Corpo Age Chapter 60: Picking a Fight

“Your clan leaders must be blind! I can’t believe you would associate with these city-dwellers for the sake of cheap comforts!”

All parties in the room were rendered motionless by the shock. No one expected the Bates Clan’s sudden outburst.

Before anyone could compose a response, a thunderous noise resonated throughout the settlent.

The four Bates Clan’s envoys suddenly drew weapons from underneath their cloaks, a shotgun of so sort that would be devastating at this range. However, faster than they could bring their weapons to bear, bullets abruptly struck them, knocking three of them flat onto the ground.

The last one scanned his surroundings, confused. The look on his face remained, even when his head was suddenly disconnected from the rest of his body. Imdiately after the violence, the area beside the bodies flickered, and a large figure ca into existence.

He really has bulked up with all the chro he has now.

Thorne flicked the blood off his wrist blade and walked back to stand behind .

As if being thawed, commotion erupted throughout the tent, all at once.

“How could this happen?”

“The Bates Clan struck during a sacred eting?! Did they fake their neutrality?”

The commotion was only halted as the sound of gunfire filled the area. It ca from outside, where the loud noise from earlier originated.

Sharing a glance with Thorne and Vin, we prepared our weapons and went out to assess the situation.

The tent we were in was secluded from the rest of the settlent to give us so privacy. It had a good view of the clearing between the entrances to this valley and the settlent, which was where the action was taking place.

I could spot my vehicles in the distance, joining the fight against the attackers, who were two dozen dune buggies strong.

The Bush Clan defenses were caught off guard and were on the back foot as they struggled to rally together.

I imdiately brought out the SMG attached to the back of my suit and took cover behind so nearby vehicles.

Kiri, designate the targets for my weapon.

‘Affirmative, smart ammunition ready to fire.’

Lazily aiming in the direction of our attackers, I pulled the trigger.

A stream of bullets shot out from the barrel of my compact submachine gun and curved toward their target. A portion of them missed, but enough had hit its target that I got several experience prompts.

10 EXP

10 EXP

10 EXP

My bullets didn’t do much damage to their vehicles, but it was a different story for Vin and Thorne, who fired their rifle one after the other in short bursts. While their weapons did significantly more damage to the vehicles they struck, mine definitely had higher accuracy.

I turned back to the sound of the envoys rushing out behind us, each carrying weapons of their own. With the respite we gave the defenders, they had the ti to rally together and start a counter-offense. Groups laid down fire in unison and soon, more and more dune buggies fell prey to our gunfire.

The enemy commander sensed the tide turning as well, as a horn sounded, which signaled the start of their retreat.

With them gone, the Bush Clan quickly busied themselves with dealing with the aftermath of the attack while I gathered with my security to assess our damage as well.

One of our Vanguard was completely totaled. It was taken out at the start of the ambush, as it was a priority target, and the team inside was lost as well. The other guards were only slightly injured, as they weren’t caught up in the explosion.

I don’t think I can ever get used to losing people in my employ. Especially when I had to inform their families and pay the compensation…

We watched Jamie and a few other leaders of their clan barking out orders. When they finished, Jamie spotted us and approached.

“Co with . Our leader will be having a eting with all the envoys soon and you’re invited,” I nodded back in response.

He wordlessly turned around and led the way as Vin, Thorne, and I followed. We were led to their leader, Kelsey’s tent, where I found all the other envoys already there. They gestured for us to take a seat off to the side before they began.

The old leader cleared her throat, drawing attention to her as she stood up.

“Everyone, I will jump straight to the point. The Bates Clan has betrayed our trust and attacked us during what should have been a sacred eting of discussion. We may have had occasional skirmishes before for resources, but the attack on our settlent this ti has broken tradition. They have gone too far.”

She took a pause to drink from her teacup before she continued, “Our Bush Clan will be gathering our allies and declaring war on them. Will any of you be willing to join us?”

Everyone in the room alternated glances at each other and the murmuring grew louder until a woman stepped forth.

“We have consulted with our leader before this eting. The Bates Clan’s betrayal and dishonorable actions are unquestionable. We will be glad to join you to punish their misdeeds.”

The other clan’s representatives soon stood forth, one by one, and gave similar answers.

“Thank you all for joining us. We shall discuss further details at a later date. We will soon see who will stand on the Bates Clan’s side. For now, we shall all prepare for the battle ahead of us,” The old clan leader declared.

The eting was soon adjourned, but I was asked to stay back. The envoys gave an appreciative nod as they exited.

If anything, at least I earned their favor with this incident.

Kelsey, the leader of the Bush Clan, spoke out once again once she ensured the room was cleared.

“With this incident, your matter of obtaining safe passages for the route to Salt Lake City will be delayed until we win the war.”

“Yes, it is understandable. How confident are you guys in your victory?”

“We are certain of it. With the neutral clans on our side, we should have the numbers, so it is a matter of how many casualties are taken in the process. We will soon have a war council with the other clans to discuss the battle and, more importantly, how to split the spoils and territories.”

“I see…and how does this involve ?”

“Unfortunately for you, your previous arrangent with those clans will probably be receded soon. They will insist you take part in the fight to lessen their casualties. I wanted to give you a warning ahead of ti.”

Shit…So my entire sales pitch was wasted and now I have to participate in a war between wastelanders. How did this spiral into such a ss?

“I understand. Thank you for your warning.”

“You should go prepare for the battle as well if you want to receive the safe passage to Salt Lake City. Otherwise, it is an option to stay out of this fight and negotiate after the war as well, but the clans likely won’t be as receptive to you. We will contact you once the war council is arranged.”

“Again, thank you. See you soon.”

We took our leave and returned to where our vehicles were parked. On the way out, it was easy to tell the mood around the settlent had drastically changed since the attack.

“We should leave straight away. Better not to bother them and overstay our welco when they are on edge,” Vin whispered.

“Sounds good to . We have to prepare for this war anyway…”

“What have you gotten into again, Rollo?! And you, Thorne? I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on him!” Claire’s voice pierced through the call.

“...Claire, it wasn’t sothing we caused. It’s just how things turned out,” Thorne explained.

“Enough, it shouldn’t be too bad this ti. While wastelanders usually have the advantage with their hit-and-run tactics that make use of their mobility in the wasteland, we have them on our side in this fight as well. They should be able to coordinate us to best make use of our equipnt advantage, right?” I glanced over at Vin.

“Yes, in theory, but they could also have us act as a decoy since our vehicles are much more durable.”

“I’ll just have to negotiate with them when this war council of theirs happens. In the anti, we’ll have to prepare for the fight.”

“We should do a crash course to refresh our n on how to fight against other humans in the wasteland’s environnt. They don’t have much experience since we normally breeze through the wasteland and only have to fight mutants. Fighting people is very different from beasts,” Thorne added while eyeing Vin.

“Right, you two do that. We’ll take care of this Claire, don’t worry too much.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys are always getting into trouble. I think I’m used to it at this point. Contact if you need . In the anti, I’ll be busying myself with your paperwork.”

The call cut out and the three of us swiftly dispersed as we were each busy with our own matters.

As for , I needed to go shopping.

My equipnt so far was all catered toward my covert activities. My weapons were all only suited for close quarters, as I only had pistols and SMGs. It was ti to expand my repertoire to sothing with a little more range.

I headed to the sa place I had bought my SMG, at the Premier Arms section of the weapons departnt store.

The salesperson there greeted and soon brought up several options for to try in their range.

There were various bulky options of various designations to choose from. Despite using different technologies from traditional firearms, they still classified them as sniper rifles, designated marksn rifles, and so forth.

I crossed out all the sniper rifles from the list as they required proper training that I didn’t have, nor would I spend any upgrade points on it.

I reviewed the mo I made on my SAID when the sales agent introduced each weapon and picked up one I was interested in.

“Sir, that one is the Thunderstrike Railgun. It—”

“Yes, I rember. Let test it out.”

“Of course, sir.” The salesperson imdiately shrunk back.

This particular weapon was classified as a rifle and was sothing even I could use without specialized training. It was only a size or two up from my SMG. It maximized the advantages of a railgun, allowing for ultra-high velocity projective speed, which ant I didn’t have to compensate for bullet travel as much.

It also packed a lot more punch, which I sorely needed when fighting against all the dune buggies wastelanders used. None of my other weapons were suited against vehicles, so this would fit in that niche.

The final deciding factor was the scope it ca with. The integrated scope perford as well as the scope attachnts they sold. With its integrated nature, its durability was much higher, making it more reliable to use in the wasteland’s sandstorms.

Having purchased my new rifle, I spent the remainder of my ti training with the security team. I too did not have much experience fighting against other humans in the wastelands, and I needed to learn how to fight together with my employees as well.

During my spare ti, I continued to tinker around with the Vanguard in my personal garage. With war approaching, it may also be an opportunity for to gain a lot of experience points. I opened my status to double-check how far I was away from the next level up.

Status

Level:

17

EXP:

920/1700

Musculoskeletal:

211

Neural Reflex:

65

Visuomotor Coordination:

87

Endurance:

59

Sensory Perception:

127

Upgrade Points:

2

Upgrades:

Stealth 7Hacking 3Cybernetic Engineering 10Stealth Technology 10Software Engineering 6

Enhancents:

SAID: Zenitech Sebastien v2

Optics: Mirage Tech Clear-Sights mk.12

Cyberarm (Left): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Cyberarm (Right): Nova Tech Heracle Mk. 3

Auditory: SocialCorp Echo IV

Cardiovascular: BioGen Lifepump 5

Miscellaneous: HSU Custom Shade

I needed all I could get before I had enough to update the new tech I wanted. After all, just two or three points wouldn’t be enough to satisfy my needs anymore.

Exactly seven days after the Bates Clan’s attack on us, we received a summon to join the war council that would take place in three days’ ti.