Chapter 324 – Ready Player Two

A familiar, cloudless, burnt-orange sky greeted John as he materialized on the world called Mar Sara. John found himself seated atop an idling Vulture hoverbike; the dark grey vehicle's control panel was lit up and ready for operation. The heat from the surrounding desert hit him, and sweat immediately began forming inside his plate mail, but he let it for a moment as he got his bearings.

"Now... Who was I here again?" He said, his mind blanking for a moment. Suddenly, a screen popped up in front of him.

[Name - John Wayne, formerly James Raynor.]

[Age - 39]

[Current Job - Marshal of Mar Sara Mining Colony]

[Former Jobs - Confederate Soldier, Outlaw]

[Family - Parents (Dead), Wife (Dead), Son (Taken by Confederates for Special Schooling/Dead)]

[John Wayne is a lonely man, a workaholic, out on patrol to deal with a few pesky critters that have been attacking the colonists more frequently.]

[He has a few deputies but no close friends; Janine, the bartender and owner of Janine's bar, is the closest thing he has to a friend on this world.] 

[He has a few friends who survived the last war, but hasn't heard from them in some time and never reached out himself. His only friend from his time as an Outlaw is Tychus Findley, and he is currently in an unknown prison.]

[The old Magistrate of the planet was a family friend and helped change your identity, but he recently died of old age. A new Magistrate is due on the planet shortly. You're supposed to meet them when they make planetfall.]

More information filtered into his mind, refreshing his memories of this person. His story sent waves of pain into his very soul. 

Liddy, this body's wife, died of sickness after we learned our son had died in a shuttle accident. She had blamed herself until the end because she didn't listen to her husband's concerns about what he knew of the Confederacy. He shut himself away from everyone afterwards, becoming the loner he is now. 

I did the same thing when Nancy, err, Xiaolin passed; the only difference is that I was much older and didn't have a job to keep my mind busy. I couldn't imagine what would have happened to me if that happened when I was in my thirties. Gods, I know this world is a story from a video game, but I hope he had a happy ending. 

Once the memory dump was over, he retracted his armour and looked around for a moment, taking in the sights. It reminded him of the Arizona desert, but with more standing rock formations and rust coloured dirt than normal silicate sand. He didn't see Aqua, but she'd said she was going to take a nap in his eye, so he wasn't worried. 

He looked over the gear included with his entry into this world. His suit had transformed into a white T-shirt with black leather pants and jacket, but he could feel that, with a twist of one of the buttons, he could switch back to the dress suit, or whatever else he wanted to copy. That heavy revolver was strapped to his right side for a left-hand draw, and his sword was on his left side, ready to channel his rage. To the right of his seat, a C-14 Impaler was resting on its rack. It was a large, automatic gauss rifle with several mags of 8mm depleted uranium ammo. It wasn't meant to be used without the assistance of a CMC Combat Suit, the power armour that this body hadn't worn today.  

Grasping the weapon, he jumped down off the Vulture and cycled mana and Ki. He took aim at a nearby rockface, flicked the safety off, put it on single-shot mode, and fired. 

*BANG*

He felt the kick hit his shoulder like he had fired an elephant gun, but his improved body absorbed the impact easily. The rock he had aimed at exploded as the magnetically assisted rifle sent a supersonic round into its side. He switched to full-auto and aimed at a larger rock. After a deep breath, he pulled the trigger. 

*BZZZZTT*

The weapon kicked up hard with the short pull, leaving a line of holes in the larger rock. He couldn't hold it steady, but he mostly kept control of the short burst. 

"Even with my stats, I can't hold it. I'll need to go back to town and get my armour. Wait. Rage!" He said, activating his new ability. With a burst of black and purple magic, he became an ogre again. The rifle now fit properly in his hands, as he was about the same size as the combat suits in this world.  He brought it to his shoulder and pulled the trigger again. This time, he held the weapon steady on the target and drilled a hole into the larger rock. 

"Yep. That will do it. Revert." He said, returning to his human form. He would only use that as a last resort, but it was good to know that he was about as strong as the power armour in this world while in that form. 

He jumped back on the bike and started to fiddle with its controls. It had two onboard weapon systems, three spider mines he could deploy within about a thirty-foot radius around him, and a forward-facing 20mm AGP-2 semi-automatic grenade launcher. He had to aim the bike in the general direction he wanted to fire first before he could track the turret the rest of the way, but it carried a large supply of fragmentation grenades. He left the mines alone since he only had a few of them, but aimed the bike in the direction of the rockface and fired a grenade at it.

*Foohmp, BOOM*

A small burst of fire and a plume of smoke rose from the grenade's impact, sending a dusting of dirt over the top of the bike. John nodded, expecting as much. 

These are modern weapons of war, not something basic like swords or spears. I'm positive my mech weapons are way more powerful, but those are designed for other mechs or hardened targets. These are anti-infantry weapons, designed to deal with combat armour at most. Aiming this thing is going to be a pain in the ass, but I should be able to manage. Close only matters for horseshoes and hand grenades; well, these are a bit larger than hand grenades.

With the weapons testing done, he started fumbling around with a few other things, seeing if he could figure out the bike's comms system. He had his parallel minds combing through this man's memories of his time in the army, seeing if he could figure out how it worked. 

"It would be nice if these buttons were labelled. Well, they might have been at one point, but I bet this bike is older than I am." He grumbled, then hit another worn-out button. Suddenly, a floating holographic head with a bunch of wires and metal coming out of the back popped up in front of him.

"Adjutant Online. User Marshall John Wayne identified. Good afternoon, how may I help you, Marshall?" It said in a robotic female voice.

"Oh...howdy." He said, the word "adjutant" jogging loose some of those older memories. He was talking to a computer, one that was like an artificial intelligence but had no personality. The Magistrate's office had one, and among its many jobs, it funnelled communication across the planet's government agencies. 

Got it. It was meant for commanders at war, but in peacetime, they found other uses. 

"How may I help you?"

"Right... Did we get an updated status for the Magistrates' arrival?"

"The Magistrates' Shuttle experienced a delay due to an engine malfunction. They have recently contacted us and reported that the issue has been corrected, and they are en route. The new ETA is 14:43 Standard Time tomorrow. Would you like me to inform you if there are further changes to their schedule?"

"14:43, you say? That should be plenty of time. Yes, keep me updated."

"Roger. I will contact you if there are further changes. Do you need further assistance?"

"No, I'm good. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Marshall. Adjutant Out." The head said, then disappeared.

He checked the time then revved up the bike. "That is a little more than twenty-five hours from now. More than enough time to deal with those beasts. If you're awake, Aqua, you better stay inside; It's a beautiful day, and I got a helluva lot of distance to cover." He said, then slammed the throttle down. 

The hoverbike screamed off into the distance, quickly disappearing over into a nearby canyon, its rider's jacket flapping in the breeze behind him.

Deep Space

Confederate Transport Ship Redux

En route to Mar Sara

"Aqua! Snap out of it!" A distant voice said.

"Huh? What? What happened?" Aqua replied. Her ears were ringing for some reason, and it felt like someone had hit the back of her head with a hammer.

"A stun grenade blew up next to your skull. You're lucky it didn't kill you. Can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?" The voice said. It was feminine, and she thought she recognized it for some reason. 

She blinked a few times, trying to clear her blurry vision. She could make out the form of something grey, white, and red in front of her. 

Where the heck am I? I thought we were going to a desert? Where are you, John? 

She could tell she was sitting on something cold and hard, and a quick touch told her it was a metal floor.

Suddenly, a screen popped up in front of her, the text quite clear despite her blurry vision.

[Name - Aqua Diamodred]

[Age - 27]

[Current Job - Confederate Magistrate of the Mar Sara Mining Colony, 3rd in Command of the Sons of Korhal]

[Former Jobs - Confederate Ghost]

[Family - Unknown]

[You are an AU character in this universe. You went through the Confederate Ghost program with Sarah Kerrigan and joined her defection to the Sons of Korhal under Arcturus Mengsk after they rescued you from a covert Confederate research facility. They were conducting psionic tests on the Zerg using your bodies. While Sarah has been the right hand of the Sons of Korhal operations, you have been the left.] 

[You're currently being inserted undercover as the new Magistrate of the Mar Sara colony, with the goal of expanding the influence of the rebellion and gaining more supplies to further their military production]

[Sarah is the only person you would call a friend in this world, and you have both worked tirelessly to get to this point. Neither of you fully trusts these people you have found yourself attached to, but you think they are better than the alternatives.]

A flood of memories invaded her mind, filling out all the missing information the short summary alluded to. After a few moments, it settled, moving to the back of her mind like normal memories.

Is this how John comes to these DEN worlds? Oh me, it's almost like I'm a different person! Hey... I have new powers? I can read minds and cause electronic shockwaves? That's pretty cool. Not quite like a goddess, but compared to being a damn goblin, this is much better!

A few other things were rattling around in her skull that she wanted to examine, but her vision was finally clearing. Kneeling in front of her was a rather beautiful red-headed woman with light green eyes. She wore grey, skin-tight armour and leaned on a C-10 canister rifle. The armour was what these memories called a Hostile Environment Suit, designed to help a Ghost survive terrible environments, and it also had a built-in cloaking device that their psionics could power.

Her eyes focused on the hand in front of her, with its middle finger raised and pointed at her. The woman behind it smirked, her lips curling into a small smile. 

"Jerk," Aqua said, then grabbed Sarah Kerrigan's hand. She helped her stand up, and she dusted off the dark grey pantsuit she was wearing.  

Right, I'm undercover. I don't have a weapon, and we still haven't been able to source another suit like Sarah's. She acquired that one from a dead ghost. Wow, this is weird, getting all these memories. I think I know more about this Aqua's life than my own.

"Ma'am, we secured the ship. They tried to send out a distress signal, but it appears we jammed it in time." An armoured man said, coming to attention and snapping a salute at them both.

"Good. Once the prisoners are secure, do another sweep to make sure we didn't miss anyone. I would hate for word of this to get out before it's too late. Once that’s done, get back to base. We will get underway and meet you again on Mar Sara." Sarah ordered, then looked over at her. "You good?"

"No, but that never stopped me before, has it?" She replied, giving her a tight smile. She needed a few moments alone to cast a heal on herself and, hopefully, stop her ears from ringing. 

"Well, let's find you a place to sit down and rest then. You're the lynchpin to this operation; I'm just going to be stirring up trouble in the background for a few weeks before we take the next step. Can't have you falling flat on your face when you meet the governor and his staff for your welcome dinner."

"Yeah, that sounds good. The room is still spinning a bit." She said, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes to focus on John. Thankfully, she felt she could teleport to him if she needed to. He was riding across the desert at some breakneck speed on a vehicle her memories called a Vulture.

Well, there is that at least. Hopefully, he won't need me to help with the battle ahead. I'll have to find a way to send him a message as soon as I can. Me, I need to sit down and process everything. A major human rebellion is about to happen across the sector, and an alien invasion? I don't know if we will be leaving as soon as he had planned.

She stopped watching and opened her eyes again. Sarah was looking at her with concern in her eyes. "Here, give me your arm and lean on me."

"Sure... damn, you're tall," Aqua replied, realizing Sarah was at least fifteen centimetres taller than her.

"I can't help that you stopped growing. Now c'mon, I'm sure there is a cabin you can lay down in."

With that, the two women moved deeper into the ship. One was fully intent on destabilizing the Confederacy's control over the outer colony worlds; the other was confused as the memories she inherited filled the holes in her mind, making her question what her goals were in this world.