Even in real life, when victory was on the line in a highly important battle, there were always heroes prepared to sacrifice themselves to save their comrades at arms and secure a win. But this was just a game so dying would mean we would just be out of the world for fifteen minutes, then come back at our respawn point. The fleet commander would probably appreciate such a sacrifice if it allowed his fleet to secure victory and would reward the shuttle owner for his lost property. So the decision to sacrifice the ship and open the door for the assault troops looked not merely justified, but absolutely correct.
However, when I told everyone my idea, I met unexpected resistance from Captain Uraz Tukhsh bordering on hysteria:
“You’ve lost your mind, Gnnnat!!! My Shiamiru cost seven million crystals, plus four million in improvements! You simply don’t know my cheap relative Waid Shishish the way I do. He would never agree to compensate such losses! I’d be broke! I’d rather see our fleet retreat and have this idiotic war end all the sooner than be left high and dry! So no, no, and no again!!!”
Fame increased to 57.
Authority increased to 32!
Based on the pop-up messages, not every crew member to witness this dispute supported the captain’s point of view, and my suicidal idea was to someone’s taste. Dmitry Zheltov, after removing his earphones and switching to Russian, suggested that the two of us bump off all the Geckho on the captain’s bridge, lock the heavy armored doors from the inside and do it all ourselves without the stubborn Aristocrat and his henchmen.
But I naturally refused. I had too clear a memory of the Dark Faction murdering four Geckho on the cargo ferry and knew that it would end in our real-world execution, plus huge fines to be paid by our faction. And of course I had no desire to die for real, so I asked Dmitry to settle down and not voice such seditious thoughts.
And then, from the corridor, I saw an enraged Uline Tar throwing herself on our captain with fists, reproach and cursing. I had to admit, I hadn’t even heard all those curses before and was somewhat taken aback by the vigor of the usually calm and contemplative Trader. The baffled captain also didn’t immediately understand why his bride was so outraged. Uline then wailed in hysterics, waving her arms, stomping her feet and shouting that she refused to obey such a cowardly and pitiful captain! It turned out that someone on the bridge had turned on the loudspeakers, and our dispute was overheard by the crew. The Geckho back there disapproved extremely when Uraz Tukhsh said he didn’t want to sacrifice his ship for the common victory. In fact, soon not only Uline was now cursing at the captain and calling him to active measures.
I suspected that the captain’s already unimpressive Authority took a deep nose-dive, and Uraz Tukhsh was now somewhat further from Gerd status. With difficulty, the captain pushed Uline out as she continued to angrily insist. Then he locked the door from the inside and turned around, for some reason spitting out his hate at me:
“Gnnnat! I know you did that on purpose to make me look stupid!!! You just can’t forgive me for not prolonging your contract, is that it?”
What?! What did I have to do with this? I was just choking in righteous indignation and took in a lungful of air, preparing to say my fill. Fortunately, I didn’t have to justify myself. The elderly Navigator Ayukh took a step forward, screening me with his body:
“Calm yourself, Uraz. The human Gnat had nothing to do with it, I was the one who did it!”
“What? You?” Our loser Aristocrat stumbled backward, shocked by our respected Navigator’s statement. “But why, Ayukh?!”
“I wanted to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life. You told me so much about your plans to prove yourself, earn glory and respect from society and become the pride of Clan Waideh-Tukhsh. Here, you have the very chance you’ve been waiting for! And you missed it... and now your fiancé is disenchanted with you... and you’ve lost the respect of your crew. I for one will be leaving in the nearest space port!”
Uraz Tukhsh bared his fangs fearsomely and spent a long time boring into his rebellious underling with his gaze, then he turned to the locked door, which Uline was still pounding on, shook his furry head and gave a rumble so loud the walls reverberated and echoed it many times over:
“I haven’t missed a thing!!! And I didn’t miss my chance to become a hero. I just have a different idea! We’ll blow up that Meleyephatian battery, open a path for the assault and distinguish ourselves, but we’ll also keep the Shiamiru intact! You see, we’ll land on the planetoid and deliver the mine with the cargo loader, then sail off smoothly out of the blast radius! Dmmmitry, turn this ship around!”
Chapter Eight. The Wreck of the Shiamiru
I WASN’T EXPECTING Captain Uraz Tukhsh to apologize, and I also wasn’t going to insist on satisfaction and spoil my relationship with the close relative of the commander any further. With an aura of calm, I ran another scan on the planetoid, getting a clearer map of the area around our proposed landing site, after which I turned off the monitor, left the bridge and returned to my bunk. The last thing I noted in the captain’s bridge was that the symbiote had stopped following our ship and disappeared, dissolving in the depths of the cosmos. Just once did I see it on my mini-map, where it was shown as a “plasma cluster,” then it never came into the scanning radius again. None of the ship’s instruments other than the cameras had been able to get a read on the satellite, and I obviously did not take out my Prospector Scanner and use a geological analyzer to clear that up.
If, as our Navigator said, the Symbiote was a good sign and a symbol of luck, it was very bad that he decided to leave us before this highly fraught operation. That immediately led me to certain ideas. I had to admit, I had no faith in our ability to land on the planetoid and use the heavy loader to deliver a thermonuclear mine to the laser cannons.
We couldn’t let ourselves think our enemy was slow-witted, especially given how experienced and clever the Meleyephatians were known to be. As such, I had a very hard time believing that the fortress defenders wouldn’t have their interest piqued by an enemy cargo shuttle landing on their planetoid (if the Shiamiru even would be able to do that while taking fire from the surface). Oh their interest would be piqued. Would it ever! And if they didn’t shoot us down in midflight, they’d probably send a mobile division to handle our landing party, and maybe even a few frigates to turn us into dust. With such unhappy thoughts in mind, I reached the residential module and fell back in exhaustion on my cot.
“Gnat, we all heard what Dmitry Zheltov said over the loud speaker,” Minn-O said, greeting my arrival in full battle gear and ready for active measures. “Eduard, and Imran too. If you would have agreed to attack the captain with Dmitry, we would all have supported you!”
I raised my gaze at my wayedda in mistrust and saw a look of utterly sincere and boundless loyalty, like a puppy. Minn-O had not been exaggerating one bit and was prepared to attack the Geckho if I asked. Just what I needed! Thanks, of course, to my wife and friends for their readiness to follow me through fire and water, but I hadn’t earned such blind trust. I was a living man of flesh and blood, and also made mistakes or missed chances. Quite often, in fact. Like now, I was worried that I had not used mind control on Uraz Tukhsh. Maybe I’d have been able to make the captain think his plan was wrong and doomed to failure, and he would have refused the stupid idea of risking our whole grand operation just to save his cargo ship.
“My husband, you don’t look like yourself! You look defeated and apathetic, as if you don’t care what is happening! No matter what transpires, don’t you worry. You’ve got me! I’ll always be by your side!” Minn-O took a seat next to me on the bench and embraced me, then put her head on my shoulder.
I hugged the Princess back. Just then I heard an unusual mechanical screeching outside the shuttle, and my wayedda shuddered:
“What is that?”
I answered that the captain had ordered the capture crane turned on to grab a space mine and drag it into the cargo hold. I also quickly warned M
inn-O, Imran and Eduard that the Shiamiru would soon start making sharp dodging maneuvers, preparing to land on the planetoid while being fired on from the surface. So I recommended my friends quickly check their spacesuits and fill their air reservoirs as much as possible. That was especially relevant to Eduard, whose huge Space Commando exoskeleton suit was jammed into in a niche in the hold and needed time to put on and boot up. I also told my kitten and the Geckho in the neighboring cabins to prepare their spacesuits.
The ship engineer went past us toward the cargo hold accompanied by two of the captain’s Bodyguards. Two or three minutes passed, and Uraz Tukhsh’s voice rolled down the ship:
“Technicians, ready the heavy loader! Everyone else, prepare for an emergency landing! Immediately after touching down, technicians open the cargo hold. After that adjust the landing struts and get us standing firm!”
Just after finishing the message, the thrusters started wailing in an unusually high-pitched, simply hysteric tone. Despite the functioning gravity compensators, I felt pressure in the back and head cushion of my seat. I hurriedly lowered the soft hand-holds from the walls and buckled up, preparing for a hard landing. Tini and Minn-O on the opposite bench did the same. Our ship started going faster and faster, spinning rapidly on its lengthwise axis, then started making sudden sharp bursts from side to side, clearly in an attempt to dodge shots from the surface.
The G forces quickly went beyond bearable (and that with functioning gravity compensators!!!). Everything was swimming before my eyes, it became hard to think and be patient, my Endurance Points started shooting down. I even had to, despite the dark in my eyes, hurriedly open my inventory and change my rings from the two Intelligence ones to the pair of +1 Constitutions the Morphian left me when we parted ways. I was very worried for Minn-O and would even have given my rings to her, but the Dark Faction Princess was looking surprisingly chipper. Clearly, her Constitution was significantly higher than my own.
The tone of the thrusters unexpectedly went even higher and their sharp whistle approaching ultrasonic. I braced myself for an impact. Touchdown!!! I shook so hard I almost bit my tongue off with my chattering teeth. My total hitpoints fell by a quarter. Yes, it was harsh, and seemingly we had broken one of the landing supports, because the floor of the starship was at an angle, but that was of little importance.
“Dmmmitry, for such a good landing in these difficult conditions, you are beyond all praise!” Uraz Tukhsh wheezed out on the speaker, after which he coughed and commanded, now back in his usual loud voice: “I’ll be first to go out onto the planetoid! If someone tries to go before me, they will be shot at once! I will only be bringing crew I fully trust to the battery on the loader with me: the landing group, the Engineer, and my Bodyguards! The rest are to remain on the ship and await our return! The Medic is in charge during my absence. Dmmmitry, do not turn off the thrusters and keep the Shiamiru ready for a sudden take-off!”
The landing troops fussed about, with their commander stamping fearsomely down the hallway toward the cargo hold. The technicians immediately closed the door into the main hallway, then I heard the heavy loader starting up, the external door opening and the whistle of air gushing out.
Perception increased to 27.
Well, well! The short message that shot past my eyes attracted my attention and blasted away the strange stupor I’d been in since talking with the captain. My Perception had gone up for the second time since entering the game! And it happened while I was sitting with my eyes half open, actively using hearing, not vision. Maybe I should try to use other senses to level it up again like smell, for example or touch…
Minn-O, sitting opposite me, suddenly got on guard, unbuttoned her protective handholds and said with panic in her voice that she had a bad feeling about this. I also was getting a clearer and clearer sense that some unknown disaster was imminent. So what was I waiting for?! After all, I knew perfectly well that Uraz Tukhsh wouldn’t succeed! I had to act at once!
I looked on the mini-map and saw that the loader with the landing troops had already left the shuttle, so I decisively stood up and headed to the bridge. Accompanied by the surprised and tense gazes of the Starship Pilot and Navigator, I walked up to the control panel and turned on the loudspeaker, telling the whole crew in Geckho:
“Attention, this is Gerd Gnat! You have probably heard an earful about how my intuition and luck have helped me escape a number of dire situations. Well, I have practically no doubt that staying here on the shuttle means certain death, and that the Meleyephatians will soon destroy our starship. So I suggest that anyone who doesn’t want to die stupidly and without glory follow my example and get outside as quickly as possible! We’ll exit through the cargo hold. The outside door there is already open, so it will be much quicker that way!”
Authority increased to 33!
I had to repeat that message in my native language so that my friends, who were standing stock-still in the corridor and didn’t understand what all the commotion was about, would also start packing. Meanwhile, none of the Geckho were bold enough to object or refute the gravity of the threat or the need to leave. I saw both twin brothers Vasha and Basha put on their armor, hurrying to be the first out. The Supercargo, old Ayukh, and even Dmitry Zheltov, were not far behind despite the fact the captain had ordered them to stay and keep the Shiamiru ready for an urgent takeoff. The Starship Pilot reacted to my exclamation of surprise, turned and clapped me on the shoulder with his heavy palm, answering with a smile:
“Gnat, after all we’ve been through together, do you really think I’d abandon you to stay with this dumbass captain?!”
I thanked my friend for his trust and hurried to the exit, but there I met Uline in the doorway, who was behaving strangely, and in fact was going the opposite direction to Uraz Tukhsh’s personal bunk. I started opening my mouth, preparing to ask the Geckho lady what she was doing, but she put her hand to her lips, calling for silence. I froze and watched Uline walk over to the built-in wall safe and skillfully, clearly knowing the code, put in some complex combination and open the heavy armored door.
“You didn’t see that!” the Trader warned me severely, quickly taking lots of bags of valuable red crystals and another couple bars of metal. “I mean, it really is my money, actually my family’s. After the recent attack of Miyelonian pirates on the Shiamiru, Uraz Tukhsh’s pockets were empty. He couldn’t even afford to pay the crew. But my Clan Tar-Layneh helped him out, giving him a decent bonus for arranging my marriage. The captain accepted the gift and has already spent some of it to pay the crew and modify the Shiamiru. But there will be no wedding now. I turned down the flighty and foolish Aristocrat when he left you alone to go speak with Fleet Commander Kung Waid Shishish. So the money I’m taking is gone no matter what! At least this way, someone gets to use it. Alright Gnat, I’m done. Let’s run, we’ve spent too long here already!”
By the way... is that why the captain changed his mind about me? I was reminded that Uline was on edge after the announcement of my arrest. She must have told the captain her mind about his passiveness and lack of desire to defend a team member. Seemingly, that argument had ended in their split. So, now I knew why the captain had fired me! And all these “other races,” “notable player,” and “no need for scanning” excuses were just a pretext...
We were already outside and had doled out spots on the four levitators when the ship Medic unexpectedly left the shuttle, the last to do so. I basically assumed he would stay, because the captain had no doubt in his loyalty and had even put him in charge.
“Uraz Tukhsh died along with all of his soldiers on the loader,” the doctor explained, seeing my bafflement. “They got gunned down by automatic defense systems near the laser cannons. I was in a group with them, so I could tell right away based on the dimmed icons. Anyway Gerd Gnat, I see no reason to sit alone in the shuttle and ask you to take me with you!”
I gave a slight bow to the latecomer, accepting the offer, and pointed at the levitator o
ld Ayukh was going to be driving, which had a free spot. In my headphones, I then heard a distinct grinding of teeth and Uline’s unhappy voice:
“After all that, he died pointlessly... How predictable! And how stupid! That egotistical idiot’s stubborn greed was the downfall of this mission. And it was of the highest importance for the whole Third Strike Fleet! He’s the only reason the bomb did not make it to the enemy cannons. We are the last ones who can try and rectify the situation. Gerd Gnat lead the way! Where are we flying?”
Authority increased to 34!
I pointed at a ridge of cliffs. Based on the map I had from scanning, there was a whole web of cracks and deep crevasses beyond it, which I was planning to use to reach the battery unnoticed. Thankfully, one crevasse just so happened to butt right up against the cannons. They wouldn’t be able to see us from the ground, but from above... I jerked my head and froze, distracted by the battle raging up above in space. The hundreds and thousands of bright fast dots appeared to be moving chaotically, tangled in a hateful skirmish. Sparks flew, far off explosions flashed. It almost looked like you could see the laser beams. Then, a volley of rockets took off from beyond the nearest cliffs in the dark sky. And some of them found their targets in space.
Upon closer inspection the vortex of dots did have an order to it. In the groups of moving points, I could vaguely tell our flotillas from theirs. If I understood correctly, Kung Waid Shishish’s decision to leave the uncaptured fleet of heavy Meleyephatian ships and turn toward the planetoid had backfired. The enemy’s heavy ships did not flee when they had the chance, but joined the planetoid defenders, which seriously complicated the Third Strike Fleet’s mission...
Eagle Eye skill increased to level sixty-four!
So, enough staring at the sky. Time to act! Our four levitators blasted off and, gathering speed, rushed toward the ridge of dark brownish cliffs. We managed to make it just under nine hundred yards from the shuttle when suddenly Minn-O La-Fin’s frightened voice drew everyone’s attention:
Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series Page 9
