Searching for available units...
Searching for available units...
I was really hoping the game system was looking for a drone and not a gender-change unit. Otherwise, I was in for a huge shock and my wife Minn-O La-Fin a massive disappointment. But I already knew how the drone search would end – there was nothing compatible in the nearest sector of the galaxy. However, I was mistaken!
Appropriate unit found.
You have received a Large Relict Guard Drone.
Large?! Very interesting! I had already witnessed the impressive combat capabilities of a Small Guard Drone with my own eyes. A Large one was probably even deadlier. Now I just had to figure out where that drone was. I opened the drones tab. And in fact, a Large Relict Guard Drone had been added to the list. And how long would it take to reach me?
Estimated time in flight: 344,802 years, 87 days, 6 hours, 52 minutes.
I was planning to figure this out the same way I’d found the small drone, by gathering flight-time data from a few points and giving them to the Navigator to find the end point. But I noticed the flight time was within a few minutes of the Small Guard Drone’s. That could not be a coincidence! By all appearances, my two drones were at the same base, which was lost somewhere in space. Okay then, that just raised the priority of flying there as quickly as possible!
“THE CAPTAIN HAS RETURNED!” my coming to the common room of the starship was met with a storm of utterly sincere jubilation from the crew.
Uline and the twin brothers Vasha and Basha just about strangled me in their embraces, while the rest of my team was just about as extreme in their reaction. Minn-O gave me a big kiss. The guys shook me by the hand. All three Kirsan repair bots slithered out of wall gaps and enthusiastically wriggled their many arms, greeting their captain and at the same time showing that they had followed me to my new ship. Even the spiny Jarg wrapped all eight of his tentacled arms around my right leg and left me with a few dark spots of smelly mucus on my armored boot to remember him by.
“Big joy. The highest expression of feeling,” the spiny Analyst explained through the Universal Translator.
I’d have to get the armor cleaned somewhere now... But still it was damn nice to know I was loved and valued! Then I noticed Gerd Undi Ar Miyeyauu the Miyelonian Journalist standing near the noisy group and recording with a professional camera attached to her helmet while making commentary for her viewers.
I had to immediately turn serious as to match the image of a stern captain. I asked the officers whether the ship was ready for takeoff and they reported back that modernization had been complete for a while, systems had been checked and the frigate was ready for takeoff. The only thing they were waiting for was me. I ordered all starship systems prepared for takeoff and requested the corresponding permission from the station dispatchers. Half of the crew immediately ran to their places.
“Allow me to present your two new Gunners,” Uline Tar informed me with clear pride at a job well done, turning on her tablet and showing me their resumes.
Taik Rekh. Geckho. Clan Waideh-Rekh. Level-111 Gunner.
Gerd Eeeezzz 777. Meleyephatian. Renegade Nest 55. Level-163 Gunner.
“They are now both at their workstations calibrating the targeting systems and setting them up to their liking. There were another six that wanted to join our crew, but I told them to take a hike. Their level was too low, and they had no combat experience. The days when we would take any old person are behind us. Now you are famous, so lots of people would love to join the crew of successful Captain Leng Gnat. That means we can afford to be choosy and take only the best of the best. These two are veterans of large wars and many local conflicts. Just the clan name Waideh-Rekh is itself the highest recommendation and confirmation of mastery you could ask for. They don’t take soldiers that aren’t worth their salt. Eeeezzz 777 then is quite old by Meleyephatian standards but spent over sixty tongs in the military and another chunk of time with pirates, including serving as a mercenary under the Planet Devouress of Betelgeuse, Kung Eesssa – a celebrated Meleyephatian commander of what was once the galaxy’s largest private military company. Because of that, Eeeezzz’s services come at three times the price of normal gunners, but I’m sure he’ll be worth it.”
Okay then, awesome! I finally would have real professional Gunners. Looking over the changes since I was last here, I strolled through the decks, peeking into residential rooms and utility areas. The standard of the works was just amazingly high. I had nothing to say.
I walked to the captain’s bridge. Woah! Now that is impressive! In the middle of a small round room, there was a glowing three-dimensional tactical screen displaying the position of nearby objects in space. In front of me, a whole hemispherical wall was showing an image from external cameras and giving the complete illusion of transparency and forward view. To the left and right were two pilot’s chairs specially adapted for human use and already occupied by Dmitry Zheltov and San-Doon who were testing the thrusters. Past the star map was the Navigator’s seat with Ayukh in it, then my workstation, which had a large screen displaying the status of all starship systems and data from the ship scanners. And to the left of that was another empty chair. I wonder who that is for? I raised an inquisitive gaze to Uline.
“I have seen similar Meleyephatian starships where that place is occupied by a senior tactics or communications officer or the captain’s senior bodyguard,” my business partner explained. “But our crew doesn’t have any of those positions.”
I didn’t like that... An empty seat meant unrealized possibilities. Should I place the Bodyguard there to take a portion of my damage (from high G-forces for example) and put me more at ease? But Denni Marko would be leaving soon and my crew didn’t have any other Bodyguards. After a moment of thought, I lit up:
“But we do have an Analyst! There are times when I need the Jarg’s advice urgently. Especially in tense combat situations. It would also be helpful for him to be able to get more information so he can make better prognoses. So I say we give it to...” Damn! I had again forgotten the hard-to-pronounce name of my crewmember and looked at my notes, “ Uii-Oyeye-Argh-Eeyayo.”
“But he’s a Jarg...” Uline was not able to finish, but clearly wanted to mention his race’s explosive tendencies, which could lead to everyone on my bridge being stuck with hundreds of sharp quills.
“The instability of Jargs is greatly exaggerated, as is their lack of control over the self-destruction process. Our Analyst has been with us in some very sticky situations including during a space battle, an emergency landing and when our ship was attacked on the asteroid. And he was calmer than many others. But to reassure everyone, we could place a transparent defensive dome around the Analyst’s seat. Uh... what?”
I didn’t finish because my wayedda Gerd Minn-O La-Fin had come into the room and was insistently pulling me out by the arm:
“Husband, let’s go. I want to show you our new berth! I picked out all the decor myself!”
The Princess was behaving somewhat strange. It felt like she had something else in mind. What did she mean “our berth?” I was assuming I’d be staying alone in the captain’s berth. But I didn’t argue or make a scene. I just got up from my seat, thanked everyone for a job well done and asked my business partner Gerd Uline Tar to quickly get in touch with her fiancé Kosta Dykhsh to reassure him about their wedding and tell the Viceroy of Earth that I had already been released. Then I followed Minn-O up the stairs to the second deck.
My berth, as it turned out, was in the right fuselage closest to the stairs. I walked inside the small room and took a look around. Neon lighting, new futuristic furniture, interactive “living” wallpaper. A huge landing strip of a bed. A desk for working at with a massive data screen. Trophies and souvenirs on the walls taken from the old frigate and brought to the new ship in the exact same condition they were in before. Okay then, nice and comfy!
Behind me, I heard the click of the magnetic lock closing. I turned with a smi
le, figuring my wife missed me and wanted to test out our new bed. But Minn-O’s face didn’t even have a hint of glee, and certainly no indication of amorous intent.
“Husband, we need to have a serious talk about a new problem. I’m referring to the situation with the Paladin girl Tamara.”
I winced, bracing myself for the worst. Was my Chief Advisor not able to stay the execution? Or was it perhaps carried out ahead of schedule? Or did Tamara break under torture? But none of the ideas that came to mind were correct. Seeing no comprehension on my face, Princess Minn-O La-Fin realized I’d spent the last day and a half in isolation without access to news, and explained it all on her own:
“Our advisor Mac-Peu did as you ordered. In your name, he had the criminal transferred from the Tower of the Damned, to a normal if well-guarded prison. However... yesterday, despite the large number of guards, the prison was stormed by a crowd numbering in the thousands. The walls were blown up in three places, the detainees were freed, and prison guards for the most part were slaughtered. The few surviving guards say it was a ghastly sight: the crowd was running straight into the machine-gun fire, utterly unconcerned for their own lives. The fanatics died by the hundreds, but just kept running forward, shouting abusive slogans toward the mage-rulers. And some of the attackers were carrying placards with Tamara’s portrait, while the majority of them were wearing yellow bandannas with the words: ‘As good as dead. Not afraid to die. Emancipation from Mage Tyranny.’“
Minn-O La-Fin was clearly afraid, and I understood her fears perfectly well. In her world, the power of the mage-rulers was maintained only through fear. If that went away, the few mages would be simply torn to shreds by the no-longer obedient masses because, for every person born with magical talent, more than one hundred thousand were born with no sorcerous abilities. Perhaps the political structure had remained solid until now, but recent events at the funeral of Coruler Thumor-Anhu La-Fin and especially the Ruling Council showed that mages were also mortal, and it was completely possible to kill them.
I did my best to reassure my wife and asked her to tell me what happened next.
“What’s to tell? Communications weren’t working near the prison at the time, which speaks to treachery and sabotage. Furthermore, there is evidence that some of the guards changed sides and joined the rebels, stabbing the others in the backs, then opening the main gates. That was how they managed to pull off their scheme and take the prison. A group of military consultants who came a few hours later reported that most prisoners had fled and, among the hundreds of dead bodies, there was not a single one matching the description of the girl from the other world. I’m afraid I don’t know where Tamara the Paladin is now or whether she is still alive at all. But even if Tamara died in the mayhem, she has already become a symbol of the antimage uprising. And that is truly frightening!”
Chapter Twenty-Three. Pirates or Saviors?
FINALLY! THE FRIGATE was slinking so slowly toward the station exit, it seemed like the Kasti-Utsh III maneuver tunnel would never end. All the time I was sitting back in my armchair on the bridge and sorting through documents from the virt-pod rental company. Seven days of quarantine... Mandatory complete vaccination before first entrance to common areas... sanitary processing of all items in my bag... used clothing would be burned and a clean replacement set would be ordered... thick fur would be processed with a special bactericidal gel (I wonder if armpit or groin hair would count as “fur”), a mandatory six-day antibiotic treatment... opening a deposit account in a local bank with no less than three thousand crypto to guarantee my ability to pay...
The last part had me especially intrigued and I searched for how to do it. As it turned out, it wasn’t all that complex. You transfer funds in the game to a certain account, then get that same amount in the real world. But you could only withdraw and use what went above the three-thousand-crypto minimum. After a moment of thought, I transferred a whole fifty thousand – what if I had unforeseen expenses out there?
“Captain, where shall I set the route?” the Navigator pulled me out of my thoughts.
I had my answer ready for some time already, and I set an orange marker on the star map for Ayukh:
“The Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh system, second planet. Spaceport eighteen.”
“Do we have business with Trillians?” the old Navigator asked in surprise.
“Indeed we do. So let’s test the frigate’s systems here near the station, then we can go into hyperjump to Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh II.” I didn’t delve into the details, returning my focus to the documents connected with transferring my real body.
As a matter of fact, my choice of the Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh system was nowhere near a coincidence. It appealed to me for two criteria. First of all, it was halfway to the mysterious H9045/WE system where my two Relict drones were waiting. And second, I was looking for a place where it would be possible to unload the forty dangerous Meleyephatian spies (if I was not in fact mistaken, and the huge psionic “spiders” did not try to steal my frigate). For obvious reasons, Miyelonian stations and planets, as well as systems belonging to the Geckho were not suited to such purposes. And I did not want to try any stations belonging to the Meleyephatian Horde – back on home turf after evacuation, the spy ringleader Leng Sooweesssh Eleven might get up the gall to try and dispute my right to his ship. And so I chose the Taikhirhh-O-Tsykh system, which was neutral to everyone, belonged to the Trillian race and could be legally visited by any starship.
“We have left the station,” Dmitry Zheltov commented, referring to our successful crossing of the forcefield and entrance into the vacuum of space. “The dispatchers has assigned us vector 12-9-43. Beginning maneuver and main thruster test. San-Doon, you’re on thrusters two to five...”
I suppose it was also time to me to get to business and test the frigate’s scanning systems. Radar. Lidar. Gravity scanner. Neutron scanner...
Electronics skill increased to level eighty-four!
Scanning skill increased to level sixty-two!
Wow, there were so many ships around the station! The three-dimensional holographic screen depicted a true Hong-Kong harbor: dozens of starships were leaving the Kasti-Utsh III station, while hundreds of vessels of the most unbelievable shapes and dimensions were waiting in line to enter dock. Massive freighters and ore carriers, nimble shuttles, bulky space-ice collectors... The ship list on screen made a big impression. It even included a Kurimiru shuttle. So, the old man is still kicking... I thought they all got retired eons ago. But not this one. It was drifting aimlessly around five hundred sixty miles from the station...
Wait a second!
I checked the data on screen again. Exactly. There could be no doubt. The unnamed Kurimiru cargo and passenger shuttle was drifting in space at a significant distance from the rest of the crowd. It had to be the La-Shin faction shuttle I was intending to intercept, but it should have reached dock a while ago. Could this really be a coincidence?
Suddenly worried, my heart started beating faster. It looked like we would have the chance to intercept the gem shipment after all! I placed a marker on the target for the Navigator and both pilots:
“Approach to eighteen hundred. This might be just the thing we were looking for.”
“Captain, that is our quarry. The same. Which you speak on Earth. No doubt. Must capture. Landing. Board. Hurry!” the Jarg voiced his conclusions through the Universal Translator from his seat next to me and... well, well. The Analyst had already reached level 88! The “space armadillo” was really coming along quick!
Given even the Analyst had confirmed my guess, I didn’t spend any more time hesitating and turned on the ship’s loudspeaker:
“Combat alert! Everyone take their seats! Boarding team, prepare for action!”
I was immediately pushed back hard into the seat; something even made a cracking sound in my neck. Those damn G-forces again... According to the instruments, we were at four point five G’s, and that was with all of the gravity compensators back in wor
king order! Without them, we’d have been well over two hundred, and the whole crew would have died almost instantly, slathered on the starship walls like so much hot butter. I looked at the Starship Pilot in dismay. He’d gotten carried away:
“Dmitry, let’s try and avoid such aggressive maneuvers in the future. We’re just going to approach cautiously and take a look.”
“Sorry captain, my mistake,” Dmitry Zheltov was seemingly a bit scared by how quickly the new frigate could accelerate. “It was smoother in the training sequences. I’ll be more cautious in the future.”
Copilot San-Doon was also impressed and commented:
“We have two very powerful main thrusters, and the mass of the twinbody is actually lower than the single frigate’s was. Minimal inertia. In a race, we could even give interceptors a run for their money now. This ship is so fast we should have called it ‘Cheetah,’ or ‘Peregrine Falcon.’“
I smiled because I also didn’t believe right away that this twinbody had less mass than a ship with only one fuselage. But Engineer Orun Va-Mart explained that this was no mistake. Our external plating and antiradiation layer were made of more expensive and higher quality materials, our composite frame was lighter weight, and our ultramodern thrusters weighed less as well. But the biggest factor was the so-called “mass coupling effect,” which brought our ship’s weight down by up to a third due to clever placement of the gravity compensators. I had to just trust their professional opinions rather than relying on my eyes and sensations.
My new starship really was remarkable. A true wonder of Meleyephatian shipbuilding. I was afraid to even consider how much the original owner spent building this masterpiece in the first place. So, should I give such an amazing ship its own name? In the past, I chose not to do so out of fear that I might draw unwanted attention from these very same pirates. But now my Fame was higher, and naming a ship also had plenty of upsides. First and foremost, it would give a Fame boost to captain and crew. And according to Ayukh, it also conferred small bonuses to speed and maneuverability which certainly couldn’t hurt. But I was vehemently opposed to the names the Pilot suggested. Naming a ghastly ship after an animal was, to my eye, bad form (the Millennium Falcon excepted of course – that’s a classic and rare exception). But a combat starship named “Coruler La-Fin” would make an impression on the heads of the other Directories of the magocratic world. And that would loosen their tongues for negotiations on the coming order of the world. Or... the thought was so crazy and foolish that my heart stopped for a second. Yes, that’s just what I’ll do!
A Jump into the Unknown (Reality Benders Book #5) LitRPG Series Page 25
