Chapter 19 - The Plan

"You know," Emily said after everyone had scurried away, leaning against the edge of the table, her hip brushing against mine. "Hopefully, Alpha Centauri will bump up our level cap. I’ve got some work to do on my skills.”

"Tell me about it." I sighed, running a hand through my hair, making a mental note to get a haircut soon. I pulled up my interface, the screen flickering to life, and selected the Status page. "I'm spread thinner than butter on toast."

“How’s it look?” she asked, scooting closer.

She couldn’t see my own interface, so I walked her through it. Normally, everyone’s status page was a well-kept secret, but in our team, at least Ryan and Danny, Zoe and Emily? We always sort of shared our status and what we hoped to accomplish.

I brought up the attribute screen, trying to ignore how close she was. My interface flickered to life as soon as I focused, displaying my stats in all their messy glory. I read them out loud for her.

[Status]

Name: Luca Rossi

Combat Path: Operative [Perception, Intelligence]

Profession Path: Starship Commander [Intelligence, Memory]

Level: 60

Experience Points: 1,706,305/1,706,306

The attributes… that had been a point of frustration among all of us when we first gained the system. We had all hoped, dreamed even, that this thing would have made us strong, more agile, heck, given us magic or some shit. Instead? We got attribute points that helped us with our Skill XP gain and skill level-up speed.

[Attributes]

Charisma: 22

Intelligence: 50

Memory: 45

Perception: 66

Willpower: 31

"They're... okay, I guess," I said, shrugging. "Perception's decent, from the Operative path. Intelligence and Memory could be better. Charisma's shit, as always. And Willpower... well, let's just say I'm easily distracted." I shot her a sideways glance, and she smirked.

“Alright,” said Emily, her voice all business-like, “let’s write down your skills, the attributes, and where you are; maybe we can create a skill plan for you.”

“I don’t know, Em, sounds like a lot of work,” I said; I suddenly felt tired, lazy, and didn’t want to put in the math. This was a lot of work.

"Come on, Luca, if we don’t work on this now that we have time, you’ll never do it. You’ve been postponing this for years," she said, her hand on my lap, trying to motivate me. God, that felt nice.

"Ugh, fine," I said, giving in. I knew she was right.

"Great!" she smiled, one of those smiles that lit up her eyes. God, she was gorgeous, but also, this was going to be a pain in the ass. She took out a pen and paper, because, of course, she had those handy, and got ready to note things down.

“Alright, let’s start with my combat skills, ok?” I said, dreading this. My skills were great, a bunch of passives that allowed me to do my role well enough. Sure, I didn’t have any at level 10 with abilities unlocked, like Zoe, but I managed. I focused on the skill menu and opened it up. The list made my eyes blur a bit. I wasn’t good at planning this.

[Combat Skills]

Ranged Weapons Proficiency: Level 7 (102,300/133,613) [Perception/Intelligence]

Silent Movement Proficiency: Level 6 (79,300/100,661) [Perception/Willpower]

Ambush Tactics Proficiency: Level 6 (74,200/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

Adaptive Cover Proficiency: Level 6 (83,800/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

Close Quarters Proficiency: Level 6 (73,208/100,661) [Perception/Willpower]

Precision Shots Proficiency: Level 6 (89,100/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

The first skill, Ranged Weapons, was granted to all of us at level 1 with our recruit class. It was the basic bare minimum everyone got. It basically taught us how to hold a weapon and how to maintain aim and stand. After that, the next five skills, from Silent Movement to Precision Shots, were all part of the Scout Combat Class that I unlocked at level 10. Everyone had different classes; Emily chose the Hunter Class, a mix of short-range and long-range DPS, Danny I think, got the Brawler class, which, you know, Warhammer and smacking things up close.

The next set of combat skills were from the Operative Class, a branch upgrade from the Scout at level 32, and you know what? I absolutely loved these skills, except, you know, the whole intel-gathering bullshit. That took a lot of work to level up. Situational Awareness? That was a key skill.

Intel Gathering Familiarity: Level 4 (48,100/48,449) [Perception/Memory]

Stealth Infiltration Familiarity: Level 5 (71,390/71,620) [Perception/Intelligence]

Critical Strikes Proficiency: Level 6 (99,870/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

Light Armor Proficiency: Level 6 (92,300/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

Situational Awareness Proficiency: Level 6 (91,200/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

Blade Expertise Familiarity: Level 4 (47,032/48,449) [Perception/Intelligence]

Tomahawk Throwing Proficiency: Level 8 (151,259/172,000) [Perception/Memory]

That last skill, Tomahawk Throwing? Yeah, that was not part of the Operative Class. That was a regional skill, only found through skill shards in New England. The system was weird like that. Some skills were regional to parts of Earth, same as some items. The Energy Tomahawk was my absolutely favorite weapon, perfect for scouting or operative missions, silent, deadly, and it delivered a nice whack when it hit its target. And it was just plain cool.

I went through each skill as Emily wrote them all down. I was glad to see that my own attributes sort of matched these; it meant that I’d be getting a little bit extra if I used these in combat. There had been some debates as to how much extra we got until we sat down and started taking notes. Ryan, who could be so annoying sometimes, or rather most of the time, had worked out the math, but I did not remember most of it. But it had to do with the skill’s primary attribute multiplied times by 5% of the value of your personal attribute or something like that. Basically, the higher you had the corresponding attribute, the faster you’d leveled that skill, hence my Perception attribute being the highest.

"Those are from your Operative path?" Emily asked, her voice surprisingly invested.

"Yeah, that's the level 32 upgrade," I confirmed. "Intel Gathering, Stealth, Critical Strikes, Light Armor, Situational Awareness... all 6's, except for Intel Gathering, which is... 4. And Stealth is at level 5, it’s at 71,390 out of 83,661, so it’s almost there.” I paused. “Oh, and Blade Expertise, which is, you know, knives and shit. Also a 4, as I don't really use daggers. But," I added, with a flourish, "Tomahawk Throwing is a majestic level 8."

Emily laughed. "Of course it is. So, basically, you're a sneaky, tomahawk-throwing badass who can't gather intel to save his life."

"Hey, I resent that remark," I said, but I was grinning. "But yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it."

“So,” said Emily, looking up, she had written the long list of combat skills and how much XP each had. “Are you going to walk me through the descriptions of each skill?”

“Are you kidding?” I asked, a little perplexed. There was a freaking encyclopedia of text behind each skill.

“Can you at least summarize?” she asked. She smelled so good sitting here by me, we should be making out in the observation lounge, not sitting here like two college kids comparing notes.

“Fine, let me see,” I said, focusing on the second combat skill. She already had her own Ranged Weapons skill so I wasn’t going to repeat that one.

[Silent Movement Proficiency]

Level: 6

Experience: 79,300/100,661

Primary Attribute: Perception

Secondary Attribute: Willpower

Description: "Improves the ability to move quietly over various terrains, reducing the likelihood of being detected. Experience gained by sneaking past enemies, practicing stealth movement, or evading detection in high-pressure environments. Improvement Effect: 5% reduction in movement noise per level. Improves the ability to assess the terrain for quieter pathways.”

Active Ability: Unknown

“And,” she asked, jotting everything down, “how important is that skill?”

“What do you mean?” I replied, perplexed. “It’s absolutely critical,” because it was.

“Okay, okay, no need to get defensive,” she replied, “let’s continue.”

I went through all my skills, each more critical than the previous one, which are absolutely essential skills for operative missions. This was my Swiss army knife, skills that helped me understand how to move silently, blend into the terrain, hide in plain sight, almost land critical hits in combat, etc.

Finally, Emily looked up and focused back on my face. She was so pretty but so adamant in going through this exercise. “Let’s look at your Professional Skills,” she said.

Ugh, “Okay,” I said, focusing on the skill menu again.

[Professional Skills]

Starship Piloting Familiarity: Level 4 (43,800/48,449) [Perception/Intelligence]

Starship Operation Familiarity: Level 4 (38/900/48,449) [Intelligence/Memory]

Starship Systems Familiarity: Level 4 (31,800/48,449) [Memory/Intelligence]

Starship Maintenance Familiarity: Level 3 (27,500/29,927) [Intelligence/Memory]

Starship Power Systems Optimization Familiarity: Level 3 (26,350/29,927) [Intelligence/Memory]

Starship Navigation Familiarity: Level 3 (28,400/29,927) [Intelligence/Memory]

Starship Maneuvering Familiarity: Level 4 (48,001/48,449) [Perception/Willpower]

The Profession Path, god, what a pain. These came from two professions; the first, at level 16, was the Pilot Class. I chose it because at the time, my dad needed some help shuttling people back and forth. I figured at the time it was as good as anything. At least better than a lumberjack, or trader, or city planner. Those classes? They sounded boring as fuck.

Anyway, I chose the pilot class, which then upgraded into the ship commander class, which is a jack of all trades and master of none. I hope the next upgrade, whenever it is, helps me specialize. In theory, I could upgrade my skills, but I haven’t gotten any to level 15.

Everyone had better classes than me. Zoe had her navigation class, which is all navigation, piloting, you know, drawing routes in space, figuring out gravity, and all that. Ryan? He’s actually useful; he had his engineering class focused on Starship stuff and could potentially fix our reactor or thrusters. We had manuals on board and the tools to fix things, but his class gave him nice insights. Danny? He’d got his science class, which, again, is all passives, and got him what he needed. Joey’s got the medical skills, which basically allowed him to bypass 12 years of school and god knows how much real-life experience. Also, he had his little TL8 gadgets that did most of the work.

Yeah, those Basic Starship skills? Those were the ones the Ship Commander Class got me. I know they can be upgraded and maybe make myself useful, but again, I got to get them to level 15 first, and that’s a bitch. At level 60 we barely had 1.7m XP before we hit the cap, and I had to somehow spread out all the love among my skills.

The next five skills were part of the Pilot Class, which was cool but limited to a smaller starship, like a dropship or shuttle, though I imagine they would apply to a fighter if those ever got built.

Orbital Navigation Familiarity: Level 4 (39,200/48,449) [Intelligence/Memory]

Zero-G Manuevering Familiarity: Level 4 (43,209/48,449) [Perception/Willpower]

Multi-Vector Piloting Familiarity: Level 4 (46,756/48,449) [Intelligence/Perception]

Atmospheric Handling Familiarity: Level 4 (32,679/48,449) [Intelligence/Memory]

Fuel Efficiency Familiarity: Level 4 (8,414/48,449) [Intelligence/Memory]

Inspect: Level 6 (73,034/100,661) [Perception/Intelligence]

Vehicle Handling Familiarity: Level 4 (32,452/48,449) [Perception/Intelligence]

Light Vehicle Operations Familiarity: Level 4 (32,679/48,449) [Perception/Memory]

Strategic Planning Familiarity: Level 3 (16,977/29,927) [Intelligence/Memory]

Conflict Resolution Familiarity: Level 3 (19,780/29,927) [Charisma/Willpower]

Adaptive Leadership Familiarity: Level 3 (21,730/29,927) [Perception/Willpower]

The Inspect skill was exactly what it appeared to be: a skill that allowed me to inspect an item, a mob, or other system-related stuff. The higher the skill, the better the distance. The Vehicle Handling and Light Vehicle Operations skills? Those two were related to our Exploration Vehicle below decks in the hangar. I picked up both skill shards since we started using the Peregrine for our mobile outpost. The rest, I figured, would be important, you know, to lead my team to infinity and beyond.

Emily was silent for a moment, absorbing all this information. Then, she looked up at me, a strange expression on her face. "Luca," she said slowly, "you're a mess."

"Hey!" I protested, "I prefer 'well-rounded'."

"You're a mess," she repeated, but she was smiling now. "A beautiful, talented, incredibly skilled mess." She leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper. "But a mess nonetheless."

"So, what do we do about it, oh wise and organized one?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation light, even though my heart was doing that weird fluttery thing it did whenever she got too close.

"We make a plan," she said, her eyes sparkling with determination. "A plan so brilliant, so foolproof, that even you can't screw it up."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," I said, chuckling. "But I'm willing to be proven wrong."

"Good," she said, grabbing a pen and paper. "Because we've got work to do. First, we need to figure out what you actually enjoy doing..."

"Besides ogling you?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Emily blushed, a delightful shade of pink that made me want to kiss her. "Besides that," she said, her voice slightly flustered. "We need to find something that aligns with your skills, your attributes, and, most importantly, your interests."

"Hmm, interesting," I said. "And what if my main interest is lazing around and, you know, not dying?"

Emily rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. "Then we'll work with that. But for now," she tapped the paper with her pen, "let's talk about your skills. And don't even think about changing the subject this time."

I sighed, knowing she was right. "Fine," I said. "But if this turns into a boring-ass study session, I'm blaming you."

"Wouldn’t have it any other way, Captain,” she grinned back, all teeth. Then, she leaned in, her lips brushing against my ear. "And maybe," she whispered, "if you're a good student, I'll give you a reward later."

My breath hitched. "A reward, huh?" I asked, my voice suddenly hoarse. "What kind of reward?"

Emily pulled back, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "That, Captain," she said, "is for me to know and for you to find out."

And with that, she turned her attention back to the paper, leaving me with a racing heart and a very specific set of images flashing through my mind. Focus, Luca, I told myself. Skills. Plan. Right.

But as she started talking about skill queues and attribute bonuses, all I could think about was that promised reward. And damn, if that wasn't the best motivation I'd had in weeks. Maybe this skill planning wouldn't be so bad after all.

Maybe, I thought, as I leaned in closer, inhaling her scent, maybe this was exactly what I needed. A plan, a goal, and Emily, all wrapped up in one enticing package. Yeah, this could work.

And as her lips curved into a smile, I couldn't resist. I leaned in and kissed her, a soft, lingering kiss that tasted of wine and promise. When we broke apart, her eyes were shining.

"Now," she said, her voice a little breathless, "where were we?"

"Skills," I said, grinning. "But maybe we should take a break first?"

Her smile widened. "Maybe we should."