Shepherd Moon: Omegaverse: Volume 1 Read Online Free Page B

to look. He just kept running.
    As he approached the shuttle, the red pulsations on the map had nearly converged onto the center. He thought he could hear grass rustling, or maybe heavy breathing, from behind. Then he was through the automatic door, which closed shut behind him. Within a second or two he heard tapping on the bulkhead.
     
    “Clive! Get me the fuck out of here!”

Chapter 4
     
     
    Duncan exited the shuttle, once again in the hangar bay of the space station. Vince and Matt stood there, slow clapping. Clancey was approaching the group, laughing. A message flashed across the top of his field of view;
     
    Mission partially complete. 34% of goals reached.
     
    “What the hell does that mean, ‘ thirty four percent of goals reached’ ?” asked Duncan.
    “It means,” said Matt, “that there’s a shit-ton of bad guys left. More or less. Maybe there were other goals we’d have discovered if we’d got further along, or maybe it was ‘kill ‘em all’”.
    “It also means,” added Clancey, “that any rewards provided by the mission creator won’t be given until all of the mission goals are met. Money will be split according to percentage complete,” he continued, “so far we’ve got a third. Any special items added as payment go to the group that has the highest percentage of completeness.”
    “Let’s make that be us,” said Vince, “Let’s gear up and go back.”
    “Are you serious?” asked Duncan, “We got slaughtered.”
    Matt laughed. “We weren’t equipped. We will be this time, it’ll be fine.”
    “Plus you’ll have me!” said Shannon, joining the group. “Someone’s got to keep you dorks alive.”
    “Hey,” said Clancey, “what was the loot?”
    Duncan had forgotten all about it. He opened his backpack, and pulled up the paper.
    “It says it’s a Pearlite Conduit Rail Gun with a Hawkeye.”
    Everyone was quiet.
    “What?” asked Duncan. “Is it good?”
    “Everything you just said,” said Clancey, “is the best . Pearlite means it’s very, very tough. It also disperses heat very well.”
    Vince continued. “The Hawkeye is the highest magnification, highest resolution scope you can fit on a personal weapon. Having one on a Rail Gun means you can reach out and touch someone far away indeed.”
    “And a conduit means that you can feed it power directly from the shuttle, like our body armor does. Usually a rail gun is such an energy hog, you need an extra backpack battery just to power it. And even so, you’ll only get a few shots out of a battery. As such, rail guns aren’t really usable outside of a few isolated cases. Running a conduit from the shuttle? Shit, you could probably fire it all day long.”
    Duncan received a dialog box from Clancey, 20 rounds of rail gun slugs. Disintigrating sabot, he read. An inner, tungsten spear encased in a lighter bullet. On impact, the spear would continue through just about any target while the outer coating would come apart, ripping through the target like a point blank shotgun blast. He accepted.
    “Thanks.”
    “No problem,” said Clancey, “I just grabbed them from a player auction. They ain’t cheap, so shoot straight,” he laughed.
    A point of light began flashing on his map overlay.
     
    “In order to retrieve your rail gun, proceed to the kiosk on the map,” said Clive, “ or you can place the plans into a player auction. Of course, you can always just give it away.”
     
    Duncan walked to the standalone booth, pulled the paper out of his backpack and inserted it into a slot labeled ‘Manufactory’. After a moment, the top of the manufactory lifted, revealing his new weapon. He grabbed it, turned, and trotted back to his group.
    “Why all the steps,” asked Duncan. “Why not just give me the gun in the loot box?”
    “Sometimes they do,” responded Clancey.
    “But most often,” interjected Vince,” you get a blueprint for the item. Trust me, if you’re ever close to being loaded, weight wise,