I Choose the Skills Everyone Else Rejects

Malvern stayed quiet on the way out.

Cade kept the team together anyway.

Arlen and Kellan carried Rell between them. Varek helped when the stairs became too narrow, while Lysa kept the captured intruder’s rifle pointed toward the passages behind them.

Nate walked near the rear.

Graveshare covered his right forearm from wrist to elbow.

The plates had stopped moving, but a display appeared whenever he focused on them.

GRAVESHARE

BEARER: NATE CALDER

MOURNING MARKS: 6

STORED ENERGY: LOW

First Mourning had consumed most of what Graveshare still held after all those years.

The six marks remained.

The energy did not.

Nate opened his Circuit slightly.

His Core felt the same.

So did his pathways.

There was no larger space around them, no second reservoir attached to his circulation.

Graveshare was separate.

He could feel the remaining energy inside the armament, waiting behind the connection at his right arm.

If he drew from it, that energy would still have to pass through his own pathways.

His First Circuit remained the limit.

A second section appeared.

ACTIVE DEPLOYMENT LINK: NONE

NEXT DEPLOYMENT LINK: STANDBY

Their Malvern mission had begun before Nate became bearer, so Graveshare had not linked anyone in Cade’s team.

The next official deployment would be different.

They reached the surface without meeting another defense.

Command had responded while they were underground. Two transports waited outside the breached wall alongside a containment team and several officers.

The first officer approaching them stopped when he saw Graveshare.

"Calder?"

"Yes."

"Keep the armament inactive."

"It is."

"Can you remove it?"

Nate glanced toward Arlen.

"Not here," Arlen said.

The officer turned toward him.

"Identify yourself."

"Arlen Vos."

Two soldiers immediately shifted their weapons toward him.

Arlen looked from one to the other.

"So I’m still in the records."

Cade stepped between them.

"Vos came out with my team. He gets debriefed with us."

The officer hesitated before signalling the soldiers to lower their weapons.

The containment team entered Malvern while the others moved toward the transports.

Nate had almost reached the first vehicle when Graveshare tightened around his forearm.

He stopped.

A pale interface opened above the plates.

NETWORK CONNECTION DETECTED

The text changed.

IMPERIAL ATTRITION ARMAMENT NETWORK

UNIT ATTRITION ARMAMENT 12

STATUS: ACTIVE

AUTHORIZED BEARER: UNVERIFIED

Kellan stopped beside him.

"Don’t touch it."

"I wasn’t."

Cade came back.

"What happened?"

Nate turned his arm so they could both see.

Kellan read the header.

"Something connected it to the Imperial network."

Cade glanced toward the command vehicles.

"They brought a relay?"

"Probably."

Arlen had seen the display too.

His expression tightened.

"Malvern wasn’t supposed to reach that network anymore."

Another line appeared.

BEARER VERIFICATION ATTEMPT

A weak pulse entered Nate’s Circuit.

Clinical.

Precise.

It traced the route around his Core and Nodes, then withdrew before Nate could interfere.

REMOTE BEARER VERIFICATION DENIED

IDENTITY RECORDED

NATE CALDER

The interface disappeared.

Cade looked at him.

"Did you authorize anything?"

"No."

Kellan glanced toward the officers near the gate.

"They have your name now."

"They already had my name."

"Not attached to that."

Less than a minute later, the command officer’s terminal sounded.

He checked it, looked directly at Nate and walked over.

"Calder. First transport."

Cade stepped beside him.

"Why?"

"Command wants him and the armament back at the depot before anything else is done with the site."

His attention remained on Graveshare.

"Until we understand its automatic deployment link, Calder is not entering another field assignment."

Nate frowned.

"For how long?"

"Until someone with a better answer than me examines it."

Cade nodded.

"Reasonable."

Nate disagreed, but arguing would change nothing.

They left Malvern shortly afterward.

Arlen sat near the rear doors with Rell’s body secured beside him.

Garr’s suppression collar had been returned to full restriction. Lysa slept for part of the journey with her head against the wall.

Varek spent several minutes staring at Nate’s arm before Nate finally looked over.

"What?"

"The blade."

"Mourning Edge."

"Can you still use it?"

"Yes."

"Show me."

"No."

Varek glanced toward the front.

"Cade isn’t looking."

"I can hear you," Cade said.

Varek leaned back.

Nate flexed his right hand.

Mourning Edge was still there. He could feel the shape waiting inside Graveshare.

Using it now would be stupid.

First Mourning had drained most of the stored energy.

Whatever remained could not be replaced by sleeping, eating or waiting for his Core to recover.

At least, Nate knew of no way to replace it.

That made the reserve feel very different from his own energy.

His Core would recover.

Graveshare would stay empty.

Until something filled it again.

Nate did not need Arlen to remind him how that normally happened.

Varek was still watching.

"How strong is it?"

"The blade?"

"The whole thing."

Nate considered the question.

"It doesn’t make my Circuit stronger."

Varek frowned.

"It fed you during the trial."

"Yes."

"So?"

"My pathways are still First Circuit."

Nate tapped his chest.

"If I can safely move ten, Graveshare doesn’t let me move twenty."

"It just keeps giving you ten."

"As long as there’s energy left."

Varek looked at the six marks.

"And when there isn’t?"

Nate followed his gaze.

"Then there isn’t."

Neither spoke for a few seconds.

Last Contact made that answer difficult to ignore.

Hobb.

Nima.

Dax.

People died in their unit often enough that replacements sometimes arrived before Nate had finished learning the dead person’s habits.

If Graveshare linked his next roster, each casualty could leave something else behind.

Not permanent strength.

Fuel.

Finite.

Spendable.

Nate looked away from the marks.

He didn’t like that the simpler version felt worse.

Four hours later, they entered the depot.

The vehicle yard was busier than usual.

Command staff waited near the medical building, but Nate noticed the two unfamiliar uniforms first.

Dark coats with silver trim.

Kellan saw them too.

"Imperial liaison."

"They got here already?"

"Border office. Varen keeps people everywhere around here."

One of the officers approached as Nate climbed down.

Her eyes went directly to Graveshare.

"Nate Calder?"

"Yes."

"Current bearer of Unit Attrition Armament Twelve?"

Nate disliked how naturally she said it.

"Apparently."

She held out a sealed digital notice.

"The Imperial Armament Authority received an activation report from the Malvern network. The asset was listed as unrecoverable."

Behind Nate, Arlen gave a quiet laugh.

The officer turned.

Her expression changed.

"Arlen Vos."

"Apparently I’m harder to forget than I thought."

Cade stepped forward.

"What does the Empire want with Calder?"

"Verification of the armament and its succession."

"It was recovered during a kingdom operation."

"I am not disputing the recovery."

"Then verify it here."

"The systems required aren’t here."

She looked at Nate.

"You’ll receive a formal transfer notice if both commands approve one."

Nate opened the document.

IMPERIAL ARMAMENT AUTHORITY

VAREN INTAKE AND REVIEW COMPLEX

PRELIMINARY BEARER REVIEW

No date.

No transfer authorization.

Kellan read it beside him.

"Varen."

"You know it?"

Kellan gave him a look.

"Everyone in the Empire knows Varen."

"I’ve never been there."

"It’s one of their major institutional cities. Military intake, Circuit medicine, research, foreign programs. People and equipment get sent there when nobody nearby knows what to do with them."

"The capital?"

"No."

Kellan handed the notice back.

The Imperial officer continued.

"Varen also handles military assets requiring specialist verification."

Cade took the notice from Nate and read it.

"You don’t accept anything until we know what this commits you to."

"Fine."

The officer left to join the command staff.

Malvern had been reopened for less than a day and the Empire already had Nate’s name attached to an armament it had lost years ago.

That was faster than he would have preferred.

Debrief lasted most of the evening.

Command copied everything Graveshare allowed them to read, but nobody attempted to remove it.

The medical scan was simpler than Nate expected.

His First Circuit remained a First Circuit.

His Core had not grown.

His pathways had not widened.

His two occupied Nodes were unchanged.

The unusual reading came from Graveshare itself.

The armament contained an independent energy reserve connected to Nate through his right arm.

The technician ran the scan twice.

"Open your Circuit."

Nate did.

"Don’t draw from the armament."

"I wasn’t planning to."

The technician watched the graph.

"Again."

Nate completed another circulation.

Nothing changed.

The technician looked at Graveshare.

"So it’s separate until you call on it."

"Seems that way."

"And then?"

"It feeds through my Circuit."

"How much?"

"As much as I let through."

The technician looked unconvinced.

"First Mourning didn’t seem interested in what you wanted."

"That was the trial."

"Let’s hope it knows the difference."

Nate couldn’t argue with that.

He was ordered not to activate Mourning Edge outside supervised testing.

More importantly, he was temporarily barred from formal deployment.

The reason was written plainly.

UNVERIFIED AUTOMATIC UNIT-LINK FUNCTION

Until command understood what Graveshare would do to Nate’s next mission roster, nobody wanted to discover the answer using Last Contact personnel.

Nate could hardly argue with that either.

Arlen disappeared into a separate interview room.

The C-19 and Malvern files were restricted again before Nate returned to the barracks.

Kellan was already there.

Nate dropped onto his bunk.

"What happens at Varen?"

Kellan looked over.

"You’re assuming you’re going."

"If both commands approve it."

"That wasn’t what I meant."

Nate opened the preliminary notice.

"What happens there?"

"Depends where they put you. Varen handles foreign officers, military transfers, research programs, condemned personnel, Imperial talent programs."

"Awakened?"

"Thousands."

Nate looked up.

Kellan noticed.

"Why did that matter?"

"No reason."

"Sure."

Nate closed the notice.

His attention moved inward.

The third Node waited beside his completed First Circuit.

Empty.

Posthumous Disciple had given him techniques he would never have learned normally.

Body Memory preserved adaptations his body had actually earned and gave him a way to recover from damage.

Graveshare gave him something different.

Energy he had not produced himself.

Useful when it existed.

Worthless when the reserve was empty.

And every known way of filling it came with a name attached.

His other weaknesses remained.

The Supervisor had demonstrated one of them.

Killing Step could create an opening.

An opening meant little if Nate lacked the power to finish what stood behind it.

Defense was another problem.

One clean strike from someone substantially stronger could end a fight before Body Memory became relevant.

Against a competent Second Circuit, either weakness could kill him.

He did not need another Skill that taught him movement.

Posthumous Disciple already did that.

He did not need another form of recovery.

Body Memory filled that role.

His third Skill had to add something his current build genuinely lacked.

This time, he could not afford to take something merely useful.

The third Node was already open.

Forsaken Claim could preserve one rejected Skill only when Nate had nowhere to place it.

That protection did not apply now.

If he claimed the next Skill he witnessed, it would enter the empty Node.

Permanently.

Nate had spent weeks wanting another opportunity.

Now he could afford to be selective.

The next morning, a message from the Academy appeared on his terminal.

Nate nearly ignored it.

ROYAL FIELD ACADEMY

IMPERIAL TALENT EXCHANGE - SELECTED CANDIDATES

The announcement was public.

Two names appeared near the top.

ETHAN WARD

LEGACY CLASS: FIRST BANNER

MARA VENN

LEGACY CLASS: LAST STANDARD

Nate stayed on Ethan’s name for a moment before continuing.

The selected candidates would spend six months inside the Empire. The program included advanced combat instruction, Legacy development and rotations through several Imperial institutions.

Most of it would take place in Varen.

Nate sat up.

He opened the full program.

One institution handled advanced Circuit training.

Another dealt with military placement and Legacy development.

The third was the Varen Central Awakening and Talent Centre, serving several Imperial provinces and military families.

Nate read the description twice.

Hundreds of candidates awakened there each month.

He went back to the number.

Hundreds.

Forsaken Claim required him to witness the rejection.

Normally that meant being beside exactly the right person during exactly the right moment.

Varen gathered those moments under one roof.

Every candidate would receive three Skills.

Choose one.

Reject two.

Then the next candidate would enter.

And the next.

Nate’s terminal chimed.

A second notification had arrived.

IMPERIAL TRANSFER ORDER

STATUS: APPROVED

He opened it.

DESTINATION: VAREN

REPORTING DATE: 12 DAYS

PURPOSE:

ATTRITION ARMAMENT VERIFICATION

TEMPORARY FIELD ATTACHMENT

Nate read the final line again.

Temporary field attachment.

Command had just forbidden him from entering another deployment until Graveshare was understood.

The Empire apparently intended to understand it quickly.

Another notification updated the Talent Exchange schedule.

Ethan and Mara would leave in eleven days.

Nate looked between the two orders.

They would cross the border within a day of each other for completely different reasons.

Ethan and Mara had been invited because the Empire wanted to develop their Legacy Classes.

Nate had been summoned because he entered a sealed attrition site and returned wearing military hardware that should have remained buried there.

He looked at Graveshare.

The Empire knew about the armament now.

Then Nate felt for the empty third Node.

They knew nothing about that.

The transfer order remained open.

ACCEPT ASSIGNMENT

Cade had told him to wait.

Nate read the destination again.

Varen.

The Talent Exchange.

Hundreds of awakenings.

He pressed accept.

ASSIGNMENT ACCEPTED

Kellan spoke from the bunk opposite him without opening his eyes.

"Cade’s going to love that."

Nate looked over.

"You were awake?"

"I was trying not to be."

Nate showed him the order.

Kellan sat up when he saw the destination.

"You actually accepted."

"I’m required to report anyway."

"Convenient."

Nate didn’t argue.

His attention returned to the Academy announcement.

Ethan and Mara would enter Varen as invited Legacy talents.

Nate would enter through military intake with Graveshare around his arm.

Every awakening inside that city would offer three Skills.

One chosen.

Two rejected.

Nate only needed one of them to be worth his third Node.

And this time, he intended to be there when it was rejected.

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