“Uhh... where’s captain Rikki?” I asked the terrified repairman, who happened to be an Engineer by class. He was also of a decently high level:
Orun Va-Mart. Miyelonian. Pride of the Interstellar Pilgrim. Level-84 Engineer.
As no answer followed. I tried to psychically reassure the terrified Miyelonian, and at the same time show my peaceful intentions, insofar as that was possible:
“Come on now, lower your hands, we won’t hurt you! We simply have questions for the captain of this interceptor, Rikki Pan-Miis. Do you know where he is?”
The Engineer glanced at the breathless body of his partner again, but still lowered his hands and answered, now totally at ease:
“Buh... I don’t know... The customer is supposed to have returned already. He ordered us to get his ship ready for takeoff. He said he’d pay us when he got back.”
I walked up closer and stopped next to the ladder. I picked up the screw gun the dark red repairman had dropped and put it back into his hands:
“Alright then, I have to admit we made a big mistake. We thought you were someone else. Here’s compensation for your trouble, and your partner’s loss of progress.” With these words I took out my wallet and transferred five-hundred crypto to the long-haired Miyelonian. “And this is for you both. Don’t even think of keeping the money from that Geckho!”
The Engineer unhurriedly took out his communicator, read the incoming message and his mouth peeked open in satisfaction, revealing a row of small sharp teeth:
“Buh... I’m not mad. Anything can happen here on Medu-Ro. You could always get mistaken for someone you’re not!”
“And when you say your customer left to the station, does that mean he went into this hallway? Or did he leave the game into the real world?” I continued to interrogate the no longer stupefied station employee, trying to think up a strategy contingent on his answers.
But Orun didn’t have time to answer. A couple steps from me, two Miyelonian figures appeared at once: Captain Rikki Pan-Miis and his ward Avi Wi-Rikki had entered the game. I had to shoot with my Annihilator point blank while rolling to the side, because both enemies had seen me and immediately reached for their weapons.
Agility increased to 18.
Rifles skill increased to level fifty!
Sharpshooter skill increased to level thirty-three!
Psionic skill increased to level sixty-nine!
You have reached level seventy-two!
You have received three skill points! (total points accumulated: six)
I wasn’t sure I could ever do that again! Sure, I was already holding the Annihilator and my enemies had just entered the game and were thus at ease, but I beat a Miyelonian’s reaction time! Yes! I was faster than two Miyelonians, a race famed for their deadly speed and unparalleled mastery in close combat! And at that, I detected the threat without Danger Sense even tripping. Or at least, before my body reacted to it. Nevertheless, I correctly identified who to kill and who to mind-control! I mean, just imagine! I was very proud of myself!!!
Showing off for my audience, I stood up with unhurried dignity, then looked to visually confirm. Avi Wi-Rikki was fallen on the metal floor of the hangar, dead of blood loss and shock. It would have been hard to survive having his right arm and shoulder shot off along with a large chunk of torso. Pirate captain Rikki Pan-Miis was frozen like a statue midway through stabbing the thin air where I was standing just a few seconds earlier. And meanwhile, my companions’ jaws dropped as they stared and batted their lashes in astonishment.
“Capture him!” I pointed the huge Geckho brothers at the paralyzed enemy. Only after that did the muted scene come to an end. All the players in the hangar flew into motion. I heard shouts of surprise and wonder from all sides:
“Master Gnat, forgive me, I dropped the ball...”
“Captain, are you wounded?” Uline and Ayni asked in two different languages.
“Now I know how you took down my group on the ferry!”
Even the Miyelonian Engineer, who we’d all forgotten about, edged in:
“Guys, your captain is a real badass! He took down two dangerous pirates by himself! You wouldn’t happen to need an Engineer on your ship, would you?”
Authority increased to 50!
An Engineer! An Engineer was asking to join my crew!! I just had to not spook him!!! Trying not to reveal my delight, I raised my eyes to the Miyelonian and asked with an acrid smirk:
“Have you ever even been in space, Engineer? Or have you spent all your time in the game polishing pirate starships on the station?”
“You insult me, Captain!” Orun Va-Mart objected with utter sincerity, and I could sense he was not faking it. “I’ve spent half my life in the cosmos! First as an Engineer’s assistant on a Viiye-class ore freighter, then as senior Engineer on a Shiamiru shuttle. Then, my former captain lost his ship and cargo here in the casino and I found myself stranded on Medu-Ro IV...”
I put on a falsely ambivalent tone and sent Uline and Ayni to interview the jobseeker. Then I returned to the captured pirate captain, who had already been disarmed and was being held firmly by my two powerful Geckho enforcers. First of all, I grabbed the Miyelonian none-too-politely by the chin, turned his face up and met gazes with him.
“How did this human get here? Now I’ve stepped in it! And the whole Pride of the Bushy Shadow is on a great hunt. Just my luck! And asking them for help... no, it’s better to die than give big boss Abi another reason to think I’m a loser. The Eternally Cursed really pulled me by the tail when I agreed to the counterfeit crystal scheme... I should have just said no. At least then I wouldn’t have these problems now... Although, how could I have refused my pride leader?”
My last doubts dissolved, as did any pangs of conscience: Rikki knew he’d slipped my faction counterfeit crystals for our platinum and understood perfectly why I’d come looking for him. Hilariously, despite his bewildered, nearly panicked thoughts, the Free Captain was growling frighteningly through his teeth, trying to throw me off:
“Gnat, you’ll pay for that dirty attack! Did you think you’d take down two pirates and that would be it? On the contrary, this is only the beginning! You have no clue who you’re messing with! The whole Pride of the Bushy Shadow will come to my defense!!!”
“Is that so? Well, color me unconvinced.” I replied mockingly to the young scared captain, trying to make myself out to be a badass veteran. “Did your pride even make a peep when I captured your frigate before? No, they’re proud warriors. They have no time for losers like you. What’s more, as bad luck would have it, your whole pride is on a great hunt, and won’t be coming back any time soon! Also, I am familiar with Miyelonian customs and I know a surefire way to show respect to your pride, no matter what I do with you. I just have to cut off your tail and stick it on my helmet!”
“You wouldn’t dare!” the young pilot shrieked, no longer hiding his fear but losing at least half his bombast.
“Oh I think you’ll find I would... But You’re right, I’d better have someone else do it! For example, my Gladiator,” I said, pointing at the Dagestani athlete, who was playing with the blades he’d taken from Rikki, getting used to his new weapons. “But Imran doesn’t really understand your traditions and doesn’t know what part to take. So instead of your tail, he might snip off that little thing dangling between your legs...”
That threat was the final straw. Rikki went totally limp and mentally surrendered.
“I don’t have enough money to give you back the two million crystals...” he began to whine pitifully.
I could easily check that, though. I nodded to Tini and my little thief unclipped the bags from the Miyelonian’s sides, dumping the contents onto the hangar floor. Baubles, rags, some small electronic devices... Ah! A blue electronic crystal key on a chain, just like mine. I raised the captain’s key and threw it to Dmitry Zheltov. The Starship Pilot easily caught the trophy and started twirling it around his finger.
“If you can’t
scare up the equivalent of two million crystals in any currency, I’ll just have to take your interceptor!” I threatened.
Rikki twitched in the hands of the Geckho brothers and, much to my surprise, bared his teeth.
“You’re lying! You’d never get my ship off the station! None of you have the skills, and no one would let you!”
The pirate captain really believed that I wouldn’t be let out of the hangar. Strange. What could possibly stop me? Rikki managed to stump me, but just for a second. I figured it out and laughed:
“Do you think I’m so stupid that I wouldn’t know to pay your docking fees before takeoff?! After that, I’d have you pilot the ship out for me...”
“Master Gnat, here’s his wallet. And I’ve got something interesting!” Tini drew my attention and I lowered my gaze.
Oh! An artifact from the Relict base! The flat rune-covered ring-shaped disk was the perfect size for the slot in my Listener armor chest-piece.
Pyramid Signal Booster (Listener armor suit accessory).
+3% armor suit forcefield capacity per level.
+15% Scanning radius.
+70% more data transmitted to Pyramid.
Statistic requirements: Intelligence 26, Perception 26.
Skill requirements: Electronics 70, Mechanism Control 50.
Attention! Your character’s Electronics skill is insufficient to equip this item.
Attention! This object is for the Relict race and cannot be used by Humans.
I don’t know why I would want to increase the volume of data transmitted to this mysterious “Pyramid,” or what it even was, but just for a threefold increase (for now) in forcefield capacity, I needed to take this “Translator.” Sure, my Electronics was not high enough, and the object was again race-locked, but the skill could be leveled, and I already knew it could be made suitable for human use.
The pirate captain’s wallet was... not the same model as mine. More advanced, seemingly. I took the thin gray plastic rectangle from Tini’s hands and tried to use it. It was no use, just a piece of smooth plastic. Rikki, watching me carefully, started grinning in satisfaction, entertained by my failure. Bad move! I met eyes with the smirking Miyelonian.
“That Human will never manage to activate my wallet. After all, he needs to enter a code right on the inactive surface, and he doesn’t know it. I don’t even remember it right every time. Good thing grandma sewed a secret hint on the inside of my bandanna. Then, you need to touch it to my left hand. He’ll never figure it out... What?! Why is he taking my bandanna?! As long as he doesn’t think to shine my flashlight at it.”
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level fifty-one!
Mysticism skill increased to level twenty-four!
I took the bandanna off the Miyelonian, which was more like a little cap with ear holes. I looked it over carefully from all sides. A complex geometrical design was sewn in and some elements were in fact distantly reminiscent of Miyelonian numbers, but only that. Nothing concrete. I didn’t find any hints.
“Tini, did he happen to have a flashlight?” I asked, and my kitten dug through the junk on the floor with his foot until he discovered a tiny flashlight the size of a AA-battery.
“But it doesn’t work, piece of crap...” Tini said, smashing all the buttons. No light came out.
“Give it here!” It looked like a broken flashlight, but I nevertheless pointed it at the headband, thinking it might have an invisible beam.
Amazing! Some of the threads on the inside lit up, completing the geometric patterns and making a sensible construction of many inlaid and intersecting rectangles. Ugh, fu, an eleven-digit number! No wonder the captain couldn’t memorize it. I traced the shape with my finger on the inactive wallet screen, but nothing changed. Then, I used the left hand of the immobilized Miyelonian and finally unlocked the tricky little device.
Electronics skill increased to level fifty-six!
It worked! So, what did I have here? A balance of thirty thousand two hundred four crypto... Hrm, a bit light for my taste. Still, not exactly nothing. It was ninety-two thousand in Geckho crystals, after all, which was a huge amount for my home faction. But it was also barely enough to pay the interceptor’s docking fee. The pirate really did have cat shit for money. But maybe I could take what he owed some other way?
“Where are the remaining Relict artifacts you took from the Shiamiru? Answer!”
The broken pirate didn’t hide it and replied that he had sold everything of value long ago to someone named Mava, a famous fence here on the Medu-Ro IV station.
“But only the Relict skull was of value, I got fifty thousand crypto for it. The rest was useless crap: bronze rings and weird disks, generally useless debris... Basically trash. Mava didn’t even want to take it and paid scrap metal prices. And I kept that scratched-up stone ring for myself. Mava wasn’t even offering a dime for it. I figured maybe I’d find a smart person who could read its properties one day.”
“Well, today’s your lucky day,” I chuckled amiably, stashing the ancient artifact in my inventory. “But that ring is useful only for Listeners. It has no value for anyone else. Now tell me, where can I find this Mava?”
Tini jumped into our conversation and told me he knew, because he had unloaded stolen items there before. Alright, one less problem. I sighed and returned to the most important topic. How was this counterfeiting pirate going to get me back my two million crystals?
“I already told you I don’t have the money!” Rikki snapped again.
Alright, he wasn’t understanding the easy way. Well, I’d have to try the hard way.
“Dmitry, why don’t you try and take his interceptor!” I turned to the Starship Pilot. “If it’s on and you’ve got enough skills to pilot it out of the hangar, we can always unload it for a million and a half crypto...”
“Wait! Don’t!” the pirate captain began to squeal in fear. “Alright, I’ll pay. Give me back my communicator. I need to make a call...”
I set the multifunctional wallet back in his clawed hand. It was apparently both a communication device and a wallet. I told Basha and Vasha to let Rikki make the call. The huge Geckho brothers released their powerful grip and took a step back. But as soon as that rascally long-haired tomcat was able to move freely, he broke all of our understandings and tried to run!!!
Booonnnnnggg! Rikki wanted to use his fast jump skill to make a quick escape, but the heavy metal hangar door slammed shut right in his face! The Miyelonian was brought to a screeching halt and gained a deep impression from the sudden obstacle. Yikes... I winced in pain, because even from fifty feet I could clearly hear the snap of his breaking bones. Rikki now resembled a pedigreed Persian cat with his flat face.
Machine Control skill increased to level fifty-seven!
Electronics skill increased to level fifty-seven!
Psionic skill increased to level seventy!
Authority increased to 51!
The door really made an impact. A great one, even. Again, no one from my team managed to react, but I read the escape plan in Rikki’s thoughts and had planned a countermeasure. And now, I saw unhidden delight in my crew’s eyes. They all admired their captain and were proud to serve under me!
“Drag him here before he comes to!” I lifted the bolt gun from the floor and walked toward the runaway pirate, held tight in the arms of the Geckho brothers. “Alright, put him against the wall! Hold his head more evenly, otherwise the piercing is gonna come out sloppy!”
I looked the bolt gun over carefully and examined its various “ammo” options. In the end, I chose a clip of the bolts with the widest heads and stuck the rascally Miyelonian to the wall with four shots in his ears — two bolts per ear just to be safe.
“Vasha, Basha, let him go! Now he won’t run anywhere.” I turned around and tossed the bolt gun to Orun Va-Mart, who has watching the whole thing. The Engineer gracefully caught the tool and stuck it right into his inventory.
Rikki Pan-Miis gradually came to his senses,
which I realized when I heard curses start pouring from his lips. And when the pirate had more or less focused on my silhouette, I turned to the injured long-haired loser:
“Hey, can you hear me? I see you can. Takeoff time is soon. So, it’s up to you: either you pay me what I’m owed, or I’ll take your interceptor and fly away!”
The Miyelonian tried to move his head and winced in pain. After that, he took out his communicator, activated the screen and chose a contact. But before calling, he raised his bloodied face to me and demanded I walk ten steps away so I wouldn’t overhear his very personal conversation.
“And why would I do that?” I asked, surprised at the pirate’s gall. “I gave you a chance and you squandered it. No, you’ll call like this!”
“Curse you, Gnat!” the pirate captain squeezed through his teeth, seething. But his brusque voice quickly changed to a high-pitched and friendly one. “Hi, grandma! It’s Rikki. I’m glad you’re in the game. I need money again. Can you give me a little loan? It won’t be for long. Two hundred eighty-six thousand. Yes. I know. Come on, I’m doing fine. I just have to make some payments to my Pride. Oh, thanks! Love you, grandma! Alright, later!”
The captive pirate raised his eyes to me, and I could read fearsome simply burning rage mixed with extreme embarrassment. This bloodthirsty criminal, terror of the interstellar trade routes, was horribly ashamed that his dear old doting grandma was bailing him out. Seemingly, if not for his ears being stuck to the wall, Rikki would have fallen through the floor in disgrace.
Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series Page 25
