The Power Of Ten: Sama Rantha 294 Far Future Ch. 4 – Nice Cover Story

"We feel it has something to do with the Runes on your face."

I blinked. Runes on my face? I put my hand up to my face, and at that time realized I didn't know what I looked like. Hah!...

Philius flicked his wrist, and a holo of my face popped up before me.

Well, I a.s.sumed it was my face. I leaned forward to look at all of it, not just the lines of blue-back slapped across the side of my face, neck, and shoulder... and I looked down as I pulled the hospital gown away from my shoulder, and yes, there they were, twisting and intertwining in harsh, broken arcs and curves on my skin.

Couldn't feel anything from them at the moment, but they were definitely more than ink. I poked it, and to my surprise, was able to drag the thing over my skin as the two men watched. It distorted faintly, more readjusting its pattern then actually stretching, and when I let go it crept slowly back towards its original form.

"Huh." My face was pretty hot, and this thing did a good job messing it up. Nice auburn hair, too... making it very obvious I wasn't Mom-me, for my peace of soul. "I guess my days of undercover work aren't going to be happening..."

The two of them actually looked embarra.s.sed a bit. "We are wondering what kind of goals you have for yourselves," Sir Dorval asked patiently, interested now. "You may or may not know, but that is a very unusual color for a mindblade."

"Really?" I asked, a little surprised. "No, I wasn't aware of that. Are you talking yellow, or gold?"

"Yellow is the second most uncommon standard color, followed by rainbow. They are matched by gold and iridescent. Among humans, green is the most common, followed by blue."

That made sense. The average human tended towards Neutrality, while a great civilization would impel people towards Law.

Grey was probably common among the rabble-rousing crowd, before it fell into the black of Warp wors.h.i.+p and bats.h.i.+t crazy murderousness. Purple probably meant a professional a.s.sa.s.sin or merc with no morals. Red probably meant a s.a.d.i.s.tic soldier, or ruthless military man or n.o.ble, with a warped code of honor, but no hesitation about killing, or simply an amoral disciplinarian with no regard for human life.

White and Silver were the Lawful Good colors, one more peaceable, the other militaristic. Fighting hardened the colors, so those who killed usually had metallic or gemlike weapons.

Mine looked almost solid, very metallic hue. Neutral Good could be a bunch of well-meaning pacifists... who finally got fed up and chucked out the rulebook. Gold meant someone who would ignore the rules if they didn't do the job, but would not ignore them if they did, unlike a Rainbow person who defied rules as a matter of course, and who tended to be independent loners or eccentric folk who couldn't stand being around most people, or were the center of their own worlds and didn't care about the opinions of others a whit.

"From the tenor of your words, it sounds like this is rather unfavorable?" I concluded archly.

"Well," Sir Dorval coughed, "the Golden Knights Coronal have something of a reputation for ignoring the rules when it is convenient to do so."

I rolled my eyes a bit. "That sounds about right. Always playing by the rules means being predictable. While it's nice for kissing babies and flirting with the boys, it's a real pain in the a.s.s when it comes time to actually kill things which have half a brain and know protocols."

Sir Dorval coughed uncomfortably again. "So, it would probably not surprise you that most of the Golden Knights Coronal get seconded to the Umbrans."

Coronals, Rising Sun. Umbrans, Falling Moon. Got it. "Ah. So they want unconventional thinkers with unquestionable moral fiber they can rely on?"

Philius smiled sharply. "You should see the things we come up with for the Rainbow Knights. The Silver and the Blue get all the limelight, but the Gold and the Rainbow definitely get the best stories to tell."

I looked back and forth between them. "You're trying to recruit me!" I said, half-laughing. "Am I even old enough to work for you?" I inquired sharply.

"Bone age confirms you to be about sixteen, so, no, technically..." he trailed off meaningfully.

"But exceptions can be made in cases of proven extreme competency and suitability to the task at hand?" I asked smoothly.

He looked quite impressed. "Very good, Miss Rantha. We'll have to run some tests, but your blade alone shows that you are already a very impressively trained combatant. We'd like to run some tests on just how capable you are, and start filling in the empty spots that have been taken away from you."

"And have me somewhere close you can keep an eye on?" I inquired.

"Precisely!" He wasn't at all shy about admitting it.

"That sounds like a fine deal to me. What's it pay?" I inquired.

"Room, board, much training," he informed me drolly.

"I have things to make, Gear to acquire, toys to collect," I replied darkly. "Sama require cash, what pay for Sama?"

"Can we leave discussion of your pay until after your a.s.sessment?" Sir Dorval asked politely, and I sighed.

"Certainly. As long as I get some new clothes. I know you want me to be in a nervous position for questioning, but this is ridiculous."

"I think proper attire might somehow find its way into the budget," Sir Dorval mused readily, and even I had to laugh at that, him wearing that cloak and all...

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"So, what did you think?" Sir Dorval asked cautiously, after they had some new clothes delivered and Sama was changing inside the room.

"Did you see her skin scans?" Philius asked him, and the knight shook his head calmly. "Nymphals have superior cosmetic healing, but you can still see the difference in age of cells and skin. She has been cut all over, bruised, bashed, ripped, torn, and abused. Her bones have multiple compound fractures that she has healed from, on every bone in her body... and all it seems to have done is make her stronger. The doctors estimate she's got potential for six gravities."

"That Focus of hers is adamant. It's three times heavier then solid steel. I don't know why she'd want a Focus so heavy, but she handled it like a toy. She can probably throw us across a room with one arm."

"And look good doing it." Sir Dorval frowned at him. "Oh, please, Dorval. She's a Nymphal. She's young and she's hot, flat chest and Tats and everything."

"That is true. And she has a Three Stars, Star Cored golden blade." He took a deep breath. "A Seven, at her age..."

"Well, we'll know better after the a.s.sessment. But yes, young, dangerous, and able to get a lot more dangerous. With no background to interfere with her that we can even find, and, well, it is very hard to be suspicious of someone Gold as a sleeper agent or alien p.a.w.n or something."

"Six gravities, you said?" Sir Dorval asked, marveling.

"We'll find out soon."

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I laid back on my bed, in my new sleeping quarters, and considered that it'd been a pretty fun day, all things being equal.

Mom had calculated things pretty well, and gotten me right into a career path that could take me places. I didn't have a good handle on the power of a ranking Coronal Knight or Umbran Agent, but I had the distinct impression it wasn't small.

Of course, I needed education and acclimation, and I was going to be losing myself in ma.s.s studies starting tomorrow, if I had any choice in the matter.

I had several major bodies of knowledge I had to build on.

First was practical Skills. These were things that required no support, and were meant to help me survive, combat-oriented and based. They were a.s.signed to and hard-coded to my Rantha Levels: Perception, Stealth, Intimidation, Bluff, Survival, Athletics, Sense Motive, Animal Empathy. They would work anywhere, useful anywhere.

The second was the Knowledge Skills. These were hard-coded to my Expert Levels, although I was sure I would have to expand them to Vizard Secondary Levels. They were the key to mastering and knowing the sciences, which were actually relevant here.

The Mechanist Guilds guarded the secrets of hard technology closely. People might learn how to break and hack computer programs, but actually designing comprehensive new ones was actually rather rare, and done with the tools the Mekkers provided. Making new tech was rare as a result, as the Mekkers languished in their monopoly, secure in their h.o.a.rding of the great secrets of science.

They would probably short a few servos at the array of Knowledge Skills I had. Math, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Programming, Avionics... and Driving. I could drive a car, motorcycle, or truck expertly. I'd be expanding that to heavier stuff... and I needed to learn basic history, and stuff about the planet, system, sector, galaxy...

The third set of knowledge I had was my direct combat and crafting base knowledge.

I'd inherited knowledge of Mom's combat style, which fused combat skill with crafting skill, and applied broad knowledge of many Weapons to the sword, a totally alien concept here. Advanced weaponcraft wasn't really a thing except to fringe kooks, as psionic power trumped it in every way.

Also, having too much bling drew a lot of attention from multiple sources, some of them in the Warp.

So Martial Lore, establis.h.i.+ng my knowledge of profound and real fighting styles, was there, forming the basis of my advance schema as I'd Level. The four core smithing disciplines of Armor, Weapons, Black Metal, and White Metal. Gemcutting and Crystal Carving, the core of making psionic gear.

Making something like Chalice was so far beyond my capabilities right now that it wasn't funny... but I knew how to get good enough to make it, and it was possible.

The fourth knowledge set was everything related to psionics and magic. Meditation, Concentration, Knowledge/Psionics, Psicrafting, Knowledge/Arcane, Knowledge/Philosophies, Alchemy, Spellcraft, as well as the core techniques to make psionic and magical items.

These were going to be taken care of by Psmith, Psion, Psi-Warrior, and Rune Alchemist Levels. How much I would get to use them would be interesting, given how nasty magic was in this universe.

Anything else would have to be taken by bonus Ranks from being really smart, or other Cla.s.s Levels. Minstrel Levels, Scout Levels, Vizard Levels would all be useful. After all, Performance Skills were major skill point sucks, and I definitely needed to know how to Dance...

Thinking of that, I ticked over that Minstrel Level before my midnight Renewal, and a.s.signed the six Points to Dance and Song. I could grab Keyboards and Strings, or piano and violin, with the next Level. Hmm...

There was a wrenching feeling in my head, as if I was doing something I shouldn't be, and I winced, understanding why Mom did things the way she did.

This place did not like awarding Levels!