“What if we just let him have it with all the torpedoes we have?” I asked my taciturn partner.
“Won’t work,” Lestran shook his head. “That force field has locked down our systems, including the torpedoes. Even if I took manual control and tried shooting the beam cannons at them, it’d take us two hours to drill through their shields…Damn it! Wasn’t it obvious that if their scouts had those capabilities, then the cruiser would have it by default?”
“Alright, alright, don’t grumble. Better let’s think about how we can get out of this…”
“Surgeon, sir, pardon me, but there simply isn’t a way! They’ve got us right by the scruff…”
“Time’s up! What did you decide? Resist our boarding party and die, or surrender your vessel and keep 10% of your cargo.”
I could understand the cruiser’s captain: To board and capture The Space Cucumber, his marines would have to breach her hull, make their way inside, kill us and only then take the ship. Why spend money on repairs, if you could just take her through bargaining? They didn’t care one bit about us, after all—only those engine prototypes.
“Alright,” I decided. “No point in losing 10% of the cargo, so we…”
“Attention all vessels! Attention all vessels!” A woman’s voice burst from the ship’s comm, cutting me off. “This is the captain of the cruiser Alexandria. I am declaring this system a no-fire zone. If one of you scoundrels shoots, I’ll open fire from all batteries. I hope everyone understands that this is no bluff!”
“Kiddo!” exclaimed Lestran almost reverently, hearing the voice of Galactogon’s top pirate. An A-class cruiser had popped into our solar system.
“Captain of Dauntless Warrior, release…err…release The Space Cucumber immediately.” Marina’s voice came over the intercom again.
“Are you prepared to fight the Cyanide Guild?” responded the captain who had captured us. His tone, however, was not as assured as it had been a minute earlier.
“Is that a declaration of war, Nadeep?”
“No, Marina—we don’t want to fight, but we also need that frigate. We deserve a reward for her capture!”
“This ship is mine and I advise you to come to grips with that fact,” the girl replied coolly. The two were discussing our fates as if we were some piece of furniture that needed to be arranged in the proper corner. “I need to scan her computer banks.”
“So all you’re interested in is data?” Nadeep seized the chance of getting his prey after all. “Not the ship herself?”
“What am I going to do with that tub? A D-class frigate with no upgrades—she’s an ordinary fleet ship. I don’t collect trash. Once I see that there’s nothing of interest on the ship, you can have her.”
“Along with her contents?”
“Only if she’s not stuffed with Raq,” smirked the girl.
“If they have even a kilo of Raq on board,” Nadeep’s voice became jovial with relief, “I formally promise to pay those poor fools the official market rate for it and let them keep it to boot! I’m feeling gracious today!”
As his laughter was now echoed by Marina, I could no longer contain myself and asked, “What’s the current market rate for Raq?”
“Fifty GCs per kilo,” replied Nadeep and addressed Marina: “Tell your guys to get ready to latch onto The Space Cucumber. I’ll be releasing her in thirty seconds.”
“Okay. If I don’t find anything interesting, you can have her…”
“Guys, guys, before you start plundering my vessel, I’d like to figure out this Raq deal,” I spoke up again. “My total cargo capacity, as far as I know, is one hundred tons. Half of that—so fifty tons—is pure, unadulterated Raq. Now what did you say it costs again?”
The silence over the ether was music to my ears.
“You have fifty tons of Raq on board?” Marina inquired carefully.
“Why do you think the Qualians are after us? For the prototypes? Hah! They want their Raq back!”
“So you do have the prototypes after all?”
“I do.”
“Forgive me, dear Nadeep, but I’ll be taking The Space Cucumber after all. By the way, who am I speaking to?”
“This is Surgeon,” I introduced myself.
“Very well. Surgeon—I will make sure that the Cyanide Guild will pay you the money they promised. Did you hear that, Nadeep?”
“Who do you think I am to believe any random person I meet? Marina, he’s trying to play us off against each other like two kids! How would a ship from the Training Sector have Raq on board? Much less fifty tons of it?”
“That’s not hard to check,” Marina replied. “Surgeon, open you hatch for my interceptor to dock. My officer will check out your claim. Nadeep, you can send one of your own too.”
“Of course…”
Two-and-a-half million credits popped into my character’s account about ten minutes after the high commission visited my ship. Nadeep showed up in person to get a look at the bastard (that is, me), but I didn’t take off my suit of armor, while Lestran prudently hid himself in the cabin. We didn’t feel like showing up on anyone’s radar too much.
“So how’d you guys get away anyway?” asked Lisp, Kiddo’s representative. Marina had sent over such a scrawny player that I was even a little worried about him and wanted to give him something to eat. He looked like one burst of wind would carry him off if he didn’t take something heavy with him when he went out.
“That’s classified,” I shook my head. “Until I’ve processed it and checked it to my satisfaction, I won’t be revealing it to anyone.”
“I understand,” Lisp nodded approvingly and returned to his examination of our engines. “Right…Uh-huh…Interesting. Marina, can you hear me? The ship’s computer’s got nothing—I checked. But these prototypes are really something. My recommendation is we take them and level them up to A-class as soon as possible. Judging by their growth curve, they should make Alexandria 35% faster…Yeah, that is a nice little boost…What should I tell these two? Hmm…Are you sure? No, Marina, of course I’m not arguing…Alright, that’s what I’ll do then.”
Lisp screwed up his face, as if he was about to tell us some unpleasant news.
“Alright, here’s what’s gonna happen,” he blurted out. “We’re taking your ship and everything on it. You’ll be dropped off on the nearest inhabited planet. You have plenty of money now, so I think you’ll be okay. Basically, sirs, you need to get off our ship now. Come on, I’ll take you to Alexandria.”
Nice and simple. Fifty tons of Raq and the prototypes had piqued the pirates’ interest in my The Space Cucumber—so now they were kicking us out like some meddlesome kittens. And if you don’t like it, that’s your problem. I scanned Lisp’s armor. It was A-class and equipped with some extra boosters. I understood that messing with him would be a waste of time. He’d smash me to pieces without a second thought. And, after all, I still had no idea where I’d respawn—perhaps, it’d be in the same exact Training Sector we just escaped from so heroically…I really didn’t want to find out, so I gritted my teeth and followed Lisp to the shuttle which brought us to Alexandria. I could at least be thankful that they hadn’t zapped us from the get-go.
“Make yourself comfortable in the guest quarters. We’ll reach the Rost System in four hours. That’s where you get off. And don’t worry—the system is in Confederate space, so you won’t be in danger of those Qualian freaks showing up,” said Lisp, jumping out of the shuttle and seemingly losing all further interest in us.
Realizing that I wouldn’t get much support from Lestran who was already all puppy eyes looking around the ship of his dreams (even though the insides of this cruiser were no different than those of any other), I called Lisp back: “Why freaks? They seem like the most humanoid race out of all the ones in Galactogon…”
“Why freaks? Why, because they’re freaks—that’s why!” It seemed like this was a sore topic for Lisp. He stopped, turned around and even took a few steps back to us. “W
hen we decided to cross Cyanide, we were thinking that your ship would contain some kind of information that would help us in our struggle against the Qualians. But of course y’all had not a damn thing beside those engines! In the end, all we got for our trouble was beef with a new guild…Eh! What am I wasting my breath on you for!” Lisp cursed, turned and continued on his way.
So they were looking for classified data? And they weren’t after just the ship? They had assumed that the ship’s computer would hold something that would help them against the Qualians!
“Hold on!” I yelled in his wake. “The ship couldn’t have had what you were looking for! What idiot would copy his entire PDA to the ships’ computers?”
“His PDA?” Lisp stopped dead in his tracks and craned back to look at me.
“Hi! Hello! Pleasure to meet you. I think we should chat,” I said, starting to feel more in my element. “I’m a reasonable man—commerce is my game.”
“On what grounds…WHO ARE YOU?” The nice thing that distinguished Galactogon from other MMOs (Runlustia included) was that you could go back to any moment in the game you’d played and play it back. Moreover, the logging system allowed playback in multiple formats—written, audio and even video. Using this last feature, I projected the events in General Trank’s office onto the screen that Marina provided me with. The legendary captain turned out to be a normal girl of average size. She had no distinguishing features—a normal appearance, a normal uniform, a normal voice. Everything about her seemed so average and ordinary that I began wondering how this 5’0” girl with piercing gray eyes had become such a legend among gamers. Though, perhaps those eyes of hers did suggest an answer: Their gaze was so direct that I felt like they were about to jump out and, using little adroit paws, dig into my brain and start rummaging around there for the information they wanted.
“As you see from the video, my PDA contains 77% of the data I tried to download from the Qualians. And, I should mention, parts of this data are classified ‘Top Secret.’ If I’m not mistaken, this is exactly what you are looking for and the main reason for why the Qualian Emperor declared us enemies of the empire.”
“Are the shadow guilds interested in you?” Marina spoke up for the first time. Once again—her voice was as normal as that of millions of women…The more I learned about Alexandria’s captain, the more curious I was becoming about how she got where she was.
“Sure, ‘interested’ is a fair way to put it. I am supposed to meet some guy named Hilvar on the planet Qirlats.”
“Oh really…” Marina hummed pensively—and signed out of the game. Lisp and Anton (her executive officer) followed suit. We were left alone with several normal players—perhaps just to make sure that we didn’t start pressing random buttons. Although, what buttons are there to press in the guest quarters anyway?
“What do you want in exchange for your information?” The officer corps of Alexandria took about thirty minutes to discuss the current situation. During that time, I managed to sign out myself, have a cup of tea and wash up. I also gave Stan a good talking to for providing with me such a crappy emulator, which had featured not a single scenario involving that force field trap thingy.
“Not much,” I instantly replied. “You give me my ship back, prototype engines and all. As well as all the Raq in its cargo holds. I’ll find a way to dispose of that myself. Next, you help us meet Hilvar, and you introduce us to the Corsican. Lestran and I wish to become members of the Jolly Roger Brotherhood. Oh and also, I’d like to my frigate leveled up from D-78 to C-99.”
“Why not just take Alexandria while you’re at it?” Anton grumbled, but I ignored his outburst. It was clear that in this company, Marina was the one making the decisions and she had listened to my demands without batting an eyelid. And if she was so impassive, then I could afford to be a bit more brazen.
“Alexandria would be too much for me, but I wouldn’t say no to four decent players from your database. I’d like to fill my crew and, anyway, you need to develop your potential crew members. But that’s just a preference I have—I’ll leave it entirely up to you. Coming back to my demands, I have one more. Among the data that I stole from the Training Sector, there’s something about a project codenamed KRIEG. I need to relay this information to a certain Precian named Rrgord. I’d like your help finding him and reaching him. As perhaps you understand, my Rapport with the Altan Alliance aren’t great at the moment…”
“There aren’t any off-planet missions in the Training Sector,” Marina interrupted me, finally showing some kind of response to my demands.
“There’s no Raq there either, or a frigate filled with it, or the possibility of dumping a bunch of data and getting off the planet with it. I agree with you—none of this exists or is possible, and yet here I am sitting in front of you. I guess I’m just a phantom…”
“What else?”
“I’d like us to make an alliance…”
“An alliance?” Marina interrupted, surprised. “Pirates don’t have allies.”
“That’s the problem. I have no assurances (and you can’t give me any ones I’ll accept) that as soon as we get back into our frigate you won’t blast us to spacedust. I don’t want to fight you. I want to fight with you.”
“You have engines that I need for my ship,” Marina shrugged. “Once they’ve been leveled to class-A, they’ll provide 35% more power than we have at the moment. Giving them up is off the table. It’s too much.”
“If it’s off the table, what can you give me instead?” I backpedaled, perfectly understanding the captain of Alexandria. “How about engines that aren’t quite as powerful but still better than the cheap crap that was there by default.”
“If we level your frigate to C-class, we’ll be able to give you the engines that are currently on Alexandria. They’re advanced modifications of A-class proton thrusters. They’ll let you jump to hyperspace in forty seconds. They’re a little weaker than the prototypes on your The Space Cucumber, as you call it. Will you be happy with that exchange?”
“Completely,” I agreed with the girl.
“Then we move on to the Raq. I can’t let you go with fifty tons of Raq—I’ll be laughed out of the game if people find out. I will take 60% of the Raq and in exchange provide you with A-class marine armors. And you can consider me onboard with your crew request—you’re right, we do need to train our reserves and there’s no room on Alexandria. We can see how they handle themselves.”
Commerce really is my game. Very much so. But for Marina, it was more than a game—commerce was just that, commerce. The more I learned about this girl, the more I realized that in Runlustia I would have carried her in my arms, marching happily under her banner. Leaders like her were worth their weight in gold.
“I’ll introduce you to Hilvar no problem—he’s an ordinary local-intermediary. But meeting the Corsican will present difficulties. Before he agrees to meet with you, you’ll have to prove your mettle as a pirate. Hilvar will add to your status in that regard. By the way, why are you interested in the Corsican?”
“A personal mission that has nothing to do with piracy at all. I am looking for a certain bit of information, but you’re right: It’s better to have positive Rapport by the time I do discover it. Hilvar will suffice…What about that Precians then?”
“Well, when it comes to project KRIEG, you’ve piqued my interest and I’d like to know how you received that assignment. Specifically, I don’t want you to tell me how it happened—I want to see how it happened. That’s my only condition.”
“What can I say…” I had to make up my mind quickly, so I weighed the pros and cons and finally projected the episode in question onto the screen. I was in Galactogon for a specific reason, after all, and this reason had nothing at all to do with the missions I got along the way. I needed to find that planet.
“There’s no solitary in the Training Sector,” Marina said, sounding less sure already. “How did you get there?”
“Forgive me, Marina,
but I was hoping to sell that information. We still haven’t decided the issue of allying ourselves—or at least declaring neutrality and non-aggression—and you’re already trying to pry this info from me. Keep in mind that I paid for it myself. Maybe I paid for the wrong guide that made no mention of solitary, but I spent real money all the same and not a small amount of it.”
“You could have bought information about the tournament,” Marina instantly replied. “It’s frequently sold to starting players, but solitary…Hang on, we need to talk this over…”
Once again, the three players signed out of the game, leaving us alone with the help.
“Surgeon, why didn’t you mention that mission to me?” Lestran instantly inquired.
“Because you and I never had time to talk at any length,” I responded. “Remember? First we had to flee, then we were resting and after that came the battle. I simply didn’t have time to tell you. It’s not like I asked you to leave the room to keep this secret from you now. You’re my partner and I want you to know everything that…”
“Oh-oh-oh! Thank you!”
My partner’s face flushed with such a sincere smile that I couldn’t keep myself from asking, “Listen, maybe it’s a dumb and rude question, but…how old are you anyway?”
“Fifteen,” blushed Lestran. “I—I graduated three years earlier than my grade. You could say that I’m using you for your recommendation. I still have a year before I go to university. They don’t take squirts like me. So I bought myself a Galactogon capsule.”
“Got it. So you decided to become a pirate to prove that you can be as bad as your friends?”
“Well…” It seemed like Lestran couldn’t blush any further, and yet he did, turning almost purple.
“Okay, I agree!” At this point, Marina returned with her officers. “We will introduce you to Hilvar, help you complete some of his assignments and then you’ll earn pirate status. Then we’ll be able to enter into an alliance. But my condition stands—I want to know how you found your way into solitary. And I want to know now.”
Start the Game (Galactogon: Book #1) Page 11
