Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  Bright lights pooled. In wireframe mode, they looked like growing yellow stars attached to the tips of each ship right behind Iron. I saw the blue shield lining drop right as they reached a peak. Stars of energy flew off into the distance, and the blue shield reappeared instantly.

  “Are they attacking?” I asked.

  “Unit Iron serves as a shield for the others. They’re using the safety to launch larger attacks.” Jeeves poked at his screen. “We can assist with the next volley. Move to here and prepare.”

  “I’m only human!” I couldn’t pull off timing that precise. Our ship nudged into position anyway.

  A small bar appeared to one side of the screen with a countdown timer that made me nervous looking at it. What if I tried to fire the laser and Iron’s shield was still up? Would we all explode in a plasma-filled failure pie of my baking?

  “I know, User Legate. That is why I am here,” Jeeves said. The little “Attack” button that had been flashing faded out, and Jeeves’s name popped up next to it. I guessed the AI had taken control of the guns.

  We—mostly Jeeves—fired another volley into the enemy fleet. It did minimal damage but served to scatter the largest pocket of fighters.

  “Do not let them break you, men!” Commander Queenshand’s voice cranked in from an unknown source. “Stay together and focus on them one at a time!”

  “Updating attack pattern,” Iron said. “Unit Hermes, Unit Jeeves, we’re breaking through. Be ready.”

  “Affirmative,” Jeeves said.

  A new path outlined our destination. I wound the engine to full power. I’d learned, at least a little bit, ways to save our energy. Without any actual gravity, we wouldn’t slow down much. Only resistance would drain us of speed. Space was full of strange things that seemed counterintuitive. We would build speed, cut the engine to save energy, and only activate the go button when changing directions.

  “Safest route plotted. Verifying destination with squadron commander,” Jeeves said.

  A line appeared against the wire frame representation of the battlefield. I was thankful for the dumbed down version. It made navigating far easier. Obstacles were simply large brown lines against a dull black background. Friendly ships were lit up in green; unfriendly units were an odd shade of blue. Our path out was full of yellow arrows like a landing stripe.

  “Looks good, Unit Jeeves. We’ll peel off and hit them center mass,” Iron said as his face popped into momentary existence.

  A red-faced [Mechanoid] female appeared next to Iron. She gave a shake of her head. Whatever she communicated silently seemed to make Jeeves change our course slightly. Ruby smiled faintly, then her squadron crossed right in front of ours, going at breakneck speeds. The red ship spun about, making hairpin turns, and landing more than a few shots.

  Iron’s group tilted abruptly and veered straight into other ships. They slowed a little as two of the red ships spun around to fire behind them. They adjusted their inertia almost perfectly and were essentially driving backward in space.

  No wonder Treasure said I wasn’t any good. The precision of these [Mechanoid]s was literally robotic.

  “Here we go!” I shouted.

  The yellow line of our path hung nearby like a freeway off-ramp. [Wayfarer’s Hope] flared into high gear, and our bodies were yanked backward from the thrust. I leaned in with the ship’s movement, veering us downward to the left side of the battlefield. Ruby had cleared a path in that direction, then abruptly switched sides to distract them.

  One straggler hung in front of us. I tilted somewhat off course to bring it in line. Small crosshairs faded in and out, signifying the likelihood of my aim assisting. Jeeves pulled the trigger when I wasn’t looking.

  “Fine! You attack them!” I shouted at him.

  The noise rebounded in our small ship, making Dusk cringe. Sparing a glance at the [Messenger’s Pet] showed how unhappy this entire adventure was making him.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll buy you a lot of cupcakes! Have you tried red velvet yet? Or white fudge?” I rambled while swerving away from larger blunt objects. Each turn of the wheel in front of me painted a new line of yellow toward our destination. “Chocolate peanut butter cup? Have I given you those yet? Carrot cake?”

  Dusk perked up a little. Moments later, he was flinching as I spun us around incoming attacks. Zero gravity made the [Messenger’s Pet] float momentarily until we stopped jerking around. Small bits of our shield were being shaved off. One shot pierced through to our hull and left a smear upon the front window.

  “Jeeves!” I shouted while squeezing off another few shots. My poorly aimed blasts clipped one person’s wings and their ship flew off its prior collision course.

  “One moment, rerouting.”

  “Maybe we should have picked up a stealth module.” I grit my teeth while mentally complaining about all the options we hadn’t bought for the ship.

  “User Legate, if we did that, then there would be no room for the three bombs I have procured,” Jeeves said.

  “What?” I hastily checked the displays. Another blast hit our shields, making white-wired representations of laser beams splash across the vision.

  “Three containers of a similar ordinance to what we used on the Leviathan. Though I must advise—” the AI said.

  “I could kiss you!” My brain overloaded with relief. This was no longer a random skirmish in enemy territory; now it was a bombing run. We had heavy explosives! We could use them to great effect.

  I just had to find ways to insert them deep inside the ship. Maybe we could fly inside it? That would be risky. Once we got inside, we might not be able to back out. Then we would miss the warp point and fail this quest anyway. Xin’s actual existence didn’t seem to be at risk though, only my ability to be with her. I couldn’t let that happen.

  “I must advise they will be useless if we do not penetrate their shields,” Jeeves continued.

  Dusk was still sliding around. He should be used to this by now!

  “Mississippi mud cupcakes. They’re delicious.” I tried to distract both myself and the tiny digital companion. Too many things were flying across our screen. Each time I dodged one, something else collided with us instead.

  “I have often speculated that it is the frosting which makes a cupcake,” Jeeves said behind me, joining in the effort.

  Dusk was nodding rapidly with pretty much every piece of cupcake-related commentary. Now he was distracted. Small bits of drool dripped down into the acid-resistant padding we’d purchased from Emerald. The [Messenger’s Pet] and his new form came with numerous odd hurdles.

  The steering wheel of our ship jerked to one side again. Four enemy craft went cruising by us fast enough to give Dusk whiplash. The [Messenger’s Pet] lowered his head while hissing and groaning. Jeeves sat back, pressing buttons on his console.

  “Strawberry cupcakes,” I muttered. It helped distract me from the tenseness between my shoulders. [Mechanoid]s may be robots, but I was not. We managed to clear nearly all the distance toward the [Knuckle Dragger]. I tilted back toward Jeeves. “These bombs, will they do a lot of damage?”

  “If we can get them into vulnerable parts of the ship, yes,” Jeeves said.

  The ship in front of us was huge. It looked like an aircraft carrier in space. Endless rows of jets lined the underside. Turrets poked out from every angle, rotating freely to cast little bolts of hate in our direction. Vulnerable seemed to be a difficult word to apply to our enemy’s moving fortress.

  Another giant blast painted the landscape in white. It was enough to destroy the wire-mesh visuals for a moment. I flew blindly, praying that no one was in our way.

  “Please tell me you’ve got a suggestion,” I asked.

  “Iron’s almost down,” Jeeves said as a third weaker explosion went off. We’d had to weave away from the main ship four times now. “Diamond and Aqua are trying to recover his vessel, but it will take too long.”

  Ruby’s trio of destruction was reduced to a duo. They zoo
med through, picking off another few fighters in rapid succession.

  “There are a lot more of them as well.” Jeeves’s male butler voice sounded dry, almost bored. The female one was shaky and worried.

  “They keep coming out!” I shouted in frustration.

  “Unit Hermes, are you able to do anything?” Treasure’s face popped onto our screen. Her sweet voice pleaded with me, and her golden markers were flaring with desperation.

  “Going to try!” I angled the [Wayfarer’s Hope] straight for one of the launching platforms the ships kept coming from. “Jeeves, shields! If anyone can distract those guns, that would help.”

  The crimson [Mechanoid], Ruby, popped into view. She nodded, but I barely noticed. Two red streaks zipped by, trailing smoke. It looked strange on the wire mesh overlay that Jeeves had running.

  “Jeeves, I’ll get us close. You drop it!”

  “Gladly, User Legate.”

  We carved a path through the fog. I tried to stay on target with Jeeves’s suggested path. I was grateful Jeeves had somehow picked up this navigation skill, otherwise I would be totally lost.

  The path abruptly changed directions. I yanked hard on the wheel and pulled us over a jutting portion of the [Knuckle Dragger]. They were on the move toward our ship! Giant return shots pounded with powerful vibrations that could be felt even at this range.

  “New target! That cannon!” I jabbed at the screen. Even lower graphics painted a clear enough picture. Cannons jerked as heavy ordinance went into long tubes to be launched into space.

  “Affirmative, User Legate.”

  The yellow path curved as Jeeves updated our programming. I pressed the brakes and spun us in a sharp turn upward along the ship’s side. Thankfully the [Knuckle Dragger] didn’t curve and wiggle like the [Leviathan] did. Instead, we were forced to dodge gunfire from turrets and a ton of other ships.

  Ruby zipped by again—she was alone now. Opal and whoever hadn’t survived. I frowned while thinking of the losses. War wasn’t pretty, and my fellow [Mechanoid]s were dying in droves. I checked the map briefly and saw our numbers were about half of what they used to be.

  The enemy kept coming.

  “You got it?” I shouted to Jeeves. The pounding echo in our cockpit couldn’t curb my excitement.

  “One moment.” Jeeves’s voices were mixed up again. The male was calm and professional, the female somewhat nervous.

  I pulled the craft still on Jeeves’s marker. Dirt or some other particle lingered in space. Super advanced robot science must have found a way to throw up a mist cloud even though we had no atmosphere. A countdown timer on one side showed twenty seconds for whatever Jeeves was doing.

  He had control of our ship. Small arms came out on either side of the ship, looking childish in the wire-mesh view. Large round barrels were placed against the cannon’s hull. Both arms tweaked and pressed at parts of the explosive cargo. The cannon kept firing, oblivious to our grand plan for destruction.

  “Ah. I would suggest fleeing quickly,” the AI said behind me.

  “Voices!”

  A new countdown appeared. This one flashed an angry red. I pressed the gas pedals to rocket us away. Our only goal was to escape, and I blindly charged right along the giant spaceship’s hull.

  A targeting circle indicating certain doom changed to red. Our ship rumbled violently. Pieces of cannon flew past. Dusk continued making angry noises. A large piece of debris slammed into our ship, spinning us out of control.

  “Jeeves!” I shouted while trying to get our bearings. We were spinning too fast.

  Every time I tapped the engine, it added a new twist of confusion. Dusk sounded sick behind me. His long tail twisted into loops as his nails tried to find purchase.

  “Shields at maximum, engine output minimal, engaging repair systems,” Jeeves said.

  Dusk was livid. He squawked in what had to be dragonish curse words. Jeeves remained unruffled. I felt nauseated. Even though the ARC feedback didn’t include internal organs spinning around, it didn’t stop my head from hurting as the horizon tilted.

  Our wire-mesh interface went away. The normal battleground came back into existence, and I saw a full-color spectrum of shattered [Mechanoid] crafts. But for every one of our race’s broken bodies, there were six of the enemy’s. Pieces of circuitry and gore floated by the screen, and I almost retched.

  I was getting used to the ARC’s capability for realism, but every so often it caught me off guard. Living in such a world hadn’t desensitized me.

  Tertiary Objectives Completed!

  [Knuckle Dragger] main cannon destroyed

  Enemy vessels removed exceeds 50%

  Reward: Enemy forces have suffered much damage and will switch tactics.

  We had done well with blowing up the cannon. I could see both [Wayfarer]s moving forward steadily. The Seven provided substantial fire support for the Eight. I tried to scan the battlefield and our interface map. Things were bad, but not terrible. We could recover.

  A heavy blast winged us. My hands jerked the [Wayfarer’s Hope] around to face our attackers—two small one-man ships. Close enough that we could see the pilots’ faces. Part of me wanted the wire-mesh system back; it made things less realistic.

  Jeeves had no such issues pressing the trigger. We were lucky these weren’t actual players or they would have had plenty of tricks. Or been smart enough to keep moving.

  “We’re almost there,” Treasure’s status report came. “Casualties at sixty percent. Most damage is repairable. The Wayfarer Eight is still taking mild fire.”

  “What next?” I asked.

  “Unit Hermes, Unit Jeeves, good job on the cannon. Can you contribute more?” she responded over the group intercom.

  “How many of those do we have left?” I asked Jeeves while trying to get our ship moving again. Most of our energy was pooled into the shields and repair functions right now.

  “One remaining, Unit Hermes. They cost a lot of resources to make properly. The protective casing is even more expensive,” Jeeves said while poking at buttons. The strength of our shields dropped a bit and speed picked up.

  “Is it as powerful?”

  The AI nodded.

  “Treasure, we have one more, but need a target,” I told her.

  The [Wayfarer Seven] had reached the warp station hanging in space while the [Wayfarer Eight] limped along behind. The [Knuckle Dragger] was content to deliver as much damage as possible while letting our giant ships push by. Their purpose appeared to be slowing us down, not actually stopping us at all costs.

  “It is recommended that you take the other ships’ warp drives offline. This will allow us time to recover on the other side,” Treasure said. “We have little support left to help you out.”

  A swarm of ships powered back in our direction. Ruby’s red streak of mayhem was nowhere to be seen. Iron’s battering ram crew was gone. Dim colors in the distance and on my map indicated that Treasure and Diamond and a few others were hovering close to the [Wayfarer Seven].

  “Can we make it back?” I idled our engine for a moment and stared at the oncoming mass of ships.

  “It is unlikely,” Jeeves said. “Our ship has sustained massive injury. Drives and shields are at less than optimal status. Our continued battery is not helping.”

  “Treasure, we will try, though it may cost us our ship.” And Dusk, Jeeves, and me. I didn’t like the idea. “Can you spare anyone to pull us out?”

  “If we can,” Treasure said. “Our current outcome projections are unfavorable.”

  “You sure about this, Jeeves?” I looked at the reflection of him again. The approaching ships were getting closer. We had a few seconds left to run or go all in.

  “Do not worry about me, User Legate. The primary purpose of our existence in this reality is to complete your goal.”

  That wasn’t its only reason for being in here though. Hal Pal wanted to grow and experience challenges. This certainly qualified. Though I worried what might happen
if its character died. Either way, recalling to the ship might result in failure of both the mission and our shared desire to live.

  “All right. All in it is!” I shouted, feeling absurdly excited for this kind of madness. There was a certain addiction to the virtual thrill ride.

  I pulled us around, aimed for the giant carrier, and prayed to the Voices for assistance in this latest reckless move.

  “What are we doing?” Both of Jeeves’s voices sounded worried.

  I reached for Dusk and pet the little guy’s head just for luck. It made him do that half chirp, half purr noise.

  “Personal delivery! Get me the biggest opening in that ship’s ass end we can find!” I stepped on the go faster pedal and drove straight for the [Knuckle Dragger]’s rear end. If this game was going to provide me such a silly title, by the Voices, I would use it for every extra ounce of damage available.

  “Ah. Reckless endangerment once again. Very well,” the AI said.

  “Full shields, cut the engines, we’re riding this out!” I shouted and grabbed Dusk. The little guy hissed in confusion as we reached insane speeds, diving for one of the starship’s launch pads. “Hang on!”

  Cripple the big ship first. Survive second. Reunite with the [Wayfarer] fell to third. If we got both [Wayfarer]s through and managed to reconstruct on the other side, our goal, my goal, wouldn’t be a total loss. No options were left. Rules for preventing panic attacks came to mind. Focus on one thing at a time.

  I hoped my kamikaze piloting wouldn’t get us wiped.

  Session Fifty-Five — Raiding Party!♪

  “More shields!” I shouted.

  Dusk kept making noise. The enemy craft loomed close and showed no signs of growing larger. Our craft rattled as it barreled through some vague shielding.

  “I am trying,” Jeeves said with a calmness I didn’t feel. “Engines at zero. Weapons at zero. Shields exceeding maximum suggested range.”

  “Add more!” I looked at a small icon where the shield practically shone blue. It wasn’t enough. We needed to slam into this ship like a cannon ball.

  We were too far gone to try anything else. [Wayfarer’s Hope] hit the wall hard. Our shield hit zero almost right away. Our ship shuddered and crumpled on one side, reducing the cabin space. Wearing a seat belt was the only thing that kept my melon from crashing against the newest interior remodeling. My head slammed into the dashboard.