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AT THE TABLE in the middle of Tamara the Paladin’s state room, eight exhausted and tortured players were sitting eating a meal in identical uniforms of black and green, the heraldic colors of the great La-Shin dynasty of mage-rulers. Seven of them were big brutish men of combat classes with levels ranging from ninety-five to one hundred twenty, and the eighth was a dainty level-87 Engineer lady with fire-red hair. All the guests were clearly feeling shy in the presence of the ruling couple of the First Directory, but hunger took precedence nevertheless, and the food on the rescued astronauts’ plates disappeared as if by sorcery. I was not afraid of aggression on my guests’ part, so I didn’t even take any guards, but Gerd T’yu-Pan wanted to attach five soldiers to me “just in case.”
I had already determined from their stories that the old Kurimiru shuttle didn’t have enough power to take off from Earth, so their captain Mart-Ton La-Shin had skimped on basically everything that could possibly reduce the ship’s weight, even by a fraction of an ounce. Estimated flight time to Kasti-Utsh III fifty-nine hours? That means just two oxygen tanks – exactly enough for sixty hours if you really scrimp and keep only a minimal crew on board for the majority of the flight. They took only enough food for two modest meals, some very small and lightweight high-energy rations. One point five quarts of water per person. One set of light cotton clothing per crew member, cloth footwear and no personal items allowed in their inventory. The troopers carried light laser pistols (more for show than actual fighting) and not a single extra energy battery.
Cots, armchairs and even internal heat isolation plating and antiradiation protection had been removed to reduce mass. And meanwhile they were hauling as much cargo as possible to sell: five large galvanized containers with bars and rods of lutetium, praseodymium, ytterbium and other rare-earth metals. Plus Captain Mart-Ton La-Shin had a box of large and flawless precious stones in his inventory. Unfortunately, that most valuable part of the cargo had gone up in smoke along with its captain.
For the ten days prior to takeoff, the crew was put on a semi-starvation diet and their weight was further reduced with hours of grueling physical exercise while wearing thick rubberized suits, all while having to take pills of furosemide and other diuretics. But in the end, their goal was achieved – the rickety old starship broke free of Earth’s gravitational field and entered a hyperspace jump. However, no one had considered the harsh radiation, the fact space was a “red zone,” or the risks associated with moving their respawn points onto a starship. In the end, they started having problems almost immediately due to lack of oxygen because, even when the players went into the real world, their avatars remained in the game, consuming the already limited supply of oxygen. And so they made a harsh decision and killed the inactive avatars. Then the captain and two senior officers left the game and never came back...
“So what should I do with you?” I asked a niggling question. “None of you know any galactic languages, so even if I bring you to the Kasti-Utsh III station, you will simply disappear. And sending you off with a translator who does know the language of the magocratic world – Gerd Ayni, Gerd T’yu-Pan or my wife Gerd Minn-O La-Fin – would be wasteful. I need all of them here on the frigate. I could sign you onto my crew and take you into deep space. But I have too good an understanding of the magocratic world’s strict laws and I know that you would be accused of treason back home for working for a competing dynasty. And you wouldn’t be the only ones put at risk of the death penalty by that, all your close relatives would be in danger as well.”
“But Coruler Gnat La-Fin, I am an orphan! I have no relatives!” the red-headed lady raised her eyes to me with hope, her face framed by two silly pigtails that stuck out in different directions.
San-Sano. Human. La-Shin Faction. Level-87 Engineer.
Another Engineer on the frigate couldn’t hurt... Should I set her up as Orun Va-Mart’s assistant then? But I didn’t answer fast enough. A combat alert siren suddenly rolled through the ship.
And I didn’t even have time to think about why, because three Meleyephatians materialized right there in the state room. The huge spider-like troopers were wearing additional armor over their chitin and holding weapons at the ready in four hands. A moment later, the head of the human Gunfighter nearest them, who had been enjoying a peaceful meal, flew clean off, severed by the swipe of a sharp claw, which the space spider had at the end of each of its eight arms.
“We’re under attack! Time to fight, let’s go!” I shouted into the microphone of the helmet that was instantly on my head, meanwhile falling out of my chair onto my back and transitioning into a somersault.
Danger Sense skill increased to level seventy-nine!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred seven!
Medium Armor skill increased to level seventy!
Jump to the side! Roll! Use a metal stand as cover! I was acting on pure intuition, not thinking at all. And I was making the right moves! The wall where I was just standing melted a second after I got out of the way, subjected to dozens of shots from a very high-speed and destructive weapon – all three of the spiders were focusing on me, their most dangerous target. And they weren’t only using their guns, they were also attacking psionically. My head was humming, as if someone smacked it with a heavy bag. It was hard to think. Furthermore, the armor’s forcefield was down by fifteen percent. In the end I did take a couple hits.
The Annihilator appeared in my hand. Hit the Scanning icon! I need to know where my enemies are without peeking out from behind cover! Put markers on them!
Scanning skill increased to level sixty-three!
Targeting skill increased to level forty-two!
Oh! One of the enemies is right next to my cover! Fire! I jumped up and shot the Annihilator twice from three feet away. Miss! Miss! Meleyephatians move so quickly! The spider I was shooting practically point blank had some clever way to dodge, jumping to the side, then up and hanging from the ceiling, its clawed feet hooked into the lighting domes.
“Coruler! Kill this one while we hold it down!” came a blood-curdling scream from a level-116 human Shocktroop.
Three bloodied and injured La-Shin Faction troops were pinning a Meleyephatian to the floor and trying to pull the weapon from the spiny beast’s arms. Another Meleyephatian meanwhile was racing around the room, successfully dodging laser pistol bursts from Gerd Minn-O La-Fin and two other humans, shooting back all the while.
I evened out my breathing, aimed and, trying not to mind my two new chest wounds, shot the creature right in the head. And when I looked at the Spy being held against the ground, I noticed he was level 162 (!!!). I hit with the Annihilator at thirty feet!!! A personal record!
Medium Armor skill increased to level seventy-one!
Targeting skill increased to level forty-three!
Sharpshooter skill increased to level forty-four!
You have reached level ninety-four!
You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: six).
Seems like slim experience for killing such a high-level enemy... Maybe the game system was splitting the experience between the four of us. Anyhow, I had no time to think. The Meleyephatian on the ceiling nimbly crawled right over me, spraying Gnat with fire from his two high-speed snub-nose laser rifles. My Energy Armor shield started to fall at a catastrophic rate. I rolled aside, trying to kill or at least repel the pesky enemy as I did, but it was like he was possessed. Miss! Miss! Miss! Miss!
The Annihilator battery lost all charge. I jumped back from the old cover, which was now all shot through and rolled again, taking shelter behind the corpses of Minn-O La-Fin and the girl with red braids, which were draped across an overturned chair. My arms were shaking with panic. I nearly dropped my reserve Annihilator battery. An alarm siren wailed through the ship to inform us that one of the sectors had lost pressure. The plastic ceiling panels caught fire, filling the state room with acrid black smoke. The automatic fire suppression system kicked into gear – all the doors automatically locked, cutting us off from the rest of the starship, and sending foamy water spraying out of the jets. Meanwhile, a stream of carbon dioxide gas was released from a set of slits that opened in the wall.
Danger Sense skill increased to level eighty!
“There won’t be any breathable air in here soon!” I shouted to my allies, just three of whom remained, immediately marking a now open cupboard in the wall for their benefit. “Oxygen masks on!”
I can’t say whether they understood me in the din of battle, but I suddenly had bigger concerns. The huge Meleyephatian sharply jumped off the ceiling, knocking me off my feet and pinning me to the ground with all his weight. Seemingly, he’d started doubting his ability to get through my Listener Energy Armor shield and decided to come in and bite my neck with his razor-sharp mandibles. But that was an error of the crudest variety. First of all, the ancient armor suit’s thick metal was not exactly the kind of thing you just casually bite through. Second, with him at absolute point blank, I did not miss! A massive hole the size of a soccer ball appeared in the giant spider’s chest plate. And my second shot split the dangerous foe’s carcass in two!
Medium Armor skill increased to level seventy-two!
Rifles skill increased to level sixty!
Sharpshooter skill increased to level forty-five!
I didn’t get another level-up, although my progress bar to ninety-five went up ninety percent from that one kill. I didn’t look at the dead enemy’s level, but it must not have been that high. All wet with water and covered in a sticky orange slime, I stood up and extended an arm toward the final enemy, who was lying on top of a bloodied human man and preparing to slice into him with his claws:
“Die, foul beast!”
Psionic skill increased to level one hundred five!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred eight!
You have reached level ninety-five!
You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: nine)
The giant spider in metal armor with a transparent hood on his head just stayed stock still, his two frontmost arms extended to land a finishing blow on the prostrate human. It was a miracle, but I saved the last of the eight La-Shin Faction players.
Timka-Vu. Human. La-Shin Faction. Level-112 Machinegunner.
Ugh... We could catch our breath a bit now – I was holding the enemy down tight, and still had more than enough Magic Points. Beyond the partitions, I could hear an active firefight and screaming. Despite the suddenness of the attack, a few crew members were still alive and offering resistance to the intruders. I had absolutely no idea what was going on in the other frigate sections, but the situation in the state room was under control.
“Timka, looks like you got lucky. You got rescued twice today.” I took a sturdy cord out of my inventory and threw it to the dark-skinned curly-haired boy, who was standing up and looking around in a daze, wearing absolutely threadbare clothing. “Take this and tie up that Meleyephatian’s arms while I hold him down! And don’t be too careful, just yank his arms behind his back! And hurry up before the other enemies come pay us a visit.”
Timka-Vu started twisting the Meleyephatian’s segmented arms with a crunch, seemingly breaking something and severing tendons. Yes it was cruel, but I didn’t know any other way to immobilize the dangerous eight-legged freak. Hmm... Something in the captured enemy’s face seemed dimly familiar. I took a closer look.
Successful Perception check!
Eagle Eye skill increased to level eighty-six!
Woah! I know this Meleyephatian! Although he was wearing a full set of silvery armor instead of a leather belt and red bandanna, and his name, class and level were totally different this was Wizzz 889, there could be no doubt. The very same stoned Programmer with bizarre mannerisms that fixed the Immolators for me!
By the way, speaking of the Immolators... Two of the three dangerous robots were not folded up, they were simply lying in the cargo hold in an inactive state. I could try to turn them on from a distance and send them against my enemies along with the Small Relict Guard Drone, which I couldn’t exactly locate at the moment. By the way, what was it actually doing without any commands from me? Odd... In theory, the Small Guard Drone should have been automatically attacking the Meleyephatians as soon as the game system identified them as enemies. But I never got any system messages to say it killed enemies, earned me skill-ups or anything. I opened the drones tab and everything became clear. The small drone on the starship was inactive. Either something had disabled it, or it had been totally destroyed. Seemingly, the Meleyephatians had taken the Pride of the Bushy Shadow’s negative experience into account and thought up a way of taking my trump card out of the game.
I’d have to manage without the ancient drone somehow. Especially given the shooting on the starship had practically fallen silent. There was just the odd lone shot coming from somewhere in the right fuselage of the double ship. One of my troops was still holding out over there. But nevertheless, there would be enemies coming into the state room at any moment. We needed to stop them or at least distract them somehow. But wouldn’t it be risky to turn on the Immolators, given one of the Meleyephatians attacking my ship set them up? It would, of course, though I doubted there would be any malware in the code. The false Programmer set up the robots a while ago, when no one was even thinking about evacuating Meleyephatians on my frigate. In fact, I didn’t even have this frigate yet! But something else had me afraid. The bulky and clumsy robots with their colossal firepower might just blast my fragile starship to smithereens. But still, I didn’t see any other way out.
Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred one!
On my command, both of the usable Immolators got up and headed to leave the cargo hold. Based on the thundering blasts coming from the neighboring corridor, the metal door blocking the robots’ path had been blown away in a combined volley from their twelve plasma cannons. Ugh. I wish I knew what exactly was going on there so I could control the combat bots on my own rather than relying on their algorithms. If I were in my berth, I’d simply patch into the security camera system from the captain’s terminal. But now I’d have to invent another way... I tried to mentally access one of the robots’ video cameras.
Hard. I don’t even know how to go about trying. But just when I thought I was making some progress...
“Coruler Gnat La-Fin, the enemy has been tied up!”
Jesus God damn Christ! I was ready to strangle Timka-Vu with my own hands. He distracted me at the absolute worst time and broke my concentration. But I held back and, mentally counting to five, simply ordered the soldier to search the Meleyephatian, then take his weapon and anything else of any value. And meanwhile, the firefight on the ship started back up with renewed vigor!
Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred two!
Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred three!
You have reached level ninety-six!
You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: twelve).
Twelve points to spend!!! Excellent! And I hope that is not the end of it. So then, Immolators. Suppress and burn these spiders to ash! Show no mercy!
But just then... Three feet away, a new player entered the game. A short and scruffy Miyelonian in shining white armor holding two glimmering blades in his paws. The tom-cat got his bearings instantly, stashed his blades and stuck a gas mask on his snout. I couldn’t see the level or name of the soldier, but only members of the First Pride wore white armor. They were the best of the best, the elite of the Miyelonian armed forces. And that meant this big fluffy beast of the north had come to take down the Meleyephatian invaders. And based on the way the firefight increased in intensity throughout the starship, he hadn’t come alone.
Not paying any attention to the two surviving people, the First Pride soldier examined the bound prisoner efficiently. Gracefully, clearly knowing what he was doing, he opened the Meleyephatian’s helmet and stuck a cloth soaked in some intoxicant right between the dangerous mandibles of the prisoner’s lower jaw. The Meleyephatian fell silent right away, knocked out cold by either a narcotic or paralyzer. The Miyelonian then closed the prisoner’s helmet, walked over to a wall panel and opened the doors into the corridor with no hesitation.
“Timka, don’t you dare! He’s on our side!” I warned the foolish La-Shin Faction soldier, who was aiming his laser pistol at the Miyelonian’s back. “In fact, we’d better go help him!”
But they didn’t need our help. The battle was over very fast. The Scanning pictogram finally reloaded and I activated it, then familiarized myself with the results and shook my head in pity. Only three members of my crew were still alive on the frigate: boarding team commander Gerd T’yu-Pan the Shocktroop, new (though that depends on perspective) Gunner Gerd Eeeezzz 777, and the last of the three Kirsan repair bots, which managed to hide in a narrow utility cavity beneath the floor in the left fuselage.
* * *
I SLOWLY WALKED THE corridors of the blood-soaked starship, looking over the dead bodies of my comrades and the Meleyephatian raiders, studying the carnage and shaking my head grimly. Seven Meleyephatians were taken prisoner, including the one I captured. The leader of the Nest of the Horde Frontrunners himself then, Leng Sooweesssh Eleven we were not able to take alive. I found his body shot full of holes next to the corpses of Destroying Angel and Grim Reaper. I checked the loot right away. Such a high-level player as him might have had some very interesting stuff, but the only trophy that dropped was a silver band from an ancient Precursor signet. But it was missing the stone itself, which made it utterly useless. What a pity.
And as for my ace in the hole – the Small Relict Guard Drone was lying on the floor, having rolled behind some collapsed shelving. Externally, it was undamaged, though inactive. I’d hand it off to Kirsan to see what could be done. And right next to it was the body of Ayni. Honestly, I couldn’t tell whether the Miyelonian was in the game when she was killed or if the Meleyephatians shot her inactive avatar while the Translator was out calling in help. In any case, Gerd Ayni did her job and the First Pride got here before it was too late.
I also found the body of the dark-furred Journalist Gerd Undi Ar Miyeyauu beside her bloodied video camera, which was still recording. At first I wanted to erase everything because there could potentially be compromising material. But I changed my mind. She died a hero’s death and pursued her journalistic endeavor to the very end. To my eye, that meant Gerd Undi had earned the material on her camera. I turned it off and put it in my inventory. I’ll give it to her next time we meet.
And then I came across the first survivor. It hurt to look at boarding team commander Gerd T’yu-Pan. There wasn’t even a scrap of undamaged flesh left on him with all the tear wounds and laser hits. His armor was torn to shreds and the Shocktroop’s life bar was pulsating in the range of one or two percent. Nevertheless, when he saw his captain, he tried to stand but the First Pride Miyelonian Medic attending to him shouted not to be ignorant and to get back down.
Gunner Eeeezzz 777 meanwhile I discovered at his workstation. Huge even by Meleyephatian standards, the blue-chitined veteran was huge. He removed his armor, which was shot through in several places and was laying a sticky medical tape over the two stumps where his left lower legs once had been. Even with six legs, it looked like a challenge, so I offered to help, which the Meleyephatian accepted. When I asked whether he might need to see our professional Medic, Eeeezzz 777 responded in badly broken Miyelonian:
“Captain not worry no for reason. Nothing. Business as usual. I live through worse. Leg to grow back. I shoot cannon again soon.”
I turned my attention to the four bodies of the Meleyephatian trespassers in the nearest corridor and residential berth. The three-hundred-year veteran Eeeezzz 777, despite his Meleyephatian race, remained true to his captain and resisted the incoming aggressors with verve. I also noticed that the Miyelonian troopers were not touching the Meleyephatian Gunner and basically were doing their best to pretend he wasn’t here.
On the captain’s bridge, which the ship’s automatic security system tried to stop me from entering with a warning about pressure loss and other possible risks, chaos and devastation reigned. The monitors were smashed to pieces and covered in claw marks and gunshots. The bodies of Ayukh and the two pilots were both entirely desiccated and frozen. There were also some icy chunks of unidentifiable flesh strewn about... seemingly the remains of the Jarg. And the wall facing the cargo hold had a big hole in it. Seemingly that was the Immolators being a bit too zealous, or perhaps a grenade. But worst of all was the wall-screen, which had been broken straight through in several places, leaving nothing behind it but the vacuum of space. And that was how the air had been sucked out of three of the frigate’s sectors. Fortunately, the corridors of the combat ship were fitted with airlocks, so the rest of the ship still had adequate pressure. I walked closer and examined the holes up close. I pulled out one of the triangular quills stuck in the wall very carefully and looked at it. So it was the force of the Jarg’s explosion...
A Kirsan wriggled out of somewhere (not the white one, one of the two simply metal ones) and also started studying the holes with its many mechanical little eyes and even stuck its thin arms into the holes. I pointed the repair bot to the dangerous quill in my hand and the holes in the body of the ship:
“Do this first. The holes need to be patched up, then make sure you collect all these dangerous poison-covered little scales and burn them in the trash incinerator. And remind me when we get to the next decent station to buy some enamel paint. I’m gonna paint you green so I can tell you apart from the other one.”
Then I left the repair bot and depressurized sector behind and headed to find the leaders of the Miyelonian elite squadron. We had to discuss what to do next. But first I came across San-Sano. The pigtailed redhead had seemingly set her respawn point on my ship and already come back. When I asked about that, she smiled in embarrassment:
“Coruler, it was much worse on the Kurimiru shuttle. Death there was assured, and it would be an arduous and torturous way to go. So all our people set their respawn points on your frigate as soon as they had the chance. The others will be here a bit after me. I just got sent in first to see...”
“Whether you’d die?” I finished her sentence. “Did you know that the gallant ‘ladies first’ tradition dates back to the stone age? When big strong warriors wanted to check if a cave contained a bear or saber-toothed tiger, they’d send one of the weaker women in first. How many millennia have passed, yet nothing has changed!”
I wanted to leave the engineer girl and go look for the commander of the Miyelonian squadron, but he found me first. The short but wiry Miyelonian came up the spiral staircase and stopped a step away from me wearing an armored space suit which for some reason was not white but blood red.
“Well met! I see Leng Gnat that you are alive and still wearing my trophy on your helmet. What can I say? It’s nice to see!”
Authority increased to 78!
What? Did we know each other? I only had two trophy tails on my helmet: one from the swindler at the Medu-Ro IV casino and another from Kung Keetsie’s fiancé. As far as I knew, neither of them served in the First Pride. I’ll admit, I was somewhat at a loss. The Miyelonian removed his helmet, and I finally saw the space cat’s name appear over his head:
Gerd Lekku. Miyelonian. Pride of the Sharp Claw. Level-193 Brawler.
Well, well! So it was Kung Keetsie-Myau’s husband-to-be. I hope Gerd Lekku won’t demand satisfaction after I forced that tattoo on him. And why was he here instead of at the Great One’s side? I didn’t try and act clever, just asked both questions directly.
“Satisfaction? Are you joking, Gnat? The thing you did changed me from one of Keetsie’s fifty odd admirers into her only one! I owe you bigtime! And as for why I’m here... The commander was informed about a group of enemy Spies tracking her fleet on Kasti-Utsh III and trying to leave the station on a frigate belonging to a man by the name of Gnat. I don’t think it’s a secret to anyone that the Great One has been following you with great interest and sometimes even intervenes in your fate. So I didn’t wait for Keetsie to send one of her officers to arrest the Meleyephatian spies. I just volunteered. And it was the right move. Keetsie was very grateful... In fact, I was surprised just how much she appreciated it.”
The fearsome Brawler fell silent and gave a satisfied purr. Clearly his memories of his last interaction with Kung Keetsie were pleasant. I didn’t have anything to add and, after a brief pause, Gerd Lekku continued:
“The Great One gave me a team of twelve soldiers from her personal guard. The information we were given led us to believe we’d be facing around ten opponents, but it turned out to be several times more. But it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. It’s just a pity we couldn’t capture the ringleader. Some fool on your team sent him to respawn. But Leng Sooweesssh Eleven will respawn on the Kasti-Utsh station somewhere, so he’s as good as captured...”
Gerd Lekku cut off midsentence because our starship gave a sudden jerk, then another. Notes of hysteria were added to the even hum of our thrusters. And the squealing sounded somehow foreign. What is going on?
Danger Sense skill increased to level eighty-one!
“I know that sound!” commented the Brawler, his ears perked up. “Our starship has been caught in a stasis net, and the hyperdrive blocked.”
Damn! Just what I needed! I turned on the microphone and told the Gunner to take his seat at the laser cannons.
“Wait Gnat. There’s no need for shooting yet!” the Brawler stopped me. “They clearly don’t mean to destroy the frigate, but capture it. Otherwise they’d already be shooting. I want to see the crazed moron planning to board a ship with the First Pride inside!”
