"How would you deal with a grenade being suddenly thrown at you?" Enyo asked with a grin before tossing a ball at the woman, whose eyes widened, caught off guard. She yelped at catching it, tossed it into the corner as far away from us as she could, and leaped adeptly toward the corner behind Kelly's couch. She rolled and slammed into the wall, and Enyo happily giggled.
"Damn, it feels good to be on this side of the interview with this particular question," Enyo admitted, "But she passes; I can't believe we only found two men, and the rest have been women. That is not normal," Enyo complained, "I was hoping for a bigger guy to be joining us."
"Wha~!?" The woman in the corner looked frazzled and looked up from the sudden surprise. "Is it not going to blow up?" She asked, looking over at Enyo and me.
"Go pick it up and bring it to me, dear," Enyo said with a smile. The woman hesitated before finally moving after almost a minute. Then she was careful getting close to it until she got a good look at the eight ball, and she sighed. That eight ball had scared over sixty people, and only fifteen reacted like this girl. She was what we were looking for, and she was going to be one of the people we hired.
She was a lithe-looking woman with practically no breasts. She had a clear six-pack of abs, which contrasted with her more clumsy, cute atmosphere and skunk tail. She was a Pure Mouse Kin with cute, round ears that moved on their own. Behind that appearance seemed to be a woman who knew how to react overall.
"So we are looking for Bounty hunters that we can train and will be on the go as delivery escorts while going out to a variety of different bounty fields. Does that work for you?" Enyo asked, clearly now more aware of what we were doing. "Honestly, The pay is going to be shit to start out with, but you are going to get someone seasoned teaching you how to hold the gun and not shoot your own head off. Then, the company will provide guns and ammo for you to play with. So to list the benefits and the shitty side of my understanding since I am new here, and this is my understanding.
"You will get experience, training, weapons, and Ammo, and you will see more planets and tier-one worlds than most unless you sign up for the Federation fleet. For this, you will be putting your life at risk to protect yourself and your comrades and the deliveries you will bring to the planet. After those deliveries, depending on the time between when you pick up the next set of supplies, you will be expected to go out and hunt some bounties on the planet to increase your standing in the company. The higher your Bounty Hunter rank, the more compensation and opportunities you will make. This is a starter business, meaning you might even be the captain of your ship one day. If I understand properly, you will get a portion of the entire ship's profits, including bounty hunters. If you understand all of that, Please Introduce yourself."
The girl looked positively assaulted with information and squeaked at it all. I could see that she was struggling, and something told me that was the reason she was in the trash heap. She was barely able to stutter out a word, and she nodded. "I-I-I am Meemee Underrot, and I am a drone specialist. I- I was supposed to go into the military, but I-" She cut herself off and looked around. "A boy stalking me joined first, so I decided that I should go into Bounty hunting instead. Now, I want to go around the universe and clean up the streets a little in this grey world." She finished, and I chuckled.
This girl was probably not going to be put on a smuggling ship. But she was fucking adorable. "Oh, I am going to like you, Meemee. You are perfect, so do you want to join up?" Enyo asked.
"If you can provide me with Drone equipment, I'd—don't mind joining. I need about twenty-five drones of various types to work best. If you want to see my records from school, " she said slowly, bringing out a chip, and Kelly's eyes narrowed.
"Wait, it doesn't say that you are a Drone Specialist here. No classes taken or anything like that, Meemee." Kelly said seriously.
"B—but I handed them to Manpower a year ago, and I need a job," Meemee said with tears in her eyes. Please, watch and let me join your company," Meemee said.
What came up on the screen was the cute girl. She had a visor on and a little helmet that just covered the top of her head. There was a sizable metal backpack on her back, and it looked at least five feet wide by six feet tall. Meemee took a moment to hold her breath, looked around once, and was back behind the cover.
"Alright, Meemee, Live fire exercise, unending waves till you surrender or run out of drones. BEGIN~!" A Male voice in the background shouted.
A Bell rang, and suddenly, the world transformed. Meemee was behind a broken tree. In the distance, you could see on a mini-map in the corner, and on the screen, men and women with guns hunting her. They carried assault weapons and laser guns, but they did not seem to know where Meemee was.
She moved a bit, reached back into her backpack, pulled out six black disks, and tossed them away. Instantly, once they were at a distance, they rose, guns came out of them, and Meemee started to control them. Then, she started a firefight, which I was instantly surprised by.
I had no idea the limits of the guns, but Meemee dispatched six people simultaneously from cover, looking through her visor HUD and something on her armband. The shots were all headshots, and the people hunting Meemee began hunting her. She moved slowly, but at the same time, you could see the drones moving around the forest and finding spots to shoot, and they would fire one bullet, killing the person.
That was the start, and she was using perfect aim with the drones, and I heard Enyo sounding very impressed. The battle continued hard, though, and the numbers kept increasing, but her marksmanship with the drones as they hid in the trees was amazing. Then suddenly, one drone started to head back as she threw another out, and I realized why she was being precise.
She needed to reload after about fifty rounds were fired.
So she started to reload, aim the drones, and kill more and more intruders hunting her at the same time. It got crazier and crazier for the next minute or two as she controlled twenty-four drones, twelve of which dealt death and twelve being reloaded in her backpack, with her having to lean back and fix something.
She was controlling both things at the same time, and the numbers started to increase. Then, one drone started to empty its clip. It was quick and accurate, and twenty rounds killed fifteen people as it flew around in the trees. Meemee had to move to a new location as the enemies started to shoot where she had been.
"Difficulty increases"
The sudden announcement brought people on vehicles into the forest, and dirt paths started to appear on the mini-map, but Meemee was already ready. The first hunter came in on a bike, and suddenly, an explosion came from a drone she had just finished reloading.
"BOOOM~!"
The drones were now picking off people, all under her precise control, with one drone now destroying vehicles while she had to start moving. The enemies were shooting in her general direction, seemingly somehow finding where she was.
It was amazing. She moved from cover to cover while retreating and killing with precise hits to the head. She was even using a drone grenade launcher and destroying vehicles left and right. Her multitasking ability and ability to keep calm while she did it all were amazing. She was even reloading and putting grenades into the drones.
"Difficulty increases"
More was added, and tanks started to be added to it. I noticed that she had to be precise about where she hit. She was not destroying these heavy tanks. She was disabling them, taking out tracks, Gravity panels, or whatever they were using. She would then have a drone ready and clean up those that were coming out.
"Difficulty increases"
Armored troop carriers were coming out, and the sounds of animals started to fill the video. And my eyes narrowed as she took tracking dogs in stride. In fact, she was killing the animals tracking her before the humans. She was now surrounded, no longer able to retreat as they hunted her. The Dogs were barking, and the drones were now being shot at. And she had to continue being precise while they found her drones and shot at them. But she was moving them around and killing them. She was a hunter surrounded by militarized prey that continued to battle with her, and my jaw felt like it should be hitting the floor.
The Armored Troop carriers were moving quickly, and she shot a grenade not even five feet away from where she was to disable it. Then, as the simulated men and women came out, another grenade with a quick sweep of ammo came out, and half the drones came in; as one suddenly shot smoke grenades around to buy her time to reload a dozen drones. She was now using spares while controlling twenty-five drones.
"Difficulty increases"
The first drone was shot down as Robots came in, and you could see her cursing and moving to her pack quickly. Meanwhile, her drones were moving in odd patterns, making her aim much worse. She was now taking three shots, which took only one before. The battle started getting increasingly chaotic, and finally, a dog made it through the drones. She cursed as the dog suddenly tackled her, and she shot it with a drone, but it was over. A dozen simulated people converged on her as she was in their parameter, and they 'killed' her, and the simulation ended.
"Meemee Underrot reached level 5, survived three minutes inside level 5, and in total killed 1538 enemies and caused 26 million federation credits worth of damage to the opposing force. Top of Class in Drone Control. S rank ability to multitask and aim. Cleaver's usage of ammo skills and weapons is available to do more than one should be able to. Highest Recommendation!" The computer finished, and the show recording finished.
All three of us turned to a very scary woman with drones, who looked shy as hell. "C—Can you buy me proper drone gear? I don't have the Federation Credits for it."
"Of course!" I exclaimed, and Enyo and Ura nodded. "In fact, let's get looking at a contract, Meemee. I assure you that in the future, with skills like yours, you will be a very well-known drone specialist!" I exclaimed, and she smiled happily.
"Yes! Let's!" Meemee started to tear up. "I have been hoping for a job for two years now, and this is the first interview Manpower has even given me. Thank you so much!"
"Meemee, I am sure I could get you an even better job if you want!" Kelly suddenly shouted, and I saw her face harden. Enyo, Ura, and I turned to her, our faces hard.
Meemee looked at Kelly, surprised, and then tears started to fall. "Then when is that going to come?" Meemee asked bluntly, and Kelly looked shocked. "TELL ME!" Meemee snapped at her. I NEED TO KNOW!"
"I can call people. I could probably get you a better job within a month!" Kelly yelled, hope in her voice.
"I HAVE BEEN EATING TRASH!" Meemee screamed in her face, and I was shocked, and so were Enyo and Ura. "I- I have been begging, living off of friends' couches. All my alumni from when I learned to use Drones ALL HAVE JOBS! I rated higher than them ALL! You have not gotten me a SINGLE INTERVIEW UNTIL NOW!" Meemee screamed. "I have been here every three days till I was kicked out and told not to come back till you got me an interview. TODAY IS THE FIRST, AND YOU WANT TO TAKE THAT FROM ME!" Meemee screamed in frustration and anger in her voice, which was full of anguish.
"There must have been-"
"No, I will sign with these lovely ladies," Meemee said with a large sniff. "Meemee is no longer going to rely on Manpower for work in the future. I can see movement up in this company and learning opportunities; this woman here clearly knows the battlefield," Meemee said, pointing at Enyo. "At least I will no longer eat trash from behind the dumpster." She turned and smiled with those fresh tears, and I knew we lucked out hard.
Kelly was sitting back, her face pale as she looked at Meemee. Something told me that the paperwork for Meemee had been improperly done, and after two years of Meemee falling through the cracks, we just came across gold. I could not help but feel happiness from it.
An hour later, we called people in and started to get them fully briefed. I signed contracts with people and sent out the rest. It was finishing off the contracts, and Ura and I decided to bring Meemee straight onto the ship. She was too much of a precious bounty hunter for us to let go of. If this was her before she got her experience working with more than the basic drones, I was going to fear her once she got professional high-end equipment.
We packed up Meemee with Ura to head back to her place, promising to gather the last of her stuff and bring her back to the ship. The rest would be picked up later and brought along as the headquarters for our corporation was being built. We would need to make one.
That was sooner than all of them thought, and Ura was already scheduling things to move forward. She was a good little planner. Meemee joined us, heading out, promising to buy her some new gear. I already knew that Enyo, Meemee, and I were about to get into some serious bounty hunting soon to make up for my losses here.