We tapped on the screen to expand the window to see the available information on the mission. A window with a piece of explanatory info appeared on the holographic 3D screen.
> Goal: Find missing colonists
> Reward:
> 1. Experience points: 25,000
> 2. Money: 55,000 credits
> Recommended level: 55-60
> (Do you want to see additional information on this mission: (Yes/No)
“Are you sure about this, guys?” I said. “I mean, Tamerlan is only level 50.”
“So what?” Vlad scoffed. “Our team’s average level is— is—”
“53.75,” the space station’s AI came to his rescue.
“Thanks, Echo,” Vlad said as he grinned. “I always hated math.” He shifted his attention back to me and continued, “You and Nate are both level 54. I’m level 57. So I don’t think this mission is gonna pose much of a challenge to us. Sure, it’s probably gonna be a little harder than our previous missions but nothing we can’t deal with.”
I turned my head to look at Tamerlan and asked, “What do you think about it? Think you’re up to it?”
Tamerlan looked hesitant.
“I don’t know,” he said slowly. While he had a pretty solid grasp of English by that point, he still was not a fluent English speaker. “Maybe.”
The fact that Tamerlan’s English had improved to the point where he could talk to Nate and me really aggravated Vlad. He was still doing his best to try to distance Tamerlan from Nate and me. In the time between missions, he led him out of the Control Room so Tamerlan spent as little time with us as possible. Still, Tamerlan had managed to learn English well enough to communicate with the two of us.
“What do you mean, ‘maybe’?” Vlad snarled as he glared at Tamerlan. “Are you still not sure of yourself, huh? You ain’t no newbie anymore, dammit.”
Vlad’s harsh voice made Tamerlan wince as if he had been punched. In the past several months, he had come to be really scared of Vlad.
“I think I’m ready,” Tamerlan said. “Let’s do this mission, guys.”
I glanced at Nate and asked, “What about you, bud? Whaddya think?”
I did not expect him to back me up on this but decided to ask the question anyway.
Nate just shrugged his shoulders.
“Let’s do this,” he said simply and without any expression. He looked like he did not care about anything.
He had been this way since Alyson’s death. I remembered the times Nate, Alyson, and I had hung out in the Control Room, joking and laughing or telling one another stories about our past lives. After Vlad murdered Alyson, Nate had grown very silent and impassive. He had been keeping to himself all the time and hardly ever spoke.
I remembered the promise I had given to myself. I had made a vow to avenge Alyson’s murder. I had promised to myself that I would kill Vlad.
However, I had not had the opportunity to make good on my promise. When on the space station, Vlad always toted his pistol, so it was impossible for me to get the drop on him. Also, I had never figured out how the hell he had managed to find a way to enter the Control Room with a gun. When I asked this question to Echo, he always replied that Vlad was unarmed. Somehow, the Russian had found a way to fool the AI of our space station.
When we were on a mission and were armed to the teeth, I did not even think about killing Vlad. He was a damage dealer, so he always killed way more enemies than the rest of us combined. Killing him on a mission would amount to suicide because without a damage dealer, it would be extremely hard for the rest of us to deal with our enemies, which were usually very strong.
Moreover, I had tried to kill Vlad once back on the asteroid where the mining colony was situated. But I failed. Vlad was too tough. To sniff Vlad I would need Nate’s help because it was impossible for me alone to deal with the Russian. However, the British guy did not seem interested in fighting Vlad.
So I was starting to believe that I would probably never get a chance to deal with Vlad. I would probably have to reconcile myself to the fact that he was too strong for me to deal with him.
Unlike me, however, Nate seemed to have never gotten over Alyson’s death. And I was not sure why. Probably because she had not been just a friend to him. I knew that Alyson had been in love with him. And probably he had loved her too. I was not sure of that, though, because if he was actually in love with the girl, he had been hiding his affection for her very well.
However, while Nate was impassive and silent all the time, when on a mission, he was very watchful and alert and did his job of protecting us very well, even though he still did not talk much.
Anyway, as time went by, my hatred toward Vlad for having killed Alyson gradually faded away. I did not particularly like it. However, while the thought of letting Vlad get away with it did not appeal to me, so far, I had not had the opportunity to deal with him.
“See, Davey?” Vlad said as he grinned at me. “You are in the minority here. So we are doing this mission, whether you like it or not.”
His mocking voice brought me back from my reverie. He tapped the Yes button, and a piece of additional info popped up on the holographic screen.
> Place: A wandering planet called IHK714
> Mission description: Some time ago, a The Weaponized scout spaceship stumbled across a wandering planet. After a quick scan of the planet, the crew discovered that there were living forms on the planet. The crew of the scout spaceship passed on the information to the organization and moved on. Some time later on, a team of scientists was dispatched to the planet. However, it took them some time to find the wandering planet because it had somehow changed its direction. It was strange because there had been nothing in the planet’s path that could possibly change its direction. No gravitational forces had affected the wandering planet. Still, it had somehow managed to change its direction. The change was not drastic, but it still was abnormal because no object can change its direction in a vacuum unless affected by some gravitational force. Eager to solve the mystery, the scientists working for The Weaponized landed on the wandering planet. It was not long after that that the connection with them was lost. They never got back. Something bad must have happened to them there. Your mission is to travel to the wandering planet and rescue the scientists if they are still alive. If they are not, you have to find out what happened to them.
> (Do you want to accept this mission: Yes/No)
Without asking our opinion, Vlad tapped the Yes button. As soon as he did so, all the information on the holographic screen disappeared to be replaced by a single message.
> You already have an active mission. You need to finish your current mission before you can pick another one.
So our mission was to land on the wandering planet and find out what had happened to the group of scientists. Who knows what awaited us there.
“What do you guys think about it?” Tamerlan asked. “I think it should be an interesting mission.”
“Probably,” Vlad grumbled. “What I want to know, though, what the hell is a wandering planet?”
It was Echo who replied.
“A wandering planet is a planet that does not revolve around a star,” the AI explained. “Instead, it just moves through interstellar space.”
“It’s strange,” Tamerlan said, frowning. “Since that planet doesn’t revolve around a star, there has to be very dark and cold on that planet. There shouldn’t be any living forms on that planet. No creature can survive such extreme conditions.”
“You are right, warrior,” Echo replied. “That’s the reason why the crew of the scout spaceship passed on the information about the planet to our organization and why our scientists were eager to explore the wandering planet.”
Vlad rolled his eyes.
“It’s not rocket science, duh,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Tamerlan asked. “I don’t understand you. What does rocket science have to do with it?”
> Instead of explaining, Vlad just emitted a short laugh and shook his head.
“Yeah,” I said as glanced at the Russian. “What are you trying to say exactly?”
“Isn’t it obvious, guys?” He said. “Those poor scientists musta run into some aggressive creatures and those creatures musta eaten them. It’s simple as that.”
“Weren’t you even listening to us?” I asked. “No creature can live on that planet. Is that so, Echo?”
“That’s right, warrior,” the AI replied immediately. “Living creatures cannot cope with the harsh conditions of this planet.”
“What do you think happened to the scientists, Echo?” I asked.
“My guess would be they encountered space pirates on the planet and the latter either killed the scientists or took them hostage and forced them to work for them.”
“Wait a minute,” Vlad said. “Haven’t you just told us that nobody can survive on that planet?”
“Animals and insects cannot live there,” Echo said. “The harsh conditions of this planet does not enable life to thrive on the planet. However, humans have advanced technology. So space pirates might have set up a base in which they live. If this actually the case, then those pirates may be very smart. Nobody will find them there. The planet is constantly on the move, traveling through interstellar space. Even if somebody stumbles across the planet, like one of our scout spaceships, they will most likely just ignore the planet unless they are interested in it for some reason.”
Vlad just shrugged his shoulders. “So we’re gonna have to deal with some lousy pirates? Sounds easy enough. We killed lots of them lately.”
“Also,” the AI added, ignoring the Russian’s last remark, “the planet seemingly can somehow change its direction, which is very strange, to say the least. It is another reason why our scientists wanted to explore the planet. If it’s actually space pirates who live on the wandering planet and change its direction whenever they want, then they must have very advanced technology at their disposal. You will be generously rewarded if you bring that technology back to our organization.”
“Sounds awesome,” Vlad said as he rubbed his palms together. “I like being generously rewarded. So let’s get cracking, boys.”
“Wait a minute,” Tamerlan said. “What if it’s not a planet?”
Vlad looked at him, frowning.
“What do you mean?” He asked, not sounding particularly interested.
“It just struck me,” Tamerlan said. “I read a book with such a plot. A science starship landed on an asteroid that actually turned out to be an alien ship.”
Vlad made a face. “You read books? That’s awful. You are fucking disgusting.”
Tamerlan looked like he did not know how to react.
“What do you have against books?” I asked as I looked at the Russian.
“Who the hell needs books when you have more interesting things to do?” Vlad replied. “Like playing video games or watching movies.”
“What was that book called?” I asked Tamerlan.
“The book is called Rendezvous with Rama,” he replied. “It was written by a British author Arthur C. Clarke.”
Vlad rolled his eyes. “Not only do you read books, but you also read foreign authors. Why don’t you read books written by Russian authors instead?”
“It doesn’t matter to me where an author is from,” Tamerlan replied. “In my past life, I used to read American, British, Russian, and even a few popular Chinese writers whose books were translated into other languages. All that matters to me is the book itself, not where the author is from.”
“That’s great,” Vlad said with disgust, struggling to contain his anger. “My teammate is a fucking reader. Just great.”
“You know,” I said, “I’m kinda surprised that you didn’t know Tamerlan liked to read books. I mean, you hang out a lot with him.”
“Of course I didn’t know that,” Vlad scoffed. “We had more interesting things to discuss than books.”
Every time Vlad said the word book he grimaced as if he had tasted something disgusting.
Ignoring the Russian, I said, “Echo, can that wandering planet actually be an alien spaceship?”
“When the crew of the scout spaceship scanned the planet, it did not find any indication that it might be anything but an organic planet,” came the reply from the AI.
“So there are going to be no aliens awaiting us on the planet,” Vlad said. “What a shame. I’d like to kill one.” He looked at Tamerlan and said, “Let’s go, reader. Time to get ready for the mission.”
In the Preparation Room, we took off our casual clothes and put on our uniforms. We then armed ourselves.
Since Nate was a tank, he always wore bulletproof full-body armor on a mission. After climbing into his bulky body armor, he strode to the Weapon Terminal also called the Weapon Dispenser. He preferred to arm himself with powerful weapons such as shotguns or squad automatic weapons. When we needed to deal with some aggressive creatures or mutants, Nate took a shotgun. And when we were up against human enemies, he took a squad automatic weapon.
Since there was no way we could tell beforehand what kind of enemies we were going to meet on the wandering planet, the British guy decided to take both a shotgun and a squad automatic weapon. We had earned enough money by that point to be able to buy various guns and lots of ammunition for them.
Vlad was a damage dealer, so he liked to use powerful weapons too. He usually took an accurate assault rifle. Our current mission was no exception—the Russian took an assault rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher.
Tamerlan armed himself with dual machine pistols, and I took a submachine gun that allowed me to move quickly and be maneuverable in battle.
After we took our weapons of choice as well as a few pieces of various equipment that might be useful and put lots of spare mags into the pockets of our combat vests, we left the Preparation Room. We then drove the Humvee into the back of the dropship.
As we were getting into our cryogenic chambers, Vlad asked, “Echo, how long before we get there?”
“If the wandering planet is still moving in the same direction, we will get there in three normal days,” Echo replied. “However, considering the wandering planet seems to tend to change its direction every now and then, it might take us longer to get to the planet because it might take me some time to find it.”
“Great,” Vlad muttered. “Just wonderful.”
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “No matter how long we have to stay in the cryogenic chambers, for us it always feels no longer than a second.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Vlad said. “I hate these things, that’s all.”
“You just always need a reason to grumble, don’t you?” I said.
“Fuck off, Davey,” Vlad snapped at me. “If you think you got my number, you’re wrong.”
The Russian then made Tamerlan get in his cryogenic chamber, then turned and looked at me and Nate, waiting for us to do the same. After our mission where we needed to destroy the mining colony, Vlad had taken to get in his cryogenic chamber last. He was very suspicious of us, believing we secretly hated him and looked for the opportunity to get rid of him.
Not that he was wrong.
I climbed into my cryogenic chamber and lay down. A few seconds later on, the lid slid close and I fell asleep.
It did not feel long at all before I woke up. When the lid slid aside, I climbed out of the cryogenic chamber. My teammates did too.
“So we’re here?” Vlad asked. “We arrived at that planet, Echo?”
“That’s correct, warrior,” the AI immediately replied.
“Has the planet changed its direction again?” I asked.
“Yes, it has,” Echo replied. “It took me four days to locate the wandering planet. But we have finally arrived. I landed not far from the place where the mobile base of the scientists should be. Consult your map to get directions.”
“So what exactly are we dealing with here?” Vlad asked. “What should we expect from this planet?”
“First of all, you can breathe here,” Echo said. “This planet has air though I cannot explain how it is possible. So you will not need to put your helmets on.”
“What about the enemy?” Vlad asked as we walked out of the main room of the dropship and entered the cargo hold.
“When the crew of the scout spaceship scanned the planet, they discovered some kinds of forms of life on the surface,” Echo said. “However, I do not know what kinds of living forms you are going to encounter. Like I said before, there might be space pirates. Or some kind of creatures. Or both. It is hard to tell for sure without any further information about the planet. So you should keep your eyes peeled, warriors.”
“So no help at all,” Vlad scoffed. “You are as useless as always, Echo.”
Echo, being an emotionless AI, simply ignored the Russian.
We climbed into the Hummer, I getting behind the wheel, Nate taking the shotgun seat, and Tamerlan the back seat. Vlad punched the button to lower the cargo door and got into the vehicle as well. He moved closer to the roof hatch and barked, “Let’s go, Davey. Time to shoot some critters. Or pirates. Or whatever it is that holed up on this freaking planet.”
I waited until the cargo door lowered and then drove out of the cargo hold. Almost instantly, there was an uproar behind us as the dropship took off. Echo was going to put the spacecraft in the orbit and wait for us to complete the mission before he piloted the dropship back to pick us up.
Nobody said anything about Echo leaving us. We had gotten used to it. Moreover, what we saw before us made us just stare ahead of our large off-road vehicle in awe.
“What the heck is that,” Vlad whispered.
We had been expecting it to be very dark on this planet. We had equipped ourselves with night-vision goggles back on the space station. However, as it had just turned out, we did not need them.
The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series Page 34
