Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

DSS Excellion – Armoury – 1 hour 30 minutes to strike


Flynn laid the rifle down on the workbench, satisfied it was in working order as all the others were. He had been testing them at random, disassembling them to ensure they were ready for the mission ahead. He turned to a nearby locker and opened it to find it stocked with weapon accessories and grenades, all stored neatly. He moved to a locker on the other side of the room and opened it, finding his body armour inside along with a helmet and other clothing. The gear for the rest of his squad would be moved to the breaching pod loading area soon. Having nothing else to do at that moment, he removed his equipment from the locker and began to put it on.

The armour vest was made from lightweight carbon based material but was some of the best stuff available to soldiers, allowing for unrestricted movement without compromising on protection, even if no armour was totally impervious to attack. Every soldier knew that. The helmet was designed specially for space based combat. Fully enclosed with a built in radio and retractable visor, if a hull breach occurred and oxygen levels began to drop the helmet would automatically seal itself and start giving oxygen to the wearer. Flynn popped the helmet on and found the button that activated the radio. Satisfied it was working he turned it off before lowering the visor into place. It allowed an unrestricted field of view and came with infrared built in but when it wasn’t needed it could be retracted into the helmet with a button push, except during a zero oxygen situation.

He removed the helmet and laid it aside and began to remove the rest of his armour. Just then the door to the armoury opened and there stood Lieutenant Matiel.
“Ah, Sergeant Zedek. Found you at last. It seems the Captain forgot, so it’s up to me to introduce you to your specialist. ”

“A specialist? Oh yeah, the one the Captain assigned for the hacking job. What’s their story?” Flynn said distractedly.

“Well she’s a civilian specialist and has done quite a bit of consulting work for the military over the years. She comes highly recommended for her seeming affinity for technology. Apparently she’s quite the hacker. We’ll need the best for the job if we’ve only got one chance after all. She’s also got a knack for firearms too. She did as well as any solider on her weapons handling test. Given what you’re going up against she should fit in well enough.”

Flynn ran a hand down his face, annoyed that this had been put off until the last minute. “Why the heck did they wait until now to introduce her to me? I can’t stand this sort of thing being put off like this.” He looked back at Matiel. “Ok then. So where do I find her? I need to brief her and all that before we go.”

“Don’t worry about that, she’s already been briefed. She’s right here.” He glanced to the side of the door. “Come on in, the Sergeant wants to meet you.”
There was a silence as the woman stepped into the room; though it was hard to tell much about her given she was dressed up in her combat gear with helmet on and visor down. The Lieutenant spoke again.

“I’ll leave you two alone then. I have to get back to my squad now and have a catch-up with the Captain as well. See you later Sergeant.” He left and the door shut after him. The new arrival moved to the side of the workbench across from Flynn. She didn’t speak but Flynn could tell she was nervous. “No surprise there anyway. Aren’t we all?”
He could also tell there was something almost unnatural about the way she moved. It was “strange. Where have I seen movement like that before?” She continued to stand there in silence so Flynn had to speak first.

“You know, the mission isn’t due to start for over an hour yet. You really don’t need to have your all your gear on just now. As you know, I’m Sergeant Zedek and I’ll be in charge of you while on the mission. But you can just call me Sergeant or Flynn now. We’re not on record or anything here.”

The newcomer fidgeted nervously, feeling a bit silly for hiding her face. “Oh! I’m sorry Sergeant. Here.”
She reached for the button that retracted the visor but accidentally activated the infrared mode, gasping in surprise as she did. She turned it off and tried again, only to trip the radio instead. Flynn could see she was clearly getting flustered by the experience as she frantically searched for the right button and stepped over to help her. He noticed her hand move hesitantly as he reached for button for the visor and pressed it for her.

The visor folded back to reveal a young woman, clearly of Mota origin. Flynn found it hard to ignore her deep blue eyes, which seemed almost to glitter in the light of the armoury. It was funny, but Flynn felt he had seen those eyes somewhere before. Standing this close to her, he could also see she was a good head height shorter than him.

Flynn smiled realising he was now staring at her more than she was probably comfortable with, an awkward silence in the air. He spoke up. “There. That’s better isn’t it? Now how about we get this helmet off?” As he motioned to remove it she frantically grabbed him by the wrist.
“No! I mean…I’m fine with it on. Really, it’s just…” She scrambled for the words to say. “My…hair. My hair! It’s quite long and it takes me a while to get it tucked in without making a mess.” Her voice was shaky and Flynn could see she was avoiding looking at him. Hair was a poor excuse even for a woman, civilian or not for that matter, for not wanting to remove a helmet outside of a combat area. But he couldn’t understand why she would be so hesitant.

Suddenly realising what she was doing, she quickly let go of his wrist. She sighed loudly and Flynn smiled back. “Listen, whatever you’re hiding you don’t need to hide from me. Whatever it is about your appearance, it’s not going to affect my opinion of you.”

Flynn saw her relax at the words. He caught a hint of a smile and saw her look back up at him. Slowly she reached for her helmet and unfastened it, wary of setting off any other gadgets, before moving to lift it off her head. “By the way, I didn’t catch your name earlier. I’ve told you mine after all.”

She lifted the helmet clear of her head and Flynn could see she really did have long hair as she shook it free. Not only that, it was pink too. But what caught his attention more than anything else, and what was clearly the reason she kept her helmet on, was her ears.

She lowered the helmet and adjusted her hair before speaking again, smiling as she did.

“I’m Rika. Pleased to meet you.”

There was a long pause and Flynn realised he was staring at her again.
“I’m…I’m sorry Rika. Don’t be offended. Despite everything, I’ve never met many Newmans in my life. You surprised me.”

“Thanks Sergeant. At least now you know. I feel silly for hiding it, but despite everything I still get strange looks from people, as if they’re judging me. Though maybe I’m just being paranoid. Thanks for being so understanding anyway.”

“Well you won’t have to worry about that here, Rika.” He extended a hand to her and she took it before shaking. He could see she had relaxed now and continued.
“So you’re our hacker are you? What kind of training and experience have you got for that?”

“Well I’ve always had a knack for computers somehow, a talent that got me into trouble quite a few times when I was younger but, somehow, this got the attention of the military and I’ve been consulting on and off for quite a while. I‘ve made myself familiar with most systems around and I’ve been training a lot for this mission, so I shouldn’t have much trouble finding a way in once we’re on-board.”

Flynn nodded in approval before continuing. “So what sort of techniques can you use, if any? I just need to know what you’re capable of so I can fit you in with my squad better.”

“Well I specialise in healing and support techniques, though I’m not too good at it. I mainly keep them for personal protection. Hacking is hard if you’re being shot at, you know? But if you ever need healing or some extra protection, I can probably take care of it for you. However, I’ve never been part of a combat team before, so I’m a little nervous.
But all this time with the military has given me a chance to learn how to shoot.” She gestured to a holstered pistol on her right leg. “While I don’t spend as much time on the ranges as I do practicing my hacking I’m more than capable of using a firearm now, so you don’t need to worry about me ripping the hull open.” She laughed nervously at this.

“You’re more than welcome in my squad Rika. It’s good to have you on-board.”
He motioned to the door. “Well listen, I’m getting kind of hungry now, so why don’t we go to the canteen and we can continue this discussion there. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the squad when we’re getting ready to deploy if we don’t meet any of them before then.”

He led her to the door and let her out first before heading to the canteen.