Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

DSS Excellion – 30 minutes to strike


Flynn and Rika had lost track of the time while in the canteen and were rushing to join the other squads for a final assembly and brief.

He was amazed by how much she had to tell, despite her physical age. He had forgotten that Newmans had a much shorter childhood, exchanged for rapid development into adulthood. Though it no doubt seemed normal to Rika, he couldn’t imagine having such a short childhood himself. But despite this, every other aspect of her life was similar to his and he was beginning to wonder what some people had against Newmans. The only difference was their physiology.

“I wonder if I can convince command to keep her on a little longer after this is over, if she wants to stay. We could always use more people like her.”

Just then an announcement calling for all of them to assemble for the mission blared over the ships announcement system.
“Something’s up. We better hurry!”

They quickened their pace and reached the loading bay, which had been cleared for teleporting the soldiers to and from the ship. The door to the breaching pod bay was nearby. Flynn could see the rest of his squad had already arrived and were getting ready. Captain Ashley saw them and came over to him while Rika joined the squad and began getting dressed for the mission.
“Sergeant. It looks like someone in intelligence screwed up and we’ve arrived sooner than expected. It’ll not be long before they detect us so you better get ready to go right now.”

“Understood Captain. Looks like we’re the last ones to arrive anyway.”

Flynn joined the others, who were standing by. Rika had just finished putting her helmet on and gathering up her equipment; a medical kit and some other electronic knickknacks were among the items she carried. He pulled his armour vest on and buckled it up before and attaching a pistol holster to his leg and retrieving items such as grenades, ammunition and other gadgets from a table.
He finally placed his helmet on his head, retracting the visor, before reaching for his assault rifle, which he found being held out for him by Rika. “Come on Sergeant, we’ll be late.” She smiled as she waved the weapon at him. He accepted it from her.

“Hey, it’s not my fault we’re early you know?”
He turned his attention to the rest of the squad. “Are you all ready for this then?” There was a mixed reply of nodding heads and spoken acknowledgments. “Alright then.” He turned to find the Captain and called to him. “Sir, we’re all ready to go over here. Just give the word.”

Captain Ashley was currently getting ready for the mission which wouldn’t start for him until Flynn’s squad had done their job. “You have it Sergeant. Get going.”

Flynn turned back to his squad. “Ok guys, let’s get this show on the road.” He led them to the pod bay door and opened it, loosening his neck as he did. The Captain called out again and was joined by some of the others. “Good luck you guys.”

He led them to an open pod and they began filing inside, securing their weapons and themselves. “Make sure you’re all secure guys. We need to be able to hit the ground running as soon as we arrive. Can’t do that if you’re all over the floor.”

Breaching pods were intended for use when a ship engaged teleportation inhibitors. It was fast though quite an uncomfortable experience. But then, being shot from one ship and slamming into the hull of another at high speed wasn’t exactly something one thought of as pleasant. As long as they landed on target, disembarking was an easy matter but what would be waiting for them on arrival was a different matter.

Satisfied everyone was securely in place he engaged his helmet visor and closed the pod before securing himself. A timer began counting down and an alarm blared. They had less than a minute before launch. He had a quick glance at his squad while going over the mission details.

“Secure the immediate area and set up a defensive position. Once we’ve breached their system and the other squads are on-board we’re to proceed to the bridge.” It couldn’t be simpler but he knew doing it was going to be hardest of all.

The countdown ended and he felt the pod rumble as it began readying for launch. There was a tense pause as he felt himself readying for it. A voice called over the intercom. “Launch all pods.”

There was a sudden lurch as their pod was shot out into space. The mission had now officially begun.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Esper Mansion

The classroom was large enough to seat up to fifty people, the décor following on from the rest of the Mansion. At the far end was a raised platform that made observation easier for students. Today, however, Claire intended to take the class to the infirmary where they might have a chance to test the students’ knowledge, but not before she tested their learning from her last lesson.

She emerged from a small side room carrying a data pad. Pressing a few buttons activated a holo-screen on the back wall. Removing a stylus from the datapad she approached the screen and made some random strokes with the stylus to test its working. Satisfied, she returned both stylus and pad to the desk before checking though the small mountain of books she had piled up.

“Hard to believe I’d borrowed so many!”

She began to sort though those, most she would use for reference during the lesson, others she had borrowed for her own curiosity. One such book she uncovered was about various conflicts the Mota military had been involved in, some as recent as two years ago. She had no interest in the details of the conflicts but rather hoped that one day she would open a book and find Flynn’s name in one of them. Realising it had been a little longer than normal since she had last sensed anything on their psychic link, she decided to try and see how he was. She was always aware of him, but it took a little more effort to make things clearer.

“If only I could fully understand how this worked.”

She was about to make an attempt when she heard the door to the room opening. Her class had arrived.

“There’s always later.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------