NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17: Sourcing Equipment
“How may I help you, sir?” asked the well-dressed salesman with Premier Arms’ pin on his collar.
“I wanted to browse your handguns that have greater armor-piercing capabilities,” I inspected the various models around the shop.
“Of course, sir. Please let me show you some options that meet your specifications,” The salesperson said with a glint in his eyes.
While the man fetched various firearms to show me, I kept an eye on Thorne, who was browsing a distance away at a section for a different arms company. He had asked for an advance on his pay and when confronted; he said he wanted to learn how to fight so he could run security for the company.
It seemed he thought himself to be unproductive since he had finished doing an inventory of all the cybernetics at my place within the first few days and had nothing else to do. He was very helpful, according to Claire, in helping her out when she was going over the properties, but he thought otherwise.
Of course, I refused to give him the advance as it would set a bad precedent for us and the company in general. Though purchasing equipment for the security of the company was a different story, it was definitely something I could justify as a necessary company expense.
“---and this here is the latest model…”
“Thank you. I’ll take some time to think it over myself first.”
The sales attendant tactfully went to help the next customer while I examined the guns. As expected from premier arms, their products consisted mainly of coilguns and railguns.
They were a lot more expensive than conventional arms, and the railgun I was looking at had lower durability and staying power. In return, they also had much higher penetration power, which was definitely something nice to have handy, especially after that run-in with the cyborg.
Although I wasn’t planning to be fighting any cyborgs often, at least not in a fair fight, I wanted something handy, just in case.
Searching online, there were several reviews for all the models that the salesperson had presented to me. I went through them, searching for the best-rated reviews and the worst ones to try to gauge which one would fit me.
In the end, I decided on a well-tested model from the Electra Force line, the EF-012 because the newer model’s better-staying power wasn’t worth the cost for a secondary weapon, especially since the battery reloads would be more expensive along with the gun too.
The EF-012 could shoot eight rounds before needing to change the magazine, which also included the battery. It was definitely convenient to have it all reloaded together as one. They designed it that way because the railgun required considerably more energy, and considerably more of my funds for the special mags.
After an uneventful test fire, I made my way to see what Thorne had been up to.
I found him waiting beside the Premier Arms area, carrying a large gun case. He was decked out in rugged clothing and body armor, a combination I normally saw mercenaries wearing.
“You sure look like you had a large haul.”
Thorne could only sheepishly smile, “Thanks to you, sir. I’ve been doing some research online and signed up for a training course. It had a comprehensive list of items I would need.”
“Well, I’m glad you are taking it seriously, and I’m sure Claire would love to see you in this getup.”
He looked a lot more mature. I commanded my optics to take a picture and sent it to the person in question.
“Please don’t. She’ll make me model for her in this.”
“...May be a little too late for that, anyway, wanna go grab something to drink before we head back? I’ve been to this mall before and—” I gestured for him to follow and started heading toward the level where the food and drinks were.
“No way…” A voice echoed behind me.
“You in yet?” I whisper over the call.
“Give me another few minutes. This isn’t some off-the-rack security they are running here. Fancy places like these hire actual security specialists to tailor their systems. You’re lucky to even have someone skilled enough to breach through undetected.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re awesome, I get it.”
“...Unlike regular gun-for-hire mercenaries, hackers require a high level of education and training. There’s a reason why almost all of us are ex-corpos, you know. Ones that could hack into a mall like this one are rare. You should show us a little more appreciation.”
“Okay, let me know once you’re done, Mr. genius hacker, Leo.”
I put the call on hold and switched over to another channel, “How are you holding up Thorne?.”
“I’m fine Sir, can’t say I’m not nervous, but rest assured, I’ve trained enough this past week to at least not be a liability.”
“If this all goes smoothly, you’ll only need to be carrying stuff back and forth, so relax. We’ve also got a lot of professionals here to cover our backs.”
After checking in with the rest of the team, Leo finally breached the cameras using the connection we established earlier when the mall was still open.
I rushed toward the walls and shot a grapple gun to secure a way onto the roof. After a quick climb up, I entered through the roof entrance unchallenged and started making my way to the objective by following the building layout Leo got hold of.
Though the mall was considered the higher end of the middle tier that hosted stores from various corporations, their security was less stringent than I had thought. I assume it wasn’t really worth it for the mall to invest too much into protection, as it was suicide to piss off several corporations at once anyway.
This was why we carefully planned our route and only targeted the medical equipment reseller. While they were a medium-sized corporation that had their hands in several different pies, Leo was confident he could cover our tracks well enough for them to give up and just claim insurance instead. Besides, what we took would likely just be chump change to the company.
Upon every terminal I came across, I opened up a connection to Leo so he could do the heavy lifting, gaining control of the cameras to spot any patrols and loop the feed that was being sent back to the security room.
With the security cameras on our side, I easily avoided patrols entirely or had ample time to find places to hide.
Repeating the same process, I eventually gained access to the medical equipment store and found their security terminal.
It took only a few minutes before Leo disabled all the in-store security measures, and we then called the rest of the team in.
While I waited, I browsed around the storage room, examining the collection of medical equipment and supplies of various brands.
It was a pity that we couldn’t take too much. If their entire store got hit, the entire corporation would surely respond while a few missing items could go under the radar, as it could be embezzlement or inventory error.
The team soon arrived. I pointed out what to take and everyone got to work. It took three round trips to carry everything we were here for. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any trouble and packed everything into a truck we parked in the loading area.
There was a different type of satisfaction in pulling off a heist quietly, with no hiccups along the way. It felt… professional and badass.
After offloading everything onto the first floor of my new and very empty office, we gathered around before disbanding.
“I’ll be sending over the promised payment now. Should I send it to each of you individually?”
They gathered mercenaries exchanged glances for a second before Erza playfully shoved Flo forward.
“Look, we owe you with the Leo thing, so we decided to not take any payment for the job this time since we didn’t do much. It’s not enough to pay you back for the risk you took, so we’ll still owe you.”
“...No, this definitely returned the favor, let’s call it even. I don’t like keeping favors from friends.”
“If that’s what you want…But still, call me if you need anything.” Flo patted me and exited the building, followed by Erza, who gave me a quick nod.
Liz was the next one who started moving, looking as if she would pass out at any time while Max came to a stop in front of me.
“I’ll come by with a few friends once your clinic opens,” He winked as he walked by.
Leo, the last one to leave, came straight up to me and was about to speak, but seemed to stop himself and chose to leave with the rest of his team instead.
With them gone, I looked over at the only other remaining person.
“While I’m glad that went smoothly, it seems like there is a lot of work ahead of us.”
Thorne nodded and alternated looks between the pile of boxed-up equipment we just received and the emptiness of the rest of the future clinic.
“Well, let’s deal with it tomorrow. Let’s go get some rest.”
We made our way up the stairs to where our rooms were. We leased the building with two floors and contracted a construction team to renovate it, but the work hadn’t started yet. I kept the designs simple so the bulk of the work was simply putting up several walls, along with the wiring and plumbing that the new rooms required.
At least we got our bedrooms upstairs furnished, as that was our priority. Now that I had some extra cash from the money I set aside to pay Flo’s team, I think it was time for additional investments.
I set a reminder to browse through the security options for the building tomorrow as I fell asleep.
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Status |
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Level: |
5 |
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EXP: |
350/500 |
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Musculoskeletal: |
51 |
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Neural Reflex: |
15 |
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Visuomotor Coordination: |
12 |
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Endurance: |
8 |
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Sensory Perception: |
37 |
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Upgrade Points: |
0 |
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Upgrades: |
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Enhancements: |
SAID: Zenitech Hoth Mk.3 Optics: Nova Tech Stars Mk.4 Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Mudra Mk.6 |
Staring at the tools sprawled out in front of me, I got busy organizing and inspecting the equipment’s conditions. From putting points into cybernetic engineering, I learned how to use related tools. I even knew the entire process of installing cybernetics from start to finish, but that didn’t change the fact I had zero experience doing it.
I was honestly nervous about my future first operation, so I took the time in the morning to sort out everything and set up an operating room on the first floor. I really should put a few more points in cybernetics first.
Unfortunately, the net in this world didn’t have any useful academic knowledge for me to consult with. It seemed like all the useful knowledge was being kept exclusive or was behind paywalls.
“Whatcha doing?” An abrupt voice startled me, coming from over my shoulders.
“Have you heard of knocking?” I glared at the red-haired girl behind me.
“I did. You just didn’t answer,” She seemed to brush away my glare and brought her face closer to examine the equipment spread around the room. “This stuff seems expensive.”
“Yeah, which is why I set up a meeting with a representative from Amazing Corp about security installations in the afternoon.”
“Sounds boring. I’m more interested in all this stuff here, teach me!” Claire turned and gave me the classic puppy eyes.
“Maybe when we have the time later.”
“What do you have to do now?”
“Me and Thorne are going to the range. Wanna join?”
“Nah, sounds boring. You boys have fun,” As swiftly as she had entered, she took her leave.
Hmm, maybe I should start teaching her some cybernetics, wouldn’t hurt to have some help But how long would it take to train her with the knowledge in my head… It’s not like she could just download it into her brain like I did.
Wait…
Some of the high-end model SAIDs had a similar feature. They interfaced with your brain while you slept to promote learning. I should definitely look into it once I have raised my cybernetic engineering levels up some more.