Sticks That Make Things Explode

Cassandra opened the door on the top level of the airship. Inside was Ola, spinning in her office chair.

“I swear I was supposed to do something today.” She was heard whispering to herself before noticing Cassandra and Chizoba enter the room.

“Oh hey, Cassandra! And...the girl Dakarai helped!”

“Is she allowed in here?” Cassandra asked.

“Yeah, she can test out the guns.” Ola nodded to the question that wasn’t asked.

“Um, great?” Chizoba asked, looking perplexed. “But I need to report an incident, if that’s okay?”

“Oh, that’s always allowed.” Ola nodded.

“Well, I went to the church near the housing levels, and a bunch of new legionites were around.”

“They tried to kill me.” Cassandra said. “And I probably would have died if Chizoba here didn’t show up.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, anyway. So, any idea what they look like?”

“There were about a dozen of them, and all of them were in robes covering their faces.” Cassandra continued. “One removed his hood, and it was a really skinny looking guy.”

“If I remember correctly, we lived on the same housing ship.” Chizoba sighed. “I remember seeing him a couple of times.”

“Does he still live there?” Ola asked.

“Well, I never saw him much. I just kind of assumed he left.”

“I see.” Ola nodded, before slamming her fist on her open palm. “That’s it! I need to send extra baby supplies to the store ships! Aphro day was nine months ago.”

“So yeah, figured I’d let you know.” Cassandra said. “Especially since they knew who I was, figured it’d be good to let the other Leaders know.”

“I’ll make a note of that.” Ola nodded, jotting something in her notebook and sticking it to the wall behind her, alongside the dozens of notes on the wall. And the other set of dozens on the floor. “Anyway, we going to the gun place?”

The three girls moved down to the next level of the buildings. Inside was a grand hallway made of black metal that led to several small rooms. It was hexagonal in shape as it led to the other rooms, and in the middle was a black metal greave.

“Is that the Inariu greave?” Chizoba asked.

“Sure is. But try not to go near it, if you trip the system you’ll activate the security, and that’ll be a whole ordeal to deal with.”

Cassandra glanced into one of the rooms through a blue tinted window, and inside was a man wielding a double-bladed sword. She watched as an Inariu native held the weapon and swung one end of it full force into a target. The man who looked to be from ShiShi shook his head as he took the weapon and sliced the wooden target in half with what looked like nothing more than a mild shift of weight and flick of the wrist. The man looked towards Cassandra through the window and gave her a friendly wave as she stood open mouthed.

She needed to learn how to do that.

“Cassandra? Cassandra?” Chizoba asked, tapping her on the shoulder and breaking her out of her mesmerized state.

“Hm? Oh, right, guns.” She said to herself.

The two of them walked into an empty room where Ola was setting up targets. On a small metal chuck jutting on the wall opposite to the door was one of the guns that the guards were holding when they first landed there.

“What took you so long?” Ola asked once the targets were set up.

“Well, I saw the demonstration of the ShiShi doubleedge in another room. And it did so much damage to a target that you really can’t help but be impressed, considering its weight alongside it’s short handles not allowing for ease of movement. It’s usually used as a ceremonial weapon in ShiShi, but if you guys manage to pull off actual martial arts around it you could end up with a really cool fighting style!”

Ola slowly nodded as Cassandra was rambling about the weapon. She knew her stuff, anyway. “Okay, speaking of double weapons, what we got here is a double-barrelled shotgun. These girls let you fire one shot directly after the other to avoid having to wait for anything else.”

She got the shotgun out and shot a shell into a target, shattering the wood into pieces with a single unfeeling click of the trigger. She then quickly unloaded the next shell into the second wooden statue. It also shattered as soon as she fired the shot.

“Alright, now you try!”

She opened up the gun and put two new shots in it, stylishly closing the gun and handing it to Cassandra.

Cassandra held the gun in her hand. It was heavy. Below the metal barrels was a wooden grip with two triggers on it. She aimed the barrels at the first target. She pulled the trigger. The shots all exploded into small metal pellets which quickly decimated the wooden target. She did the same to the next target. The same result.

“So that’s it?” Cassandra asked.

“Yep!” Ola replied, her arms crossed and a wicked smile on her face.

“No, really. That’s it?”

Firing a shotgun was just ‘point at a thing and the thing explodes.’ There were wielders with similar abilities, sure, and she couldn’t deny the effectiveness. But there wasn’t any finesse. Nothing to get better at. It was artless fighting.

“It’s…not that great, honestly.” Cassandra said to Ola, giving her the gun back. “I think I’ll stick to swords and stuff, thanks.”

“But…it’s the most efficient.” Ola replied, gazing at the gun and then towards Cassandra.

“Well, yeah…but there’s no skill to it. Besides, I’d probably panic if I was in an actual fight and try to hit someone with it.”

“I mean…suit yourself, I suppose.”

“I don’t think it’s a big deal.” Chizoba sighed. “She just prefers more traditional weapons, is all.”

“Yeah, like double edged ceremonial swords.” Cassandra yelled out.

“What about greaves?” Chizoba asked casually. “Replicas of the Inariu greaves are something of a specialty here.”

“I don’t think we have any of those here, we’ve kind of perfected them.” Ola mumbled while stroking her chin. “But I can probably hook you up if you want some.”

“Nah. It sounds pretty clunky, in all honesty. I’m more of a speed fighter, anyway.”

“Suit yourself.” Ola shrugged. “Anyway, if you don’t have any more business here, you’re free to go.”

“Yeah, is the weapon testing here something to need to plan in advance or can I just walk in and ask?”

“You can just walk in, I guess. You’re a VIP here.”

“Okay, laters!” Cassandra yelled as she dashed out of the hallways.

Cassandra tried to remember which room had the double-bladed swords in it. As she tried to stop running as she remembered which room was the double-bladed sword room, she skidded across the immaculately polished floor into a wall.

“Damn it.” She mumbled. Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up. It was a message from Julian.

‘hey you gotta see my new eye. maybe a cyborg bear too, shit’s wild’

New eye and a cyborg bear. Cool weapons had to wait, it seemed.