Chapter 2: Corporate Hire

[ENEMY VANQUISHED!]

Looking at his blood-stained blade that confirmed his kill, Tellius felt as if he had been pulled back in time to his very first kill.

*BAM!* The door of the workshop was flung open, and Sarah, with a struggling Fancy Jack in tow, entered.

"Telli? Are you still alive?..." Sarah asked as she hit the struggling Jack on the nose with the butt of one of her blasters. "... Stop struggling, or I'll blow your brains out!"

"Yes, I'm okay!" Tellius replied absentmindedly as he checked the Lazarus System.

[ENEMY VANQUISHED!]

[Reward: 2×CSP*/****; 3×SSP**/****; 1×SP***/****]

[Note: *Core Stat Point | ** Secondary Stat Point | *** Skill Point | **** Points can be used to raise Stats  and Skills by 1 Lv.]

Looking unconvinced at her suddenly uncharacteristically quiet friend, Sarah asked. "You sure?"

"Yes!..." Tellius answered, shelving the distribution of his rewards with annoyance before he asked while retracting his wrist blade. "... But stack? What's that?"

"A form of life insurance for the moderately wealthy..." Sarah replied, a bit hurt by Tellius's dismissive tone but satisfied with Jack's apparent willingness to cooperate as he stopped struggling. "... It was introduced a year after the Accord by Hades. It's a chip that backs up your consciousness."

"Yeah, of course it was introduced only after the Accord!..." Shock Tellius shook his head, even more disappointed in the morals of the conglomerates and corporations than he had already been. "... Also, who the hell was this guy looking like me and calling himself Tellius Warfield?"

"Good question!..." Sarah agreed before she shook her silent prisoner. "... Wanna answer him, Jack?"

"Do I have a choice?..." Jack asked before he began to answer. "... Fine... His name was or is Adrian Baldur. He's a fan of Tellius Warfield and likes to cosplay as him. Your violent girlfriend here stole her body frame  from him. It was apparently custom-made to resemble Sarah Lawson, Warfield's girlfriend..." Having his head squeezed by Sarah, the wannabe pirate exclaimed in pain. "... Ouch! Not so rough! What did I do to you?"

"You talk too much..." Sarah coldly told Jack, her eyes shining dangerously red. "... But we came for a new spaceship. So, wanna make us a good price for one and an even better one for my old one?"

"Your old one is stolen! How the hell am I supposed to sell yours?..." Jack complained, his head still held by Sarah. Feeling her grip harden, he immediately relented. "... Okay, okay, okay! I guess I can sell it for parts! What kind of spaceship were you thinking of? A nice midnight blue Sphinx or maybe a nova red Cyclops? Oh, or how about an acid green Hydra?"

As if on cue, the acid green Hydra that Tellius had hidden behind during the previous fight and was now riddled with holes collapsed into a pile of scrap metal.

"Maybe not the Hydra, but I am sure I have what you seek in a spaceship." Jack assured her, taken aback by the state of his workshop.

"We're not looking for your registered crap, but the unregistered good stuff..." Sarah stated coldly to Tellius's amusement, as she had pulled something  similar with the supply staff. "... I once heard that you had an unregistered Ares Inferno-Class Dropship."

As soon as Tellius heard 'Inferno-Class', he immediately remembered his Spear of Fortune. The old orbital dropship which had been their base of operation before the Corporate War, but was destroyed in the first wave of attack over Thermopoly-6.

"How the hell do you know?..." Exclaimed Jack before realizing the error in his wording. "... Ahm... That's a bloody lie!"

"Oh, come on, you don't want us here any longer than we have to!" Tellius persuaded, playing the good cop to Sarah's bad one.

Upon Sarah's gentle squeeze, Jack instantly relented. "Ouch! Fine! It's in my private dock at the other end of the station."

"Great that we could come so quickly to an agreement!..." Sarah happily exclaimed, letting go of the mortified salesman before she even adjusted his outfit with a predatory grin. "... You take my borrowed ship and I take that unregistered Inferno-Class Dropship off your hands. A Win-Win, don't you think?"

"If you say so..." Fancy Jack muttered, rubbing his temples as Sarah's sudden friendliness was terrifying him.

"Great! After you, Mr. Searcher." Ordered Sarah, one of her blasters pressed against the lower back of Jack's skull.

"I think we should take the supply tunnel." Jack stated before leading the two cyborgs to a messy bookshelf.

There he pushed some ornamentals, and instantly the shelf swung open, revealing a rather dimly lit corridor with pipes and wires running along its walls and flickering lights illuminating the way.

Noticing the corrosion of some pipes, Tellius commented sarcastically, "You're not using this all that often now, are you?"

"It was primarily intended as an escape route..." Jack said, rolling his eyes as he stepped into the tunnel. "... Not that I had to escape much with Cerberus security being in favor of businesses like mine."

"You're selling unlicensed spaceships..." Tellius snorted while following the fancy pirate, the sound of music booming through the ceiling. "... And how much is the authority in favor of your business?"

"They have either given up on unlicensed spaceships or don't care anymore..." Jack explained as they turned around a corner to the left. "... I don't care either way since I haven't had an audit nor an officer check my business from the start."

"Or maybe this station is so far out that they don't think it's cost-effective to check up on you, ever thought about that?..." Sarah questioned the validity of the salesman's thought process, just as the screams of women and the grunts of men sounded through the sealing. "... After all, so far out it is not the authority responsible for law enforcement but the conglomerates."

"Dammed! Did they actually go through with the Privatisation of Public Safety Act?" Tellius cursed having once heared his father curse the member of parliament that had brought the act to the floor as it allowed a select few companies to enforce the law.

"It was part of the Peace Accord!..." Interrupted Jack annoyed by Tellius lack of knowledge as they turned another corner to the left. "... Dammed! Have you been living under a rock the past nine years?"

"No, he hasn't but pretty close actually..." Sarah chimed in as she switched the hand holding her blaster. "... He's been a brain in a glass jar all this time."

"Wow... Seriously?..." The salesman asked in surprised before he gave Tellius a thumbs up, just as a static humming came from the sealing. "... Badass!"

"Okay, what is this humming?..." Asked Sarah slightly suspicious as she was getting the feeling that they had been walking in a circle this entire time. "... Also, did we just walk in a circle?"

"I guess so!..." Replied Tellius and having the same suspicion as her, he triggered the Gladius on his right hand as he grabbed the wannabe pirat by the throat. "... Okay, you little piece of s**t. The music from the dance floor made sense. The moaning from some private rooms also do,but static humming? I think not!"

"Hihihi... I win!..." Laughed the salesman and Tellius immediately noticed the sluggishness of his libs. "... Magnets! Baby!"

That said, Fancy Jack easily pried himself lose from Tellius grip.

Seeing that, Sarah cursed repeatedly pulling the trigger of her blaster. "Dammed! You little piece of s**t! First the ambush and now this?"

"Oh, I am so sorry Miss Lawson, but Mr. Baldur has ties to the man in charge of this station. To go against him is like going against the interests of my business..." Revealed the fancy pirat. "... In the end you could consider me just another corporate hire. It's nothing personal, just business."

...

Meanwhile, soon after the three had left Jack's shop through the supply tunnel, a group of seven tuxedo-wearing robots armed with bats and stun guns arrived.

Wordlessly ordering its subordinates the robot in charge wore an obsidian black three-piece-suit as it contacted its owner via holo-call. "Mr. Baldur. It saddens me to inform you that we've found your son Adrian dead inside his command mech inside Mr. Searcher's Workshop. We're currently recovering his stack."

"Good, that might teach that stupid prick of mine a lesson. Tellius Warfield did not become a Legend because of his body and mech, but despite them..." The miniatur hologram of Theodore Baldur commented.

Even though he was Adrian's uncle and also the stations cerberus representative, he had little love for his pampered nephew. "... Just plug his stack into on of my spare frames and be done with it."

"Yes, Sir!.." The robot replied, before he looked at the wreck of the young master's command mech. "... But what about his mech?"

"F**k! I don't know!..." Exclaimed Theodore exhausted by his nephew's antics. "... Put it into storage."

"Ahm, Sir..." The obsidian colored robot said, before he transmitted another robot discovery regarding Adrian's stack. "... It appears that we've a problem..."

...

Meanwhile standing in a trap of magnetic currents, Sarah and Tellius were failing to even move their limbs just a little bit.

"Dammed! Can you think of a way out of here?" Sarah asked desperately struggling against the invisible force.

"Let me think... Maybe I have a way..." Trellis told her before diving back into his stats in the Lazarus-Sytem.

[User Stats:]

[+Core Stats:]

[-Vitality: Lv. 1 (3/3 HP)]

[-Synchronisation: Lv. 100 (100/100)]

[-Endurance: Lv. - (∞/∞ Stamina)]

[+Secondary Stats:]

[+Strength: Lv. - (max. 720kg)]

[+Dexterity: Lv. - (0.085 seconds)]

[+Intelligence: Lv. 93 (210 IQ)]

[+Awareness: Lv. - (360°)]

[+Luck: Lv. 10 (~10% Damage Negation)

[+Resistances in ADR*:]

[-Impact: 89%]

[-Slash: 56%]

[-Penetration: 97%]

[-Elemental: 68%]

[*Average Damage Reduction]

[Note: You have 2×CSP; 3×SSP;  1×SP available for distribution!]

[Note: Skill Shop now available!]

Not wanting to spend his 1×SP, Tellius first tried to raise his Elemental Resistance through clever stat distribution of his available CSP and SSP. But sadly, his Core- and Secondary-Stats didn't seem to influence his Resistances even a little bit.

Frustrated, he decided to allocate his 2×CSP to level up his Vitality twice, which raised his HP from 3 to 12. Then, he split his 3×SSP between Intelligence and Luck, but in favor of Intelligence, which raised his IQ by 5 and his Damage Negation by 1%.

Rather satisfied with his decisions despite their meager returns, as these increases showcased to him the raw, untapped potential the Lazarus-System held.

Switching from Stats to the Skill-Shop, Tellius was immediately confirmed in his assumption regarding the system's potential.

[Skill Shop:]

[+Skill-Trees:]

[-+Commander]

[--Radio Silence: 50 SP]

[--Morale Boost: 25 SP]

[--Supply Drops: 5 SP]

[-+Mech-Pilot]

[--Final Stand: 50 SP]

[--Berserker-Mode: 25 SP]

[--Auto-Repair: 5 SP]

[-+Infantry]

[--Orbital Strike: 50 SP]

[--Aimbot: 25 SP]

[--Invincibility: 5 SP]

[Note: Your first SP for your first purchase will be counted as 5×SP]

Considering his current situation, Tellius was rather happy that he hadn't spent his Points before as he was now left with only a single logical choice. Mentally selecting Invincibility, an explanation immediately popped up for his purchase.

[+ Invincibility:] activated, absolute Invulnerability ivated this skill grants for the duration of 0.5 seconds by raising all resistances to the maximum and erasing temporary status effects.]

[Purchase for 1 SP?]

[Yes | No]

Confirming his purchase, Tellius exited the system with a smile.

"So, will you come up with a solution before or after they remove my brain from my bodyframe?" Sarah asked him, frustrated as she wasn't finding any way to escape.

"I have one, but we have to be quick..." Tellius told his female companion. "... Half a second quick to be exact."

"Sounds too good to be true, but how?" Sarah asked, suspiciously eyeing her hulking friend.

"I think that I can temporarily overcharge my servos and resist the magnetic field  that way..." Tellius lied, not wanting to burden her with the knowledge of the Lazarus-Systems' existence. "... and 0.5 seconds shouldn't have any lasting impact on my hardware."

"Sounds doable since the magnetic field shouldn't be larger than ten square meters..." Sarah remarked happily. "... Think you can pick me up during that time frame?"

"We can only try!" Tellius told just as he activated his new skill.

*SWUSH!* He moved almost instantly, his limbs suddenly free from the magnetic interference.

In the quarter of a second, Tellius had turned around and picked up Sarah's stiff frame into a princess carry. After half a second, they were out of the trap but carried forward by the momentum of their combined weight. They crashed through one of the space station's paper-thin walls and out into space.

Luckily, instead of floating out into the endless abyss, they bumped into one of the many spaceships currently docked at the station.

[... Establishing audio connection to Sarah Lawson...]

"Can you hear me, Telli?" Sarah's voice soon echoed inside Tellius's skull as his operating system had automatically connected them based on their close proximity.

"Yes, I do..." Replied the former Commander, slightly nauseous as he was having a hard time orienting himself in space without a fixed point. "... How are you not getting sick from this?"

"I have been in this situation more than once..." Sarah told him with a wink as she began climbing out of Tellius's arms. "... You get used to it by the fourth time or so."

"Hm..." Was all Tellius had to say, as they began climbing up the hull of the ship that they had bumped into. After a minute or so of climbing, he had to ask. "... Sarah, doesn't this panel layout remind you of a spaceship we know of?"

Needing a moment to realize what Tellius was telling her, a knowing smirk soon crept onto Sarah's flawless face. "... The Spear of Fortune!"

"Exactly!" Tellius confirmed cheerfully.

...

Meanwhile, just before Sarah and Tellius were escaping Jack's, the wannabe pirate in question quite proudly returned to his shop through the supply tunnel.

"Identify yourself!" A stun-gun armed robot ordered as soon as it had detected Jack.

"I am Jack Searcher!..." The salesman announced, his arms raised before he proudly declared. "... I own this shop and I have caught the murderers of Adrian Baldur in a trap!"

"You did what?" Asked the robot wearing an obsidian black three-piece suit,  a projection of Theodore Baldur still in the palm of its mechanical fingers.

"I caught the murderers in a trap?!" Jack replied, his answer sounding more like a question than a statement.

At that moment, as if on cue, an alert suddenly chimed through the shop's loudspeakers. "*Alarm! Hull Breach detected!* Alarm! Hull...*"

"Oops! Hehehe.." Jack laughed weakly just as the Obsidian robot took charge of the situation.

"Ser Baldur, the murderers are on the run..." It told its superior. "... Requesting to use the station surveillance system!"

"Permission granted! Get me these two, but keep them alive! I need them to tell me how they damaged my nephew's stack!'

"Roger that, Sir!" Agreed the obsidian robot, its eye-like sensors turned red.

...

"Here we go!" Tellius said, his twin wrist blades cutting the sealing bolts that held the lid of a maintenance shaft of the Ares Inferno-Class Dropship in place.

"Good job!.." Sarah told him and floated into the as such created opening, where she immediately connected to a maintenance panel. A moment later, a nearby Airlock slid open. "... Home sweet home!"