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IT WASN’T EXACTLY hard to understand why they summoned me. The directors of the Human-3 Faction and the curators behind them, who were highly placed government officials, had discovered that they no longer had any control over events on the political map of the game world. In fact, they must have no longer even understood what was going on. After all, everything used to be easy to understand: to the west – the seacoast; to the north – ghoulish Dark Faction foes; to the east – impassable swamps teeming with NPC forest spirits, but containing oil deposits; and to the south – savage and backwards NPC Centaurs. And their relationship with both neighbors was clear and unambiguous: drive back and push out the NPC’s, defend against the Dark Faction.
But then everything changed. We made friends with the Centaurs, which opened up a path south, where we found the now allied German faction. Then they took us to war with the Naiads and we lost the sea. We managed to lose and regain control over the Eastern Swamps. Then a bloody war with the Dark Faction very nearly ended in the complete destruction of several factions of our world, and an epoch of chaos descended. And now, our political entanglements formed a ball so convoluted the devil himself couldn’t unravel it. To the north the La-Fin Faction was still the Dark Faction, but not quite anymore. “Not a friend, not a foe, but still[4],” as Vladimir Vysotsky might have put it. And the La-Fin Faction gained two of the Germans’ eastern nodes after the war, which put them to H3’s south as well. Then the western shore was also settled by Germans in a node that was being prepared as a “backup airport” for the Human-3 Faction. And in the middle of the sea, the Germans’ original capital of Rocky Island was first captured by the La-Fin Faction but then the island faction changed names for some reason. And the sea itself was still teeming with predatory Naiads, who were not open to productive discussion.
And when the curators of the Dome project started getting more or less used to the new political lay of the land, as if by magic, the “everything pizza” of geographical neighbors suddenly became one huge unified Relict Faction! And it surpassed the Dome’s population by four times and surrounded the Human-3 Faction on three sides. And looming over this odd new state was the figure of Gnat, who had recently been a player of the Human-3 Faction. And so they decided to summon me to get the whole story “from the horse’s mouth” so to speak. And based on the officious tone of the message, upper leadership still considered me to be the same student gamer they’d strong-armed under the Dome, entirely dependent on my directors and guided exclusively by their orders.
However, I no longer thought that myself. As a matter of fact, I was not even sure I had to answer to anyone at all. The days when I had bosses, directors and other kinds of trainers in the game were gone. Now I was a “high-profile” player, and I could take care of myself. My dependence on the Human-3 Faction was very weak indeed. It was just a shame I hadn’t yet bough my own virt pod on the Miyelonian space station. Then my team and I wouldn’t depend on the whims of the Dome leaders one bit.
“Dmitry, I can’t leave the game right now. I’m in the very heat of some important negotiations to acquire a new starship to replace the destroyed one. There’s a lot of money riding on this. So tell the leaders of the Human-3 Faction this: ‘Let them wait. I’ll come into the real world once I’ve wrapped up my affairs.’“
The former Military Space Academy’s eyes went round in surprise, himself accustomed to obeying orders unconditionally. He must have been having a hard time digesting the fact that a demand from Dome leadership could just be blatantly ignored. Although... maybe I was wrong and what surprised Dmitry Zheltov was the fact we were buying a new starship.
ATTENTION!!! Personal trade contract received (see attachment).
I opened the link and read the lines attentively. Yes, it was all above board, no deceit. The Spatial Cutter and the Tolili-Ukh X modular frigate in “twinbody enhanced landing craft” configuration would be made my property right after I entered the coordinates of the stash spot into a special field in the trade form. I wasn’t quite sure what twinbody meant, much less how it could be “enhanced,” but its assortment of modules and weaponry was impressive. The annex also said that Valeri-Urla the Beastmaster, who had already left the Tailax Faction, had been given an answer to my question and would tell it to me in person.
Chasing off the foolish thought of tricking them and giving incorrect coordinates (I assume such fraudulent activity would lower my Authority severely, and provide a reason to have the trade deal annulled in court), I filled out the form, carefully checking every number, then pressed “Confirm.”
Fame increased to 84.
Authority increased to 74!
“Wait, stop! Don’t go anywhere just yet!” I grabbed the Starship Pilot as he was preparing to leave the game. “I just got a yes from the seller and signed the contract. So let’s all go see our new frigate!”
* * *
WOW! SO WE COULD HAVE had one like this all along??? I was standing with my mouth agape, looking over this marvel of Meleyephatian design.
Two standard Tolili-Ukh X frigate bodies were smoothly linked by a special middle module, which simultaneously served as a command bridge. It looked something like a space catamaran. And it also had a standard hyperdrive, two very powerful main thrusters, an enhanced set of maneuver drives and two separate power units. The back part of the starship contained a forcefield generator, and it was clearly from a ship of larger class than frigate. It also had huge sickle-shaped sweepforward wings, which allowed the ship not only to land on the surface of massive planets, but also to make controlled flights in atmospheric conditions. A whole four (!!!) gunner cabins, ten (!!!) laser cannons plus two advanced gravity torpedo launchers. A full set of combat electronics – a jammer for enemy navigation systems, a stasis net, and a targeted hyperspace drive disruptor. Two sets of residential sectors. Two manually-controlled landing modules that could be fired like missiles, each made to hold twelve fully-armored soldiers – a dream for any space pirate! A spacious cargo hold and, the cherry on top, a small antigrav shuttle in a special dock in the tail of the starship.
“This thing might as well be a light cruiser!” my business partner Uline Tar admired, walking a circle around the starship and rumbling in delight.
“In terms of shield capacity and firepower, yes. It is equivalent to a light cruiser,” agreed Engineer Orun Va-Mart, writing down the parameters of various systems and making some calculations. “But in terms of maneuvering and speed, this ship is almost as good as an interceptor! I never would have thought it possible. They’ve combined the practically incompatible, but I’m especially surprised that they managed to get the energy balanced. What a miracle! This thing is the embodiment of elegant design with its mutually compensated overload of the dual particle streams from its power units, which gives it enough power to accommodate a whole three cruiser-class modules. Whoever dreamed this up is a true genius of engineering thought!”
Astrolinguistics skill increased to level ninety-five!
I didn’t always understand what the Engineer was talking about. That skill boost was because I had learned some new terms, but I was studying the ship parameters myself from the captain’s tablet and just couldn’t find the words to adequately express my admiration of this starship. This thing can do some fancy footwork! It was no interceptor, of course, but still was very respectable. Amazing speed! And what impressive firepower! In battle, one of these was equivalent to three Tolili-Ukh X frigates in “long-distance raider configuration” like I had before. But the problem was that, to fully service all its systems and realize the ship’s full potential, it needed a crew of forty-five or even fifty players. I though had less than half that.
“As I thought...” Dmitry Zheltov came down the ladder to the bridge with a sour look on his face. “Captain, we can’t go anywhere just yet! Everything is written in Meleyephatian. I can’t understand a damn thing! And the image on the screens is flickering so fast I can’t even make anything out. Instead of a normal helm, this has a weird roller in a spiral-shaped slit. There aren’t even any pilot seats yet, just brackets on the floor to hold onto! It’s like I’m back on our old frigate when Ayukh and I just got it out of the underground factory!”
We couldn’t use the ship? I started to get upset, but bushy-tailed Engineer Orun Va-Mart reassured me:
“Nothing to worry about, captain. Replacing the instrument panels with ones better suited to other races won’t take too long. And neither will installing stairs instead of these ghastly wall brackets, or getting adequate furniture for the residential berths. And as luck would have it, we are at the largest trade hub in this part of the galaxy. We can just buy everything we need here! I think we should set aside six or seven ummis for reconfiguration. If of course Uline Tar will set aside the funds.”
Uline Tar looked at me, waited for a nod of confirmation and, after calling the Supercargo and Engineer, the two of them took a deep dive into calculating exactly what we’d need to reconfigure our starship.
“Human. New ship. Very expensive. But didn’t give interceptors up. Two. Does not compute. Finances. And second role does not compute. After Uline Tar,” the Jarg Analyst, bouncing amusingly down the starship corridors after me, was practicing forming complex logical chains and did in fact truly point out a few clear discrepancies.
I had to explain, and fairly loudly at that, so all crew members would hear me, that I had gotten this starship in exchange for the coordinates of an ancient Relict artifact cache, which false Anya told me. And the damaged interceptors... here I filled my lungs with air and spoke decisively:
“We will not be selling the interceptors! As soon as they’re finished, both interceptors will be sent back to Earth. I’m starting to build a space fleet to patrol the Solar System and defend my home planet!”
Authority increased to 75!
I was afraid that one of the crew might object and say the two interceptors were our shared trophy from the war with the pirate Pride of the Bushy Shadow, and it would only be fair for everyone to get a piece of the big pie. But no, it all went smoothly. Even my furry friend Uline Tar didn’t have anything to say, though the Trader always had a very reverent attitude toward money. But here her share, around four million crypto, had just slipped through her paws. My business partner may have been too busy discussing the purchase list with my crew. But most likely she was totally baffled and didn’t know how to share the profits of our joint enterprise after I made such a large contribution as a swanky new starship.
Finally, Uline Tar walked over to me and, running her eyes over the purchase list one last time, said the total:
“Two million eight hundred twenty thousand crystals is what it’ll cost to reconfigure the frigate and buy all the furniture. That’s the minimum. Or four million crystals if we’re going for luxury. In any case, we need to know where to get all that money.”
I transferred Uline four million in silence. That was approximately half the money I had in my personal account. That made a clear impression on the Trader, who was imagining a long hard slog to gather the funds needed to modernize our starship. Uline spent a long time in thought, staring at the screen of her palmtop. And I think I knew what had her worried and doubting. Much had changed since our initial understandings. I no longer needed her money so badly. Well, to be more accurate, I didn’t need it at all. On the other hand, to be fair, Uline was the one who killed the level-207 Meleyephatian Spy. And that was the key event that opened up these new horizons for us. In fact, in theory, the captain’s key to the new frigate was her trophy. Sure, Uline wouldn’t have been able to do much with it on her own, but still the key was worth quite a lot. In any case, as business partners, the time had come to discuss new “rules of the game.”
“Our understandings remain in force. A third of the take will still be yours,” I reassured my friend with a mental message.
The Geckho lady bowed in silence – not a common gesture for Geckho, she must have seen humans doing it. By the looks of things, keeping the status quo intact was more than fine by her. Then she walked up closer as if she wanted to say something or make a request, but just shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, unable to work up the courage to say anything. And Uline Tar didn’t communicate out loud, instead meeting eyes with me and suggesting that I read her request mentally.
“Gnat, we have more room on the frigate now. Do you think I could have my own berth now? Like Tini?”
I couldn’t hold back a smile. So this was what had my friend so upset! My ward Tini did in fact have a separate berth on the old frigate, which was a source of jealousy for the rest of the crew and a real bone of contention. A few of my crew, especially “high-profile” players, had also asked me for their own berth, but I refused them all because there wasn’t enough space before.
My ward was given that privilege as a reward for stealing the trophy tail of the Great Priestess of the Miyelonian race from Fox the Morphian and thus earning us the funds to fix up our first starship. And I was planning to continue providing the little Thief his own berth. I made him that promise with no expiration date or reservations. And my word was worth something!
Now, Uline Tar was coming to ask for her own bunk... Okay then, I could afford to make an exception and underline her special privileged position as first mate, especially given that most crew members considered my business partner the true owner of the ship. Although our cleverest crew member, the Jarg Analyst, had already started to suspect that Uline was now subordinate in our joint enterprise. That made raising Uline Tar’s status in the eyes of the crew all the more proper.
I signed off on Uline Tar getting a separate berth, which I immediately told all team members nearby.
“Thank you, captain! Oh...” Uline froze with her eyes open wide in surprise. “I... I just became a Gerd!!!”
Our Uline has become a high-profile player!!! I was first to congratulate my gorgeous friend on the important in-game milestone. After that, congratulations started pouring down from all sides. Uline Tar was respected and loved in the crew for her fairness, restraint and good judgement. After a diffuse “congratulations” to the object of public admiration, as if in passing, Tini added that he was nearly up to the requirements himself and might also become a high-profile player soon.
“Tini, you’ll be the fifth member of the ‘flying above the crowd’ club on our ship!” Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa guffawed, clearly playing on the traditional translation of the ancient word “Gerd” as “elevated above the crowd.”
“Sixth,” I corrected the Miyelonian Medic. “Gerd Minn-O La-Fin will be returning to our crew. She’ll reach the station in one day.”
The news of my wayedda’s return caused a storm of jubilation among all those who knew Minn-O. Even Valeri-Urla, who had hinted at warm feelings for me on a number of occasions, was sincerely delighted at the Princess’s return, which surprised me quite a bit. I was actually expecting the Tailaxian to have the exact opposite reaction to her rival coming back.
I must have spent too much time staring at Valeri, and thus attracted her attention. Or maybe the Beastmaster really had managed to read my thoughts. In any case, Valeri-Urla gave an astonishingly accurate mental answer to my unasked question:
“You’re probably wracking your brains over why I have a good opinion of your wayedda. You want me to answer as honestly as possible? You simply haven’t yet earned the right to be with me, and that means I have no reason to be jealous of other beautiful women around you. Furthermore, there is only one role I would accept for myself – your sole or at the very least senior wife. So your junior ‘travelling’ wife doesn’t bother me one bit. But again, I repeat, don’t get ahead of yourself. Denni Marko and I knew each other for five years, and he never earned the right to be with to me.”
The mental contact broke off just as suddenly as it began, leaving me in a state of deep contemplation. Valeri spent five years stringing along an admirer! No wonder Denni finally lost it and turned his attention to other women. And another thing... I might have been wrong, of course, but I was getting the impression that over the course of our relationship, Valeri-Urla had examined me and found a “key” to my mental defense. She just had too easy a time slipping her thoughts into my head. I shook my head sharply, driving off the flood and returning to what was going on around me.
Gerd Uline Tar, still overjoyed about her promotion, loudly philosophized aloud:
“Fame is traditionally considered the very hardest parameter to improve. But with our Captain Gnat, that is not the case at all! There’s always something unusual happening with him. The words ‘Leng Gnat’ are constantly in the ears of people throughout the galaxy. His black energy armor suit is always on their screens, and his glowing eyes always blinking on the news. And though it isn’t always positive, our captain is being discussed, so it doesn’t matter. Most importantly – his Fame is growing. And along with it, Leng Gnat’s companions’ Fame is growing. At this rate, we’ll have a starship team made up of nothing but Gerds and Lengs soon enough!”
Everyone around laughed, having found my first mate’s words an amusing joke. I laughed along with the rest, but I was thinking to myself that Uline was right in many ways.
I really was dreaming of having only the best of the best in my crew. After all, growing your level and skills is not the only way to get stronger. There is another, more effective method – investing the eight extra statistic points awarded after achieving “status.” And that first promotion to the rank of Gerd required high Fame. And that meant increasing that parameter for my crew members! Any flashy events Team Gnat took part in needed to be broadcast to as wide an audience as possible!
“Ayni, I’ve got something for you,” I said, cautiously embracing the orange kitty by her waist and pulling her away from the rest of the crew. “Do you still have the contact info of that dark-furred Journalist that was shooting footage on our war with the Pride of the Bushy Shadow? Excellent! Get in touch with her and say that we might have some nice material in the works for her. But to get it, the Journalist will have to take a short space flight on our ship.”
Gerd Ayni didn’t understand one bit of my vague explanation, but promised to pass it along to her acquaintance.
“Alright. Now the most important part: I want you to get in touch with Miyelonian counterintelligence. Yes, you heard me right. And don’t looks so afraid. I have important information for them. Tell them that Leng Gnat has reason to believe that his recently acquired frigate has several high-level Meleyephatian Horde Spies on board in an inactive state. I believe they are planning on secretly escaping the Kasti-Utsh III station that way, having finished an assignment to track the Miyelonian fleet. If they ask what made me think so, tell them intuition, and a few thought fragments I read from the Meleyephatian artifact Trader Ayzzz 117. If they want to check my words, have them look for Ayzzz 117 on the station. I suspect they will not be able to find him, because he will be leaving Kasti-Utsh III shortly.”
The Miyelonian turned serious and looked tense. She reminded me more of a hound ready to snap than a peaceable inoffensive Translator. Gerd Ayni promised to get in touch with Alliance of Miyelonian Prides counterintelligence, just clarified what I wanted the Miyelonians to do about it.
“Have a squadron of Miyelonian players sneak onto my starship as covertly as possible. We have limited space and narrow corridors, so we’ll need fast hand-to-hand fighters with traditional Miyelonian blades. It would be good for them to bring Resonators along, too. They’re highly effective against Meleyephatian weaponry, as practice has shown. Well and Paralyzers... or whatever they have for capturing enemy players alive. I suspect that fifteen to twenty high-level fighters will be enough. And all of them should have strong defense against mental control. Have them sneak onto the ship and immediately exit the game. Then they will patiently await our signal that the Meleyephatians have revealed themselves, and enter the game all at once to teach them a lesson!”
I stopped, looked at my fluffy friend and made a suggestion:
“And by the way! You could serve as our ‘signal!’ At the first sign of Meleyephatians on board, you leave the game and call for help. Have them give you a button or find some other method. And then the soldiers, lying in wait in their virt pods, can enter as well. A classic ‘log-in trap.’ My friends and I used to use that tactic often in online games... anyway, it doesn’t matter. Most important is making sure the Miyelonians don’t sleep through it and do in fact intervene. And just imagine what great footage that will make for the Journalist! In my world, news agencies would be so eager to get their hands on that tape, they’d rip it away from you arms and all! I also have one condition – the Union of Miyelonian Prides will be paying for all damage incurred by my starship in the course of the battle!”
