Standoff, page 1
Pilots of Artem:
STANDOFF
Dawn Chapman
Standoff - City of Artem
Copyright © 2023 by Dawn Chapman
Artem World created in © 2022 by
Dawn Chapman
Jez Cajiao
Lars Machmüller
Kevin Sinclair
Cover by – Rashedjrs
Internal art by – Lee KH
Typography by – Sarah Anderson Vivien
Editing by – Sarrah Kam and Gennifer
Formatting by – Emily Godhand
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written consent from the author, except in the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the internet without the permission of the author and is a violation of the international copyright law, which subjects the violator to severe fines and imprisonment.
This is a work of fiction. All the names, characters, incidents, and place are products of the author’s imaginations and are not to be construed as real except where noted, and authorized. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events are entirely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or names featured are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.
The author and editors have taken great effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors. However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the author.
This book is written in US English and includes relative diction.
Table of Contents
Dedication
1-Shay
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10-Shay
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19-Shay
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28-Shay
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37-Shay
38
39
40
41
42-Shay
43
44
45
46
47-Sumi
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56-Shay
57
58
59
60
61-Sumi
62
63
64
65
66-Shay
67
68
69
70
71
72-Pim
73
74
75
76-Anada/Janet
77
78
79
80-Pim
81
82
83-Epilogue
END OF BOOK 2
World of Artem
Acknowledgments
About Dawn Chapman
Cultivation/Litrpg/Gamelit Links
Litrpg
Other Recommended books
Dedication
For Paul, and my family.
Even if the blows keep coming, we keep going.
x X x
1-Shay
Shay sat with Anada on the couch, staring at the chaotic battle unfolding across the screen before them. The monstrous fire hesacha closed in on a lone figure. The elven Mage Saba stood tall. His own mana flames burst forth in a stream of reds, greens, and blues. Shay had seen nothing like it in his young life, and he hoped never to meet such a monster himself. Pim shook from his place on Shay’s shoulder. Apparently, he felt the same.
Shapes too fast to identify streaked across the scene, and everything was consumed in a sudden, massive explosion. Shay couldn’t tell who won.
“No one else has seen this,” Janet said. The air from the open window wafted her hair and jacket around her frame; even Shay could see she’d lost a lot of weight out there. Large black bags sat beneath her eyes, despite the tech and makeup that normally kept her ready for reporting the news to Artem’s citizens.
“That’s…that’s on a whole other level.” Anada faltered and reached for her partner’s hand. “How did you even get this footage?”
Janet took Anada’s hand, gripping it absently. “John hacked into one of the drones the helicopter’s drone pilots were using. It’s footage no one will ever see.”
“That’s definitely not the sort of thing the military tells us about,” Anada confirmed, still dazed.
“No matter how many times I’ve seen it, the Living Earth has power most humans can’t imagine.”
“It’s limited though, right?” Anada asked.
“Very,” Janet confirmed and tried her best to push her hair out of her eyes. “A mage like Saba has saved that mana for years, if not all his life.”
“Will he ever have power like it again?” Shay asked.
“I doubt it, though I’d like to find out.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Anada said. “I didn’t think any mage could be so strong.”
“The corporations hide so much,” Janet added, lowering her head. There was something she wasn’t saying. There were always so many secrets. Shay wished there weren’t. “The Living Earth more than most. It is likely he didn’t survive that or will have died in transit.”
The explosion as the drones hit the flaming battlefield had been…
“If that had been anywhere near the power-plants,” Shay murmured.
“Catastrophic wouldn’t be the word,” Janet agreed.
Anada tugged Janet away from the window to sit with them on the couch. “Are you okay?”
Janet shrugged and flicked the channel to her report, interviewing several firefighters, ecstatic the fire was out. M-Corp was taking the win where it could.
“You can’t leak it anywhere?” Anada asked.
“I daren’t. There’s more,” Janet said.
“What else could there be?”
Janet turned to the both of them, fear evident even beneath her exhaustion. “That wasn’t the only one that’s out there.”
“There’s more?” Shay asked, his eyes widening. Pim squealed in fright, and Shay winced as the walrat’s nails dug into his shoulders. He gingerly pried Pim from his spot to cuddle him against his chest instead.
“Exile mutated that hesacha to have a terrible, burning need to consume. But hesacha travel in packs. Not only is his pack out there somewhere, but at least one of them is stronger than that one. Strong enough to have removed him as king and kicked him out.”
“Fuuckk,” Anada swore.
“Exactly. I’m keeping it under wraps at the moment, but it will come out at some point. M-Corp wants us to think everything is all done and dusted, but I’ve heard it really isn’t.”
“What are the chances the others are going to come looking for us?” Anada asked.
Janet picked up a whisky glass, noted it was empty and poured herself another. “I think they will,” Janet said. “Not a matter of if, it’s when.”
Shay held Pim a little tighter. “What can we do?”
“I’m not trying to find another city,” Anada said firmly.
“Another city?” Shay looked between them.
“We’re not moving, but what we will do is our best to figure out what is going on.” Janet turned to Shay. “I need an upgrade.”
“Oh!” His eyes lit up at that; he loved playing with mods. “What kind?”
“I’m looking at something only the hackers use, and I need it to be built rather than bought.”
Shay’s face fell. “You can’t do that. Their tech is really dangerous, and illegal.”
“I know. I’m willing to pay a lot for this operation, but I want you to rig me the implant. If anyone can do what I need, it’s going to be you.”
Anada side eyed her. “You realize what you’re saying?”
Janet stood. “Yes, and we can’t exactly adopt him without him knowing, right?”
Anada shook her head and stood.
“Without me knowing what?” Shay asked.
Janet held out a hand for him. “Come, I need to show you something.”
Shay glanced at Anada, who smiled. “It’s a good thing,” she promised.
Pim poked him in the neck, then scrambled up and around to his shoulder perch as Shay took Janet’s hand. Anada followed.
“We’ve kept these rooms out of bounds for many reasons, not just because this is our space,” Janet said. She moved to the door at the back and entered using her palm. It looked much like any other bedroom. A little messy, and Anada blushed as she covered up her underwear on the floor with a shirt.
The wall at the back looked solid till Janet stopped before it. “It looks normal, but it’s not. This building is not normal.”
A laser eye scanned over Janet, then beeped. Th
Where the wall had been was now a smaller room, the walls filled with shelves of tech.
“Who are you?” he managed to stutter out.
Janet stepped inside, touched the side of her face. “Some know me as ‘Miss Tellier’, some know me as ‘Frost’, and others as ‘cross her, and you’re dead.’”
“You’re Miss Tellier,” he shot a betrayed look at Anada and started to back away. “You said I wouldn’t be working for her!”
“You’re not,” Janet replied, removing a section of skin from her forearm to expose the tech inside. “Tellier is a ruse. She gets the jobs done on the streets others wouldn’t. She has the spies in the midst that talk to her, and tell her what, where, and how much.”
“But she runs the area…”
“It’s a lot of work from a few other locals,” Janet said. “Not just me. We do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
Shay’s mind flashed to Natty’s and the bloody room he had cleaned last. “Taya?”
Janet lowered her head. “There are many people we can’t save.”
Shay knew that was no lie.
“Do you think you can find what we need, the parts?” Janet asked.
“They’ll be too expensive and as soon as you start asking around, you’ll get tagged for even asking.” Shay looked around the room more, noted all the tools, the parts, and nodded. “I know where I can dig for it.”
“Dig?”
“Same place I found Pim.” He patted the head of his walrat, who had resumed his post on Shay’s shoulder.
“Sinnisters’?”
Shay grinned. “It’ll take a while to get there from here, but if I set off, I can stay local and head in, and down.”
“Down?”
“Their canning facility underground has a lot more tech than up top. Sure the waste there is great if you can spot it, but it’s much better below.”
Janet’s eyes flicked to Anada. “I didn’t even know it was that big.”
“It’s big,” Shay assured them. “But it might come with a cost.”
“What kind of cost?” Anada asked.
“It would take only once to get caught in the wrong place and I’d be booted out. So, it would be better if I had a legal mother, and we went down to work for them.” Shay wiggled his eyes hopefully.
Anada grinned. “Well, I think I can just about pass, and—” With a flick, she passed over a file.
Shay opened it and read. “That was fast.” He spun around the room gleefully, Pim hanging on for dear life. “So all of this was, was!”
“Because you are legally mine.” Anada whooped and reached to bring him to her side for a hug. Janet joined them, squeezing tight.
Shay had never thought of being a part of a family before, but having Anada and Janet for moms sounded pretty good.
“So, let’s plan this trip down below and get what we need for Janet. Then we can start running the real information where it needs to be.”
Shay sniffled, wiping tears from his eyes and drying his cheeks. “I have a friend who might have gone down there from Natty’s, after the—”
“Murder?” Anada probed gently.
“Yeah.” Shay shivered, Pim almost wobbling off. “I never even thought much about it after.”
“Life here moves fast,” Janet said. “Faster than anywhere north.”
“I’ll reach out to him,” Shay muttered thoughtfully, and he moved to sit at one of the workstations.
Pim hopped onto the table in front of him and nosed through some of the tech himself. This isn’t cheap tech.
No, it isn’t. They’ve got a lot of money between them, Shay replied.
Shay brought up his HUD and access to Aug-Word. Using some of his credits, he reached out and sent a message to Vlad.
Shay - Hey Vlad, time flies. I hope you’re safe. Are you working for Sinnisters’? If so, I’m looking for a place to stay, for me and my mom. Can you get us in? Recruitment fee?
Shay picked up some of the tools and started to tinker without even realizing.
Pim cocked his head to the side. Could do with that, he said. Make a great fix for the broken part in your leg.
Shay looked up. Both Anada and Janet had gone.
His HUD pinged.
Anada – Use what you wish, and we’ll come back later. Janet wants to do some digging on Sinnisters’ herself.
Shay grinned and lifted his pants leg up, exposing the tech underneath. It was crude and only mostly working. He grinned at Pim though. Really would help if this was fixed first.
Pim nudged his hand. Together they set to work on upgrading each other. Of course, that meant detaching his leg.
Pim cringed as Shay twisted his leg round and around till it came off with a sickening pop.
“It’s not flesh tech,” Shay said. “My blood flow stops at the knee. The rest is metal. Crude metal at that, but it has some feeling.”
Shay plunked the metal limb on the counter, his small frame balancing on his good leg. He’d had a limp ever since that Ruslan job, dodging gangs at the tracks and hiding as some merc called Tijan slaughtered said gangs. He’d had a limp before. Not a lot, mostly when he was tired. After the Ruslan job, he limped a lot more, and it’d hurt all night, a dull ache he’d have to live with unless he could change his mod out.
But with Janet and Anada’s secret stash, he could make it so he wouldn’t limp at all. No one would know just from looking at him that he had tech at all, and he breathed a sigh of relief at the thought.
2
That final goodbye to Niko and my stupid argument with Malaki rocked me to my core.
I don’t know how long I sat there, staring into the skies. I cast my eyes back to Malaki and Justin the once, he was holding her and comforting her, when it should have been me. Then a moment later they were heading inside. Now as I looked back at the night skies, I only knew that my legs were going cold. I shivered.
You really should head inside, Apex said.
I pushed myself to standing. Though the antidote had worn all the alcohol away, I still wobbled.
Just been kneeling too long, I returned to him.
Sure. Your core temperature is low too, he chided. We need to warm us up before we catch a serious cold.
You know what a cold is?
Aug-World is outstanding on human sickness, he reported.
With my head hanging, I stepped away from the water’s edge and scraped the remnants of sand from my knees.
I heard something in the distance—crying? Was it someone else from the funeral?
Maybe better ear mods could be our next upgrade. Mine always popped, especially in helos at high altitudes, which was slightly annoying.
Someone was crying. I listened more carefully, trying to work out who it might be, or where, but the sound was too far away. Was it coming from the water?
My heart sized and an uneasy feeling gathered in my stomach. As cold as it was out here, the water must be freezing, absolutely freezing. Whoever was out there needed help. I kicked off my boots and stomped into the lolling waves, hissing as the icy water shocked my body. I dove in and in moments had left the shore behind.
Silvery light from the moon above me danced on the water’s surface as I found the source of the crying. A young woman lay draped across a rock jutting from the ocean, half her body submerged in the freezing water.
“Hey!” I called out. I wasn’t exactly being quiet, but she’d never heard me approach. “Are you okay?”
I swam closer, but she didn’t look up, her heartbroken cries only growing louder. Something about the way she cried, the distress in her voice, seized my attention. Malaki had never cried like this, and though I’d bared my soul to her an hour earlier, I didn’t think I’d ever sobbed this hard. My mother had—in the days and weeks after my father died. I felt a pang in my chest. A need to reach this woman and protect her flooded my whole system. Instinct told me to hold her.
Gently, I reached for her, touched her shoulder. I kind of expected her to flinch or something, but she was fast—so damn fast. The woman spun and I felt a vice grip on my arm. In a split second, she’d dragged me under, and my lungs burned as I tried not to suck in water.
Facing me under the waves, she righted herself and shook her tresses out of her face. Surprise registered on her face as she took me in and realized I was about to inhale a lungful of ocean. In a flash of silver-and-blue metal, she yanked me with all her might back to the surface.
