《Celestial Void》 Chapter One Emergency Alert! Emergency Alert! Cam woke up to the blaring alarms. He blinked and sat up. The bunk across the way was empty. He stared for a moment, not entirely sure what to do. The heads up display in his vision said that it was two hours before he had expected to wake up, almost four hours before Will had said there would be any action. He stood up and got dressed. It didn¡¯t take too long to get ready, even though he stumbled through it. He took a small cube of folded material from his shelf on the back wall and held it against his chest. It took a second for him to get the positioning right at the center. Once there the cube unfurled, and covered him in a dark uniform. It was supposedly a graphene mesh, which was strong but still allowed full flexibility. He pulled out his combat pistol stored in a cubby besides the shelf. He held it next to his right leg, like he had been shown and had practiced. He had to adjusted its position twice before a holster springed seemingly from the pistol itself and attach itself to his leg and around his waist. His pilot and survival gear were also cube shaped, which he stowed in a small pouch on his belt. He picked up one last cube, which was only a few centimeters across edgewise. It had a metallic glint to it, but felt lighter than metal should be. He put that in his pouch as well. It could hold far more than it looked. ¡°Ship, where¡¯s William?¡± he asked out loud to the room. ¡°William Quinest is currently located at the bridge,¡± a female voice responded. Cam frowned. He had been on the bridge before, but only with an escort. He wasn¡¯t sure where he should go. William would know, but Cam had to ask him. He walked out of the quarters and headed towards the bridge. He had access to the ship schematics, so a path appeared in the corner of his vision, showing him the way to the bridge. The heads up display he had access to had many options, but he was still familiarizing himself with it all. Even as he thought about it an option menu to configure his settings opened up, but he closed it. He didn¡¯t have time to meddle through it right now. He followed the path the the bridge amidst the flashing lights. The sound of the alarms were only in quarters, where people would need to be woken up, but the lights flashed everywhere. Anyone in the white corridors would know what was happening. Twice though, an alarm did blair through the air. Each time Cam tucked himself into an alcove in the wall that contained cushioning for this purpose. The alarm signaled evasive maneuvers about to take place that were strong enough the inertial dampeners couldn¡¯t deal with it entirely. The cushioning wrapped itself around him holding him in place during the maneuvers. The second maneuver the cushioning couldn¡¯t hold him and he got banged against the far side of the alcove. Luckily against more padding, but he still felt a bit bruised. He wondered what was happening out there that would require that powerful maneuvers. Nothing good he supposed. A notification popped up in the side of his vision showing him where the bruises were. A health bar appeared, showing he had lost two out of his hundred health. It was a good reminder that this was just a game. The most realistic game he had encountered¡ªat least as far as how it felt. It was a sci-fi game, so obvious liberties were taken with physics and how the game-world worked. He was new to the game, even though it had been running for over a year now. It was called Celestial Void, and was promised to be the most immersive game ever. It had come out suddenly with almost no warning, but quickly took over the market. Cam had been playing another game at the time, which also used virtual reality, called simply called New Space. New Space had been one of the front runners of VR technology, but it wasn¡¯t fully immersive. When it first came out it used old style pods where the players entered in, but were still awake and interacted through haptic gloves and other equipment. Cam had played the game for years growing up and had never upgraded his pod to some of the more high tech immersive pods. When Celestial Void came out it required a full immersion pod, which put the player into an unconscious state where they could experience the game as if they were living in it. Cam had bought such a pod immediately, but couldn¡¯t get it to work. After weeks of troubleshooting with techs and developers from Numean, the company who developed Celestial Void, they determined that Cam¡¯s brain waves were unusual, and that he needed an even more advanced pod to be able to pay. Unfortunately those were on back order and it had taken a full year for Cam to finally get one. That was just a few days ago. William, Cam¡¯s long time friend, had been playing from the beginning and had helped Cam get into his guild. This was supposed to be a good mission to help Cam catch up a bit in game and get his feet wet. That said, it had taken more than a day in game to fly out here. He hoped it would be worth it. He eventually found his way to the bridge with no more evasive maneuvers to throw him about. The hallways looked more foreboding as he approached. The white hallways were replaced with darker fortifications. Two guards barred his way. They stood in full combat gear, complete with helmets with tinted visors that protected their faces. There armor was padded with a tungsten carbide alloy contained within a graphene mesh. The material could withstand the impact of a pistol bullet at point blank range, and even reduce the effectiveness of power based attacks, although it would slowly degrade with each impact. They had submachine guns clipped to the chest piece of their armor, a pistol in a holster at one side and a knife and baton that could be set to deliver an electric charge on impact. One held out his gloved hand as Cam approached, causing Cam to stop in his tracks. He stood there while they scanned him. The other guard growled once the scan was complete. Cam jumped from the sound, afraid they were going to attack him for even approaching the bridge, but after another moment they stepped aside and motioned him through. He walked past the guards and up an incline that widened at the top. The blast door to the bridge was wide enough for five men to stand shoulder to shoulder. Anyone trying to gain unauthorized access would be putting themselves through a funnel that could be filled with suppressing fire. As the massive door slid open he took a hesitant step inside. The middle of the large white circular room was filled with a holographic display. He stared at it for a moment trying to figure out what was on it. It was the display of what was going on outside the ship. In the center was the Engra--a Ursus class battleship and the ship Cam was currently flying on. It looked small in the vastness of space. He could make out other ships around it, some close, others far away. He recognized the Tyker class destroyers that littered the space near the Engra. They were one of the mainstays of the Aluvius guild, whose space they were currently near. His own heads up display activated as he tried to recognize the other ships, and filled him in with the data. Wan¡¯xen class cruisers were scattered on one side of the Engra and were firing at the battleship. One ship was larger than the rest, but still less than half the size of the Engra, a Ichen class battlecruiser. Cam remembered that class of ship as basically a cannon strapped to some engines. He bet that was the evasive maneuvers had been to avoid its shots. It was designed to punch holes in whatever it faced, whether that was smaller ships, larger ships, or even small asteroids. The holographic display noted two other ships in the distance that had similar profiles and were eighty three percent likely to also be Ichen class battlecruisers. Cam pulled his eyes from the display to look around him. The floor sloped downward from the door to the main area. On the floor below were three officers, two men and one woman, talking and studying the display. They were moving around, but slowly as if something was limiting their movement. Probably a device that allowed them to be standing when the large evasive maneuvers happened. More than a dozen terminals ringed around the display, each with a person seated in front of them. They were faced to see the holographic display as well, but more importantly they were faced towards the officers in the middle and were ready to relay orders to all the areas of the ship. Cam saw Will standing next to one terminal. He was holding a cup of coffee in his hand, casually talking to the petty officer sitting at the terminal. Cam walked down towards his friend. No one paid him mind. If anyone could get past the guards and the blast doors without raising a fuss then they were authorized to be here. The officers were talking and occasionally shouting orders at the men and women at the terminals. Even in the few seconds it took Cam to walk down, he could see two enemy ships disappear as fire from the Engra hit them from a point blank distance. The Engra¡¯s shields were only slightly dropping, still at a comfortable eighty seven percent. ¡°It¡¯s a rich blend,¡± Will was saying as Cam walked up. ¡°Tough to get just right, but if you know how to describe it to the computer, it can make it for you.¡± ¡°It tastes delicious,¡± the petty officer said, holding an identical cup of coffee in his own hands. He took another sip, clearing savouring the taste. Restraints in his chair strapped him down so that he would be safe in the case of heavy maneuvers. Cam had to smile at how casual a conversation Will could have with the commotion from the officers. It was still a game after all. Some people enjoyed it in different ways. Will was all about who he played with. He loved going out and blasting enemies or finding cool ways to use game mechanics, but he would spend just as much time getting to know those on his team. ¡°So they make good coffee here?¡± Cam asked as he stepped behind Will. ¡°Cameron!¡± said Will, turning around. He was obviously happy to see him, but also a bit confused. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Will had a similar uniform to Cam. Dark colors, and sleek to not hinder movement. An emblem of stars coming up out of a book was embroidered on his left breast, along with a commander patch on his shoulder. The patch had a blue colored book on it, not found on most such patches. William was actually one of the officers of the guild he and Cam were in, Codiem Caelestis. On the field William prefered flying out in smaller ships rather than sitting in a big one, so his technical rank was lower than the captain¡¯s, but no one would blink an eye if Will overroad one of the captain¡¯s orders--not that he would ever do that without good cause. He was good with people and even Cam knew such orders could erode the captain¡¯s authority if Will did them too often. ¡°I didn¡¯t know where to go,¡± Cam said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what¡¯s going on. I mean obviously we¡¯re under attack with what¡¯s on the display.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, yeah. No problem,¡± William replied, almost casually. ¡°That¡¯s my fault. I was so excited to bring you out on this mission with me you didn¡¯t even get through all of the standard training. Glad I decided to give you full access to the ship or else you wouldn¡¯t have found me here. Head down to the fighter hangar. Get your ship prepped. We¡¯re going to go have some fun.¡± ¡°Out in this?¡± Cam asked, looking up at the holographic display. There was over a dozen wrecks out there of enemy ships, but the Engra¡¯s shields were down to sixty-six percent, and the two ships in the distance were closing into their projected firing range. ¡°We got a plan,¡± William said. ¡°They were here when we jumped in. We¡¯re not going out in this exactly, but we will be flying and helping you farm some experience. Go get ready. I¡¯ll be there in a sec.¡± Before Cam could head out the evasive maneuver alarms sounded again. William moved almost instantly towards the sloped wall behind the officer¡¯s terminal. Against the sloped wall were straps. William pulled a pair over his shoulders, and they automatically tightened down around him. Cam dove next to him and grabbed two straps himself. He was just a moment too slow and they were still tightening down when the maneuver happened. He was looking up, over the terminal to the display when it happened. He could see the nearby battlecruiser ready to fire. Next thing he knew he felt his body get pulled upward and his shoulder was wrenched from the strap not being fully tight. The pain was muted, though. A safety aspect of the game Cam knew. Numean didn¡¯t want to traumatize anyone, but some pain was a good way of giving feedback to players about how they are doing in a situation. After all there is a reason why bodies use pain to let people know they¡¯re in danger. Players could adjust the pain settings in game, but there was a lower cap to it. There were several reasons for it. One, the company wanted there to be some reason for self preservation beyond penalties for death; two, the less a machine messes with the brain usually the better, and completely eliminating pain was far more drastic than dulling it; and three, it helped with learning. At least that¡¯s what Numean claimed. Higher pain settings allowed players to learn certain skills faster. Cam wasn¡¯t too sure how keen he was on that last one, and no one ever recommended raising the pain threshold higher than about seventy percent.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. When the maneuver was over Cam sat there a moment, rubbing his shoulder. He had lost three more health points. He wasn¡¯t worried about it, since ninety-five health points was fine for him. He wasn¡¯t expecting to be in physical combat anyways. Most of the action out here would be ship to ship. He saw William stand up and followed suit. The officers in the middle were still standing. Cam couldn¡¯t see what had kept them safe, but they were still talking and giving orders as if nothing had happened. The shot from the battlecruiser had still grazed the shields, which according to the information on the display were down to forty nine percent. It was low enough to start to worry, but Cam saw that the Engra¡¯s guns had started targeting the battlecruiser, which had drifted too close in trying to take its shot. ¡°Hold up here, Cam,¡± William said as he moved towards the officers in the center of the room. He had undone the straps the moment the maneuver ended. ¡°I¡¯ll head out with you, just give me a minute.¡± There was a few moments of commotion. Cam extradited himself from his straps and stood up. The display change for a few moments to a navigation mode, zooming far out from the current battle, and a new jump point was set in a different star system. William was speaking. ¡°Set the jump point in the second asteroid belt,¡± he said. ¡°Do it precisely at these coordinates.¡± ¡°Yes sir,¡± the captain replied. ¡°We¡¯re still going to try to hit the main target, but first we¡¯ll need to make our stand there.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s at all possible, we¡¯ll get you there.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you will, Drent,¡± William said, clasping a hand on the man¡¯s shoulder. It had happened in just moments, but Cam saw the loyalty and trust in the captain¡¯s eyes. Will knew how to lead. He turned back to Cam and motioned him to follow as he headed toward the bridge doors. They were almost up the steps when another alarm happened. This was different than the evasive maneuver alarm. ¡°What is it?¡± Cam couldn¡¯t help asking. ¡°Boarding pods,¡± Will replied, with a glance at the display. ¡°Two of them made it through the guns. We might have to jump with some visitors on the ship. That won¡¯t be good. Aluvius will know where we¡¯ve jumped the second the boarders can broadcast it. ¡°Come on, we need to get moving,¡± he continued, turning back to the door. ¡°One of the pods hit along the way to the hangars. Might as well help security out.¡± ¡°Wait, hand to hand combat?¡± Cam asked, moving to keep up with William. He was still new at the game, so he barely had skill points to spend. He had put most of them into helping him fly a basic ship better. Skills could also learned on the battlefield, but that was high risk. Dying meant losing most of the progress on the skills gained in action in the recent past, as well as a high fatigue level that could last hours or days. Fatigue affected combat effectiveness and skill learning rate. The period of time the fatigue lasted depended on a lot of factors, but by far the biggest were player level and amount of skills they know. ¡°No time like the present to get started,¡± William said with a grin. ¡°Don¡¯t take any risks if you don¡¯t have to. We don¡¯t want you sent back to base before you even get any experience.¡± They hurried down the wide corridors. The Engra had plenty of space on its inside for comfortably wide corridors. The battleship was one of the largest ships in the game. Cam got lost in the twists and turns. He knew he could pull up the ship schematics in his heads up display again if needed, but he didn¡¯t want to be distracted by it at the moment. Will slowly picked up speed as they moved. ¡°How¡¯s your stamina?¡± he called after a few minutes. ¡°Thirty out of sixty,¡± Cam said. It had appeared in his vision when he had thought about it. It seemed handy as long as it didn¡¯t block his vision at a vital moment. He had also noticed he had regenerated one health point. He hoped he didn¡¯t need it in the fight ahead. ¡°And fatigue?¡± ¡°Four percent,¡± he said. ¡°Good. It doesn¡¯t really start affecting you until about thirty, but it gets far worse the higher you go.¡± Cam just nodded as they moved. He had heard it all before, but he wasn¡¯t going to tell Will that. He would rather hear things two or three times than not at all. He was still new to the game, and the vast majority of the game¡¯s population had been here for a year. Well more than a year in game. In game time went by faster than in the real world. Some sort of neural time dilation that let three days pass in game for every one in the real world. He was far behind and had a lot to learn. ¡°What combat skills do you have?¡± Will asked quietly, coming to a stop at a corner. ¡°Just the basic pistol skills,¡± Cam whispered back. ¡°You said to focus on ship training for now. Oh, I did pick up the starting drone skill. I got a combat drone in my supplies.¡± Will peaked carefully around the corner. They were close to the breach. Will motioned it was okay to keep going forward. ¡°A drone skill?¡± Will asked as he moved around the corner. ¡°Why did you pick that up of all things?¡± ¡°You can use them in all sorts of things,¡± Cam answered, following his friend. ¡°Ships can have drones, there are infantry combat drones, even drones to help with making and fix stuff. They seem pretty neat.¡± ¡°Yeah, but they require lots of attention. You have to control them directly. Have you used one yet?¡± ¡°Just in training. It wasn¡¯t too bad.¡± Cam had used one. It was like splitting his attention between himself and another smaller self. The combat drone he had could fly, and while it didn¡¯t do much damage, he could position it away from himself and set up a one man cross fire. ¡°Drones are really only good in numbers. Imagine that times ten. That¡¯s what you¡¯d need to even start being competitive with them. That takes a lot of skill investment too.¡± ¡°What about AI? I heard you can get those to help,¡± Cam asked. Either way he wasn¡¯t too worried. It wasn¡¯t like he had invested much into drones so far. ¡°Not as intelligent as people want. Too many options and not enough good ones to make them work. They¡¯re too predictable in actual combat.¡± Cam nodded. Will came to a stop at another corner. He peaked out again. This time Cam heard a gunshot, and Will ducked back quickly. A plasma bolt flew past the corner and into the far wall. Sparks sizzled where it struck. ¡°Looks like we found them,¡± Will said with a grin. He pulled out a communicator. ¡°Quint to ShipSec. We have contact with hostiles at 3-7-5. We¡¯re forward of their position.¡± ¡°Roger, Quint,¡± came a male voice from the communicator. ¡°Two squads are enroute. One two levels up and one two sectors port of you.¡± Will gave an acknowledgement back. ¡°I was hoping we¡¯d find the hositles already engaged with security,¡± he said to Cam. ¡°We have to pull back a bit.¡± Already they could hear the enemy advancing. Cam was amazed by how real everything felt to him. He was used to game situations that got his heart racing, but none had felt like this. Part of the tutorial had the players experience death, so he already knew he could face that, but dying right now would be a setback. Will had brought him out here to help him get some experience. You can¡¯t set your spawn on a ship, so if he died he would respawn back in Codiem Caelestis territory, and would have to travel for a day to get back out here assuming there was a ship to take him. The two friends pulled back down the corridor. At the next junction they took a defensive position. Will put himself farther forward, where he would have better shots, but also most likely get shot at. ¡°Just try to tag them,¡± he told Cam. ¡°The more damage you do the better you¡¯ll skill up, but even just hitting them will get you experience. They¡¯re going to be tough, so don¡¯t be afraid to pull back more if you need to.¡± Cam nodded and readied his pistol. He could hear the sounds of boots coming closer. He was the right side of the corridor so he had an awkward angle being right handed, but he did his best to only expose his arm as he aimed for the corner. He saw Will take a shot first. He had the better angle. Will fired twice more before returning fire started. Plasma shots hit the bulkheads, shooting sparks and leaving small indentations. He had to pull back to avoid the initial barrage. A moment later two of the Aluvius boarders marched around the corner under the cover fire. They wore a similar outfit to the two guards Cam had seen earlier at the bridge. The thick armor could absorb several shots before weakening. They held out powerful submachine guns, continuing their fire at Will¡¯s position. Cam wondered what Will hoped to accomplish with this. Cam would have to get a lucky shot to even do any damage. Will¡¯s pistol didn¡¯t look like it would do much better. Cam still lined up his shot. He squeezed off two rounds straight at the first boarder¡¯s chest. The kick of his gun wasn¡¯t much and even at his awkward angle he was able to keep it steady. The two shots hit in the chest but the only effect was momentarily slowing the guard down. He fired three more shots quickly, two more at the same enemy and one at the other one. They all hit but still had little effect. Cam hid as soon as he saw them swivel their guns towards him. He heard the splash of the plasma bolts hit where he had been peeking out. Some hit the corridor behind him, but he was safe for the moment. Glancing over at the other side, he saw Will putting an attachment on his pistol. He had already put a stock on it, and now as putting some sort of new barriel. It looked more like an awkwardly designed rifle than a pistol like that. He raised it up to his shoulder, peeked around the corner, and fired five times. A set of three followed by a set of two. The return fire lessened and Cam saw a small icon appear in the bottom left corner of his vision. It flashed twice before fading. Notifications were turned off in combat by default, but he was curious what it said. He moved a hand where the icon was located in his vision and tapped it. He only read the first sentence before Will shouted at him, but it was a level up notice. He tapped the icon again and closed the windows. ¡°Tag the next two, come on!¡± Will had pulled back behind the corner, and was looking over at Cam. Cam gave a quick nod and leveled his gun around the edge. He didn¡¯t have much time to aim this time and there were five guards in his field of view. He shot four times, trying to hit a different one each time. He realized too late he shouldn¡¯t have taken the last shot. A plasma bolt hit the wall right next to his arm. The splatter from the wall hit his arm and seared his skin. The pain was more than he was expecting and he dropped his pistol out in the middle of the corridor. He pulled back behind the corner. His uniform had burned where the plasma had splattered and he had some nasty burns on his upper arm. The pain dulled rather quickly, but he still felt it. He knew it he couldn¡¯t shoot as well with the wound. Not that he had a gun to use. Another icon had appeared, this time looking like a miniature body. He ignored it. It probably let him know how badly his arm was hurt, but he didn¡¯t have time to read through it all. He saw that his health had dropped eight points. He wondered if a direct shot to his body would immediately kill him. Will leaned out and used his makeshift rifle again. He fired six times before having to duck again, which meant there were at least two boarders left, as well as any more that were still coming from around the corner. ¡°Do you have any way to tag more?¡± Will shouted across the way. Cam could barely hear him over the noise of the enemy fire. He was about to shake his head no when he remembered his drone. He pulled the cube from his pouch. It was only a few centimeters big, easily held between his fingers. He activated it by pushing a button on one of its faces. Deploying it took some psi energy. Psi energy was the game¡¯s form of mana. There were many types that he could unlock later on. Each was good at different types of mental or psychic tasks. He had fifteen points and as the small drone sprang to life three of them were used and reserved. He wouldn¡¯t be able to regenerate those points until he stopped using the drone. Maintaining the drone also used psi energy, but this drone was so basic that his natural regeneration counteracted it. The drone grew in size to larger than his fist and floated above his hand. It didn¡¯t seem too threatening at a glance, but it did have a small energy weapon. It wouldn¡¯t do even as much as his pistol, but it could tag enemies. He could also see everything its camera recorded. A video of his in-game avatar appeared, overlayed in part of his vision. It was a little disorienting to have it so suddenly appear, but he quickly recovered and took control of it. It was like having a mental joystick, it took some of his concentration to move it around. He backed up a step farther into the junction while at the same time sending his drone around the corner. He wasn¡¯t sure if the enemy was closing in fast or not. He hoped Will¡¯s gun was enough to deter them. He moved his drone near the roof, so that if the enemy was still aiming at body level they wouldn¡¯t be pointing at it immediately. Unfortunately it was not fast so he had to be careful with it. He had to hope it was small enough to be hard to shoot. As he moved it into the corridor he could see the boarders in the hallway, but they weren¡¯t just standing in the middle of it anymore. They were being careful, moving up the sides. They had first seen Will as a lightly armed pilot, not expecting him to be able to put up any resistance, but now they knew better. There were eight of them now, all moving together and training their guns both sides where Will or Cam could peak out. They didn¡¯t notice the drone yet and he was about to order it to fire at one of them when he saw one toss something towards the junction. ¡°Grenade!¡± he shouted, already running away from the junction. All he could think about was getting as much distance as possible from the grenade. He had sprinted half a dozen steps when the blast hit him from behind and sent him flying. He crashed into the side of the corridor and rolled on the floor. His back was on fire, and he could feel the bruises start up on his arms. A notification popped up that his health had dropped dangerously low. The blast from the grenade had hit him for forty-eight health points and the impact with the floor and walls had cost him another twenty-six. He was down to fourteen health. Several icons popped up, including the one shaped like a human body, and most were flashing red. The initial pain was again overwhelming but quickly faded to a manageable level. Even at a seventy percent pain threshold the game wanted you to realize you were hurt and punish you just a bit for mistakes, but then didn¡¯t want to over do it. Cam was fine with that. It was a game after all. No reason to be that realistic. He tried to sit up, but realized his body wasn¡¯t responding the way he wanted it to. It took him two tries and he felt he was moving slower than normal. A small amount of pain shot through him as he settled against the wall and he saw himself lose another point of health. He grimaced. Probably some internal bleeding or a broken bone that jabbed itself somewhere. He was likely about to die and be sent back to Codiem Caelestis territory. He looked up and saw three of the boarders walking to him. He was up against the wall with no place to hide. He couldn¡¯t run. He could barely move. It seems even after the pain dulled the game still put limitations on your movement based upon wounds. One of the soldiers had their gun trained on him, but hadn¡¯t fired yet. Cam wasn¡¯t a threat to them and they knew it. He stared at the soldier, waiting for the inevitable. Chapter Two Will had been the one that could hurt them, not Cam. The soldiers apparently knew that. He hoped Will was okay. As much as it would be nice to have Will respawn with him, he also knew Will would loath being taken away from his mission. The lead soldier walked up to him, his gun still ready to fire. Cam just closed his eyes and smiled. He was ready for what was about to happen. At least he got something out of it. He wasn¡¯t sure what exactly yet as he had not looked through the notifications. He hoped the death penalty would be kind, and not take too much away from him from what he had just gained. Before he gave up though, he would have his fun. His smile was less from being resigned to death and more for what was about to happen. From behind the soldier Cam¡¯s little drone took a shot. Cam¡¯s urgent thought of running from the grenade had apparently propelled the drone forward, past the enemy that had missed it in the confusion, and far enough away to survive the blast. Cam had brought it back, not because he thought it would make a difference, but because he had nothing else to do. Even with Cam¡¯s eyes closed he could see through the drone¡¯s camera as the lead soldier turn to look at what hit him. Cam kept the drone firing, shooting as many soldiers as he could. No point in having it run away if he was about to die. Combat drone control range was only a few dozen meters, and he doubted it was worth trying to save. The other soldiers turned as well to see what the annoyance was. Cam doubted the drone was damaging their heavy armor. It really did seem like drones were weak by themselves. He supposed that made sense, otherwise just send waves of drones at the enemy and stay safely behind them. A moment later he heard more gun fire. He expected to feel the flash of pain and wake up in the respawn area, but all he heard was more and more fire. It was coming from somewhere besides the enemy soldiers. He opened his eyes and looked at the scene from his own angle. Shots were coming down from the corridor and hitting the enemy. Two fell quickly and the third only had time to fire a couple rounds at his assailants before falling himself. More heavily armed soldiers poured in around him, but he knew these ones were friendly. He tried to stand up but felt another stab of pain and the loss of two more health points. ¡°Whoa, whoa. Sit tight,¡± he heard Will say. ¡°You took quite the blast. You¡¯re lucky to be alive.¡± Will knelt next to him along with one of the soldiers. The soldier pulled out a red packet. It looked to be filled with some kind of gel. ¡°What is that?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Health Pack,¡± Will answered. ¡°It¡¯ll take some time to work, but should get you back into shape in no time.¡± The soldier lifted up Cam¡¯s shirt and placed the packet against his skin. Immediately Cam felt a tingly sensation spread out from the packet and all through his body. Even the dull pain disappeared in a few moments and, while he still felt just a bit stiff, he could move much easier than before. His health bar showed in red that he was still down at eleven health, but that he had a recovery buff that would fill him up to his maximum health of one hundred. It didn¡¯t show how long it would take but it said he was gaining health at a rate of one tenth a second. Cam was good at that kind of math since he played games like this so much and knew that would take about fifteen minutes to fill his health up. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said, rubbing his neck. There was a little soreness as he moved, just enough to keep him from wanting to move too quickly. ¡°Glad the cavalry arrived when it did.¡± ¡°We aim to please,¡± the soldier kneeling with Will said. ¡°Lieutenant Barden, at your service.¡± The rest of the squad behind him saluted at William. Some quicker than others, but all sharp. ¡°How many podies does the squad have?¡± Will asked. ¡°Four of us,¡± Barden answered, with a nod to Will. ¡°Podies?¡± Cam asked, getting up. There were always new words, new terms, for every game. This was one he was not familiar with. ¡°Players,¡± Will said. ¡°People in pods. Most of squads like this are NPCs. Even some of our fighter pilots are NPCs. There are a lot of people playing Celestial Void but it¡¯s an easy way to fill numbers and make the game feel bigger.¡± Cam nodded at that. It was not a term he had heard used in New Space. It fit even there though. The pods used for New Space were not as immersive as for Celestial Void but they were still pods. Around him three other players in the squad took a step forward and nodded. The three other podies besides Bardon. In total the squad had twenty soldiers. The players blended in at first glance, but their equipment looked just a bit better than the average squad member. Their guns just a bit more powerful, and armor looked a little more sturdier. Cam doubted he could spot the differences during combat. ¡°So the squad we faced were NPCs as well?¡± Cam asked. ¡°They probably had one podie, but mostly NPCs. The NPCs are good at following instructions and working through tactical formations and such, but they have low initiative. You don¡¯t want to waste podies on such high risk missions, but you need at least one along to make spot decisions. Without one squads grow more inefficient the longer they go without orders.¡± ¡°Ready to move, sir?¡± Barden asked. ¡°Engra¡¯s jump engines are just about spooled up.¡± Will nodded. ¡°Lead the way.¡± One of the soldiers picked up Cam¡¯s pistol and handed it to him. He holstered it, and also called back his drone and deactivated it, placing the small cube back in his pouch. The Psi Energy points that were dedicated to using it were freed up and slowly started regenerating. Barden gave an order and the squad started moving, Will and Cam placed in the middle for maximum protection. ¡°What kind of weapon do you have that blasted through the soldiers¡¯ armor?¡± Cam asked while they moved. ¡°Perks of being an officer,¡± Will answered with a grin. ¡°A clip of its ammo is more expensive than a basic fighter ship. Don¡¯t mind though. It was a good way to get you some experience. Have you put your stats and skill points in?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t even looked through my notifications,¡± Cam said, shaking his head. ¡°Take a look right now. Get Cybernetic Learning, and some more basic ship skills. There are quite a few that translate to almost all ships.¡± Cam nodded and opened up the icon for notifications. A flood of them filled his vision.
Skill Up!
Basic Firearms II
Your chance to hit withfirearms increased by 1%
Skill Up!
Basic Pistol II
Your chance to hit with pistols increased by 1%
Level Up!
You are now Level 3
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level 4
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level5
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Basic Drones II
Drone speed increased by 2%
Skill Up!
Basic avoidance I
Your chance to dodge increased by 1%. Damage from Area effect abilities reduced by 1%
Skill Up!
Basic Drones II
Drone speed increased by 2%
Skill Up!
Basic Combat Drones II
Combat Drone speed increased by 1% and damage increased by 1%
Level Up!
You are now Level 6
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level 7
You have skill points to distribute
He looked over the list. Level seven. He had hit level two in the basic training in the tutorial, but hadn¡¯t had the chance to level up since then. It was still nothing compared to the average player but at least he had points to spend. Will was over level one thousand. Levels only mattered for skill points though. A level one with the same skills and equipment as a level one thousand would do the same damage, but the skills were never the same. Players earned skills through using them, but could also purchase them from points earned from leveling. However, the points needed to purchase the higher skill ranks were exponential, so again, theoretically a dozen level tens could stomp a level one thousand if the equipment was equal. ¡°What level do you think the boarders were at?¡± Cam asked Will, after closing most of his notifications. ¡°Most were about level two hundred. The highest was just under five hundred, if I remember,¡± he answered. ¡°Oh, get rank in combat perception. Just one to start should be fine. You¡¯ll start seeing basic stats when you look at players and vehicles. Health mostly to start, but the more it levels up the more it¡¯ll display.¡± Cam nodded and opened up his character screen. He barely got a glance at it when the evasive maneuver siren sounded. The soldiers shifted pace without missing a beat. One grabbed Cam¡¯s arm gently and hurried him to the nearest alcove. Will was shoved along with him. The soldiers then stopped in formation and Cam heard the whine of current building up. When the maneuver happened the soldiers didn¡¯t budge. Their boots apparently were magnetic, holding them in place to the ground, and their armor stiffened enough that they could not get thrown around. A few moments after that a different alarm sounded. This one more familiar. It wasn¡¯t the boarding alarm. This one he had heard it yesterday several times. The ship was about to Jump. It¡¯s drives would fold space and create a pocket that would move the ship light years into another system. A ship could jump anywhere, but the farther away from large objects the ship landed the easier it was to spot. Land near a moon or planet and you could potentially hide for an hour or two. Land in the middle of outer space and anyone within twenty light years had a chance of detecting you the second the jump portal opened up. It was stark contrast to the real laws of physics, but then again an interstellar sci-fi game would be pretty boring if you took years to travel between the stars. Cam and Will stayed in the cushioned alcove for the jump. Non-combat jumps were typically safe, but combat jumps could get interference with all the ships and rounds flying around. Cam felt the artificial gravity get pulled in the wrong direction as the space time outside folded itself for the passage. For a moment he felt he was being pulled in three directions at once, and then, as fast as it started, it was over.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s hurry. That was our cue,¡± Will said. Cam followed him out of the alcove. The soldiers took up formation around them again and started moving. Quicker this time. ¡°Were the boarders cleared out?¡± Cam asked Barden. ¡°Negative, sir,¡± he answered. ¡°Three more breaching pods got through. Security has been trying to clean them out, but one bunkered down in a hard to assault area. They¡¯ll be sure to broadcast their coordinates in moments.¡± ¡°Well looks like round two will be coming up quicker than we had hoped, but that¡¯s not too surprising,¡± he said. ¡°We didn¡¯t launch our fighters because we wanted to jump and point defense guns can only handle so much on a ship this large. Some more breaching pods were bound to come through.¡± They were almost to the fighter bay. Cam pulled up his character sheet again, and glanced it over.
Name Guild Title Level
Cameron Calvera Codiem Caelestis None 7
Health Psi Energy Stamina Fatigue
24/100 13.4/15 40.3/60 8%
+0.1/min, +0.1/sec +0.01/sec -0.03/sec
Attributes
Strength 15 Skill Points Aailable 30
Agility 15
Constitution 15
Speed 15
Endurance 16
Dexterity 17
Intelligence 15
Willpower 15
Intuition 15
Affecting Statuses:
Health Pack?0 Healing 0.1 health/sec
Thirty skill points wasn¡¯t much but most of the starting skills were just one or two points each. He could also put points in attributes, and since most skills were based on attributes he should do that as well once he got more points to spend. Strength, agility, and constitution were more physically based. Strength affected how well players could handle heavier and more powerful weapons and armor. Agility also affected combat, allowing players more precise movements with weapons for attack and for dodging. Constitution was based around health and health regeneration as well as stamina. Cam wasn¡¯t going to bother putting that many points in those stats, at least early on. Speed was also physically based. It did exactly what it said and allowed players to move faster on foot. He had read recommendations to at least put a few early points on it, as even pilots had to move about on ships, and seconds can count when getting to your craft or another station on a ship. He was sure that he was slowing down the rest of the group, but Will didn¡¯t seem to mind, so Cam didn¡¯t worry about it. Endurance and dexterity were what he planned on putting most of his points into. Endurance affected fatigue, which was a big factor in piloting. Dexterity allowed for faster reactions in cockpit situations. Where Agility was for the whole body Dexterity was more for small reactions, even mental ones. Intuition was also one he should level up. Someone on a message board had explained it as the game telling you extra information you might have missed. In hectic fights that was always a possibility, so it was a good one to have. Intelligence and Willpower were more the mental stats. Intelligence was used mostly for manufacturing and building, although abilities using Psi Power often got a boost from either intelligence or Willpower. Willpower also directly boosted the amount of Psi Power a player could have and its regeneration rate. He wasn¡¯t sure what attributes he should work on first, and to top it all off the skill tree was insanely large. He could theoretically read over every skill in the game, although it could take hours just to read the titles. Fortunately there were many filters he could use to sort it out. He found the skills that Will had recommended and chose those ones before anything else. Cybernetic Learning had a Cybernetics (Basic) prerequisite, but Cam had already grabbed that to use drones during the tutorial. Cybernetic Learning I only cost him two points. The skill, like most cybernetics, was based on willpower. Combat Perception was also available to him. It was based on Intuition and cost two more points. He also bought Fighters II, Small Gunnery II, Piloting Maneuverability I, Ship Drones II, and Trajectory I. The level one skills cost him two points each and the level two skills five points each, except the drone skill, which took eight points. He still grabbed it despite Will¡¯s comment on drones. He hoped he could use them somehow in combat and elsewhere. In total he spent twenty six points. He spent one point on Intuition, two more on dexterity and the last one on endurance. Attributes would cost more points as he pushed them higher. They arrived at the hangar. It was less of a large, open space and more a series of launch tubes and fighter storage compartments. Fighters were the smallest space-capable ships and battleships in general could not service anything larger. Even then, their service of fighters was limited. A battleship was designed for attack missions, not as a nexus for a prolonged campaign. The guild had paid for Cam¡¯s fighter. He was sure Will did most of the actual funding. Cam¡¯s addition to the mission was on Will¡¯s assistance. A typical new player in a large guild would have to do several training missions before being allowed on a mission like this. A fighter was expensive for a new player, but Will assured him that it was nothing for an established guild or player. Every fighter in the hangar looked like something you would see in a sci-fi show: wings that were all but useless in space, a forward cockpit that was more vulnerable than necessary, and guns dispersed inefficiently across the body and wings. Cam¡¯s fighter was more utilitarian than most, but still had those features. It was boxy compared to the others but its profile was slightly smaller, and wings looked more vestigial than something that would hold up in the atmosphere. He loved its practical design. He had picked it out of a line up when Will had told him he had needed a ship and to choose one. The foot soldiers saluted Will as they arrived and left to help hunt any other boarding parties. Will and Cam headed down to their fighters. Cam approached his fighter almost reverently. He had not had a chance to get inside it yet and held out a hand to his fighter, running his fingers down the fuselage. Again, since it was a sci-fi game, the fighters flew more like aircraft than spacecraft. While they didn¡¯t have a max speed, there was a velocity where the ships would begin to accelerate slower. Also the ships were said to have an aetheric rudder, which would let them turn in space like planes used their flaps to turn in the air. True space warfare would be boring, with ships firing from each other so far away that the captains couldn¡¯t see each other without magnification. If they ever got close enough to see each other, odds would be that they would zoom past each other in seconds. Cam thought that kind of warfare would be interesting in itself, but understood why the creators of a game like Celestial Void put in a more science-fictiony type of warfare. ¡°Did you pick up Cybernetic Learning and Combat Perception?¡± Will asked. His fighter was parked next to Cam¡¯s and he had come over for one last conversation before getting in his ship. When Cam nodded, Will held out his hand. There were three small metallic objects in it. ¡°Learning implants,¡± he said. Cam looked at them with distrust. One of them looked spiky enough that he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted it near his head. Will laughed when he saw Cam¡¯s face. ¡°It¡¯s just a small sting. They don¡¯t even show after you put them in.¡± Cam reluctantly took them. Will showed him how to put them in. ¡°There are eight spots for implants on any player. The three at the back of the neck are where these go. These ones are simple, but just add a small boost to skill learning. It won¡¯t help you for long, but can give you some help at basic skills. Hold them like this,¡± he said, moving his had to the three spots they went. Cam held the first one and placed it above his skin at the spot Will had shown. The sting was sharp, but over almost immediately. What was worse was how it felt like it was crawling into and under his skin. The second one he braced for. It wasn¡¯t so bad now that he knew what was coming. The third one went in easily. He thought he could feel something there under his skin if he moved his neck, but when he put his hand to his neck he couldn¡¯t feel anything. He gave a small shudder, but then shook his head. This was a game after all. ¡°Feeling it under your skin is a bit of realism I could do without,¡± he told Will. ¡°It¡¯ll go away before you know it. Just know if you die, you lose the implants just like all equipment.¡± Cam nodded. Part of a game like this was the building and destruction of assets. Death meant you lost everything on you. Depending on how you died some of it could be looted by enemies but some was usually destroyed. They got to their respective fighters. The startup sequence had been automatically initiated, but he went through the checklist. Most of it wasn¡¯t necessary, but vehicles were fully simulated, including parts that could be defective, wear out, or break under stress. They were generally easily replaced if you had the spare parts due to the game vehicles¡¯ modular nature. Everything checked in the green as he waited for the launch signal. He looked at the main ship window while he waited.
Class Hull Name
Fighter Krius Osiris
Shields Armor Hull
1400 1000 600
Acceleration 80 m/s/s
Max Speed 900 m/s
Max Rotation 1.8 rads/sec
Weapons Effective Distance Fall Off Distance Max Damage
50 mm Projectile (2x) 800 m 1600 m 282
75 MW laser 600 m 2200 m 225
FtF Missiles (2x) 25000 m 25000 m 2250
Combat Drones
45 MW laser drone (3x) 200 m 600 m 115
¡°Okay, everyone, each squad is going to form three drills,¡± Will said over the radio. ¡°Attack targets together, and watch each other¡¯s backs. We are launching at the edge of an asteroid field and those in this game are pretty dense, so keep your eyes out for rocks as well as ships.¡± The three other squad commanders each acknowledged Will¡¯s orders. A moment later Will¡¯s voice came again over Cam¡¯s private channel. ¡°I don¡¯t need to remind you about drill formation do I?¡± he asked. ¡°Of course not,¡± Cam laughed. ¡°I still flew when you were gone. I assume I¡¯m being a wingman to someone.¡± ¡°Correct,¡± said Will. Cam heard the click of someone else entering the channel. ¡°Tophet, this is Cam Calvera. He¡¯s new to Void but he was a star pilot in New Space when I played with him. I know I¡¯m giving you babysitting duty, but he¡¯s a quick learner. Just give him time to ease into it, and try to get him on as many kills as you can.¡± ¡°Sir, I will,¡± came Tophet¡¯s voice. Cam was surprised it was female. There had been few female combat pilots in New Space and from what he had read the same was true in The Celestial Void. Many females played the game, but they seemed to fit more into logistic or social roles than combat ones. ¡°Alright, finish prepping. We¡¯re moving in thirty seconds. Two hostiles have already landed on grid. We want to be out before many more follow.¡± Will left the connection. ¡°So Tophet, any tips for my first combat in Void?¡± ¡°If you were half as good in New Space as Commander Quinest claims, you¡¯ll be alright. You aren¡¯t some hot shot pilot that will go off and abandon the wing are you?¡± ¡°I know the value of formations,¡± Cam answered with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve been the wingman though, but I know my job.¡± ¡°Good,¡± she said. He could hear a bit of relief in her voice. He wondered what Will had said about him to her. ¡°Actual flying is a bit different in Void. Far more intuitive in my opinion. Have you done I-Flight?¡± ¡°I-Flight?¡± Cam asked confused. ¡°Oh you¡¯re going to enjoy it. I hope you do learn fast.¡± She gave a good chuckle. Before Cam could ask what she meant the launch warning sounded. Five seconds later the ships were accelerated out through the launch tubes and out into the space beyond. Chapter Three The force pushed Cam back into the seat. The launch tube¡¯s lights flashed in unknown patterns as he passed through. Before he knew it it was done and he was in outer space. He was the rightmost of half a dozen fighters flying together in the same direction. Two more sets of six were right behind them making up the first squadron. His radar showed that the other two squadrons were launching as well. He grabbed the flystick and did a few small experimental movements, making sure to give the other fighters plenty of room. It handled exactly like he thought it would. More like an aircraft than a spacecraft. ¡°That¡¯s good, flyboy,¡± Tophet said. ¡°Let¡¯s activate your I-Flight. We have a few seconds before we¡¯re on the field. This might sound strange, but picture yourself as the ship. Like it¡¯s an extension of your body.¡± ¡°Me as the ship?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Like my arms are wings or something?¡± ¡°Not exactly. Like your consciousness inhabits the ship, not your body,¡± she said. ¡°Look, just relax, envision it, and push the big red button on the left side of the control stick.¡± Cam found the button. It was labeled ¡°Immersive Piloting.¡± The rest of the squad had started forming up, but the two Aluvius ships were on the far side of the battleship and so Cam had some time before any engagement. He tried to do what Tophet said. He relaxed, envisioned himself somehow as the ship and finally pushed the button. Immediately he felt the change. It was a strange feeling. His consciousness expanded, no longer bound by his body, but instead in grew into the entire ship and beyond into its extensive sensors. His vision became clearer, and encompassed all directions. He could sense things about the ship that his instruments had told him just moments ago. More than even his sensors had said. Every weapon he could feel and could activate with a thought. He again did some experimental movements of his ship, it handled even better now. Every motion was controlled by him, and every detail of motion could be known. His ship had a maximum safe acceleration of eighty meters per second squared, a soft cap of maximum speed of nine hundred meters per second. Just over eleven seconds to hit the soft cap from stationary, and from there his acceleration would decrease. A full circle at that speed and acceleration would have a radius of ten kilometers and take seventy seconds to finish. ¡°Let¡¯s bring it in Calvera,¡± Tophet said. ¡°We got work to do.¡± ¡°Acknowledged, Tophet,¡± he said. Or at least his voice said over the comm system. ¡°How does this I-Flight work? I mean how am I speaking to you? How am I flying with my thoughts?¡± ¡°You ask that when our real bodies are sitting in pods in some house somewhere on earth? How were you even existing in that in game body of yours? How were you moving it around? This is just a little different because it¡¯s not a human body, but you¡¯ve been controlling a body that isn¡¯t your real one since you¡¯ve been in game.¡± He nodded¡ªor did the mental equivalent of a nod at least. It made sense. This felt more foreign to him since the ship didn¡¯t have four limbs and a head, but he could sense the ship in its own way. It had its organs in its ship systems, its body in the fuselage, its blood the circuits, and so on. He was the brain, controlling it all. He maneuvered his ship behind Tophet¡¯s. It felt natural. The ship turned where he wanted it to all according to his thoughts. He even felt the motions; how the g-forces would feel on the ship. Once in formation he looked out at the space around him. He could see his allied ships with their shields, armor and hull integrity. He could pull up more specs on their ship loadout if he needed, but he wasn¡¯t too concerned about that at the moment. Each set of six ships formed up in what Will had called Drill formation. It was a three dimensional version of a classic aeronautic formation. Will took the lead, with his wingman slightly behind and to his left. The other two pairs of craft formed their own spokes with the lead craft ahead and the wingman slightly behind and to one side. It looked like a drill tip with three groves, hence the name. It was more designed for fighter on fighter combat, but it was a good default formation for most situations. The fighters¡¯ launch trajectory had been starward from the battleship, but Will had already came around and oriented them towards the enemy crafts. They were spaceward, or away from the central star of the system they were in. One of the two initial ships had been shot to pieces by the Engra but six more enemy ships had appeared in the meantime. Three were cruiser size and three destroyer size. Cam took a second to orient himself. There was no true up and down in space this far from a large celestial object, and generally the coordinate system a side used was largely up to that side. All you needed was a central point and orientation to set up a coordinate system. Looking at his telemetry it appeared that the standard Codiem Caelestis was using was the star as the central point, orientated on where and how the battleship jumped into the star system. From the star to the battleship was the zero longitude and what had been horizontal plane for the battleship when it arrived was zero latitude. It worked for small engagements in unestablished territory. In systems where Codiem Caelestis already had a presence, they would probably orient off of a specific planet or space station, but this worked for this engagement. ¡°Alright, pilots,¡± came Will¡¯s voice. ¡°We¡¯re going to do a pass on the destroyers. Approach is at six hundred meters a second and slow once you¡¯re under its guns. Slingshot back at max speed and form up again. Each squad has their target. Red has the leading destroyer. Blue and Gold, your targets are marked. Don¡¯t stick around if you¡¯re getting shot at, but lets bag a few before their fighters show up and things get harry.¡± A target marker showed up on one of the enemy destroyers. Their primary target. They were the perfect targets for squadrons. The Engra would have trouble hitting the destroyers at the distance they were maintaining and a full squad should have the firepower to take one out if they could get close enough. Each squad broke to a slightly different path, finding a good attack angle that would expose them the least as they approached their individual targets. Fighters were small compared to most but their advantage was they could maneuver fast and were tough to hit by larger ships. Even as they approached their target Cam saw more ships jumping in. The Engra had regenerated some of its shields without the battlecruiser pounding into her, but Cam wondered how long she could last. The jump here had been merely a pause in the battle. Cam had to trust that Will knew what he was doing when deciding to come here. A flash behind the Engra made Cam feel at least a little reassured. In the attempts to surround the Engra one of the Aluvius battlecruisers had not checked their surroundings. They jumped into the asteroid field and were immediately hit by several asteroids that got through its shields as it phased in. It was still partially functioning but had severe system damage from the impacts and wouldn¡¯t be firing on the Engra any time soon. Cam saw it all from his odd three hundred and sixty degree vision, even as he looked at the target ahead. He launched his drones as they approached and sent them ahead to start damaging the ship. Each one cost six Psi Power to activate and maintain. The drain again was minimal. He could only control two at a time because of his limited Psi Power but he had a third in his drone bay. They were the smallest ship combat drones, but they could move even faster than a fighter. They surged on ahead of the squad to engage the target destroyer. Cam felt his perspective shift as he launched the drones. His awareness became spread out over them as well. In I-Flight it honestly didn¡¯t feel as bad as it had been fighting in the corridors. Maybe because his consciousness already felt so different that adding more points of view it centered around wasn¡¯t too much of a stretch. ¡°Drones?¡± said Tophet. Cam could hear the disgust in her voice. ¡°Yeah, I put some of my starting points into them,¡± Cam answered matter-of-factly. He wasn¡¯t one to apologize for how he played his character. ¡°Might as well use what I got.¡± ¡°You better be half as good as Quinest said,¡± she muttered. ¡°Just don¡¯t focus so much on them that you forget about doing your job as a wingman. If I die out here I¡¯m going to come back and haunt you.¡± ¡°But you¡¯ll just respawn,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah, back at base away from the action. Just fly smart, flyboy.¡± They were closing in on the destroyer so Cam decided not to respond. He needed to focus on their approach. That was the most vulnerable time for the fighters. It was much easier to line up a shot against the small craft that were coming towards a ship than one flying across its broadside. Will had maneuvered them on a path that would keep their angular velocity high as they approached. They would come around the rear end, below the engines and start the strafing run around the far side. Destroyers were by no means large ships but they housed up to a couple dozen crew, much larger than a fighter. A large fighter was maybe ten meters long. A destroyer was only about fifty meters. Their attack run would be less going down the side of the destroyer and more orbiting real fast to avoid shots from its guns. Still, they had to be quick. The longer they stayed in one location the easier it was for the enemy to get a lucky shot. As they approached, the destroyer¡¯s guns fired and Cam sensed the other ships in his formation move to dodge the shot. He followed suit easily, with the fighter reacting to him almost before he could think the command. The guns were firing hardened shots, more shrapnel than slugs, designed to sit in the path of small craft and do damage as they barreled through it. His drones has reached their maximum firing range from the destroyer and he ordered them to open fire with the ship. Their shots only did minor damage to the shields, but Cam could see that they were doing something. It was strange splitting his consciousness like this. At the same time he saw his ship as the destroyer continued to fire shots at the fighter formation. Two more shots spread shrapnel in their path but Will was directing them through it with ease. They were almost in range when Will shouted an order.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Break!¡± he yelled over the comms. An alert flashed up at the same time. Cam reacted, but was too slow to come out unscathed. As he turned his craft, the last shot fired right where the squad would have passed through a moment later. He skirted the edge of the blast, hitting through a portion of the bullets spewed out on their path. He was bounced around with the impacts. Notifications of damage popped up on his vision and quickly faded. He felt a sting with each blow. ¡°That hurt,¡± he said over the channel to Tophet. Apparently he felt ship damage like pain in I-Flight. The pain faded a moment later, but the memory of it remained with him. It was worth the tradeoff to use I-Flight, but it was something to watch out for. Tophet didn¡¯t respond with words, but he felt an acknowledgement come back along with a gentle reminder that they were not out of the woods yet. Apparently they didn¡¯t need words to communicate ship to ship. Looking back at the last few shots Cam noticed what Will had seen. The first shots were designed to force the squad along a particular path, narrowing their predicted trajectory with each cycle of their weapons. That allowed the guns to fire the last shot where it knew Will¡¯s squad would be flying towards. It was better than trying to out guess where they would be in a few seconds. Will had spotted it just early enough to shout the order. It was a smart tactic against the small fighters. Force them into a tight space and then just light up the whole area with as much firepower as you could. They had made it but not unscathed. Cam¡¯s shields were down to half. Other ships also had glancing blows, but nothing made it through the fighter¡¯s shields. The shields would regenerate slowly, but he directed some of his ship¡¯s power to increase that rate. He hoped they would be back up to full before he took another shot like it. If he had flown straight through the fire his ship would have been filled with holes and torn to pieces for sure. It all only took him a few moments to process. It wasn¡¯t that time felt slowed as much as he had access to so much information that things that made sense just clicked. But he didn¡¯t have unlimited time to process everything. An alert showed up in his vision, indicating a location in space. It was odd to see overlayed on his surroundings, but then again he was flying as if his mind was part of the ship. The alert was marked as coming from Will as a rendezvous spot along with a trajectory to be on. A second alert came from Tophet with a suggested path to that point. He followed it as tight as he could, and soon the pilots were back in the drill formation ready to begin their run. They were under the destroyer¡¯s guns now and close enough that other enemy ships would be hesitant to take shots for fear of hitting their own. ¡°Let¡¯s burn this down,¡± Will said over the comms. ¡°Get the shields down and the other flights will finish it off.¡± Acknowledgements came from the squad. Cam wondered how many were players and how many were npcs to fill in the gaps. He doubted he would ever want an npc for a wingman. The other two flights were several seconds behind them. Flight one had drawn most of the fire, but the destroyer was bring its guns to bear on the third flight. The second one was already close enough to not be worth wasting the shots on. Will ordered them to flatten out their formation as they entered a tight orbit along the flank of the destroyer and they slowed down as much as they dared. They began the attack run. Cam felt a small shake along his ship as he ordered the projectile weapons to open fire. Their heavy slugs impacted into the shield, delivering kinetic energy that the shields had to counter. His laser fired and partially penetrated the shields, but was less effective against the armor of the larger ship. He adjusted the laser¡¯s wavelength to have it hit the shields and not pass through. It turned into a literal light show, as it blasted against the shields in many colors and also lighted up the shields with different colors of its own as it reacted to the lasers. There may be times for penetration weapons but the flight¡¯s mission was to take down the shields. The drones had been easy to control so far. He could see the pass from their perspective. They were orbiting the destroyer as close as they could, firing at its shields. They had taken down the shields just a percentage point or so before the squad had opened fire. Cam directed them to continue firing and meet the squad at the far side of the run. The projectiles were hitting the shields for two hundred ten damage each every three seconds, and the laser was hitting for one eighty five every two. He didn¡¯t fire his missiles. He only had two of them and they were designed for taking down other fighters. He couldn¡¯t tell how many hitpoints the destroyer shield had, but his Combat Perception allowed him to see the percentage it was at. The shields dropped fast. Ninety and eighty were gone in a blink of an eye. It dropped down to seventy, then sixty. As they orbited Will adjusted their path so that they would fly along an unpredictable trajectory. At fifty percent they reached the far side of their path around the destroyer and started accelerating again. Guns fired as other enemy ships found angles to take safe shots, but nothing came close to hitting the flight. As they continued their pass the Flight Two entered firing range and the shields dropped faster. Within a few seconds the shields were down and they started working on the armor. They angled the ships closer and dared to not accelerate for a few precious seconds. It would have them come out slower but allowed them to add some extra hurt to the destroyer¡¯s armor. Cam felt his projectile guns pound into the armor. His lasers hit too, doing less damage than they had been to the shields. The squad focused on several spots along the way. The armor was reactive--behaving more like tiny nanoplates than a solid sheet of armor--and could move to fill in gaps if given long enough time, however focused fire could pierce into the hull. Flight Two was firing at similar focus spots on the other side. A warning alarm blared while they were still in range of the destroyer. Cam saw missiles flaring out from all three destroyers. No five destroyers. More had jumped on the field. They had all fired simultaneously, launching over four dozen missiles in the sky. Some were coming from behind while others were aiming forward along their flight path. All were heading towards Red squadron¡¯s trajectory back to the Engra. Back to safety. ¡°Spread formation, keep your eyes out for anything,¡± Will said. ¡°Let¡¯s get as many of them to follow us so Flight Two and Three can finish the job.¡± Their run was all but finished anyways. Cam fired one last shot at the destroyer as he pulled back into the drill and then drifted to give Tophet some room. She in turn spread out from Will. Everyone started accelerating. Cam gave his drones an order and let them shoot off in two different directions. ¡°What¡¯s your max speed, Calvera?¡± Tophet asked, as he kept pace with her. ¡°Nine hundred soft cap.¡± ¡°Alright, stay two klicks back and keep the missiles off my tail for now. When I give the signal floor it and don¡¯t let up until I say or you¡¯re at the battleship.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡± The missiles behind them started acquiring their targets. Cam saw four of them lock onto him. They weren¡¯t the ones to worry about. Chances of them hitting were slim. They were there to box them in. Force them into a line towards the missiles in front. The front missiles had time to match speed and go in for the kill. The enemy fleet had determined to focus one squadron, even as it left the three destroyers to their fate. The first one was all but crippled and Gold and Blue squadrons had started their attacks on two of the other destroyers. He dropped back to two kilometers distance and let Tophet do her thing. She angled away from the other fighters in their flight. Will and the third lead pilot angled away from each other as well. This way they could get more of the missiles to target them. Six of the ones in front were locked onto Tophet. They were smart and had adjusted trajectories to cut her off no matter which way forward she went. For a few seconds she just kept her speed up and flew with what seemed random minor adjustments to her path. ¡°Target one down,¡± came a voice over his radio. Cam was too focused on following Tophet to follow up on it. When they were less than five seconds from an impact she finally angled away from the missiles. She flew up and then to her right, which took her to the outer edge of the cluster of missiles. The one closest had just accelerated in the wrong direction to catch her. Cam realized her random adjustments had been to find an opening. He wasn¡¯t sure if she knew what each maneuver would do to the missile AI or if she had truly been flying random to look for an opening, but it had worked. She flew past it, and fired her guns as it tried to adjust course to follow her. The missile exploded. Cam, who had been trying to follow as closely as possible had to swerve to avoid the explosion. He swerved again back towards Tophet to see the other five missiles on her tail. She would only have a few seconds before they caught her. He pulled up to create an angle for a safe shot and fired. The lead missile exploded, taking out another that had been too close. The other three flew around, but were back to Tophet¡¯s tail a moment later. Her guns swiveled to her rear and took out the next one. As he fired on another one, a proximity alert let him know that he had missiles of his own on his tail. He missed his shot as the missile itself started doing evasive maneuvers. ¡°Get out of here Flyboy! I got this.¡± she shouted. He immediately shot forward, not bothering to try the hero. He was the newbie pilot out here. Tophet also shot forward and outpaced him, flying far faster than his maximum speed. He angled slightly away from her so that they would have room to maneuver without running into each others missiles. She shot the next missile and he watched it explode. He didn¡¯t have time to track the last one because he focused his attention on the missiles behind him. There were three, but they were closing in fast. ¡°Target two down,¡± came a voice from Gold squad. Cam reached his maximum speed and felt his acceleration drop. He fired at the first one and missed, but kept his guns cycling. The missile was moving to avoid the shots, but it was slowing it down. A glancing hit on the missile took off its shields, but left no damage to any of its systems. He focused his laser on it, trying to burn away the plating at the tip. The laser tracked slightly better and two seconds later the missile exploded. He fired again at the next missile and realized it was the last round in the magazine of his projectile guns. They started the cycle to reload, but the lead missile would hit before the cycle would finish. He aimed his laser, hoping it would be enough. He adjusted the frequency to penetrate the shields as much as possible. The laser was still diminished going through the shields, burning slowly through the armor. Soon it was apparent it wouldn¡¯t work. The missile only had minimal armor, but it was still enough to to protect it until it hit Cam¡¯s fighter. He watched as the armor dropped too slowly, but he was unable to do anything more. At this range any maneuvers would let the missile catch up faster and put him deep into the explosion radius that much quicker. ¡°Target three down.¡± ¡°All pilots regroup at the Engra,¡± came Will¡¯s voice. It sounded strained. Suddenly a swath of fire came from above. A few shots hit his shields, but most hit the missile. His ship was already too close and the explosion peeled away his shields and took a small bite into his armor. His systems were all still fine, but a direct hit from the last missile would finish off his ship. It hurt for just a few seconds, like his top layer of skin was set on fire and then doused. ¡°Pedal to the metal, Cam!¡± Will said. Cam didn¡¯t need to be told that. Even with the pain he felt, he still was accelerating as fast as he could. They were getting close to the Engra, but the missile would hit before he could make it. He saw Will¡¯s fighter back off. ¡°You going to take another shot?¡± Cam asked. ¡°It¡¯s been avoiding too many of mine.¡± ¡°If I did you¡¯d get caught in the explosion.¡± ¡°Better than a direct hit!¡± ¡°Just trust me,¡± Will said. Cameron swallowed. Or whatever the mental equivalent of that was. His guns couldn¡¯t hit the missile this close. Trust. He didn¡¯t really have much choice. Chapter Four The next two seconds felt like an eternity. In the vastness of space both his fighter and the missile were pinpoints. Even the enemy destroyer sized ships could barely be seen this soon after flying away from them. Cam¡¯s only indication that they still existed were not his visual sensors, but his heads up display, showing where each ship was located. The Engra lay ahead, large enough to see at this distance, but still a speck in the cosmic distances. Cam¡¯s fighter had reached almost one and a half kilometers a second. Fast for a battlefield, but slow enough that it would take years to travel to the next planet in a any given star system. His acceleration was next to nothing but he was still technically speeding up. He could only watch as the missile came closer and closer and then...it just died off. ¡°Alright!¡± Will shouted. ¡°Form up! We got far too much company to be sitting around.¡± ¡°What the hell happened?¡± Cam asked, dropping his extra speed and bringing his ship around. He was thankful to be sure, but had trouble piecing the puzzle together. ¡°Missiles have a maximum flight range,¡± Will answered. ¡°They just putter out when they hit it. I figured the one chasing you had to be near it. It was the best shot.¡± ¡°Huh. You¡¯d think they¡¯d self destruct when they reached that,¡± Cam said, as he slid his ship into formation. ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining.¡± His shields were already regenerating, but slowly. It was only at five percent so far. His armor though he couldn¡¯t repair. With proper facilities it would be easy, but he didn¡¯t have the tools here in space. A lot had happened in the last minute or so. Cam¡¯s drones had tagged the other two destroyers in hopes that he could get some easy experience off of them and then returned. It had worked and he had three destroyer kills in his combat logs. The first one gave him far more experience than the ones he just tagged, but even then they were a significant amount of experience. He had missed the notifications during the flight away from the missiles, along with another host of notifications about skill gains.
Skill Up!
Evasive Maneuvers I
Max acceleration increase by 2%
Skill Up!
Shield Function I
Shield Recharge Rate increased by 2%
Skill Up!
Small Projectile Turrets I
Small Projectile turret damage increased by 2%
Skill Up!
Small Energy Turrets I
Small Energy turret damage increased by 2%
Level Up! (x8)
You are now Level 15
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Motion Tracking I
Moving target penalty reduced by 1%
Skill Up!
Small Ship Drones II
Small Ship Drone movement speed increased by 1%/Damage increased by 2%
Skill Up!
Drone Command I
Increase control over drones. 1% reduction to Psi Energy needed for drones.
Level Up! (x2)
You are now Level 17
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up! (x3)
You are now Level20
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Velocity Control
Max speed increased by 2%
And just like that he had almost tripled his level as well as gained a smattering of skills. Not bad all things considered. Level twenty one was still extremely low, but it wasn¡¯t bad for less than an hours work. He knew he had Will to thank. He suspected the average new pilot wouldn¡¯t be allowed anywhere near a battle like this. He glanced over his character stats at the same time. His fatigue was up to twenty percent. His health had regenerated to full thanks to the health pack. He had also gained some attributes. Apparently every few levels they gained a point or so. He had seventy points to spend so he dumped twenty more points into Endurance. He did not want fatigue to become a factor in the battle. He put ten points into Dexterity and another ten into Willpower. The drone skills looked to be based on mostly willpower, with a bit of intellect and Intuition mixed in. He¡¯d rather put a few points in willpower now, since using the ship drones had earned him six levels so far. He put five more in Intuition and held onto the rest to figure out skills he might want later. ¡°I got two levels from one destroyer and three from another,¡± he said out loud in his channel with Will. ¡°Both I just tagged with my drones.¡± ¡°The amount of experience depends on the player levels on those ships. Higher player levels means tougher kills so you get more,¡± Will answered. ¡°So what now?¡± Cam asked. Their flight was back in drill formation, along with most of the other pilots. Will took a moment to survey the situation. A lot had changed in their run from the missiles. There were now over two dozen enemy ships on the battlefield that were destroyer class or larger. The Engra was only surviving because it had nestled itself near a huge asteroid on the edge of the asteroid field that provided it cover. A few enemy wrecks lined the horizon where they had tried to come around, but the asteroid had no shields so the enemy ships had started blasting away at it. It would last maybe a couple minutes with what was being pounded into it. Nothing on the enemy size could match the Engra one on one, but the sheer number of ships would quickly overwhelm it once its cover was gone. Four of the enemy ships on the field were battlecruisers, plus the one that was stranded in the asteroid field. Those alone would bring the battleship down. It looked like they were in a losing battle. Even in such circumstances, the idea was to take as many enemies down with you. In games like The Celestial Void wars were fought to attrition. Making ships took time and resources. They could only get replaced so fast. If a pilot knew he was going down, his goal was to take out as many enemy resources as possible. Hopefully more than his ship was worth. Cam wasn¡¯t sure what the Engra was worth in a game like this, but battleships were among the largest spacecraft possible in Void. They¡¯d have to take down a lot of enemy ships to win the economic war. ¡°We hold back,¡± Will answered, addressing all three squadrons. ¡°Look for targets of opportunity. If we can get some easy xp for ourselves and Cam that¡¯s a plus, but right now we don¡¯t want to suffer more losses.¡± Between all three squadrons they had lost two fighters to the missiles. A few other ships were damaged like Cam¡¯s, but most took only surface damage. It was definitely worth the cost to take down the enemy ships. The destroyers had fired a salvo on each squadron. Blue suffered both of the losses as they were deeper into enemy engagement zone when the salvo directed at them was launched. ¡°What about the damaged Battlecruiser?¡± Tophet asked. Her ship looked unscathed. Apparently she had shot down the last missile without taking any damage. ¡°Easy pickings there.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take a swing at it,¡± Will answered almost immediately. ¡°One pass, if we can¡¯t break its shields we¡¯ll come back here. Trust me when I say we don¡¯t want to waste much time.¡± ¡°Sounds like a free lunch to me,¡± came a new voice. Cam¡¯s display indicated it was the leader of Gold squadron. ¡°And you¡¯re never one to give up a meal, even if it¡¯s virtual,¡± said a female voice. That one was the leader of Blue squadron. ¡°Hey, virtual food is tasty,¡± said Gold leader. ¡°Especially since you don¡¯t have to worry about putting on the pounds.¡± ¡°You sound like a teenage girl,¡± said Blue leader, which got a laugh from everywhere. The three squadrons turned to their new target while Will communicated their plan with the officers on the Engra. They again came in at an angle that kept their angular velocity high relative to the battlecruiser. This seemed like it would be much easier. No support ships dared jump in where it arrived at the asteroid field. The rest of the Aluvius fleet seemed to count the asteroid field as an effective barrier to prevent the Engra from leaving that way. The battlecruiser was written off as a loss already. All nine drills that made up the three squadrons flew in on separate trajectories. The battlecruiser would have little that would be able to track the small ships. It was another Ichen class battlecruiser. It was designed to hit large ships, not ones a fraction of its size. Its main weapon pointed down its nose. Still there was some risk. Some smaller weaponry could get a lucky shot, so it was best to not give them one big easy target to point it at. A few shots went off from some turrets, but they went wide against the fighters. The asteroids provided them some cover as they came in.. The drill leaders also kept their movements random enough that it was tough to predict their path and aim fast enough to catch them. Cam opened fire as soon as Will did, and the drill flattened out to allow every ship an angle to fire. Cam¡¯s first few shots did little damage. Will¡¯s skills were obviously better to let him hit at that range. Probably had far better equipment on his fighter as well. Cam¡¯s weapons were shooting well into their falloff range, which reduced their effectiveness. But only a few moments later they were at their full effectiveness. The fighters closed into optimal range by then. The shields started to drop, but slowly. It was obvious that the crew had diverted as much power as possible to their shields. Still the nine flights were slowly grinding it down. ¡°Keep orbit, spread out altitude and watch your fire,¡± Will commanded. Instead of slingshotting back to the Engra immediately, it looked like it was worth a few seconds to make sure the battlecruiser went down. Each flight orbited at its own distance from the battlecruiser--the altitude that Will had mentioned. Theoretically the orbits were large enough that no flights should run into each other but it was better safe than sorry. The lead pilot of each flight had to keep some randomness in their motion or else the battlecruiser¡¯s gunners would be able to predict where they would fly by. It took two full orbits before the shields went down. Cam did less damage per shot than against the destroyer. Either the larger ship had better natural weapon resists or there were better players onboard. He had no way to tell which it was. After the shields dropped it was quick work to eat through the armor and damage the hull. The last few shots were taken as they were leaving by the pilots who could hit from a larger distance. The explosion was magnificent to behold, and Cam was glad they had broken orbit before it happened. Shrapnel flew off in all directions fast enough that it could do damage. Cam wondered how long the game would track each piece. It the real world such debris could impact far away locations in the solar system, but that was a lot of processing power to use on every little piece of debris.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He checked out the new notifications as they flew back to the Engra. There were only two but one was nice and the other amazing.
Skill Up!
Impact targeting
Damage with all ship weapons increased by 2%
Level Up! (x15)
You are now Level 35
You have skill points to distribute
Again he jumped up in levels. He gained more in the one kill than he had for all three of the destroyers. He wondered how that worked. Will said something about the more damage he did the more experience he could earn. A battlecruiser was a huge ship, but it was already damaged before the squadrons hit it and Cam was just one of more than fifty pilots who had finished it off. How many levels would he have gained if he had killed something like that solo? Will was over level one thousand. How did the average pilot compare to that? He knew Will was always good at finding the best ways to get experience in these kinds of games. He was probably a level above the rest. In any case, level thirty five was a huge jump, but it was still just the start. He was torn between spending all the points now and waiting until later to research which skills were best to get. He had a hundred points to spend. It seemed like a ton at the moment, but he knew he had to think long term. He had upped some of his stats already. A hundred points might not be much, but the last thing he wanted was to find out he spent them unwisely. He decided to hold onto them for now. He was here to farm experience, not be the most effective pilot on the battlefield. Might as well save them until he can find the best use for them. As they were approaching the battleship Cam saw several flashes of light that indicated ships were jumping in. ¡°That¡¯s our cue folks. Timer is now running,¡± Will said. ¡°Stick with the Engra and defend against any enemy fighters. We¡¯ll also be trying to slow any enemy ships that advance too quickly.¡± The asteroid that the Engra was hiding behind was still there, but it had been torn apart on the far side. It looked ready to break apart at a sneeze. It was still large enough to provide ample cover, but even the side nearest the battleship had some pieces breaking apart. The ship had to watch out for anything too large or too fast that could hurt it. The flashes of light from the moment before were spread far enough that more than one must have an angle on the poor battleship. Cam hoped it would be able to pick them off fast enough, although with how many ships were out there he knew no one was getting out of here alive. And then he spotted what Will had known all along. ¡°Wait. Those are friendlies,¡± he said. That got a small chuckle from the other pilots. Apparently they had known about it too. ¡°Can¡¯t have a trap without some tempting bait,¡± Will answered. ¡°We jumped the Engra here because that fleet could make the jump here and assist. That¡¯s one of two reasons why I chose this location.¡± ¡°And the second?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Hey rookie, he can¡¯t give away all his secrets,¡± came a new masculine voice. The display said he was in Cam¡¯s drill. ¡°Watch it, Lant,¡± Will said. ¡°If we¡¯re not careful Calvara will pass all of us. He was being kind to give us all a year head start.¡± ¡°Drone Boy will pass us all?¡± Lant said laughing. ¡°Maybe if we all stop playing.¡± ¡°Two months,¡± said Will. ¡°Two months before he¡¯s considered elite with the rest of us or I¡¯ll buy you a officer class frigate.¡± That got everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°And if you win?¡± asked Lant. ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± Cam could hear the nervousness in Lant¡¯s voice. Officer class was probably the most expensive a ship could get. Lant knew Will was serious with the bet. ¡°If I¡¯m right, then you¡¯ll fly as Cam¡¯s wingman for three months.¡± ¡°Hey can the rest of us get on that deal?¡± said another voice. As they arrived back at the Engra several other voices clamored in agreement. Will had to impose order again. ¡°Check comms people,¡± he said simply. That got everyone quiet. ¡°This deal is for Lant. You can¡¯t all be Cam¡¯s wingman. Besides, I learned this next move from Cam himself.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Cam asked. ¡°What move?¡± ¡°The second reason we came here,¡± Will answered. Cam could tell he was enjoying the moment. A small wave a dread washed over Cam. Now that Will had mentioned it the scenario before him looked familiar. Different in circumstances, but similar in the layout. As if reading his mind, Will confirmed it. ¡°Remember Pantanda?¡± he asked. Cam groaned. In space trajectories began to appear for him and the rest of the squad. Will was organizing their next moves even while the conversation was ongoing. Everyone started moving in their assigned directions. Two of the enemy ships that had jumped in recently were carrier class ships. These two were smaller than the Engra, but each had released a complement of fighters and other small craft that would easily outmatch the Engra¡¯s three squads of fighters. Those ships were coming around the edge of the asteroid to engage the squadrons and maybe put the hurt on the Engra itself. The allied ships out there were not enough to engage the entire enemy fleet themselves but they were enough to force them to divide their attention, and far enough away to force them to make a choice. Either push towards the large asteroid they had been firing on or spread out into space hoping for a good catch. The first would group them up and maybe bag the Engra itself. The second would leave them vulnerable to the battleship¡¯s guns the moment it peeked out from behind the asteroid. The choice was simple and Cam could already see the enemy fleet moving towards the asteroid behind the line of their fighters and small craft. ¡°Pantanda was a defeat,¡± Cam said. ¡°Defeat doesn¡¯t mean failure,¡± Will countered. Cam sighed--or again whatever the mental equivalent of that was in I-Flight--at that, but he couldn¡¯t argue. The operation had been considered a success even if they lost every reason they had to stay at Pantanda. They had let the enemy take it afterwards in pyrrhic victory. The war had ended soon after when the enemy realized the extent to the losses it had taken and the cost it would take to continue its campaign. The scope of this fight was much smaller, but Cam could see the pieces moving in place. The squads formed up for the enemy¡¯s attack. The nine drills spread out along the defending edge of the asteroid. The enemy fighters were similarly organized. All the Codiem Caelestis pilots needed to do was to slow them down and take down who they could. But the enemy had more than just fighters in the formations. Each squad of enemy fighters had three corvette class ships and one frigate. Those were slower than the fighters, but had the firepower to more than hold their own against them. They were just the thing to counter fighter formations. However they had to watch out for the battleship. The Engra was moving away from the edge of the asteroid the enemy was coming around, but it still maintained line of sight. Corvettes and frigates would be hard for it to hit, but its guns could land a shot if they moved too slow or predictably. ¡°This is it,¡± Will said. ¡°Engage and hold. Our goal is to keep them on this side of the rock and not let them get too close to the Engra.¡± ¡°Self preservation?¡± asked Tophet, referring to how much or little risk they should take with their lives to accomplish the goal. ¡°High at the moment, but it¡¯ll drop.¡± That meant they had a few minutes before Will¡¯s plan came to fruition. It made sense as they needed the enemy fleet to move to the right spot for this to work. The enemy was upon them in moments. The flights engaged along a line to tie up the enemy¡¯s advance. Tophet and Cam pulled back slightly, while Will and the other pilots of their flight engaged the front line. Cam sent one drone ahead to try to tag any fighters Will might take down. He could control all three now that he added points to willpower. It provided him with enough Psi Power. Tophet and Cam were there to watch their backside. They didn¡¯t have to wait long for the first set to slip through. A flight of three got past the front line. Space was large, and even with an asteroid to use as cover to one side, it was easy for the enemy fighters to slip around. Tophet pushed forward before they could turn and engage Will¡¯s flight from both sides. This was not the time to hold back. Tophet launched one of her FtF missiles at the lead fighter. Immediately it pulled off to try to avoid it. The other two fighters tried to shoot the missile down. Tophet engaged those two, Cam following her. The missile missed the first fighter on its initial pass, but started coming back around. The fighter pulled back towards the front line, away from the missile. Tophet dived at the second fighter. Cam put his remaining two drones on it as well and opened fire. In the back of his mind he also controlled the third drone by Will. It was tougher since he was focused on two things at once. Before he had sent simple commands for them to do automatically. Here he was having to actively control the one near Will so that it would change targets at the right time and not get in Will¡¯s way. He was tempted to bring it back to avoid the distraction, but held off for the moment. It was successfully tagging kills for him. The second fighter swung wide in trying to follow Tophet¡¯s missile and shoot it down. That gave Cam and Tophet time to eat through its shields and armor before it could get away. A few more shots breached the hull and caused it to explode. It must be part of the programming of the game, Cam thought. They had not hit the reactor, but merely disabled the ship. It still blew up anyways in a spectacular fashion. There would still be items that could be salvaged in the wreckage, but it seemed the game liked its explosions. Cam laughed at the thought. After all if Will¡¯s plan was successful everyone would get to see plenty of explosions soon enough. They pursued the last ship, but it was close to the front line and they didn¡¯t want to overshoot. They broke its shields, but had to back off before they could pound through its armor. If they had followed it they would be well within the enemy lines before they could finish it off. Cam glanced at his overview as they pulled back into the support space again. Will had started a timer of sorts. It showed up as a moving engagement zone, which slowly was retreating closer to the Engra. They would have to give ground as the frigates closed in. There was no question of that. The idea was to give it up as slowly as possible. They still needed a few minutes for the enemy to move where they wanted them. That fleet was still approaching the asteroid. Anything destroyer sized or larger were sticking together in their approach. They would take a few minutes before they could get the angle to fire on the fighter lines and maybe a minute more before they would be able to fire on the Engra. This had turned into a spectacular firefight. Cam was enjoying it. Even in I-Flight he could feel the adrenaline flow through his veins. He still had some kind of connection to his body, he just wasn¡¯t limited by it as he piloted. A second wave of enemies pushed through the line. The corvettes engaged the front fighters, and the enemy fighters went above. The three dimensional battlefield was not limited by gravity here. The asteroid had almost one to worry about. It made it tough to hold a line. Tophet sped to engage the fighters that came over. ¡°Missiles free, Flyboy,¡± she said. ¡°Let¡¯s do some damage.¡± ¡°Roger. Let¡¯s do it!¡± Neither he nor Tophet fired immediately. They waited until the fighters closed towards them. There were six, all spreading out in pairs to try to get an advantage by exposing a flank. He locked and fired the first missile, and found a second target a second later and launched again. The two fighters swerved, trying to lose the missiles. Two things happened at once. First, every one of the six fighters launched an FtF missile of their own. He grinned. It was poor tactics. They were all coming from similar angles. The six missiles would be almost as easy to avoid as one. Secondly several red strips appeared in his view space indicating warnings for incoming friendly fire. The actual fire appeared just a couple moments later. A warning system, giving friendly craft just a second to try to get out of the way. Tophet fired one of her missiles as well. Cam wasn¡¯t sure how many she had in her arsenal, and he didn¡¯t have much time to worry about it. He had ended up slightly closer to the enemy than Tophet, and decided to take advantage of it. He made a small roll that put him between to all the missiles and Tophet for just a second. Hopefully long enough to get all of their attention. No point in both of them having to run. He saw six confirmed locks on him and dove down towards the asteroid. If he timed it right he would only have to run away for a few seconds. More flashes of friendly fire warnings came across his screen. He thought he knew where the fire was coming from and what they were shooting at. ¡°You¡¯re going the wrong way, Flyboy!¡± Tophet shouted. ¡°I got it!¡± he said. He knew his path looked odd. The asteroid would limit his movement in just a few seconds, and he was moving in a direction where the missiles would close in faster. He opened fire at the lead missile, but knew he couldn¡¯t kill all six before they reached him. He put that out of his mind, though. That was not his plan. Chapter Five Fortunately he was right about the friendly firing pattern. This far away from the intended target, the shots would spread out, but they would still be lethal for small craft and there would be plenty of pellets to hit something. On their own, the chances of them hitting anything were tiny, but the warnings were there to make sure even that never happened. The next fire warning came where Cam had expected, if a moment later than he thought. But he had to take it. He would be well away from the line of fire before the guns fired again. He juked his fighter, left and then right to line up the missiles and slow them down for that key moment. It let them get even closer but it wouldn¡¯t matter. Either this would work or one of the six would missiles would get to him before he could blow them up. His path took him the warning zone at close to max speed. The missiles followed him. He probably should have taken the easy route and flown away from the asteroid where he would have more space to outrun the missiles, but he always liked testing ideas out. He only did this because he figured it was going to work. He sure did not want to die out here and miss more of the action, but what was the point of playing a game if you did not take risks you couldn¡¯t otherwise? Where was the fun in that? The friendly shot was a projectile. A full salvo had been fired just a moment before from a destroyer that had gained line of sight on the frigates. The majority of the projectiles hit the frigate but plenty of the shot missed. They continued through space at speeds far beyond any fighter or missile. They did not have anything to slow them down in the space out here. Cam had flown through, timing the arrival of the buckshot with the missiles. It only had to destroy one. The missiles were moving together on their optimal path to catch Cam. It put most of them tight enough together that one explosion would damage the others. He could have done something similar if his fighter had some sort of chaff it could eject--assuming the missiles could be fooled by it--or he could have tried sacrificing a drone too and hoped that worked. He had chosen this option in the heat of the moment, but he belatedly realized he should have kept a drone with him as a backup plan. One was still forward with Will and he had left the other two with Tophet to get scores on some more kills. A moment after he passed through the danger zone he saw the explosion. It wasn¡¯t his shot so he couldn¡¯t see impact damage, but it was enough to take one of the missiles out. The explosion of the first took out three other missiles. He only had two left to deal with. The lead one had made it through, but his weapons had already taken the shields off of it. He used his laser to burn through the front armor and blow up its ordinance. The explosion scorched his shields, but they held solid. The last missile had been damaged by the explosion. It was at half shields, but more importantly, the impact forced it off course and gave Cam some precious distance on it. He made a wide circle, taking the time to line up a good shot on the missile. He was going too slow to outrun it and he only had a few shots between when it would be within his optimal range and when it would catch him, but he figured it would be plenty. He had a moment to see how Tophet was doing as the missile reapproached him. She had fallen back back due to the enemy numbers, but was still doing well against them. One of the enemy fighters was already a wreck and another one was going down as it foolishly pushed ahead of its friendlies while chasing her. His drones were with her, trying to do what little damage they could. He could sense that his third drone that had been with Will had blown up, but only after it scored damage on four kills for Cam, including one corvette. The last missile took two cycles of his guns to finish off, but the explosion didn¡¯t even touch his shields. With the missile down he headed back to Tophet. This was his first chance to watch her fight without him being distracted by pesky things like enemies, missiles, or other things that might destroy his fighter. The unlucky fighter who had been chasing her had realized his mistake, but too late. He tried to reverse direction, but she tailed him long enough to finish him off. It put her close to the other two craft but she pulled range before they could take down her shields. Her fighting was a thing of beauty, full of carefully thought out choices, both in her ship before battle and in her tactics on the battlefield. It was like she was dancing with the enemy. She knew her moves, and knew her enemies¡¯ moves seemingly before they did. Her weapons were slightly longer ranged than the standard enemy ships, and she abused the fact to its fullest. She kept the other ships where her weapons were in falloff, doing reduced damage, but where the enemy weapons barely did any damage at all. If they ran, she chased, if they approached, she orbited, making it difficult for their guns to track. When Cam came close enough to help, she had lost half of her shields, but had shaven almost all the shields off of the lead enemy. It would have gone down without his help but once he was there it was quick work to pound through the his little remaining shields and then armor to disable the craft. The last enemy realized he was deep behind enemy lines and in a two-on-one situation. He reversed direction, but all that did was allow Cam and Tophet to head towards the front lines while also securing the kill on his ship. The enemy ship exploded well before it was close to safety, so the two accelerated to top speed to get to Will and the front line faster. ¡°Can¡¯t believe you took all those missiles by yourself and flew towards the asteroid,¡± Tophet said after the last enemy was taken care of. ¡°Thought it was the fastest way to deal with them.¡± ¡°Me too. I just thought it would also end up being the fastest way to deal with your ship.¡± He chuckled. ¡°I suppose it looked like that. Got me back to you faster, but not sure you needed the help.¡± Tophet didn¡¯t have time to respond as Will¡¯s voice came over the comms. ¡°Tophet, Calvara, hurry your butts over here! We¡¯re still in a firefight.¡± ¡°We¡¯re seconds out, hold on!¡± Tophet said as they flew in. The front line had changed drastically in the last few minutes. Five friendly destroyers had peaked over what the coordinates called the north end of the asteroid. They were moving in to help the defense, taking shots along their approach, but the enemy still had superior numbers. Destroyers were the smallest ships with jump drives and therefore the fastest that could move to help the battle lines. Fighters, corvettes, and frigates were too small to have jump drives, and relied on carriers or battleships to move them around. The destroyers had disabled or blown up most of the frigates, but the enemy corvettes had closed in on them. One friendly destroyer went down to the concentrated power of a dozen corvettes as Cam and Tophet arrived on the edge of the battle. The enemy¡¯s triumph was short lived, however, as they slowed down to line up the last few shots for maximum damage. The remaining destroyers spread their fire to take down as many of the corvettes as fast as they could. They were able to pick several off as the enemy tried to pick up speed again. ¡°Form up for defense on the destroyers,¡± Will said. ¡°We¡¯re to give the corvettes a tempting target if it means diverting their attention away from the friendlies.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t take on the corvettes and the fighters both,¡± said Lant into the comms. ¡°We¡¯re getting low on time. We¡¯re stalling, even if it means sacrificing ourselves.¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± From what Cam could tell the battlefield was unfolding better than he had expected. But it would really depend on the next few minutes. The larger enemy craft were slower than he expected as they approached the asteroid, but the friendly fleet was herding them in without taking many losses. This was the time to press and force the enemy¡¯s hand. The entire rest of the wing were already with the friendly destroyers, arranging themselves into a defensive formation. It looked like about fifteen Caelestis fighters had gone down, over a quarter of the wing, but the enemy had faced far larger losses. Cam heard Will click him over to a private channel as he arrived to the wing. ¡°Cam, can you look over this and see if there¡¯s anything you think I should change?¡± Information showed up on Cam¡¯s view. An overlay on actual space of Will¡¯s plans over the next few minutes, laid out in the space over where they were supposed to happen. Enemy fighters came in while Cam was looking over the data, looking for a quick kill. They were disorganized, and uncoordinated with the corvettes. He followed Tophet, keeping half an eye out for fighters trying to blind side them, but his attention was on the plans. Twice he almost lost a drone when it started to take damage, only saving it because of the shock of pain he felt as it was hit. The plans seemed solid. They were more straightforward than even at Pantanda, since there were no facilities here they had to protect. Everything was going well, except the front line of the small enemy ships was pushing too far in too fast. It was opening too much ground for the larger ships to push in after. They needed to stall. In a moment where the squad was pulling back and had no enemies on their tail, Cam finished a few suggestions to the plan and sent them back to Will. The biggest one being how to slow down the front line of the enemy. ¡°That¡¯s all I can think of,¡± Cam said. ¡°You¡¯re right about Aluvius being too spread out,¡± Will said a moment later. ¡°Let¡¯s see if we can force them closer together.¡± Will clicked back over to the general channel. ¡°Check comms everyone. We¡¯re going to push for this point here,¡± he said as a location appeared. It was near where the wing had first formed its defensive line, just a little farther back. The location must have been sent to the entire fleet as even the Engra reversed its engines to not drift farther away. ¡°That will be our hill to die on, so let¡¯s get to it.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. A chorus of acknowledgements came across the comms. ¡°It¡¯s a good day to die anyways,¡± said the Blue squadron leader. ¡°Let¡¯s do it,¡± said several voices in unison as if it was some sort of ritual. No one else spoke as Will gave out the assignments. The fighters formed up with the destroyers, each getting ten fighters as an escort. The two ship sizes synergized well against the corvettes. Corvettes were great for killing both destroyers and fighters, but only separately. To not get hit by the destroyers they had to keep moving, and to hit the fighters they had to slow down to line up the shot. The destroyers provided the solid anchor for the fighters, allowing them to push out against the corvettes and have a safe place to return. Any corvette foolish enough to chase the fighters as they flew back or slow down to take a solid bead let the destroyers line up a shot. The corvettes were forced to keep moving and changing course, giving the fighters the room to dart in and out as needed. It was the enemy fighters that made the work difficult. The destroyers were all but useless against them, forcing the wing to defend against any groups of larger than five or six. They pushed forward as a group. The destroyers kept formation: tight enough to help each other, spread enough to not get in each other¡¯s way. The Aluvius fighters pressed in as soon as they started moving. This attack was far more organized than the earlier ones. Cam wondered if it was because the enemy knew their goal, or if it was just because they were pushing forward. The first attack from the fighters came in fast and hard, trying to cripple the lead destroyer that Cam and Tophet were helping defend.. Will wasn¡¯t going to be anywhere except where the action was the thickest, and that brought Cam and Tophet along too. They came in with more than twenty fighters, but fast like the Caelestis squads had done against the enemy at the start of battle. ¡°Missiles free at ten klicks,¡± Will said. Just a few moments later a salvo of missiles launched at the enemy craft. Cam just wished he had one to launch with them. The enemy was barreling in at almost a kilometer a second. By the time the missiles locked, the targeted ships had only a few seconds to react and get away. Only about half found their target, but the confusion helped more than the thinning of ships. Will shot forward to engage, and Tophet along with him. Cam followed Tophet, although with such a brawl as this, he had to stay back and let her do most of the work. He just added his damage in where he could. Other similar sized groups engaged the other three destroyers just a few seconds after. They would have had a better chance focusing on fewer targets. The fighters at each were enough of a threat that the enemy had to split their attention. Soon Cam¡¯s group had chewed through enough fighters that the rest pulled back. Cam¡¯s shields had dropped to half, but he had managed to escape unscathed other than that. He saw how lucky they had been earlier in avoiding a destroyer¡¯s deadly shot. One of the friendly fighters had lead some enemy fighters on a chase, ending with them moving in an almost straight line. Cam¡¯s destroyer lined up a buckshot at the group and fired. No one spotted the trap like Will had, and six fighters disappeared in a flash. The Caelestis ships did suffer losses. Six fighters went down over the course of the push. Even once the enemy fighters were dealt with, giving the corvettes tempting enough targets meant there had to be some attrition on their end. Cam participated in several passes on corvettes as they moved, not all securing kills, but doing enough damage to the shields to force the targets away or risk getting blown up. Two lucky shots brought Cam¡¯s shields back down once and he had to pull back to safety while they charged up again. His armor was down to half. He left his drones with Tophet to keep tagging targets but other than that he was useless for three minutes. Eventually the destroyers secured some kills against the corvettes and the enemy to gave up their harassment, pulling back and waiting for the next chance to strike. The formation reached their goal with all four destroyers intact and ready. The Engra had a line on the defensive point, but it was only a matter of time before the enemy pushed in with such numbers that the defenders could not hold. The bulk of the Aluvius fleet was still waiting just around the edge of the asteroid, gathering together before pushing up over the edge. The allied fleet had done a great job of harassing them while they formed up, but now the enemy was ready to peek over the asteroid and go for the big prize: the Engra. A minute later a line of cruisers and destroyers pushed over the horizon, followed by the battlecruisers and the two carriers. It was an impressive formation of dozens of jump capable ships. It had enemies on both sides of it, but it was ready to blast the Engra out of existence and use the cover of the asteroid to deal with the rest. The killzone appeared on Cam¡¯s view of space, along with several timers, providing estimates for how long they needed to delay. The Engra had approached the kill zone, an act that would hasten its demise, but also allow it to rain down destruction for a precious few seconds and slow the enemy down. Most of the larger ships ignored the fighters and destroyers, and elected to fire at the true prize. The Engra¡¯s shields started dropping. It had avoided most of the fight once the friendly fleet had jumped in and its shields had mostly regenerated, but it was going down fast. Cam was certain the other pilots didn¡¯t have access to all of the tactical information Will was letting him see. Commanders were there to make the big decisions and let the other pilots do the fighting. Will had given Cam access because he trusted him and because he knew that Cam had done this type of maneuver before. A few of the smaller enemy ships started firing on the formation. The corvettes reengaged now that they had the larger ships behind them. It forced the destroyers to keep moving, and made them slowly give up ground. Too many ships were already near the close edge of the kill zone. They would be past it before the trap was ready. The killzone was so small. Cam wished it was just half a kilometer wider. It would trap far more enemy ships that way. A flight of ten corvettes engaged the lead destroyer. It couldn¡¯t out run them and couldn¡¯t stop to get a good shot. The fighters could help, but without pulling back, the destroyer would drop in seconds. Once the destroyer was down the fighters would have to scatter. In the distance he saw the long ranged enemy cruisers had pounded through the remaining Engra shields and started stripping through its armor. They didn¡¯t have enough time. The only thing Cam could think of was to fool the enemy into where the kill zone was at. ¡°Formation, scatter from two five two, zero three seven,¡± Cam shouted over the general channel. ¡°We need the fleet to move in five klicks on the double and the Engra to back up those five klicks as well.¡± ¡°Rookie, get o¡ª¡± ¡°Do it!¡± Will shouted, cutting Lant off. Cam¡¯s suggestions popped up as orders on the tactical display even as everyone started to react. Will had pushed the message out to the entire fleet. The destroyers broke and angled away from the asteroid from the point he had ordered, the escort fighters moving along side of them. The corvettes followed for a moment before hesitating, heading back to their fleet. Cam shot his drones towards the enemies, hoping to get one or two more easy kills. The Caelestis fleet started pushing forward. They would incur some losses, but it was having the effect Cam hoped for. The Aluvius fleet realized they were being herded right towards a point that the Caelestis fighters and destroyers had just scattered from. Immediately they pulled back and fought against the push. It took them a few precious seconds to regroup and turn direction. With the Engra pulling back they might have overwhelmed the Caelestis fleet. Except that before the bulk of the enemy could engage a warning in Cam¡¯s vision finally went off. Ironically if they had kept pushing forward most of their fleet would have survived. Turning around had put them into the true killzone. As the timer hit zero Cam saw William¡¯s plan unfold. The plan that, in more than one way now, Cam also had a share of responsibility. Erupting above the Aluvius fleet were a dozen nuclear warheads, strung out in two groups along the center of the killzone. In space, nuclear weapons had only a fraction of the range in an atmosphere. Ironically the air around a planet allowed a proper nuclear blast to convert most of its energy from electromagnetic waves into a full on blast wave, greatly magnifying its destructive power. In space the electromagnetic waves spread out in three dimensions and diminished without much damage. How precise the game had made nuclear blasts in space was about to be seen. The kill zone was larger than than conventional nukes should be able to achieve. One way to increase a blast range was creating a shaped charge, pushing most of the nuclear blast in one direction. Another way was to aim the blast at a large piece of matter that was large enough to absorb the high energy electromagnetic waves. Like an asteroid, for instance. The allied fleet pulled back as the nukes ignited. As explosions went off, the heart of the blast shot through parts of the Aluvius fleet and towards the asteroid. The downward explosion was narrow enough to miss most of the ships, but the ones it hit were instantly obliterated. Enough energy passed into the asteroid, breaking it apart and ejecting large debris upwards at high velocity. The main bulk of the asteroid shattered, albeit slowly. Large chunks moved in several directions, but the fast moving pieces were almost entirely heading at the gathered enemy. Allied ships near the edge received their fair share, and a couple blew up on the spot, but most were able to get away with merely their shields stripped off and moderate armor damage. With no chance to escape, the asteroid chunks tore through the rest of the enemy fleet, obliterating almost all the larger ships and most of the smaller ones as well. The few stragglers were no match for the Caelestis fleet, and would be picked off soon enough. Cam¡¯s group was far from the asteroid by the time the nuke hit the asteroid, but they still had to angle away from the center of the blast to avoid any fast moving debris. ¡°How long did you have this planned?¡± Cam asked Will over a private line. ¡°We seeded a few places like this. Nukes aren¡¯t that expensive, but it¡¯s tough to herd the enemy into their small kill range,¡± he answered. ¡°This spot was in jump range when we were found, so I decided it was a nice place to try it out. Perfect that you were here to witness it. I doubt they¡¯ll eagerly rush towards a large asteroid like this again.¡± From there it was just clean up duty. First they had to circle around the asteroid, to avoid most of the large debris. A few small rock showers hit them, but not enough to penetrate their shields. The Engra had to blow up one of the larger chunks that had headed towards it. The combined fire power of its guns and missiles was enough to spread fragments out. Most still headed towards the Engra and with its shields only having regenerated a tiny amount many blasted into its armor and hull. A splattering of injured enemy fighters, corvettes, and cruisers survived. Most of the survivors were the ones on the edge of the blast. They were cleaned up quickly, with only one more allied cruiser going down. It had been injured in the blast but had survived. The remaining Aluvius fleet jumped on it to do any last bit of destruction before they were overwhelmed. After the cleanup was finished, they docked up with the Engra. Turning off I-Flight felt like snapping back into reality. The exhaustion washed over him. The battle had only taken less than an hour, but it felt like he had been flying for a day. Once they approached the tubes, the Engra¡¯s auto docking system took over and brought his ship into the bay, where he was finally able to rest for a few moments. It was only a moment¡¯s respite, however. There was still more to do. This engagement had been exciting but it wasn¡¯t even the reason they were out here in the first place. Chapter Six Cam sat in his cockpit for a few seconds even after his ship came to rest on the bay floor. He felt tired enough to sleep for a day. The feeling slowly lessened, allowing him the energy get out of his ship. He was eager to look over his character and combat log, but more ships were landing and they needed to store his fighter. He climbed out of the fighter, his limbs aching slightly, but the soreness faded, leaving his movement slower than normal but him otherwise comfortable. His mind still felt tired though. There was no way the game could suppress that. His mental fatigue was his own. He saw the other fighter pilots gathering near the entrance of the hangar where there were no ships, and made his way over. ¡°--Five for me,¡± said one of the taller pilots, grinning. Cam recognized the voice as Lant from the comms earlier. He was everything you expected from a jock, big and muscular, with a neck as thick as his head. He stood assured of himself as he talked loudly to the group. ¡°Efftoo wasn¡¯t too much help today.¡± ¡°I heard that,¡± came a voice from the side. As Cam walked up he noticed that the pilots were split into two groups. Almost twenty pilots formed the main group where Lant and Will were, but another dozen stood off to the side. ¡°But do you care?¡± Lant shot back. The pilot who had spoken up just shrugged. Some of the other pilots in the group shuffled their feet, but all seemed passive about the comment. NPCs, Cam realized. Their behavior was so similar to each other that it must be true. He wondered if the AI controlling NPCs could care. ¡°What are we comparing?¡± he asked, as he entered the edge of the circle. A couple pilots moved to let him in. ¡°Solo kills during the fight,¡± Will said from the other edge of the circle. He gave a rebuking look to the pilots around him. ¡°It¡¯s the worst metric to judge, because we¡¯re supposed to be working together, not trying to pad our stats, but we still end up doing it after every battle.¡± ¡°Only the battles that devolve into dog fights at some point,¡± said another pilot. ¡°So like Quint said, every battle,¡± came the immediate response. Cam recognized that as Tophet¡¯s voice. Everyone gave a good chuckle. He finally had a chance to see his wingmate from the battle. She was shorter than he had expected, but looked from head to toe an aviator pilot. She wore a dark flight suit, with a Red Squadron patch on it. Her arms were folded, and she had the posture of someone who ready for anything, but especially ready to look disdainful at a moment¡¯s notice. Her blond hair was pulled back in an efficient ponytail. She had a pretty face, too, but since this was a game anyone could make their avatar look pretty. All she was missing was the traditional aviator sunglasses. A scar ran down one cheek. It was thin enough to not detract from her beauty, but it was interesting to Cam because no scars were permanent unless the player chose to keep one. She had either made her avatar with the scar or had kept it after some battle. ¡°What about you, rookie?¡± Lant asked. ¡°Any solo kills?¡± Cam chuckled. Everyone knew the answer, but he answered in good humor. The question was typical noobie hazing. Make a player see just how far down the totem pole they are. It didn¡¯t bother Cam. ¡°Me, solo kills?¡± he said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t blast through a wet napkin by myself yet.¡± That got a chuckle from some of the pilots. That was good. These were players who had worked together for months, if not in game years already with the time dilation. He was the odd man out here, only tolerated because a well liked officer of their guild vouched for him. He had to make it for himself in their eyes and not ride on Will¡¯s coattails. ¡°Anyone more than five?¡± he asked after a moment. No one spoke up. ¡°What about you Tophet? You were busy covering for me half the time.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Only four, Flyboy. Solo kills require a pilot get ninety-five percent damage on a ship and your drones were attacking every ship I targeted and dropped me off of that.¡± Cam frowned. ¡°Seems a bit high. I mean seventy or eighty percent seems enough to consider the pilot did most of the work. That way more pilots can tag the ship without worrying about the stat.¡± That got a few reactions, some sounding agreeable to it, others frowning as if to change their tradition was tantamount to anathema. Either way, Tophet didn¡¯t seem to mind that she lost out on some solo kills. She hadn¡¯t reacted one way or another to his suggestion, but looked like she was thinking about it. ¡°How many podies did we lose?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Seven, including Tammy,¡± said one of the pilots, he clearly looked upset about that fact. He was a scrawny fellow, having having his share of muscle but almost no fat. He gave Cam a scowl as if even bringing up the fact they lost players meant that Cam was responsible for the losses. ¡°It¡¯s okay Scott,¡± Will said. ¡°She¡¯s back at base now, enjoying some free time. Not that she can ever just sit around. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s training her skills up.¡± That clearly didn¡¯t placate Scott, who still had a scowl directed towards Cam. ¡°We lost seven,¡± Will said, turning to answer Cam. ¡°And sixteen NPC pilots. Almost half the wing. The fleet lost a bit more, but the explosion at the end was more than worth it.¡± He grinned from ear to ear. Everyone agreed on that point. Even Scott gave a grudging nod. Seeing an entire enemy fleet get vaporized was a sight to behold. ¡°Anyways, folks, we¡¯re still not done,¡± continued Will, looking around at every pilot. ¡°Get some rest, but we¡¯re still on alert. We¡¯re waiting here for every ship¡¯s jump drive to charge, but the Engra--and us--still have a mission to do. We¡¯re not heading home just yet. If you need to log, let me know, but we¡¯re expecting more action this tri-day.¡± Tri-day was another slang word from Celestial Void. The time dilation meant three days in game meant one in the real world, so the in game clocks only advance the date after three in-game days. That kept the in-game date system matched up with the real world one. After all it would get awkward real fast if the game showed March when in the real world it was August. Because of that a set of three in-game days was called a ¡®tri-day.¡¯ It was often used even if the three days don¡¯t match up with a single in game date. Generally when people logged off they would be resting or going to work, so typically at least one in game day would pass before they got back on. It was a strange reality shift to Cam. The virtual reality in New Space had not been nearly advanced as this. It had been more a screen pulled over your eyes with a comfortable place to sit than an immersive reality. There had been no way to have this kind of time dilation. But the new VR pods interfaced directly in the brain and could affect the rate at which it perceived the world around it. These people had lived more than a year in the last real world year. It was a type of fountain of youth. Not keeping a person young eternally, but slowing down the perceived aging process. No one seemed to need to log out soon. They had come for a mission and even with the fight still had time to spare. Those that had to log out sometime within the next tri-day gave Will the time they expected to leave. Many of the pilots filtered out. Cam wondered if he should leave himself, but Will motioned for him to stay. Soon it was Will, Lant, Tophet, and two others, a guy and a girl, standing there with Cam. The guy had gold markings on his uniform. He was slender, but tall, taller than any of the pilots. He had light, scraggly hair and an unsure look on his face, but for what Cam couldn¡¯t tell. The girl was dark haired and dark skinned. She was tall for a girl, taller than Tophet, but shorter than Cam or Will. ¡°So how did our newbie do today?¡± Will asked Tophet. ¡°He¡¯s cocky, takes stupid risks, and left me to do most of the work,¡± she said. ¡°Exactly what I expect from a friend of yours.¡± Will grinned and put a hand on Cam¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Hear that, Emma said you¡¯re going to fit right in,¡± he said. ¡°Emma,¡± Cam said, almost unsure. He had grown so used to her being Tophet in the battle, that it was strange to hear her first name. ¡°We¡¯re not so formal off the field, Drone Boy,¡± said Lant, folding his arms. ¡°If you are as good as Will said you are then maybe you¡¯ll stick around long enough to learn that.¡± Tophet looked over at Will and winked. ¡°I¡¯d almost say he was slow if not for his reactions out there.¡± ¡°He¡¯s certainly full of ideas,¡± Will said. ¡°I¡¯ve missed having him around so he can tell me why all my ideas won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Today¡¯s worked,¡± Cam said. ¡°Yes. The one that was a copy of one of your ideas,¡± he countered. ¡°Anyways, this is Pete Lant,¡± he continued, gesturing at the big man. ¡°And these are Malk Zelou and Kass Mector, Gold and Blue squad leaders.¡± They all said a hello to Cam and shook his hand, even Lant. His handshake, however, was crushing. Cam even saw himself lose a health point from the squeeze. He flexed his hand afterwards, as the pain faded. ¡°Knock it off, Lant,¡± said Kass. ¡°No one cares that your avatar¡¯s stronger than a newbie¡¯s.¡± ¡°Hey, just making him feel welcome,¡± he said with a grin. Cam sighed. ¡°Quick thinking getting the enemy to think the trap was farther forward than it was,¡± said Malk, changing the subject. ¡°We probably would have still won afterwards either way,¡± Cam said, shaking his head. ¡°But at a heavier cost,¡± Will countered. ¡°No, no. You don¡¯t need to say anything. All I¡¯m saying is that it was good to have your help back there. Tactically anyways. You were right about not being able to blast through a wet napkin.¡± Will grinned. Cam threw a playful punch at his arm. ¡°That almost hurt. Maybe you¡¯ll be able to move onto dry napkins soon,¡± Will said. Cam just rolled his eyes, knowing he still had a long ways to go if he planned on having even a small chance sparing with Will or anyone here. He¡¯d lose to Tophet, despite how much smaller she was than him. He doubted size would have that large an effect on game mechanics. ¡°So what¡¯s the score, Flyboy?¡± Tophet said. ¡°Was all my babysitting worth it?¡± ¡°You know, I haven¡¯t checked yet,¡± he said, pulling up his menu. ¡°Haven¡¯t checked yet?¡± she said. ¡°Why not?¡± Cam didn¡¯t answer her. He had opened his character screen and was too busy looking at it.
Name Guild Title Level
Cameron Calvera Codiem Caelestis None 117
Health Psi Energy Stamina Fatigue
126/127 34.52/37 74.34/76 43%
+0.113/min +0.042/sec +0.054/sec
Attributes
Strength 26 Skill Points Aailable 505
Agility 26
Constitution 26
Speed 26
Endurance 48
Dexterity 41
Intelligence 26
Willpower 37
Intuition 32
Affecting Statuses:
None
¡°Level one seventeen,¡± he finally blurted out. ¡°What? No way,¡± said Lant.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Will grinned. ¡°That¡¯s impressive. I expected maybe half that in the battle.¡± ¡°How¡¯d you manage to pull that off, Flyboy?¡± Tophet asked, genuinely sounding impressed. ¡°I had my drones tag anything they could right before the nukes went off, starting with both carriers. I must have got both.¡± ¡°Drones?¡± she said, her voice going to disgust. ¡°Drones got you fifty levels?¡± Everyone else seemed to echo that sentiment. Even Will seemed surprised. Cam nodded. ¡°More than that, but at least sixty.¡± He glanced through his combat notifications. There was a lot there he would have to go back and look at later. ¡°One carrier got me thirty-five levels, the other got me thirty.¡±
Skill Up!
Small Projectile Turrets II
Small Projectile turret damage increased by 2%
Level Up!
You are now Level 36
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up! (x2)
You are now Level 38
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level 39
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Drone Control I
Max Drone Range increased by 3%
Skill Up!
Evasive Maneuvers II
Max acceleration increase by 2%
Skill Up!
Combat Prediction I
Awareness on the battlefield increased by 1%
Level Up!
You are now Level 40
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Small Energy Turret II
Small Energy turret damage increased by 2%
Level Up!
You are now Level 41
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Velocity Control II
Max speed increased by 2%
Level Up! (x2)
You are now Level 43
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level 44
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level 45
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Impact Targeting II
Damage with all ship weapons increased by 2%
Skill Up!
Small Ship Drones III
Small Ship Drone movement speed increased by 1%/Damage increased by 2%; Willpower increased by 1
Level Up! (x2)
You are now Level 47
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Small Gunnery III
Small weapon fire rate increased by 2%; Dexterity increased by 1
Level Up! (x3)
You are now Level 50
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up! (x35)
You are now Level 85
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up! (x30)
You are now Level 115
You have skill points to distribute
Skill Up!
Drone Navigation I
Drone speed increased by 2%
Level Up!
You are now Level 116
You have skill points to distribute
Level Up!
You are now Level 117
You have skill points to distribute
His stats had gone up, and several skills as well. The two big level boosts near the end of the log had to be from the carriers. Several other levels were likely from his drone tagging ships that Cam or Tophet killed. He had over five hundred skill points to spend. He wasn¡¯t sure where to even start. ¡°You¡¯ll start seeing some diminishing returns on kills real soon,¡± Will said. ¡°A hundred levels in a day is more than awesome, but you¡¯re starting out. Higher levels get tougher, especially with experience depending on the difficulty of what you encounter. The game¡¯s been going on for a year. I don¡¯t know of anyone over level two thousand.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what I should spend my points on,¡± Cam admitted. ¡°I¡¯m not sure where I would fit in with the bigger picture in this game.¡± ¡°Remember higher skill levels get exponentially more expensive, too. I have a few suggestions, but you should bank most of them for now,¡± said Will. ¡°He¡¯s still low level. Does it matter for our mission?¡± Kass asked, squinting at Will as if that would give her some answers. Will gave a noncommittal shrug. ¡°Nothing that will gimp him later, no matter what he chooses to do.¡± That was an answer in and of itself and everyone knew it. Will wouldn¡¯t comment further about it, but did talk through some general advice about choosing skills. ¡°It¡¯s good to diversify. In this game you can¡¯t expect to be flying just one type of ship. When two percent fighter speed can get you a dozen or so skills in flying another ship, you might want to get those skills. Most of us have the skills to fly corvettes and frigates solo. Anything larger than that and you¡¯ll want more players on the same ship to work the different ship functions. We¡¯re all pilots, but we have some skills in all ship areas and have at least one other specialty. Theoretically you could drop the group of us off on any ship and we¡¯d be able to make it work.¡± Cam¡¯s mind started working through that. This wasn¡¯t just a random group thrown together for a dogfight. This was a strike force. Cam wondered what sort of mission Will had planned that needed a force like this. ¡°Are our losses going to affect that?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Not much,¡± Malk answered, giving a sideways look at Will. ¡°We still have all the skills, just less redundancy.¡± Cam nodded, but filed it away for further thought. He was definitely curious as to what Will had planned. The other pilots seemed so too. Will had all but confirmed that he expected these skills to be used, even if the other pilots hadn¡¯t jumped on him for answers. Up until now, Cam had thought the Engra was trying to jump to some location where they could hit a target and then get out. This type of planning by Will suggested something far more intricate than that. ¡°Come on, lets get some grub,¡± said Will. He paused a moment as everyone felt the Engra make a jump. This jump was much smoother, as it wasn¡¯t being done in combat situations. All Cam felt was a small lurch sideways before the world righted itself. After another moment Will continued. ¡°With luck we¡¯ll have some time before we see more action.¡± Everyone filtered out to the mess hall, eager for some food and exciting stories from other pilots in the battle. * * * ¡°--Then he flew down towards the asteroid, and I thought my babysitting job was over.¡± Cam walked up to the table with his tray of food and sat down. Tophet was talking. ¡°No such luck,¡± she continued, to a round of laughter. Most of the pilots were looking at him or Tophet. At him as if wondering how he was still alive, or at Tophet to encourage her to keep telling her story. ¡°So what happened?¡± one pilot asked after a few moments. Tophet seemed to be waiting for that. ¡°He flew right into friendly fire, and managed to get it to hit the missiles.¡± ¡°No way.¡± ¡°Seriously? How?¡± ¡°Tell them Cam,¡± Tophet said, looking down at him with an encouraging smile. ¡°I¡¯m just as curious.¡± Cam looked at the expectant faces. He had sit down near the end of the table, at the only available seat at the table. Most of the pilots were looking at him. It looked like Will and the two squadron leaders were missing but other than that it seemed all the pilots were there. There were some who looked at him with a scowl, including Scott, the one who had looked upset earlier. Cam¡¯s stomach was growling. Even in game players could get hungry. Something about it was important to keep the proper patterns flowing in the brain if players played for long stretches of time. He just wanted to eat, which would hopefully lower his fatigue on top of easing his hunger, but the pilots seemed more hungry to hear his tale. He only had a few minutes to eat. Will had wanted to talk to him, but knew Cam should get some food in him, even if it was virtual. ¡°Well, there¡¯s not much to it,¡± he started. ¡°I saw our destroyer¡¯s firing at the frigates. They had a predictable firing pattern. I flew towards where they¡¯d be firing next and timed it to fly through when the shot went off.¡± Many of the pilots gaped at that. Others were shaking their head as if he was lying to them. ¡°Wait, you figured out our destroyer¡¯s firing pattern mid combat and used it?¡± one asked. He had a narrow face and dark eyes. ¡°They¡¯re projectile turrets, how did you know the timing with their velocity?¡± Before Cam could say anything a voice came from down the table. ¡°He didn¡¯t,¡± Scott said. ¡°He got lucky.¡± ¡°Lucky he has friends in high places,¡± said the pilot sitting opposite of Scott. He held out a hand and got a high five from across the table. ¡°Hey now,¡± said Tophet. ¡°None of that. He¡¯s a newbie, not a noob.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t it bother you that you had to babysit him the entire fight?¡± Scott asked. ¡°Your regular wingman died or do you not care? Enjoyed the babysitting too much, maybe?¡± Tophet glared down the table at Scott. Cam knew well enough to keep his mouth shut for now. ¡°There are twenty six podies in the wing,¡± she started, cooly. ¡°We took one new pilot with us. He replaced a comp, not a podie. If you¡¯re looking to blame someone maybe we¡¯re not adaptive as we should be.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s Tammy¡¯s and Eric¡¯s fault they died?¡± Tophet shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s all of our faults. This was a surprise for everyone. Don¡¯t blame the guy who convinced the enemy to fall back into the blast zone just because he¡¯s new.¡± Scott¡¯s lip twisted up in a snarl. He looked ready to bite someone¡¯s head off, but instead he stood up, took his tray, and walked to the door. ¡°You always defend Will¡¯s decisions. Even the bad ones,¡± he said as he walked out. Three other pilots followed him. Everyone remaining at the table was silent as they left. Cam tried to wait patiently but he was hungry enough that he started eating as soon as Scott was out of the room. For all this being a virtual world, the food was pretty bland. It definitely felt like military rations delivered in the field. He had two kinds of mush on his plate to choose from, green bland and blue blander. ¡°What¡¯s with him?¡± he asked between mouthfuls. It seemed no one wanted to speak up. Cam kept eating. He felt slightly self conscious, but once he took a bite he realized how hungry he felt. Eventually Tophet spoke up. ¡°Eh, he¡¯ll get over it. He and Tammy are together. They live far apart in real life, so the game is often all the time they have together. But also his best friend got passed up for the wing last month. You getting a free ride in probably doesn¡¯t sit well with him.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Cam said, pausing for a moment with his spoon between his plate and his mouth. It made sense. Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t do anything about it right now. Scott had already made up his mind about him. All he could do was prove his worth, but that would take time. There was silence. Cam decided to keep eating. The other pilots slowly went back to their food too. Eventually one of the pilots spoke up. It was the same one who had asked about the projectile firing before. ¡°So how did you know the timing?¡± he asked. Cam shrugged, trying not to smile. He couldn¡¯t resist. ¡°I attempted a calculation of the de-ex-de-tee of the ammunition based on the two shots the weapon took before, and extrapolated a good likelihood of success, but with a large margin of error.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I got lucky,¡± he answered finally letting out a grin, and went back to eating. Half of the pilots stared at him trying to unravel what he had said, the other half rolled their eyes right then and there. Chapter Seven ¡°And definitely raise your attributes by fifty. Not now, but start on it at least.¡± ¡°By fifty or to fifty?¡± Cam asked, looking over at Will. ¡°By fifty--I mean in total, including what you¡¯ve already put in,¡± said Will, leaning back on his bed. They were in their quarters, which were small for two. Will might be a guild officer, but he technically was not an officer of the ship, and so humbly accepted the smaller quarters. He had only asked that Cam be allowed to bunk with him. ¡°You get a point in every stat every ten player levels, and skills will raise the stat it¡¯s based off of every three skill levels, but those don¡¯t count towards the price of raising stats. Your first fifty points of raising a stat costs one skill point, but it increases from there. Two points for each of the next fifty, four points for the next and so on.¡± ¡°Should I put points in even strength and agility?¡± ¡°Maybe not right now, but might as well eventually. They¡¯re cheap for the first fifty.¡± ¡°Sounds complicated,¡± Cam said. He was sitting on his bed as well, leaning forward, staring at the character and skill screens that only he could see. ¡°Like you enjoy the game less because its complicated.¡± Cam grinned. They both liked complex mechanics that they could work with. It was what made games like this so much fun. When there was only one optimal, obvious choice a game grew boring quickly. Choices were what made it interesting. It was what let you play your character the way you want. And speaking of choices... ¡°These are an odd set of skills you want me to take,¡± said Cam. ¡°This isn¡¯t going to be a short trip is it?¡± Will shook his head. ¡°All the pilots know that, though. I know I¡¯ve been tight lipped about the details. I¡¯ll explain more when we¡¯re farther in.¡± Cam gave Will a level look. Will shrugged, nonplussed. They sat there a few seconds before Cam sighed. ¡°I hate opsec,¡± he said. The last word came out almost as a curse. It was slang for operation security, and the first rule for it was no one was told more than they needed to know. It was common in New Space, where secrecy was the best tool for one guild to attack another. A small attack that the enemy did not hear about could work where a large attack the enemy did hear about would not. The same rules seemed to apply to Celestial Void. Only a few players would know all the details of a mission so that not even by chance they could get leaked. Cam hated it because it meant the best practices were to keep information from even those you trust. Even they could let something slip by accident. ¡°Me too,¡± said Will with a grin. ¡°How long do you expect it to take?¡± ¡°Honestly, not sure. Weeks. You good with that?¡± Cam smiled. It felt like old times. They had participated in many prolonged campaigns together. ¡°Yeah. When I got the pod I put in all the vacation days I¡¯ve been saving. I got six weeks real time. Not sure if they¡¯re happy with me now.¡± Cam was currently working IT. It was a nice job, but he was glad for a break. Maybe when the six weeks turned into eighteen weeks in-game, he¡¯d be ready to go back. For now, he was excited to explore the game world. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be glad to have you back. The ARG-3 pods can sustain, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s crazy,¡± Cam said, rubbing his neck. He suddenly felt a bit of vertigo. It felt odd thinking how immersive the game was. He knew everything in game was simulated, but it all felt so real. He and Will were really both in pods in separate parts of the country, but at the same time they were playing a game, looking at each other¡¯s avatars that looked as real as their real bodies. ¡°I could stay logged in for weeks before it¡¯ll force me to take a small break. Can yours do the same?¡± ¡°Not quite,¡± Will answered. ¡°I have a MX-4. it¡¯s fully able to sustain but I have to log out each week. The sustenance packs need to be changed about that often. I upgraded to it a few months ago.¡± ¡°How¡¯d you afford that? I thought you haven¡¯t been working for the last six months.¡± Will grinned. ¡°The game can be lucrative by itself. There are people who pay real world money for in game loot.¡± ¡°And Numean is fine with that?¡± ¡°Numean is making money hand over fist, and a good part of it is that,¡± Will laughed. ¡°They¡¯ve promised that they¡¯ll never create items for cash, so no people buying loot crates from the company, but they take a small cut of every official transaction between players. Some people try to use third party sites to get around that, but the fee is so small, and the risk is so large to use those sites that most just make transactions through Numean. They¡¯ll ban you if they find you using a third party site to sell for cash, and some sites have been known for being shady.¡± That was certainly news to Cam. He loved intricate in game economies, but he wasn¡¯t a fan of real money transactions. Intricate economies meant there was plenty to explore and--more importantly--exploit, but real money transactions meant people could always pay to win instead of earning it. ¡°So you¡¯ve sold enough to not have to work?¡± Cam said, hiding a frown. ¡°I admit, I¡¯ve questioned many times if I should do it or not, but it was easier than I thought it would be. I get a small stipend from the guild in credits, which I can convert to real world cash if I want, but most of what I¡¯ve sold has been either solo expeditions or small fleets where we agree beforehand to sell whatever we find.¡± ¡°Think the prices will keep up?¡± Something in Will¡¯s hesitation told Cam he was holding something back. Cam gave him a look, but Will shrugged it like before. ¡°Are we somehow doing a big transaction?¡± Cam asked. Will laughed. ¡°Almost the opposite,¡± he answered, before quieting down. He wouldn¡¯t say anything more even when Cam pressed. He and Will had been talking about how best Cam could upgrade his character. Will had suggested a whole slew of skills to get, only some of which were combat based. The combat ones were interesting, however. There were active abilities in the game, not just passive ones. One was Combat Focus, which increased the rate at which a player could think for a few moments. Something about the game increasing that person¡¯s personal time dilation for that period. It could allow a few extra moments of clarity in a hectic battle. Will had used it when Cam had shouted out the orders to fool the enemy into where the killzone was at. It gave him the time to follow what Cam was trying to do and to give out the orders to the fleet. He said he would only had countered Cam¡¯s orders if he knew the idea couldn¡¯t work. Another ability--simply called Modular Connection--allowed the use of components that could be installed on a ship, much like weapons. Some gave small passive bonuses, others larger bonuses but had to be activated and usually had large cooldowns or other limitations. They could increased max speed, give a boost to weapons or to defenses. It took almost thirty points of prerequisite skills--two levels each of Nanite Control, Hull Upgrades, and Ship Mechanics--which was why Will hadn¡¯t recommended it earlier. He had thought it better to get the implants first. Of the prerequisites, Nanite Control also let him use nanites that could repair parts of a ship that were damaged while in flight, including armor. Nanites were expensive though--at least compared to small fighters--so Will said to use them sparingly. Still if they were on a ship they¡¯d be lost if it exploded so no reason to hold back if he thought his ship might be destroyed. Hull Upgrades was mostly a buff to ship integrity, more hull hit points so tougher to kill. It was one of the only passive skills that had a five percent buff per level. The most he had seen up until now was three percent. It was also one of the only ones that couldn¡¯t be modified by a player stat. Ship Mechanics was worthless to Cam at the moment besides being the prerequisite for the ability he wanted. It gave a bonus to fixing ships in repair bays or docks. The Engra already had its share of engineers that could do that. Repairing ships might be useful on a prolonged mission, but the skill was just plus two percent repair rate per level. He filled in the skills and attributes he and Will had talked about and took a good look at his character screen.
Name Guild Title Level
Cameron Calvera Codiem Caelestis None 117
Health Psi Energy Stamina Fatigue
177/177 67/67 106/106 18%
+0.134/min +0.078/sec + 0.086/sec
Attributes
Strength 46 Skill Points Available: 125
Agility 46
Constitution 46
Speed 46
Endurance 66
Dexterity 67
Intelligence 66
Willpower 67
Intuition 66
Affecting Statuses:
None
The extra stat points from two of his skills hitting level three had made him almost mess up with putting the skill points in the way he wanted. He had decided to raise the bottom five attributes by a total of forty points, minus the ones he had thrown in them earlier. The top for attributes he raised only by twenty points. He like the symmetry of it. He knew he would be using almost all of those bottom attributes, so he kept the points in them all even. It was a hefty amount of skill points to use--over two hundred--but Cam could feel the difference. The change almost felt invasive. Not only did his body feel stronger and more solid, but his mind felt sharper. He was sure it had to be an illusion--after all, how could a game actually make you smarter?--but he felt it, nonetheless. He had spent more points than Will had wanted, but he felt it was a good investment. Combat Focus and Modular Connection might not directly raise his abilities for battle, but they added a ton of utility and options. The extra stats would also help him, both for piloting and other areas. But he had grabbed quite a few skills that had been non-pilot oriented. Some would help on smaller ships that still required a crew of more than one, but that was it. Still, he could not complain. In almost every game he enjoyed the direction Will had suggested for his skills. ¡°So I should hold on to these last hundred skill points,¡± he said out loud. Will had already said he should keep at least a small stockpile, but had not said why. ¡°Is that so I can pick some skill up on the field to help win an encounter?¡± ¡°Probably not,¡± Will laughed. ¡°I doubt even a five percent bonus would help turn the tide of battle. I mean it¡¯s a possibility, but it¡¯s more to be able to jump into something new on the fly. There is a lot of player ability involved in anything ship related but if I stuck you on weapons for a destroyer, I¡¯d want you to at least pick up the basic mid size weapon skills. Having a buffer of points lets you do that in a crunch.¡± ¡°And out here we¡¯re not going to have any cavalry to come riding over the hilltop,¡± Cam stated matter of factly. Will had not said it outloud, but Cam could reach that conclusion easily. ¡°Do the other pilots hoard skill points?¡± ¡°Many, but not all,¡± Will said. ¡°Codiem Caelestis might be a large guild, but you can¡¯t hold onto players by being a total military. Any guild that tries to dictate how their pilots must play will start bleeding their player base. My wing has many of our guild¡¯s top pilots, but there has to be some give. All I require is for them to have more than the basics of one skill set that we can use in prolonged missions or in larger ships. Even that was a fight with many of them. Everyone wants to be the crack pilot. No one wants to be the guy stuck in engineering.¡± ¡°How many points do you have saved up?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Five hundred and twelve,¡± said Will. Cam could only laugh. For a moment there he had been impressed with how far he had brought his character today--with help of course--but Will had more points saved up than Cam had spent on his character so far.. It put into perspective how far Cam still had to go. Another thought also struck him. ¡°So do the skills just stop mattering after a certain point?¡± he asked, leaning back against the wall behind his bed. Two percent for a skill level was not that much, but the game was balanced around it. He could easily see two percent stop mattering sooner than later. ¡°To a certain degree,¡± Will said, leaning forward. He had a certain air about him that Cam could read as a lesson coming. They both loved the intricacies of systems in games. It may frustrate some who did not have the patience to wade through it, but Will and Cam always explored those details and interactions, even if they sometimes floundered through them. ¡°Each skill has an attribute that modifies it,¡± Will began. ¡°Most of the flying ones are modified by Dexterity or Endurance, but some are modified by Intelligence, Willpower or Intuition. That attribute increases the base bonus. At about a hundred and fifty that two percent per level is up to three percent. Four hundred and fifty in an attribute will get you about a five percent bonus per level. Now if you have, say, six levels in most relevant skills that¡¯s thirty percent bonus to everything. Thirty percent to hit points, to defences, to weapon tracking, damage, speed. You name it. ¡°But those kinds of bonuses benefit each other. Weapon damage and weapon firing rate both increase your damage multiplicatively, so does tracking in most cases, and weapon range. So you¡¯re not doing a hundred and thirty percent the damage of a newbie pilot, you¡¯re doing two hundred percent, or even more. And you¡¯re also more than two hundred percent tougher to kill.¡± ¡°You could take on three or four new pilots at once,¡± Cam said, nodding. ¡°More if you¡¯re out maneuvering them.¡± ¡°Exactly. Now, that¡¯s an amazing advantage, but in larger fleets that can be mitigated. Even if your pilots are all two hundred percent tougher to kill, they will start dropping to focus fire. The side with the better skills want to spread out the battlefield, to prevent the enemy from being able to focus fire one or two of them at a time. The side with the worse skills better have superior numbers or else they¡¯re going to lose, baring a tactical miracle, but because of that they want to group up and get all of their pilots to be able to hit an enemy at once. It makes them slower, but they¡¯re more likely to get kills.¡± ¡°Aluvius seemed willing to spread out on the battlefield today,¡± Cam noted. ¡°Bad tactics on their part,¡± said Will. ¡°They saw a tempting target in the Engra and jumped to follow it without having a rally point. I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t expect us to ambush them in their own territory with a fleet jumping in. They grouped up as soon as they could, but they were in a bad spot and we could hold them off until they lined up under the bombs. Also grouping works best when you have ships that can all fire similar ranges. If you have too many different sizes the smaller ships constantly have to swing around to keep the nose of the formation--so to speak--towards a moving enemy.¡± Cam nodded. The tactics were familiar to him. What was always different in each game was what made an army superior or inferior, more mobile or less, as well as what tricks could each side pull out on the battlefield. The Aluvius fleet had tried to stay spread out when they thought they would have superior numbers. At that point the Engra had been the only large ship on the field, so there was little reason to stay too together. The fighters scored the lucky kills on three destroyers at the beginning of the fight, but overall spreading out would have helped the Aluvius fleet. The asteroid field on one side had also helped the Engra, both in protecting itself and in the eventual herding of the enemy to a concentrated point. ¡°Anyways, all that aside, at that point do you think five percent more in a couple skills would be worth it?¡± Will finished. ¡°Or would do you think being more flexible would help?¡± Cam took a moment to think about Will¡¯s point. Will was looking at him, waiting, but patiently. He wanted Cam to think and come up with his own idea, even if it took a couple minutes. It was an easy choice for Cam, even though he could see both sides of the argument. ¡°The extra five percent to some key skills would definitely be a bonus on the battlefield,¡± he stated. ¡°But if they¡¯re only five percent more and only in a couple skills, the advantage wouldn¡¯t be that big. In the long run, losing a battle like that, as long as you weren¡¯t defeating too soundly, would probably be worth the flexibility in the long run.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± said Will, moving his hands excitedly. He became animated in these kinds of discussion. ¡°Spending those five hundred points would give me an advantage on the field, but two pilots close to my level who saved those points could take me on and win. Five hoarders could even take on four spenders. Heck, four and an NPC pilot could probably take on four in that case.¡± ¡°But at my level, five hundred points can get me two levels in a dozen low level skills that complement each other, as well as up my stats.¡± ¡°Which you need to be competitive,¡± said Will, nodding. ¡°That and actual combat will raise those skills as well.¡± Cam thought about this. Growth in games was standard, but this seemed so exponential. ¡°How was I even effective out there today?¡± he asked. ¡°Honestly, you did worse than every pilot, including NPCs in every measurable piece of data we could collect on the field,¡± Will said, not holding back. Cam was fine. He would have been surprised if it had been otherwise. ¡°Worse in everything except ingenuity and survival that is. Emma knew she was mostly on her own out there, but you did shoot down missiles on her tail that would have forced her to fall back if not blown up her fighter. Out there it is as much about teamwork and player skill as in game combat skills. You might not have done tons of damage, but you didn¡¯t let anyone down.¡± Will was right, but Cam knew he still had a long ways to go to be effective in a one on one fight. Right now the best he could do was help the team out and hope his power grew enough to fit the role.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it They chatted a few minutes, just relaxing and catching up. This was the first time they had really had the chance to sit and talk without the threat of battle looming. When Cam had come aboard the ship just a day and a half ago Will had been busy handling the logistics and talking with the ship officers. Will had invited Cam along, but Cam could see people making a fuss at this nobody invited to high level conversations. People wouldn¡¯t make a fuss now, though. Will had made it clear to the high ups that Cam¡¯s heat of the moment thinking had saved a good number of ships in the battle. So when Will receive a message to see the captain he invited Cam along and this time Cam said yes. * * * A few minutes later they were standing at the bridge¡¯s blast door, being waved in by the guards. Neither guard growled at him, which was a remarkable improvement. One even moved his head in what could almost be a nod. They were still intimidating though. They could probably kill Cam in a heartbeat, even with his level gains today. Walking through the blast door, the bridge looked much calmer than before. The three high ranking officers were sitting in chairs now, behind a small row of desks. A coffee mug sat on each desk. The officers were still watching the holographic display in the middle, but more casually, chatting with each other and only occasionally giving an order. The display itself only showed the Engra, including percentages for each ship system as well as itemized repair lists for different sectors of the ship. As unprofessional as the desks looked in the middle of the militaristic surroundings, Cam couldn¡¯t blame them. This was a game after all. People played to have fun, and the stakes were low compared to anything in the real world. Death, after all, was merely a setback. Players fought to defend their own creations: space stations, planetary upgrades and other infrastructure that allowed guilds and factions to grow stronger, but the worst that happened was that it was destroyed and that guild lost power. Still plenty of reasons for players to fight, but even the worst mistake just meant more explosions to see in game. They were just your ships exploding, not the enemy¡¯s. Cam and Will walked down to the main floor of the bridge. The petty officers looked relaxed as well. Each was either waiting for more instructions or coordinating with their area of the ship for repairs. Enough of its armor had been lost during the battle that some shots made it through the hull. The internal damage seemed minimal, but still needed to be fixed. Repair bots were restoring as much of the armor as they could out in the field and spreading it to areas where it was needed. It had been less than an hour since the last Aluvius ship had been cleared off the grid and the Engra was looking ready to go into battle again.The Engra had jumped once since then. The rest of the Caelestis fleet had jumped as well, but in a different direction. They had helped in the battle, but this mission was for the Engra alone. The fight had already attracted too much attention. An entire fleet jumping through space would attract even more. ¡°Ah, if it isn¡¯t the men of the hour,¡± said a voice. Cam had been looking around the room and had missed the captain and the other two officers stand up and walk towards him and Will. ¡°Cameron, this is Captain Steve Drent, First Officer Bron Fissure and Second Officer Fav Kecher,¡± said Will by way of introduction. ¡°Lady and Gentlemen, this is Cameron Calvera.¡± Cam nodded in greeting. The introduction sounded too formal in his ears, especially with how young the officers looked. None looked over thirty. It wasn¡¯t surprising though. In game avatars could look like anything the players wanted them to be, and players were far more likely to make themselves look like a twenty something than a forty something, even if they were closer to the latter¡¯s age. The officers looked sharp in their uniforms. Everything was neat and precise. The captain and the first mate had the same military haircut. The second mate had her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. As relaxed as they had looked a moment ago in their chairs, they stood tall with the air of those who would be at home at a formal party, or at least know how to survive one. ¡°That was quite the call out there, Cameron,¡± Captain Drent said, reaching out to shake his hand. Cameron obliged and shook. The other two officers offered their hands in turn. Cam gave his best simel. Even in his days as an officer in a guild in New Space, he never liked too much formality and ceremony. He usually left that kind of politics to Will. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure about it myself when the call went out, but it turned out better than I could have imagined. I thought we were going to have far more clean up and casualties.¡± ¡°It was just something I saw in the heat of the moment,¡± Cam said. ¡°Hell of an observation,¡± said Second Officer Kecher. Her face showed she was genuinely impressed. Her hard face was exactly what you would expect in an officer, but there was a touch of admiration in her eyes. Even in a game--or especially in a game--it was tough for women to rise in the ranks in many guilds. The idea that games were for guys, and war was for guys played heavily to it. Her hard looks helped her fit in. Cam wondered how much of it was a mask or how much did she embrace. ¡°We had just given up holding the bulk of the enemy¡¯s smaller ships in the blast radius. Even most of the cruisers were moving out of its range before the carriers could enter in the kill zone.¡± ¡°To see them move back on their own accord...¡± Drent said shaking his head. He seemed lost in his own thoughts for a moment before looking back at Cam. ¡°It was a good call. I can¡¯t imagine a better one.¡± Everyone nodded. Cam never liked these situations. He was never that social to begin with. He never knew how to deal with praise. He was not naturally modest, but neither did he want to sound prideful. Fortunately Will spoke up before the moment grew awkward. ¡°How are repairs?¡± he asked. Captain Drent laughed. ¡°Good enough to get us where we need to go.¡± He waved them to one side of the bridge, away from the ears of the petty officers at the terminals. Will chuckled at the comment, and Cam frowned. It sounded like an inside joke of sorts and he could not help wonder what it was about. ¡°It¡¯ll be six months before we get this much action again,¡± grumbled Fissure. He shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. He had the proud look of a military officer ready to go down with the ship. Cam hid his smile at that. Respawning was part of the game. Going down with the ship was hardly noble. The equipment made greater sacrifices than any player. Still, he never laughed at how others chose to play. If Fissure got into the game that much Cam could not find fault. It was easy to see how someone would enjoy the game like that anyways with how real everything felt. ¡°We knew what we were getting into,¡± Drent said. ¡°Besides, I would say this has already been worth it. Dealt an economic win with the battle, gained a few levels, and had some fun.¡± The first officer grunted in agreement at that. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, your names are moved to the head of the queue,¡± said Will. ¡°Might take a bit to get another battleship, but you¡¯ll be back out there almost before your respawn fatigue wears off.¡± ¡°Wait, a suicide mission?¡± Cam asked. It was the only thing that made sense with Drent and Will¡¯s comments. Even as he spoke out loud, more thoughts clicked into place. A suicide mission and a long term, isolated deployment. ¡°Oh,¡± he said, putting a few pieces together. ¡°You hadn¡¯t told him?¡± Kecher asked with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s more fun this way,¡± Will answered, shaking his head. ¡°It¡¯s good to see his brain is still working after a year apart.¡± ¡°Hey, I was still playing, just not the same game as you,¡± Cam said, still thinking about what was most likely to come. ¡°You have to admit that New Space has been pretty dead this last year,¡± said Will. ¡°I mean, I logged on twice after Celestial Void started up and followed the news. There wasn¡¯t much going on.¡± Cam shrugged, but he had to admit that Will was right. The game had turned into a ghost town for the most part. The last year showed some action here and there but it was harder to find and became rarer as time passed. After a few months, by an unspoken rule, most guilds had moved away from the edges of the universe to be closer to each other. After six months many guilds guilds started partnering with other guilds and made arbitrary wars on each other just to keep some content going for their players. In the last month Cam could not remember a single large conflict or space battle. Many pilots still went out in small craft--that game¡¯s equivalent of fighters or corvettes--but even then you had to go search for fights. The thought saddened Cam. New Space had been his game for years. He had hardly played anything else in that time. Now it was almost empty. Celestial Void was in many ways its spiritual successor--there were no other VR space games of note out there--but it was definitely not the same. There was already a dozen ways in which space combat was different and he had only been playing for a couple days. How would ship design or logistics or resource mining or a million other things be different here? But truth be told, nostalgia always made the old look better than it was. If he was honest, Celestial Void out did everything from New Space. Cam was just too familiar with all the little nuances of the old game. It took work to adapt to the new. And it was not like he was starting from scratch. A lot crossed over between the two games. They were more alike than different. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to make content of our own over here now,¡± he said out loud. ¡°Seems like we¡¯re on the right track to do it.¡± The other four nodded at him. Fissure had a smile on his face, which surprised Cam with the man¡¯s grumbling attitude a minute ago. Content. It was the key word in player driven MMOs. Many games relied on developers or automated programs to create form content for players. Celestial Void did that to some extent, but it was background. The real story was performed by the players.Guilds had set up their kingdoms and strongholds among the stars in the last year. Many had been torn down already by others and replaced by something new. Cam had followed bits and pieces of it even when he was focused on New Space. Yes there had been NPC factions showing up from time to time to sow some chaos, but it had mostly been player versus player action that had shaped the game so far, and the developers seemed to be all for that. In many ways Cam felt late to the game. It may have only been a year in the real world, but that was three in the game. That had been plenty of time for guilds and players to establish themselves, and he had just arrived. The four¡¯s reactions concerned him. They had looked a little too eager at the thought of more content. ¡°You guys have been having plenty of content here, haven¡¯t you?¡± he asked. ¡°Of course, but there¡¯s content and there¡¯s content,¡± said Ketcher. ¡°The last few weeks have been full of action against Aluvius, but not everyone gets to participate in every fight. Before then, the last couple trimonths were more cold war than hot. Although I suppose we need to be careful what we wish for.¡± Her voice drifted off and she gave a knowing look. Everyone else seemed to know, but Cam was still out of the loop on current events in the game. ¡°What Fev¡¯s trying to say is that it hasn¡¯t gone as well as we hoped,¡± said Will. ¡°We¡¯ve won more battles than we¡¯ve lost, but Aluvius always seems to have more ships to throw at us. We¡¯re winning the battles but losing the attrition war.¡± Fissure scowled. Drent shook his head. Even Ketcher frowned, seeming in disapproval. Cam glanced at them, wondering if their reaction was over how blunt Will was, or that he was sharing it with Cam, a new player with no actual rank in Caelestis. For his part Cam shrugged it off. If Will was willing to talk, Cam would keep asking questions. He knew his friend would draw the line if Cam actually came to one. ¡°How long can you keep it up?¡± Cam asked. He took a quick glance around the bridge. It seemed that the petty officers at the terminals were too far away to hear them on this side of the bridge. ¡°We got some time, but overall we¡¯re losing more ground than we¡¯re winning,¡± said Will. ¡°We have a tentative ally in Flux Edge. They¡¯re large enough to help but border Aluvius on their far side, so there is little we could do to help other than coordinate. They¡¯ve suffered some attacks though, so even if we don¡¯t officially ally, we¡¯re fighting the same war. A few other small guilds might help out, at least just for some good fights if nothing else. Quan El, Lethoria, and Practice Alliance among them. The problem is that some of them could go either way. They don¡¯t hate or like either Aluvius or us. They just want a piece of the action.¡± ¡°Practice Alliance seems to be in our favor,¡± said Fissure. ¡°They put some corvettes and frigates at Anritora. Wasn¡¯t much, but every bit counts.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± nodded Will. ¡°Flux and them don¡¯t get along that well, if I remember correctly. Practice has been known for picking fights with whoever they think they can get away with it more than making solid alliances. They have a lot of members, but not a ton of resources, since the guild started just a few months ago based on an internet meme. They want content for their players without too much commitment.¡± ¡°Any other big players in the area?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Or are Caelestis and Aluvius the largest?¡± ¡°Flux Edge is comparable, but smaller,¡± Drent chimed in. ¡°Brutal Royals is another. The largest in the area, however is Thrusters At Full. I wouldn¡¯t want them to go to Aluvius¡¯ side. That would be a tough fight even if we could get all the other guilds in the area to join us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m more concerned they¡¯ll wait for us and Aluvius to weaken each other,¡± said Will, ¡°and then snatch up as much space as they think they can get away with.¡± The other officers nodded. Any apprehension about sharing this level of information with Cam it had evaporated in the last few minutes. He might be a newcomer, but Will was treating him highly, and after all, he had performed well in the battle out there. ¡°That sounds brutal,¡± said Cam. ¡°Politics are that cut-throat here?¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± said Ketcher, nodding her head. ¡°Mostly,¡± corrected Will. ¡°It¡¯s not so much honor as reputation, but most guilds will keep their word. That¡¯s not to say that they won¡¯t go back on it if they think it¡¯s to their advantage, but they weigh the long term consequences of people trusting them less to the short term potential gains.¡± ¡°But carving up Caelestis and Aluvius space might be one hell of a short term gain,¡± said Cam. Everyone agreed. It seemed like politics here were a level above New Space where most players mostly communicated to keep a friendly atmosphere, even when at war with each other. One war Cam had been part of had ended up with almost every faction involved. It was a bit like World War I. The friendly treaties everyone had backfired, pulling everyone into a war that had started between two small factions. Some factions even ended up having treaties on both sides, which made them have to just pick and chose a side. In the end the winning side built up momentum and stomped the losers but decided to give back most of the territory they had conquered so that those on the losing side would still have places to play and build in. If anything the ordeal had brought many groups closer, even to those on the opposite side of the war as them. Celestial Void looked to be shaping up into the opposite. Cam thought it strange, since a good chunk of New Space¡¯s player base had transferred over. Had New Space been a fluke? He had heard of many player driven MMOs of the past where they turned closer to the cutthroat Celestial Void than the helping New Space. What had happened to make New Space different? Could it be replicated? He had no idea how to do it. In fact, even in the last year a lot of the friendliness in New Space had broken down. Maybe it was bitterness at losing so many players, or maybe players thought their reputation would be worthless when the game ended so being friendly was less important than trying to have fun even at others¡¯ expense. They talked a few more minutes about galactic politics but soon conversation died down. ¡°Cam, I have a few things I would like to talk to Steve about,¡± said Will. ¡°Make sure you¡¯re ready for the next battle.¡± Cam nodded. He wondered what Will wanted to talk about that he decided not to say in front of him. Their conversation had already wandered on subjects most outsiders would have been shunned from. What was more secretive than that? He didn¡¯t mind though. Whatever it was about he trusted Will to let him know what he needed to know. He excused himself and made his way from the bridge. He walked back to the hangar, taking his time as he went. He had not explored much of the ship yet, and figured he would not have the chance again. The Engra had only been his home for a few days, but that covered most of his time in game so far. It saddened him that he wouldn¡¯t be able to walk its halls much longer. He mostly wandered down the route he and Will had taken earlier today, peeking down hallways and looking into any open doors. The bulkheads still bore marks from the firefight. Apparently they were not worth fixing at the moment with more pressing areas to repair. No enemy bodies were in sight, obviously, but he wondered if they had to be disposed of or if they disappeared on their own after a period of time. He was near the hangar when he spotted another pilot. He was standing at a terminal near a door, but he currently looked like he was not working on anything. He had dark hair and an average build. Cam walked up to say hi before realizing it was one of the NPC pilots. He almost continued walking but an awkward sense of embarrassment made him stop. ¡°Hi,¡± Cam said, smiling. ¡°I don¡¯t think I caught your name.¡± The NPC paused and blinked a moment, as if confused to be spoken to so directly. Cam frowned at its reaction. One of the NPC pilots had spoken up on his own when Lant had said something about NPC pilots. Had that been a rare thing? ¡°I am Effifteen,¡± he said. ¡°How can I be of service?¡± ¡°Effifteen, as in Fighter pilot fifteen?¡± Cam asked, curious. ¡°Do you guys not have names?¡± Again the NPC paused before responding. It looked as if it was scouring its memory. ¡°We can be given names, but generally are referred to by function,¡± he said. ¡°Okay, I suppose that makes sense to some degree,¡± Cam said, thinking. NPCs were another part of the game Cam knew little about. His only direct interaction with one was in the tutorial, and that mostly just running him through the basics of gameplay. He wondered what the range of responses for an NPC could be. How lifelike could they seem? He thought a moment about how to word his next question. ¡°Where were you in the squad formations today?¡± he asked, deciding to start simply. Effifteen answered immediately this time, but still looked somewhat confused. ¡°I was in Blue Wing, fifth flight,¡± he answered succinctly. ¡°And how did the flight perform today?¡± ¡°We had five NPC pilots and a player as head of our flight. Pilot Abe Slayer. He lead well,¡± the NPC responded. The voice sounded so clinical, but the face looked puzzled. ¡°We helped take down Blue Squadron¡¯s destroyer target and lost one pilot due to a destroyer missile. We then assisted the wing to take down the battlecruiser. When the enemy fighters arrived, we killed four before Slayer¡¯s ship blew up. Two of us died as we reformed, and me and last survivor, Efseventeen, separated into flight three and flight six, to fill out their losses. Flight three continued with the fight with only one more loss, while helping take down three corvettes and seven fighters.¡± Effifteen was clearly able to display emotions to at least a limited degree, it seemed. The puzzled face showed that. Cam doubted that was the default face of an NPC pilot. It would just be confusing. Cam wondered how far its range of emotions might be. He figured there wouldn¡¯t be any harm in pushing it a little. ¡°Sounds good,¡± he nodded. ¡°So do you think you performed well today?¡± There was another moment of pause--small but noticeable. Effifteen tilted his head as if processing the information. His motions were quick and jerky for that moment, but smoothed out once he started talking. Interesting. Was each NPC capped with how much server computing power it could use? It could process information or act lifelike, but had trouble doing both at once. ¡°According to combat logs, I was within one standard deviation of the average on most of the commonly used statistics. Shots fired was an exception, where I scored in the fourteenth percentile. However the spread between the fourteenth and fifteenth percentiles was only one hundred and twenty seven shots fired. Most of that was due to acting as a wingman for most of the battle as well as the time spent reforming mid combat. My accuracy was high enough that my damage was still in the thirty fifth percentile. Also, the player pilots I flew with did not made any complaints against my flying today.¡± As generic as the statement was Cam thought he heard a small bit of pride in Effifteen¡¯s voice. Being considered within the tolerances of average while flying among player pilots seemed to be considered a good feat for NPC pilots. Cam nodded. He had one last question which he hoped would shed light on how realistic the NPC personalities were. ¡°Well, good job. After all, who am I to say otherwise? I was told I was lower than most NPCs¡± he said. Then he sprung his question: ¡°Based on today, what will you do to improve for the next battle?¡± For a moment Cam had thought he had asked a question that would be unanswerable for the NPC. It was by no means a turing test, but the ability for a program to recognize the ability for improvement was a big step in artificial intelligence, even if that recognition is merely computer simulated. Effifteen took several seconds before he spoke up. ¡°My combat performances were in the ninetieth percentile or above for my rating and level. I am not sure how I can improve on that.¡± Cam was disappointed in the answer. The idea that Effifteen saw itself as unable to improve was not only a lack of lifelike thinking, but it was also a major drawback on NPC performance. Still the answer sparked another question at least. ¡°Your rating? What does that mean?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Each NPC is giving a rating, which is hidden until discovered by players. Once the rating is discovered, it allows the players who hire the NPCs to know the NPC¡¯s general performance expectancy.¡± Cam frowned. ¡°Can that rating be changed?¡± ¡°I...I am not sure,¡± said Ef-Fifteen after a moment¡¯s pause. The pause almost made Cam smile. Maybe it was Cam¡¯s imagination, but he thought Ef-Fifteen sounded hopeful. Did the NPC believe he could not improve, but the thought of it make him hope that he could? Why would the NPC not be sure of such a question anyways? Cam had thought it was cut and dry. Before Cam could ask a follow up question a blue light flooded the corridors. There were no blaring alarms, but the light pulsated, clearly indicating something was going on. He frowned, having no idea what it meant. He really needed to learn all the warning signals that were standard for ships. With a sigh, he wondered what he should do next. Chapter Eight ¡°What is that?¡± he asked. The lights danced along the bulkheads, areas growing bright and dim. He could not see the source of the light, but the the bright colors looked like it had to have a source somewhere. It seemed odd that there was no sound accompanying it. ¡°We¡¯re preparing for a jump into a known combat situation,¡± Effifteen informed him calmly. ¡°We should get to our ships. The jump will be in approximately thirty minutes.¡± ¡°And you know all that from the color blue?¡± Cam asked. The NPC didn¡¯t look to be in a rush and thirty minutes was plenty of time to get into his fighter. ¡°The shade changes closer to violet as we approach the jump time. You can approximate time remaining based on that. If it started out as violet, it would be an imminent jump--but as is, we have time to prepare.¡± Cam nodded. Effifteen started walking towards the hangars. Cam followed. Everyone was bound to be heading there. Well, the pilots at least. Other people walked the hallways too, moving either towards the hangars or their stations in the ship. Cam and Effifteen were close to the main hangar so it only took them a minute to arrive. No one seemed worried, but everyone moved with motions of familiar hurriedness. They all knew where to go and what to do. They knew they had the time they needed, but not much to spare. In the hangar, Effifteen headed towards the door on the immediate right which led to a briefing room that time and necessity had not let them use earlier. Will sat there already. Somehow he had arrived there first. Cam wasn¡¯t too surprised. He had taken the route he and Will had used earlier, but that apparently was not the fastest. Will had said the boarders had been in their way to get to the hangers, but that could have meant he was afraid of running into them along any route they took so he took the way that would have the best advantage in an encounter. That and he had wanted to get Cam all the experience he could so he would have definitely gone a bit out of the way to ensure they encountered the boarders. Effiteen headed towards the seats. Cam headed over to Will. The room was simply laid out. Five rows of seats were set in a stadium layout, so no one¡¯s view would get blocked by someone sitting in front of them. There were about fifteen seats per row. Plenty for the full wing even before the losses today. Few of the other pilots had arrived yet, but they started trickling in, taking seats with familiarity, chatting in groups like it was their pre-flight routine. Cam chatted with Will a few minutes before the room filled up. He eventually found an open chair by himself. A few seats in the row were taken but he had three or four open on either side of him. Even as the the pilots gathered, everything seemed fairly relaxed. This was not life and death after all. Some of them would most likely die out there, but that just meant they would respawn back at Caelestis¡¯ forward base. Cam looked around, trying to mirror their attitude, but he could not fully hide his anxiousness. He enjoyed these games too much to be completely casual towards them and he was too new to want to mess up now. Dying out there was not the end of the world, but then he would be stuck back at some home base doing basic training or searching for any scrap of excitement instead of being able to help Will with his plan and mission. As much as Will had played off the deaths of the pilots earlier, Cam could understand no one wanted to be forced back to base away from the action. No one wanted their friends to be either. The other pilots looked sure of themselves. Even if they were nervous, they had a bond with each other that came from flying together for so long. There was a comradery here. One sharp call today and better-than-decent flying would not let him just insert himself into their group as if he had flown with them for months--over a year actually, with the time dilation. They knew each other. He wondered how deeply their bond ran. Did the wingmen know when their wing leader would bank left or right to avoid a missile? Did they know what weapons each other favored? How likely each pilot of their wing would be to put himself in danger or how likely they would hold back? Cam would like to think so, even if it made it harder to graft himself into the group. It would make it all the better once he did. But he knew it would take time, no matter how good or sharp he flew. The NPCs and the players congregated to opposite areas of the room. The NPCs were mostly in the back, away from the door. The players sat closer to the door leading back to the hangar. The NPCs were talking, but quietly so Cam could not make out anything said. He wondered why were they even talking. It brought up even more questions. Were the conversations part of the game simulating them acting like players? Did the NPCs have to talk to communicate or could they do it through other means? Each one acted like its own entity instead of just another bot, stamped from a mold, but they also deferred to the players heavily as if their simulated personalities were just for show. He didn¡¯t have much time to think about it. More pilots filtered in. ¡°You¡¯re in my seat, Drone Boy.¡± He looked up to see Lant walk up right next to him, standing as close as he could without actually stepping on Cam¡¯s toes. Pete Lant, Cam reminded himself. The man seemed to be big on first names. Another pilot stood behind him. ¡°Didn¡¯t realize it had your name on it,¡± Cam said as he looked up. He wondered again how easy a high level like Pete Lant could manhandle his character. Even if he put no points in strength, the natural gain from leveling would put him much higher than Cam. Lant¡¯s large size could indicate he had a lot of points in strength already, although most pilots were decently muscled and size did not always indicate strength. ¡°I keep telling Will I need mine in nice large embroidered letters, but he always refuses.¡± For a moment Pete stood there, looking like he was ready to pummel Cam into the ground, but Cam found himself trying to hide a smile at this large man demanding embroidery on his seat. Demanding it from Will of all people. A moment later Pete broke into his own grin and slapped Cam on the shoulder. Again the pain dulled almost before it could register, but it had been a hard slap. Pete stepped over Cam, and took a seat two chairs down, his friend following, sitting on the far side so there was still an empty seat between the two and Cam. ¡°Whose seat is that?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Emma¡¯s,¡± he answered with a grin. ¡°Ouch. Sure you don¡¯t want to just fight me for yours?¡± ¡°Naw, this¡¯ll be more fun. It¡¯s a test.¡± Cam arched an eyebrow. Despite Pete¡¯s jock demeanor and rough attitude Cam was starting to like him. He seemed to be a guy who like to compete, to see who did best at everything, but at least he was talking civilly to Cam and not trying to act better than him. Before he had the chance to ask Pete a friendly question, Pete nodded to the door. Cam turned to see Emma walk in. She glanced straight at Pete and frowned before stalking over. ¡°You¡¯re in my seat, Lant,¡± came her voice, hard and cool. She was standing next to Cam, looking over at Pete. He was just getting himself mentally used to calling her by her first name. However here, she definitely looked the fighter pilot role, and it was tough to think of her as anything but Tophet. She also had a friend with her, another female pilot. Pete just grinned as he answered. ¡°Sure thing,¡± he said and then looked over at me. ¡°Move, Drone Boy.¡± ¡°Leave him alone, Lant,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re making me move from your seat, but I can¡¯t make him move from mine?¡± He tried to look innocent, but his grin looked like a wolf¡¯s. Emma stood there a moment, a look of deliberation on her face. For a brief second she looked ready to hit Pete, but after a moment rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine,¡± she huffed. She nudged Cam¡¯s leg with her knee. ¡°Just move over one,¡± she said. There was only one empty seat in either direction from Cam by now. There were plenty of other open seats, but apparently Emma wanted to at least sit near her normal spot. Rather than argue, Cam obliged, scooting next to Lant. Emma sat down next to him, her friend on the far side. Pete gave Cam a playful elbow and a knowing grin. Cam shook his head. He felt like he was missing something and again the thought of all the time these pilots had spent with each other washed over him. There was clearly not anything going on between Pete and Emma, or else she would have specified which way for Cam to move seats. Had there been something before? Maybe. Cam thought their personalities clashed far too much for anything like that, but maybe it had happened long ago. He didn¡¯t have long to muse over that as Will stepped forward and began speaking. ¡°Alright pilots,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s showtime. I¡¯ve got a lot to cover, and you¡¯re probably not going to like it all.¡± * * * Will was right that few pilots liked it. The very nature of the plan required it, but it went against their instincts. They were here to fight, after all. There was plenty of grumbling as they walked out of the briefing room, but grumbling was just their way of coping. No one actually spoke against Will¡¯s plan. They trusted that he wouldn¡¯t make them do it unless it was the best way he could think of. Everyone made their way to their fighters and began preflight checks. The fighters looked well spaced out compared to the launch earlier. They had lost more than twenty fighters and pilots, where the full wing had been less than sixy. The small ships sat in rows of six. Five full rows with one extra sitting behind by itself. Fortunately Cam was still Emma¡¯s wingman. He would have hated another change so soon. He was just starting to get a read on how she flew. Their drill was the only one who had no losses earlier but there was still a change to their formation, an addition. Thirty one pilots had survived, so with drills the size of six there was one extra. Ironically it was an NPC--Effifteen in fact--who joined them. Tophet would have two wingmen technically, although Effifteen was more there just to give him a place to fly rather than expect him to be a large factor in the success of the drill. Cam¡¯s fighter had been fully repaired and restocked. It had the two FtF missiles and its three drones replaced. Ammo compartments were also reloaded, although the amount of ammo he had used was minimal compared to what it had in it. That was another reason why drones were disliked, he had realized. Guns hardly ran out of ammo even in a long fight, but drones could be blown up. It didn¡¯t change his attitude towards them, though. They were an interesting form of combat, effectively spreading his awareness across more of the battlefield. It made concentrating on all of it harder, for sure, but he could see some large advantages to the idea. If he could have a ship that could hold more of them he could maybe find more uses for them. The hangar was quiet as Cam and the pilots strapped into their fighters. The hangar crew themselves were all but silent. Everyone knew what was going to happen, not just the pilots. Few liked it, even as they saw the reason. Or part of the reason. Will was still tight mouthed over some of the mission objectives, only telling the pilots what they needed to know now, for this battle. Yes, this was going to be a suicide mission and a long-term deployment. Which one it was depended on who you were talking to. Each guild member had their job and would do it. Cam settled in and started powering up his ship for the launch sequence. In the last couple hours the Engra had jumped once and was now ready to again. The alarm lights only showed up on certain walls in the hangar, but the color had definitely gone from a blue into a deeper violet. A timer in his ship showed only three minutes left before the combat jump would be executed. With the last jump, the Engra had moved farther into Aluvius territory. It had managed to avoid being detected only because most of the free Aluvius forces in the area had been destroyed in the last battle. Right now, there were certainly dozens of ships looking for it, moving in from the surrounding areas in their search. Fortunately it only had one more jump to its goal and it was about to take it. Cam took a deep breath as the timer ran down. His ship was ready to go. He felt nervous for a minute. He was enjoying himself in this game. It was a vast difference between this and New Space. He felt like he was here, not just looking at a screen or through someone else¡¯s eyes, but that this here was him. He flexed one of his hands, almost instinctively. It felt like it was his hand, not some simple avatar¡¯s, no matter how many small differences it had from his real hand. What would he give to stay here? He knew this world was simulated, but that part of his mind was in conflict with what he saw around him. It felt real. He had a month off in real life from his job, but he planned on spending every possible minute of it in here. What would it feel like going back? He would experience three months as a space pilot thanks to the time compression, traveling through an amazing world. And then he would have to go be a normal human again, with a normal job, coming here only a few hours each day, missing more than a day in game each time he went through his normal work day. He shook his head. It was easy to get lost here. He had few attachments in the real world; few friends, few commitments. His job was the biggest thing, and to be honest, that was mostly for money so he could go home and play games with his online friends. ¡°You okay over there?¡± came Emma¡¯s voice over the comms. She was in a private line just for them. He looked over at her fighter, which was next to him. She was nestled in her cockpit, looking over at him, a small flash of concern in her face. He must have been staring blankly forward for a minute in his thoughts. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good,¡± he answered, forcing a casual smile. He wondered what to make of this virtual universe. One that was felt as real as the real world, and much more exciting. But also one ruled by the whims of Numean, the company who made the game. ¡°You ever think about the game versus the real world? About staying in game as much as possible?¡± She laughed warmly. ¡°Philosophizing already are you? You¡¯re hardly the first to think through that. I think everyone who plays thinks about that at one point or another. If this world feels so real, then how real is it? Is it as real as we want it to be? Our senses are just neuron signals sent to our brain, and interpreted by brain signals. What is real after all?¡± ¡°So you have then?¡± ¡°We all have,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s been a while, but during the first few months there was some backlash when some players refused to exit the game. They were force exited by the developers, but I remember reading about two that went crazy trying to get back in. One even fought his own family, sending two to the hospital, trying to log back in his pod. He broke the console when it wouldn¡¯t let him log back in.¡± Cam remembered a news story about that. It was another sign for many about just how horrible video games were. Numean had suffered a huge backlash over it. They stood firm though, saying that they had the proper safeguards in to ensure the mental well being of their players, and that one or two edge cases should not ruin it for the entire player base. Cam had a few doubts about that, but nothing strong enough to not try Celestial Void. He wondered if Numean should have a maximum play time before players were forced to log out, but nothing like that was even mentioned in the news. Numean¡¯s safeguards were all very vague when talked about. There was something about government oversight which eventually approved of it, but no details came out.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Look, do yourself a favor,¡± Emma continued. ¡°Once we get a chance for a break, log out. Get some dinner, go for a walk, whatever, just spend some time outside of the game. I heard you have a month off. Take breaks. It takes time to adjust to how real this game feels, but the truth is that if you die in the real world you die. You die here, it¡¯s just a game. You¡¯re back to life a moment later. That¡¯s the difference.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± he said, nodding. ¡°I¡¯ll do that.¡± She nodded back from her cockpit. ¡°But stop the philosophy for now. Right now it¡¯s showtime. Game face, Flyboy.¡± He glanced at the timer. The last few seconds were ticking away. He took a deep breath and braced for the jump. * * * Less than a minute later he was flying in space. The jump landed them a thousand kilometers from their target, a supply station sitting in space, orbiting a small moon. The station was a hub for local fleets, but due to the fight that just happened and some counter-intelligence by Caelestis, few ships were in the local area. However, a thousand kilometers was too far for a reasonable engagement time (it would take the fighters almost fifteen minutes to burn to the station, and much longer for the Engra herself), so the Engra used its warp drives to quickly close the distance before launching the fighters. They ended up just over a hundred kilometers from the station, looking at it from above. It looked like a city laying on a circular disk. It stood relatively motionless in space. The moon¡¯s gravity was low enough that the station barely had to move to keep an orbit up and the artificial in game gravity meant that stations and ships did not rely on spinning to simulate it. Six defense platforms were placed spread out like the faces of a die around the station. The Engra already started firing at the closest one. For the first few minutes the fighters had nothing to do. They spread out to avoid any fire from the defense guns but otherwise stayed near the Engra and waited. They were escort duty. The station¡¯s shields were strong enough that they would barely scratch them. On one side the large gas planet, more than a hundred thousand kilometers away dominated the view. On the other side sat open space. The system¡¯s star lay near the edge of the moon¡¯s horizon, small enough to look at without discomfort at this distance, but still clearly the central star of this system. It was eerily quiet as Cam sat there waiting for something to do. The massive firepower of the Engra awed him as he watched. Streams of missiles burst out of launch bays and guns cycled, sending their rounds through the quiet of space to pound through the defenses. In the vastness of space even the Engra looked small, but she was a machine designed to bring forth destruction. The first defense platform fell before it could fire more than a few rounds. The second was turned to slag less than a minute later. Those were the closest two. Two more were in range and the last two were on the far side of the station. The Engra split its attack, firing its long range weapons at the platforms and its more powerful guns at the station¡¯s shields. By now the defenders were awake and scrambling against them. Fighters and other light craft began pouring out from the station¡¯s docking bays. Several moored ships were in the process of undocking. Most were fighting craft, who were undoubtedly here to help with the defense of the station in a fight. The Caelestis ships were heavily outnumbered. Even more than the last fight since it was only the fighters and the Engra. No allied fleet would jump in here, but enemy ships might. In order to take out the station they had to be quick. ¡°Engage, but fight defensively,¡± said Will. ¡°If the choice is between a kill and avoiding a risk, avoid the risk.¡± He had gone over the battle strategy in the briefing room, but it always helped to hear reminders on the battlefield before the action got intense. The drill formations spread out as much as they dared and accelerated to engage the enemy. About halfway to the station--before they were within range of the enemy--they slowed down and reversed course. The maneuver sent them back towards the Engra and let only the lead enemy fighters come within range for the first few seconds. Those fighters had been eager to meet them in battle, but were relying on the fact that the wing would not want to give up ground so easily, and so would be joined by their fellow fighters within moments. After all the point of moving towards the station would normally be to give the Engra buffer room to protect it. Cam brought his guns around on the closest ship. He had launched his drones during their burn and he sent those off towards fighters that were being targeted by other drills. The first enemy ship blew up in seconds under the concentrated firepower of the drill. The second one was able to slow down in time to avoid total destruction, but they had stripped off its shields and most of its armor before it left their range. Will fired a FtF missile at it as a parting gift. Unfortunately there were so many targets that the missile did not lock onto the right ship. Fortunately it locked on to another ship that was still rushing towards them. Will¡¯s wingman, a pilot named Micah Saphner whom Cam had only just been introduced to at the briefing, also fired a missile. This one locked onto the same fighter and reached it before the pilot could avoid it, blowing the ship up in a satisfactory explosion. As they continued their withdraw back to the Engra the drill picked off several other fighters, speeding up and slowing down to allow the enemy to make mistakes. These pilots did not seem at the same caliber as the pilots they fought earlier. Maybe they were just unprepared, or maybe station sitting was not a sought after post. Most likely these pilots would have been assigned here to work a job on the space station, and would be only scrambled for emergency defenses. By the time they reached the Engra they had taken down eight fighters, and that was only their drill. Just minutes into the engagement, the enemy fighters looked thinner and more manageable. Once they were close enough to orbit the Engra the drill broke apart into pairs--leader and wingman. The Caeleste pilots were the better ones, so it benefited them to spread the enemy out to avoid focus fire and single out targets. Cam¡¯s damage was still lower than pretty much everyone else in the wing even after spending all those skill points, but Effifteen joined him and Tophet. Cam could feel a difference from his added stats and skills though. His ship handled better and flew faster. His guns tracked better and did more damage. He could even see actual health numbers on friendly ships if they were close enough without having to pull up any special menus. It was not a grand change, but a hundred tiny ones that added up. Still, his personal skill and knowledge would be what would let him survive this battle, far more than his in-game skillset. The Engra was taking a slow approach to the station. The closer it moved the more force its guns hit for, but it did not want to get too close to any undocking ships just yet. The smaller ones would be impossible to hit at close range if they were moving at all. The station¡¯s shields were already at sixty percent. Cam wondered how armor worked for stations like that. After all, the buildings were visible, not hidden under anything. Did they still have armor, or would the Engra start blasting them to pieces once it was through the shields? He didn¡¯t have much time to worry about it though. The enemy fighters scattered to follow as many ships as they could. There was clearly little organization in the enemy ranks at the moment. They were scrambling to defend, but no one was leading them. Seven fighters chased after him, Tophet, and Effifteen. Normally it would be the wingman¡¯s job to take care of any fighters on the leader, but it was far too many for him and Effifteen to take care of. ¡°Let me watch your six, Flyboy,¡± Tophet said, dropping speed just enough to let Cam pass. She was now the more tempting target, closer to their optimal range. He took the lead flying, controlling their path, but deferred to her targeting choices. She trained her guns on the nearest enemy and he locked the same target. It was slow going, eating through the enemy shields. Tophet was trying to stay about two kilometers in front of the enemy so Cam¡¯s guns were deep in their falloff range, which hurt their accuracy and damage. He let his drones drop back, closer to the lead fighter, but even then he dared not let them get too close. They flew in the space between Tophet and the lead ship, making random adjustments to their course to make it difficult to target. Even so, the back enemy ships started firing at them instead of Tophet as she was tougher to hit, so Cam had to watch in case they took too much damage. Effifteen flew between him and Tophet, letting her be a more tempting target, but close enough that his guns did more damage. The path Cam lead them on was an orbit around the Engra. He kept just five kilometers away from the ship, and angled so they were not just making a circle, but more of a spiral procession that would criss cross other orbits around the ship. He couldn¡¯t keep his ship¡¯s maximum speed with his ship¡¯s acceleration and that radius of an orbit, and Tophet had to slow down to match. Cam ended up with his nose pointed towards the Engra as his engines burned to keep the turn. The maneuver worked to their advantage as the enemy fighters all had different amounts of maximum acceleration and tried their best to follow and catch up. Some accelerated too far forward in their attempt, and ended up not able to make the tight turn. The lead enemy was apparently in front because it had the greatest acceleration and piloting skills. The ship was able to close the distance in a few seconds, but since its allies were slow to follow all that meant was that the three of them had better shots on it and it only had a marginally better shot at Tophet. About halfway around the Engra its shields broke and its armor was peeled off as it tried to veer away. They would have had to let it get away for risk of getting too close to the other fighters, but Cam¡¯s orbit around the Engra allowed two friendly fighters to angle in behind. They had a few enemies on their tail as well, so they had to maintain a fast speed, but they took out one of the other fighters and put pressure on the others, allowing Cam, Tophet and Effifteen to slow down just enough to take out the already damaged fighter as it tried to get away. As Cam accelerated forward again he saw two friendly missiles appear and target two other ships following them. The friendly fighters had to break off a moment later to prevent the enemy fighters tailing them from getting too close, but their help had already weakened the enemy formation. The missiles locked two different fighters, which started burning in a straight line to avoid them. Their three friends followed. ¡°Let¡¯s help them out,¡± Cam said, angling behind the fighters. ¡°Sounds good,¡± said Tophet. ¡°Roger,¡± said Effifteen. He accelerated after them, and shot into the closest one¡¯s shields. The enemy fighters were concentrating on the missiles, leaving him, Effifteen and, more importantly, Tophet free to attack. One more went down quickly as they chased. Fortunately the angle was away from the station and most of the other fighters. Thirty seconds later both missiles were destroyed but another enemy fighter was down. It was now three on three. They targeted Cam first, clearly realizing that he was the weakest of the Caelestis fighters. Tophet stayed in and brawled with them. Effifteen moved in and out to help her. Cam kept at range, kiting them along at as long range as he could and using his drones to help, but Tophet chewed them apart. At that close of range her biggest problem would be her guns tracking a shifting enemy. Cam moved in as straight of a line as he dared, allowing Tophet and Effifteen more chances to line up shots. It made him easier to hit, but it would do the same to any enemies that chased him. His shields still dropped faster than he liked. At the last moment he activated his afterburner module, one of the two modules now on his ship that he could now use thanks to the Modular Connection skill. It boosted his speed and maximum acceleration by a significant amount--about fifty percent--but it only lasted a few seconds, and drained his reactor¡¯s energy buffer in those few moments. His laser turned off as his available power dropped, and while his projectile guns would keep firing for now, the reload mechanism would require power in a few moments. One of the enemy ships surged after him, having activated its own afterburner module. The other two accelerated a moment later, but he had gained precious ground from them. The last one blew up as it accelerated too late to avoid Tophet¡¯s guns chewing through its hull. But now Cam was now speeding away from his closest allies, with his guns at the barest capacity, and two enemies behind him, one who was in range and the other who was gaining. He was ready to rethink his choices, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Tophet engaged her afterburner after the kill, but she was still a few seconds behind with Effifteen following her. That was one of the largest weakness with NPCs. Effifteen could have surged ahead and let Tophet finish the kill alone, or he could have gone for the kill himself, but he was flying too passive, looking to Cam and Tophet for leadership. He was helping, but not innovating. Just adding his guns to the fight, nothing more. Cam¡¯s drones were firing on the front ship, trying to damage it enough to force it to fall back, but his shields were down and his armor was dropping. His projectie guns fired their last rounds and, without power to reload, sat there. His drones dealt too little damage alone to get through the enemy shields in time, let alone disable the ship. He doubted he had the time for Tophet to catch up. He was flying a long circle back towards the Engra. He was now finally heading towards it but still a good minute out. Despite all the action and danger behind him he took a moment to watch the battle in front of him. There wasn¡¯t much he could do for either situation after all--at least for a few more moments--so might as well watch and learn if he could. The enemy fighters had thinned out even more. Corvettes and frigates from the station had joined the fight, forcing the Caelestis fighters to fall back or be destroyed. The Engra had almost pounded through the station¡¯s defenses. Its own shields were still above half, but more enemy ships were closing range and blasting into it. Fortunately there was nothing like the Ichen class battlecruisers on the field, but the battleship could not last long if the enemy ships were not dealt with. Already two destroyers were close to it. Some of the smaller battleship guns were targeting them, but they were too small and too close for the larger guns to track at that range. The Engra had given up its window to destroy them quickly and easily as they approached, instead opting to focus on the station. It was an amazing view, all things considered. The flashes of explosions, of lasers and other weapons hitting shields. Even the thrust of engines against the starry sky had its beauty. He wished he could continue to watch it unfold, but there were currently some pressing issues he needed to deal with first. ¡°Blue Nine, out!¡± came a call over the comms. He saw a Caelestis fighter being chased by enemies go dark. The ships chasing it were destroyed a moment later by Blue Nine¡¯s companions. That was it. The first of the Caelestis fighters gone. He put it out of his mind. Right now the two enemy fighters were still on his tail and things were looking very bad for his armor. His afterburner still held out, but the lead ship must have reloaded before hitting the afterburner as it still was firing. Before they could chew through more of his ship, he detached both his FtF missiles without activating their main engine. He was still accelerating, albeit slowly, so they fell behind immediately. A moment later he activated them. That moment was enough for the lead fighter to close some distance to the missiles, and its afterburner made it harder to maneuver. The missiles still had their momentum from when Cam detached them and so were just slightly slower than the enemy, moving in the same direction. It was easy for them to adjust course and cut off its path. ¡°Red Twelve, out!¡± Another Caelestis fighter gone. Cam barely heard it as his missiles closed the distance. Both missiles exploded at the same time. Unfortunately it meant that the explosions interfered with each other, so it did not do as much damage as if they had exploded separately, but they were too close to each other for one to blow up without the other. It stripped the rest of the shields off the lead fighter and most of its armor. It pulled away, but Cam¡¯s drones stuck with it to finish it off. ¡°Red Nine, out!¡± ¡°Gold Four, out!¡± More friendlies winked out within the space of a few moments. He angled away from the battle again as the last fighter tried to close in on him. Cam was slower, but the enemy was still in its falloff range for the moment, and Cam¡¯s armor was low, sitting at twenty percent and still dropping. It concentrated on the backside of his ship, but he still had to be careful. His coverage would be thin, and a bad shot could still damage his hull. He had hoped to be able to rejoin the main battle again--if only to farm some more experience if nothing else--but it looked like he was lucky to get the kills he had got. ¡°Blue Seven, out!¡± He pulled his drones in close just before his afterburner cut out. A shot hit his engines, cutting their effectiveness. One of his drones reached him finally and he put it between himself and the enemy, but it was too small to be an effective shield. ¡°It¡¯s your turn, Calvera,¡± came Tophet¡¯s voice over their channel. Cam nodded. She had closed in and was taking down the fighter¡¯s shields. He recalled his drones back into his ship as the enemy¡¯s armor hit half. ¡°Red Six, out!¡± he said over the comms before performing one last juke on his flight path and cutting off his reactor. Chapter Nine He got his wish a minute later, although it took some thought to pull off. Once he cut his reactor Tophet destroyed the fighter behind him. He was sitting blind and vulnerable, but invisible. His momentum carried him on, into a direction no one could pinpoint unless they had seen his last maneuver. It was part of their plan. Cut the reactor when looking near death, and hope their friends finished off the enemy in time. There were holes in it, of course. Their ¡°deaths¡± wouldn¡¯t show up in any combat log of the enemy. Any organized search would find that some Caelestis fighters escaped, but the combat logs of dead NPCs were lost forever. The hope was that in the chaos of battle the number of fighters that got away would get masked. At most Aluvius would be looking for a few stragglers. Tophet and Effifteen rejoined the fight, leaving Cam by himself. His I-Flight had cut out when he turned off his reactor, so he could only see in front of him. He started out facing away from most of the battle. He could see part of it, but it wasn¡¯t enough to satisfy him. He risked the smallest of activity from one of his thrusters--a small venting of pressurized gas which could be operated on a trickle from his battery power. It turned him ever so slowly to face it all. Another small burst stabilized his spin so he would stay facing the battle for some time. He could watch everything without distraction. No one was firing on him. He wasn¡¯t running from missiles or trying to out maneuver an enemy. The problem was, he couldn¡¯t help. He couldn¡¯t even say anything. Any broadcasts would be tracked back to him. Even out of game communication was currently impossible without detection. The game was designed for immersion, and to add to that Celestial Void set it up so that any third party communication through the pod while the game was active would count as in-game communication for detection purposes. Players communicated out of game when not playing, but logging out would mean Cam wouldn¡¯t get the benefit of time dilation or his current view. Besides, since he had been in combat recently, logging out would also reveal his ship--another small measure to prevent players from continuously hopping in and out of game for communications. So he sat there, watching, with nothing to do. His sensors were shut down. They also would give him away, and would eat through his battery power quickly. A small mercy was that he could magnify his view to look at parts of the battle and his HUD tagged friendly ships so he could track them. He said a silent thanks to the developers of the game for that. Spotting enemies was tougher, but zeroing in on friendlies showed him enough of the action. The Engra and the station were the only things he could spot without magnification. From his angle it looked like the Engra was currently falling ever so slowly, nose first towards the station. The orientation reduced the ship¡¯s profile on approach, but it was close enough now that it didn¡¯t matter much anymore. Even as large as the Engra was, the station was larger. The Engra was about three fourths of a kilometer long, but the station looked like a small city, three or four kilometers in diameter. The firepower of the Engra, however, was a sight to behold. The station¡¯s shields were already gone, the large guns of the Engra had depleted the shield¡¯s energy and were not allowing them to regenerate. Large salvos were ripping through targeted locations of the station. Cam could see the structure buckling under the assault, the armor limiting the damage, but not totally negating the battleship¡¯s giant guns. The Engra however, wasn¡¯t doing well itself. Only two of the station¡¯s defense platforms were still functioning, but between those and the other enemy ships, the battleship was already doomed. The light show against its shields ended almost immediately when it came into Cam¡¯s view. Everything was now pounding into its armor as well. It was a race to see if the Engra or the station would crumple first. Cam wished he could see more stats, but it seemed his Combat Perception didn¡¯t work well with his ship unpowered and its sensors offline. The skill still needed information available to show it in his vision. He kept an eye on the Engra--it was too large a part of the battle for him to do otherwise--but he looked for his wingmates. He found Tophet and Effifteen flying together as they raced a tight arc around the Engra. They were chasing enemy fighters that had engaged other wingmates. Will was at the far side of the station with two other friendlies, trying to draw some of the enemy off the Engra to save it a few more hitpoints to complete its task. More friendlies winked out. Cam passively listened for radio signals even if he could not send any. Not all were accompanied by the sound of them signing off on comms. Their numbers were dwindling even smaller, but everyone knew there would be some attrition here. Every loss would be felt in the future, though--a skill set gone, even if there was a backup to replace it. As the fight drew on, the friendly fighters tried to move farther away from the station. The chaos was dying down, and it was tougher to disappear without it being obvious. A few stayed near the Engra, risking their stealth in order to protect the behemoth in its final moments. Cam noticed the Engra started targeting ships to its side and behind, but nothing in its front. Valuable seconds were lost as it blew up a cruiser that had tried to flank it. Even more were lost on a destroyer which was behind it, but that had grown complacent, not expecting the battleship to finally turn its guns on the small, slow moving craft. The Engra still threw every spare bullet at the station, slowing its onslaught only for certain ships at certain locations. Soon the enemy was only in front of it as it continued its slow but steady approach to the station. ¡°Red One, out!¡± Cam let out a breath he hadn¡¯t realized he was holding. Will was the one with the plan. Cam was sure Will had worked some redundancy into who knew what--and they could use out of game channels if all else failed--but he did not want to think of how the mission would have gone without their fearless leader. He had not been looking at Will¡¯s ship the last few moments, but knew it must be flying off somewhere beyond the station. More friendlies continued to wink out, and soon the Engra was less than a ship length from the station. The Engra was falling apart before Cam¡¯s very eyes, but it was already inevitable that its remains would crash into the station. Neither had much armor left. Small patches of the adaptive armor continued to move towards the most vital spots on both the ship and the station, but were blasted off almost as soon as they arrived. Chunks of the Engra¡¯s hull broke off, still moving towards the station with their forward momentum. Guns started to disappear, either completely blown off or unable to continue to fire due to internal damage. By then, almost all the friendly fighters on the edges of the battle had turned their reactors off or had been truly destroyed. Those still near the Engra gathered behind it. Cam¡¯s ship was drifting past the station now, far enough that he would not be spotted, but the angle was still right that he could not see clearly what was happening back there. Neither would the enemy. The Engra had been targeting ships to its side and behind it for this moment. From Cam¡¯s perspective it looked like the friendly ships were flying into the engine exhaust, suiciding themselves in order to prevent the enemy from getting experience from killing them. He knew they were merely flying through the edge of the exhaust and turning off their reactors. They would get a little singed, and maybe the cockpits would be a bit tosty for a while as the heat radiated off into space, but the ships and pilots would be fine. If the enemy had infrared sensors they might be able to detect the heat of the ships until they cooled--if the game even worked like that--but the ships were small enough that they would get lost in the vastness of space before the last bit of chaos the Engra was about to dish out died down. A small lump rose in Cam¡¯s throat as he watched. He reminded himself that it was just a ship in a game, but he couldn¡¯t help feel a bit mournful at the loss. The Engra had been his home for less than two days, but it had taken him into his first battle, shown its impressive power, and now it was being sacrificed. It was worth it though. Not only was it striking a blow to the enemy but it was allowing the mission to continue. The Engra split almost in half just moments before impact. Cam could barely see it now, the station was too much in the way, but he saw the back side of the station shudder and slowly break apart as the full mass of a battleship impacted into the now unprotected station. As the structure broke, he looked in awe at the physics of the game. The destruction was slow but inevitable as the body of the battleship tore through the center of the station, leaving behind twisted metal and venting gasses. The collision signaled the last of the station¡¯s hit points going away, and in a few moments explosions throughout the structure tore it to shreds. Cam sat a few minutes, just watching the station fly apart. He was far enough away, and it was so massive, that it looked like slow motion. Eventually, the pieces started to drift apart. He hoped all his wingmates had a course away from the explosion, as there was enough shrapnel there that chances are they would be annihilated. Based upon his radio logs and observations, at least twenty-two fighters survived. Cam knew that number sounded small for a stealth mission deep through the enemy territory, but it was the pilots that mattered, not the ships. Twenty-two fighters wouldn¡¯t do much, but twenty-two high level pilots--well twenty-one since you couldn¡¯t include Cam in that last category--could wreak some havoc if they could remain undetected long enough to get into the right places. He had wondered why all the cloak and dagger of a suicide mission, and the best he could think of was that the security at the borders of Aluvius space must be tighter than what was inside. Jumping in, and then fooling the enemy the target was this space station and that all the Caelestis pilots died was to get past that border security. A bit elaborate, perhaps, but it could work. Not for the first time in the last few days, Cam felt like his knowledge of the game was severely lacking. How were borders set up? Why did Will think this was good enough to fool Aluvius? Couldn¡¯t there be a better way of getting inside enemy territory? He trusted his friend, so probably not on that last one, at least within whatever constraints Will¡¯s mission required. He coasted farther and farther away from the battle site. Debris from the station and the Engra moved out from the collision, but not fast enough to catch up to him. The collision had been slow, but powerful, only the smallest pieces of it moved fast, and those spread out enough that in the vastness of space to not be a likely threat. Again, Cam wondered how far the game would track those debris before erasing them from its computations. Even Numean¡¯s famed server farms couldn¡¯t handle it if all those pieces were tracked forever. His combat timer soon ran down. Once it hit zero he could log out without fear of his ship being discovered. He still sat and watched, just curious to see more of the game. Aluvius ships jumped in and out of the system, some through the local stargates now, but many were using their jump drives. Eventually a defensive fleet formed, larger than the fleets at either battle. It stuck around for a while, providing protection as other ships came in to salvage what they could of the station and the Engra. It upset Cam that the Engra¡¯s remains would be used by the enemy but there was nothing he could do about it. Those on the field got to strip itd, and while it could be argued that Caelestis were the victors, victory does not always mean the last one standing. He watched for some more time, just taking in the clean up process as best he could. It was another part of warfare, although one he rarely participated in when he had the choice. Eventually though, he decided to log out. The time to reactivate their reactors was still some hours away. He set up a couple conditions for his ship to monitor and exited the game. * * * For a moment he thought something had gone wrong. He sat there in pitch darkness wondering what was happening. Eventually a light appeared and he found himself sitting in a white room. Of course! he realized. He had logged out of the game, but he was still in the pod. This was his first time logging out of Celestial Void. He was still adjusting to how the new pod worked. The room he was sitting in was basically the virtual reality of the pod itself. The pod, after all, was a highly sophisticated computer so even not connected to any game it had its own space. The white room was simple, as he had not set up any more than necessary yet. It was completely white, and had only a small couch at the center and a few screens in front of it. The screens were more three-dimensional interfaces than monitors. He could walk right through them, but touching them purposefully would let him interact with them. When he first loaded up into the pod just a few days ago, the tutorial helped him set up what little he had here. He had been so eager to jump into the game that he did so the first chance the pod let him. On the screens were several three dimensional floating objects, representing programs. The Celestial Void game was a cube that looked like space with actual stars inside, the words ¡®Celestial Void¡¯ floated in the cube as well. A few other programs were there, including a messenger program and a helper app for Celestial Void, which could keep track of the in game time, as well as other information he chose to display, like his current location and ship stats. The messenger program was beeping at him. Apparently someone had tried to contact him. He sat down on the couch. It felt almost too comfortable. It supported him perfectly and took a load off his body. It was all virtual though, so that wasn¡¯t unexpected. This wasn¡¯t a game designed for some realism--this was a safe location designed for his comfort. He felt like he could drift off to sleep, but he didn¡¯t feel sleepy. He could probably turn on that feature though. Virtual sleep was supposedly as good as real sleep. After all, the body was resting in a pod, so the mind could rest anywhere. Next, he reached for the holoscreen. He wasn¡¯t sure if it followed him as he sat down, or just looked like it was close to him no matter where he was. The virtual world was trippy, especially when it wasn¡¯t limited by arbitrary game rules. He touched the messenger program and opened it up. Several new images unfolded from the icon cube, one of which being a message from Will. Now that Cam was logged out of the game, he could message Will without fear of his ship being detected. Well, at least not based on his actions here. His ship could theoretically be detected, but the chances were small as it floated through a star system. Space was so huge that trying to find a single ship moving without power was almost impossible. It was worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack. People think of space as so empty that it¡¯s easy to find things, but emptiness is relative, and space is so big it¡¯s easy to miss small things, like missing a single grain of dirt on a dark, but otherwise clean shirt. He opened the message from Will. A video recording popped up. ¡°Hey buddy. Just checking in. You haven¡¯t logged out yet, and your combat timer should be done. Next login time is in twelve game hours. Hopefully everything will be quiet then.¡± The image of Will was only slightly different than his in game avatar. He still had dark hair and the same face, but some things looked slightly off. Nothing major, but enough minor changes that it looked like Will¡¯s twin rather than Will himself. Cam figured Will had tried to have the same avatar in the pod as well as in game, but just couldn¡¯t get everything to perfectly match. So much of the pods were spent playing Celestial Void but Cam knew Numean, the game company, didn¡¯t actually manufacture the pods, rather it had a partnership with the company that did. There were bound to be small differences in the programming. The pods could play many other games as well, and the hope was that other games would come along that people would want to immerse themselves in. He wondered if others would notice differences in his avatars here and in game. Probably, but it was nothing to worry about. Neither avatar were his real face, even if they were modeled after it.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Will was still online, so Cam opened up a line to him. Will picked up a moment later. ¡°Hey, how¡¯s it going Cam?¡± Will said with a smile. He was on a screen, but right next to it a door had opened up as if from nowhere, and Will was looking through. ¡°May I come in?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± Cam answered, glancing between the screen and the door. ¡°But I haven¡¯t set much up yet. Anything really.¡± Will walked in through the door, and his avatar entered Cam¡¯s space. Cam reached over to try to pat Will on the shoulder and was only mildly surprised when he made contact. Apparently the quality of the virtual world inside the pod itself was on par to the game world. ¡°Yep, it all works here too,¡± Will said with a laugh. ¡°The program the pods use when not in game is different than Void¡¯s program, but they function pretty similarly. The only major thing different is no time dilation here.¡± ¡°That seems an odd thing to leave out,¡± Cam said. ¡°Numean is the only one who has the capability,¡± Will said. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone has been able to replicate it.¡± ¡± ¡°You afraid they¡¯re just going to fry your mind one day?¡± It was a valid concern--The news stations talked about it for months when the pods were first introduced. ¡°Naw, not really,¡± said Will, glancing at the couch and holoscreens. ¡°Every test has shown it is safe. The brain is working faster, yes, but the nutrient mush the pods feed your body while in game helps keep it working safe. Numean had to do tons of tests before opening it up to the public. Not sure how they kept it all a secret until Void launched, but they did.¡± Cam nodded. It was why he felt safe playing too. From day one of the pods being publically available there had been released tons of data on their testing, not to mention the data collected in the year since then. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan now?¡± he asked. ¡°Well as I said, the plan is to log in in about...well ten game hours now. With some luck, the area will be quiet enough for us to make our next move.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± Will just grinned. ¡°One step at a time.¡± Cam sighed. More op sec. He supposed it made sense, but if he didn¡¯t get more answers soon, he might be tempted to strangle it out of Will. His friend had that ability. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t trust Cam, but he was devoted to the game, and keeping the mission safe took priority. ¡°You¡¯ll get answers,¡± Will assured. ¡°Ironically, I prefer to share the details in game, once we¡¯re all safe and know who¡¯s still there.¡± ¡°But not everything,¡± Cam stated. Will shrugged, unapologetic. ¡°No, but more. Hopefully it will whet your appetite for now.¡± ¡°So how many pilots survived?¡± Cam asked, changing the subject. There was no reason to keep trying to get details from Will. As much as he liked to talk, he was good about not letting anything slip and it would just frustrate Cam more than anything. ¡°Seventeen podies. Not sure the number of NPCs--at least five confirmed. Probably not much more than that. We¡¯ll find that out when we log back in.¡± ¡°Can we message the NPCs from out of game?¡± ¡°No, not if they¡¯re off the grid, like ours are now. If they were at a base or on a ship we could send them a message through game channels, but we would have to be in a secure location too.¡± ¡°Then how do we contact them to let them know when to be ready for us?¡± ¡°They¡¯re NPCs,¡± Will grinned. ¡°They¡¯re the epitome of patience. I told them when to expect the signal, so they¡¯ll power up basic sensors if they see that the area is clear. They¡¯ll be there when we get back on.¡± ¡°So the NPCs knew when we were going to log back in before the battle, but I don¡¯t get to know until after I logged off?¡± Cam sighed. ¡°NPCs also don¡¯t talk about op sec,¡± said Will. Cam rolled his eyes. ¡°This better be a tenth as good as I¡¯m imagining it,¡± he said, his frustration growing more. He needed a break, apparently. It was just a game, after all. Will was doing his best to keep the mission safe, and Cam shouldn¡¯t get annoyed about it. ¡°I¡¯m going to log out for a bit. Get some real fresh air. I¡¯ll be back on in time for the power up.¡± ¡°Sounds good,¡± said Will, but his tone didn¡¯t match his words. He gave a slight frown, but didn¡¯t say anything more. Cam could understand. This was a dream come true. Full, immersive virtual reality. And Cam was logging out of that. The game was amazing and here, in the pod¡¯s own VR, anything could go. Cam wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted that. And it wasn¡¯t just Emma¡¯s words, to be fair. He wanted to play Celestial Void, not sit around in a playground. He enjoyed the systems, and playing in them. He could make his own here, and while he could make it however he wanted, it would take forever to develop a system that he liked. Maybe another day he would, but today it was time for a break. As Will left back through the door, Cam initiated his logout. * * * It felt good to move. He wiggled his fingers first and started stretching his arms and legs. It was tight inside the pod so he still couldn¡¯t do move as much as he wanted. Some of him felt sore, but nothing unduly so. Waking up took only a few moments, and he quickly adjusted back into his own body. Everything felt off just a bit. He was shorter in real life than in the game, but just by an inch or so. The big difference was his build. He would never be called fat, but stocky, stout, sturdy...those were all words that could apply to him. In game he was much thinner. Very average, more wiry if anything. It didn¡¯t upset him to think about it. His body wasn¡¯t unhealthy by any means, but it just didn¡¯t have that video game physique that most people looked at, so he had adjusted his avatar a bit. The pod lid slid open on its own. He sat up once the lid opened enough and climbed out. He was wearing special clothes on that were designed for extended ventures in the pod. It allowed his body to be cared for by the pod, including keeping bodily functions taken care of. The clothing was thin, and as he removed the head cap and sat up he immediately felt cold. He also felt like a shower. His body wasn¡¯t oppressively stinky, but the pod could still only keep him so clean. It was well designed for extended use, but still had room for improvement. The room he was in was pretty bare besides the pod. The pod took up half, but the other half was almost empty. The only other furniture was an old computer sitting at a desk that he had barely touched since he got his first pod. He lived alone, though, so he could use the space however he wanted. His landlord was very hands off after the first couple months of him being a model renter. He had contemplated buying his own house, but for him home was where the gaming computer was. Sure, for the last few years it was a large pod that he laid in while playing more than a standard computer, but it still felt true to him. This new pod felt even more so. He had all he needed--buying a house wasn¡¯t high on his priority list right now. He climbed out and turned up the heat a degree before heading over to his shower. He had four hours to kill in the real world--twelve in game. The time dilation still felt strange to him to think about. He had only been in game for a bit more than two game days with most of the action happening within twelve hours, so that was less than a full day in the real world. It was disorentating. He had gone in the pod the evening before, and now it was mid afternoon just the next day. He took his time in the shower. He let the water just fall over him for some time, thinking through the amazing last day. Moments replayed in his head. His first injury, his first kill--both in person and in a ship--the nuclear explosion of course, talking with the other pilots, the Engra¡¯s sacrifice. There was plenty to think about. Mostly gains, but some losses too. Celestial Void was far beyond anything he could have imagined, and he had just scratched the surface playing the last couple days. The mechanics so far were amazing, and it all felt so real. Almost too real. Sure there were plenty of things in game that made it apparent it was just a game and not reality--like how pain could be muted for example--but most moments he could forget it was just a game. It made his perception now, in the real world, feel off. Almost as if this was the simulation, this body was the avatar, and not the other way around. He shook his head and turned the water off. Such thoughts were where madness lay. Of course this was reality. As he had just been thinking, there were a thousand little things that made that apparent. He toweled off and thought about what else to do to keep his mind off those thoughts. He still had three and a half hours to kill. He decided to order out--pizza delivery. His stomach was growling at him by now. The pod might sustain him, but it was something more like intravenous than through his stomach and mouth. His stomach was empty and now that he was moving about it demanded food. Ordering out sounded perfect right now. He wanted a treat, but didn¡¯t feel like walking around town. He was renting a small house in a suburb, so he decided to wait out in the sun in his small backyard. He was standing on his porch, just feeling the breeze, when a call came. As he walked back in the small house and looked at the caller, he sighed. Not her. No reason to bother answering. Thirty seconds later the phone ringed again. Again, he let it go to voicemail. This happened for more than five minutes. Cam was tempted to turn off his phone as he wasn¡¯t expecting any other calls, but she would just find another way to contact him. Ring ring...click. ¡°Hello Amy,¡± he said in greeting, his voice flat. ¡°Cameron, you hurt me making me call so many times.¡± Her voice had the breathless quality that many women had when they were trying extra hard to sound sultry. ¡°This is pretty convenient timing, Amy. What do you want?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t a girl call to say hi?¡± He paused, sighing inwardly. This was just what he needed right now. He would rather be sitting in his spaceship for ten hours with nothing to do than talk to her. ¡°It¡¯s been ten months since we¡¯ve talked,¡± he said. ¡°You ran off with guy, complaining about how I couldn¡¯t provide for you in the way you needed. We weren¡¯t even dating at the time. And today of all days, you pick to call me. What do you want?¡± ¡°Well I just heard you¡¯ve finally decided to join the neighborhood. I¡¯m just sad it took so long.¡± Amy was a fellow video game player. He wouldn¡¯t quite call her his crazy ex-girlfriend, but she was close. They had met through New Space and gotten to know each other. Eventually, they started dating. It had all been virtual. Sure, they had called each other out of game, and knew each other¡¯s real faces and voices, but they never met up. And soon they found, they didn¡¯t mesh well dating. As friends they were okay, but besides gaming itself they had little in common. It had ended amicably--or so Cam had thought. She had stuck around with Cam¡¯s group of friends, and everything seemed normal for a time, but at some point she grew possessive of him. Everytime he did something without informing, her she grew upset or mad or just ¡°concerned.¡± He would have completely cut ties with her if not for the fact that they were both high ranking members of their guild at that time. He had almost been glad he couldn¡¯t play Celestial Void when it had come out because she moved over to it. She kept trying to get him to play, despite how he explained that he couldn¡¯t, that he needed a special pod apparently to support it, and it was on backorder for almost a year¡­ Speaking of which...How had she known he started playing? ¡°Who told you?¡± he asked. ¡°Will informed me,¡± she answered. ¡°I doubt that. He wouldn¡¯t give you the time of day. He might be convinced to give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst.¡± Will had never got along with Amy, even before Cam and Amy had become a thing. He was always put off by her. She was also one of the reasons why Will¡¯s opsec rules were so thorough. She had leaked more pieces of information than most ground level players in a guild ever even knew. One mission he had planned for weeks she botched by mentioning an operation timer in an unsecured channel. Another by mentioning she was busy doing something important on a certain day. Each time it was a small piece of information, and she always maintained the failure wasn¡¯t her fault, but it happened again and again. Even if she could argue that what she let slip wasn¡¯t enough to let the enemy know what was going to happen, it was just enough to put them on their toes. Enough to let them to catch even more information or be on alert for a strike or mission. ¡°I don¡¯t need to talk to Will to get information from him,¡± she said. And that was the other part. She was smart. She was good at playing these games. As much as she let loose the wrong information, she could read people rather well, she could plan and strategize. And, ironically, she knew how to be a good spy. She couldn¡¯t keep a thing quiet, but she could gather information like no other. No, Cam thought, that wasn¡¯t quite correct. She could keep plenty quiet. She had many of her own secrets that she kept. It was other¡¯s secrets that she couldn¡¯t help talking about. That¡¯s what made her a good spy. And that¡¯s what infuriated Will the most about her. She was capable--she often just didn¡¯t care if it wasn¡¯t her own little pet project. She eventually wormed her way up to a high position in their guild by establishing her own web of spies and sources of information and bringing that to the table. That was after she and Cameron broke up. For a long time she seemed satisfied, especially when between hers and Will¡¯s influence, Cam also got a seat in the leadership. For some time there was an unspoken peace between her and Will, even though they couldn¡¯t stand each other¡¯s company when alone. Even after she and Cam dated and broke up they were all so integral to their guild that they managed to work together. He doubted she and Will got along in Celestial Void however. ¡°So we have spies in our guild,¡± he said. It was more a statement than a question. After all... ¡°Everyone has spies in their guild,¡± she said, voicing his thoughts. ¡°But it was easy to find out you started playing. Will¡¯s routine changed a few days ago. Even if he was working on a mission to destroy our forward station, his actions were odd. He picked up a nobody, new player and took him along on a strike mission. It wasn¡¯t hard to look at the player¡¯s public profile and figure out it was you. Nice explosion by the way. It was fun to watch. Reminded me of old times.¡± Cam sat there a moment, thinking of how to respond. Amy had said ¡°our forward station.¡± She was part of Aluvius then. He could tell she was fishing for information even now. This was an Amy he had not expected to meet. An enemy. She would make a formattable one, make no mistake. ¡°So what¡¯s your plan?¡± he asked. ¡°Wait for me to slip up and drop you a clue?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± she said. ¡°It was a nice station, but we also got that battleship. Those are tough to make, you know. Lots of time and resources. Will¡¯s target was a good one, but it will just slow us down for a moment. We¡¯ve always been able to out produce Caelestis, we¡¯ll be back up to speed soon enough. And by then I¡¯ll have already figured out what you¡¯re up to next.¡± Cam frowned, thinking. Either she didn¡¯t know about the fighters hiding themselves in the system or she was pretending not to. He couldn¡¯t tell. Spy stuff was worse than guild politics to him. At least with guild politics, you could work with eventual friends. Spying was all about manipulating an enemy into giving you what you wanted. Guild politics could sometimes be similar, but at least in theory then you were all working for similar goals: the good of the guild. ¡°Well good luck with that. Maybe I¡¯ll tell you all about it once we¡¯re done. Probably not though,¡± he said. ¡°No need to be harsh about it, Cameron. I know we¡¯re on opposite sides right now. You need to do everything you can to make sure yours has the most advantage right now. Especially with how the war is going.¡± She let out a sigh. ¡°This isn¡¯t how I wanted this to be. I had hoped to get you to join Aluvius before you got tied into another guild. You still can. I won¡¯t ask you to spy or anything, just leave Caelestis and come back to Aluvius space. You¡¯ll be welcomed with open arms. I even tried to get Will to join a while back, but he wasn¡¯t having any of it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great offer, but I think I¡¯ll have to pass.¡± He sat down in his lone chair in his kitchen. The conversation was wearing him out. He didn¡¯t want to let anything slip--not that Will had told him much--but that wasn¡¯t the only issue. Amy sounded...different now than he last talked to her--more sure of herself, even more relaxed--but he still worried that anything he said could be taken the wrong way by her. Like she¡¯d done before.. ¡°Well, the offer will still be there if you change your mind,¡± she said. ¡°Might be a little more difficult the longer you stay with Caelestis. There are some here who really don¡¯t like that guild, but I¡¯ll make it work for you anytime.¡± ¡°Gee, thanks,¡± he said, trying to not sound like he just rolled his eyes. He was looking for an easy way out of the conversation. If he just hung up she would call again. Or worse, contact him in game. Well, she was bound to do that anyways. ¡°Look I¡ª¡± At that moment the doorbell rang. ¡°Oh, someone¡¯s at the door,¡± he said, hurriedly. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to you later, Amy.¡± ¡°Okay¡ª¡± He hung up before she could say anything else. Why did he say he would talk to her later? He didn¡¯t want to talk to her later. Unfortunately he doubted she would leave him alone in either case. He sighed and tried not to think of his problems. He was never good at these types of interactions. He should probably just tell her to leave him alone. He just didn¡¯t like upsetting people, not in situations like these, anyways. Over game mechanics, strategy, or a slew of other things he could tell people to their face they were being stupid and needed to think straight, but for relationships like this...even with ex-friends who he didn¡¯t talk to much anymore, he had problems. He shook his head again and opened the door to get his pizza. He tipped his savior, the delivery man, generously before going back inside and closing the door. It was still hot and tasted delicious. He enjoyed every bite and then sat outside again, enjoyed some more afternoon sun, and just relaxed. It did wonders for his mood. Plenty of thoughts about the game still passed through his head, but they didn¡¯t feel urgent for the moment, so he let his mind wander through them. Twenty minutes before the timer expired, he got back into his pod and logged back in. Amy was be a problem for another day. He had other things to worry about in game. Chapter Ten A signal flashed for just a moment, picked up by his instruments. He had been sitting in his cockpit for a good forty-five minutes. He had logged in ten minutes early, not wanting to be late, but then time dilation kicked in. Ten minutes early in the real world was thirty here, and the time Will had given was just the time to log in, not necessarily when the signal would be sent. Cam had shunted the minimum power to his sensors to be ready for the signal. Even while logged off, his ship kept its momentum. It had been flying at over a thousand meters per second for the last twelve hours in a random direction away from the planet. The speed was plenty enough to escape the planet¡¯s gravity, as they had been so far from the surface during the battle. Still, he had only traveled a fraction of a light-second away from the station. Conventional sensors could pick up weak radio signals at that distance, if one knew what frequency and direction to look, but it was a risk they needed to take. A signal had to be sent in game in order for the NPCs to get the message. Someone would have to be looking almost directly at Will¡¯s ship when he sent the signal to detect it. He had given his trajectory to the players out of game and his estimated location when the signal would be sent out. The NPCs had been told to log that information themselves when Will cut his reactor so they also knew where to look. The only way Aluvius could locate the signal would be if there was a spy in the group--but if that was the case, the mission was doomed anyways. And these were Will¡¯s hand picked pilots. Cam doubted there was a spy here. Still, spies are made, not born, as they say. All it takes is a loyal person¡¯s discontent for them to think that feeding the enemy information is actually better than what their guild has turned into. Take Steve¡¯s actions earlier. Cam hoped the man¡¯s loyalty to Will and Caelestis was stronger than being upset because Cam joined the wing over one of his friends and losing time with his girlfriend. It was just a game after all, but people played games to enjoy time with friends. Cam wasn¡¯t worried about it, though. He didn¡¯t know the man well enough, and basically all the pilots in the wing saw the man¡¯s tantrum about Cam. If someone thought it would be an issue they¡¯d tell Will. He hoped at least. Maybe he should tell Will himself, just to be sure. Cam had kept himself busy while he waited for the signal. He had looked through his combat log and character stats. He only got about fifteen kills in the last battle, and of course, none of them solo. Some were from his drones tagging fighters other groups were killing and some were from the dog fights with him, Tophet, and Effifteen. Since the kills were all fighter-sized, he didn¡¯t gain much experience. In the end, he gained ten levels. Not bad for a short battle, but nothing great compared to earlier. He had debated tagging the station itself, but according to Will stationary, lightly-armed targets did not give much experience. Most stations that size had their defense in orbiting gun platforms and the ships docked there. The station¡¯s own defenses were light in comparison. Tagging those defense platforms would have been a good idea, but they--and the station itself--were all well out of his drone control range during the entire fight. It would have been suicide to try to get close enough. As much as he would have loved those levels, no use crying over spilt xp. A hundred levels wasn¡¯t worth not being out here. He did get a skill from the battle, but it was only Drone Command II, which reduced the amount of psi power needed for drones by one percent more. Nothing to write home about, but it was something. Cam was still significantly under leveled for what he was doing out here. No use crying over spilt xp, yes, but he still needed to find a way to catch up just a bit more to his wing. From now on there wasn¡¯t the Engra to fall back to for safety, or reinforcements to jump in and help them out. The wing was on their own. Fighting was risky at the moment, since a death would still send him packing back to a far away base. PvE fighting would be less risky, but still had its challenges. Their small ships would limit what kinds of neutral NPCs they could take on, and if they lost a ship they could not replace it. Will had mentioned he had done some PvE farming from time to time, so he might have ideas, but time was also limited. They had Will¡¯s mission to accomplish, after all, and Cam was sure there was a deadline for it. What other sources of experience were out there? Cam needed to find one he was capable of doing to keep growing his abilities. The signal flashed through while he was still trying to think through ideas. The signal gave a notice for most fighters to wait. Only two pilots received the signal to go. Those two, Efffour, an NPC, and a player named Mohler, started the long, slow process of powering up their reactor. It took two full minutes. Once it was done, both ships went dark again. Mohler was the wing¡¯s lead scout and Efffour was his assistant. Their ships were designed to avoid detection. They were still vulnerable during power up and their stealth capabilities were limited. They could cloak completely for about a half hour. Their ships were tougher to detect even when uncloaked, but they were still detectable. The cloak took almost as much time to recharge as it lasted. The cloak also couldn¡¯t be activated if they were already close to anything and they couldn¡¯t use weapons or active modules while cloaked. Cam waited while Mohler and Effour warped around the system, looking for threats or high energy sensors that could detect an uncloaked small fighter in the depths of space. If all went right, the system should be all but abandoned--but they were not taking any unnecessary chances. A Caelestis attack had been organized a few systems over, just close enough to warrant mustering any ships that had been left here in the destruction of the station. The attack was made to look like it was meant to take advantage of the destruction of the station here, and in many ways it was. It just also happened to be a good smokescreen for the wing. After what felt like an eternity, the next message came. Staggered power up. Passive sensors only. Meet at given coordinates. Aluvius ships were still in the system, but they were mostly salvagers. Their sensors could pick up active pingings from a ship, but would most likely not register a powered up fighter as long as the ship didn¡¯t use active sensors and was far enough away. The wing staggered their power up sequence just to be sure: two ships powering up, warping away, another two ships following suit. They would warp off in random directions to the edges of the system, and bounce around a couple times before going to the given location. Eventually Cam¡¯s turn came. He hit the control to start powering up the reactor. The two minutes it took felt like an hour. He was far enough away from the ruins of the base that the salvagers there should only be able to detect him if they were looking right at him. Once there was enough power in his reactor, he started his engines. Sublight and warp engines were tied together, so both came online at the same time. He activated I-flight and took his time forming the warp bubble, grudging every moment spent waiting. Using only passive sensors might help hide him, but it made him feel blind. His warp engaged and his ship bypassed lightspeed, moving undetectably across space. His warp bubble--the entry point into warp--would still be detectable for a few more moments, but the slow enter into warp would help hide it and cause it to dissipate quicker. Someone watching might get a ping, but he was already gone and the bubble would collapse before anyone could arrive and figure out where it headed. A single ping might be written off, but multiple in just a few minutes would be a warning sign to Aluvius that something was amiss behind their front lines. They just had to hope none of the salvagers was looking too closely in their direction. The warp took just a few moments. He traveled through hyperspace, invisible to the rest of the system. His warp tunnel hid the system from him as well. He popped out just on the far side of a planet. Too far from the planet and the exit signature would be detectable, too close and some other passerby might notice him, but that wasn¡¯t a huge concern. The only known inhabited location had been the station itself. Mohler and Effour had reported no other inhabited places during their reconnaissance either. The system was strategic for its location, not its resources.Still, every movement contained some risk right now. They were behind enemy lines after all. He warped to two other planets, near their moons, both on the far side of the system from the station¡¯s wreck. Then he waited, making a slow burn to the moon to look like it was his destination. If anyone had picked up on his trail he was a liability. Five minutes later when no one showed up, he reoriented himself and warped to the final location. This was at a planetoid, orbiting well outside the main system, just large enough to cover warp signatures from small craft, if you could arrive close enough. Cam did. In fact he almost arrived too close. Exiting warp he had forgotten to take into account the planetoid¡¯s orbit speed. Even in a slow orbit this far away from the star, the planetoid was moving at three kilometers a second. In the game, the reference for ¡°rest¡± in the physics sense was delegated by the speed of the closest celestial body if you were within its gravitational reach. Cam had landed at rest compared to the local star, not the planetoid. He felt a lurch as his old reference frame suddenly was replaced by this new one. He was about forty kilometers away from the planetoid and his ship went from reading it was at rest to that it was traveling three thousand meters per second towards the planetoid. It was the problem with maximum speed implemented in a game. Maximum relative to what? Planets and moons moved much faster relative to the star than even a fighter¡¯s maximum speed so it had to change depending on what the ship was around. He engaged his engines and burned away from the planet. His speed wasn¡¯t slowing down fast enough and he engaged his afterburner. If anyone was nearby he had just given away his and the squad¡¯s position, but they were so far away from the star that the odds of that were almost nothing. His speed dropped to his maximum and then dipped even lower. He was just three kilometers away from the planetoid when he came to a full stop. One second later of a reaction by him and he would be dusting its surface. He sheepishly burned to the orbit the other ships were in, about twenty kilometers away from the planetoid. He figured he hadn¡¯t experienced the reference adjustment in his other warps probably because he had landed much farther away from the planets and moons. He would have to keep an eye out for that in his other jumps. It seemed easy to fix--the exit speed of a warp was adjustable. There were still half a dozen ships to arrive after Cam. No one spoke while they waited. He was sure if radio silence hadn¡¯t been in effect he would have heard an ear full of laughter at his landing. Lant would have loved the chance to crack a joke. Once everyone was there, a signal came from Will¡¯s ship. Twenty-four ships had survived. They had lost seven in the fight. Three podies and four NPCs. They were all sitting close enough to each other that the weak signal would get through, but would dissipate to undetectable levels before it got close to anyone who might notice it. ¡°I hope you all enjoyed the light show from the station because now is the time we get to work,¡± Will said over the comms. ¡°Our first goal is to get to a safe place. Caelestis has a few operatives in this part of space that can help us. We¡¯re not going to burn any that are directly involved with Aluvius but we have many on the fringes that would rather see us win than them. Once we get there I¡¯ll brief us all on more details. We¡¯re going to have to set up shop and build some toys. We have another target to hit, and not long to do it. A month at most or else this won¡¯t end up being worth it anymore. ¡°Mohler will lead, scout out each system and then we¡¯ll move in. Keep your profiles low and no active sensors unless instructed. We¡¯re hopefully going to pass through some quiet space and get to our destination without incident, but we might need to power down again if we get stuck. I¡¯ll hate that just as much as you guys, so keep your eyes peeled. Any questions?¡± A click sounded over the comms. ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s for lunch?¡± Lant asked. Cam shook his head. Of course Lant would make a joke at a time like this. Well, why not? Cam supposed. They were in a high risk situation, but again, this was just a game. Might as well enjoy it. ¡°Not sure, but now you¡¯re cooking it,¡± Will said. ¡°Oh please don¡¯t punish the wing for his joke,¡± someone else chimed in. It was another voice Cam didn¡¯t recognize. There were still almost a dozen pilots he had not caught their names or talked to. A few chuckles went over the comms before Will brought everyone back in. ¡°Focus people. Let¡¯s take our time and do this right. If we get caught we won¡¯t get a second chance.¡± With a round of affirmations they started on their way.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. The procession started slowly. Mohler and Effour warped in stealth to the stargate they hoped to use and jumped through to scout the other side. Stargates connected systems as a way to bypass the need for jump drives as not every ship had one. A player could get from one end of the Void to the other through stargates. Even ships with jump drives could use them, and overall the stargates were faster than jump drives most of the time. Jump drives added convenience, not speed, and allowed for more security and surprise. Not only could you jump from anywhere in a system, if you knew the coordinates, you could jump to anywhere in any system within range. It helped with many surprise attacks as well as avoiding squads of enemies camping at a gate for juicy targets to fight. Stargates could be built by players as well, but they were expensive and there were plenty of stargates pre-seeded into the world. However, Cam knew game economies always had inflation, especially as more people joined and played. Maybe one day building stargates would be trivial. Cam remembered some of the largest motherships in New Space were originally thought to be unbuildable due to their huge material cost, but eventually were common enough that even small guilds had at least one, and the largest guilds had a small fleet of them. It took years for that to happen, but it did. Cam could imagine a lot of strategies he could do with building stargates. Still, most his ideas were defensive ones, since even if they became easy to build they would still take some time to complete and they had a maximum range. Tough to go offensive like that, but a few strategically build ones could help solidify the defense of an area. ¡°How¡¯s the damage on your ship?¡± Tophet¡¯s voice came over the comms, shaking him from his thoughts. Her voice sounded slightly off, distorted and scratchy, but definitely hers. The squad had a few minutes to chat while they waited, but were using as weak a signal as possible, even in this small space. ¡°Not too bad,¡± he said. ¡°The armor is almost blasted off, but very little hull damage. A small hit to my targeting systems and shield power, but hopefully we¡¯ll dock before we fight again.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget you can repair it with some nanites.¡± He had totally forgotten about that. Will had given him some nanites to use in battle, but he had forgotten in the heat of it and still hadn¡¯t remembered about it even after logging in. ¡°Not a bad idea,¡± he said, activating them. The nanites came alive and moved into his hull, searching for damage to repair. ¡°They can¡¯t fix armor, though,¡± Tophet said. ¡°But you never want to fly with damaged systems if you can help it.¡± ¡°How was the rest of the battle? I watched what I could, but there was so much going on.¡± ¡°Not too bad. I finally hit another level, so that¡¯s exciting. I love small craft fighting, but unless we¡¯re hitting above our weight the experience is slow now. The station¡¯s explosion was exciting. The Engra¡¯s too, but it was sad to see it go.¡± Cam grunted in affermation. He had thought the same thing. Apparently everyone loved large explosions. The nanites had found some of the damaged systems by now. He felt an odd itching sensation and then relief as they fixed the damage. I-flight was still an odd sensation with how the ship felt to him. The nanites used themselves as material as they fixed the broken pieces, so they were limited in how much they could repair. Still, he had a lot, and any unused nanites would be ready for next time. ¡°What level are you?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Oh, getting personal now are you?¡± Tophet teased. She sounded a bit more relaxed than he was used to hearing from her. He wondered if it was the real world time she spent, or the fact that they had made it behind enemy lines. ¡°I hope that¡¯s not nearly as bad as asking for your age or irl location or anything.¡± ¡°Naw, I¡¯m joking,¡± she said. ¡°I hit eleven hundred and eighteen.¡± ¡°Nice. I am just under a thousand levels below you,¡± he said. ¡°I guess I still have a bit to go.¡± ¡°Still not bad for only being in two fights. You¡¯ll make it. I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t bet against Quint that you¡¯ll make elite status in two months. You¡¯re on track for that so far.¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying. I would love to be just a little higher level with a few more good skills.¡¯ ¡°Don¡¯t we all,¡± she said, laughing. A moment later he could almost hear herself go into battle mode. ¡°Head¡¯s up. We¡¯re on.¡± Mohler and Effour had returned to give their scouting report. The first two systems they checked out had enemy players sitting in ships near the stargates. The battle Caelestis staged apparently was only partially doing its job. And the twelve hour wait as well--the idea being that after twelve hours, any scouts would have grown bored, and any cloaked ships would have to have recloaked several times, so they might have decided watching wasn¡¯t worth it. Will had hoped it wouldn¡¯t be worth the time for what hopefully Aluvius thought was just a few stragglers, but there were a few still willing to sit and watch, doing nothing in the game for hours. The wing ended up having to take a route that was the long way around. Mohler found a stargate with no one on the other side, but it headed in the wrong direction. It would take several extra gate jumps to bypass the systems where enemies currently were. Everyone warped to the stargate in question. No enemies were there, just as Mohler had scouted it out. Effour jumped through first, and when he didn¡¯t report back immediately they began the process of jumping through. Mohler¡¯s ship had a hacking module on it. It took a good thirty seconds of him sitting there--not something feasible mid-combat--but once he hacked the stargate it wouldn¡¯t record the jumps for the next two minutes or so. They filed through the gate quickly. Activating the gate opened a path between it and its partner in the other system. When Cam¡¯s turn came, his autopilot took over and began a warp down the path. Space itself seemed to compress between the stargates to allow the warp to pass light years in a few moments. As amazing as the light show of the experience was, its effects on Cam felt very lackluster. It felt just like any other warp--which was to say, not that different at all. After landing in the other system, Cam followed the wing to a far off planetoid while waiting for the all clear in the next system. That process continued over and over again. Mohler and Effour worked in tandem, allowing the scouting to go faster than just one alone. Any anomalies reported by Effour were looked at by Mohler just to be sure. They made their way through about a dozen systems without incident, slowly making their way around and in the direction they originally wanted to go. They had passed deeper into Aluvius territory by then, and had encountered very little so far. The most common were player and NPC miners and their respective mining colonies. But those were fairly easily evaded. Then Mohler came back with some more bad news. ¡°There¡¯s a corvette just sitting at the other side of the gate,¡± he told the gathered wing as they waited in a starsystem. ¡°I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s doing, but he¡¯s not moving and it doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s about to anytime soon.¡± ¡°This deep in their territory?¡± Will mused. ¡°I wonder what he¡¯s looking for.¡± ¡°Well, here¡¯s the thing. It¡¯s not Aluvius. The markings make it a Zephyr ship.¡± ¡°Zephyr? What are they doing here?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s Zephyr?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Pirate guild,¡± Lant answered, as if that explained everything. Tophet spoke up to fill in the gaps for Cam. ¡°Small groups of players that try to keep mobile. Often live in the open space other guilds surround but don¡¯t have enough manpower to control. Systems other guilds don¡¯t want, but are inside its territory.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t they cause Aluvius problems sitting here?¡± Cam asked. ¡°Not as many as it would take to root them out and keep them away,¡± Will answered. ¡°Aluvius basically rents this part of space out to smaller guilds anyways, and says the pirates are their problem to deal with. We¡¯re actually trying to meet up with a contact in one of those smaller guilds.¡± ¡°So do we attack or go around?¡± Zelou asked. ¡°The thing is, this stargate is one of the few connections going the way we want,¡± said Will. ¡°Going around would add another dozen jumps, which could potentially have its own problems, as the next shortest route has a similar bottleneck. Going through is the best option, but we need to be quick. We don¡¯t want the scout to alert his friends. There¡¯s sure to be a group of them doing some sort of operation a few jumps down. How good is the ship?¡± ¡°Seems pretty standard,¡± Mohler said. ¡°Nothing visible looked amazing, but I can¡¯t see all its modules without active sensors. Four fighters could probably take it down without a loss. Three maybe, but there¡¯s more risk.¡± ¡°Alright, I need four volunteers,¡± Will said to the wing. ¡°Three will jump through and ambush the corvette, the fourth will be backup. You¡¯ll have to jump through while the gate is unhacked or else the corvette might get alerted early.¡± Half the wing volunteered. Cam would have, but he knew they needed solidly skilled pilots to pull this off without incident. He would be a liability as much as a help. They needed to keep their visible presence down to a minimum. If Mohler couldn¡¯t hack the gate before they went through, then only a few ships should jump through. These areas weren¡¯t as frequented by Aluvius core members so a few fighters might escape notice, but half a dozen or more would definitely draw some attention. Even so, if someone did check the stargate they would still see three or four fighters jump from one system to another, but no jumps entering this system. Just another thing they had to hope fell through the cracks. In the end, Tophet and Lant joined two other pilots named Gauss and Varchant in the attack. The wing warped to a moon where they wouldn¡¯t be spotted immediately, but could still view any ships near the gate. Mohler and Effour took a couple minutes to scout a few jumps ahead, since the wing was going to rush through that system after the scout was taken down. Even if the scout was destroyed quickly, he would still be able to tell his guild he was attacked, out of game if necessary. The wing had to move on quickly so that their trail was cold by the time someone could check it out. In the end, all four pilots making up the attack squad jumped through together. Leaving the fourth for backup was decided against since they would have to use the gate comms to contact from one system to another, and that would only add to the amount of information they would leave behind for Aluvius to find. It only took a minute before Varchant jumped back through. Cam frowned when the other three didn¡¯t follow, but he saw why a moment later. The next gate activity was the corvette. It followed Varchant through, but to run, not to fight. Varchant didn¡¯t give him the opportunity. He quickly engaged it, preventing it from warping away while the other three followed through the stargate. The corvette was a boxy looking ship. It looked as much taped together as built. Perhaps it was a prefered style, or perhaps it was all the pirate could afford. It targeted Varchant¡¯s fighter, trying to shake him off so it could create a warp signature unhindered. From the wing¡¯s position Cam couldn¡¯t make out the stats on Varchant¡¯s shields, but he saw their glow collapse as Tophet and Lant closed in on the corvette. Varchant had to pull away, but the corvette¡¯s shields were already down. As Gauss engaged a moment later, the corvette quickly dropped before it could do any more significant damage. Will gave the signal to move out. Mohler hacked the gate before anyone jumped, and Gauss went close enough to the enemy wreck to loot it for any modules or scrap that survived. They jumped two more systems before slowing down and resuming their normal procedure for system jumping. * * * Cam had lost count of how many jumps they went through. The whole jump, hide, wait, jump, hide, wait of it all wore on him. He could feel his exhaustion as they made the final jump. Even in I-Flight he felt weary. I-Flight was an amazing feature and allowed players to feel even more part of the action and the world around them, but it didn¡¯t prevent fatigue from accruing. Just because his ship felt like his body--and therefore his body felt more like a machine than muscle--didn¡¯t mean his time spent flying didn¡¯t tax him. The ship responded sluggishly to his controls now, and his mind itself felt worn down. His character screen showed his fatigue was up to fifty six percent, well in the range that it affected his abilities, although supposedly not too much of a hindrance. He wondered what a score in the seventies or eighties would make him feel like. ¡°There it is, boys and girls,¡± came Will¡¯s voice over the comms, after they made their final warp to their destination. A small station sat in their view. It was tucked into some asteroids in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a rust colored tin box with a few antanas and other sensors poking out at odd angles. Very utilitarian. Cam just hoped it was functional enough for what they needed. It didn¡¯t look very kept up. The main hangar door took up more than half of one side. It was currently partially open, just enough for the fighters to fly through. If the hangar ran the full length of the station, Cam guessed it could maybe hold one or two battlecruisers, however he doubted the station was designed for anything so large. Destroyer class ships were probably the largest it could provide services to. It should easily be able to house a couple dozen fighters. ¡°That¡¯s our home?¡± came a grumbling Lant. ¡°Just to start,¡± Will said. ¡°I have a contact here. We¡¯ll find out the best place to set up shop. For now they¡¯ll put us up. No one from Aluvius even frequents this area anymore, now that they¡¯re renting it out.¡± Cam didn¡¯t care if it was a rock, as long as it had a place to stretch. They pulled their fighters into the half open bay. There were several platforms for smaller ships to land on, which together took up about a fifth of the available space. The wing landed on one platform together, with plenty of space for the odd assortment of fighters to park. Docking berths for medium sized ships filled most of the hangar bay. As Cam had suspected most were for destroyer sized ships, but one or two looked large enough to tether a cruiser. Only about a fourth of the berths were filled. Some with industrial looking ships, either designed for harvesting valuable minerals from asteroids or gas clouds in space, or for the transportation of goods from one location to another. A few were filled with combat ships. It was definitely on the smaller side for a station. It couldn¡¯t service larger ships and only a couple medium sized ships at a time. It was probably just an outpost for gathering and processing materials. Its size meant it had to rely on assistance from elsewhere in the event of an attack. Destroyer-sized ships were the largest in the bay, and they couldn¡¯t stand up against a heavy assault. He didn¡¯t have the energy to wonder how far away the nearest station was that could rush to the defense here. It could be anywhere. Cruisers could jump in quickly, even if they had to wait for their jump drives to charge back up to jump again. They could be here in minutes of getting notified of an attack. Or of getting notified that members of Caelestis had survived the battle and were hiding here. Will seemed to always know what he was doing. If it wasn¡¯t true now...well, this would be a really short trip. Chapter Eleven No one greeted them as they got out of their ships. Cam wasn¡¯t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. There was atmosphere in the bay--somehow held in--despite the door opened to outer space. The wing formed up and got their combat armor and weapons equipped. The meeting was supposed to be easy and uneventful, but always better safe than sorry. Will¡¯s contact was in charge of the station, but there were at least a few other players who used the station frequently based upon Caelestis¡¯ last known intel. Cam didn¡¯t have much, a blaster, half a dozen small drones in his inventory, and a light armor jacket that went over his normal flight suit. The armor included a helmet which had the ability to slide back or fully hide when not in combat. His looked like a standard star trooper type helmet: a round dome with an extra plate worked in around the back and sides, and with a small clear visor coming down to his nose. Cam appreciated the hide option. Even in a game like Celestial Void, which seemed built around players fighting each other for territory, it was a good nod toward human interaction. Masked soldiers in battle were one thing, but being forced to choose between protection and a visible face (not to mention how tacky full-frontal clear visors looked) was a bad thing for an MMO based on humans forming relationships with other humans. Most of the other pilots wore medium armor of varying types, anything from thick protection for projectile and energy weapons to partial mechanical suits which augmented their abilities. None wore full suits like the boarding and defensive soldiers Cam had seen on the Engra, but still there were some that might be considered heavy armor. He just couldn¡¯t tell at a glance yet. Cam had stuck with light armor, not because he couldn¡¯t use heavier gear, but because anything heavier would slow him down. The rest of the wing all had enough speed and strength or dexterity to not be encumbered with the extra protection. To his surprise, Tophet formed up into the front lines. He would never have guessed she would be even a semi-heavy melee hitter, but that was the part of the formation she took. Her dark red suit verged on black, heavily protecting her from all sides, and her assault rifle rested in a two point sling in front of her chest, ready to be used at a moment¡¯s notice. A sword type weapon hung in a sheath from her side and she wore a combat vest full of gear. Her shift from pilot to soldier seemed to be completely normal to her. Several others joined her in the front, including Lant, and the rest of the more heavily armored pilots stood in the back as a rear guard. Lant gave Cam a grin as they formed up. He was clearly enjoying having a heavy rifle to swing around. The squad formed around Will, looking like a sort of honor guard for him. Will looked undergeared in comparison to the pilots around him. He wore simple black medium armor that seemed too weak to protect him, but Cam knew it had to be stronger than it looked. Will had his pistol in a holster on his side, but knowing Will, he certainly had his attachments for them somewhere on his person. The privileges of being an officer, he had said. Malk Zelou and Kass Mector stood near Will, in the middle of the pilots. Cam also stood in the protected center, just behind the other three. He would be a liability in pretty much any battle both due to his low level and lack of training on Caelestis guild combat tactics. Cam also saw Steve in the formation, in the back. They didn¡¯t make eye contact, but Cam felt uneasy with the man behind him. Steve would have to be a fool to try to kill him or anyone in the group now--and besides, Cam couldn¡¯t say that the man wasn¡¯t loyal, even if he disliked Cam. But no one wanted to die out here. Not yet, at least.They needed a spawn point first. And that was their goal here--to set up a local spawn point so that dying would not be as bad as it was now. Each death still ate into their numbers, but once spawn point was set up, they would have a fall back base. It would still have its weaknesses. The spawn point itself could be tracked if too many of them died too fast, and blowing up the spawn point would put them back to where they were now. But it was another layer of protection. They were going to be out here for at least a tri-week or two. Dying in games was normal. Most games had some penalty for it, but it was expected that players would do it at least from time to time. Currently the penalty for the wing was too much--to be sent back to home territory and have a low chance of completing the mission. They needed to be not afraid of dying if they were to get everything done for the mission. Standing in the hangar made Cam feel exposed. It was so much larger than the Engra¡¯s, which had been designed only for fighters. This bay was wide open. It looked like a giant elliptical cylinder on its side, and they were about a third of the way up one side. The ships around him were powered down, but even a single one of them could kill them all in one barrage while they were exposed out of their ships. They exited the platform into what looked like an observation room. It had on its side nearest the hangar a full window, which could see almost the entire bay. The room was worn down and dirty. The window had large smugges in several places. Trash lay in one corner. Will was trying to use the comms to get ahold of his contact when a set of doors opened into the room. The doors ground as they opened, the sound of neglect running its course. One man stood in the doors as they opened. No one raised a weapon to the single, unarmed man, but two pilots took a step inwards to close the formation and protect Will. Everyone else stood ready for action, many taking that disinterested-looking pose that was both meant to disarm any potential adversaries but still allowed them to be ready to go at a moment¡¯s notice. The man who stepped through the doorway wore a dusty brown work jacket. His face was grime-covered,except around his eyes. A pair of goggles were pushed up into his hair, the obvious cause of his cleaner eyes. He looked like he had just finished fixing an old, dirty motor. ¡°William!¡± he said, wiping his hands with a rag. It only marginally cleaned his hands, as the rag itself was grime-crusted. ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you.¡± ¡°Mark,¡± said Will, with a nod and a smile. ¡°Is everything ready?¡± ¡°So much in a hurry,¡± Mark said, tsking and shaking his head. ¡°What about a ¡®hello¡¯ or ¡®how are you?¡¯¡± The door closed behind the man. Cam took a deep breath to keep from feeling claustrophobic in the room. He tried to put the giant hangar behind him out of his mind, and ignore the fact that even a fighter could blast through the window with a single concentrated salvo. ¡°Fine,¡± said Will, rolling his eyes. ¡°Hello. Is everything ready?¡± ¡°You¡¯re no fun, you know that?¡± said Mark, still trying to clean his hands with the cloth. ¡°Everything is almost ready. I couldn¡¯t start too soon because your adventure stirred up a lot of scrutiny by my illustrious Aluvius overseers. The clone bay is the last thing to pack up. It should be ready in just a few more minutes.¡± ¡°And how secure is the station right now?¡± Will asked, folding his arms. ¡°Unfortunately for you, business is booming,¡± he said grinning. ¡°That means a lot more people are coming around. Things are starting to look up here. But I did try to get one or two miners to organize a mining operation. I pushed for as many pilots to go on it as possible. So it¡¯s mostly secure, I guess.¡±--he waved his hand in the more-or-less signal--¡°That¡¯s about as good as I can get. We have over fifty players who use this as their base of operations. I can¡¯t control them all.¡± ¡°A victim of your own success.¡± ¡°I suppose. This area isn¡¯t super lucrative compared to some systems Aluvius has heavy infrastructure in, but if you want to be left alone to mine and fabricate out of the Aluvius guild proper, then this is the place to be. I¡¯ve been expanding the station to accommodate that. Huge investment, but it should pay off. Come on, let¡¯s get you to a place a bit better for hiding. I¡¯ll move your fighters to storage for now, just in case someone decides to drop by while we¡¯re still getting everything prepared. They can still be ready in a moment¡¯s notice, so don¡¯t worry.¡± Mark turned and led the way, back through the door he had entered. Parts of the station were definitely in better condition than others. Where they had landed seemed to be in the worst condition. Cam wondered if that was on purpose. Most players would skip the crusty old landing pad and go for something more shiny. It made it a better place than most to welcome visitors who didn¡¯t want to be generally known. In just a minute or so they had made a few twists and turns and walked far enough that Cam felt disoriented. Fortunately his HUD kept track of their path and updated his view of the station as they walked. He might not know the ins and outs of the station, but he would be able to follow the path back to the hangar in an emergency. There wasn¡¯t much talking during the walk. Mark was several meters in front of the squad, to check in case anyone was ahead of them who they might not want to see them. Two of the heavies were next. If someone needed to be taken out, Will didn¡¯t want their full numbers seen. Large numbers always drew more attention than smaller numbers. They stopped in a medium-sized supply room. Mark assured them that no one would go in there, and that he showed them how to lock the doors. It was one of his several private storage areas. It was the cleanest space Cam had seen so far on the station, and large enough to hold all of them comfortably. Chairs and tables were set up, with all the actual storage containers stacked into neat piles. Even the metallic smell felt clean. Some whiffs of old oil came through the vents, but overall the smell was more pleasant than anywhere else in the station so far. A few pilots stood guard at the door, but most pilots sat down and relaxed, even if they still had their gun within reach. The door had large storage pallets behind it, blocking the view of anyone entering from the main storage area. Mark showed them his back door escape route from the room and gave them a schematic of the area, in case they needed to use it. For as much as he assured the wing that they were safe and no one would find them, he still was paranoid. Not that Cam minded. He was all for living long enough to get his spawn point out here. Mohler left with Mark to help make sure everything was as they needed. Will had wanted to go, but the other squad leaders agreed that he shouldn¡¯t take unnecessary risks with himself. Not at this point. It left the other pilots with time to burn and nothing much to do with it. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but I¡¯m ready for this boredom to end,¡± said Lant--Pete, Cam reminded himself--plopping down in a seat next to Cam. He still had his rifle in his hand, but he tilted his head back and looked up at the ceiling. Only a few minutes had passed with them sitting her, and already Pete looked ready to shoot the walls to give himself something to do. ¡°Boredom?¡± Cam asked. ¡°We¡¯ve haven¡¯t been here for five minutes.¡± He had pulled one of his drones out and was playing with it. It was the same size as the one he used on the Engra during the fight, small enough to fit in his hand with his fingers outstretched, but this one was more powerful. Right now he was trying to move it about the room while still keeping the camera on himself. How well could he judge the room, based on looking at one viewpoint. It was an odd feeling. He was looking at the drone, but also seeing his own face at the same time. Something about I-Flight seemed to make the transition to multiple perspectives easier. Probably that I-Flight already was vastly different than normal perception as he could see the entire battlefield around him at once. ¡°All this sneaking around isn¡¯t for me,¡± said Pete. ¡°I prefer a solid fight to all the cloak and dagger stuff.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be more free once we get the clone bay,¡± said Cam, ¡°but we¡¯ll still have to be pretty sneaky. Can¡¯t trace them to us back here. I just hope we won¡¯t be holed up in this room the entire time.¡± ¡°Here?¡± said Pete. ¡°No, not here. The clone bay we¡¯re getting we¡¯re going to move. We¡¯re going to find a place in the middle of nowhere to set up shop and go from there.¡± ¡°Oh, I thought Mark had to set up something with their clone bay here to get it so we can use it.¡± ¡°Naw, nothing like that,¡± Pete said, shaking his head. ¡°We couldn¡¯t use his. This Mark guy may have built this station, but if it¡¯s Aluvius sponsored then they¡¯ll have access and partial control over it. He can hide some stuff from them, but not clonebay use. They¡¯ll get a notification for anyone who is added to the registry. If twenty of us set it up as our spawn point--even over a few days--Aluvius will look into it. At that point it¡¯ll be game over.¡± Cam thought about that for a moment. It made sense, but it also meant more steps before they had a secure spawn point. He let out a sign. ¡°I hate all this cloak and dagger stuff, too. I mean it¡¯s fun to a point, but we¡¯re still at so much risk for our mission--and I don¡¯t even know what it is yet. I¡¯m with you. Let¡¯s go blow something up.¡± The big man grinned, and slapped Cam on the back. ¡°I knew there was a reason I liked you. We¡¯ll find a good fight for us once we get our spawn out here and a few ships made in reserve.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He and Pete sat and chatted for a few more minutes. Pete told him all he knew about the clone bay. The smallest version of the device--the one they were most likely going to get--was able to accommodate just fifty people using it as their spawn point. The wait they had was for Mark to pack it up. Such a powerful piece of equipment was tough to move and deploy. Once the Wing found a spot to set it up, it would take a few days for them to prepare it to be moved again. Cam kept practicing with his drones. Once he felt used to the two perspectives of having one drone out, he pulled out a second. It felt twice as difficult to have three perspectives instead of two. He flew the two back and forth, sometimes together, sometimes going in opposite directions. It took time to even get basic motions down when both drones weren¡¯t doing the exact same thing. A few pilots seemed to be interested in what he was doing. He ignored them to focus on the drones. Soon he could give some basic orders to both while having them do different motions, but having them move together was by far the easiest. Fortunately he avoided smashing them against anything hard in the tight spaces, but he did induce a few laughs on some near misses and some of his attempts at formations in the tight space. ¡°You gotta teach me some of that,¡± said Tophet, taking another seat near him. Emma, Cam had again to remind himself. They were off the battlefield, and the wing was supposedly less formal outside of combat situations unless the moment needed it. Cam had been so focused on his drones he had missed her walking over. ¡°What, teach you how to use two underpowered drones at the same time?¡± Pete said, incredulously. ¡°He might be getting the hang of it, but it won¡¯t be muchhelp.¡± Cam grunted in agreement. ¡°I can¡¯t even chew gum and do this at the same time, let alone walk.¡± He was still intrigued by the possibilities of using drones, but he was starting to see why people had problems with them. He could barely move them slowly around the storage room while having this conversation. One drone was looking at himself while flying, and the other was pointed at the main door. Seeing those while still looking through his own eyes at them was enough to make him light headed. He couldn¡¯t imagine trying to move around at the same time. Not yet at least. ¡°Most people give up after even attempting to use two drones,¡± Emma said. ¡°It¡¯s too much for them. Two is nice. How many can you control at once right now?¡± ¡°Theoretically? Six, but three of these will start to drain my Psi Energy faster than it can recharge. Will gave these to me. They¡¯re fairly nice for being the smallest class of drone. They reserve and drain more Psi Energy than the drones I was using with my ship though. I could do six only for a few seconds before I was at zero Psi Energy. Three I could do for about a half an hour.¡± ¡°Not bad for a low level,¡± Pete said. ¡°Well, if you can keep this up we¡¯ll have to get you a drone boat of a fighter at some point. See what you can do on the field with a few more drones. I¡¯ll admit yours weren¡¯t doing too bad in the fights.¡± ¡°I-Flight does seem to help,¡± Cam said, voicing his thoughts from earlier. He moved his drones towards the main door and caught the attention of the guards there. After a moment they got the hint, but didn¡¯t open the door. Eventually they peaked around the storage pallets and looked over at him. Emma waved them on and they opened the doors for Cam¡¯s drones to fly out. There were no guards outside--it could draw attention--so he maneuvered his drones down far enough each way that he could spot anyone coming near. He hid them up at the ceiling of the hallway, each tucked between some conduit for extra camouflage. ¡°Without I-Flight I feel clunky just trying to control them at all,¡± he finished, pulling out a third. He activated that as well and moved it slowly. Four viewpoints now, but three of them weren¡¯t moving. He could do it, but barely. Still, even three drones of this quality would barely put a dent in a heavy soldier. He¡¯d need either heavier drones or more if he wanted to do a decent amount of damage in a fire fight. ¡°Give it time,¡± said Emma encouragingly. ¡°You might be onto something with this--for yourself at least. You¡¯re doing great for barely being a tri-day old in-game.¡± He kept practicing to pass the time. Emma and Pete talked a bit, but he couldn¡¯t follow the conversation. Every time he tried, he lost control of one or more of his drones. The two he had in the outside hallway kept watch while he moved the third one about in the storage area. He also tried to get up and walk around while still controlling them. That got a bit tricky, but he eventually he could do some basic movements with the one drone while walking in a straight line and not feeling dizzy. The two extra perspectives of the drones outside was enough to throw off his concentration. Eventually Cam figured he could maybe use two drones while in combat, but three was still too much to control effectively for now. Eventually Mohler and Mark returned. Cam had a heads up from his drones outside and said something as soon as he saw them. The wing was antsy and ready to move. Most had been fidgeting with either a weapon or something they found in the room. They all stopped when Cam spoke up. The guards opened the doors and peaked out, impatiently waving the two in. As they talked to Will, all ears seemed to be pointed at the three. The conversation was quiet, but in a few moments Will nodded, and turned to address everyone. ¡°Time to head back out,¡± he said. Even those words seemed to ease much of the tension in the room. No one liked to ¡°hurry up and wait¡± as so often was needed in these moments. ¡°The clone bay is in the loading area for the hangar. Gauss will be flying the cargo ship Mark has for us. We need to get her fighter packed up and put in the ship as well before we go. I don¡¯t need to remind you to move quickly and be careful not to be seen.¡± In less than thirty seconds everyone gathered what little they had dared set down before and were ready to move. Before they could form up, however, Cam spotted something through his drones. ¡°Two people are walking towards the door,¡± Cam said to Will. He hadn¡¯t seen any other people in the hallways besides when Mohler and Mark came back. Will motioned for quiet. Those who were close enough to have heard what Cam had said looked at him. They knew he had two of his drones outside, and were waiting. No one wanted an incident now that everything else was in place. ¡°Are they stopping or moving on?¡± Will asked, barely loud enough to be heard. ¡°They¡¯re still walking up,¡± Cam said quietly, as he watched. ¡°They¡¯re at the door now. They¡¯re talking about something... I can¡¯t quite hear. Logistics of moving gathered material from here to another place? Now they¡¯re looking around. They¡¯re at the control panel. I can¡¯t see what they¡¯re doing to it.¡± ¡°Thieves,¡± Mark hissed, pulling out his blaster. ¡°Everyone knows this is my storage and off limits. No one should be touching that panel. They¡¯re trying to steal from my stash.¡± ¡°How long will it take them?¡± Will asked. ¡°Not sure. Depends.¡± Mark shrugged, gun still at the ready. ¡°If they¡¯re good hackers, maybe two minutes. Less if they get lucky. More if they¡¯re idiots. I have some defenses in here but they¡¯re turned off. They¡¯d fire at you too unless I put you all in my system, which would definitely leave clues for Aluvius.¡± ¡°Everyone through the back door, then,¡± Will said loud enough to be heard. ¡°Mics on, channels up. Mark, you can turn on the defenses once we¡¯re out.¡± Right then they heard a clang and the front doors opened a crack. Already pilots were funneling through the back exit, but the secret passage turned out to be a crawl space rather than a walkway. Depending on how lucky the thieves were with their hacking the wing might not have enough time for them all to get out. ¡°Lant, Tophet, Jages, Jawntwo,¡± Will listed out. ¡°Set up by the door. Someone kill the lights. Are the thieves well armed?¡± ¡°No,¡± said Cam. ¡°No armor, just some handguns.¡± Will nodded. ¡°Mark, you want to confront them or just kill them?¡± ¡°Kill them. If they¡¯re knocking up this place they¡¯re up to no good.¡± Lant, Tophet, and the two other pilots, took up positions on each side of the large storage containers. Everyone else was still hidden from the view of the doors. Lant and Tophet were in front on their respective sides, their heavier armor providing protection. Jawntwo and Jages were in lighter armor, but still bore some large guns. Jages--who was another female--took up position behind Tophet, and Jawntwo was behind Lant. He saw grins flash between both sides, as if this was going to be a battle of the sexes as to who would get the kills first. The lights inside the storage room turned off a moment after the groups were in position. Cam watched the thieves as they worked outside. One was busy with the control panel, the other was tinkering with a device in his hand. Cam realized it was a communication device. ¡°Two more guys are walking up,¡± Cam said into his mic. He set it to broadcast only to those within a small range. The pilots filing through the crawl space didn¡¯t need to be distracted, especially if they encountered more unforeseen circumstances. ¡°They have loaders of some sort it looks like. It looks like the four of them are working together.¡± ¡°A conspiracy,¡± Mark growled. He looked furious in the semi-dark. Even with the lights off Cam could make out his expression. ¡°Get these often?¡± Will asked, almost jokingly. Cam felt too tense to joke at the moment and gave a sideways look at Will that his friend didn¡¯t even see. They were in a game, yes, but their hard work of the last couple days might just get found out by random chance. ¡°I guess with how the place has been so popular, I haven¡¯t vetted people properly.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve probably been enjoying all the revenue they bring,¡± said Will. ¡°Can¡¯t deny that. As I said, it¡¯s been booming recently,¡± said Mark with a grin. ¡°Good news for you guys at least: if they were part of Aluvius they are low level players in it and won¡¯t be trusted anymore once I report this in.¡± ¡°I would still like to keep as low a profile as possible,¡± said Will. ¡°Less anyone knows the better. Four soldiers will still be enough to take them out quickly if we can¡¯t escape fast enough, and in either case we¡¯ll be far away before they can raise a fuss after they respawn.¡± About half the wing had left through the tunnel by now. Cam could still see the four men working on the panel. They probably wanted to get in and out as fast as they could. Less potential complications that way. ¡°They¡¯ll probably respawn here,¡± said Mark. ¡°That¡¯ll give you even more time before they can report back.¡± The doors creaked open farther. Light poured in from the crack, over the top of the storage units that were near the front door. The four pilots were still dark and would be almost impossible to see by someone coming into the room from a well lit hallway. ¡°None of them are looking down the halls,¡± Cam said, ¡°so they might have more people involved as scouts.¡± ¡°How are you seeing them?¡± Mark asked. ¡°Can you show them to me? Six is getting a bit big for a heist around here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m using my drones as cameras,¡± Cam responded. ¡°I can¡¯t show you. Maybe there¡¯s a way but I don¡¯t know it yet. One of the guys has a--¡± He was cut off as the doors slammed open. Nothing happened for a precious few seconds, but he didn¡¯t dare make any more noise. Cam watched from the outside with his drones. The men slowly peaked in, but with the lights off they weren¡¯t able to see much. ¡°Someone find the lights,¡± one man said as he took a step in. The other men followed. Immediately the four pilots opened fire. Once the men stepped inside they didn¡¯t have any cover. The weapon fire was loud in Cam¡¯s ears. He was less than half a dozen meters from the gunshots. He lost his focus on his drones as his head rang. When he recovered the gun fire had stopped, but only three bodies were on the floor. ¡°Crat!¡± said Tophet, already moving forward. Jages was moving with her. Lant and Jawntwo were just a few moments behind. ¡°Left side!¡± shouted Cam, seeing the man with his drones. He moved his drones to follow. Unfortunately the man didn¡¯t look wounded, so he was moving fast. Either he had held back far enough to dive for cover or had just got lucky with the bullets hitting his friends and not him. Cam¡¯s closest drone started firing, trying to hit the man anywhere to slow him down. The other drone was still closing distance. He landed a few shots, all of them only doing ten points of damage. Cam could see that it barely dented the man¡¯s health bar. If the man had as little health as Cam it would take eighteen hits to drop him and it looked like he had far more than that. His shots weren¡¯t even slowing the man down. Bullets from Tophet and Jawntwo started flying down the hallway as well, but the man quickly reached the next corner and dove behind it. Some of the shots had connected and had chunked into his health, but Cam couldn¡¯t see him for a precious few seconds. Cam continued following with his drones, but already he heard Will calling over the comms. ¡°Pull back!,¡± he ordered. ¡°Move to the hangar. We¡¯ll worry about any fallout from this later.¡± Cam used his lead drone to peak around the corner. He didn¡¯t want to linger, but he didn¡¯t want to find the man was limping and just a couple shots away from dying. As he peaked, however, he felt his drone careen out of control. It dipped and he could barely steady it. At first he thought the man had some device that might interfere with controlling drones, but as far as he knew that didn¡¯t exist in game. The man was running away but Cam couldn¡¯t control his drone enough to order it to open fire. A moment later, when the man reached the next bend, Cam realized he had hit his drone control range limit. For small drones such as these, the range was only thirty meters--a good distance, but if he wasn¡¯t physically following the fight, his drones would reach it in seconds. He ordered his drones back. Will was motioning the last of the pilots to the rear exit. Mark was up by the door when Cam¡¯s drones arrived. ¡°The good news is that these were thugs who joined just a couple weeks ago,¡± Mark said, examining the bodies. Bodies remained even after death. They didn¡¯t despawn for hours, and if someone claimed them they wouldn¡¯t despawn at all. The players themselves would soon wake up in new bodies, back at their spawn point, but their old bodies remained for examination. ¡°The bad news is that their spawn points are in station and I can¡¯t access station security to lock down the station¡¯s clone bay. Someone is hacking into the main system. I can ferret them out but it will take time. I¡¯m also not sure how many friends they have if they organized this. If he was right about them having lookouts--¡± he waved towards Cam ¡°--then there are probably at more than six of them.¡± ¡°Nothing we can¡¯t handle,¡± said Will as he waited for Cam to grab his drones. ¡°If they get organized they might be a nuisance, but it looked like they were going for an easy score.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just waiting for the other shoe to fall,¡± Mark said with a grin. ¡°It always seems to. Get going. I¡¯ll be fine here. It just might take me a bit of time to weed out the bad apples.¡± They left Mark to his clean up and went through the back exit. The crawl space only lasted about fifty meters before it opened up to larger side passageways. Lant, Tophet, and the other two pilots had waited for them, saying they didn¡¯t want Will to go without an escort. From there it was just a short jaunt to the hangar and their ships. In the bay, a huge cargo ship had been moved to the berth next to the landing pad their fighters were on. If Mark had stowed their fighters, they were already back out and ready to fly again. Gauss¡¯s fighter had been put into storage mode, which took up far less space, but meant it would have to be redeployed to be useable again. A giant hangar crane was moving the fighter into the hauler¡¯s cargo bay. Unfortunately the hangar doors were closed at the moment, Cam saw, so they couldn¡¯t make a quick getaway unless they opened automatically from the inside. They might need to get Mark to open it for them. Hopefully that wouldn¡¯t be an issue. The crane finished its loading and he saw a woman--Gauss most likely--run from the crane and down the berth to the cargo ship. The cargo ship was massive compared to fighters. It was about the same length as a cruiser, and bulky enough to fit plenty inside it. Most of the other pilots were already in their fighters, ready to launch. Lant and Jawntwo lead the way down to the fighters. Will and Cam were next, and Tophet and Jages followed behind. Before they reached their fighters, they heard a voice over their squad¡¯s general comm channel. ¡°Bad news, guys,¡± came Mark¡¯s voice. ¡°It seems these guys were in league with one of the pirate gangs around here. There¡¯s a small fleet outside the station. If you want to get out, you¡¯re going to have to fight.¡± Well, thought Cam wryly, at least the hangar doors were closed at the moment. Otherwise they might have come into the hangar under some heavy fire. This way they¡¯re going to get a chance to fight. Chapter Twelve ¡°Give me some details,¡± Will said to Mark with just a hint of frustration. He had paused his run to his ship and the group had stopped with him. No point in hurrying into an unknown fight. ¡°How many, what ships?¡± ¡°I see thirty-nine ships, the largest is destroyer sized. Twenty-eight fighters, five corvettes, four frigates, and two destroyers.¡± ¡°Dang, who did you piss off?¡± Will asked, shaking his head. ¡°If they¡¯re using their own markings--which pirates don¡¯t always do--they¡¯re the Crimson Nine.¡± ¡°There are more than nine of them out there,¡± said Pete dryly. ¡°Har har. Not sure what I did to piss them off. I must be a victim of my own success. They won¡¯t be able to do much against the station itself with their fleet, but it¡¯s enough to stop ships from docking and undocking without pushing the pirates away from the station first. Most of my pilots are out on that mining op. Not that they¡¯d be great in a dogfight anyways, and not that you¡¯d want to announce your presence to them.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± said Will. ¡°We need to try to handle this on our own. Are your station guns still working with the hacking going on?¡± ¡°Um. Let me check,¡± Mark said. He kept talking as he worked. ¡°The majority of the hacking was disrupting the communications between systems. I¡¯m already back in the control center, so I have access to most major systems here, and I can clear out the rest without moving. It¡¯s just going to take time.¡± There was a pause. ¡°Okay, yes. The station guns are online, but I would have to manually control them so they don¡¯t fire at you guys. That¡¯ll only be a problem if the hackers have something else up their sleeves. They¡¯re still loose, but as I get more security nodes back up they wont be able to run for long.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still going to be a tough fight,¡± Will said, grimacing. ¡°And I doubt they¡¯ll come inside range of those guns. We could use the station as a safe area. We could try running but they might try to follow us and chase us down. We won¡¯t be able to brawl with them. Our best bet is to bloody their noses, but how?¡± ¡°I got four frigates if you want to use them,¡± said Mark. ¡°A destroyer too, but it¡¯s not the most mobile. I don¡¯t really have any corvettes and you got your own fighters already.¡± Info in the ships appeared in Cam¡¯s heads up display. The stats and loadouts were there for him to look at. He watched Will move his hands to manipulate the data. It was strange to observe, as Cam couldn¡¯t see Will¡¯s heads up display--all he saw was Will¡¯s hands waving and pointing in the air. Cam glanced at the loadouts himself, but he doubted he would be able to process the information fast enough to make sense of it. He activated his Combat Focus to give him a few more seconds to look. It was probably a waste of time, but his Psi Energy could handle it. Combat Focus lasted for thirty game seconds, and could be extended, but at a price of using a lot more Psi Energy. During use his mind worked faster, effectively letting him experience extra time dilation for that time. It had a cooldown of several minutes. Cam had only used it once, when first testing out what it could do. He hadn¡¯t had the chance to use it in battle--the last battle he had forgotten about it until he had powered down his fighter--but even though he was using it now, it should be up again by the time any fighting got serious. Frigates were much larger than fighters: About four times as long, and had eight times the hitpoints a fighter would have. They weren¡¯t quite big enough to be considered a capital ship¡ªdestroyers were the smallest ship with that classification--but they were still large compared to what Cam was used to. Cam¡¯s fighter had about three thousand hit points between shield, armor and hull. These had about twenty thousand, all together. The frigates were all Brandur class, which unsurprisingly Cam hadn¡¯t heard of. Three were armor tanked, meaning they had more armor hit points than shield hitpoints, but they also had modules that could repair the armor over time. Those modules took a lot of power to run, but it also meant the shields required far less power to use and recharge. The shields in this case were more of an alarm that you were getting fired upon than a serious line of defense. They¡¯d get stripped off in only a few shots, but then the enemy still had your main defenses to get through. The fourth frigate was also Brandur class, but was shield focused and had equipment to make it more agile and faster. It was a contrast to the slower, armor tanked loadouts of the other three, but all four had the same weapons: long ranged, slow firing but powerful guns. The fourth one he could figure out its purpose: be fast and constantly moving so that it wouldn¡¯t be caught, and use the long range weapons to wear down an enemy. The other three seemed too slow to fill the same purpose. He was still trying to figure out why they were loaded out like that with their equipment when Will started talking again. ¡°Mark, do you have the equipment to load the fourth frigate out like the other three?¡± Will said with almost unbearable slowness. It was the Combat Focus speeding up Cam¡¯s perceptions. With it active the world around him seemed to move like through a sludge. It had to be at least twice as slow as he was used to maybe even more. He could see how using Combat Focus would help in the heat of battle. It could also be annoying if used at the wrong time. Trying to communicate orders while your mind is racing three times as fast as your mouth and the words might not come out right. Or use it to pick a target, and then spend most of the thirty seconds flying towards that enemy at what felt like a crawl, the only consolation is that they looked like they were crawling as well. Cam decided to cancel the ability¡¯s effects early so that he didn¡¯t have to figure out Will¡¯s slow words. ¡°Naw, what you see is what I got,¡± Mark said at normal speed. ¡°The mismatched ship was an experiment. The other three are a loadout I¡¯ve come to like.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll make it work. I think we¡¯ll pass on the destroyer. We need to stay mobile.¡± Will switched over to the wing¡¯s channel. ¡°Who is comfortable with a hopper?¡± he asked. ¡°We got three frigates.¡± Cam glanced at the frigate loadouts again. It took a moment to figure out what Will was talking about. He found the module that was called a Warp Displacement Device and figured it had to be the culprit. He selected it to look at its details. It turned out to be a module based on making short warp hops on the battlefield, effectively repositioning a ship mid-combat. It had a minimum distance of fifty kilometers and a maximum distance of one hundred and fifty. The three ship¡¯s loadouts made sense now. The hoppers were how they kept range. Even so, frigates weren¡¯t too large of ships. The largest guns you could fit on one only had an effective range of about forty kilometers. Well, scratch that, Cam realized. For him they would only have an effective range of about forty. For a well skilled pilot, it should be well into the fifties, maybe even up to sixty kilometers. It would be perfect for the short end of the hopper¡¯s range, and the longer range would give them even a larger buffer of where to go on the battlefield. The module¡¯s largest drawbacks were the skills needed to use and its cooldown. Even if Cam threw all his current extra points into the prerequisites he wouldn¡¯t be close to using one. It also could only be activated once every three minutes. A fighter could easily close the distance in that time and lock the frigate down. ¡°I could,¡± said Lant. ¡°Not my style, but I have the skills.¡± Another voice came over the comms: ¡°I can fly one.¡± Cam recognized it as Scott Williams, the guy who had been upset that Cam had joined the wing. Cam frowned. He wasn¡¯t too sure about Williams getting into a larger, more powerful craft, but then again, it wasn¡¯t his decision. ¡°Emma, you can use a hopper right?¡± Will asked. ¡°Only if you want a new babysitter for Flyboy,¡± she replied, nodding at Cam. Will seemed to weigh this in his mind. Cam wasn¡¯t sure how another pilot would act with him as their wingman. Emma seemed capable of flying on her own with only a minimal need of Cam¡¯s help. And he wasn¡¯t much help yet. Another pilot might rely on him too much and get into situations where they both got killed. They were saved from making a decision when Jawntwo spoke up. ¡°I can fly one if you need,¡± he said. ¡°Can¡¯t say the last time I used one ended well, but if we¡¯re sticking together I can follow the group.¡± Cam then realized that Jawntwo was one of the pilots who had left with Williams in the mess hall after getting upset at Cam. Still, Jawntwo hadn¡¯t made any snide comments or done anything rude to Cam. Maybe Williams had cooled off and everything was better now. Will nodded and motioned for Jawntwo and Lant to head to the frigates. He called Williams to get prepped for a frigate as well. ¡°Gauss, we got three more fighters for you to fit in the hauler,¡± Will said over the comms. ¡°Think you can get them in?¡± ¡°What would you all do without me?¡± came her voice over the comms. She sounded playful, if just a touch annoyed. ¡°I¡¯ll run back out, and get them squared away. Just let me know if you leave anything else behind before I get all comfy in the pilot¡¯s chair again.¡± Cam saw her leave the cargo ship and moving back to the hangar crane. At the same time, Williams ran right by with only a salute to Will--he didn¡¯t even glance at Cam--and followed the other two. The three pilots were heading to an elevator that would take them to the frigate berths. The rest of them moved to their fighters. Cam settled in to his fighter and got it ready to fly. As they prepped Will opened a channel to the wing. ¡°Alright, pilots. We¡¯re going to set up a mobile sniper nest. Our goal is to poke and annoy until these pirates leave. All fighters are on guard duty while the frigates do the poking.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t those destroyers be able to hit us at that range?¡± Zelou asked. ¡°We¡¯ll have to see their capabilities. The real issue is the other frigates. We can outrun the destroyers if need be, or at least get angular velocity on them to make ourselves harder to hit, but if the frigates equal us, we might be in for a tough firefight. Most pirate fleets go for mobility, but that doesn¡¯t always mean sniper builds.¡± ¡°And if those frigates do have sniper builds?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll keep our fighters moving and take pot shots at their fighters. Best we can do is hope for them to make a mistake in that situation,¡± said Will. ¡°Everybody form up and get ready to join the party.¡± Mark had apparently refueled and restocked all the fighters while they were in storage. The biggest thing that meant was that Cam had two more fighter-to-fighter missiles. Mark had also reskinned them, to give them colors other than the ones they had at their last battle. Cam thought the colors were random at first. He saw every color from deep blues to bright yellows. He wasn¡¯t sure what he thought about the red and orange streaking over his ship¡¯s hull. It could be worse, he knew. When he saw Will¡¯s ship he knew it wasn¡¯t entirely random. Will¡¯s ship was covered in pink and baby blue. It was definitely something Mark would do on purpose. Fortunately colors provided almost no combat advantages. Even in short ranged fights most tracking was done by computers, not eyes. The wing lifted off their platform and formed up. There were only twenty fighters. Gauss was in the cargo ship and Lant, Williams and Jawntwo in frigates. Gauss stayed docked for the moment. She was still getting the fighters into the cargo ship, and her ship wouldn¡¯t be any use in a firefight. The frigates were ready to go soon after. The fighters separated into three groups. One for each frigate, although the plan was for them to all stay together. They were the underdogs. Pirates were generally known for having good small fleet tactics since small groups allowed them to be mobile and choose their fights. On top of that casualties for the wing still meant the loss of pilots for the mission. Once everyone had their orders of which frigates to fly with, Will told Mark to open the cargo doors for them to leave. Mohler cloaked up and went out first to scout. The doors stopped opening once there was enough room for the frigates to go through. ¡°There¡¯s room to slip out,¡± Mohler said. ¡°They¡¯re giving the station plenty of room. I¡¯m betting they were more here for escort than a fight.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± said Will, doubtfully, ¡°but I¡¯m betting they¡¯ll be fine with a fight anyway. Especially if they see an easy target like a hauler. The plan is the same. Move out and annoy them off the field, then we¡¯ll undock the hauler.¡± The doors opened slightly more. The fighters moved out first, and the frigates followed. The pirates were in a group about a hundred kilometers from the station. The formation was small compared to what Cam saw in first space fight, but it was still impressive. The destroyers formed a threatening core that the frigates and corvettes were anchored around. The fighters formed a few small groups slightly in front of the main formation. The fighters themselves outnumbered the wing and Cam was sure they would have better pilots than what Cam had seen from Aluvius¡¯ rushed form ups to fight the Engra. Once the wing was formed up outside, they started burning away from the station, not towards the pirate ships, but tangentially away from them--up compared to the station¡¯s orientation, not that up or down really held meaning this far from a gravity well. The frigates slowed the formation down, but only a bit. Their max speeds were about seven hundred and fifty meters per second. Cam¡¯s max speed had gone up from nine hundred meters per second to nine-fifty with his skills. He was slow compared to the other pilots. He was sure Tophet had around one thousand two-hundred for her ship¡¯s max speed. Lant, Williams, and Jawntwo had good enough skills to almost keep up with Cam, even in ships two classes larger than him. It didn¡¯t take long for the maneuvering battle to begin. The pirates didn¡¯t want to give them too much distance, but they also didn¡¯t want to approach the station too much either. The station was small compared to the one the wing had attacked with the Engra, so its guns were less powerful and had a shorter range. They wouldn¡¯t be able to damage a destroyer or smaller ships at a hundred kilometers as long as the ships kept just a tiny sideways motion. A flak gun would spread out too much by that distance and any concentrated slug¡¯s chance of hitting was barely a rounding error. The pirate ships were all mismatched with many different kinds of hulls. The two destroyers looked the same--and Cam¡¯s interface marked them as Klixue class--but there were no more than two of the same class for the frigates and corvettes. Velox, Zerda, and Lynx, Attica, Beiti, for classes respectively. The fighters were a smattering mix, just like the Caelestis wing. Cam wasn¡¯t sure if the lack of ship coordination was a good sign or a bad one. In larger battles, having lots of the same kinds of ships usually helped with fighting as each ship had the same capabilities, but this wasn¡¯t that large of a battle, and the wing was outnumbered almost two to one. The lack of coordination could mean the same it meant for the Caelestis wing: the pilots were sure of their abilities, and didn¡¯t need that sort of uniform capabilities. The Caelestis wing was able to fight in smaller groups and be more independent. The pirates started burning only once the Caelestis frigates were about twenty kilometers away from the station. The frigates could still run back to the station, but the pirates were betting on a fight. Their fighters started an intercept path that took them deep into the station¡¯s guns range but at a speed where the chances of the guns hitting was still almost nothing. The larger ships seemed to be taking a more roundabout course to cut them off. That could be enough to turn the battle in the wing¡¯s favor, Cam thought. The fighters might outnumber them, but the pirates were not taking the Caelestis formation as a serious threat. If they could lower the number of pirate fighters then they would have complete mobile superiority. Even if they could not kill the destroyers, they could completely avoid them and possibly escort the hauler out with a few well executed maneuvers.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Will kept the wing on the same course. They had passed the frigate¡¯s maximum speed, which only meant their acceleration dropped significantly, so they continued to slowly gain speed. They only angled once the enemy fighters closed to sixty kilometers. The fighters had arced around and were trying to approach with a mostly parallel approach, but Will angled the wing to keep the frigates at their aft. It allowed for easier shots from their frigates on the smaller fighters. ¡°Start locking targets,¡± Will said. ¡°Spread out the locks so they don¡¯t know who we¡¯re going to fire on. I¡¯ll call out actual targets when they get closer. Frigates, you¡¯re free to fire when they get within forty-five klicks.¡± The effect was immediate, but not as drastic as Cam had hoped. Once the locks started the pirate fighters changed their angle, but kept formation. Their angle still made a slow approach to the wing, and would cut the wing off from the station as the battle continued. The wing kept trying to match the angle so the frigates would always have a good shot, but the pirate fighters were more agile than the wing and would eventually catch up to the frigates. The angle also forced them in a bearing that would let the other pirate ships close faster and keep the wing away from the station. That wasn¡¯t a worry at the moment, as the larger pirate ships were still over eighty kilometers away. But it would fast become an issue once the enemy fighters engaged and bogged down the formation. Before the enemy fighters were within range, they changed course and started navigating around the wing. They kept about sixty kilometers distance, and, being faster than the wing, soon got in front of them. It put the small Caelestis fleet in a tough position. If they kept burning in that direction, the enemy fighters could reverse direction and burn towards the frigates far faster than the frigates could burn away. With luck they would close in seconds and with only taking a few losses. It would turn the fight into a brawl before Caelestis could thin the enemy¡¯s numbers. However if Will ordered the wing to switch directions it would allow the larger pirate ships to catch up faster. Instead, Will kept the wing burning straight ahead, towards the pirate fighters. They still had an ace up their sleeve with the hoppers. With some luck they could get some kills before having to use them. Another fifty kilometers and the enemy fighters finally made their move. The wing was more than two hundred kilometers from the station by now, no way for them to get back and no way the station would hit even a stationary target this far. The fighters reversed direction and engaged their afterburners, to close the distance to the wing¡¯s frigates as fast as possible. With the smaller ship¡¯s higher agility and the afterburners they closed the distance in seconds. Long range guns like the frigates were using had horrible tracking. They could out range an enemy, but if the enemy got too close the guns would be worthless against them. The other trade off of long range weapons were that they had a high damage per shot, but low firing rate. It allowed a huge amount of up-front damage--often called an alpha strike or alpha damage--which could eliminate ships, but would take several seconds between one volley and the next. The wing¡¯s frigates fired their first salvo and three enemy fighters disappeared, but the rest of the fighters would be on top of them before their guns would cycle for another shot. ¡°Hop straight ahead, sixty klicks,¡± Will commanded. ¡°Fighters, engage your ¡®burners and meet up. Leave a present for the following targets.¡± The hoppers took a few seconds to wind up. The frigates engaged them as soon as Will gave the order. The hoppers could be disrupted, just like any warp. Every warp drive could be modulated into a warp damper, which would disrupt warp bubbles from forming, even the specialized ones from the hoppers. Only if a ship¡¯s warp drive was strong enough would it be able to still engage in warp. Equal sized ships could stop each other from warping off if they were close enough, but smaller ships needed more numbers against larger ships. A single fighter could stop another fighter from warping off, but it would take several fighters to stop a frigate and hundreds to stop a battleship. In order to make sure the pirate fighters couldn¡¯t stop the hop, the wing¡¯s fighters flew straight at them, each launching a single one of their anti-fighter missiles to disrupt the enemy¡¯s mad dash to the frigates. Will had picked four targets for the missiles, which put five missiles burning for each target. At the rate they were closing the missiles would most likely miss, but would turn around for another pass at the enemy. The pirates would be forced to take time to kill the missiles or else sacrifice those fighters. The pirates had the same idea, but they were not as organized as the Caelestis targeting. It seemed purely a reactive order, with the salvo of missiles from them targeting half the fighters in the wing. Cam couldn¡¯t find the one targeting him before it was too late. It was launched by a ship that passed right by him and came straight for his ship. By the time he saw it no amount of evasive maneuvers could have helped. Pain washed over him as the missile blasted into his shields. He could feel it all over the ship, the heat and impact from the blast scorching into his nose and wings. His shields were gone in an instant and his armor chunked down to less than thirty percent, but his hull was intact and his systems only took marginal damage. He mentally shook his head as the pain faded. ¡°You okay there, Flyboy?¡± Tophet called over at him. He could hear concern in her voice. He couldn¡¯t blame her. He had taken a direct hit. One missile fortunately wasn¡¯t enough to destroy his ship, but he had no armor left for a second. They were past the enemy lines by now. The friendly frigates had all made the hop and were straight ahead of them. Tophet had dropped behind him, guarding his ship with hers, just in case any enemy tried to take a long range pot shot at him. ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± he said. ¡°The pain was intense for a moment. I¡¯m wondering if I should turn the percentage down.¡± ¡°You get used to it,¡± she said. ¡°I know pain is a strange thing to experience in a game, but Void has so many safeguards to keep it manageable. I think it adds some spice to the game. Makes avoiding damage more motivating, since death is merely a temporary setback here.¡± ¡°Eh, maybe,¡± he said, not convinced. Still, he didn¡¯t bother with it for now. He remembered that turning the pain level down too much could interfere with experience gain. He looked around to take in the situation and realized he might still need some help. ¡°I got another missile targeting me, but we have a few seconds before it¡¯ll get close.¡± ¡°I see it,¡± Tophet said. ¡°Stay your course, keep burning past the frigates if you need. I¡¯ll take care of it.¡± He didn¡¯t need to go far. Tophet backed off her velocity, falling back several kilometers and took care of the missile before it got anywhere near. His shields started recharging before he reached the frigates but it would take a couple minutes before it got back up to full strength. His armor was in tatters, but he remembered that the nanites he could now use could repair the armor. The nanites weren¡¯t super fast, so it would take even longer to fix, but he got started immediately. With how much armor he lost, even with full shields he would die from another missile. That or at the very least least his systems would get so severely damaged that he would become a sitting duck. The Caelestis frigates were still safe for the moment. Their short jump put them in an excellent position. The enemy fighters were still dealing with the missiles so the frigates reversed direction and had time for another shot while the fighters were burning away. Two more wrecks were left in space. Either one frigate missed or two had accidentally targeted the same fighter. The cat and mouse game soon began again. The wing continued burning once the pirate fighters formed up and started circling around outside of the frigate¡¯s gun range. Five enemy fighters were down, but the wing had several minutes before they could repeat the same maneuver since the hoppers needed time to cool down. The larger enemy ships were still a good distance away. They had stopped burning towards the wing, which made Cam suspicious. ¡°Tophet, what¡¯s the minimum warp range of, say, those destroyers down there?¡± he asked. ¡°It¡¯s two hundred klicks for any ship,¡± she answered. ¡°I see what you¡¯re thinking, and you¡¯re probably right, but you can¡¯t warp directly on an enemy. You either need a celestial target or a friendly. If they aren¡¯t directly pursuing, we can just keep away from their fighters and we¡¯re safe until we¡¯re ready to re-engage..¡± That made him feel a little better. The enemy fighters were trying to circle around. If the wing could buy some time the hoppers would be ready again and they could get a few more fighters safely with the next encounter. The pirates had to be careful of a direct approach. That would lead to losses very quickly. However, dancing around too much would be favorable for the wing. Will, for his part, did his best to keep the fighters from getting directly behind them compared to the destroyers. That would then allow the fighters to close and the destroyers to warp on top of the wing. The game of cat and mouse went on for a couple minutes before the enemy made their move. The pirate fighters were almost in a line with the destroyers at that point. They dove at the wing, but not directly. Their approach kept much of their relative angular velocity. The wing¡¯s frigates fired. Two enemy fighters disappeared. Another was damaged, but still flying. The fighter numbers were about equal between the wing and the pirates, but the hoppers weren¡¯t done cooling down so the frigates were vulnerable. They needed just another minute. ¡°Engage the fighters as far away from the frigates as possible. Split their forces,¡± said Will. ¡°Missiles free!¡± Cam and Tophet joined Will in the middle. The wing shot out in front of the frigates to make as much space as possible. Cam¡¯s shields and armor were only at half, and slowly going up. He didn¡¯t want to die just yet, but still followed Tophet into the fray. The frigates had turned the moment the fighters dove, and were burning away. The direction they were forced to take would push them directly into the enemy¡¯s larger ships. The distance would close quickly if those ships started burning at the wing. They were about to be between a rock and a hard place. They had to pound through the hard place before the rock hit them. Every fighter in the wing launched another missile, and the enemy did as well. The wing broke off, spreading out tangentially compared to the frigates and the missiles. The enemy split: any fighter that didn¡¯t get targeted dove towards the frigates, with the rest pulling back to give space to destroy the missiles. The frigates fired one more volley before the fighters were too close to track with their guns. Three enemy fighters went down, but seven more got through. They would take some time whittling down the frigates, but the frigates couldn¡¯t hit back with them that close, and wouldn¡¯t last for long. The pirate corvettes, frigates, and destroyers were still just over two hundred kilometers away at that point and began a warp. It took only ten seconds for them to spool up and create the warp bubble, and only a few more for them to land on the battlefield. The wing used that time well. Since they had broken off as a unit from the missiles instead of flying through them they were able to destroy most of them before the enemy fighters got near the frigates, and all but three allied fighters were moving back to the frigates before the larger ships had started spooling up for warp. Those last three still had two missiles targeting them each. It was a tough decision to leave them to deal with the missiles alone, but the frigates were more important. The enemy fighters were more scattered. Seven had engaged the frigates, but most of the other ones were still dealing with missiles since the split of forces meant less firepower to deal with missiles. Most of the enemy fighters were more than fifty kilometers away and still running from missiles. The frigates couldn¡¯t hit the fighters on top of them, but could hit the fighters that far away. They took one more shot and took down three of the fighters at range. The allied frigates also had spread out. It was tougher to defend them that way, but at least they could shoot at fighters attacking each other. The seven pirate fighters had decided to gather on a single frigate to concentrate on taking it out. It was the one Lant was piloting. The Caelestis wing descended on enemy fighters and started firing. By that time the enemy corvettes, frigates, and destroyers were just entering warp. ¡°Concentrate fire to take the fighters out fast,¡± Will said. ¡°Get as many off the field asap.¡± They didn¡¯t have enough time though. The firefight only lasted a few seconds before the wing had to disengage. Cam¡¯s drones had helped take out one enemy fighter and had started on a second, but the wing had to scramble away from landing enemy ships. ¡°Burn!¡± shouted Will. ¡°Spiral away!¡± The entire wing activated their afterburners and piloted in a spiral, a motion that would keep their transversal up high while helping them gain distance from the larger enemy ships. Their guns still cycled on their current targets, but they only had seconds before they would be out of optimal range. Cam kept his drones back for as long as possible and was rewarded by delivering the final blow to the second fighter. He lost two of them to enemy fighters before he could recall them, but that was the least of his worries currently. The frigates tried to burn away as well. The larger enemy ships had landed near Lant¡¯s frigate. The other two frigates were able to gain some distance by spiraling, but the enemy fighters who had run from the missiles were forming up and heading towards them. The frigates fired again and were able to take out two of the nearest fighters. At what seemed like the last moment, Cam saw the two frigates hop at max range and leave the fighters behind. Lant, however, was doomed. Cam watched helplessly as the pirates gobbled up their prize. Between the firepower of all the pirate ships it took seconds. Lant wasn¡¯t even able to get another shot out before he was brought down. It felt like an eternity to Cam. He watched helplessly as the shields disappeared and then the armor was stripped away. And then armor disappeared. The hull seemed to explode the second the last of the armor was gone. It was the first player death that got to him. He had just been getting to know Lant. As much as he had seemed a hard-nosed jock, he was a friendly, if competitive, guy. Of course Lant was still safe at the Caelestis home base, but this mission was supposed to last for a couple in game months, and Lant would miss it. Why couldn¡¯t it have been Steve Williams¡¯ ship or Jawntwo¡¯s? He would be glad to be rid of either of them. Grimacing that he couldn¡¯t do anything more about it now, he kept his spiral up. The wing tried to stay in clumps, just in case the enemy fighters tried to engage them as they moved away. There were only eleven enemy fighters left. Caelestis had suffered two losses besides Lant. Fewer pilots for the mission, but still enough to take on eleven enemy fighters if they tried to form up again and go after the frigates. The pirates had been too greedy. Perhaps they wanted a fight that badly, or they knew they wouldn¡¯t get to pin down the frigates without losses, but they had taken heavy losses. Patience is a tough virtue to cultivate in video game players. Sometimes people saw the opportunity and took it for some action, even if they knew it would be a poor choice in the end. Cam was still spiraling out, heading far more outwards than sideways now. He was definitely out of range of all the guns except perhaps the destroyers, but even then he probably was safe. They had all looked like they had close range, brawling setups. A voice came over the local comm channels. ¡°It¡¯s about time we had some capable pilots in the area,¡± the voice--a female¡¯s--said. ¡°Identify yourselves and we might let you go.¡± ¡°Let us go?¡± Will responded just a moment later. ¡°You haven¡¯t caught us yet. The score seems definitely in our favor, no matter what you have on the field.¡± ¡°Ha! I can¡¯t deny our losses I suppose,¡± she said with a laugh. ¡°Still, you¡¯ve suffered some, too. By the way, I was curious, how far is your respawn? I have this nice pilot of yours here and wondered if you still wanted him in the area.¡± Then Cam saw it. The frigates must have had some sort of lifepod equipped. Lant was in one, just large enough for a person, life support and an engine. He was still sitting in the midst of the enemy and had no hope of escaping, but they hadn¡¯t opened fire on it yet. ¡°I bet it isn¡¯t close,¡± the pirate continued. ¡°I know that station, and I know you aren¡¯t part of Aluvius, and you seem new to the area. How far away will he have to fly to get back to you? How many enemies would he have to cross to get here again? Did you already steal what I was trying to steal?¡± ¡°We might have,¡± Will answered. Cam could tell he was enjoying himself even with Lant¡¯s presence out here on the line. He could just hear the grin on Will¡¯s face. The guy loved interacting with other players be they friends or enemies--especially enemies for some reason. ¡°Look. Neither of us want to be here when Aluvius shows up in a few minutes, but I don¡¯t have anything I can give you right now. How about I owe you one for my pilot¡¯s life? I¡¯ll pay it back once we¡¯re a bit more settled in the area.¡± ¡°Ah, so strike now, or wait and perhaps have someone who might be honorable to pay back a favor, but who will most likely become a thorn in my side. Again, who are you?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t plan on being a thorn to you,¡± said Will. The wing had taken the time to form up and warp to their frigates. The enemy was still grouped up, not going near the Caelestis formation. ¡°Call me Charlie for now. We¡¯ll make sure to meet again.¡± ¡°¡®Charlie,¡¯ wow. And I thought I was bad at fake names. Take all day to think of that? Okay, Charlie, I¡¯ll let you off the hook for now, but I¡¯ll expect a visit. Call me ¡®Sierra,¡¯ I suppose. Come by Eilonden sector when you¡¯re ready. We¡¯ll try not to shoot you before letting you talk. Don¡¯t make me regret this.¡± ¡°Alright, Sierra,¡± Will said. ¡°Thanks. We¡¯ll see you around.¡± And with that, it was over. The pirates formed up and warped off towards one of the system¡¯s gates. A few ships seemed to look menacingly at the wing as they turned to make their warp, some even locking a few targets, but none opened fire. Cam breathed a sigh of relief when they left Lant, sitting in the lifepod. ¡°That was easy,¡± said Zelou. ¡°I¡¯m almost disappointed.¡± ¡°Hey now, I¡¯m glad it¡¯s over,¡± said Lant. Cam could hear the relief in his voice even though he was trying to hide it. ¡°Exactly,¡± Will said. ¡°Don¡¯t get greedy. We lost two pilots and almost a third. Let¡¯s get a home base established before we try to pick another fight.¡± Cam still couldn¡¯t wait until they got their clone bay set up. He was ready to be done with losing pilots for the mission. The thought of not wanting to die just yet ran through his mind again. It seemed like a bad refrain that kept popping into his head all the time, but it was true. He wanted to be here for this mission--whatever it was Will had planned. For that, they needed to set up that clone bay before someone else decided to attack them. ¡°We going to fight them again?¡± asked Lant. ¡°I¡¯ll be dying for a rematch.¡± ¡°Maybe. But even once we get established we¡¯ll still have to pick our battles,¡± Will said. ¡°For now let¡¯s focus on our priorities. Number one is to get out of here before Aluvius tries to ruin our party again.¡± Chapter Thirteen Gauss flew the the hauler out of the station without incident. The pirates indeed had left the system and were nowhere to be found. Mark let the wing keep the two remaining frigates since they had helped discover the thieves that were working with the pirates. He had a few choice things to say about the pirates, and was actually upset that Will had let them go. But Mark was glad they caught the thieves and were able to purge them from his station. Lant docked his escape pod with Gauss¡¯s hauler and rode from there. They didn¡¯t want to take the time to unpack his fighter, and while the lifepod could warp, it was slow compared to most anything else. Mark would have to report the incident to Aluvius, and who knew if they would come by or not. The wing wanted to be out of here before that happened. They had lost two other pilots--a player named Vincent Elmac and the NPC Efftwelve. The losses put them down to twenty-two pilots. Fewer than Will wanted for the operation, but then again he had hoped most of the original wing made it through. Will said they would make do, but Cam knew it was tougher with each pilot lost. Mohler led them through the next couple systems. Here they were backtracking a ways. Their path to Mark¡¯s station had been planned to keep off the beaten path, so it had taken many more jumps than if they had been able to go through a few of the highly populated systems in the area. Now they were looking for a system that would be not only off the beaten path, but off of most any path at all. The one they ended in was named B4-KR5T, and had no known settlements. Most systems this far into player held territory had a random letter-number designation instead of an actual name. If anyone was here, they also didn¡¯t want to be found, and what the wing needed now was a hidden base to strike from. As an added bonus the system was eight jumps from the Eilonden sector, which meant they could go find Will¡¯s new found pirate friends, but also that random patrols from there to here were not going to happen that often. The wing spent an hour scouting out possible locations near the edge of the star system, looking for the best place to set up shop. In the end, they settled on a medium sized asteroid that had good mineral composition on the outer edges of the system. It was roughly cylindrical in shape, a bit more than a kilometer long and a couple hundred meters wide. The Engra could have hidden in its shadow, but barely, and only from certain angles. The asteroid was big enough for a modest base, but small enough to be looked over unless someone was doing a full sweep of the system. There were hundreds of such asteroids flying around the outer edges of the system. ¡°Alright boys and girls, now the fun begins,¡± Will said to the wing after they chose the spot. They were still in their ships above the asteroid. Will wanted to give a small talk before they landed. ¡°We¡¯re going to set up the clone bay asap. If anyone needs to log out after, that will be the time to do it. I appreciate you all sticking around for such a long stretch. We¡¯ve had a lot of action in the last tri-day and you¡¯ve all been troopers about it. Mohler found a nice nook to tuck the clone bay into, so it will be hidden from above. That way we can get it set up immediately and not worry about it. ¡°But we also have to set up base. We brought a few fabbers with us to help us get started, but it¡¯s going to take some time and hard work. Those who can stick around will be doing some material gathering and base setup.¡± ¡°Oh, grinding and time sinks, gotta love it,¡± said Zelou. ¡°It¡¯s no one¡¯s favorite, I know,¡± Will said, ¡°but it¡¯s part of the job.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, so what is this job?¡± Lant asked. ¡°I¡¯ve been dying to know. We¡¯ve been too busy sneaking around to ask, but I know I¡¯d like answers.¡± ¡°The short answer is we¡¯re going to orchestrate the infiltration and the destruction of some key Aluvius facilities, which we hope will turn the tide of the war,¡± Will said over the comms ¡°We have a few raiding targets to keep us busy for the next few weeks, and then some end game targets. The goal is to slow down their main front while we get everything ready here and then coordinate one last big strike on several large targets to land a crippling blow to Aluvius.¡± ¡°Sneak and smash, eh?¡± Lant said. ¡°I can see a few things going wrong with that.¡± ¡°Which is why the ¡®sneak¡¯ is of the utmost importance,¡± Will said dryly. ¡°Nothing we talk about here gets discussed out of game. Not even to other guild members. Not even to wing members who aren¡¯t here. They¡¯re as trusted as you are, but we need to keep on top of op sec. I¡¯ll share more details as we keep going.¡± ¡°One question, Quint,¡± Tophet interrupted. ¡°We have sixteen poddies and six NPCs. How are we going to coordinate a strike across several facilities at once? Five targets would mean four or five of us at each. With the full wing we could have maybe done it, but we¡¯re less than half our numbers.¡± ¡°I¡¯m working on that,¡± said Will. ¡°I had expected more to work with, but we have options. There are plenty of people like Mark who live here, but don¡¯t like Aluvius. Some were here when they expanded, others moved in and grew disillusioned with Aluvius as time went on.¡± ¡°We could always recruit your new pirate girlfriend,¡± Zelou said with a laugh. That got a few chuckles out of the wing, but most players were tired enough to want to get this over with and get the clone bay set up. ¡°I have considered working with some pirates,¡± Will admitted. ¡°They like action and destruction as much as anyone else, but we¡¯d have to be careful. They are not exactly known for their loyalty to anyone but themselves.¡± ¡°Looks like we got a lot of boring work ahead of us,¡± said Jawntwo. ¡°Hard work pays off,¡± Gauss replied. ¡°We have our work cut out for us,¡± Mector said. Her tone silenced any more grumbling. ¡°So let¡¯s stop complaining and let¡¯s get going. The faster we start the faster we get to the blowing things up part.¡± With that the wing landed on the asteroid. Environmental suits were automatically put on in their fighters, and they were able to get out safely on the asteroid. The suits were fitted, so they were easy to work in. Gauss maneuvered the hauler next to the nook that Mohler had located and a few pilots got to work setting up the clone bay. The nook was actually more like a hole, going below the asteroid¡¯s surface about a dozen meters deep. It had a slight bend to it, so near the bottom on one side was hidden from any ships that came nearby--not that that was likely. The clone bay was set up in that area, along with as much other equipment that could fit. Each of the pilots had filled all their spare room in their fighters with items Will had assigned them. The fighters¡¯ cargo bays were small, but it added up over twenty something fighters. Mark had also given them a few extra items he had been able to fabricate at the station and loaded them in the hauler. It took about a half hour to set everything up. Everything that could fit was placed inside the nook so as to be out of sight, not that they expected many ships to do flybys of remote asteroids to do a visual confirmation to see if they were occupied, but any bit of shielding for the equipment made them harder to detect. Most modules set themselves up automatically, but took time and player supervision. A player could only set up a single piece of equipment at a time, even though they would barely have to touch anything. It seemed to be a game mechanic to prevent a single player from setting up a huge base quickly. If someone tried to activate a second piece of equipment at the same time, a message would appear that their actions would stop the process of the first piece of equipment setting itself up. Still, with sixteen players and six NPCs the task went quickly. Mohler and Effour had the only slightly less boring job of scouting the surrounding systems for fleets or settlements. They found one settlement only one system over, which was unfortunate, but it seemed small--smaller than even Mark¡¯s station. No other player settlements were found for two jumps in any direction and the way the gates were laid out, this system was unlikely to be used. Shorter paths existed to get from any known major area to any other one. Once the clone bay was online, everyone set it as their primary respawn location. Cam could feel the nervousness seep out of himself, and could sense the same in most of the other pilots. They were still vulnerable in many ways, but now any ship losses would not send them home unless this place was destroyed first. About half the pilots logged out or went to bed after that. It had been close to twenty hours in-game since they logged in after the battle, and that meant most had stayed up half the night in the real world. Some had work in the morning. Playing the pods wasn¡¯t nearly as physically demanding than even playing on the computer all night, but many needed sleep. Cam chose to stay logged in. He wasn¡¯t quite tired yet, even though his fatigue was up to almost forty percent. He would sleep in game when he did get tired or his fatigue got too high to work. He had nowhere to be tomorrow, nowhere to be for weeks, he was going to make the most of it. Already they had a few shelters set up with air in them for temporary living quarters. It would be tight with many bodies in a small area, but fortunately the life support systems in the game scrubbed out body odors pretty well, and self-washing in game was fast. A player just had to walk through a small cleaning field and they would come out fresh. Apparently as realistic as the human body behaved in Celesistal Void, Numean also wanted to distance the nerdy smelly stereotype from the game as best as possible. No one had an excuse not to clean themselves. Will¡¯s plan was to expand into the asteroid, through mining and use both the space and resources the mining gave them to expand their production capabilities. It solved their problem of hiding, as well as getting the equipment they needed. If they dug down into the asteroid, they would have plenty of hidden space to set up a small base, and buying items out here would be troublesome. They could get away with it for occasional, tough-to-make items, but suddenly trying to buy several destroyer hulls would raise a lot of flags. Until they established more allies in the area that were not being watched over by Aluvius they had to provide for themselves. Most of the players who stayed logged in either went down to the bottom of the nook to start mining. The small base so far was set up on the walls of the hole. Down didn¡¯t really apply with such low gravity and the shelters had artificial gravity systems and hooks to lock them in place. Most of the other equipment was either power generators or what Will had described to Cam as fab units--devices that could take the raw material and make almost anything from it. They were the start of any industrial factory. The tiny base ringed around the hole, making an odd view. Not all of it was hidden from a passing ship, but it was still better than setting it up on the surface. The whole base would get moved farther in the asteroid soon enough anyways. The last two meters above the deepest crevice were devoid of any equipment so as to give a bit of room to work. Two meters wasn¡¯t much though. It made the crevice feel claustrophobic, especially since the floor was about five meters in diameter. The pilots who couldn¡¯t fit at the bottom, or didn¡¯t want to, equipped mining lasers to their fighters and gathered from far away asteroids in the system. The idea was to not to mar the surface of this asteroid if they could help it. It was best to leave as few clues as possible that it was inhabited. Not that it mattered at the moment: the two dozen fighters on the surface, along with the frigates and the cargo ship was more than enough of a giveaway. But the smaller ships would get moved inside when they had the room The cargo ship they would have to hide somewhere else. Eventually there would be enough room, but the tough part would be disguising an entrance large enough for it, so as to not make it obvious the asteroid was being inhabited. The mining would take some time. Days, maybe weeks. Cam wasn¡¯t sure exactly how drilling worked in Celestial Void, but he knew he would soon get a good lesson in it. It ended up being Cam, Emma, Will, Amaranth Gauss, Xander Varchant, and Malk Zelou in the nook, along with five NPCs. They could probably fit a one or two more in it, but it was already cramped, and with more they might start getting in each others¡¯ way. Each pilot took an area and started excavating using a mining laser. The almost non-existent Gravity meant they were able to latch themselves and the drilling equipment to the surfaces and not worry about floating off. Each drill was a hexagon shape about the size of half a square meter in area. The shape let them be tileable, and most of the drills were stacked near each other. and allowed them to tile on a surface. The pilots stood on parts of the drills themselves or the little space on the floor that wasn¡¯t actively being mined at the moment. ¡°Oh the joys of being a member of the elite wing of Codium Caelestis,¡± said Amaranth Gauss. ¡°This is everything I¡¯ve dreamed and more.¡± ¡°Amaranth, you did all this kind of stuff before you joined,¡± said Emma. ¡°Isn¡¯t this just getting back to you roots?¡± Amaranth Gauss had been the girl Emma had sat with in the briefing room on the Engra, which felt so long ago now. They were apparently good friends in game. When Amanth said she was going to stay on the asteroid to mine, Emma decided to stick around as well, even though she could have gone mining with her fighter elsewhere. Most pilots had jumped at relaxing in I-flight while mining a rock in space. It was more comfortable than sitting in a tight space drilling into the ground below you. Amaranth was currently operating six mining lasers by herself. Cam figured she must have better skills for the task. Most everyone else was only using one or two, with Xander and Malk using three each. Those three were doing more work than the rest of the group together. The drills self latched to the surface and could continue to drill straight in a direction without having to be reattached. They would move down the hole as it was dug. There was a minigame of sorts involved that sped up the drilling process, although if you could do the minigame half as well on two drills it was marginally better than fully focusing on one. Amanth seemed to be working at nearly full capacity with all six drills. ¡°My roots yes,¡± she said, barely looking up from her work. ¡°But I joined to get away from those. Will, I know you said we would use those skills still sometimes, but I would have been perfectly content not having to go back to digging in the actual dirt.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t done something like this with the wing before?¡± Cam asked, surprised. ¡°Isn¡¯t this kind of operation what the wing was built around?¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Not exactly,¡± said Will. ¡°I mean yes and no. Our wing was designed to be flexible for any kind of mission, but this is the most intensive covert operation we¡¯ve done. We¡¯ve been mostly acting as a specialty wing for different fleet operations. When we¡¯ve been on our own it¡¯s mostly been one off runs that lasted a couple days. Amaranth¡¯s hauler skills have been handy with that, but we haven¡¯t used much manufacturing on our missions.¡± ¡°And I was happy with that,¡± Amaranth said, shaking her head. ¡°Why¡¯d you have to ruin such a good run?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll keep manufacturing more drills until we have enough that they¡¯ll mine plenty without someone babysitting them,¡± said Will. He only had his one drill, but seemed to be using it more effectively than any other single drill. ¡°They¡¯re too slow, and even if we mine out enough area for them to be effective they¡¯ll still need oversight, and guess who will be put in charge of that?¡± Amaranth asked. Despite her words, her tone was still good-natured. She might prefer the shooting and fighting now, but she still sounded amicable towards this side of the game. ¡°Cam can help,¡± Will said. ¡°Put him on all the boring stuff.¡± Cam sighed and rolled his eyes at being volunteered as tribute. Still, there was a reason Will had said that. He liked the manufacturing side of most games. On the battlefield he enjoyed the role of the tactician, but even tactics were all about economics for him. The economics of time, space, and in game items, among other things. If he had to be honest, he was a numbers guy, not a people person. Not that he would call himself antisocial, but numbers were just easy for him to work with, just like people were easy for Will to work with. And so Cam almost always got into the manufacturing part of a game, because he knew how to ride the trends, or to use patch notes to see how much an item will go up or down in value. He and Will had decided he should take some skills in manufacturing and production, while they had talked back on the Engra. This part of the endeavour was his chance to get his feet wet with the manufacturing side of the game. With that knowledge he hoped to be able to learn the markets of the game and the economy. New Space had a flourishing economy that had all been player based. Celestial Void was supposed to far surpass it with options and complexity. ¡°So drone boy is my backup?¡± Amaranth asked. ¡°Fitting, I suppose. Can you use more than one miner at a time?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t tried,¡¯ Cam answered. ¡°This is my first time mining.¡± ¡°They¡¯re like drones, kinda,¡± she said. ¡°If you can use two drones you should be able to use two miners. I saw you playing around with those drones back at the station. Their yield will be terrible until you get used to it, but you can skill up even faster.¡± ¡°Oh joy, skilling up in collecting rocks,¡± he said. Still, the thought of his drone skills being useful sounded good to him. The drills did eat some Psi Energy to use, but the drain was small. He would have to use nine or ten at once before his natural regeneration would be countered. ¡°Do we have another drill?¡± ¡°We need to get the fab units going,¡± Will said. ¡°Then we can make more.¡± ¡°Well, who wants to be on cart duty?¡± Amaranth asked. Silence reigned for a moment. ¡°Fine,¡± Will said. ¡°And here I thought being the wing leader meant I got out of this kind of work.¡± ¡°The first shall be last and the last first, and all that kind of stuff,¡± Amaranth said with a grin. Will brought his drill over to Cam and went to go get a small cart to start hauling the asteroid rock to the fabbers. Cam took the drill and set it up next to his other one. They locked together on one edge and the second one kicked on when he activated it. The minigame was pretty much an analysis of the rock below the mining laser so that the lasers will chop it up most effectively. It was broadcasted to his hud, and he could control them there even if he stepped away from the miner a bit. Having two to focus on divided his attention, but he soon got the feel for swapping back and forth. It helped that the analysis for the two miners were fairly similar since they were right next to each other, aiming the lasers so that they will chop it up most effectively. Also his lasers were close enough together that the composition was very similar, and what worked for one mostly worked for the other. A few minutes later two notifications popped up in his feed at the same time.
Skill Up!
Mining Laser Control I
Max Mining Speed increased by 3%
Level Up!
ou are now Level 128
You have skill points to distribute
¡°Well that answers that question,¡± he said. ¡°I leveled up and got a skill up for mining.¡± ¡°Congratulations, we¡¯ll make an industrialist out of you yet,¡± Amaranth said. As much as she claimed she didn¡¯t enjoy digging in the dirt, she seemed happy to have someone else to join her. ¡°We¡¯ll be buying ships from you in no time,¡± Emma said. ¡°Don¡¯t give him any ideas,¡± Will said, walking back with the cart. He had already made one trip, taking the mined out dirt and moving it to the fab units. There wasn¡¯t quite enough drills going to make it a full time job, so he hung out when there wasn¡¯t any dirt he needed to haul. ¡°He¡¯ll corner the market in days if you let him.¡± ¡°Market? What market?¡± Emma said. ¡°We are the market around here.¡± ¡°Hey, no need to fight,¡± Cam said jokingly. ¡°I¡¯ll give a ten percent guild discount to everyone, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°Kinda like the time in New Space with the Zeus class ship you sold to Agregor?¡± Will asked. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t bring that up,¡± said Cam, trying not to lose his focus on the drills¡¯ minigame. He did one quick analysis on one of the drills to keep it going at full speed for a few more seconds. ¡°He was leaving the guild. At the time my offer was a good one.¡± ¡°Right, but you had bought it from him at half price two days earlier.¡± Cam sent a look over to Will. His drills started slowing down, but he hardly noticed. ¡°It was seventy percent, thank you. And as I said, he was leaving the guild.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the story?¡± Emma asked. Cam shook his head, but Will started the story before Cam could object out loud. ¡°So, we had this guy named Agregor in our guild, back in New Space,¡± Will said, leaning up against one of the walls. ¡°We were living in deep space, kinda like how most of space is in Celestial Void. Guilds could come and claim it, fight over it. Same as what we¡¯re doing out here. As Cam said, the guy was leaving the guild.¡± Will glanced over at Cam and grinned. ¡°So Cam offered to buy one of the biggest ships in the game from him, a Zeus class mothership, because while we would have been gracious and let him move it out of our space without incident, we had plenty of enemies around that might not be so kind. Now, what you gotta realize that it was Agregor¡¯s pride and joy. It was one of those ships that if you lost it you¡¯d spend months or years gathering the resources to replace it. A guild might replace it quick, but only if they were smart enough to have stored up materials from guildmates¡¯ contributions. At the time our guild didn¡¯t have much use for a ship that large, so it mostly gathered dust in a station, but he wouldn¡¯t shut up about how he owned such a magnificent ship.¡± Cam smirked at the memory. Agregor¡¯s attitude had been tough to deal with, as good of a guy he could be otherwise. ¡°He kept going on about how he had saved up enough to build one and now he got to fly it,¡± Will continued, shaking his head. ¡°But he didn¡¯t actually fly it that much and the few times he got to he was impossible to be around afterwards. Then he decided he wanted to move guilds, but it was halfway across New Space¡¯s map. Moving such a big ship without help was out of the question, and hiring help would be risky and expensive. Cam offered seventy percent of the ship¡¯s market value to take it off Agregor¡¯s hands. Agregor eventually realized it was a better deal than trying to move it.¡± There was a pause for a few moments as Will went about gathering some of the dirt from a few of the drills. Cam knew the pause was also for dramatic effect. It worked. ¡°Well?¡± asked Amaranth, after Will had empted a second drill. ¡°What happened next? Don¡¯t leave us hanging.¡± ¡°The guild he was joining had a policy that every member needed a mothership in order to join,¡± Will continued. ¡°I doubt every member really had one, but it was one of those posh guilds that tried to play up its importance. The problem was he had just sold his, and now they wouldn¡¯t accept his application until he could prove he had another one. He looked for a new mothership in the guild¡¯s area, but most of the offers he found were well beyond market price. He had already told our guild he was leaving so if he wanted to join the other guild soon he was forced to pay a high price for another ship. Eventually he asked Cam for his ship back. Cam said he would sell it to the guy at a ten percent discount off of the current market price.¡± Amaranth shot Cam a look and smirked. He shrugged. ¡°Of course, he was livid,¡± Will said after another short pause to empty another drill, ¡°but eventually he bought it back. Cam made a profit by just holding onto a ship for two days.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t even have to move it or touch it,¡± Cam added with a grin. ¡°That¡¯s rough for the guy,¡± Emma said. ¡°Eh, he was leaving the guild,¡± said Will. ¡°I don¡¯t blame Cam for it. Cam even paid some of our guild to scout and escort his ship through our space and a bit farther. After that he was on his own.¡± ¡°Did he make it?¡± Emma asked. ¡°I actually don¡¯t remember,¡± Will said, thinking. ¡°Do you, Cam?¡± ¡°He made it,¡± Cam answered. He had felt bad enough about the sell that he had organized the scouting party for Agregor. Not enough to give him back the money he made, Cam called it a fee for leaving the guild. But he would have felt worse if he didn¡¯t even get his mothership out. ¡°Although that guild wasn¡¯t kind to him. They wanted ships like that to look good, but they were terrible at keeping them. They had a ship replacement program, but it wasn¡¯t always for the full price of the ship. You¡¯d get eighty to ninety percent of your ship cost back, but on motherships that was still a huge cut from your pocket. I think he lost his mothership three times before he left them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a sad ending,¡± Emma said, frowning. ¡°What did he do after that?¡± ¡°Not sure,¡± Cam answered. ¡°We found out he left more through guild politics than keeping in contact with him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we don¡¯t get too attached to our stuff,¡± Will said. ¡°We have fun and enjoy the explosions--sometimes on both sides.¡± Cam gave a grunt and nod at that. Enjoy the explosions and enjoy the company. He had long ago learned that. Not that he was perfect at it. He loved making stuff, earning in game currency, and having that stash to fall back on, but he did his best to put it at a tier below his friends. ¡°Have fun,¡± Amaranth said a moment later, shaking her head. ¡°Have fun and don¡¯t get attached to stuff--says the man forcing us to grind out resources to make more stuff.¡± * * * They mined for just a bit longer, hanging out and enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. It was the first time Cam had a chance just to enjoy some company. Xander and Malk chimed in a bit too. Everyone¡¯s fatigue slowly climbed higher and soon their effectiveness reached its cut off point. Most were over fifty percent fatigue, which was where the effects really hit hard. Those who had work in the real world that morning had already logged out or had decided to try to catch a few hours sleep in game. More pilots than Cam had expected were like Will, having earned enough cash in game to not have to work currently. Most were trying to enjoy it while it lasted. Celestial Void was still such a young game and Numean was fine at the moment with real money transactions, but who knew how long it would last? The market could get saturated with items so the price people paid for them would go down, or people¡¯s interest in the game could drop, or Numean could change its mind about transactions. Other pilots in the wing still kept their day job even though they were making enough money selling in game items for real world cash. They viewed it as a nice extra income stream, but didn¡¯t want to jeopardize their career on what might be a flash in the pan. Cam planned on making the most of it. He loved gaming, and so far he was loving this game. He couldn¡¯t believe it had only been a few in game days. His vacation pay would supply him for these months and he had a bit extra in the bank as well. Still, he understood the players who had decided not to quit their jobs. His job might not be the best, but it was a good one. If he quit and had to rejoin the workforce later he would find it tough to get a better job than what he had now. He put those thoughts out of his mind. He had six real-world weeks--six tri-weeks so eighteen in game--before he had to figure that out. That was a crazy amount of time to play. He still couldn¡¯t believe how smooth the time dilation was. He had expected such an experimental technology to be gimmicky or stuttery at best, but the game was completely smooth. He was the last one still in the hole they were mining. He could see Will walking to the shelter above him. He stepped over to the wall and started walking up the ledge. As strange as it was for the wall to suddenly become the floor, it didn¡¯t feel too odd. The asteroid had virtually no gravity. A good toss or even a huge jump would give something or someone enough escape velocity. His boots could latch into the ground with each step to ensure he did not go flying. He had to mentally shift his ¡°down¡± so that he didn¡¯t get disoriented. There was no real down in space anyways. The hardest part was walking around some of the equipment, because then his down had to continually shift as he walked part of the circumference of the hole. It took him a few steps to get used to it. Will had passed out of sight before Cam had moved around the first row of equipment. By the time he made it to the shelter Will was already asleep. The idea that he had nowhere to be in the real world and nothing he needed to do was intoxicating. He had slept in game before on the Engra but that had felt different. He had done so to be combat ready when events started getting set in motion. Here he was sleeping because he wanted to. Logging out now and sleeping in the real world wouldn¡¯t make him miss anything in game except some dull work digging in the ground. But even though he was stuck on an asteroid with only a thin mattress to lay on, he wanted to fall asleep and to wake up, still in game, ready to work with only a few real world hours having passed. He was the only one awake in the shelter as he stripped off his suit. If someone else was still up on the tiny asteroid they were in another shelter, which might as well be half a kilometer away for how much he could tell. He passed his suit and himself through the cleaner field. It wasn¡¯t nearly as refreshing as a nice shower, but at least now he didn¡¯t stink of body odor. He went back and forth for a minute wondering why Numean would put body odor in game, but he ended up thinking they were just trying to accurately simulate the human body. He was just glad self-cleaning was fast and easy. Cam sat down on his mattress and took a couple deep breaths. It had been go-go-go for so long that he hadn¡¯t had a moment to himself in what felt like forever. He looked down at his hands. Stared at them. They were hands that were his, but not his. Oh, sure they looked similar to his real hands, but they were part of the simulation. He hadn¡¯t thought about them much since he had left the Engra never to return. He had been so busy, be it piloting a ship, working in a suit or just working at one task or another to improve himself. But now he sat and stared at them. He wasn¡¯t sure why he was drawn to his hands. His entire body was different. His face might be similar to his real world face in shape and bone structure, but it had many differences. Why did he latch onto his hands? Maybe it would be different if he had seen more mirrors. His hands were much easier to look at than his face. These felt slightly bigger than his real hands, stronger and more sure. These could be his hands for the next eighteen weeks. Even with short breaks here and there to make sure his pod was running fine he would get used to these hands, experience them far more than his real ones. Would that make them more real to him that what was real? A strange thought struck his mind. What would people do if they suddenly found out the entire real world was a simulation and they had real bodies somewhere else? Would people try to get out because their ¡°real¡± body was no longer real, but the work of a simulation? Because they were at the whim of some other creature? Wasn¡¯t that the same as believing in God and the afterlife? Maybe not, he thought after a moment, but there were some similarities there. He laid down, trying not to dwell on that for now. He always like the quiet, but sometimes it filled his head with strange thoughts. Focusing on how real the game was would certainly invite some crazy ones. He closed his eyes and pushed the thoughts out of his mind. Falling asleep was surprisingly easy at that point. His brain faded off, while his virtual body lowered its fatigue.