Chương 162: Chapter 160 – Applicable Skills

Every few weeks, the Department held a meeting with the team leads and the Director to talk about the status of the teams, Department resources, personnel, and operational statuses. Two weeks after inducting Wayland into his squad, Cole took a break from training up his new team member in order to attend. This one had a bit of a surprise that many of the leads weren't expecting. Cole watched the chest camera footage in silence.

Director Bricker, Nona, Hard Tone, and several other team leads sat with him in the conference room on the third floor of Lewis Hall. He watched Nona corner and kill one of the dregs in the ruined city. Watched her walk past the firepits where forms a little too familiar were turning on spits. His eyes were glued to the screen as one of the giant wagons was pulled through a portal that must have been two stories tall, along with a column of raiders.

When it got to the part where Nona affixed a shard of her own soul to the bottom of a massive wagon, Cole finally spoke up.

"Wait, wait, isn't that a vulnerable part of your soul? And you just stuck it there?" he asked. Bricker snorted, but Nona was the one who answered.

"I've been to a lot of places, but never one where someone with Soul Sight was willing to bow their head low enough to see under that wagon. It's not the priest caste fixing axles, Cole."

"She's right," said Director Bricker.

"It would be like a bird colonel patching a drain pipe. As of the last time Nona was in a Lewis Field, that shard is still intact. Is that correct, Ms. Keeton?"

"Yes, but it's not in the same place. They've moved on."

"Like locusts," said one of the other team leads. Cole continued watching as Nona stole a warrior's uniform and walked calmly from the camp, away from prying eyes and the minor disturbance she'd caused. No one challenged her, and most didn't even really notice her. That was part of her ability too—a near-perfect infiltrator you might miss even if you looked right at her.

The view shifted, static sweeping over the recording for a moment before the portal pit of the operations building resolved, with Bricker himself standing next to Nona. The director leaned forward and tapped his keyboard, stopping the video there. Hard Tone tapped her finger on the conference room table.

"This explains why we could never nail down their home world before," she said.

"Dimensional nomadic raiders. Their entire culture world-hops, raiding, taking slaves, razing cities." One of the other team leads, a mid-level nicknamed Carrion leaned his elbows on the table.

"But now we know where they are. So we, what, open a portal into their camp and shove a nuke through?" Hard Tone scrolled to the part of the video where Nona caught dozens of cages lining the side of one of the wagons. Some of them had beasts or monsters, but more had humans.

"We can assume that these guys aren't there willingly," said Hard Tone.

"The S2 is still cross-referencing faces with missing persons to see if any of them are ours. But even so, we don't even know if this is the only Beast Cult caravan. This might just be a splinter of a larger force."

"The bottom line is that we need more actionable intel," said Director Bricker.

"We were working under the assumption that they had several of our people and were proactively hunting Kickers to keep us from taking them back. Now we know that these people are even more active world hoppers than we are. The small teams we've encountered are likely specialist scouts. I'm now inclined to think they see us more as competition. The inter-dimensional slave trade must be a lucrative one.

"So, what's the play?" asked Carrion.

"How do we get the intel?"

"Hornet op," said Hard Tone.

"We bust in, grab someone who looks important, and then beat fuckin' feet home." Bricker nodded.

"There's one problem with that. We've never managed to take a Beast Cult elite alive, before. Even when they feign surrender, they have abilities or armaments that burn their remaining life span for a short burst of power." Cole considered.

"That's during their excursions, though. A priest in their tent isn't likely to be wearing an amulet or whatever has that kill-switch. We have a chance to hit them where they're not expecting it." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Except your girl just poked the bear," said Vulture.

"They'll be on alert, now."

"I don't think so," said Cole.

"From their perspective, I think it's more likely that they'll have thought the intruder was a survivor from the city." He looked at Nona." Soul Schism isn't a very common ability, is it? It took several of their mages to make that portal. How many people can world hop solo?"

"I've never met anyone else who could do it," said Nona, looking down at the table to avoid the eyes of the rest of the meeting participants.

"Powerful monsters, demons, or that djinn we encountered on Babel can straddle the barrier. But it takes a lot of magic to move a human soul between worlds. I can only do it because my soul is broken in so many pieces. It doesn't need as much power."

"Are we just glazing over that fact?" asked Carrion.

"Yes," said Bricker.

"Ms. Keeton's personal circumstances are not the topic of discussion for this meeting—except as they pertain to the matter at hand."

"Still, I think our best solution is the sudden application of excessive violence," said Hard Tone.

"We kick up a fuss, blow some stuff up—not with nukes," she glared at Carrion, "and then grab someone in the panic."

"Two teams, then," said Cole.

"One to infiltrate the camp and isolate a target, another to cause the chaos and cover the extraction."

"Then we'll have definitely poked the bear," said Carrion. He grinned.

"Love it. My team's in."

"Me too," said Hard Tone. Cole looked at Nona. She gave a slight nod.

"Obviously we're in, too."

"I think we'll pass," said Moriarty from the back of the room.

"I'm not sure how useful diplomacy is going to be in this situation. We're not a front-line team." He tapped his chin.

"But I'd love to take a crack at whoever you bring back."

"My team's out, too," said another team lead.

"We've had two medical retirements from Beast Cult encounters. I'm not looking for a third, and neither is my team. I think these guys are best avoided. And," he looked at Nona, "I don't trust Blink." Another two team leads nodded in agreement. Nona's abilities and background had to be revealed to the team leads for the meeting to happen.

Cole wasn't surprised to see that learning the girl was an off-world native—even if she was born to an Earth mother who was taken—had just about bottomed out her reputation in the greater Department. Even with Bricker and Cole vouching for her, for some it was just a bridge too far. But Hard Tone had seen Nona's contribution on Babel. And from what Cole had heard of Carrion? He was just a little bit psycho himself. Maybe it was a birds-of-a-feather situation.

"I understand. Believe me, I do," said Bricker. He drummed his fingers on the table.

"Still, three teams worth of personnel should be more than sufficient to extract one or two high-value prisoners. Hard Tone, can I assume you want lead on this operation?"

"Yes, sir. I'll take it from here," said Hard Tone. She glanced at the clock.

"Take five, then everyone who's going on the op—" she glanced at Cole and Carrion, "—let's figure out how we're going to pull this shit off. Everyone else can beat it." The team leads stood and stretched. Most of the meeting had been dry, dull, death by PowerPoint. A few headed out the door, others to the back of the conference room to inspect the coffee mess. Moriarty was one of the ones who headed out the door. Cole steeled himself and followed him out into the hall.

"Moriarty, got a second?" asked Cole. The Kicker team lead turned back, eyebrow raised.

"Airborne? You're about the last person I expected to talk to."

"Well, I've got an op with a local contact that needs a soft touch. I think it could be right up your alley, if you're interested." Moriarty looked around, then pulled Cole off to a side corridor.

"This have anything to do with that stuff at Oak Ridge?" He asked. Cole nodded.

"Sounds pretty dangerous," said Moriarty.

"What's in it for my team?"

"Credit," said Cole.

"A chance to flex your skills."

"What else?" Cole pursed his lips.

"Fifty percent of my team's residue from our next extraction." Moriarty laughed.

"Your team will just let you make that deal without asking them?" He asked, incredulous.

"That's six figures, potentially."

"They will in this case," Cole said, hesitating. Fuck it, Moriarty was going to find out one way or the other.

"The rescue is probably my older brother, Ryan." Moriarty's eyes went wide for a moment before he mastered his expression.

"Holy shit, Airborne."

"So you'll take the op?" asked Cole. Moriarty considered.

"You'll owe me a favor. A big one. On top of the one you already owe me for poaching Alexa."

"Fine," said Cole. He knew coming into the conversation that he was coming to the table with his pockets turned out. He was at a disadvantage. He'd tried to explore other options, but over and over the other Kickers repeated the same thing: Moriarty was the HUMINT king. If Cole wanted embedded cooperation with an otherworld local, he was the guy. But Cole had stepped on Moriarty's toes, and the guy was clearly the type to hold a grudge. He was going to extract a heavy price. Moriarty smirked.

"Though I suppose you also poached Blink, which helped me dodge a bullet, considering what I just heard in there. And before I take over, I've got an imminent op that will require a… how did Hard Tone put it?"

"A sudden application of excessive violence?" asked Cole. Moriarty snapped his fingers.

"That's the one. Becoming your specialty, isn't it?"

"Seems that way," said Cole. Moriarty chewed it over a moment as though it was leaving a bad taste in his mouth, but Cole could feel him nearly vibrating with excitement. This deal was just too sweet for Moriarty to pass up. He finally held out his hand.

"Alright, Airborne. You've got a deal." Cole took his hand and shook it. Moriarty looked him in the eye, side of his mouth curling up.

"Just don't die in Hard Tone's insane smash and grab before I can figure out how to get your brother back. I'll backfill you on Icarus later, soon as I put something together."