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FIVE DAYS??? But everything would be over by then! Distressed, I tore the ceramoplastic headphones off my head and threw them full force at the wall, smashing the fragile item to smithereens. Nevertheless, I had no choice. I had to obey the dispatcher’s demands and bring my ship into dock. What was more, there were Miyelonian interceptors spinning tight circles around my frigate, showing that we would simply not be allowed to leave.
They did not need my help to translate. The dispatchers spoke Geckho perfectly and our Starship Pilot could directly understand their commands. I ordered Dmitry Zheltov to handle the maneuvering, and headed into my bunk. I was wound up and clearly they could sense that because, as I moved through the corridors, the crew pressed themselves into the wall in fear and lowered their eyes.
“Tini!” I called my ward and a few seconds later the little Miyelonian thief was standing in my bunk. “Go into the real world right now. Get in touch with Great Priestess Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo and explain the situation. We cannot afford to spend five days sitting around here, we have urgent business to attend to!”
The kitten nodded in comprehension and hurried off to do as I said. But before the door closed behind the Miyelonian, I saw Valeri-Urla coming in. And something important must have happened, because the usually tight-lipped and bashful Tailaxian had come on her own.
I invited her in with a gesture and sat in a big comfortable chair. The huge flying armchair was made for a Geckho and I had ordered it for my bunk on Medu-Ro IV to replace the woven Meleyephatian constructions that were here before. They were just too weird and I couldn’t get used to them. The Beastmaster agreed to come in, but insisted that I lock the door first because this was going to be a somewhat delicate conversation.
“Captain, Denni is planning to desert!” The Tailaxian blew up as soon as I’d locked the door. “And he keeps telling me to do the same! He says we should go to the station together, move our respawn points to somewhere in a green zone then leave the game for five days to give you time to fly off and defend your homeworld.”
“But... why?” the news really did shock me. It was not nice to find out that someone wanted to flee my crew. What was more, Denni Marko was the only one who knew how to control the ship’s laser turrets. Without him, we couldn’t do any shooting, becoming nothing more than an advanced artillery targeting system. “Why desert when you signed a contract for five voyages?! No captain would ever take you on again!”
Valeri ignored the question of why, but she answered the second part, getting straight to the point:
“Denni has taken all precautions, even left to the real world to consult with some friends who specialize in space law. He wants to appeal to the labor commission, saying he wasn’t aware of all the conditions of the contract when he signed on. He says he thought he was being hired to work as a Bodyguard as usual. Instead, he was brought onto a pirate ship to be used as a Gunner to commit genocide against a group of fellow humans from outer space. For extreme situations like that, the labor commission usually will annul contracts, especially given that there was no advance payment.”
Okay... But what could I do here? I could, of course, tell the potential deserter he was not allowed to leave the ship and place guards at the airlock. I could even lock Denni in his bunk for a few days and say he wasn’t allowed to leave. But then, once we were in battle in Earth’s orbit, he would have a chance to take out his frustration on his despotic captain by repeatedly missing on purpose. And really, did I even want a soldier I’d have to force to fight? No, threats and pressure alone were no way of dealing with this. What was more, before doing anything, I wanted to find out how his companion felt:
“Your jailers would probably require you to stay on the station then, yes? Nevertheless, Tailax is part of the Meleyephatian horde and I’m sure they would like to observe the enemy fleet.”
Valeri-Urla looked ashamed. Clearly her espionage was something of a touchy subject, but she still answered eventually:
“Weirdly no. I was surprised, but orders haven’t changed. They still want me to stay with the Listener. And therein lies the problem: Denni doesn’t want to let me go and insists I leave the frigate with him. We’ve been together for many years now, and I’m used to having him around. From time to time he acts rude, even unbearable. Sometimes he gets jealous, but overall he’s reliable and well-behaved. I’d never want to leave him alone here on the station.”
Well, well! I finally figured out how I should act. If Valeri wanted to stay with me, it wouldn’t be too hard to convince her companion:
“Tell Denni he’s making a big mistake. His plan might work on a Geckho or Meleyephatian station, but not here, not on a Miyelonian station. You see, I am personally acquainted with a Great Priestess of the Miyelonian race and have even done her a favor. Actually, what am I telling you for?! You were on Medu-Ro IV when I was arrested on charges of killing Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo, then found not guilty and released! Anyway, I also know the leaders of a few influential prides, have proven myself a reliable partner and earned their trust. So I have a certain Fame and Authority among the Miyelonians. The labor commission will have their doubts about Denni’s story. He will be subjected to Truth Seeker testing, and that is a very nasty little procedure. The lie will be uncovered, Denni will be arrested. What’s more, you’ll also be checked and that will surely reveal the fact that you are spying for the enemy. Is that what you want, Valeri?”
Psionic skill increased to level seventy-four!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level fifty-six!
The pop-up messages confirmed that I was being convincing, and my reasoning was having the desired effect. But suddenly she got on guard, pressed her left-hand fingers to her forehead and frowned in dismay:
“Gerd Gnat, you could have said all that without using magic, you know. I don’t like when people try to manipulate me! You can’t dig around in my brains without me noticing; I’m a much more experienced and powerful psionic! It was awfully arrogant on your part to attack me like that!”
By the end of her sentence, the Beastmaster was so mad that she had basically started to scream. Looking scornful, she simply would not listen when I said it was all on accident. Valeri clenched her right fist around the green stone pendant on her necklace, took a deep sigh and looked me decisively right in the eyes. Seemingly, she’d thrown down the gauntlet.
I didn’t turn my head, and our gazes met. I saw a reflection of my blue glow in her huge hazel eyes. I started feeling pressure as if I was struggling to pierce a particularly resilient piece of rubber. My thoughts grew viscous and stopped making any sense. And suddenly, I could hear distinct words in my head:
“Why is this so hard? I’m twenty-three levels higher than Gnat. And I have more mana, endurance points and experience in mental duels. Is Gnat wearing some kind of thought-blocking artifact? No, I would be able to sense that. I need to just keep pushing and not break eye contact. But he has such pretty eyes! Like shimmering blue ice. I’ve never seen eyes like that. You could just drown in them like a mountain lake. I just want to swim and swim in that deep blue and forget anything else exists. It’s simply bliss! I wonder if Minn-O is Gnat’s only wife? I’ve overheard the crew calling her a ‘junior wife.’ Does that mean he has a senior one as well? Probably. Too bad if so. He’s a pretty cool guy. He hasn’t been in the game long, and he’s already a Gerd with his own starship, plus he knows some very Miyelonian big-wigs. They also say Gnat is the only Listener in the game. I see why Denni’s going so nuts and trying to desert. He’s jealous. He knows that he looks dull compared to the brilliant Gerd Gnat. Wait, what’s happening? I’m running out of mana! But how?! Why?! I need to look away!!! Otherwise Gnat will be able to read my thoughts! What is this??? He’s not letting go!”
A wave of fully real panic rolled over me. I couldn’t say exactly how, but I stopped Valeri from breaking the mental contact. She was desperately trying to look away or close her eyes, but she just couldn’t. Finally, a clear thought formed in my head:
“Gnat, I know you can hear me. I admit, I lost the duel. Let me go, please!”
With immense strain, I turned my head away, breaking eye contact. My arms were shivering, blood was dripping out of my nose. I even had to lean on the wall so I wouldn’t fall over. My mana was down to zero. The last moments of the mental duel had been using Endurance instead of Magic Points. Nevertheless, I won!!! And the system sent some messages of congratulations:
Psionic skill increased to level seventy-five!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level fifty-seven!
Authority increased to 51!
Valeri-Urla, red as a boiled lobster, was sitting in a flying chair with her hands covering her face:
“Gerd Gnat, forgive me. Oh gods, I’m so ashamed! At least tell me the first thoughts you read!”
“The first thing I heard was a bit unclear. Something like ‘Denni is jealous,’ then about looking dull. After that I heard some easily readable thoughts about your mana running out,” I lied, wanting not to embarrass her or reveal my true powers.
The Beastmaster gave a noticeably freer sigh and even a tortured smile:
“Okay then, I’ll take it as a lesson. Alright, Gerd Captain. I’ll have a talk with Denni Marko. I promise he won’t desert and will stay on the ship until the end of the contract. As will I.”
The dark-haired flexible girl’s luxurious coal-black hair was braided into a plait that came down to her belt. She jumped off the chair and headed for the door. What was more, Little Sister had been scratching outside for some time, begging to be let in. In the very doorway, the Beast Master stopped sharply and turned around:
“Captain, I will challenge you to a rematch one day when I think I’m ready. It means a lot to me. After all, I am a proud Great Huntress,” Valeri pointed at three wavy lines tattooed on her cheek. “In the traditions of my people I cannot be kidnapped, bought or taken by force. I bow to no one: not to chieftains or shamans, wise men or rich ones. I will only ever submit to one person in my life, and I must first deem them worthy. Might that be you, captain?”
As soon as the doors closed behind her, Tini the kitten flew into my room, now back in the game:
“Master, I was not able to carry out your order. The living incarnation of the Great First Female Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo refused to overrule the order of Commander Leng Keetsie-Myau, who is equal to her in authority. She said: ‘My friend Keetsie is somewhere on the station, deal with her yourself.’“
The Miyelonian teen was down in the dumps after failing such an important mission. I walked over to Tini. His hair was standing on end, and his ears were pressed back. In an effort to reassure my ward, I gave him a tender pat on the nape and said:
“Don’t worry. Somehow I knew I’d have to visit this station. Okay then, I guess we’ll have to track down the great commander on this huge station, which is teeming with Miyelonian military. Get the crew together in the lounge. I’ll speak with them and pick out a team to come with me.”
* * *
AIRLOCK FOURTEEN, DOCKING bay 567, just about the very center of the huge disk-shaped station. It took the gravity cranes a whole hour to drag our ship down the two-and-a-half-mile-long corridor. The pace was impossibly slow. Then, in no hurry, the ship was turned and, literally centimeter by centimeter, placed in a tiny hangar which looked to have been intended for starships of a somewhat smaller class. It was such a tight squeeze that I worried my Tolili-Ukh X modular frigate might have its armor panels scratched or its short arrow-shaped wings broken. I even asked the wise Ayukh who would pay for repair if that happened.
But thankfully it was not necessary. Still, when I left the ship to evaluate the parking job, I couldn’t hold back a select word. The sharply pointed nose tip of the frigate was less than half an inch from the rough back wall. And the tips of the stabilizer wings had anywhere from six to eight inches play off the hangar walls. Jeeze, what a pinch...
Nevertheless, I had to admit we were very lucky that the dispatchers of the Kasti-Utsh III station even found a free hangar for our frigate given the huge Miyelonian fleet stationed here. Otherwise we’d have had to spend the five days just sitting in space without the right to turn on our engines or use comms systems. I suspected that the slightly different proportions of Miyelonian ships — narrower and more elongated compared to the more triangular Meleyephatian ones — prevented any of them from fitting into this small hangar, and that was why it was left for us.
I entered the lounge, where all Team Gnat was already waiting, staring at me in anticipation. The whole crew understood the gravity of the situation. We had no reason to hide that the war on Earth was going very poorly for our faction. Imran had just come back from the Dome with alarming news, saying that the Tropics node had been abandoned by its defenders and fallen. The Dark Faction was building on their drive south, acquiring more and more territory. In fact they had forced their way quickly through the swampy forest of the two coastal nodes and already reached the border with the German Human-6 Faction. Although the attack was utterly expectable and even inevitable, neither my faction nor H6 had the forces to repel it or impact the situation in any way.
Still, it wasn’t like the H3 faction was just sitting with its arms folded and waiting for the end to come. We regularly attempted counterattacks, but none had been successful. Once we attempted to launch an offensive from the Capital node toward the Graveyard to test the enemy’s defenses and tie up some of their reserves, but the attack drowned in blood. It was as if they knew in advance. The First Legion fell under dense crossfire and were all sent to simultaneous respawn.
Imran also told us about fierce battles at the juncture of the Centaur Plateau and Rainforest nodes, but from his words I couldn’t understand who attacked who. Imran also told us about the movement and successful deployment of rocket batteries on that section of the front, so most likely we were the aggressors. Furthermore the Dagestani told me that, on the southern front, we had shot down an enemy Sio-Mi-Dori antigrav. And he had some strange news about our new faction head Gerd Ivan Lozovsky. Apparently just after returning from Moscow and entering the game, he transferred leadership to his deputies, got in a Peresvet with a group of trusted First Legion soldiers and went on the Geckho ferry to an unknown location.
Basically, the war was really heating up. My faction was resisting with all its might, but it wasn’t enough at all defensive sectors.
“Captain, I spoke with other team members and here’s what I want to suggest...” Uline Tar stepped forward, drawing my attention. “There’s still time for you, Immmran, Dmmmitry and Eduarrrd to change faction. Go find some fixers here on the Kasti-Utsh III station who provide such services. Sure it’ll cost you, something like five crypto a head, but you have that kind of money. If you don’t, I can loan you some. And in five days, you just leave your virt pods in the real world on a Miyelonian station.”
“Yes captain. Why risk your lives?” Vasha Tushihh supported my business partner.
Seeing dismay on my face, Avan Toi walked forward.
“Don’t be angry captain, it was my idea. No one is talking about deserting, and certainly not treason or betrayal. In five days, when the state of emergency here on Kasti-Utsh III is called off, you can go help your faction at once. You can even go back and see your friends, if your Leng allows it. We’re just suggesting some insurance just in case everything goes wrong.”
Their suggestion to take insurance and temporarily change faction sounded logical in every way. But it was just... somehow wrong or something... Deep down, my heart just wouldn’t let me.
“Friends, it’s nice to know that you care, but I’m afraid I have to say no. And not least of all because a frigate that formally belongs to a Miyelonian faction might not be allowed into exclusive Geckho space. But there’s a bigger issue. After all, I am not merely your captain, I am a famous and high-profile player in my faction. My factionmates are fighting heroically against a strong and intelligent enemy. Yes they are being beaten, but they’re fighting for every rock, every inch of territory. They’re expecting support from space and have placed their hopes in me. So now if, instead of long-awaited help, it leaks that Gerd Gnat and his crew abandoned the faction...” I shook my head in doubt. “No matter how noble the intentions, it will be taken too negatively and be a serious blow to our soldiers’ morale. So I will remain with my faction to the end and am willing to share their fate!”
Authority increased to 52!
Now that I’d answered, I had to get back to the main mission: somehow finding the commander of the Miyelonian fleet on this huge station and getting an audience with her. Leng Keetsie-Myau wasn’t exactly a needle in a haystack, she shouldn’t have been hard to find. Plus just think how easy it would be to find that needle with my Scanning abilities! Here on the Kasti-Utsh III station there were two technical floors, docks and two residential floors. One hundred square miles of corridors and rooms! It’s square mileage was double that of Paris! What was more, there were thousands and thousands of Miyelonian soldiers here now, which was causing problems of its own. Ayni had also given me another warning. Apparently the Miyelonian predilection for dueling, which I first observed on the Medu-Ro IV pirate station, was especially widespread among the military.
So I came to a somewhat paradoxical conclusion: if I wanted to get past the plethora of Miyelonian troops, I shouldn’t take anyone who knew how to fight. I could only take crew members these cantankerous tomcats wouldn’t see as targets, whether because it violated their mores or they’d think it was too easy. For example, I had Ayukh or Avan Toi. Sure, not a bad idea! The old Navigator and sullen Supercargo had been on this station a few times, knew their way around and could give me some advice. What was more, neither Geckho would be of interest to young thrill-seekers looking for glory and trophies from valiant duels with worthy enemies.
How about noncombat characters then? Uline Tar asked to be left out of this. My business partner had found a shipment headed for earth and was engaged in negotiations to deliver it. Gerd Ayni obviously was out, too. Fanatically inclined Miyelonians would kill my Translator for no good reason, just because of a personal dislike. And here on the Kasti-Utsh III station, teeming with quick-tempered warriors, it would be quite a difficult task to keep the Miyelonian lady alive and well. Tini? Sure he was small, and no one would challenge a kitten to a duel. What was more, my ward was somewhat familiar with Commander Leng Keetsie-Myau, which could help.
And well... I ran my gaze over the remaining crew, trying to choose between Orun Va-Mart, Valeri and Minn-O La-Fin. There’s always work for an Engineer on a ship at dock, so let Orun Va-Mart stay. Valeri-Urla? I would have taken the Beastmaster with me but I remembered the recent conversation about Denni and decided to leave her on the frigate so she could have a talk with her companion. So I decided I would bring my “travelling wife.” Minn-O would have to change into a civilian dress though. Otherwise I was afraid the tall and agile cartographer, who looked impressive and fearsome in an armored space suit, would seem like a worthy opponent and get challenged to a duel by surly Miyelonians.
The fact that I myself would make quite the impressive trophy I decided to ignore for now. At the end of the day, if you’re afraid of wolves, stay out of the forest! And if you’re afraid of trouble of any kind, it’s best to just keep your nose out of space in the first place.
