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FINALLY! THE FRIGATE was slinking so slowly toward the station exit, it seemed like the Kasti-Utsh III maneuver tunnel would never end. All the time I was sitting back in my armchair on the bridge and sorting through documents from the virt-pod rental company. Seven days of quarantine... Mandatory complete vaccination before first entrance to common areas... sanitary processing of all items in my bag... used clothing would be burned and a clean replacement set would be ordered... thick fur would be processed with a special bactericidal gel (I wonder if armpit or groin hair would count as “fur”), a mandatory six-day antibiotic treatment... opening a deposit account in a local bank with no less than three thousand crypto to guarantee my ability to pay...
The last part had me especially intrigued and I searched for how to do it. As it turned out, it wasn’t all that complex. You transfer funds in the game to a certain account, then get that same amount in the real world. But you could only withdraw and use what went above the three-thousand-crypto minimum. After a moment of thought, I transferred a whole fifty thousand – what if I had unforeseen expenses out there?
“Captain, where shall I set the route?” the Navigator pulled me out of my thoughts.
I had my answer ready for some time already, and I set an orange marker on the star map for Ayukh:
“The Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh system, second planet. Spaceport eighteen.”
“Do we have business with Trillians?” the old Navigator asked in surprise.
“Indeed we do. So let’s test the frigate’s systems here near the station, then we can go into hyperjump to Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh II.” I didn’t delve into the details, returning my focus to the documents connected with transferring my real body.
As a matter of fact, my choice of the Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh system was nowhere near a coincidence. It appealed to me for two criteria. First of all, it was halfway to the mysterious H9045/WE system where my two Relict drones were waiting. And second, I was looking for a place where it would be possible to unload the forty dangerous Meleyephatian spies (if I was not in fact mistaken, and the huge psionic “spiders” did not try to steal my frigate). For obvious reasons, Miyelonian stations and planets, as well as systems belonging to the Geckho were not suited to such purposes. And I did not want to try any stations belonging to the Meleyephatian Horde – back on home turf after evacuation, the spy ringleader Leng Sooweesssh Eleven might get up the gall to try and dispute my right to his ship. And so I chose the Taikhirhh-O-Tsykh system, which was neutral to everyone, belonged to the Trillian race and could be legally visited by any starship.
“We have left the station,” Dmitry Zheltov commented, referring to our successful crossing of the forcefield and entrance into the vacuum of space. “The dispatchers has assigned us vector 12-9-43. Beginning maneuver and main thruster test. San-Doon, you’re on thrusters two to five...”
I suppose it was also time to me to get to business and test the frigate’s scanning systems. Radar. Lidar. Gravity scanner. Neutron scanner...
Electronics skill increased to level eighty-four!
Scanning skill increased to level sixty-two!
Wow, there were so many ships around the station! The three-dimensional holographic screen depicted a true Hong-Kong harbor: dozens of starships were leaving the Kasti-Utsh III station, while hundreds of vessels of the most unbelievable shapes and dimensions were waiting in line to enter dock. Massive freighters and ore carriers, nimble shuttles, bulky space-ice collectors... The ship list on screen made a big impression. It even included a Kurimiru shuttle. So, the old man is still kicking... I thought they all got retired eons ago. But not this one. It was drifting aimlessly around five hundred sixty miles from the station...
Wait a second!
I checked the data on screen again. Exactly. There could be no doubt. The unnamed Kurimiru cargo and passenger shuttle was drifting in space at a significant distance from the rest of the crowd. It had to be the La-Shin faction shuttle I was intending to intercept, but it should have reached dock a while ago. Could this really be a coincidence?
Suddenly worried, my heart started beating faster. It looked like we would have the chance to intercept the gem shipment after all! I placed a marker on the target for the Navigator and both pilots:
“Approach to eighteen hundred. This might be just the thing we were looking for.”
“Captain, that is our quarry. The same. Which you speak on Earth. No doubt. Must capture. Landing. Board. Hurry!” the Jarg voiced his conclusions through the Universal Translator from his seat next to me and... well, well. The Analyst had already reached level 88! The “space armadillo” was really coming along quick!
Given even the Analyst had confirmed my guess, I didn’t spend any more time hesitating and turned on the ship’s loudspeaker:
“Combat alert! Everyone take their seats! Boarding team, prepare for action!”
I was immediately pushed back hard into the seat; something even made a cracking sound in my neck. Those damn G-forces again... According to the instruments, we were at four point five G’s, and that was with all of the gravity compensators back in working order! Without them, we’d have been well over two hundred, and the whole crew would have died almost instantly, slathered on the starship walls like so much hot butter. I looked at the Starship Pilot in dismay. He’d gotten carried away:
“Dmitry, let’s try and avoid such aggressive maneuvers in the future. We’re just going to approach cautiously and take a look.”
“Sorry captain, my mistake,” Dmitry Zheltov was seemingly a bit scared by how quickly the new frigate could accelerate. “It was smoother in the training sequences. I’ll be more cautious in the future.”
Copilot San-Doon was also impressed and commented:
“We have two very powerful main thrusters, and the mass of the twinbody is actually lower than the single frigate’s was. Minimal inertia. In a race, we could even give interceptors a run for their money now. This ship is so fast we should have called it ‘Cheetah,’ or ‘Peregrine Falcon.’“
I smiled because I also didn’t believe right away that this twinbody had less mass than a ship with only one fuselage. But Engineer Orun Va-Mart explained that this was no mistake. Our external plating and antiradiation layer were made of more expensive and higher quality materials, our composite frame was lighter weight, and our ultramodern thrusters weighed less as well. But the biggest factor was the so-called “mass coupling effect,” which brought our ship’s weight down by up to a third due to clever placement of the gravity compensators. I had to just trust their professional opinions rather than relying on my eyes and sensations.
My new starship really was remarkable. A true wonder of Meleyephatian shipbuilding. I was afraid to even consider how much the original owner spent building this masterpiece in the first place. So, should I give such an amazing ship its own name? In the past, I chose not to do so out of fear that I might draw unwanted attention from these very same pirates. But now my Fame was higher, and naming a ship also had plenty of upsides. First and foremost, it would give a Fame boost to captain and crew. And according to Ayukh, it also conferred small bonuses to speed and maneuverability which certainly couldn’t hurt. But I was vehemently opposed to the names the Pilot suggested. Naming a ghastly ship after an animal was, to my eye, bad form (the Millennium Falcon excepted of course – that’s a classic and rare exception). But a combat starship named “Coruler La-Fin” would make an impression on the heads of the other Directories of the magocratic world. And that would loosen their tongues for negotiations on the coming order of the world. Or... the thought was so crazy and foolish that my heart stopped for a second. Yes, that’s just what I’ll do!
Over the loudspeaker, I issued an order to my first mate Gerd Uline Tar:
“Uline, update the ship documents and send a message to the station that our Tolili-Ukh X frigate has been given a name: ‘Tamara the Paladin.’“
The Trader reacted with utter calm. So the ship had a name now, big deal. But Pilot San-Doon Taki-Bu was also listening and his eyes went positively rectangular in surprise. Not even a minute later, Princess Minn-O La-Fin flew onto the bridge hissing in indignation:
“Husband, I know your warm feelings for that mercurial little bitch, but everything has a limit! Naming a starship after your lover in the presence of your living wife goes beyond comprehension!!! And do you understand the gravity of what you’ve done?! By giving your spacefaring frigate that name, you are signing off on support of a terrorist! The magical dynasties will be extremely upset! That is... well it might not be guaranteed to lead to war, but... but...”
With icy calm, I looked at my incensed wayedda. Minn-O met eyes with me, lost nerve and fell silent midsentence. Only after my wayedda calmed down did I answer. And mentally at that, so copilot San-Doon Taki-Bu wouldn’t overhear:
“Yes, the other dynasties are not gonna like it. But right now, they’re all headless and have no way to pressure us, so I honestly don’t give a crap. As for the antimage uprising in the First Directory, make no mistake. I am no fan. I especially do not like the fact that some prison guards went and joined the rebels, and that every day their numbers will grow. But by naming my ship ‘Tamara the Paladin,’ I am showing the rebels that I hold their leader Gerd Tamara in high esteem. Furthermore, I will force all people with common sense to think she may have had my consent to do everything she did. After all, starships names are not given lightly. Furthermore, members of the La-Fin dynasty survived the terror attack, which in fact left us the sole remaining legally recognized mage-rulers, which also supports the theory that Tamara is working for the rulers of the First Directory. Furthermore, it’s always easier to ride a wave of protest than try to stand in its way. So, now I have something to speak about with Tamara. Get that meeting scheduled.”
“But husband, how?” Gerd Minn-O La-Fin was completely at a loss. “Tamara is currently the most wanted criminal of the magocratic world and is hiding from investigators!”
“In the next three days, Tamara will be forced to enter the game that bends reality at least for a minute, and that means we can simply wait for the Paladin girl by the side of her virt pod. No, no. This will not require any sort of violent operation to shoot and detain Tamara. It should be enough to simply communicate to Tamara that I would like to speak with her. Her character is at the Geckho spaceport, right? There is a long-distance communication room there, we just have to set up a time.”
Psionic skill increased to level one hundred three!
Mysticism skill increased to level fifty!
You have reached level ninety-three!
You have received three skill points!
A new level! Not bad at all! Then out loud I asked Minn-O La-Fin, who had just come back from the real world whether she told my Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi that we need to help the Human-25 Faction get out of a tight spot as I asked. The Princess assured me that the Chief Advisor had received the information and already given all the relevant orders. In one hour, two ferries of Relict Faction troops and builders would be departing for the other hemisphere of the virtual Earth – they would clear the node of hostile NPC’s and prepare a staging area for my faction to establish itself on the neighboring continent.
* * *
AFTER MY REMARKS TO the Starship Pilot, we didn’t accelerate so unpleasantly fast again. Our frigate was taking a wide arc toward the old shuttle, first to three thousand, then to a mere twenty-five miles – in space, that may as well be point blank. We held the Kurimiru in the sights of our nine laser cannons and were ready to throw a stasis net or deactivate its hyperspace drive at any second. But the shuttle was just drifting aimlessly, not reacting at all. Strange...
I ran scan after scan to clarify the status of the shuttle and grew more and more surprised at what I found. No energy shield. Thrusters not working. A total lack of weaponry. But an energy source was detected inside – the power unit was just fine. And eight... yes, precisely eight living creatures inside. All our attempts to establish contact with the crew of the ancient shuttle went unanswered. What was happening?
“No players with necessary skill,” the Jarg offered up a possibility. “Captain not in game. Pilot not in game. Communications officer not in game.”
Very strange, although... And then it dawned on me! Most likely, Coruler Anri-Huvi La-Shin’s close relative and captain of the Kurimiru shuttle Mart-Ton La-Shin was not the only crew member that belonged to the upper magical crust of society. In fact, all the senior officers were likely noble mages. And that wasn’t the extent of things! In the laws of the magocratic world, such major positions could only be occupied by mages, and probably those of a very high rank. So that meant they were all likely at the ill-fated council of the Mage-Rulers and had died in Tamara’s terror attack! So, the shuttle had come out of hyperspace and was now just drifting aimlessly while the remaining eight shuttle crew members didn’t have the skills to take the helm!
“They’re in a disastrous position. And not only do they not present a threat, they have no way of contacting the outside world or activating their thrusters,” I voiced my conclusions. “Dmitry, short advance! Let’s get up practically point-blank, two or three hundred yards. I want to try and establish contact with the Kurimiru crew mentally.”
Five miles... Four... Three... Got ‘em! At just over two miles, I managed to sense some faint echoes of emotion, then thoughts.
“Panic. Resignation. Suffocation. Sweat dripping into eyes. Forty minutes’ worth of oxygen in the best case. Then death is assured. Little San-Sano is already unconscious. It would probably be most humane to slit her throat while she still can’t feel anything. Although what’s the point? She’ll still have to respawn a number of times. And die just as many. Exiting into the real world will be just a reprieve from final death. This is a red zone, and her virtual body will be dying time and again regardless...”
I quickly broke the psionic contact. It was so arduous to read and feel all that. Ugh! My brow started to sweat. God forbid I ever find myself in such a hopeless situation, slowly dying of lack of oxygen...
Psionic skill increased to level one hundred four!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred six!
I turned on the loudspeaker and turned to the Engineer:
“Orun Va-Mart, you’re a starship specialist. Can you tell me if old Kurimirus had oxygen regeneration units?”
The tailed Engineer’s reply came in almost instantly:
“Yes, captain. All models of Kurimiru and the first run of Ytsuke which initially replaced them had no oxygen regeneration capabilities. They carried condensed air in tanks.”
“I see. Then Gerd T’yu-Pan, this will be your first outing! Mission number one: within half an hour... correction, within one tenth of an ummi, your landing crew must infiltrate the Kurimiru shuttle and rescue the eight people on board. Prepare both landing modules for evacuation. Some of the people on board are unconscious due to lack of oxygen. I will try to explain them how to open the dock airlock for us. But I’m not certain it will work. They can barely breathe, which is to say nothing of moving or doing anything that actually requires brainpower. And Medic Gerd Mauu-La, prepare to receive patients! Mission number two: efficiently remove the Kurimiru’s entire cargo, then deliver it safe and sound to our frigate. And do not open the boxes or containers!”
