity, how much time is left?”

The handler pauses, then lets a pained expression cross her face. “Not much. If you are worried about long term commitments, then don’t. This is a onetime offer. One that we will likely not be able to offer again later. That is why I suggest you make sure every clause you want is added.”

Hearing that, my ears perk up.

“So, you are able to offer more?”

Hearing that, the handler just smiles knowingly. “Have you asked about the bro discount?”

With that, my eyes go wide. While I do have money currently, saving money on gear that I was going to purchase anyways is always great.

“Do you have a bro discount?” I ask.

“I thought you would never ask.”

Chirp.

With that a third clause is added, one that makes it so any items purchased will have a 50% bro discount added to it.

Looking at the word, I wonder if there is something about the word that I am missing in translation.

“Does the word bro mean something different for you?”

Hearing that, the handler just smiles coyly. “Sing the form and find out.”

Hearing that, I realize her words ring true. “Is it a spiritual thing?” I ask.

“In a way. As close to transcendence as we get.”

Hearing that, I look at the contract. Ten days, or until a particularly tough nest of Prolaxians are killed. I would want to kill the Prolaxians anyways, so that is no big deal. The fact that I will be paid and given access to military grade gear and equipment is only icing on the cake.

“What about mechs?” I ask.

“What about them?”

“Can I buy one?”

The handler just smiles. “Are they part of the shop?”

Hearing that, I look at the clause for buying gear and see that there is a link. Then from the link I see that there are in fact a few options available for mechanoid units. A smile breaks my lips as I have never had a chance in any lifetime to try one of these devices. While I comment on the easiest way to take down a mech unit being to go after the mind of the driver. I cannot help but point out, how amazing the mechanoid units are in general. They are faster, stronger, and more durable than anything the humans or Endarians have. Also, their windshields are top notch.

Smiling to myself. I pick up the ePen and sign.

This is a random encounter, but more importantly, this will get me the equipment I will need to continue my life. Also, how cool is it that I get a mech? A full suite of mobile armor that will enhance my physical attributes and react to my will. I have also heard about ways they can insert focusing crystals for Magic and Psychic users alike. I wonder what type of options they have for those wielders.

As soon as I sign, and submit the form, the handler gets her own chime.

“Very well, it seems our business here is now concluded.” She says, as she begins to leave the table.

“Please feel free to stay.” She says, waving a hand at the room around us. “We will meet back here at 0600.” She says, while looking at her watch.

I look at mine and see that I only have a few hours to wait before the allotted time. Then I see her going off to the same stairwell that Rendius was taken up a few moments ago.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

The handler turns to me, then smiles. “Why to join the fun of course. I need to enjoy this while I can.” She purrs as she goes up the steps.

As she goes, I can’t help but wonder what exactly is wrong with Rendius. By all accounts he seems to be at the top of his game, of course I think that, then remember how he drunkenly destroyed half a city block a few hours ago and think better of it. Still, ten days to get gear and to say I was part of the Goldhammer’s final campaign, that is an honor.

Rather than going anywhere. I open the shop menu and see that everything is now available for purchase. With that I decide to spend the next few hours preparing for my future. I begin by focusing on the essentials. That’s right, I begin with customizing my own mechanoid suit.

Of course it is only after I have a second to focus, that I realize I might still be under the influence of whatever musk is happening.

I make a mental note to cast Cleanse often.