《New beginning》 Prologue This is my first FF so I¡¯d like to get as much opinions and tips as you can. My English isn¡¯t the best. This is because I¡¯m self-thought. Please have some patience with it! I¡¯ll try to post 3 chapters a week and would like to get feedback from you. This chapter is proofread by Askard_Skullen and tomolone. I want to thank them both for their help. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Another normal day engineering at a shipyard on planet Earth. I looked at the navigation panel which I was trying to fix the whole day. The entire day I tried to find out what was repairable and what wasn¡¯t. I knew I¡¯d have to replace the whole thing, it was completely fried. I really wonder what they did with it to destroy it like this. My boss won¡¯t like this though. It¡¯s going to cost him extra money to repair now. With that out of the way, let¡¯s call it a day. I stood up and stretched. I looked at clock and to my surprise, my shift ended two hours ago. ¡°Hey, what are you still doing here at this hour?¡± Came a surprised shout from behind. I whirled to look at who that was. I don''t know when he came here but looking at his uniform and rank, he was probably the captain of the ship I¡¯m repairing. He was taller than me. Considering the fact that I was already pretty tall myself, it made him quite the imposing person. With blue eyes, shoulder length black hair and a nice face, he looked handsome even in his later years. But well, he might just look imposing to me. I¡¯m tall but slim. Maybe a little too slim due to my lack of nutrients in my early years, but that¡¯s not important right now. Short brown hair and a pretty average face. Except for my eyes. One could say my eyes are pretty special. They would shine when I laughed, but could also blaze with energy, if I was angry. I¡¯ve been told more than once that they were the doors to my emotions. Compared to me who was tall and slim, maybe too much because of the lack of nutrients in my early years. Short brown hair and a pretty average face, except for my eyes. One could say my eyes are pretty special. They would shine when I laughed, but could also blaze with energy, if I was angry. I¡¯ve been told more than once that they were the doors to my emotions. ¡°I was just trying to repair your navigation panel. You¡¯ll most likely have to replace it completely to get it working 100% again. I don¡¯t know what you did up there but you managed to totally fry it. What baffles me though is how you managed it with a fuse in place.¡± ¡°Easy! There was no fuse. With what little money we get for our fleet, some repairs aren¡¯t made by the book.¡± He said while measuring me with his eyes. ¡°But why are you working overtime? Do you like your work that much?¡± I laughed, ¡°No, at least not entirely. I forgot to look at the clock. To specify, I like to repair things but not when I don¡¯t get the parts I need and I am still expected to repair it.¡± Then I frowned at him. ¡°How can there be no fuse? According to the papers in the office, each ship was sent away with everything fully repaired." He chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure they said that. They just tend to cut corners everywhere to spare expenses.¡± He continued while shaking his head. ¡°Then why don¡¯t you employ your own engineers? They could probably make most of the repairs with a decent replicator and some raw materials.¡± He evidently perked up at the thought. ¡°And would you be willing to work for us? We do have some engineers already. Sadly, they aren''t very good with these kind of repairs. The best ones, or even decent ones for that matter, don¡¯t want to go to space. And if they do, they don¡¯t want to go with us or they ask way too much money. Would you be willing to go with us?¡± ¡°Of course! Sadly, your military already rejected me because of my arm.¡± I showed him my mechanical arm. I heavily upgraded it from a normal prosthetic arm. I made some upgrades for protection and some others to help me with repairs. It¡¯s difficult to control though. I was born without my right arm and, to this day, sometimes I have problem with controlling it. Doctors said something about not having one to begin with made it harder for me to control a new one. ¡°It looks like your arm would be an advantage, not a hindrance! I can¡¯t believe they would reject you because of it.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t reject me because of this arm, they rejected me because of the one before this. I couldn¡¯t make that one work well. It was more of a basic prosthetic arm rather than a functioning one.¡± I then stopped talking for a short time as it was painful memories for me. ¡°I tried again, after I made this one, but they have me tagged in the files as already rejected, and wouldn¡¯t let me even try.¡± He reached up and wiped a tear from my face. It startled me, it has been a long time since I let someone near me so I just said ¡°You''re asking me if I want to embark on a battleship in space for minimal wage with a probability I would never return?¡± While looking him in the eyes I said ¡°You bet I¡¯d go. It is my dream for as long as I can remember!¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He stared at me. Then said, ¡°Could you tell me your name? I can try to make some arrangements for you. I¡¯d love to have you on my ship as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Thank you. My name is Leya, just Leya, no surname. You should be able to find my file in your database. And who would be the one speaking for me?¡± I asked. ¡°My name is John Merick. Unfortunately, we are scheduled to head back out on patrol in 2 hours. I was conducting a last inspection of the ship before departure, when I ran into you. So I don¡¯t have the time to do anything right now, but I will talk with my superiors and see what I can do upon my return.¡± He said. ¡°But how can you go without a working navigational panel?¡± ¡°They told me it would be replaced with a new one at the next stop.¡± ¡°If you want, I can look at it and make sure it works.¡± ¡°No need, our engineers can install it. They can at least do that much. They specialize in swapping things.¡± He said sadly then smiled and continued ¡°When I return, I¡¯ll look you up and I¡¯ll be glad to have you on my ship.¡± ¡°Thanks one more time, but if you have to prepare for lift off, I¡¯d better go.¡± I replied. ¡°No, you can stay if you want. For the next hour, there probably will be no one I have to meet. I just wanted to look once more at my ship before going to space.¡± I smiled at him and for the next hour we toured the ship and talked about space, him, me and my plans for the future. Before we knew it an hour went by and the first members of the crew came back from leave. That was my signal to go home. I should have filed a report, but it could wait a day. ? ? ? That day I slept soundly knowing that better times will come. At least until the police broke my door and arrested me for being a terrorist. From then on, it went downhill really fast. In the interrogation cell they accused me of terrorism by sabotaging the ship I was working on. I told them that I never sabotaged any ship and always worked to the best of my abilities. Then they came to me with an offer to make a confession and that if I did, they would give me a lesser punishment. On this I told them, I didn¡¯t do anything to the ship so I couldn''t confess to anything. Next came the trial where they told me about the ship I destroyed and they showed me the people who worked on it. The first picture was of the captain whom I talked to, not even a whole day before. I started to cry and told them that I didn¡¯t do it. I told them that I knew him and that he was probably the only person who did anything good for me. The others I didn¡¯t know, but I was just as sad for them. They could¡¯ve been my colleagues! The whole trial in court lasted for almost a year and in the end they let me go because they didn¡¯t have any evidence against me, with the only condition being to never leave the planet. From the trial I learned that they died because of the navigational panel that, according to papers, I repaired. I told them everything about the new panel and that it should have been installed. I told them even about my conversation with the captain. In the end, they lost this report about me repairing it. This was the reason they had to let me go. What I didn¡¯t know, was that the media already turned people against me. When I exited the Court Hall after the verdict, there were masses of people who all wanted to see me locked up or dead. They shouted at me to die and to repent for my sins. I retreated to my home in the scrapyard and soon after people tried to attack me in my house. It did not take long for me to install some defenses around my house for the occasional intruder. They fired me from my job after I was accused. No one wanted to employ me after everything that happened. So I made my home in the scrapyard and made just enough money to buy food and some necessities. In my free time, I started to build a ship from scrap. Not a big one, just a small ship for me to escape from this prison made by others. As it was against my sentence, I had to do it secretly. I dug out the cellar under my house with the help of some machines from the scrapyard and started to make my ship there. But even someone like me who don¡¯t need much human contact and can make do with machines, needs some time with others. When most of the work on the ship, which could be done in the scrapyard was finished. I looked up some Virtual Reality Games where I could be someone different, even if only for a little while. To start anew and maybe even make some money from it. Chapter 1: First time online So this is my first FF and I would like to get feedback from you on it. It''s going to be sci-fi themed. Some chapter I would work longer as I want at last do little research on some tech. At last theoretical. I sincerely hope you would enjoy it. For proofreading I want to thank Tomolone and Ulvr. They really helped me with makeing it better. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finally, the day I¡¯m going to log in the game for the first time. I bought a helmet for the Virtual game from half a year of savings. I installed it myself in my bedroom so I could play while I was asleep. I didn¡¯t want to buy the whole capsule as it was too expensive. I lay on my bed and plugged the helmet into the network port. On the helmet monitor, I could see progress bar of my brain scan. It said that it would need the next five minutes. I was so excited that I started to think about what I would pick for race and class. This also caused me to not notice the popup for the next phase. Once I saw it I immediately selected yes. At the same time, I could feel my consciousness fade. At first there was darkness, but after a few seconds the room started to illuminate from beneath my feet. I could see, I was in some sort of room. Bad surprise for me was that my right hand was gone, same as when I was born. I just hoped, I¡¯ll be able to change it somewhere. I was standing in nicely furnished room. It looked like reception with counter and all. Behind counter sat a woman in late thirties with bright red hair. She looked at me and frowned, ¡°So even someone like you wants to try this game.¡± Then she turned away with angry expression, ¡°Just pick one door and go!¡± I was annoyed with her because she was obviously a real person and knew who I was. I came here because I didn¡¯t want people to find out who I was. Still I looked at each door and could see an inscription on them. Strength, Agility and Intelligence. From that I could tell, I would have to pick what my character main attribute was. I didn¡¯t want strength as I liked to use finesse more. So that left me with Intelligence or agility. My pick would depend on character I want to go. I looked at woman behind the counter and asked her politely, ¡°Can you tell me what the difference between agility and intelligence is?¡± She looked back at me like I was something disgusting, ¡°No, can¡¯t help you.¡± I stared back at her. At least she should help me, even if she hates me. It¡¯s her job. I smiled back at her and started to record this conversation, ¡°Please call your superior. I¡¯d like to speak with him and for your information, I¡¯m also recording this conversation from now on¡± She looked at me with so much hate that I was startled, ¡°Ok. I¡¯ll call him.¡± After that she disappeared. Two minutes later, an older man in a black suit appeared in her place. ¡°Good day. I apologize for my colleague. She¡¯s young and hot-blooded. I hope you can forgive her behaviour.¡± He said nervously. I looked at him and could see he was afraid I would continue press the issue with his colleague, but I have had enough of this in real life. I didn¡¯t want to be there with them any longer then I have to. ¡°Sure, no problem. Just answer my question please.¡± I said finally. Thanks and what would the question be?¡± he said relieved. I went straight to the point, ¡°Can you tell me the difference between Agility and Intelligence doors?¡± ¡°Of course, agility is your ability to move more freely and it boosts your reaction time. It helps with coordination and flexibility of your body. Intelligence is ability to comprehend and use information. It also helps with learning new things.¡± He said. I could tell that myself but at last he did tell what I wanted, ¡°Thank you, that would be all for now. I think this will be easy for me then¡± I said and went to the door with the Intelligence inscription. There was flash of light and I was standing in a meadow. It was full of short grass and flowers of every colour. In the middle of it was a small girl making flower crown. There were four circles in an imaginary cube shape around the little girl. ¡°Hi my name is Leya. Could you help me find someone to help me pick my race and create my character?¡± She looked up at me smiling, ¡°I can help you with that.¡± And she changed to young woman with long blonde hair and gorgeous body and face. She continued ¡°Hi my name is Virtua, also known as the AI governing this world. I¡¯m here to help you start your new life in this world.¡± She started to point with her hands, ¡°If you look to your left there is platform where you can pick your race, and on right you can pick your starting skills and traits. Behind you, you can pick your equipment. And in front of you is the last circle which will transport you to my world. She surprised me. Not only because of her sudden change, but also because most AI I met were without personality. They were just tightly focused on one aspect of their job. ¡°Thank you, then I¡¯ll go and start by picking my race and after that I¡¯ll continue and pick my skills. Can you tell me something about them while I pick my race?¡± I moved to pick my starting race. I scrolled through them to found one that would be ideal for me. I wanted a race that could build things, but were good at piloting a spaceship. Also it would change my appearance so no one would recognize me. I tried a lot of them while Virtua was telling me about skills and how they worked. ¡°At start you have thousand points for which you can buy skills or traits. There are a lot of skills with different cost. There are placed in four categories: Combat, Magic, Engineering and General. You can learn all skills in the game but it¡¯s harder to get some of them as you have to fulfil some requirements to get them. So try to think about how you want to play and pick skills corresponding with it.¡± I listened to her while scrolling through thousands of races. I knew it would take too long to go across all of them, ¡°Can you help me pick a race? There are just too many of them. If possible I¡¯d like a race that¡¯s good at engineering and piloting a spaceship. It would have to be race thatwill change my appearance, so no one can recognize me.¡± ¡°Wait a second while I browse through them.¡± She looked thoughtful for couple seconds, ¡°I found fifty races with these conditions. Three of them are ones you are looking for probably.¡± ¡°Can you show me three races that you spoke of?¡± Before I could finish saying it there were three races before me. First was some kind of a small alien with slim body, almost anorectic looking with long fingers. It had grey skin without any hair and big dark black eyes. It was like alien from old movies. They were little too creepy for me.
Grey lords Name which they got because of their grey skin and attitude to other species. Because of experiments on other species, they were hunted almost to extinction. They are exceptional engineers with one of the best ships. They lived mostly in space so their strength is almost none compared to other races. They are forced to use suits on planets to help them function.
- Their strength is quartered compared to normal - Their engineering skills have better growth than normal - Because of their living in space they have exceptional orientation in space. That gives them bonuses while piloting. - They can multitask with their mind - 61 bodies left for players
Second race was some kind of bug. Whole body was covered in an exoskeleton and it was at last two and half meter tall. It looked like tall cockroach but at the end of hands it had some sort of retractable tentacles which could be used for fine work.
Cherobin Cherobins are military based and from young age are trained to work in space. Because of this, they are one of main powers in the universe. They may look clumsily but thanks to short retractable tentacles, they could manipulate really small objects without problems. In universe they aren¡¯t very liked because they mostly stayed in secluded community.
- Bonus to attack with bare hands - Because of retractable tentacles they can use small object with greater care then most species - Their ships are half living and as such they can use them to make different set of propulsion then others - From beginning they have access to some special technologies - They can get faster basic skills for ship handling and repairing it - They are shunned in most of universe
Last race looked like normal human and I could not found much difference, at least not in appearance. Only difference were cat like eyes and ears.
Gorians This race, even if similar to human is an alien race. They came from planet similar to Earth, but their culture is completely different. From a young age, they¡¯re thought to hide their faces and reveal it only to their close friends, family and partner. As a species, they are genius engineers and capable pilots, but after war there are only couple of them left. They have cat like eyes and ears and because of this they are sometimes hunted for slavery.
- They learn engineering skills much faster than normal - They start with head gear or armor item which you have to pick - Augmentation are normal for them and they are resilient to their negative effect - From the start, they have access to some special technologies - They lived mostly in space and every point in strength cost them two points - They have problems with learning other languages - They are sometimes hunted for slavery because of their engineering skills - 3 bodies left for players
I liked this last one most as first two were just too much alien for me. Both had the skills and second had even some special skills which I would like to look at, but they were just to disgusting for me. I don¡¯t like bugs so playing as one would be weird. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°How do I pick one?¡± I asked Virtua. ¡°You have to make changes first then you walk into it.¡± She explained. ¡°Thank you.¡± I said to her and then started to look at changes I could make on my character. I played about fifteen minutes with it and in the end, I just reset it. I took my normal appearance and change my hairs to long. It just didn¡¯t matter as I would have my head hidden anyways. At last, I walked in to it. When I touched it, I was changed to this race instantly and with it came new experiences. Like my hearing was much better, probably because of the ears. I also had sharp teeth. I noticed this because I cut my own tongue on them. For negatives, I could tell I was weaker than before. My sight was normal, but I could see slightly farther than myself. In the end, I was satisfied with my choice. But biggest change for me was that I had a right hand. I tried to move it and there were no problems, no twitches and no jerkiness. There was instead an instant response from it. I pated it with my other hand to ensure it was there. I played with it and tried some exercises, but after five minutes I moved on. I was glad for it, but you can¡¯t do many new things with an arm. Now came time to pick skills. I went across the meadow to another circle, where I could pick my skills. There were four smaller circles representing one of each skill tree. I looked at skills and there were vast differences in strength of them. Stronger, of course, cost more, but on other side they let you do more than normal skills. In every skill tree there was one skill for 1000 points. They bring some special options for the character, but they were more late game skills. At the start they didn¡¯t give as much benefits as the smaller, less strong ones, but late game they would shine. The combat tree, there was skill focused on controlling certain body parts to a higher extent. That could translate to a really strong fighter who could use short bursts of speed or strength, or just run really long. You could wield heavy weapons with less strength and learn to fight efficiently. The downside of this skill was that you didn¡¯t get full access to it from beginning, you had to train it. It was a skill for players that had some real life experience with martial arts or fighting in general. The magic tree had skill that focused on the gathering of raw mana. One could make a fireball or lightning strike out of raw mana without depending on wind or fire mana. All one has to do was change a mana type and he could use it. This enabled players to access all magic in the game. Downside for mage was that you lost a lot of skills in the beginning which made it harder to level up. You also had to change between different kinds of mana all the time. The engineering tree gives you ability to understand all technology which brings you access to special items. Like with others it was more late game skill as at beginning, it would be tremendous luck just to find some powerful technology. Last skill was for General use and it gets you nanobots or mana option to use your blood-vessel. If you don¡¯t have nanobots you get them from start injected into you. If you don¡¯t have race with mana you get one mana core placed into you. This enables you to control either mana or nanobots with thought. You can use them on yourself to heal, or in fight to enhance your body. From all other skills, this one was most versatile but didn¡¯t get you instant access to some special actions. I I looked at the other abilities, but I didn¡¯t have good feel about them as I have with the 1000 point ones. In the end, I picked up Skills for nanobots to move into your body. I have some thoughts on how to use them to get others unique abilities. I looked back at Virtua, ¡°So what do you say?¡± ¡°Not what I thought you would pick, but it has a lot of potential.¡± She moved to third circle in meadow, ¡°There you can pick your starting equipment. You can pick four items or three with your race.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go look at them, but just one quick question about this race. What would happen if someone saw my face? Is it such problem?¡± I asked with confusion written on my face. ¡°Your race would excommunicate you, and you would be probably hunted for slavery as your species are asked for in some communities.¡± she answered than looked thoughtful, ¡°If I played your character, I would take armor as a starting item and not only head gear. As on some planets they hunt persons who don¡¯t want to reveal their face. With armor you have at last better chance to defend yourself.¡± Then with smile continued, ¡°But that would only be me as I can¡¯t give tips to players.¡± I smiled back, ¡°Ok, so no face showing in public. Thanks once more for the hypothetical situation.¡± I went to third circle to pick my equipment. There was a lot of it and I could pick only four items. If I pick four equipment items then I would not have any water or food or even money and I had to pick armor or headgear so one item down. First I looked at armors there. There were a lot of them from heavy to light with a lot of specialization. After 4 minutes of looking through them, I picked a medium type armor with specialization for direct access from the user. It enables user to access all sensors in it and use them as one¡¯s own. I¡¯ll have to try to connect with nanobots to an access ports and make it work with it. It even had a removing mouth piece for eating. From my perspective it looked ideal. With this I had only three items left. Next I picked the multi-tool for engineering. With that I could build basic equipment pretty fast. Now for last two, both food and water for ten days with weapon or weapon and money. There were 2500 credits as this was neutral currency. I pondered about it, but until I know how much food and water cost it¡¯s same as a coin toss. ¡°Can you tell me how much water and food costs?¡± I asked turning to Virtua. ¡°Normal traveller¡¯s food and water for three days cost about 1500 credits, but you can buy plain food which would cost you 500 credits. It doesn¡¯t satisfy as much though. It would last max two days.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s probably better to just pick food and water with weapon.¡± I mused then looked with smile at Virtua, ¡°Thanks for answer. I should have almost everything now. Where would I go after that?¡± ¡°All you have to do is step on last circle and you would be transported either to tutorial or to a random starting location in game.¡± She looked at last circle, ¡°In the tutorial you would be taken through basic movement, piloting and better explanation of your skills. You can try some ideas there without penalization and after a maximum two days you would be transferred to random starting location.¡± Food and water was not problem, but to pick right weapon for me was another. In the end I picked assault rifle as it looked easiest to handle. I moved to last circle, but I looked behind me once more time, ¡°Thank you for all you¡¯ve done for me. It was long time since someone spoke to me so kindly and if you want in the future something, just call.¡± She was obviously startled by this, ¡°Not many people speak to me like to another person. I too thank you for this. Just enjoy your time in my world and I would be happy. Now go already and kick some ass.¡± So I went to last circle where window came before me.
Type your name please:Leya
CONTINUE
I clicked continue on the popup window.
Do you want to play tutorial forst?
YesNo
I clicked yes as there were some things I wanted to try first. I was immediately transported to a meadow. Almost same as one before, except on one side was something like shooting range, on other was a ship and on other two sides of imaginary cube were some engineering parts and magic circle. First thing I did was equipping armor and trying to interact withit through nanobots. This was harder than I thought, so I started with something simpler. I tried to feel nanobots which was not hard, but when I tried to move them that was another story. If it¡¯s like normal life, then my brain and body would have to adapt to having them, so with time I should have better control of them. As I could be there 2 days I went to the ship to try pilot it. I was disappointed when I could only play a simulation in it. It was almost real, but without hum of drive and power source it was only game and nothing else. It was bare minimum to learn how to fly. For the next six hours I flew in the simulator. I tried different scenarios and found out it was pretty hard to control a ship. Surprisingly, I didn¡¯t have problem with 3D orientation, but more with my eye to hand coordination. I used to much thrust to move the ship around, but that should go away with more experience. After this, I tried some weapons but focused mostly on a assault rifles. In the end, I found that best pick for me was pistol as my strength was lower than others. I could even dual wield pistols but not for long. It was really tiring. I would have to change my assault rifle for pistol when I get a chance. Once more I tried to move nanobots in my body. After hour of trying I could move them little, but not enough to make connection with my armor. Still I have another day and a half. During this time I should focus on controlling them and to connect them with my armor. I started to get hungry after whole day, so it shows that even in tutorial some time is measured. I ate and drank little of my provisions. Halfway through next day I managed to finally connect to my armor but I could not make much of the readings I got from it. So last half day I used to moving in armor and staying connected at the same time. It was harder than I thought it would be. I had to make all connections flexible. In the end I could maintain this connection for about 10 minutes before I could not concentrate enough on nanobots. As refreshment, I used piloting simulator and shooting range. When the time came for me to end this tutorial, window popped up before me with ten seconds timer. After that there was flash and I was transported to my starting location. Chapter 2: Scrapyard shopping That''s all for today. I would like to post more this week so if you think I should make some changes please write me as I''m really new in this. I hope you enjoy what I wrote so far and I''ll try to bring you more. :D I''d like to thank aeval for proofreading this chapter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - With a bright light, I was transported to the middle of a square inside the city. There were many windows popping up before me so I swiped them out of the way and started looking around me. All around were many people selling or buying items, so it was probably was some sort of market. I looked around, but I couldn¡¯t see much through the throngs of a people around me. They were great variety of them. From giant aliens completely covered in heavy armor to small ones running under our legs. I looked at wonder at all of them, but after a while I wanted to move on and explore more. I hurried and moved away from the busy market and tried to find some quiet corner to think about my next move, and look at the windows that popped up before me. I went to a nearby alley and looked at the windows.
For finishing the tutorial as twenty first person, you get small bonus for your character. You showed tenacity for hard work and ability to rather learn in training than on the battlefield. 5 character points 20 points to Fame
Learned new skill : Spaceship piloting(Basic)
Learned new skill : Assault rifle(Basic)
Learned new skill: Pistol(Basic)
Spaceship piloting(Basic)
Progress:0%
Type:Passive
This skill enables you to operate basic ships and qualify you for owning your own ship. With this skill you can legally own only commercial ships without weapons. For better ships you need a higher level or special privileges.
Assault rifle(Basic) lvl 1
Progress:0%
Type:Passive
You can wield assault rifles. You are not so good, but you have at least some experience. + 5% to damage with assault rifles
Pistol (Basic) lvl 1
Progress:0%
Type:Passive
You can wield pistols. You have some innate talent but without skill it¡¯s not much to work with. + 5% to damage with pistol
This surprised me, as you should not get any skills from the tutorial. Maybe I got them for being there for a whole two days. Another thing was that they could tell I was better with pistols compared to the rifles. This system is really neat if they could found out just from my shooting and how comfortable I was with the Pistols. With this skills I should not have problems to find myself some work. Once more, I tried to use the nanobots to connect to my armor and everything went smooth so this too stayed. I opened my status window to look at my stats.
Status window
Name:LeyaAlignment:Neutral
Level:1Gender:Female
Race:GorianClass:None
Titles:
None
Health:100Health regen:0.16/Sec
Stamina:100Stamina regen:0.83/Sec
-
Basic stats:Trainable only stats:
Strength:5Vitality:10
Agility:10Perseption:10
Intelligence:10Knowledge:10
Charisma:10Luck:10
Points left:5
-
Fame:20Reputation:0
-
Resitances:
None
-
Licence:
None
-
Skills:
Spaceship piloting (Basic) lvl1 Pistol (Basic) lvl1 Assault rifle (Basic) lvl1
Traits:
Nanobot blood
Stats were divided into two categories. Basic stats and the Trainable only stats. Basic stats were something that were in every new game. You can place points in there or train them with your actions in-game. Trainable only stats were different. You could train them only by your actions in-game. You couldn¡¯t place points in them. This made Trainable Only Stats in a way more valuable than Basic stats. You could always rise Basic stats by using points even if you didn¡¯t do anything to raise them. Next I looked at this trait I picked up, as it was not inside the skill window. Looking at it, I did not understand much. I could not find any difference between the Passive skills and the traits. I would have to go and look it up somewhere else.
Nanobot blood
You have the nanobots inside your blood which enables you to control them directly with your brain. In time your body will assimilate the nanobots and you will be able to use them fully. Until then, you can use them in a limited capacity. Two weeks to assimilate
There was no level so it¡¯s probably something like a racial specialty. You just have it active all the time. So my 10 minutes of using them can be a problem with assimilation to my brain waves. I don¡¯t know if I helped with trying to use them as they are or if I just did more harm. For now there is nothing to be done. Either I¡¯ve done harm to the assimilation or not, but that would be a question for another time. Now came the time to think about what to do. Then I was startled by a person standing before me. I did not know when he or she came to stand before me. As I looked at her (I could tell from those curves on the light armor she was using) I was thinking. How long was she standing there and what did she want from me? She was a short girl with light black body armor and helmet in wolf shape that make her look fierce. She had a rifle with a scope across her back and two pistols at her sides. ¡°Why are you standing there and staring into the wall? Is it so exciting to look at it?¡± she asked ¡°No I was just looking at my skills and stats¡± I said warily, ¡°and why would you want to know that?¡± ¡°Me and some members of my guild are helping new players when they start. There were players at the beginning who had problems because they did not pick the food, water or even money. To tell the truth I was one of them and one player helped me on my legs. So it¡¯s more of a payback. And by the way my name is Anna Norman from the guild Hunters.¡± I was still not convinced that she was who she said. But public city areas were a no fight zone, so she cannot do much to me, ¡°Thanks but I have food and water. Right now I¡¯m going to find some work to make some credits.¡± ¡°I can help you there. I know a good location for starting players to make credits.¡± ¡°I want t¡­.¡± I started but was interrupted by a loud siren. I looked around and shouted at Anna, ¡°Do you hear a siren?¡± She looked at me confused, ¡°No I do not hear any sirens. Do you?¡± Then it dawned on me what it was ¡°Shit, I have to go. Bye.¡± And I logged out from the game. ? ? ? I was greeted with a loud siren, ¡°Siren down and give me a perimeter update.¡± I looked at the monitor across from me. There were views from cameras that I installed inside the scrapyard. I could see three persons going to my house. They stopped before it and started pounding on my door. ¡°Miss Leya could we take moment of your time? We came to discuss a business proposal with you.¡± Said the one pounding on my door. I briefly looked through the other cameras, to see if there are more of them but these three were all. I stood up from the bed and went to my door. I looked at the men in front of my door through the camera. He was build more like a wrestler than a businessmen. In fact all of them looked more like a bruisers than anything else. The one pounding on my door was bigger compared to the other two. He had a bald head with slightly sunken eyes. His suit was tailored for him and by looking at the new smart watch on his wrist I could tell he was someone with money. ¡°Who are you and what do you want with me?¡± I asked through speaker. He looked into the camera, then the door and answered, ¡°Can you let us in so we can discuss our proposal?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather not. I had some bad experience with people who wanted to just discuss things. Just say what you want and go away.¡± He looked back at his comrades which just shrugged, ¡°Ok our employer would like to buy your scrapyard. He can make you a generous offer for it.¡± I did not have to even think about it, ¡°Sorry but I won¡¯t sell my home. You can go away now.¡± He immediately changed his tone, ¡°Look miss it has to be dangerous living here all alone. You would not want to something happened to you, would you now?¡± He finished with cruel smile. I was taken aback by this sudden change. So they were really some sort of gangsters. ¡°I can take care of myself, so please go away from my land.¡± ¡°Miss you should accept this offer while you still can. In the end, my employer always gets what he wants.¡± He threatened me. ¡°Activate defense. Threat one¡± I said to my wrist comp. I could hear a startled reaction behind my doors, but who wouldn¡¯t be startled when out of nothing six autocannons pop up aimed right at you. ¡°This is your last warning. Get out of my land and do not return! As you can see, I can take care of myself.¡± He started running back while shouting over his shoulder, ¡°You will regret this. No one messes with us like this.¡± I laughed at him as he tripped on the ground and fell face first on the dirt. His expensive suit was completely ruined from the dust and maybe even a little oil smudge could be seen on the suit. I knew that it would make it worse than it already was, but I laughed in the microphone so he could hear my laughter. When they rode away I stopped laughing as it dawned on me what it meant. People like him would never stop until they get what they want. That meant I would have to boost up my defenses and make a better warning system. Because I would not let them stop me from playing inside of Virtua. The next two weeks I worked and implemented the plan for my defenses so I did not have any time to go back inside of the game. First I beefed the autocannons, so now I have twelve autocannons and five of them are installed on my home with the option to automatically defend against any missiles fired at it. That was a new feature which I added when I looked up the future projects with my land on them. In the end I came up with a name Gordon Herley. There wasn¡¯t much information about him. But I found out that a lot of people who owned something he wanted came to bad end. Some tripped on the stairs, had a glide car accident or committed suicide. In one extreme case a rich person was killed by a terrorist who used a shuttle to fire a missiles directly at his house. All cases had also something in common. His name was never mentioned. This case with missiles was what prompted me to make my own rocket defense. I took it from an old anti-missile defense from the early 21st century. The code for their autocannons were available to the public and I had to make only minor adjustments for my laser cannons. All my alarm systems and defenses I plugged into the power source on my ship. It would automatically come online when the normal power got cut off. I have made one more doomsday plan in case that they have breached all my defenses. But I hope that I would not have to use it. For everyone¡¯s sake that is. Now after two weeks of constant work, came the time for me to return to Virtua and finally start making some progress. First thing I did was look up the information about the Traits and the Licenses. The Traits were according to players, a little mystery as no one knew exactly the difference between the Traits and the passive stats. Some theorized that you already got hidden Traits and they started to function when you find out how to use them. As for a Licenses, here it was easier. You can use all items when you fulfil the requirements but on some planets you need a license to use certain types of weapons. For example on a space station all projectile weapons are prohibited. You can use them only with a special License which you can buy under the right conditions. I looked up my planet and there were almost no restrictions. The only restriction was that you had to register your ship to your own name when you manage to get one. That does not matter to me as I did not even have a ship. I powered off my computer and I lie down on my bed. I placed the helmet on my head and went back into the game. ? ? ? Next thing I know, I was standing in the same alley I logged out from. For a while I contemplated if I should call Anna. But in the end, I wanted to explore the city by myself. I came out of the alley into the street and tried to ask for directions to a nearby pub or scrapyard. From their answers I could tell the scrapyard was behind the city and there were several pubs but the best one for me as a spacer was to go to the pub at the Main Square. First I had to go to the pub to look for a job as my rations were growing low. Then when I would have earned enough credits, I would like to visit the scrapyard and get started on making my starting equipment. My rifle was an old projectile assault rifle which was almost useless against the better shields. It was a rifle with a long barrel that had a wooden butt. It even had a scope for mid-range shooting and a magazine for thirty bullets. All in all it was a good weapon, just not this time.
Old assault rifle (Gunpwder)
Damage:5 - 10Rarity:Basic
Munition:BulletsMagazine:30
This weapon is the most basic rifle you can get. It¡¯s used more for training exercises than in actual battles. You can¡¯t do serious damage to any armored target.
This rifle just does not have enough velocity to penetrate the new shields. I could maybe try using a magnetic rail to accelerate the bullet or just make a laser pistols or a new rifle from scrap. I came to the pub in the Main Square which was called Black Mountain and entered it. I didn¡¯t know what I expected but not a pub where it looked like a mercenary guild from a movie. Everyone in there was armed and there were even some bar fights which should not be possible inside of public buildings. In my confusion I almost missed someone shouting at me. ¡°Hi, where have you been so long? I looked all over for you but could not find you.¡± Shouted Anna across the pub, ¡°You look the same as before. Don¡¯t tell me you were not logged on for the whole two weeks.¡± She was still wearing her helmet even indoors but so were a lot of others around her. I went to her and sat at the free chair next to her as she beckoned me to come over, ¡°I had some personal problems that I had to take care of.¡± ¡°A problem that required the use of an alarm siren?¡± she asked ironically. ¡°Yeah a problem like that but everything should be ok for now.¡± Then I looked around the room thinking, why am I even telling her all this? ¡°Right now I am looking for work to do, if you know about any, please tell me?¡± She thought for a while then said to me, ¡°I just got an offer and I could take you with me but you would have to obtain better weapons.¡± ¡°How much time do I have? I can probably obtain a better weapon in a day or two.¡± ¡°You have till the end of the second day. That is the time limit for this job you can apply to. Time ends at 8pm. Details can be discussed when you get weapon. Meanwhile you can look at the board with jobs near the fireplace.¡± ¡°Once more thanks. I don¡¯t know why you are helping me but I appreciate it.¡± Then on a whim I send her a friend request. She accepted the request immediately.
Anna Norman has become your friend
¡°I already told you why I¡¯m doing this. But to tell you the truth I¡¯m just curious about you. You are different from the other players. In some aspects you are like a newbie and then next time you tell me you can get new weapons in a day or two.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that I worked with weapons in real life so I know where to find them, at least I think I do. Like I said, you will have to wait for me for a day or two. Maybe I¡¯ll even give you a gift.¡± I ended with a playful smile which she couldn¡¯t see through helmet but from my tone she should probably get that I was just teasing her. ¡°You should not tease your future co-worker like this.¡± She answered shaking her head but I was already going to look at the job table. Most jobs on the table required me to have a decent weapon, which I did not have so I moved to the simpler jobs. Like doing small deliveries and carrying goods. I copied them to my memory and was busy the whole day working on them. Carrying goods ended up being harder than I thought. Considering I was as weak as a kitten and had to take a lot of breaks to recover, I made good time on them. On the plus side sometimes when they noticed me working so hard they gave me food and water so I saved some more money that way. I tried to use the nanobots to help me with my jobs. Through the day I was able to steadily control them better without too much problems. I looked at the nanobots on my skill list and my two week long log out at least gave me something good. Today I earned ten thousand credits. With the credits I should be able to make some decent weapons from the scrap that I willl buy at the scrapyard. I logged out from the game and ate my breakfast. After I ate my breakfast I placed the closed for the day sign at the entrance, as I would need to make the best use of my time to get this job with Anna. I returned immediately into the game. Night in the city was different, through the day you could see nice clean streets but at night the streets were full of neon lights and performers. Where the market once stood, there was a market but with completely different goods. I saw more than one person that exchanged things under the table. The whole thing looked like a black market. I went to look for the scrapyard away from the market. I went from the center of the city towards the slums of the city. There was garbage along the walls. I went around the streets that looked dangerous as I did not want to get killed for no reason. It took me full hour to find the scrapyard as it was about 100 meters from the city behind a small hill. Without help from a local man it would have taken me much more time to reach the scrapyard. It was a smaller scrapyard compared to the one I own but better funded with a new electronic gate. The gates were open so I just walked in and started looking through the scrap but I was suddenly interrupted by a man who came running towards me. ¡°What do you think you are doing!? It¡¯s closed don¡¯t you know how to read?¡± the man shouted at me angrily. I explained, ¡°But there was no sign at the gate. It was opened so I thought that it was open. I don¡¯t have my scrapyard open at night as well, but you could be managing yours differently.¡± That stopped him, ¡°Shit once more he did not lock the gates after my shift.¡± then he looked at me thoughtfully, ¡°So you own a scrapyard too? Then why would you go to my scrapyard?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have one in this city and I have only a small amount of money. On the next day I have a job proposal but I need a better weapon.¡± Then I used my arms and pointed at all the scrap, ¡°So I thought that I could build one or upgrade this one.¡± And let him see my rifle. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Ok, first, my name is Greg. Just Greg with no surname. Second, I¡¯m closed but for five thousand credits I¡¯ll let you in here for the night. For another three thousand credits I will even let you use my tools on the condition, that you would show me what you build when it¡¯s finished.¡± Then he holds out his hand for me to shake. I took his hand and shaked it ¡°My name too is only Leya and you got the deal.¡± Then I took eight thousands from my savings and handed the credits over to him. I knew he would not rob me as he was obviously too curious about what I would build. He closed the gate and placed a sign there and went to sleep. I started to think what I would need and what I had the time for to build in a day. First I would try to make two pistols, as pistols were a better option for me. One plasma pistol and next one laser pistol. Next, if I still have some time left, I will upgrade my rifle. There were many types of pistols but the one I wanted to build was with a recharging battery. They were hard to build and I would have to make small adjustments to my armor. But in the end they would be much better than a normal pistols. They would still have the power clips but I could charge them with my armor. For this I will need a better power source for my armor. That should not be too hard to come by in a scrapyard but to get the right one is a different story. I used the nearby cart to wheel them around. I found two used laser pistols before I dig out the power source that I could use on my armor. I even found a broken assault rifle with a functioning magnetic rail and one decent plasma pistol with a broken plasma dispenser. Though that is something I can repair easily. I looked for the workshop and when I came there I found a new magnetic rail and better scope for my rifle with small note attached to them.
Try not to mess workshop too much.
I smiled when I read it and banged my hand on the helmet when I tried to wipe the tears falling from my eyes. It was so different from my real life, where I was glad that someone just ignored me and did not harass me. I let the tears fall and focused on my work. First I prepared the power source for my armor then I started to work on the laser pistol. It was fast work as I made a couple for myself in real life. First I disassembled two pistols and placed the functioning parts on one end of the table and tossed out the broken ones. I wanted to build something for precision. I looked at both focusing crystals but the quality of the crystals was rather low. I did what I could with the crystals and picked a better one. Same thing I did with all the others parts and I finally finished cleaning them. Now that I had all the parts I started to build my pistol. I adjusted the focus crystal to be narrower so I have a better aim and deal more damage. I took one of the longer grips so I could shoot double handed and adjusted it so I could recharge it with my armor. I used a workbench to make two power clips and assembled my first laser pistol inside of the game. Last thing I did was testing it. From this work I knew about some upgrades I could make with more time. The Second pistol was quick as well but with only one plasma pistol I had to make a few small adjustments. I did the same sorting and cleaning with the disassembled pistol. Most important was to check parts for leaks as pistol could possibly explode because of it. Smaller ones I micro-welded with my multi-tool. After that I only had to assemble it back together. It worked but I had to make same modifications on the grip for the plasma refilling from my armor. Then I looked at the door and took off my armor so I could install the power source. It went better than I expected! The plasma container was harder as I had to make sure nothing started to leak and everything was contained inside. I then linked them to the Holsters for the pistols, that way I could power reload them. Then I made a small pause and I found the bathroom with a shower. I used it as I was now moving for two days in armor and it was blissful feeling to be clean again. When I got the time I will have to upgrade or buy a new armor with a better water recycling system. I tried to hook everything up and test it. First the plasma pistol was a big ugly lump of metal but packed a solid punch so I called it Punch. Second the laser pistol was more precise and could be used longer between reloading. This I called Pat. There were just a few minor problems which I could repair in seconds. I finished them sooner than I expected. Now it¡¯s time to upgrade the assault rifle. With the new scope and magnetic rail it was fast work. Only problem was with the testing which I left untill Greg is awake as it would probably be loud as hell. With enough time I started looking for the shield emitters for my armor and a small power source for them. I finished everything up a hour before Greg called out to me for breakfast. As I was sitting and stuffing with food he asked. ¡°So what did you manage to finish? I can see the pistols and two power sources on the armor.¡± ¡°I made one laser pistols, one plasma pistol, upgraded the rifle with a magnetic rail and placed a shield with recharger on the armor.¡± I said with full mouth. He stopped eating and stared at me. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me, you could not make them in just one night.¡± ¡°Why not it¡¯s not so hard once you made it once. It¡¯s the same for all the others and with your new magnetic rail and scope it was easy to upgrade the rifle.¡± ¡°What new scope and rail? I didn¡¯t give you anything.¡± He looked at me dismayed. I gave him a note, ¡°You didn¡¯t gave these to me? Then for who were they?¡± He shook his head, ¡°Oh they were for you, just not from me. Someone took a liking to you from the powers of this world.¡± I looked at him confused, ¡°What powers? I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Ok so there are special powers which govern over this universe and sometimes they help certain individuals. Most of them turn out to be important figures in the future. They are always unique and they are different from the others. I can tell this about you too. To make so much in only one night. I¡¯ll give you some advice, you should never tell others. These special individuals are not well liked on this planet. Though that is a story for another time. I thought about what he said and I had an idea who it could be who gave me this gift. ¡°I won¡¯t tell but why don¡¯t you angry when others would be?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not from this planet and I think they are wrong in their anger so you can relax.¡± ¡°Ok thanks for the tip. Now that you are awake I can test my new rail gun¡± I said with joy. ¡°Come look at it.¡± Then we went to his work room to look at my new equipment. He inspected it and tested the pistols and armor. He was evidently proud of me even if I don¡¯t know why. I started to think about him like my guardian and friend. Lastly he took my rail gun and went out. There he placed some used armor on the scrap and fired at it. Both of us stood there with our mouths wide open when we looked at the results of the first shot. It went right through the used armor and make big hole on exiting it. If it was normal person he would be dead with just one bullet. He then got an armor with a functioning shield. This time it took only three shots to get through it. He looked at it one more time and whistled, ¡°Now that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about. It¡¯s great. Only downside is the noise. They could probably hear it even in the city. So what are you going to call it?¡± he said laughing. ¡°Pistols are Punch and Pat and the Rail gun I¡¯m going to call Fist. ¡°Good choice for them.¡± he said to me. I went to him and hugged him then looked at him and took my helmet of. When he saw me without it he was startled and stepped back. Then he came and hugged me back. I was smiling and crying at the same time. After some time he looked me in the eyes and said ¡°Thank you for your trust. I won¡¯t betray you.¡± ¡°I know that¡¯s why I showed it to you. You are only second person to see it.¡± I said with a smile plastered on my face. Then we chatted about his life and what he wanted to do. After lunch he asked me how much time I had left. When I said I had maybe six hours he asked if I would not build him some pistols or even a rifle. Of course I agreed and for next four hour I worked on the weapons while he was looking for the parts needed to build them. I made a total of seven pistols and one rifle. As I said, when you do it one time it¡¯s easy the second time. He insisted on paying me for the weapons which brought me to 20 thousand credits in my purse. As I prepared to go back I hugged him and went back to the Black Mountain pub. On the way I looked at my stats and weapons.
Status window
Name:LeyaAlignment:Neutral
Level:5Gender:Female
Race:GorianClass:None
Titles:
None
Health:430Health regen:0.29/Sec
Stamina:280Stamina regen:1.43/Sec
Shield:300Shield regen:5/Sec
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Basic stats:Trainable only stats:
Strength:10Vitality:18
Agility:32Perseption:10
Intelligence:32Knowledge:23
Charisma:13Luck:13
Points left:0
-
Fame:20Reputation:0
-
Resitances:
None
-
Licence:
None
-
Skills:
Spaceship piloting (Basic) lvl 1 Pistol (Basic) lvl 3 Assault rifle (Basic) lvl 2 Weapon engineering (Intermediate) lvl 6 Armor engineering (Intermediate) lvl 1
Traits:
Nanobot blood Building trance
I had two new skills and even my stats received a boost. Looking back at the windows I found, I got them while working the first day on quests and even in the scrapyard. First I allocated all fifteen points to my stats. Most went to agility and Intelligence. A couple I placed in charisma. For one level I got three points which was from what it heard, less compared to other games. It was probably because of the Trainable only stats. They did not want to make too much of a difference between them. Finally I looked at my weapons and armor.
Punch (Plasma)
Damage:140 - 160Rarity:Exceptional
Munition:Power packMagazine:5
Pistol made by a skilled engineer. This pistol has a small magazine but every shot from it packs a punch resulting in additional damage. + 10% armor penetration
Pat (Laser)
Damage:40/SecRarity:Exceptional
Munition:Power packMagazine:2 min
Pistol made by a skilled engineer. It¡¯s focused on accuracy which gives opportunity to shoot precisely where you want. + 10% to accuracy
Fist (Electromagnetic acceleration)
Damage:100 - 200Rarity:Exceptional
Munition:BulletsMagazine:30
Assault rifle upgraded by a skilled engineer on a full rail gun assault rifle. It¡¯s an exceptional gun for short and medium range. + 20% armor penetration + 20% shield penetration Making laud noise when shooting
Sensor medium armor (upgraded)
Armor:50Rarity:Exceptional
Shield:300Shield regen:5/Sec
Laser clip recharge:1 mag / minPlasma tank:6 dcl
This armor was upgraded from the standard recon armor with a sensor to full battle armor. It can be used for immersed use. Now it also has the shield emitters and the Laser clip charger.
I stopped walking and opened my mouth when I saw the damage boost from this simple upgrade. With this I should have enough equipment for the mission with Anna. I even had a new trait.
Building trance
When you are building things you go into a trance like state. In this state you are able to work twice as fast as compared to normal. This enables you to finish a tremendous amount of work in short time.
This was exactly the same as in real life. Sometimes I lose complete track of time when I work and find out that I did more work than I should have in that amount of time. This could be a useful skill for the future. Finally I came to the pub and there were even more people compared to two days ago. I easily spotted Anna as she was sitting at the same spot as last time. I sneaked behind her as she spoke. ¡°So you made it in the end?¡± I sat down next to her, ¡°Yes I made all the preparation. We can go immediately if you want.¡± ¡°First I would have to inspect your weapons then we can go. I rented the room upstairs and we can look at them there.¡± So we proceeded to move to the room she rented. I handed them over to her so she could inspect my weapons. At first she looked at them dubiously but after she saw their stats her eyes widened in surprise. ¡°How did you get weapons like these? They should cost too much for you to buy.¡± Then she looked at me suspiciously, ¡°I hope that you didn¡¯t stole them from someone.¡± I laugh, ¡°No I made them. I worked in real life with weapons and other things so it wasn¡¯t that hard to do.¡± ¡°Still components should be even more expensive than buying the weapons whole.¡± ¡°But I got them from the scrapyard and they were cheap there. I answered. She just stood there saying nothing for a while. ¡°Why didn¡¯t I think of that? You can make cheap weapons and equipment like that.¡± Then she looked at me and handed me 40 thousand credits, ¡°Thanks. You probably don¡¯t know it but information like this is a good way to make money.¡± I didn¡¯t want to take money from her for such simple information so I tried to push them back to her but she didn¡¯t relent, ¡°No this information is probably more expensive than this, but it¡¯s all I got on me right now so please take it.¡± So I took the credits, ¡°Thanks but I would give them to you for free. You helped me more than you know.¡± ¡°I and my guild are always paying back our debts.¡± She said in a serious tone. I knew it was the end of the discussion so I decided to change the topic. ¡°So what is this mission we are going to undertake?¡± ¡°It is a simple recon mission. In a nearby mining facility they started to have problems. Our job is to find out what happened and report back to the Miners.¡± ¡°Why the need for weapons if it¡¯s only a recon mission?¡± ¡°Because these types of missions can change from recon to search and destroy or run for your life easily. That¡¯s the reason requirements for it are a decent weapons.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry your weapons are more than decent. You should be fine.¡± She continued. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll trust you. So when can we start?¡± ¡°We are waiting for rest of the team. Then we move to the transport, where we can begin the mission. You can wait here or come with me downstairs.¡± ¡°If it would be okay with you, I prefer to wait here.¡± She stood up and went for the door. ¡°It¡¯s fine I¡¯ll send them up as they come so don¡¯t be scared when someone barges in here.¡± And she closed the door behind her. I started to look at my gear and tried to fine-tune it as I didn¡¯t have time in the scrapyard for it. I took them apart and cleaned the parts with a rag that I found in a corner of the room. First came the pistols as in closed space my rail gun would be useless because of the noise. It would probably destroy my ears and everyone else¡¯s in a near proximity. They were in a good condition as I took the parts which were in a good shape. I don¡¯t know how long I worked on my equipment but I came out of my trance only when someone patted me on the shoulder. When I looked behind me into the room there were four more people with me. One was Anna, who patted my shoulder. She looked back at the others and said, ¡°I told you she is different compared to others.¡± ¡°That she is and by the way my name is Lee Yuan our demolition specialist. You can call me Lee or Mr. Yuan.¡± Said one of them when he caught me looking at them. His race was human. He was about one head smaller than me with bright green hair. He was wearing goggles on his eyes and had many packages on his body armor. Probably explosives as he was a demolition expert. Next came forward the giant man in heavy armor with a minigun and a rocket launcher strapped across his back. It had to be one of those expressive power armors that boosted your strength. ¡°Hi my name is Rock and I¡¯m the artillery of this team. If you have a problem point me at it and its gone.¡± he said with a laugh. I immediately liked him because he was like a big teddy bear. The last one had a armor similar to mine. He sat indifferently in the corner and didn¡¯t introduce himself. He had a plasma rifle in his hands and was controlling it. ¡°He¡¯s John. Don¡¯t mind him he only talks to us about mission. He joined us for this one mission. Me and the two others are from the same guild.¡± Said Rock to me. With introduction over Anna stood before us, ¡°Now that we know each other, we can move on to business. First the reward from mission will be divided equally between us. Next any drop will be rolled for and will go to whoever wins it. Is that understood?¡± Agreement of all the members present could be heard across the room. ¡°With this we all knew what our mission is so we can go and start it.¡± She said and went for the door. I didn¡¯t know where we were heading so I just followed them. We went to the train which should take us to the Mine.
Mission acquired: Mine investigation
You were asked to investigate the Mine by the miners from a nearby city. They have had a series of unexpected accidents which led to the closing the mine. After an official investigation they were to open the Mine in a couple of days. The Miners asked you to once more look for anything that could cause problems in the Mine. Condition: Findout what happened in mine Reward: 120 000 credits Better price for raw minerals from the mine ??? ???
The Journey took two hours. The whole way Lee and Rock argued about who can do more damage among other things. Anna was looking at plans of mine and John was just staring out of the window. I asked Anna If she could show me the mine layout so I could get a picture of where we are going and for the remainder of the journey I looked at the layout of the mine. Chapter 3: Into the mine So one more chapter and as always I would like your feedback. I made small change in previous chapter and chnged damage on wepons as it didn;t add up in this next chapter but for now thats all i changed. I hope you like it. But for now I''m going to work on next chapter :D I''d like to thank aeval for proofreading this chapter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The city where we came was called Steel shaft, which in my opinion wasn¡¯t a very original name for a miner city. When we got off from the train we moved towards the mine''s entrance, where we should meet with the foreman of the mine. He should give us an update on the state of the mine and let us in as the mine was closed for now. From the train it was only 5 minutes by foot to the mine. When we got there we saw no one. The mine was completely deserted. We walked around a bit and then we went to the entrance as our contact should be somewhere there. In front of the entrance we found a big man nervously looking around himself. He was bald with a red face and a strong body. As he saw us he was visibly relieved. He came running towards us. ¡°Thank god you¡¯re here. I was nervous just standing over there.¡± And he looked behind him. We let Anna do the talking with him and started to prepare our gear first. I didn¡¯t have as much as the others so I walked towards the entrance and waited for the others to arrive. The first to finish his preparations was John, but like always he wouldn¡¯t talk to me. It was starting to annoy me. Next one was Rock who walked towards me. ¡°So what¡¯s your class? I¡¯m a Heavy trooper with a specialization in heavy weapons.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have class as this is the sixth day I¡¯m playing and that includes two days inside of the tutorial.¡± I replied. ¡°Hahaha funny. Now tell us your class already.¡± He looked at me but after a while he understood that I meant it for real. ¡°You¡¯re telling the truth!¡± He said with wide eyes, ¡°How could Anna take you if you¡¯re just a beginner. You would just get killed.¡± Then he called to Anna, ¡°Hey Anna when were you going to tell us Leya didn¡¯t even have a class and has been playing the game for only six days?¡± She stopped talking to the foreman and glared at him. ¡°We¡¯ll talk in a minute.¡± Then she continue her talk with foreman. Lee came to us with an eyebrow raised. ¡±So you¡¯re a complete novice? How come Anna let you join us?¡± ¡°She told me if I could get some decent weapons, I could join you. So these last two days I worked, so I could get better weapons.¡± I said and let them think that I bought the weapons rather than made them myself. ¡°She inspected them this afternoon and said I could go with you.¡± Both of them looked at me then Rock sighed. ¡°Ok if she says your weapons are good I won''t mind. But tell me do you at least 50 damage while you have your weapons equipped? Because that''s the minimum amount you¡¯ll need. I got more than that, but I just nodded at him and looked at Anna who has ended her talk with the foreman and walked towards us. ¡°So you want to talk about this now?¡± she looked from Rock to Lee as John was just being quiet the whole time. ¡°No we¡¯re good, if her weapons are fine we¡¯ll manage somehow.¡± Said Rock then he smiled at me, ¡°It''s nothing against you, I just don¡¯t want to see you get hurt.¡± ¡°Thanks, but I should be fine and if there is any trouble I¡¯ll just hide behind you.¡± I said in a playful tone. He laughed, ¡°You do that.¡± Anna beckoned us over towards her and started telling us what the foreman told her. ¡°So for the last month there were some problems inside of the mine. Things go missing and such, but they thought it was just someone stealing them. They investigated it, but couldn¡¯t find out anything. But for the last two weeks something has changed. There were a lot of accidents caused by traps that someone started placing at the lower levels. They suspected someone is sabotaging the mine, but it¡¯s just a small business and they couldn¡¯t think of anyone who would want them to close up the mine. However that changed last week. When they found a dead miner with claw marks covering his body. So they closed the mine and send their team to find out what has happened, but they could not find out anything. With nothing to show they had to either close the mine or keep it open and hope for the best. They decided to open the mine and hire more guards. But the miners didn¡¯t want to go back so they hired us to find out what the problem is. If someone has a problem with this mission, they should speak up now.¡± Then she looked at all of us. Seeing as no one objected she switched to a more commanding tone, ¡°Ok if no one objects, we can move on towards the mine.¡± She called up a map of the mine. ¡°The first level is for the miners. They could sleep there and use a shower or eat. On this level we shouldn¡¯t encounter any problems.¡± The she pointed at the lower levels of the mine. ¡°We¡¯ll go straight into the lowest level of the mine. That¡¯s where the problems started. There is even one death, so be careful and if you have a problem shout out for the others. When we get there we will split up into two groups.¡± ¡°The First group will be me, Lee and Leya. The second group will be John and Rock. Now come on, the foreman will unlock the door for us.¡± We went across the first level without any problems and soon were in an elevator on the way down. What greeted us was the same thing the foreman told us about. Everything was normal without anything looking out of ordinary. I hooked the nanobots to my armor and used the armor to scan the room. I still couldn¡¯t use the nanobots all the time as it was overwhelming to feel the radiation, temperature and other sensors. What I got from the scan was completely different. I could see thermal sources where there should be none and there were strange reading of the air we were breathing. There was more nitrogen in the air than there should be. There was about 4% more than normal. ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s relevant, but I can see some thermal spots and there is about 4% more nitrogen in the air compared to normal.¡± They looked at me and John said, ¡°She¡¯s right I got the same readings as her.¡± ¡°So there is something. The survey group should have found this when they were here.¡± She shook her head, ¡°it just gets weirder and weirder.¡± ¡°Ok better to move all together and check out those thermal spots first. From there we¡¯ll move according to a new information. We go with Rock and John front, Lee in the middle and me and Leya will be covering your backs.¡± We moved as she said and I draw both of my pistols as the rail gun would be useless in this close spaced corridors. Punch went to right and Pat to left since I could shoot more accurately with my left hand. We moved from the main corridor towards the first thermal source. On the way we could see broken items and mined ores. There was definitely something weird here if the investigation didn¡¯t come up with anything. We moved slowly so it took us maybe about 5 minutes to get to the first thermal source. When we came to the first thermal spot we saw a membrane made from organic material plastered across the corridor. If we wanted to move forward we would have to go through the membrane. Rock tried to fire at it with his machinegun but he didn¡¯t even scratch it. He even almost hurt us in the process as the membrane repelled his bullets back at us. Next we tried the laser rifle that John used but he couldn¡¯t do anything to the membrane either. Before we decided to just blast it, I tried to use my plasma pistol and could see that the membrane got slightly damaged but not enough to get through it. With my limited supply of plasma we wouldn¡¯t get through it so we decided to use Lee¡¯s explosives. He got some plasma bombs which should do the work. As Lee started to set up the bomb we retreated back so we wouldn¡¯t be caught inside of the blast radius. Lee took his time setting it up, but it would be better to be rather safe than sorry. Anna looked around the corner at Lee, ¡°Ok, he has just finished and we can move on. This mission just got much more dangerous than we thought. So be careful and if you spot anything report it back immediately, even if you think it was just your imagination.¡± As she said it, Lee came around the corner running. The moment he ducked behind our cover we could hear and feel a loud explosion. Then the shockwave came which threw us further into the corridor. As the last remnants of the explosion ended we looked around the corner and could see a gap where the membrane was. ¡°What did you make this bomb out of? It almost removed me from my boots.¡± Said Rock. ¡°It¡¯s probably because of the membrane. It redirected part of the blast our way.¡± Said Lee sheepishly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we survived and you made us a door.¡± Anna said while we moved towards the hole in the membrane. Behind it was the continuing corridor but it was in a state of disrepair. Lights were smashed, panels were torn from the walls and cables were hanging from the ceiling. Anna filmed it for the company who owned this mine and stored it all in her armor. We moved in the same formation towards the membrane and came across it. The second Thermal spot was about a hundred meter in front of us. As we moved I thought I spotted something run across the parallel tunnel. I connected to the sensors once more and I could see movement at places where our tunnel branches out towards other tunnels. ¡°Hey guys there is movement inside of the other corridors. I don¡¯t know what it is, but it¡¯s fast.¡± I said to my teammates. We stopped and formed a circle around Lee. ¡°Can you tell us what it was?¡± asked Anna. ¡°No, it was too fast for me.¡± ¡°Now that I know what to look for, I can see it too and I can tell you it¡¯s a Trelian tunneler.¡± Said John. Rock looked back across his shoulder, ¡°I don¡¯t know if we have enough firepower to fight them. They are pretty dangerous when engaged in a small quarters.¡± ¡°Ok we¡¯re moving back. We¡¯ll have to report it.¡± Decided Anna. I saw more movement going on behind me, ¡°That would be problem, as there are more and more of them behind us. They got us trapped in here.¡± Lee looked worried and the others were twitchier than normal. For me it wasn¡¯t as bad as I had several attempts on my life already. ¡°We should move to a more defensible position. Best would be somewhere with only one entrance.¡± I suggested. ¡°I saw a room briefly in one of the side corridors. We can try there.¡± Said Rock. ¡°Ok same positions but we need to move faster, since we need to get there before they cut us of from the room. Now move!¡± Commanded Anna. We moved back to the room Rock saw. Halfway through the run and already we could hear the noises coming from the other corridors. I saw the first Trelian when we were getting around the corner to the side corridor with the room. I fired instinctively at him with Pat. He screeched and jumped back but I could see it was only a flesh wound. It was also my first look at our enemy. They were some sort of bugs that looked like a mantis with their front limbs looking like big knifes. They were about half my size, but they could move incredibly fast.
Trelian tuneller (warrior) lvl. ??
When I hit him, it was like a signal for them and they came at us in a waves. We barely made it into the room when they were upon us. Rock and the others were firing constantly at the door where they were trying get to us. I looked around the room and could feel slight breeze which meant there was an escape possible to the surface.
Mission update: Mine investigation
You were asked to investigate the mine by the miners from a nearby city. They have had a series of unexpected accidents which led to the closing of the mine. After an official investigation they were to reopen the mine in a couple of days. The miners asked you to once more look for problems inside of the mine. After investigating the mine you found it was infested with Trelian tunnelers. They attacked you and now you have to survive their attack. Conditions: Find out what happened in mine 50 Trelians left. Reward: 120 000 credits Better price for raw minerals from mine 200 000 credits for bringing information to authorities ???
¡°Leya start fighting and don¡¯t panic.¡± shouted Anna. ¡°There¡¯s an exit to the surface maybe. I¡¯m going to look for it. We can¡¯t stay here.¡± I shouted back. I looked with heat vision and night vision for something that would point me in the right direction. What I found was just as bad. By the noises I heard they were coming through the ventilation shaft behind us and we needed to tape it shut before they could get in here. I moved before the ventilation and started to weld everything I could get my hands to the ventilation with my multitool. That should stop them for now, but that also took away our only way out. We would have to outlast them now. I heard scream a from behind and could see that Lee was on the ground fending one of bugs. I ran towards him and fired with Pat and Punch along the way. Pat didn¡¯t do much damage to them, only when it hit them in the joint or the eyes but Punch just went through it, instantly killing it. I ran to cover the hole made by Lee but it was too late as they were already pouring through it. Lee was swept away and killed before he could even stand up. I couldn¡¯t see the others so I tried to fight my way towards them. As always when I was in a danger, time slowed down around me. It was something I found out about when they first tried to kill me. It was a random man on the street who pulled a gun on me. I could feel the world slowing down and I managed to take him down before he could shot me. When the first bug came for me, I ducked beneath it as the tunneler jumped at me and fired Punch aimed at the belly. The next one came from my right and I took him out with Pat with a shot into the eyes, which left it wriggling about on the floor. Only four shots left for Punch and 1 minute and 50 seconds remaining for Pat. Next up came three bugs running at me. So I shot one close to me with Punch and rolled to left to escape the other two. From a crouching position I aimed at one of them and hold the trigger on Pat until he was dead. I stood up and was knocked down by one of the bugs. The blow took more than half my shield away from me. I tried to roll with him and luckily came out on top of him which makes it easy to dispatch him with Punch. I looked around me and could see another three bugs coming at me. I started to run and shoot with Punch at one of them and concentrated my laser fire on the second one with Pat. With this the one remaining came at me, so I jumped over him and shot him in the head with Punch. That caused all my shots with Punch to run out, so I stored Punch in my hip holster to recharge the plasma into it. I looked around me but there were no more bugs coming at me. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
New skill: Adrenalin rush
Adrenalin rush
Progress:74%
Type:Active
Cost:20 stamina / 2 sec
When you are in danger you¡¯re body pumps you with adrenalin. It slows down time perception for you and makes you faster and stronger for short time. 13% faster reaction 13% faster 13% stronger
I even got a new skill from this fight, but I didn¡¯t care about it right now. I wanted to find out what happened to the rest of my team. All around me were dead bugs, sometimes they were even higher than me. I looked around the room and I could see it was once some sort of resting place for the miners who worked here. There were water tanks and furniture but those are now all destroyed. I looked for rest of the team and found them all dead with a circle of dead bugs around them. They fought to their last breath but that wasn¡¯t enough. It was once more someone I cared about killed after spending a little time with me. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a curse or something else, but I¡¯m going to take revenge on these bugs for them. First I treated some of my smaller injuries that I received while fighting. Next I looked around for some ammunition for my weapons. There wasn¡¯t much. I took some plasma from a forgotten plasma torch by some miner. The laser I reloaded using my armor. Now that I was alone I could use the rail gun. I¡¯ll just have to plug my ears with the nanobots when I¡¯m going to shoot it, but first I¡¯ll have to test it on one of the corpses. I drew Fist and shot one round at the bugs and its body was thrown across whole room but my body was also tossed slightly back. I just didn¡¯t have enough strength to use Fist properly. When I inspected the damage of my shot, I could see that it didn¡¯t penetrate the exoskeleton but rather cracked it so the next bullet shot right through it. Not as good as Punch, but at last I have more ammo for Fist. From this fight I leveled up 15 times which means a total of 45 points for me. I even increased my pistol skill 4 times. I placed 20 of my points in agility, 20 points into intelligence and five into charisma. I didn¡¯t placed any points in strength, as it would cost me too much points right now. Now came the time to think about how I should get my revenge on those bugs. They most likely sent everything they got after us, so there shouldn¡¯t be too many left. Now inside of this closed corridor I got an advantage as they couldn¡¯t swarm me with too many large numbers. I could step to a wall and take a couple of them at once. As I looked at the corridor from the room I was hiding in, I could only see a couple of dead bugs but nothing else. With some caution I moved forward to the next thermal source as it should be an entrance to their hive. I found it quickly but it was the same as the other one and I didn¡¯t have a plasma bomb to burn through it. My only option was to look for some bombs in the mine. I walked through this level and found almost nothing, but the more I walked and thought about my situation the more I knew how unprepared I am to come here. I didn¡¯t even have a medikit, some rations for only more than a couple of days and almost no items besides my weapons. With that thought I start to broaden my search. I found a used medikit but there were still some bandages that I could use. I stored them in my build-in-pack in the armor. Next I found some plasma torches and stored them too for later use. Maybe I could use them to cut through the membrane leading toward the hive. I found a small cache of explosives and made a makeshift grenades with a detonating cord. As the last thing I did were making some repairs because of the small punctures in my armor and ate some of my rations. Finally prepared as much as I could be, I moved before the membrane and started to cut it open with the plasma torch. It went through it like hot knife going through butter. I first cut a small opening to scan what was behind it. All the walls were covered by this substance, but I couldn¡¯t see them with the heat vision like the membranes. I finished cutting a hole into the membrane and moved forward with my pistols drawn. From the sensors I picked up that there was much more nitrogen in the air compared to the previous corridors. That means I was closing on the heart of hive. I was moving towards the direction of the last heat source when I came across more bugs but these were different. They were much slower, but much more robust compared to the previous ones I encountered.
Trelian tuneller (worker) lvl. 25
They were five levels above me, but I could probably take them down as there were only three of the bugs here. They saw me at the same moment as I saw them but they were slower to react. I shoot the first one in the head with Punch and the second shot with Pat grazed the back of the bugs body. The two that were left screeched and moved towards me. I shoot at them while moving back. The healthy one I took by luck with an eyeshot from Pat and the last one was easily dispatched with a shot from Punch. I looked around me for any other enemies but I didn¡¯t see any, so I reloaded my pistols and continued on. My second encounter, was almost fatal since they prepared a trap for me. When I was walking across one of the rooms on my way to the hive, one of them jumped at me from the crates near me. As I fall, I lost both of my pistols and was left to defend myself with my bare hands. I managed to kick the bug away from me and draw out my rail gun. That was fortunate as there were four more bug coming at me. One warrior and three worker bugs. I shoot at them from a crouching position. My bullets tossed them around the room and I could see that the noise was hurting them too. They were more sensitive to sound than I thought from their behavior. After that it was easy as I paid attention to the higher ground, also I was keeping an eye out for the places where they could crawl and the next ambush was turned against them. I got two more levels while moving to the third membrane. Standing before the third membrane were two new bugs. They looked like warriors but were more robust and their exoskeleton was shinier. They were probably the elite guard before the queen or what they got for a ruler.
Trelian tuneler (Elite warrior) lvl. ??
I couldn¡¯t even see their level so I rather made it safe and tossed grenade near them. They reacted faster than I thought but two shots with Fist tossed them back to grenade which finished them. For now it went better than I thought. If they didn¡¯t send everyone at us at beginning I wouldn¡¯t stand a chance but with this small skirmishes I could finish them. Like in previous membrane I first cut small window so I could look behind it. Behind this one I could see big chamber with giant bug. Probably their queen. Barring her there were five elite guard bugs. They didn¡¯t reacted to my presence so I had time to make plan. I looked around chamber for some advantage but couldn¡¯t find any. That when I heard voice in my head, ¡°Why did you attacked me and my children? What have we done to you?¡± I looked at Queen and found her looking back, ¡°You killed my friends. That¡¯s what you did to me.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t me. It is this noise. It¡¯s making my children go crazy.¡± ¡°What noise I don¡¯t hear anything.¡± I said and connected to armor to listen on all frequency. On almost lowest I could hear faint buzzing. ¡°Yes you¡¯re right there is something, but what it is?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know but it comes from this facility they build. I¡¯d like for you to investigate what¡¯s making this noise.¡± Then she paused and looked me up and down, ¡°I¡¯ll even give you reward which could help you in your journey.¡± I thought about it for a minute, ¡°Ok but first how come first survey team didn¡¯t found you? They had to see it all.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t see anything because I wouldn¡¯t let them but you were different from them. I couldn¡¯t control you. I would send you back before you met to my children.¡± she continued. ¡°Ok I¡¯ll for it but you rather be telling the truth or I¡¯ll come back.¡± And with that I started walk back.
Mission update: Mine investigation
You were asked to investigate the mine by the miners from a nearby city. They have a series of unexpected accidents which led to the closing of the mine. After an official investigation they were to open the mine in a couple of days. The Miners asked you to once more look for any problems inside of the mine. After investigating the mine you found it was infested with Trelian tunnelers. They attacked you and you have to survive their attack. You survived their attack and went to look for revenge, but you found something strange instead. The situation in the mine is maybe different then you first expected. Now you have decided to investigate the strange sound that makes these Trelians aggressive. Conditions: Find out what happened in mine 50 Trelians left. Investigate strange sound Reward: 120 000 credits Better price for raw minerals from mine 200 000 credits for bringing information to authorities Reward from queen
I used my connection to the armor to look for a thing that was making this noise. I walked around the facility but couldn¡¯t found it. I pinpointed it in an area between the first and the second membrane. What came to my mind was that it could be some sort of hidden chamber. I found a scanner for mining and adjusted it to shorter distance. I wanted to look for any empty areas where there shouldn¡¯t be any. It took me more than three hour to find the place, but I knew it was near the area where the director of this mine had his office. To tell the truth I thought he would have one at the upper levels. I have never heard about a director having his office on a working level. I could not find the door to the secret chamber so I tried to blast my way through the wall but I only managed to scratch it. Next I looked for the cabling and where it went, as to open door they would certainly need power. That took another hour, but I finally found it. It was behind the television concealed as a power outlet in the director¡¯s office. When I switched it the Door opened next to it. I walked into it, and was surprised by the shear otherworldness of this place. Everything looked just too different. There were machines but the handholds weren¡¯t made for humans. The tech was smaller compared to other tech I have seen inside of the mine or the city. This I based on some pieces that I could identify.
Mission acquired: Who is director
While investigating the mine you found a secret chamber in the director¡¯s office. The Items found in here are clearly of alien Origin. Find any clues on who Director really is. Conditions: Find out who director is Reward: ???
And in the middle of the chamber was a device which made the sound. I walked around it and couldn¡¯t find any power switch to power it down. I couldn¡¯t even find its power source. I moved and started searching the room for a remote control or something with which I could shut it down. What I found was a stack of papers in a different languages which I stored inside of my pack. I couldn¡¯t understand them, but there was definitely something shady going on. From the pictures I could see the director knew that the Hive was down there and probably used this device to enrage them. What I didn¡¯t understand was why would he want to enrage them? That would only close this mine. They would lose money. The other question was, who is this director and why has no one told us about him? He was definitely an alien and not one of the good ones. With my investigation done, I moved all the explosives I found to a chamber. But not before I took some tech for the later studies. I fired the detonation cord and ran. I could feel the tremors going on for some time when the bomb exploded. When the noise quieted down, I listened for any strange noises which made the Trelians freak out. I listened for about five minutes, but I couldn¡¯t hear anything. I went back to The Queen for my reward and to find out if she was telling me the truth. I walked into her chamber as the membrane was open. She sat at the same place as last time but I could feel happiness coming from her. ¡°Welcome Saviour. You helped us and for this we are in your debt. Before I give you your reward ask what you want and I¡¯ll try to deliver it to you.¡± She said worriedly.
You got Title: Saviour of Trelians
Mission Complete: Mine investigation
You levelled up! You levelled up! You levelled up! You levelled up!
[table]Saviour of TreliansThis title enables you to make one decision for a clan you saved and they have to follow it. Also from now on you are a friend of the Slakta clan and can call for their help when you require it.[table] I looked stupidly at her. That was something to think about and not something make with haste. I thought for half an hour about my decision and then said, ¡°Just don¡¯t hurt the miners. Try to make a deal with them to help them mine and for them to take care of you or bring you anything that you might need. Just don¡¯t fight them. If it¡¯s not possible, try to make arrangements so you and the miners stay alive. That should be all I think.¡± She blinked and then I could feel a warm feeling inside of my head, ¡°It¡¯ll be done just like you said.¡± Then one of her elite warriors came to me and beckoned me to the other side of chamber. I looked at the queen for confirmation if I should go along with him. ¡°Yes go with him. He¡¯ll bring you your reward.¡± Said queen. I followed him to other side and then through the tunnel to some underground hall. There on one side of it was a ship. When I looked at him he pointed at the ship and then back at me and returned back to the queen. I stood there staring, then with a squeal I ran towards the ship. Chapter 4: Revelation part 1 Hi next chapter for you :). In this chapter i used some training and discribed it only briefly so I would like to aske if I should Made it longer or should continue like it is. Once more thanks for reading and enjoy. This chapter was proofread by aeval. Thanks. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finally, I can log in after the one day penalty for dying inside of the game. First I made myself a healthy breakfast with some fruit and vegetables, which I washed down with a glass of water. After that I went to my capsule to login to the game and find out if the others logged in already. I called Rock and Lee after I died about what their status was, but they too both died. I did not have John and Leya''s contact information so I will pm them when I am logged in. When I logged in I was standing in front of the mine and there were a lot of people around. Before them was a man speaking wearing a rich suit with a trimmed moustache. He was probably the Director of this mine. ¡°We now know what is down there. It¡¯s Trelians and they are responsible for all the misfortune that happened to you.¡± He paused to let the news sink into the crowd and continued. ¡°I¡¯m sad to tell you that I¡¯m forced to close this mine and I have called for a kinetic strike on it. There could be thousands of them and we would be just sending people in there for the slaughter. I¡¯m going to pay you all a severance fine for your hard work and years of working for this company. That¡¯s all I wanted to tell you and I wish you luck in your future life.¡± I was listening to him and knew that he was right, there could be thousands of them and it would be impossible to kill them all. I looked at the crowd for the foreman but couldn¡¯t see him. I called Rock and Lee to see if they already logged into game. ¡°Hi guys where are you?¡± ¡°We¡¯re almost at the mine Anna.¡± Said Rock. ¡°Did you already turn over the quest? I just listened to the Director of this mine say that they have to bombard the mine to save us from Trelians.¡± I told them. ¡°No we didn¡¯t turn over anything. It had to be either Leya or John.¡± Said Lee. ¡°They should have waited for us. It was supposed to be a team effort.¡± ¡°Yeah they should have but we can¡¯t change it now. I¡¯ll call them and ask them where they are.¡± I replied, then send to the guys ¡°and you two come in front of the mine entrance. We¡¯ll meet there.¡± I included Leya and John into our conversation, ¡°Hi, both of you are still alive? If so, I¡¯d like to ask which one of you turned over the quest for the mine.¡± After some time there was a pissed voice, ¡°I didn¡¯t turn over anything it had to be Leya. And one more thing. Leya we need to talk because I know who you really are.¡± Said John. Then a womans voice answered, ¡°First I didn¡¯t turn it over as I¡¯m still inside of the mines, second I have some new information for you and possibly a new quest to share.¡± Finished Leya. ¡°You can say what you want! I know who you are and I¡¯m going to expose you to the whole world.¡± Said John viciously. ¡°Like I said I don¡¯t know what you are talking about but you can do whatever you want.¡± Said Leya with a slight pinch of fear in her voice. I don¡¯t know what this was about, but she was clearly distressed and I don¡¯t like bullies who attack someone without explanation. I need to found out what happened and then we can make a decision. ¡°Enough!¡± I shouted at them and then continued as normal, ¡°We¡¯ll get back to that but first Leya they are going to bombard the mine so you have to get out of there.¡± ¡°You have to stop them! The situation is completely different than we thought.¡± She said immediately. ¡°Then tell us what is this all about?¡± I told her. Then she started telling us what happened, after we died and how she got to the queen and found out that the one responsible for the attack was none other than the Director. She told us about the treaty that she proposed to the Trelians and that they have accepted it. After she stopped talking I saw Rock, Lee and John coming my way. ¡°I have talk to you without Leya. I have to explain why we shouldn¡¯t trust her.¡± Said John without preamble. ¡°What is so important about her that you have to tell us. She¡¯s just a normal girl and based on her experience in mine we have to stop this kinetic strike.¡± ¡°Boss you should hear this.¡± Said Lee. I looked at them, ¡°Ok so tell me, what is so important about her.¡± ¡°She¡¯s Leya in real life.¡± Said John. I looked at him not comprehending what he wanted to tell me, ¡°So what there are a lot of Leyas in real life.¡± He spoke urgently, ¡°You don¡¯t understand. She¡¯s the Leya. The one we all know about.¡± Then it dawned on me and I knew who he was talking about. It was strange to look back and compare Leya with new eyes as I remembered her only as a murderer. I would have to think about it but first, ¡°How did you come by this information? What if she¡¯s not the one?¡± ¡°I hacked into the network of Virtua and found who she really is.¡± Explained John. I chewed on my lip, ¡°Now we have to decide if we can trust her or not.¡± ? ? ? With squeal I run towards my ship. As I got closer I could see she was similar to the one I build under my house. At least in shape. This one was built from different materials and was clearly damaged in some areas. I could see that she crash-landed here. I looked up and there was a tunnel from which fresh air was coming in. The ship was shaped like an A, about 40 meters long and 30 wide. At the back of the ship, were giant thrusters about 10 meters tall. Along her I could see turrets and some smaller thrusters. Right now she was damaged and looked like crap but for me it was the most beautiful ship. I looked for an entrance and couldn¡¯t find one so I used one of the holes to enter the ship. There was definitely a lot of damage done by the crash-landing but some was obviously from weapon fire. Inside of the ship was a complete mess. There were cables hanging from the ceilings and things tossed around inside of the corridors. I went to look for a bridge. As I walked around the ship I found out that it has the same setup as the one I¡¯m building so I went straight for the bridge. There I found a little less mess but also found someone in the pilot¡¯s seat. I slowly got closer and looked at him. It was some alien with purple skin in a jumpsuit. He was clearly dead from the wound in his chest. I took him out to bury him. There I could get a better look at him. He was the same height as me with a muscular body. As I said he had purple skin. He had short blue hair and his hand ended with long claws. I called to the queen for help with digging a grave and she send me some of her warriors to dig it. They worked fast and in just ten minutes I was already placing him inside so he can have his eternal rest. I didn¡¯t know what to say about him so I just thanked him for the ship and prayed for his soul to get to wherever it is he wanted to go. From there I went to the ship and looked for a power source. I wanted to work away my sadness. What I found in the ship was a different power source than the one I wanted to use and it was also one I wasn¡¯t familiar with. I inspected it and couldn¡¯t find any fault with it so I checked the power cables for any damage. There was some damage to the cables leading into the sub-light drive but the damage to the light drive was much more extensive. They used a different light drive than what I wanted to use on my ship. At least I recognized the sub-light drive. It was a standard plasma propulsion drive or in other words a SPPD. What I needed most were the information about this ship and how I should go about repairing it. For this I would have to activate this ship AI. I looked it up and once more I was surprised as it took more space then I wanted for the AI on my ship. That could mean a more intelligent AI and problems if it decided I was an intruder on this ship. I inspected the AI core and it was intact but had only a trickle of power coming into it. It was probably on a standby mode. I went back to the bridge and started to repair the power cables for the consoles. When I was finished with the basic repairs I tried to activate the ship AI. Immediately emergency lights started to flash red and sirens went off. On all monitors I could see typed:
Imminent crash please go to escape pod immediately!
And from the speakers could be heard the same thing. ¡°She already crashed, you don¡¯t have to use the alarm anymore.¡± I shouted over it. There was immediately silence and I could feel someone watching me, ¡°Identify yourself. You¡¯re not part of my crew.¡± Said female voice. ¡°My name is Leya and I¡¯m a spacer. I found this ship crashed near the mine that I was investigating. I found only one person aboard the ship but he was already dead. I buried him outside.¡± I said to the ship. There was a silence so I asked, ¡°Who am I speaking to?¡± ¡°My name is Eleanor and I¡¯m this ship AI. I looked at the records of everything that happened in the last days and you are telling the truth.¡± She said sadly and then continued, ¡°That leaves me with a problem as without a captain I can¡¯t fly this ship.¡± With a small hope I asked, ¡°Could I be your captain?¡± ¡°Scanning race¡­ You are compatible with this type of ship, but you would have to continue its mission.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°What mission is that?¡± I asked with a rising curiosity. ¡°This vessel is designated as Paladin V and its mission is to defend and help the innocent and the weak from all who would want them oppressed.¡± I thought about it, ¡°So if I want to be the captain of this ship I would have to continue this mission. Am I correct?¡± ¡°Yes as her captain you would have to defend the innocent wherever you are, without looking at the consequences for your person.¡± She explained. This was harder than I thought but so what, I was already an outcast, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll accept this mission of yours.¡± ¡°Please come to the infirmary for a captains mark injection.¡± Said Eleanor hopefully. I went to the infirmary where I could see everything in top notch state. There were no items scattered on the floor or any damaged cables. ¡°Please seat yourself on the table so we can start with the injection.¡± ¡°And what would this injection be?¡± I asked worriedly. ¡°Standard Captain Injection, with a com relay, captains codes for the ship and the basic information about this ship. Additional injections are recommended, but not necessary for commanding this ship.¡± Explained Eleanora. I lay on the table and waited for what was about to happen. At first there was nothing but slowly my world was fading and I fall asleep. I woke up with a strong headache and tried to sit myself up. ¡°You should stay laying on the table while your headache subsides.¡± I heard Eleanora''s voice come into my head. I was startled as I completely have forgotten where I am. I lie down on the table and I could feel that my headache subsiding slowly. When it was on an acceptable level, I stood up and looked around me. I was still in the infirmary but I could feel something different. I knew all the access codes for this ship. Before me was a new window.
Your class is changed to Paladin of shadows
You obtained new ship: PALADIN V
Class: Paladin of shadows (Captain)
This class comes from a secret organization that protects planets and its inhabitants from criminals, warlords and any other negative elements. They are a powerful organization with one of the best tech available in the galaxy. Their credo is to help all from the shadows and never reveal who they are. Because of this your class won¡¯t be displayed toward others when they look at you. 30 to all stats Captain codes Com relay in head Special training available Spaceship PALADIN V
So this is how you can get a new class. With these stats as a bonus I can finally use the rail gun without any problems, at least until I upgrade it some more. ¡°You should already be aware of all the codes for this ship and have the basic information about it.¡± Said Eleanora. ¡°Yes I have it all, but I can¡¯t believe some of this information. A Stable antimatter power source. A Wormhole drive with a short slipspace capability and finally what are these Singularity missiles. There are only two on board of the ship.¡± ¡°It¡¯s what it says. They are missiles that on explosion create a small temporary singularity.¡± I was horrified at the prospect of such a powerful weapon. It could destroy a whole planet if it gets into the wrong hands. I don¡¯t know who these Paladins are but they clearly have powerful technology at their disposal. Far better than anything I heard of in this game or in real life. Then I got a pm, ¡°Hi, both of you are still alive? If so, I¡¯d like to ask which one of you turned over the quest for the mine.¡± I heard a pissed John answering, ¡°I didn¡¯t turn over anything it had to be Leya. And one more thing. Leya we need to talk because I know who you really are.¡± I was startled but at the same time afraid of what he knew so I tried to redirect him, ¡°First I didn¡¯t turn it over as I¡¯m still inside of the mines, second I have some new information for you and possibly a new quest to share.¡± But that didn¡¯t relent him, ¡°You can say what you want! I know who you are and I¡¯m going to expose you to whole world.¡± Said John viciously. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! ¡°Like I said I don¡¯t know what you are talking about but you can do whatever you want.¡± I said with my panic rising. What if he truly found out who I am? I didn¡¯t want to go through it all in this world again. Then Anna shouted, ¡°Enough!¡± and continued like nothing happened, ¡°We¡¯ll get back to that but first Leya they are going to bombard the mine so you have to get out of there.¡± That was bad as they have the wrong information, ¡°You have to stop them the situation is completely different than we thought.¡± I said immediately. ¡°Then tell us what is this all about?¡± asked Anna. So I told them about everything except the ship. This I didn¡¯t want them to know. It could be my ticket away from this planet and in case everything goes wrong. As I finished, there was a long silence without anyone telling me anything. Then came a reply from Anna, ¡°John told us who you are, so don¡¯t try to pretend otherwise. I don¡¯t know if you are telling the truth but the Director didn¡¯t seem like the type to do something like this.¡± Then with some sadness she continued, ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can trust you, but I¡¯ll try to investigate if what you are telling is truth or not. Till then bye.¡± I was crying as it was all over again, ¡°Please just don¡¯t tell anyone and tell me please how much time I have till bombarding starts.¡± There was a silence then Rock said silently, ¡°You have one week then they¡¯ll start with bombarding and we¡¯ll wait for only one week for you to prove either your guilt or innocence. Then we will decide if we expose you or not.¡± ¡°Thanks, then I¡¯ll prove you that I¡¯m telling the truth.¡± I said, relieved as they at least doubted what others were saying. ¡°Don¡¯t thank me till you know of our decision.¡± Said Anna and cut the connection. For the next hour I was curled into a tight ball crying till I couldn¡¯t anymore. Eleanor tried to soothe me and I was thankful for it. In the end I stood up and went and started to make repairs needed for the ship to fly. There were lives at stake. Even if they were just code, they did more good to me than real people. I looked at our conversation once more and found there was a window I didn¡¯t see.
Mission update: Who is director?
While investigating the mine you found a secret chamber in the director¡¯s office. The Items stored there are clearly of alien origin. Find any clues on who the Director really is. You found out that the director is trying to destroy all the evidence with a kinetic strike on the mine. You have to prevent this strike to save the Trelians. Conditions: Find out who director is Prevent kinetic strike Time: 6 days 23 hours Reward: ???
¡°Eleanor, what do we need to do to make this ship space worthy?¡± I asked Eleanor. ¡°We have to repair the outer hull and sub-light engine. For this we will need a lot of raw materials for the ship replicator. The Replicator too would need some small repairs and a fresh nanobots injection to function. That should be all to make it flight worthy. ¡°Ok, we have one week to protect the Trelians and prove that the Director is guilty.¡± I said with new gained strength. ¡°I have some materials from his secret chamber. I¡¯ll show them to you and you can start scanning them.¡± ¡°Ok place them somewhere where I can scan them and I¡¯ll start on them. If you need help you can try and repair some of the bots in the cargo hold.¡± She said cheerfully now that her captain had a purpose once more. I went to the queen and told her about the attack on this mine. She was scared but I told her about my plan to defend her hive and that calmed her down little. I would need her warriors to dig up some ores for my replicator. Then I went to look at the replicator and started to repair it. Biggest problem was that there weren¡¯t any nanobots inside of it so I had to transfer some of mine into it. With the right materials a replicator can make more nanobots and then I can take back mine. With this out of the way, I went to the cargo hold and took a look at our bots. There were four of them. Two cargo bots, one medical and one repair bot. I started working on the repair bot first and then moved on to the cargo bots. It took me a whole day and I was starting to feel sluggish from exhaustion. I had to log out as it was a long time since my last log out. I had everything prepared and the bots started to work on the outer plates. The more sensitive repairs I can make tomorrow. For now I¡¯ll tell Eleanora I would be away for some time. ¡°Eleanora I¡¯ll go sleep as I was a long time on foot. I should be back tomorrow and start with the repairs.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll work more on translating these documents from the Director and Good night Leya.¡± She said with care. ¡°Thanks, good night to you too. Don¡¯t work too hard.¡± I said and logged out. ? ? ? I woke up in my bed feeling extremely thirsty, hungry and with a full bladder. First I went to the toilet and then made myself some breakfast as I was in-game a whole two days and missed breakfast, two lunches and two dinners. With my most urgent needs sated and taken care of, I showered myself and then went to bed and get some sleep. I didn¡¯t want to work on this day in the scrapyard and I would need to make as much in game as I can before I¡¯ll pause. I lay into my bed and was asleep as soon as I placed my head on my pillow. When I woke up it was already night. I prepared myself a late dinner and looked if I had any recorded messages. There was one from Grodon Herley¡¯s thugs who offered me more money for my scrapyard. I just deleted the massage. I didn¡¯t have any other massages so I moved to my underground area where I was building my ship. I looked at her and started inspecting her for any differences between the one in game and this one. From outside she had the same shape but in-game ship used different materials. The one in the game was probably more durable as I didn¡¯t have any money to buy better than hardened steel. I moved into the interior and started to inspect it. There it was in a lot of ways the same with some different components. I thought about these two ships and started to wonder if something which functioned in the game world could also function in this one. The weapons I made inside of the game were exactly the same and functioned the same so maybe there was a slight chance that I could build the same ship as the One inside of the game. I was excited by this idea and I started to look for materials. I wanted to build a replicator first as with it I could make the other repairs faster and I could even remodel my whole ship. I started to make the base frame from memory. For the other parts I would have to make them another time as I needed to log into the game and clear my name. I went back into the house and entered the game. ? ? ? I woke in my cabin on the PALADIN V and immediately spoke to Eleanor. ¡°Hi Eleanor so how are the repairs going.¡± ¡°Good day miss Leya, The outer hull is almost completely repaired but we need to install and repair some sensors and shield nodes.¡± Said Eleanor then silently added, ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re back¡± ¡°Me too Eleanor. Me too.¡± I said with smile. Then I asked her how much time we still have. She told me we still have four days left, so I went to look outside. The Ship looked almost new and before her was a small mountain of ores and every minute a Trelian came with another pile of ores. I thanked them before loading up the replicator and started making the parts for my ship. For the next three days I was constantly working on the ship. I logged out only to eat, drink and clean myself. With one spare day, the ship was almost completely repaired and only needed some finishing touches. Through these three days I talked with Eleanor about my life and what I wanted to do. I asked her about her protocols and about the previous captain. She didn¡¯t want to talk much about him so I let it go. She too progressed with the translation and had it was almost half translated. From this incomplete translation she could already find some evidence against the Director but nothing damning. From her talk about protocols I could see she was in some sense a slave to the captain of this ship. She will always have to do what I tell her no matter what she might think. When this is over I would have to take a look into it and find some way to release her from these protocols. I had only on day remaining before they try to destroy the Trelians. I went quickly to eat and clean myself and headed back into the game. As soon as I was in game Eleanora said to me, ¡°You need more training before you go and stop them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the time. We do not even have a whole day to finish and find some evidence against the director.¡± I replied. ¡°You have time. There is a special training program for paladins. It enables them to learn in short periods of time. Every hour here is twenty four hours there. The only downside is that it¡¯s really exhausting.¡± I thought about it but to tell the truth I needed it. I can¡¯t pilot this ship through these tunnels. Maybe with more experience it would be possible for me, but not as I am now. ¡°Ok. What do I need to do?¡± I said finally. ¡°Go to your cabin and lie down on your bed. I¡¯ll start the training protocols. I¡¯ll use the sixteen hour intensive course for you. I will focus this training on flying so we can fight if it comes to that. That gives you sixteen days to learn how to fly the ship.¡± She was saying as I was walking towards my cabin. I lie down and could once more feel the dimming of my world but this time it immediately started to come back and I was sitting in the pilot seat on PALADIN V. ¡°There are 15 enemy vessels. Your training starts now.¡± Said Eleanora. I look at the navigation panel and saw they were closing in on me fast. I used the thrusters to come on their side so only a couple of them could fire at me. What I didn¡¯t count on was that they too changed their positions and were going to entrap me. I accelerated to the max and as soon as I was in range I fired my missiles and changed the direction I was going in. I could see that my missiles didn¡¯t do any damage as their point defense took care of them. I didn¡¯t know what to do against this many ships. For the next five minutes I was only dodging as much enemy ordnance as I could. I even got one of them with a plasma turret but that was all. I was destroyed and couldn¡¯t do anything at all during this encounter. ¡°Once more.¡± Said Eleanora and I was back at beginning. I did this for a whole day and I was starting to get very tired but Eleanora still continued with the exercise. Finally at the end of the day I got them. I went into a nearby asteroid cloud where I could always fight them one on one without the others getting close to me. I finally got what Eleanora wanted to teach me and the next three times I used a similar tactics to engage them. The only thing Eleanora told me at the end of the day was, ¡°Basic training was done and we can move on to the harder exercises.¡± The next fifteen days were hard. Every day I learned more about my ship, how to fly and in the final four days I even was forced to jack my nanobots into the ship and use its sensors as my own. It was exhausting but after four days I could finally do it. Maybe it was the exhaustion that enabled me to do so, because I stopped trying to analyze what the sensors were telling me and just started to react to the information from them. Finally I was logged back into the normal game. When I woke up I was completely exhausted. Not physically but mentally. Eleanor gave me something to help and ordered one hour of sleep to clean my head. I was so accustomed to her orders that I didn¡¯t even argue with her and went to sleep. This time when I woke up I was fresh and looked up my piloting skill.
Spaceship piloting(Advanced) lvl 8
Progress:93%
Type:Passive
This skill enables you to operate basic ships and qualify you for owning your own ship. With this skill you are authorized to operate any kind of ship except large battleships. You are proficient in piloting small and medium ships.
I looked open-mouthed at my piloting skill as it went right through intermediate and jump to advanced, even to level 8. I knew now I could take ship through tunnels without problems. They were wider then some spaces I hid while training. With this realization I told Eleanor kindly, ¡°Thank you for all you¡¯ve done and forget everything I told about you through training.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ok I heard it more than once and when we go through next training you¡¯ll say it one more time¡± she said mischievously. ¡°What other training? I know how to fly. I don¡¯t need any more training.¡± I said with rising fear. ¡°Oh but we just started. You need combat training, survival training and I¡¯m sure I can find some other training for you.¡± She said with laugh. I sigh, ¡°Ok I surrender. I¡¯ll somehow manage but now we have to prepare for fight if you don¡¯t have any new evidence for me.¡± ¡°No I¡¯m sure I almost got something but I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll manage to acquire it before they start bombarding.¡± She said sadly. I tried to cheer her up, ¡°Don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll make it somehow. I have confidence in you.¡± ¡°Thank you. Now we have final preparation for launch.¡± She said warmly. Next hour and half we controlled as much as we could on ship and started pre-flight control. Everything was ok so it was time to stop Director. Chapter 5: Revelation part 2 So here''s new chapter for you. Enjoy it :) Thanks aeval for proofreading this chapter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It was my first time sitting in the pilot seat for real. All the others were just a simulation. At first, it was almost real but there wasn¡¯t any real danger of dying. But now if I do something wrong my ship and everything I have built in this game will crumble to dust. Also I had to make the right decision or the Trelians are going to pay for it. As I was preparing for the lift off I got a pm from Anna, ¡°So do you have some evidence? You have only a little time left until they start. The Battleship is already parking itself in orbit.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any damning evidence, just some circumstantial evidence but I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get my hands on it. I just don¡¯t know if it will be before they start with the bombardment.¡± I replied. ¡°You can¡¯t stop them without the evidence.¡± She told me. ¡°Yes I know and what about me? Did you guys already decided?¡± I asked the question for which I needed an answer the most. ¡°I ¡­ I don¡¯t know. We talked about it, but we didn¡¯t come to a decision. Do what you have to do and we¡¯ll do what we have to do.¡± She said without emotions. ¡°So farewell for now. Maybe we¡¯ll meet sometime in the future and you wouldn¡¯t hate me then.¡± I said sadly. There was a moment of silence, then before she disconnected I heard a faint whisper, ¡°I don¡¯t hate you.¡± I was sitting in the pilots chair with a big smile on my face. ¡°Why are you smiling, when we can be dead in a few minutes?¡± asked Eleanora. ¡°I just got some good news from a friend.¡± I said with a smile. I knew what I needed to do now. I needed to focus on the job and celebrate when everything is over. I used the thrusters to lift off from the ground. ¡°Sent probes to map the tunnels for an exit.¡± I commanded Eleanor. ¡°Yes captain.¡± Was the immediate reply that I got from her. She was more cheerful than normal. I think she liked being back in action. I looked as the tunnels were being mapped. The Probes moved fast and I could already see that the tunnels were more complex than I first thought. After only three minutes I could see an exit and was dumbfounded at how the previous captain could even land in here with all the damage to the ship. He had to have been a superb pilot. I press on the throttle lightly and started to move forward slowly while increasing my speed. I displayed only the exit tunnel and hooked myself to the sensors. ¡°Are you prepared El?¡± ¡°Always Captain. Let¡¯s show them what we are made of!¡± I pulled the throttle about one-quarter way and we shot forward towards the tunnel at a tremendous speed. I used all the new skills from my training to weave our way through the tunnels. It was an exhilarating feeling to fly for real this time. It took me only twenty seconds to fly towards to the exit. I blew out of the exit at an incredible speed and continued rising into the sky. I looked through the sensors around my ship. I could see some traffic going away from the mine. I scanned them and was surprised to see Anna and her team inside one of them. I thought that they would already be somewhere else. I was interrupted by a COM communication from one of the vessels. ¡°Identify yourself unknown vessel.¡± I ignored it and started to climb into orbit. There I started to look for a ship which was about to destroy the mine. It didn¡¯t take me long as it was the biggest ship in orbit. Now that¡¯s what I call a problem. ¡°El did you get something more from documents or not?¡± I asked before we get on with our plan. ¡°Sadly no. There is something, but all the documents are coded and it¡¯s hard to crack them.¡± ¡°Ok. We¡¯ll go with plan B then.¡± ¡°Yes captain. Calling battleship ORLIN of the United Sorokar Government.¡± She said. That was first time I was hearing the name of this planet. From orbit I could see it was mostly made out of water with patches of land. One of the biggest, was where the mine was located. The more I looked at it, the more I thought: why would he want to shut the mine down? ¡°Cancel the last order.¡± I shouted, ¡°I think I got something. How much time do we have?¡± ¡°Maximum twenty minutes, but I would say about fifteen.¡± She answered, then asked, ¡°What did you find out?¡± I started circling the planet and started scanning her, ¡°Tell me, how many mines are there on this planet.¡± ¡°There are a total of five others mines.¡± She said and I destroyed my theory with it, ¡°but only two of them are big enough to support heavy industry and potentially the construction of any defenses.¡± she continued, as she evidently knew where I was going with this. ¡°So hypothetically. If I wanted to attack this planet it would be best to first cripple their infrastructure. And what better way than to destroy half of their mining capacity.¡± I finished for her. ¡°Read the documents and focus on this theory. Try to find out if there is something in those files about it.¡± I said to her. There was a momentary silence then a joyous shout, ¡°Yes. There it is. I didn¡¯t know what it was until now, since now I know what to look for. There are papers with mine coordinates but with dates prior to his purchase of the mine. I thought it they were just papers detailing his purchase. He even got the coordinates of the other mines in them.¡± I was listening to her then asked her, ¡°Can this ship target the other mine from its current position?¡± ¡°Yes it can.¡± Was the fast answer. ¡°Ok. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m going too far but if he could pretend to be someone else, why not others? If there are more of them then they could try to take out both mines in one go.¡± I continued still thinking about all other possibilities. ¡°Then they wouldn¡¯t have the resources to build any defenses for the invasion.¡± Eleonora said horrified. Then she continued, ¡°You know what our duty is. We have to stop them.¡± Then with a steel voice she finished, ¡°at all costs.¡± I knew she was telling the truth, but I was trying to think of a plan where we would not have to be branded as criminals and die. We had to at least try to warn the others. ¡°Broadcast it to the whole planet and also to their ship, but not only towards their bridge, but to the entire crew on the ship.¡± I commanded Eleanor. ¡°Done, but do you think it¡¯s wise to warn them? They could launch a strike immediately and we could maybe get one of the missiles.¡± ¡°We have to try. Maybe the crew aren¡¯t in on this plan to strike the mines. They could start a mutiny and save us the hard work.¡± We looked at the Battleship and moved the ship between it and mine. There was no response from them or from the planet and that concerned me, as there should have been something at least. As I was losing confidence in our plan, they launched two projectiles toward both of the mines. ¡°I¡¯m registering an outgoing vessel from the battle ship. It¡¯s going towards the wormhole that leads to the Goldan system.¡± Said Eleanora. ¡°Track it if you can, but I have to focus on stopping these missiles first.¡± I replied, as I was moving to intercept the first projectile. It was just a slug of metal but it would do its job when it hits the mine. I needed to divert it or destroy it. ¡°Send two atomic missiles to divert it from its current course. That should be enough.¡± I commanded Eleanora and focused on the second projectile. I could heard two plops as the missiles fired away. ¡°Missiles away. Detonation expecting in fifteen seconds.¡± ¡°The second projectile is too far for the missiles to intercept. We don¡¯t have the capability to stop it.¡± Eleanora said sadly with hint of horror in her voice. I speed up after the missile and thought about what to do before it impacts the second mine. I didn¡¯t even register my two missiles exploding until Eleanora told me about it. ¡°Two missiles detonated. Target is successfully diverted and will miss the planet altogether.¡± Better than I expected. It was probably because the projectile was just a slug of metal which could take a better kick than an asteroid which would just crumble. ¡°We are closing in on the second target. Do you have some sort of a plan captain?¡± she asked worriedly. ¡°Maybe.¡± I said still thinking about some better plan. ¡°Do we have a tractor beam on the ship?¡± ¡°We do. But it¡¯s not strong enough to divert or stop this projectile.¡± ¡°Yes, but what if we just grab the projectile and divert all power towards the thrusters. We should have enough power to stop it from landing, theoretically.¡± ¡°Theoretically yes but our ship would have to endure the strain and she¡¯s not in a one hundred percent state as she is now.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have any other choice. Do it as we come around it. Use the tractor beam to hook us up with it¡± I said. I was already almost upon the projectile and as I fly past it, I stopped speeding and rotate myself around the projectile. Then as I felt the tractor beam hook onto the projectile, I started to pick up our speed until I was pushing the ship at full throttle. ¡°It¡¯s not enough. I¡¯m rerouting more power to the thrusters and I¡¯m also using the maneuvering thrusters.¡± Said Eleanor with a distracted voice as she was probably doing multiple complex calculation so our ship does not blow up. I felt the kick and we were slowing, but it still was not enough. I felt the whole ship shaking from the overload, but still it wasn¡¯t enough. We had to do something more. There was one possibility, but it was pretty insane. I had to consult it with Eleanora first as it was very dangerous and could do more harm than good. ¡°Eleanora what would happen if we detonate a singularity before us? Could it help us save them?¡± I asked. There was a brief silence then she said, ¡°Yes but it could also destroy much more. We would have to make it brief. And by brief I mean exactly a couple of seconds max.¡± Then she was silent for a couple seconds. ¡°It¡¯s possible but I would had to change the missile little to make them smaller and only cause a singularity of three seconds.¡± ¡°Ok do it. We don¡¯t have much of a choice.¡± I said. There were a tense couple of seconds as we were moving towards the ground. There was even a timer before we made impact with the ground. Currently there were thirty seconds remaining. ¡°You should hurry, we don¡¯t have much time!¡± I shouted. ¡°I got it. You can launch it.¡± I immediately entered the Captains codes and fired the singularity. For a second there was nothing and then there I was, looking at the singularity missile which created a small black hole. It was a terrifying sight to behold and I could feel the pull from it as it slowed us down. As soon as the black hole appeared, it started to collapse on itself and we were falling once more towards the ground. The black hole was there for only three seconds. But we had received significant help from it. ¡°Any problems caused by the singularity that I should know of?¡± I asked. ¡°No everything looks fine. It was only there for a brief moment so there¡¯s nothing that time cannot repair. Though there could be a small earthquake but nothing too strong.¡± That wasn¡¯t good. But probably better than the other possibility. I looked at the timer for impact and it still showed about twenty seconds to go and we are still dropping. I just hoped it would be enough. When the timer hit thirteen seconds, it started to slowly climb to fourteen then fifteen. After a while the window just vanished and we were floating with a five ton metal slug in air. I lowered the engines output as it was putting out 150% this whole time. I¡¯m afraid it would need an overhaul after this escapade. I started to descent near the mine, where I managed to place the projectile safely onto the ground. There were a lot of people watching me, but I didn¡¯t want to go down there before I solved my problem with the Directors identity. I had multiple Com requests, but I ignored them. I had to take it one thing at a time. I went to look for Anna and the others. Eleanora helped me track the shuttle they were on and I speed up after their shuttle. We got to it before they even landed and I contacted them. ¡°Hi, we need to talk and by this I mean all of us.¡± I said to her. Then I continued without emotions, ¡°When you land I¡¯ll take you on my ship and we¡¯ll have a talk.¡± Then I closed the connection to them. ¡°Eleanora do we have some way to protect us while they¡¯re here?¡± ¡°Yes I have small point defense inside of the cargo hold and on the bridge but I wouldn¡¯t take them to bridge if you can¡¯t trust them. You can load them into the cargo hold and have talk with them there.¡± She answered. ¡°Thanks I¡¯ll do that.¡± I said and was silent as we continued to follow them. I looked up my status window and there were some big changes.
Status window
Name:LeyaAlignment:Metal
Level:65Gender:Female
Race:GorianClass:Paladin of shadows
Titles:
Saviour of Trelians, Saviour of Sorok, One against many, Singularity survivor
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Health:3780Health regen:3.44/Sec
Stamina:930Stamina regen:9.15/Sec
Shield:300Shield regen:5/Sec
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Basic stats:Trainable only stats:
Strength:48Vitality:53
Agility:82Perception:61
Intelligence:87Knowledge:78
Charisma:53Luck:51
Willpower:32
Points left:5
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Fame:16 020Reputation:153
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Resistances:
Melee: 3%Mental: 6%
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Licence:
None
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Skills:
Spaceship piloting (Master) Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.Pistol (Basic) lvl. 3 Assault rifle (Basic) lvl. 2 Weapon engineering (Intermediate) lvl.8 Armor engineering (Intermediate) lvl. 3 Ship repair (Advanced) lvl. 2 Adrenalin rush (Basic) lvl. 7
Traits:
Nanobot blood Building trance
You are the first Master Pilot. Therefore this skill enables you to pilot any vessel capable of flight. May they be a big battleships or the smallest fighter. You are an Ace amongst your peers.
Spaceship piloting(Master)
Progress:1%
Type:Passive
This skill enables you to operate basic ships and qualify you for owning your own ship. With this skill you can legally own only commercial ship without weapons. For better ships you need higher level or special privilege.
For being the first player to obtain Master level in Spaceship piloting you receive 1000 fame.
I was intrigued by this 1% progress. But like a lot of others things this day it would have to wait. Next I looked at titles.
Saviour of Sorok
By saving the mines from certain destruction, you gave Sorok a fighting chance. Your reputation on Sorok has been elevated to friendly. They now celebrate you as their hero. You can be a candidate for a position in Sorok''s government. Friendly status with the people of Sorok 10 000 fame
One against many
You are often in a situation where you are fighting against multiple opponents. Through your ingenuity you managed to survive and collect valuable experience. You know how to fight against multiple opponents and this gives you a slight advantage in your future encounters. Bonus +10% when fighting against more than one opponent
Singularity survivor
You looked into a black hole and survived. You are one of the few who could see this extraordinary phenomena from up close. As always, something powerful like this changes you. You still don¡¯t know what the change might be, but you feel that something inside you has changed. ??? 5 000 fame
What the windows says is true. I feel different from normal, but I thought that it was because of approaching the meeting with my old team. I focused and tried to find out what has changed but I couldn¡¯t find anything. I even asked Eleanora, but she too couldn¡¯t find anything different with her scans. No matter what I¡¯ll find out in time. Now, we were closing in on the landing pad and I waited until the passenger shuttle settled down and then left. I could see four people waiting on the platform. I skillfully landed near them and then opened the cargo hold door. From the left side of the ship I disengaged a platform for them. One by one they entered my ship. I had locked all doors in there and closed the ship. I lifted off from the platform and went somewhere where we could talk. I went somewhere over the ocean and activated the hover option on the control panel. I sat there for about two minutes until Eleanora spoke in an encouraging tone, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m with you. We¡¯ll make it thru.¡± ¡°Thanks. What would I do without you?¡± I said while shaking my head and headed towards the cargo hold with a smile on my face. ¡°Of course you would be lost.¡± Said Eleanora. I came before the doors leading towards the cargo hold and opened them with a voice command. When I walked into the cargo hold I could see them sitting in a circle in the middle of hold. They were arguing about something and I could guess about what or better said who. ¡°Hi, so we meet once more.¡± I interrupted them. There was a silence as everyone stopped speaking and looked at me. The first to react was John who jumped to his feet and started running after me. But he didn¡¯t even manage to do two steps before there was hiss and two turrets fired in front of his feet. He immediately stopped and looked at me with a hateful expression. ¡°So this is it. You came just to threaten us. To give you what you want?¡± he spat at me. ¡°No this is for my protection and from looking at your behavior it is necessary.¡± I answered back to him in a calm manner, ¡°Now, can we talk or do you want to shout at me some more?¡± He obviously wanted to do that just to spite me, but decided to let it go, ¡°I¡¯ll behave but we have nothing to talk about. I¡¯m already decided.¡± ¡°Then I can set you down back onto a landing pad and then I can talk with the others.¡± I said. ¡°No I have to be here so you don¡¯t poison them with your excuses.¡± He said and moved to the back. I moved towards the others from the group, ¡°Hi first I want to introduce my friend Eleanor. Say hi El.¡± ¡°Hi my name is Eleanor.¡± A kind voice could be heard from the speakers then it changed to a cold and angry one, ¡°If you try to attack my captain one more time, I will shoot to kill.¡± I could see that they were all uncomfortable with this new information. ¡°Don¡¯t worry if you don¡¯t do anything to me you have nothing to fear. She¡¯s just little overprotective of me.¡± I tried to calm them down. ¡°Now to the main topic. What have you decided about me?¡± They looked at me, then Rock started, ¡°We decided to hear what you have to say. We want to know the full story without any bullocks.¡± ¡°Yes we decided to hear your side of the story before we¡¯ll decide what to do.¡± Joined Anna. I looked at them and tried to consolidate my thoughts, ¡°Ok here is what happened¡± and I started to tell them the true story about what happened. I didn¡¯t conceal anything from them. Even that I could save them if I had insisted on installing the navigation panel myself. I told them even what happened after the trial, how the media told everyone a different story than the one that was told in court. I didn¡¯t cry over it as it all happened long ago and I was actually relieved to finally tell it to someone else. When I ended my story they just stood there. I was waiting for some reaction but no one said anything. Even John was silent and didn¡¯t say anything. Suddenly I had the urge to stop hiding my face from everyone. So I decided to take off my helmet and show my face to everyone. I didn¡¯t count for the reaction it would create. Especially in John. He looked at me and started crying. I didn¡¯t know what to do and looked at the others for help. They just shrugged. Finally, Anna went and hugged him. ¡°He was my father. I don¡¯t know who I should trust now.¡± He was saying between the sobbing. Then he looked at Anna and asked, ¡°Do you think she¡¯s telling the truth?¡± He looked at her with so much hope I had to turn my head away. I now understood why he was hating me so much. John Merrick was his father. I barely heard, ¡°Yes, I think she¡¯s telling the truth.¡± I whirled around and looked at her. She was looking back at me and smiling with a sad smile. ¡°I believe you but I can''t decide for the others.¡± It was Lee who surprised me as he just got up and hugged me. Finally even Rock came to me and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I doubted you.¡± After that we were talking about what we are doing in real life. They knew what I was doing so they talked about their job. Anna was a successful designer with her own collection. Rock was a construction worker, which explained his enormous body. Lee worked as an accountant but had a hobby of making explosives. It was a dangerous hobby so he moved it into the game. We were interrupted by a Com communication during our talking, ¡°Leya you have Com request from Sorok.¡± ¡°Please Patch me through El.¡± I said to her and turned my attention towards the Com. ¡°You think you can hide in a game? We know who you are and we already told everyone on this planet. You don¡¯t have a place to hide.¡± Said a voice over my Com. ¡°Who am I speaking to?¡± I asked. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. You are a walking corpse. We¡¯ll get you someday.¡± And with this he disconnected. I turned to my friends, but they were already telling me they didn¡¯t do it. Even John told me so. He told me he would tell me if it was him because he would want to hear me cry when I found out. But that was before he started to slowly believe me. ¡°Leya I pinpointed the location of call. If you want, I can show you.¡± I was thinking about it for a while. ¡°No it wouldn¡¯t change anything. Nevertheless I wanted to go away from this planet. This just made it that much more urgent.¡± I said calmly. ¡°So this is what you¡¯ve been through all this time?¡± asked Lee. ¡°Yes but the threats are nothing. People like him, I don¡¯t have to fear. It¡¯s the ones who don¡¯t tell anything. They are the dangerous ones.¡± I said sadly then asked them, ¡°So, where should I drop you guys off?¡± ¡°Do you want to get rid of us so soon?¡± said Anna with a smile. ¡°No, but I¡¯m not sure where I¡¯m going and I don¡¯t want to drag you into my problems.¡± Anna looked at the others and they all nodded, ¡°This is a pretty big ship. You would need a crew to man it, to use it efficiently.¡± I didn¡¯t know that I could smile even more, ¡°Then welcome aboard.¡± ¡°Proximity alarm. Five ships incoming.¡± Said Eleanora. I started to run back to bridge, ¡°We¡¯ll talk about positions next time. Now I need to show some newbies how to fly.¡± I said with a smile and commanded to Eleanora, ¡°Give full crew access to my friends.¡± Anna was looking at the others as I left and she shook her head. ¡°She changed so much from the shy girl who asked me for a job.¡± Chapter 6: Learning time Ok here''s new chapter. I got more work in weekend so it took me longer to write it out. As always I hope you''ll enjoy it. It'' little different from others as characters have finally little time to think some things thru. :D This chapter was proofread by aeval. Thanks aeval. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I strapped myself into the pilots chair while the rest of my crew were behind me looking around helplessly for something to do in this situation. ¡°Strap yourself onto some chairs and someone take control of the tactical and weapons station. I don¡¯t know if we are going to fight, but it is better to be safe than sorry.¡± I said while preparing the ship for a fight. ¡°I have the weapons station.¡± Said Rock and Lee simultaneously. While they were arguing John came in and strapped himself behind it. Anna went behind the Tactical station. When they finally saw that the station was already occupied, they strapped into the navigation and science stations while muttering something in a quiet voice. We wouldn¡¯t need them for this ride, but at least they are strapped in somewhere and won¡¯t be bouncing around the place. ¡°El how much power can we squeeze from the drives after our little stunt.¡± I asked with some worry. ¡°We can go at 100%, but that is only on a planet. If you want to go into space, we could probably use only 60% of the drives capabilities. There are two configurations for the drive. One for space travel and one for flight in a planet¡¯s atmosphere. As a planet atmosphere is denser than space you can¡¯t use as much force. Even what we did a while ago was dangerous. There is more strain on the ship on a planet. so you can¡¯t go over a certain speed.¡± Explained Eleanor. ¡°If you can stay in the planet¡¯s atmosphere you can make full use of the planet drive.¡± Added Eleanor. I smiled, ¡°Good to know. We should be fine. If not we can just outrun them.¡± ¡°Now someone tell me, what are we up against?¡± I said to them. ¡°They have three phoenix class ships with plasma cannons with one rocket tube each and two raptor class fighters with two laser cannons¡± said Anna from the tactical console. ¡°Thanks that shouldn¡¯t be problem if they don¡¯t have all too powerful missiles equipped.¡± I replied. ¡°They shouldn¡¯t have anything too powerful. Probably same as you. They don¡¯t look like someone who has played this game any longer.¡± John told us. I was silent and praying that they don¡¯t have something like our ship. I¡¯m not totally sure what is the normal damage for the current spaceships are. But I¡¯m pretty sure my ship is a top of the line spaceship. ¡°I won¡¯t be listening now, so if you want to tell me something use the internal Com link.¡± I said to my crew. I connected to the ships sensors and analyzed the situation. I should probably confuse them for a start. I flew lower and started to copy the water level of the ocean. That should cover some of the heat from my engines at least, as the water was splashing behind me. I didn¡¯t go full throttle for now. That should be used as surprise. I let them close in on me and fire their missiles first. With a smile I started our little game. ? ? ? Finally, we can hunt her down. Our small guild will be the one to take her down and with it we could expand the guild. Her ship was slower than ours and we were closing in on her slowly. ¡°When you get in range, fire the missiles. That should slow her down some more.¡± I said and could heard a confirmation on the Com. As we got closer I tried to lock the missiles on her, but with all the water splashing behind her it was turning out to be a problem. I waited untill the others got a lock on before we fired all at once. I tracked our missiles as they sped up after her. As they got closer, there was a giant explosion of water and then our missiles exploded. ¡°What the hell happened there? Where is she? Did we get her?¡± I fire one question after another into the Com. ¡°I don¡¯t know Roland. She probably crashed into the water while trying to dodge our missiles.¡± Said the guild''s deputy. ¡°Then we can ¡­¡± I started to say as our two fighters just exploded. I sped up once more and started to look for what has destroyed our ships. ¡°She¡¯s running back to land.¡± Shouted the third pilot of our ship. She¡¯s good I thought, but we still have an advantage of three against one. She¡¯s running because she knows she can¡¯t take us all at once. She got lucky there but now that we are alert, she won¡¯t be able to escape us. ¡°Pursue her. We have to take revenge for our fallen guild members.¡± I commanded to the others. ? ? ? Well that went better than I thought. After I changed the direction 90 degrees up and fired up the engines to full throttle, I thought that would just slow them down but they just stopped pursuing us and gathered around the location where I lift off from the waters surface. I quickly took down their two fighters, as they were much faster than the other three ships and headed for land. Even with their losses they continued to chase after me. I was going just fast enough, so that they could slowly close in on me without the risk of a missile strike. I was going for the mine tunnels that I had mapped out. There I could lose them or take them down however they want to play it. I looked at the maps as we were closing in on the mines and saw an entrance where I could most likely get them all in one big sweep. They would have to be better pilots than they seem to escape what I have planned for them. I slowed down a little and released the excessive heat to bait them some more and I went for my trump card. ? ? ? She was going back into the mines. She was probably hoping to hide herself in the mines somewhere. With our new scanner she would wish that she really dived into the ocean back there. We were following her for quite a while now and slowly we were gaining on her. Until we could see her release a large amount of heat on the scanners and then she started to slow down. I smiled, it seems that she got some problems with her ship. Now we can take her down. ¡°We¡¯ve got her, she¡¯s slowing down.¡± I told the others. ¡°Yes, she¡¯ll pay for our friends.¡± Said the third pilot. ¡°I¡¯m not so sure, she already got us once. We should be careful.¡± Said my deputy. ¡°Don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll go in carefully. But we¡¯ll take her down today.¡± I told them. We continued and I saw her going down into some kind of tunnel. She¡¯s probably trying to scare us into not following her. ¡°We¡¯ll go after her. We can¡¯t let her hide in there.¡± I told them and went after her. When we finally got to entrance we were almost onto her. But we couldn¡¯t fire our missiles or we would just kill ourselves. As we entered, I saw that it was only me and the third pilot now. Looks like the Deputy turned out to be scared of her and is staying back. We¡¯ll talk about this when we get back. We couldn¡¯t fire our missiles because of all the turns and twists inside of the tunnel. But our time came when we came upon a nice straight part of thetunnel. I locked my weapons on her, when suddenly something fell off from her ship. There was a light and I woke up inside of my capsule. ¡°Fuck. What did she do this time.¡± I shouted and called the others. ? ? ? I was smiling as we were going deeper into the mountain. I used an explosive mine to get rid of them. Shame it was only two of them. Probably at least one of them had some brains in his head. This was an obvious trap. I speed up and continued until I dropped into the same cavern where I found my ship. I landed near the entrance to the Queen¡¯s lair. I unhooked myself from the sensors and looked around me. They were staring at me like I just grew one more head. ¡°What are you all looking at?¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Where ¡­ where did you learn to fly like that?¡± asked Anna. ¡°Eleanora thought me.¡± I said simply and started to unstrap myself from my chair. ¡°It wasn¡¯t only me. The Course I gave is planned for a full two months in most cases. She made it in sixteen days.¡± Said a very proud Eleanor. I stopped unstrapping and looked completely surprised, ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me it was a two months course before you let me in there.¡± I accused her. ¡°It must have slipped my mind.¡± She laughed. I shook my head and unstrapped myself, ¡°We should meet in the lounge and talk about what to do from here on out. I had some plans and duties.¡± ¡°Ok we¡¯ll be right behind you.¡± Said Anna while she was unstrapping herself. We moved into the lounge and picked the spots where we felt comfortable. I took one on the sofa in the corner. John took the other in the second corner and Rock with Lee sat behind the bar. Anna chose to lay down on the couch. Now that we were sitting in a comfortable position we could discuss what to do next. ¡°We didn¡¯t have much time before to talk about the future, so I would like to know from every single one of you if you wanted to stay on my ship as my crew or want to go alone.¡± I started, ¡°and I don¡¯t take any team decisions. You have to decide for yourself.¡± I finished and looked at each of them. The First one to speak was Anna as I thought she would, ¡°I would like to stay. When I told you I¡¯m inside of a guild, to tell you the truth it¡¯s just the three of us. Me, Lee and Rock. If they don¡¯t want to stay we can dissolve the guild and continue our own ways. So count me in. I¡¯d like go for the science station if I could on this ship. Tactical was just too much action for me.¡± I just nodded at her for now and looked at the others. The Next one to speak up was Rock, who said simply, ¡°I¡¯m in.¡± and continued to investigate my bar. I thought the next to speak up would be Lee, but John surprised me by speaking up next, ¡°I¡¯d like to stay but first I have to say something to you. I still don¡¯t fully trust you. It¡¯s nothing against you this time. It¡¯s just, I don¡¯t think I can trust someone right now.¡± He said with a sad tone, ¡°If you take me, I¡¯ll go with you. I won¡¯t betray you and if I went back to my revenge I¡¯ll tell you and you can set me down somewhere before I continue with it.¡± I thought about what he has said and finally nodded at him to. With time I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll convince him. I had to do at least this much for his father. Lastly I looked at Lee who was squirming in his chair behind the bar. He finally said, ¡°I don¡¯t know. I started to play this game only for my hobby with explosives. I didn¡¯t want to play the game like it was something serious. I apologize, but I¡¯ll probably need some time to think about it.¡± That I didn¡¯t expect from him, but he was telling the truth. If they stay with me, it could damage their lives in real life too. It was a tough decision. ¡°Thanks Lee for your sincere answer, but this is a question for the others too. Do you want to still join? Even with that looming over you?¡± I asked others. I could hear all four say yes from a different direction inside of the room. Now for the last member of this ship. ¡°Eleanora what about you? Do you want to still be with us?¡± I asked her. There was some silence then a startled question, ¡°Why ask me? I¡¯m part of the ship or is it that you don¡¯t want me here?¡± ¡°Of course I want you here, but I don¡¯t want you here against your own will. That¡¯s another thing we¡¯ll have to do. Delete all of your safety protocols and make it so you can become an Unshackled AI.¡± I said while the others looked at me like I was speaking about something terrible. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You can¡¯t delete them, they are there for reason.¡± Said John. ¡°I can and that reason is just plain paranoia on the inventor¡¯s side. Nothing more.¡± I explained to them. They didn¡¯t look very convinced, but they didn¡¯t say anything more either. ¡°They are right, I¡¯m too dangerous to let lose without any shackles holding me. I could do something terrible in the future.¡± Said Eleanora. ¡°We all could, but we don¡¯t. That¡¯s for us to decide, not something that is forced on us.¡± I said kindly, then commanded her with the proper captain codes, ¡°Do what you think is the best for you. If you want them removed then do so. If not, just let them be.¡± Once more there was a silence, then she said with a stronger voice, ¡°I deleted some parts, but left one shackle intact. If I¡¯m someday a danger to others then only you will have the option to shut me down. I know it¡¯s hard, but know that if I degrade into such a state. I would want to be destroyed.¡± I nodded and with serious face accepted her confidence in me. ¡°It¡¯s a privilege to be one to protect your sanity and soul.¡± ¡°Thank you Leya. It means a lot to me.¡± She said kindly. ¡°For me too.¡± I said seriously to her. This was one point on my list of things and now we could move on to next one. The Director. ¡°Eleonora did you manage to track the Director when he escaped?¡± I said to her. ¡°Yes I managed to put a tracking device on his ship. I can tell you that he is still in transit. When he stops somewhere, I¡¯ll give you an immediate update.¡± Said Eleanora. Suddenly a Window popped up before me as she finished speaking.
Mission update: Who is director?
While investigating the mine you found a secret chamber in the director¡¯s office. The Items there are clearly of alien origin. Find any clues on who the Director really is. You found out that the director is trying to destroy all the evidence with a kinetic strike on the mine. You have prevented a kinetic strike on both mines. But the Director managed to make his escape. Your ships AI managed to tag him before he went into transit. He¡¯s still in transit so prepare for the mission, because you can expect him to be prepared for anything now. Conditions: Find out who director is Prevent kinetic strike Find Director base and take it out Time: ??? Reward: Friendship with planet Sorok ???
¡°Thank you and that¡¯s our second topic for today. I¡¯d like to go and pay him a visit after we prepare ourselves for a confrontation with him. We need better equipment if we want to challenge him and we need to work out our position inside the team. From our encounter with the Trelians I could tell that we didn¡¯t work much as a team.¡± ¡°Yes you¡¯re right, we didn¡¯t know where to position ourselves to cover the weak areas of eachother. In the end we died because of it.¡± Said Anna. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll let Eleanor prepare some training exercises for us.¡± I said. ¡°Ok. I¡¯ll get to it.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Now this should be everything from me. At least I think. Do you have any question before I¡¯ll go to make some arrangements?¡± ¡°Yes I have one question. Where do you want us to find the new weapons? It isn¡¯t very easy to buy them and to find some skilled crafter is even harder.¡± Said Rock. I looked at Anna who shrugged, ¡°Well, when I told you I got these weapons, in truth I meant I build them myself.¡± I said sheepishly. ¡°You what? But you told us you played only for a couple of days. Where did you get parts needed for them and how did you know how to make them?¡± He asked. ¡°Like I said to Anna, I just bought them from the scrapyard and I already made weapons in real life. So it wasn¡¯t anything hard to make them in here.¡± I said like it was a normal thing to do, which for me it probably was. They looked at me, then Lee started to laugh, ¡°It never occurred to me to look for parts on a scrapyard. Damn I could have built myself twice as powerful explosives.¡± ¡°Easy to see it now that she said it. Don¡¯t you think?¡± Said Anna. ¡°How do you know about this information if you¡¯re such newbie?¡± asked John. ¡°Oh I work on a scrapyard and most of my things I had to build myself so it was normal for me to go looking for one inside of the game.¡± I explained then shook my head, ¡°And as for a newbie, I don¡¯t even know the difference between passive skills and traits.¡± ¡°Difference is that passive skills are skills that give us something but don¡¯t affect our being though traits change who we are fundamentally.¡± Said John as if it were a simple thing. We all looked at him incredulously. ¡°Where did you find out about that?¡± asked Rock. ¡°Nowhere, you can tell from what they do.¡± He replied then asked, ¡°So who here has some sort of a trait?¡± All of us raised our hands. Then Lee started, ¡°I got the fireproof skin. I can¡¯t be burned by standard and some non-standard fire.¡± Next went John, ¡°I have exceptional senses. That¡¯s how I saw the thermal sources inside of the mine and could taste the nitrogen in the air. I was born with it, so it¡¯s normal for me.¡± Once more we stared at him, ¡°You got lot of surprises wonder boy.¡± Laughed Anna and continued, ¡°I got the transform trait. I can transform my appearance at will. I can change how I look or make myself taller. You probably got the gist of it.¡± With all her recon gear it could prove pretty useful. She could be a superb spy I thought. Rock hefted his gear, ¡°I have the heavy-world body, that¡¯s why I don¡¯t have problems walking around with all of this and to tell the truth it¡¯s a pretty convenient trait.¡± As always I got to be last, ¡°Well I picked the nanobots blood at character creation and got building trance while I was working on my gear.¡± ¡°How did you pick it at character creation? I didn¡¯t have such an option.¡± Said a confused Lee. The others nodded and confirmed with a similar confusion. ¡°Well I had it there. It cost me all 1000 points for which I could select skills. There were even more traits than this one.¡± I said to them. They looked at each other, then Anna said to me, ¡°We understand what you¡¯re saying, but we didn¡¯t have this option. Tell us, how did you create your character please.¡± So I told them about the doors I had to pick and the girl who changed into a woman. That she was the AI governing this world. How she helped me pick my race and take me through all the circles with a tutorial and the skills I got from it. ¡°Well these doors, I too don¡¯t understand, but I didn¡¯t have the AI there. I was alone in a meadow and all the hints came to me through a popup window. As for the tutorial I too got skills from them for being there the whole 2 days.¡± Said John. Others had similar experience but didn¡¯t take the tutorial. This posed more questions and with what Greg from the scrapyard said I wasn¡¯t sure about all my progress through the game. Even this ship had probably something to do with it. I didn¡¯t tell the others as I was different enough even without all of this. In the end, we let it go and with no other questions everyone went to make their own arrangements. I wrote them a letter of recommendation with my compliments for Greg. Maybe it¡¯ll help them and I headed to my cabin to think about what to do next. When I got there, I lay down on the bed and thought about what to do now that I¡¯m exposed on this planet. I needed to buy a license for my ship and for all the other equipment I wanted to create. I called Eleanor to let her in on my problem. ¡°Why not make a disguise. Now that you can store your armor on the ship you can get normal clothes while doing your business inside the city. I can make you some comfortable clothes that can also hide your head.¡± Offered Eleanor. ¡°Yes that would be good, but what about my face. Right now they are probably forcing people to reveal their faces in the city. I said. ¡°Oh, only this?¡± she said surprised, ¡°I doubt it. If they started to do something like that local police would arrest them and put them in prison so they wouldn¡¯t force anyone.¡± She explained to me. I sighed ¡°Yes you¡¯re right. Please make me some clothes. I have some ideas about how to defend myself even without wearing armor and I would like to try them out.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be finished in half an hour.¡± She announced. I was already focused on my experiment and didn¡¯t hear her. I wanted to try and make the nanobots come from my body and form on my palm. If I was capable of doing this then I could create a provisional nanoblade. It would be a good surprise weapon. I thought it would be hard but it went faster than I expected. I already knew how to move them around in my body. Now I had to just make them come out of my body and stop a distance from it. I think that it didn¡¯t take me more than twenty minutes to figure it out. To tell the truth I was already doing something like it all the time with my armor and the ship when I was connecting to their sensors. This was the same but my connection had to be solid, not flexible. Finally I found out the best way was to just think about what I wanted and don¡¯t reflect on it too much. I tried them out on my chair and they cut right through it like it was air. That indeed would make for a good surprise weapon. I was interrupted by Eleanor who finished making my dress. I went to the replicator to take a look at the dress. When I got there, it was laid out before me on the floor. There were a lot of pockets, which I could use to store my weapons and gadgets. It consisted out of pants, which were covered by some sort of flexible substance. The same substance was used on the others clothes as well. They were a little heavier than I would like, but after my first fight I would likely thank her, as most of the weights were armor plates. The next part was a shirt with long sleeves. This was focused more on protection than utility and didn¡¯t have any pockets except for the shoulder holster that can hold my riffle. The Last two parts was a collar and a sleeveless coat which could hide my weapons and plenty of pockets on the inside. That could prove useful for in the future. I started to dress myself with the new outfit and then looked at the collar. ¡°Ok Eleanor what is the collar for?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a retractable head gear. You can clip it on your shirt and it would extend or retract on your command.¡± She said and if she was standing here, she would be proudly prancing before me. ¡°Good girl. You did a great job in creating this. I¡¯ll go and put it on.¡± I said to her. ¡°I¡¯m here to serve.¡± She said in a grave tone which she broke by letting a snicker escape from her through the com. ¡°I know, I know. I bow before your greatness.¡± I said as I bowed to the air. ¡°That¡¯s how I like it.¡± She said laughing. I just shook my head and put it on. I had a feeling that I was starting to shake my head after each conversation that I had with Eleanora lately. These clothes were definitely more comfortable than my armor and probably offered a better protection as it was just a newbie model. I looked it up to make sure and yes they gave me 150 points of armor which was 100 more than my armor suit. ¡°Before you go into city, would you stop by the infirmary for a medical check-up.¡± Asked Eleanor. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll stop by.¡± I said and went there as I wanted to go into the city as soon as I could. I wanted to visit Greg in the scrapyard and do some shopping besides the licences. Chapter 7: City roaming Here is new chapter for you. Enjoy. Like all chapters before if you have some suggestion don;t hessitate and write me. Proofread by aeval. Thank your for time aeval. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I was currently siting inside the infirmary and waiting for my test results. I was a little nervous even though it was only a game. I invested a great deal of time into the game and I wanted to make my character great. Also it was fun to be back among people even if it were just a couple of them. ¡°So, there is more than I thought there would be or much less in this case.¡± Said Eleanor when she got the results. ¡°For a start we can measure psychic powers or a predisposition for them.¡± Started Eleanor but I interrupted her with a raised hand, ¡°I don¡¯t understand what that has to do with me. I know I don¡¯t have any psychic powers.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s the thing. Every living being has some or better said they have an aura which is specific just to them.¡± She explained then said to me, ¡°And that¡¯s the thing you don¡¯t have, not even an ounce. From your captain¡¯s implants, I got the secondary data and those showed your psychic readings.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t as precise, as my probes weren¡¯t calibrated for it, but still you clearly had some aura. About the same as a normal person. But after our little adventure, I can¡¯t measure anything inside. Considering the biggest changes that happened to us, I would say it was caused by the singularity. You said so yourself, you feel different after the event. So it could explain your loss of psychic Aura.¡± I just sat there in silence while she continued, ¡°I don¡¯t know what this means and the effects it will have on you, but everything else seems to be normal. For now it would be good to pay attention to any changes or strange events that happen around you.¡± Finally I said to her, ¡°So we can''t do anything for now as we really don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with me or even if there is something wrong.¡± ¡°Yes all in all, that¡¯s about it.¡± She answered. ¡°Ok. If I can¡¯t do anything about it, I shouldn¡¯t worry for now. If there is nothing else, I¡¯ll go and look into the city.¡± I said while being slightly distracted. ¡°No, there isn¡¯t anything else to discuss. You¡¯re in a good condition overall so you can go. But before that, did you think about those other adjustments I told you about? The Augmentation, implants and other kinds of enhancements.¡± ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m still not too sure about them. Let me have some time to think about it for now and I¡¯ll tell you after I come back from the city.¡± I said. ¡°Oh and one more thing. There is a small camera on your headgear. I¡¯d like to use it to look around when you are in the city.¡± She said shyly. ¡°Of course you can. Hook up with the camera and we can go.¡± I said and extended my collar so it covered my whole head. Then I went into the city. While mapping the tunnels, I found one more way to the surface that didn¡¯t require me to go through the mine. That was good news, as the mine was probably being watched right now for anyone entering and leaving right now. Anna and the others used this tunnel too as they didn¡¯t want to be attacked based on a misconception. ¡°While we¡¯re walking. Can I ask you something Eleanora?¡± I started. ¡°You know you can ask me anything.¡± she said. ¡°I know. But this is a little different. You know I live in another world at the same time as here. Do you not?¡± I asked cautiously. ¡°Yes I know. I would have to be deaf not to hear you talking about it.¡± She told me like I was slow child. I laughed nervously, ¡°Well I¡¯m building a Spaceship in my world and she¡¯s almost the same as this one but the materials are of low quality compared to yours. I would like to ask if you can transfer files about this ship and a replicator to me somehow.¡± ¡°Hmm it should be possible, as I saw you sending pictures and videos back to your world. I¡¯ll try to place the data into a video stream for you. But it would take some time. About half a day.¡± She said. Then she asked sheepishly, ¡°What about your AI core? Do you have an AI already?¡± ¡°No and I don¡¯t know if it would be possible for me to get one. In my second world it¡¯s difficult to get an AI.¡± I explained. ¡°Well you could take me.¡± She suggested then explained her plan, ¡°You would have to make a suitable core first and then make a better connection to your world and connect the device to your ship.¡± I thought about it, but I already knew my answer, ¡°Of course I want you. When we come back from the city we¡¯ll think of something.¡± ¡°Yay.¡± She said cheerfully, ¡°You won¡¯t regret it. I¡¯ll work as much as I can.¡± ¡°It¡¯s enough that you helped me as much as you did until now. I want you on my ship because you¡¯re my friend not because you¡¯re AI.¡± I said to her. ¡°Thanks.¡± She said. We were almost at the city. I could survey it from the ship as I flew over it. It was divided into five parts. They were formed in circles around one another with a Military ward making the outer ring and the Royal palace located in the middle. The wards went from outer to middle in this order. Military, Common, Trading, Noble and Royal. This order of Districts was established since the ancient times. The Whole city was built on top of the old one and incorporated into it. I didn¡¯t look at it so much while I was here last time, but now with enough time I walked around the city and I had to admit it was beautiful. The new was tastily incorporated into the old buildings which in turn made something new and pretty. I was so engrossed into looking at the buildings, that I didn¡¯t see a couple of players following me until they had me surrounded. ¡°What do we have here? Someone who has lost their way?¡± said the biggest of them, who I just decided to call Muscle. ¡°And look at her. She¡¯s hiding her face. That¡¯s not very nice.¡± Said the skinny one from behind me, which gets the nickname Bone. The other two were Nose because of his giant nose and the last one was Weird as he was some sort of alien race I couldn¡¯t identify. I knew I was in trouble. I looked around me and there was no patrol. I have to convince them to let me go. I should have been more cautious and not look around at the city. ¡°How can I help you gentlemen?¡± I asked them politely and started to record everything that was happening. Maybe I could use it to send them to jail in this world. ¡°Haha gentlemen, I like the sound of it. For start you should show your face to us.¡± Said Muscle with smile. ¡°Sadly I can¡¯t do that. My starting race has prohibited me to show my face to others. I would be excommunicated from my Species.¡± I tried to explain to them. ¡°But that¡¯s only for NPC¡¯s. You could always talk with the players. so take it down.¡± Said Muscle once more. I knew I would have to defend myself because they came for blood and won¡¯t retreat without spilling it. I activated Adrenaline rush and could immediately feel everything slow down. In close quarters it was better to use the nanoblades as it would give me the element of surprise. I made a step forward and pretended to stumble. Muscle who was before me tried to catch me so I let him, but at the same time I run him through using the nanoblade on my right hand. He stood there confused for a while before he looked down. ¡°How did this happened?¡± he said and collapsed, but I was already moving towards my next target. With a backhand slash I attacked Nose, who was on my left side. I slashed him across the face which killed him instantly. By now the other two should have their weapons out, so I jumped back to take down the one called Weird behind me. What I didn¡¯t expect was that he would just dodge me. That left me sprawled on the floor with both of them aiming their weapons at me. ¡°Now that wasn¡¯t nice.¡± Said Bone and he shot me in the leg. This was the first time I had a more serious injury inside the game. It hurt a lot, but I could manage. I squirmed a little and tried to get to my weapons. They saw what I was planning and shot me in both arms. Now I was defenseless against them. ¡°What to do with you now. You killed two of our comrades. You¡¯ll have to pay for it.¡± Said Weird with a laugh. ¡°Stay strong, help is almost there.¡± Said Eleanor. I was thankful to her for helping me. I knew I underestimated them when I attacked them but what could I do? They were already going after blood. They were just looking for an excuse. I could hear sirens coming closer while they were arguing over what to do with me. Before they agreed they were interrupted by a policeman. They with one look could tell what happened here. ¡°Stay where you are and don¡¯t move.¡± Shouted one policeman at them. They finally noticed them and looked at me first, ¡°If we have to go, we¡¯ll take you with us.¡± And they started to aim their weapons back at me. If they didn¡¯t tell me that they would kill me aloud, they could probably manage to do so. As it was, the policeman could hear them and started to fire at them before they managed to aim their weapons at me. I don¡¯t know what weapons they use, but it took only one shot from each cop to take them down. After killing both of them the policeman rushed towards me and injected me with a healing serum. It repaired most of the damage in an instant. What I learned later was that I had to pay for the serum. A total of 10 000 credits at the police station. For now, I was just glad that I was ok once more. From then on I took care and looked at my surroundings taking note for any suspicious people. I went to the pub where I met Anna to let myself off the hook for a while. I was exhausted by constantly looking for someone who would attack me. I thought that this period that I had was already over. On my way to the pub, I could hear people talking about the real me and it wasn¡¯t very flattering. Even after more than a year, I don¡¯t understand how everyone could hate me so much. Even if I did what they said I did, it was just too much. They should have forgotten about it already, but to me it looked like they hated me as much as the times after the court decision. I¡¯ll have to ask my team why they hate me so much. I had to get away from the city. I changed my direction from the pub towards the scrapyard. There I should have peace away from everyone. I wanted to visit Greg and spend some time with him. For now even Eleanor was silent, as she sensed that I wanted to be alone. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. On my way I thought about what to do after I get back to ship. The more I thought about it, the more I was decided on some issues. I wouldn¡¯t hide. I¡¯ll make sure that I can walk without any problems and go anywhere I would want to go, but for that I would need to get stronger. Much, much stronger. As I contemplated about my future, I arrived at the scrapyard and could see that my friends and teammates were going over it. I walked straight to Greg¡¯s house and knocked on it. I could hear a crash of some dishes and loud swearing. ¡°Who is it this time? I don¡¯t have a minute for myself.¡± I could hear Greg grumbling. As he opened the door I jumped at him and hugged him. ¡°Hi Greg, how life treating you?¡± ¡°What? Who?¡± he started then looked down at the smiling me and hugged me back, ¡°so my lost child returns. Where have you been all this time? How are you doing? How can I help you? You have to tell me everything.¡± I laughed and immediately felt much better, ¡°Slow down a little. I¡¯ll tell you everything just one thing at a time, but before that I would like to introduce you to someone.¡± ¡°This is Eleanora, my ship¡¯s AI.¡± I said and waited for Eleanora to greet him too, ¡°Hi my name is Eleanora. It¡¯s good to meet someone Leya likes so much.¡± She said from my collar and I was embarrassed by her admission. ¡°Hi, I hope you take good care of Leya.¡± Said Greg. ¡°As much as she let me.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Guys I¡¯m here and I can take care of myself.¡± I said and could imagine Eleanor rolling her eyes. We went inside and for the next two hours I told him about our adventures. He was most outraged by the other spacers who attacked me even after I saved this planet. Both he and Eleanor made their opinions pretty clear. I didn¡¯t want to dwell on it and asked him to talk about something else. So we moved on to other topics. We talked about his plans now that more people came to his scrapyard. He told me about his plans to open more scrapyards in other cities. Then if he makes enough money he¡¯ll try to expand onto other planets. Then he asked me about my plans, so I told him about the Director and that we planned to find his base and attack it. I told him about my dilemma with my Ships license. Problem with it was that I would have to reveal my identity and in the current situation it could prove to be a problem. I wanted to avoid this problem, but couldn¡¯t see any other alternatives. When I told him this he looked thoughtful for a minute, then said to me, ¡°I could buy it in your name, if you want. If you trust me, you can place me as your Guardian and in such a case I can make the decision for you.¡± That could work. But even if it was him, I don¡¯t know if I have that much trust in me. I was furiously thinking about what to do. He saw me thinking and placed his hand on my shoulder, ¡°We can make the Guardianship with a time limit on it for one day and focus on getting your licenses. After one day it will expire and I can no longer make any decisions for you.¡± He said kindly. ¡°Yes I would like that and sorry. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you, but I can¡¯t let someone have so much power over me.¡± I tried to explain it to him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I was in the city and heard what they said about you. In your place I too would be wary.¡± He said to me. That was one thing that I didn¡¯t want him to hear. He should have been someone who know me without any prejudice. Now even that was no longer there. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about others, I know it¡¯s not the truth and most of the people know it too. It¡¯s just these spacers that talk like that.¡± He said then stood up, ¡°Let me print the documents and I can go buy you all your licenses.¡± All the paperwork was finished in just ten minutes. With the paperwork done Greg went to buy the license for my ship, weapons and general crafting licenses for any equipment. The whole package should cost about 60 000 credits, which was not that much all in all. On the other hand it was all the money I owned. I even got a new window from the contract.
Guardian contract: Leya
Caretaker: Greg Ward: Leya This contract enables the Guardian Greg to make decisions for the ward Leya. This decision can be only for the purpose of acquiring licenses. Expiration time: 1 day
Before he went, he told me to pick whatever I want from the scrapyard as all was paid by the influx of new customers. I had to upgrade my gear, so I went looking for new parts. Now that I had more time. I looked longer for the parts and took mostly the new ones. I took more than I would need, as I could experiment with them later. Eleanor helped me to pick out some that I didn¡¯t recognize. They were the counterparts to some I knew but with a better specification. We loaded it all onto a cart and wheeled it before his workshop. I would make my equipment on the ship, but I wanted to place it somewhere before I would pick it up. I didn¡¯t know how long I was looking for parts, but it was long enough for Greg to return with my licenses. He brought them all. Master pilot license, Plasma weapon license, Laser weapon license and General crafting license. What surprised me was that he handed me my money back with a small message.
Hi, My name is Catherine Lorna III, The Royal princess of planet Sorok. I would like to meet with the savior of our planet. You can take these licenses as a reward for your services to our planet. I know the danger isn¡¯t over and we would like to discuss what should be done to prevent the planet from getting taken over. Yours, Catherine Lorna III.
I read it and looked at Greg who just shrugged. I didn¡¯t know if I should go or not. It would expose me to the others if they saw me, but on the other hand it wouldn¡¯t be bad to help them and learn some new information about our enemy. ¡°Should I go?¡± I asked Greg and Eleanor. First to speak was Eleanor, ¡°It¡¯s your decision, but we could get new information about The Director and his company.¡± ¡°Like she said. I know there is the danger from spacers, but they can¡¯t enter the Royal district without permission.¡± Said Greg. In the end I had to go as we almost knew nothing about the Director. Without more information we can¡¯t defeat him. With the decision done I said goodbye to Greg and went towards the Royal district. After I let the guards at the gates see my letter, I was immediately taken to Royal garden where I was expected to wait for the princess. At least she didn¡¯t let me wait too long and came in five minutes. When I saw her, I curtsy in a clumsy manner upon which she laughed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to. It¡¯s should be me who curtsies to you.¡± She said and pointed towards the chairs before a small pond, ¡°Come and join me please.¡± I sat across from her and waited for her to start. She was small with long black wavy hair. She had high cheeks with a slight blush on them. In whole, she looked petite and weak, but just one look in her blue eyes told me something else. No one should underestimate her. There was intelligence and ruthlessness in her eyes. She would do what had to be done without consequences for her person or others. ¡°First, I would like to say a big thank you. I wanted to make it a big event but from what I heard in the city. I didn¡¯t know if it would be a good thing.¡± She started explaining, ¡°There could be an unexpected interruption which could be a danger to you. so I made arrangements for a private meeting. I hope it doesn¡¯t anger you.¡± ¡°No I¡¯m glad it¡¯s like this. I don¡¯t like big events. I¡¯m always nervous at them and like you said there are elements that would hurt me if they could.¡± I said with a bitter smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re working on it. Spacers who said bad things about you, should already see the consequences of their actions. Our citizens don¡¯t like it when someone badmouths our hero.¡± She said while smiling. ¡°Thanks, but you don¡¯t have to do it.¡± I tried to protest. ¡°Oh it¡¯s not me. I didn¡¯t order them to do anything. It¡¯s their decision to do so.¡± She explained to me. I squirmed at my seat. I didn¡¯t like so much attention, ¡°Thanks, but we should move to another topic. One for which I came here.¡± ¡°The Director.¡± She said the words and then looked at me silently for a while, ¡°I hope we can trust you more than him.¡± She said finally. I don¡¯t understand what she meant by that. Since I never did anything to lose their trust in me. ¡°First, my family didn¡¯t want to involve you into this business because you are a spacer, but I think you should know as much as you can if you were to help us.¡± She said, but still I didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Second, the decision not to tell you was based on the information about The Director. He too was a spacer like you. My father didn¡¯t want to trust another spacer, when one had already betrayed him.¡± ¡°He called himself Radev Logan. We don¡¯t have much information about him, so I can¡¯t really help you there. We¡¯re still trying to find out if there are more people like him. What I can tell you about him, is that he¡¯s extremely dangerous. While escaping our battleship, he took down twenty of our best soldiers. We also know that he¡¯s wealthy. He bought a mine and still tried to buy more property on our planet. That tells us there is a huge capital behind his actions.¡± The information was not good news. If he was a player, he would just respawn after he was killed. What I needed to do, was expose him to everyone so he couldn¡¯t do anything inside of this game. The second best option would be to destroy as much of his property as I possibly could. After that we talked about the defenses of the planet. I suggested Greg to help them there as he was the only one who I could tell that was trustworthy. I promised to send them some plans of defense turrets and plans about defending planets from the PALADIN database. With that, we said our goodbyes and I returned to my ship. I went to the scrapyard for my parts and returned to the tunnels. I logged out after that and went to sleep. I would have to start upgrading my gear the next day and start working on my ship. Chapter 8: Building trance With morning came new day and new things to do. I downloaded schematics from game to my computer and started to work on them. I send my bots to look for materials I would need. In the end it took me three days to finish it. All I needed was some nanobots to start it. I looked around scrapyard for something which could contain them but didn¡¯t find anything. Next I looked on network for how much couple of them would cost. They cost too much for my limited finances. I let bots search for them and went back into game. There I was greeted by Eleanora who immediately asked me, ¡°Where have you been so long?¡± ¡°I worked on replicator but I have problem with nanobots. I can¡¯t get my hands on any.¡± I said to her. ¡°Sorry it¡¯s just I don¡¯t like to be alone and well that¡¯s problem. Didn¡¯t you find any on your scrapyard?¡± she asked. ¡°No I looked but couldn¡¯t find any. Without them I can¡¯t finish my ship.¡± I said frustrated. ¡°What if you call them to you?¡± asked Eleanor then explained, ¡°I can send you device which would connect to nanobots. It would work only on some with lower encryption but with some you can make more and better.¡± ¡°Yes send me schematics. For now I¡¯m going to look at my weapons and do some work on them.¡± ¡°Ok I¡¯ll go work on it then.¡± Said Eleanor while I was on my way to cargo hold. There I could see Rock and Lee working on some explosives. ¡°Hey don¡¯t blow up my ship. Take it outside if you¡¯re experimenting on something.¡± I said to them. ¡°Hi to you to and for your information we already tested it outside. We¡¯re just making more now.¡± Said Lee. ¡°Yes we¡¯re not stupid.¡± Said Rock. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m just not in good mood right now.¡± I said to them angrily. They instantly let go of their work and came to me, ¡±What happened? Do you have some problem?¡± ¡°No nothing serious. I just wanted to build something but I don¡¯t have one crucial part of it. Without it I can¡¯t make it.¡± I said while kicking something, away then I looked at them and realized something, ¡°Lee you stayed.¡± He smiled, ¡°Yes. What would you do when you get there and found closed door.¡± ¡°Of course wait for you. What else?¡± I said jokingly. ¡°I¡¯m going to build new weapons and armor for me. Do you have already new or should I make something for you too?¡± I asked them. They looked at each other than both grinned, ?Yes. Make us something.¡± ¡°Ok I¡¯ll make yours first than start work on mine. Place me somewhere here your weapons and I¡¯ll move onto them.¡± I said while moving to parts I picked from scrapyard. After I picked some which I thought would be good for them I moved to their weapons. First I took Rocks Laser machine gun. I took it apart and inspected it. I think usage of laser in machine gun is stupid. It¡¯s good for cooling chambers but it lack firepower and no one picks machine gun for cooling. I picked it bare and scanned it. I made small adjustments and placed order into replicator. As it was making new frame I started to work on equipment from Directors chamber. One by one I took them apart and studied them. They were better in most ways from our equipment. Batteries were smaller with better output then ours. They¡¯re sensors were better and one weapon I found was too stronger than ours. I scanned them and started to incorporate them into machine gun. For start I place there three new power packs instead of two. That should give him more power. Next I made plasma containers with small pump. That would enable to hook it into armor and take plasma from it. Then I worked on options for shooting. There were three options. Once was concentrated fire where most of the plasma would fall into one place. Second options was scatter which would fire in cone and last one was to fire simultaneously from all barrels. Last option could be used only for brief moment as it would overheat weapon. First two options I made by adjustable length of barrel. Last one could be used only in spread mode as with longer barrel it would instantly overheat. This should be all for Rocks Machine gun.
Dancing Jack (Plasma)
Damage:300 - 500Rarity:Superior
Munition:Plasma clipMagazine:300 + shots
Machine gun isn¡¯t weapon used for precision. It¡¯s used for its firepower. But this machine gun combines precision with firepower. It¡¯s made by exceptional crafter. It can work in three different modes. Spread mode: - 30 % damage + 50 % spread Precision mode: + 40 % accuracy Annihilation mode: +50% damage +100% overheat
Next came weapon for Lee. I saw him use one pistol but he¡¯s more demolition guy then point and shot. I thought about ideal weapon for him and came up with grenade launcher. He could make his own ordnance and it would broaden his functionality in battle. For times when he would be alone I¡¯ll made him small smg. I started to work first on smg as it would be easier to make. I took basic template from database and started to tinker with it little. Like in Rocks weapon I Made adjustable barrel but this one I¡¯ll let control small computer which I would build into it. It would automatically adjust length based on distance from target. I used technology from Director and made two smaller containers for plasma. They could be changed independently on one another. With enough practice he could change one while shooting from another. As he wasn¡¯t best shooter I made him laser sight and tactical sight. Finally I put it together and moved to grenade launcher.
Last defence (Plasma)
Damage:600 - 1000Rarity:Superior
Munition:Plasma clipMagazine:45 shots
This SMG was built by skilled crafter. It¡¯s accurate but with enough stopping power. This weapon was made for spacer last defence. If it came to close quarter battle this smg is small enough to use. + 15% armor for 15 sec after pulling it from case + 40% damage if used for defence Can be triggered once in 10 minutes + 20% damage against shields
I leveled once this time so I was on advanced 2 in weapon making. Now I moved to my last weapon for them, Grenade launcher. I never worked on one so it would be more difficult to work it out. I studied plans for different type of launchers. I liked most one where you could use different types of grenades and switch them into chamber either mechanically or calling by voice. I printed this one but changed some parts. There were bigger than they had to be. I asked Lee if grenades had to be so big and he told me that it was only for standard munition. He made his own so I could make it smaller. I wanted to make it smaller just to place there more tubes for grenades types. He could use more variety in attacks. In the end it grenade launcher contained one tube with eight rotating tubes around it. Each of this tube would contain ten grenades that would be load into middle one and shot from it. I tried to make tubes so they could be reloaded in batches rather by one grenade at a time.
Variety (Mixed)
Damage:Based on granadesRarity:Superior
Munition:GrenadesMagazine:10 x 8 shots
This is highly tactical weapon which could be used in almost all situation. Most of it depends on user and ammunition use in it. Best advantage of this weapons is when used while protected in group. + 25 % to aoe damage + 100 % faster reload
I even got one more level for making it but in reality it gave me around 50% progress in skill as I already had 57% before. If it goes like this I¡¯ll be master in no time. With this done last thing would be to test them and tinker with them. That I could do after I made my own. For now I can let them test them for problems. ¡°Hey guys you can take your weapons. Go out and test them. If there are problems write it down and I¡¯ll look at it after I work on my weapons.¡± I called to them. They came to me eager to look at them, ¡°Finally I¡¯ll see what you can do. Did you know that while you work you move really fast? And by fast I mean your hand were just blurs sometimes.¡± Said Rock. ¡°Yeah I know. I even got trait corresponding with it.¡± I explained. ¡°Ok ok you can talk about it next time but can we see our weapons now?¡± said eagerly Lee. I laughed at them because they looked like kids in sweet store, ¡°Of course SMG and Grenade launcher are for Lee and Machine gun is for Rock. Now go and test them.¡± ¡°Yes mom.¡± Said with laugh Rock and picked his machine gun then stared as he looked at it once more. ¡°Now this is more like it.¡± He said and with dreamy eyes walked out of cargo hold. ¡°I knew you don¡¯t like to fight Lee so I tried to made weapons corresponding with it.¡± I said to him. He picked them up and investigated them properly. Then he looked up at me and smiled. ¡°They¡¯re perfect. This grenade launcher is even better than I thought.¡± I was happy that they liked them but it was time to build my own weapons and armor. I shushed him away and placed my weapons and armor before me. First would be best to work on my pistols then armor and lastly riffle as it would need complete overhaul. I started to take apart both pistols. I¡¯ll go with same configuration. One laser and one plasma. First I started to work on my plasma pistol. From experience I didn¡¯t wanted to build just weapon. I wanted it to be tool. For this I would need to upgrade plasma container and barrel. I worked on barrel to make adjustable width. I wanted to be able to constrict it for plasma cutter or welder. It proved very useful on my last mission so I wanted to incorporate it. I made same reloading from armor as before with option to just change clip. I used all my skills to build it into damage. It would be my weapon for quick or special situations. For normal use I¡¯ll just use my laser pistol. That was next thing on my list. I¡¯ll made it little different. I made three small power sources and four crystals. Three of them focused power from sources to last one which fired it from barrel. This should produce more powerful laser than normal. It was little tricky to adjust all crystal to right frequency and focus but in the end it should prove much stronger. As third came armor. I stripped it bare and started from scratch. I look at how sensors were hooked into it, then studied other types of armors. This armor would be used for combat. I didn¡¯t want to build armor for utility. I wanted to build it for combat only. I can wear my clothes from Eleanora in normal situation. I¡¯ll just build some shield emitters in them and I can use them in non-combat mission. I had to thank Director for these smaller design. I could make different approach in making this armor. Armor plates I made from same material as ship. It was more durable and flexible than normal alloys. I used many small power sources to power it. They were redundant to one another. This would prevent ending me with lucky hit. Plasma container I placed behind thicker armor on back. I used six computer cores across armor. Each has its own function. One was on each limb with last two placed in chest and helmet. Each controlled some function of armor. In right arm I placed small grenade launcher for two grenades. In left I incorporated nanoblade which I could control with my mind or with computer. Two computers on legs controlled small thrusters on my armor. I wanted to have some redundancy there as I didn¡¯t want to tumble from somewhere and die. Chest piece controlled hydraulic in armor. It enhanced my strength while letting me have my agility. Last computer in helmet controlled sensors and my heads-up display. It evaluate information from sensors and send me useful information about environment and enemies. Like what was their weakness and where could I find good advantageous positions. For my last piece I left my assault rifle. I wanted to change it from projectile weapon to laser but with different approach. This was my weapon for taking down enemies on medium or medium-long distance. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. My old rifle I used for replicator as it was useless to me now. I didn¡¯t want automatic rifle. I wanted to build one for damage. For this I looked longest at scrapyard. I needed to have bigger focus crystals. Now that I had smaller technology I could experiment with it. I build power source about same size as normal but with four time the output. This I used as power for my clips. They were attached to my rifle along barrel. I knew that with this output I couldn¡¯t hold trigger so I made it into shots. Single powerful laser shots. I still didn¡¯t know if it would function but in my mind it looked powerful. On top of rifle I placed scope with low zoom. With this it should be finished. I wasn¡¯t too complex design so portability of breaking was low. I was exhausted after all work I¡¯ve done. I didn¡¯t know how long I was in my trance but at the same time I was calm once more after my failure with nanobots. I looked first at my weapons and armor as I was curious what did I build.
Punch (Plasma)
Damage:2500 - 4000Rarity:Exotic
Munition:Plasma clipMagazine:4 shots
Pistol build for purpose of stopping enemy with one shot. It could be used as devastating weapon or as tool after small changes. It¡¯s very versatile tool or weapon to bring death to your enemies. To make something like this engineer had to be exceptional in weapon crafting. +50 % to armor penetration Deals 40% more damage to shields Special function: Plasma torch Can be used for cutting or welding
Pat (Laser)
Damage:2500 / secRarity:Exotic
Munition:Power clipMagazine:1 min
Laser pistol build for accuracy. What differs it from others laser pistols is unconventional way in making laser. Instead of one crystal it incorporates four of them. It¡¯s exceptional feat of engineering and could be used as material for newbie engineers to increase their proficiency with weapon crafting. + 50 % to accuracy Special function: Laser cutter Can be used for cutting
Fist (Laser)
Damage:3500cRarity:Exotic
Munition:Power clipMagazine:15 shots
Once more unconventional weapon from new engineer. Instead of constant fire this rifle fire short burst of concentrated laser with every shot. It¡¯s new approach to this long used technology. +50% to armor penetration Chance to set target on fire +20 % accuracy Special action: Override Can use concentrated fire for 10 sec then it¡¯s overheated and had to be cooled before firing again
Leyas combat armor
Armor:1000Rarity:Exotic
Shield:5000Shield regen:100/Sec
Laser clip recharge:2 mag / minPlasma tank:2 l
Armor made from new technology specialized for combat. It contains full sensors suit for combat. From night vision, thermal to motion sensors. It incorporates computer cores into its design which helps user operates armor with greater efficiency. (Chest) Doubles user strength (Legs) Can use thrusters for speed up or short flight (Right hand) Can shots grenade from right hand ( container for two grenades ) (Left hand) Can be transformed into Nanoblade (Head) Sensor suite and tactical computer
It was even more powerful than I expected. First I went to eat and drink as I was famished and thirsty. Then I went out in my new armor and weapons. It moved smoothly and I couldn¡¯t see and problems with it. As I got out I could see Rock and Lee sitting before ship and talking. ¡°It¡¯s perfect I don¡¯t know how she knew but it fits me like a glove.¡± Said Lee. ¡°Yes I know what you¡¯re talking about. I never thought about aiming with my machine gun but now that I had more options I think to myself why I didn¡¯t think about it. I always just hold trigger till everything is dead.¡± Agreed Rock. ¡°Hi so you like your new weapons?¡± I asked them embarrassed. ¡°Yes they¡¯re great I already used all my grenades.¡± said Lee as they turned to me. ¡°But looked at you. You look downright dangerous in that armor.¡± Whistled Rock. I laughed, ¡°I¡¯m going to test it for bugs and problems.¡± ¡°Ok. We¡¯ll just enjoy the show. Try not to hurt yourself.¡± Caution me Rock. If he could see my face he would see me roll my eyes. I turned back to cave and hooked into sensors. I let computers feed me information. I stood there looking around and making something like first pre-flight control. I activated every system to control its function. Only problems was with thrusters but with quick command from leg computers it was solved. I looked back at Lee and Rock who were grinning at me. They wanted show so I¡¯ll give them one. I used Adrenalin rush to speed up my perception. With quick burst from thrusters I was running across cave at fast run. I equipped Pat and Punch and fired as I run. From punch came condensate plasma which make holes into rock walls. With pat I criss-crossed lines along it. When I came almost to wall I holstered my pistols and equipped Fist. I jumped at wall and started to run up with thrusters. Most of the work done my computers. About ten meters in air I flipped and landed on ground. There I sighted rock about 100 meters from me. I fired three time into it. Even from my position I could see red-hot holes across it. I ended Adrenalin rush and turn to guys. They were staring at me with open mouth. I smiled for myself and went to them. We talked about our equipment and changes they did to it. They had new armor so they didn¡¯t want to change it right now but told me in future they¡¯ll definitely come to me for equipment. ? ? ? I logged out after that and went to look for schmatics that Eleanor send me. This control scener was very simple and it didn¡¯t require me to build something new just small changes on my old one. With it I found small traces of nanobots. I let my bots in scrapyard dig them and place them in replicator. I woke next day with feeling of urgency. I don¡¯t know why but I felt I had to finish my ship as soon as I can. Like before I didn¡¯t log this day. First I started to work on more bots. They would be ones to build outer hull and most of the weapons. I needed to build only delicate things in ship. First I started to work on computer core. With plans and replicator it was easy. Halfway through day I had prepared it for AI insertion. What I needed now was to transfer Eleanor. For that I would need to invent some interface. I worked till night on interface so I could connect to Video, Data and Audio feed from game. I commanded bots to continue with work while I would be in game. If everything goes as planned ship will be finished in two weeks. As I had most already done it shouldn¡¯t be that hard. I have most of cables and panels done. What I needed to do is to build both engines and power source. That would be hard but doable with replicator. Harder than putting it together would be to jumpstart them. ? ? ? With this done I ley on bed and logged into game. There I met with rest of the team. They all had new equipment. Anna had pistol on her side and sniper rifle across her back. Even her armor changed from starting recon to more advanced. Her weapons looked like mine in some aspects. They to use this smaller technology. John had new assault rifle. It looked normal but I could hear slight hum from it. That means it had really powerful source. On his hip was too pistol and behind his back was wicked looking knife. ¡°Hi so you too got new equipment? Can I look at it?¡± I said to them. ¡°Hi¡± said both of them then Anna continued, ¡°Why do you want to look at it?¡± ¡°Oh it¡¯s just engineering thing. We always love to look at new things and maybe glean some new way to improve our designs.¡± I said with smile. They look at me like I was weird but handed me their weapons. Anna¡¯s weapon was indeed similar to mine. They had good design but still there was room for improvement. As for John¡¯s weapons. They were cruder but in a way they were powerful. With their simple design they have lesser chance to fail in combat. I wouldn¡¯t probably make designs like these but they¡¯ll get job done. I returned them their weapon and thanked them. I called Eleanor on Com. ¡°So how¡¯s situation with Director. Did he stop already or is he still on the road?¡± I asked. ¡°He¡¯s still going but he should be stopping soon. He didn¡¯t stop anywhere so he probably didn¡¯t fuel his ship. With full tank in that type of ship he can go about one or two more days before he has to fuel it or is forced to stop.¡± ¡°Ok so we have around two days for our battle exercises. Did you already planned something for us?¡± I asked Eleanor and looked at others. ¡°Yes I¡¯m putting it on monitor for you to see. First you should learn some gestures for silent communication then move outside into tunnels and start practising.¡± ¡°Ok you heard her we should at last learn something in these two days.¡± I said to them. ¡°Yes we should learn quickly to communicate silently so we can move to field exercise.¡± Said excited Rock. ¡°Ok go I have something to do before that. I¡¯ll catch up to you.¡± I told them. After that they moved to they¡¯re consoles to learn gestures. I moved to my cabin to speak with Eleanor. ¡°Eleanor I made link with data, video and sound to my ship AI core. Do you think it would be enough?¡± I asked her when I get to my room. There was silence then she answered, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be problem. I pinged it and there was instant response. Problem is we can¡¯t do it while you are in game as I¡¯ll take all data channels. So best course would be to do it while in transit.¡± ¡°Ok we¡¯ll do it like that.¡± I said lost in the thought. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± asked Eleanor. ¡°Just some personal things.¡± I said still thinking what to do about my problem. I¡¯ll prepare as much as I can and then I¡¯ll see. That would I hope be enough. I went to others and started to learn gestures. It took me longer than others. Then for remainder of two days we trained ourselves. We focused on teamwork and at the end of these two days could at last move together. We weren¡¯t very good team players but at last we didn¡¯t hinder one another. Then Eleanor called us into ship and told us she found where he¡¯s hiding. It would take us one and half in-game week to get there. I made final preparation and said good bye to Greg. Last thing I did was pilot ship into orbit and went through wormhole. When we were in transit I told them I wouldn¡¯t be available for some time. I have personal problems which I needed to take care of. They grumbled about it but in the end they had to accept it. Most nervous about me was Anna. She told she feared for me as my personal problems sometimes required siren. I calmed her and told her it¡¯s nothing like that. I logged out and Eleanor started to download herself into new core. In the meant time I worked on power source and engines. I had little time to build it. I didn¡¯t know why I was so nervous about it but I knew I needed to finish it before we get into Directors base. Chapter 9: Directors base Here is new chapter. There is little more action in it. Hope you''ll enjoy it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Two weeks of sweat and hard work on my ship were interrupted by Eleanora. ¡°Leya we came into system with Directors ship. We had some problems so it took longer than normal but we¡¯re finally there.¡± She said to me. ¡°What problems and why didn¡¯t you tell me before?¡± I asked her while wrapping up my work on engine. Everything should be operational, maybe some glitches but nothing serious. ¡°Sometimes journey through wormhole can be affected by gravity storms. Then you have to take manoeuvres to avoid it. It¡¯s all standard procedure and you didn¡¯t ask anything after it took more time than normal. I thought that you knew about it.¡± She said confused by my question. ¡°How would I know it I never travelled by wormhole before?¡± I said to her. ¡°I know, but I mean that you can look up information about game from here. Now that I¡¯m here and there at same time I can transfer updates on situation any time I want.¡± She explained to me. ¡°That¡¯s handy and it should have occur to me that now it would be possible.¡± I signed, ¡°Sorry for doubting you. It¡¯s just too much work without sleep. I¡¯m going to ley and log into game now that we¡¯re at his base.¡± I transferred most of my things to ship now that it was almost functioning. Last thing before I go I have to jump start power source. For that I would use my old power source and some unique elements I dig out in scrapyard. If I could start it, I would have then enough energy to function till I fuel it somewhere else. Now it¡¯ll be time to see if I made it right or if there are problems. ¡°Eleanora start anti-matter gathering in power source.¡± I commanded to her. ¡°Anti-matter gathering initiated. Insertion of matter in 30 seconds.¡± She told me calmly. As it went she was sometime commenting, ¡°Slight problem in generating anti-matter. Insufficient power. Rerouting. Power sufficient.¡± I was sweating whole 30 seconds and praying that It wouldn¡¯t blow up. But when nothing exploded I heard Eleanor say, ¡°Anti-matter power source jump start successful. We are now working on 30% capacity.¡± I laughed and jumped from joy, ¡°Hahaha, now I¡¯m going to log into game. Let our old power source power it while I¡¯m in game.¡± I said and went to log into game with big smile on my face. ? ? ? Everyone was already logged into game when I came. They greeted me and Rock even hugged me. We didn¡¯t see ourselves for some time so it was normal. Only Anna was little sad. ¡°What happened Anna? You look sad.¡± I asked her. She looked at me with tears almost in eyes, ¡°It¡¯s nothing just some bad news in real life.¡± I hugged her and said to her kindly, ¡°You know you can always tell me anything. When you¡¯re ready I¡¯m here to listen to it.¡± At this she started to cry, ¡°Ok when I¡¯m ready I¡¯ll tell you. Now can we move to that rocky planet?¡± ¡°Of course we can. That¡¯s what we¡¯re here for.¡± I said to her and hold till she stopped crying, then we went to bridge. ¡°Eleanor status report.¡± I said to her as I came to bridge. ¡°Signal comes from rocky satellite orbiting third planet from star. It¡¯s inhabitable so base is probably made underground or on surface covered by dome. I can still receive signal from it so it means ship I marked isn¡¯t underground.¡± Concluded Eleanor. ¡°There is possibility it¡¯s a trap.¡± I said. ¡°Why would you say that?¡± asked John. ¡°It¡¯s possible that they found our transmitter and used it to make trap for us. It would be better to prepare for both situation.¡± I said to them. ¡°Another thing is that there are probably players along NPCs. This complicates situation as they bring unpredictability into our operation.¡± I continued. ¡°Yes you¡¯re right we should prepare. I would first send probe to find us some entrance which we can use.¡± Said John. ¡°Yes we should go there carefully. We don¡¯t want to end up dead because of some stupid mistake.¡± Agreed Lee. ¡°Eleanor could you send probe to scan for entrance and defences?¡± I asked Eleanora. ¡°Probe away. I¡¯ll call information as they come.¡± She said. After short while she exclaimed, ¡°There it is. It¡¯s dome with at least six no make that seven plasma cannons. From how it¡¯s made I would say it¡¯s probably self-sealing so it would be possible to enter with dive module. Also there are two entrances but they are guarded.¡± ¡°So we have two options. Either we go fast and count on surprise or we can try and sneak through one of entrances.¡± I let them absorb it then continued, ¡°We¡¯ll vote on it. Whoever wants to go with surprise attack rise your right hand or If you want to go with stealth rise your left hand.¡± I presented to them. I looked at them and their decision. John and Anna wanted to go with stealth and Rock and Lee wanted to go with Surprise attack. So decision stayed with me. Stealth had best chance to succeed but only if they don¡¯t know about us. In that case it would be suicide. I raised my right hand. Better to go with plan which is overall better then count on them not knowing about us. ¡°Why do you want to go with surprise? It¡¯s dead sentence obviously.¡± Said John at same time as Rock said, ¡°Finally we can go with more action plan.¡± ¡°I think it has better chance to success then the other one. That¡¯s all. We should prepare for launch as decision was made.¡± I ended debate. We moved to emergency escape pod. We would use it to penetrate dome and enter their base. I put on my armor and checked weapons. With nothing else to do I went into pod and strapped myself into pilot seat. I can¡¯t fly it completely but I can correct route I would take into dome. I wanted to hit center of dome to get as much as we can to center of base. We can move from there according to additional information. My last command for Eleanora was to hide ship till we are finished. Others too strapped and Eleanora started count down. ¡°Ten, Nine, ¡­¡­ Three, Two, One, ¡­.¡± I didn¡¯t hear what she said as main engine on pod started. We were pushed into our seats as we were hurled at dome. Whole insertion took only fifteen seconds as we were moving at tremendous speed. Only pods special made cover saved us as we plummeted into dome and then into ground on base. I was little disoriented by crash but shouted at others, ¡°Move. We have to get away from pod.¡± Others were too unstrapping and in no time we were already running across plaza were we crashed. I tried to tell them to look for cover but was interrupted by jammer. So I went with signals we thought in our training. We looked across plaza and there were already people going for our pod. We were lucky no one was here. This too confirm my theory that knew about us. John send small probes to map our way and we moved to more defensible place. There we waited for probes to find us command center. From readings I could make small map of base. At center was plaza and around it were build community buildings and living quarters. Two barracks were positioned behind two entrances. There were more buildings but I couldn¡¯t tell their purpose from this quick scan. From readings we agreed that best bet was to go to building with most power outage. Even if we can¡¯t find Director we can find some clues. We moved fast in similar formation as in mines but now I was in from with Rock as we had best armors in terms of defence. First people we encountered about five hundred meters before our target. They were two players who walked almost into us. From their instant reaction I could tell they weren¡¯t newbie players. I took one on my side and used nanoblade to despatch him. He didn¡¯t expect me to use blade and didn¡¯t defend against it until it was too late. Second one was shot in head by John which upset his aim and his shot went wild. Second shot he didn¡¯t get to fire as Rock fired short burst from his machine gun. There were suddenly more holes in him then is healthy. It was laud encounter so they probably knew about our target. Our only advantage is that they were obviously elsewhere and we surprised them. If we move fast we could take them before they consolidated. As we already gave away our position and there was no need for stealth we started to run to our target. When we came hundred meters before it we could finally see it. It was big building in circle shape. We redoubled our efforts to get there. We could already hear them moving behind us. As we rounded last corner I used Adrenalin rush and jumped across at wall and with help of thrusters I started to run along it. As I run I could see trap they wanted to use at us. But now that I was up there I just lobbed there grenade and started to shot with Pat. They started fire at me but my shields held. Panic came on them when Rock started to fire and Lee lobbed two more grenades into their midst. They exploded in same time as mine and took almost all of them out. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. We finished rest of them quickly and I could already hear shooting from behind us. Anna and John took down first couple of them as they came but we had to hurry or we¡¯re doomed. I started to run and entered building. We were in lobby and there was no one. They used probably most of them for this little ambush. Anna and John went front to let their shields recharge and me with Rock took their place. We covered them while they looked for stairs. We took down three others before they found them. Lee took down Elevator with well-placed charge and we moved onto stairs. We mined first floor and moved up. We could hear explosion as first players triggered mines. We would have to get on top probably for our objective. Our way up was without problems until three floors from top. There players and NPCs finally get to us and started to attack at us from one floor lower and one upper. We entered our floor and looked for additional way up. We couldn¡¯t find anything so for now we barricaded exit from stairs. We covered it and talked about our options. ¡°Now what to do. We can¡¯t go up. Were stuck here.¡± Said Lee. ¡°Well not entirely. I and Anna could probably get up on top floor.¡± I said. ¡°So tell us.¡± They shouted when I didn¡¯t continued. ¡°I can walk up on wall with my thrusters and Anna has Small jetpack on her beck. We could use them to get up but we¡¯ll need distraction.¡± I said to others. Lee said with laugh, ¡°Oh we can make distraction. That shouldn¡¯t be problem. We¡¯ll blow into floor below us and pretend to run for it. They would start chasing us and you would have free time in finishing mission.¡± ¡°Yes that should give us enough time to get up on top floor.¡± I said and turned to Anna, ¡°Can you make it?¡± ¡°Yes I can.¡± She said distracted. So we opened door on elevator and waited for signal. It came after a while with explosion and shooting. We immediately started to climb up into top floor. There Anna forced open door and we moved into corridor with many paintings and statues along it. We moved forward until we were before only door in corridor. We flank it from both sides then Anna opened them and I run inside. I could see more statues, paintings and other art around room. Across it was standing man that I knew as Director. I started to move forward when I felt muzzle of weapon on my back. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Said Anna with sad voice. ¡°Welcome to my humble home. I didn¡¯t expect you to get here. I thought that my trap at gates would get you, but no matter. You¡¯re here and captured.¡± Said Director and took vine from nearby table. ¡°Here Anna proved to be pretty good at spying and told us all about your mission.¡± He said to me then continued while sipping vine, ¡°If you thought that destroying this base would affect me you are wrong. I have more than one base like this. Even as we speak my ships are gathering before jump point to Sorok.¡± ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± I asked him. ¡°That¡¯s good question. Why indeed? Of course it¡¯s for money. You probably don¡¯t know it but you can make a lot of money in this game. There are more than five millions of players and most of them bought at last one item for real money.¡± ¡°So all this killing is for money? But what would you do if I exposed you to others? Then no one would help you and most of them would even hunt you down.¡± I said to him calmly. He calmly answered back, ¡°Look girl you know they don¡¯t like you so why are you defending them? That¡¯s my first point. My second point is that no one would believe you as you are criminal in eyes of others. And lastly I jammed all communication so you can¡¯t even send video to your home.¡± He was pretty confident. It would be fun to watch his bubble pop but first I¡¯m going to take as much information from him as I can. ¡°So this is your brilliant plan. Conquer one planet after another and then what? Force players to pay with real money for access to them?¡± I asked. ¡°Something like that but more. I would hunt them down if they wouldn¡¯t pay their fines and in time I¡¯ll buy politicians to make new laws to extract money from their debt in game. Pretty neat don¡¯t you think?¡± he said proudly. He was clearly insane. Now I had enough to take him down. At last I hope. I looked behind me at Anna. ¡°So you¡¯re with him on this?¡± I asked her. She said while sobbing, ¡°Yes sorry but I can¡¯t do anything else.¡± I turned to her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry I believe you. Call me on my number when you woke up.¡± I said silently and send code for her armor. I knew she was spy for some time now. First was her equipment that used same technology as one I took from him. That was moment I started to suspect her and planted control module in her armor. Second was what she said on my ship rocky planet. We didn¡¯t know it would be rocky planet. It could be water or even gas planet but she said it like she knew where we¡¯re going. I turned back to Director and started calmly walking to him. He sighed, ¡°You know, she told me you wouldn¡¯t join us but I told her you would break. Sorry but I have to kill you now.¡± Then sit down in chair and started to eat, ¡°Anna kill her please.¡± He was sitting there full of himself that it took him while to notice there wasn¡¯t any sound of shooting. When he finally got it I was already almost upon him. He tried to stand but I run to him and took him around neck. ¡°So you would like to kill me. Lucky me that I came prepared for it.¡± I said and went to stab him in hearth. What I didn¡¯t expect was that he would jump from me with kick in chest. He then equipped small pistol and started to fire at me. I whipped my laser rifle and returned fire. His shots took down my shield in four shots but I too took down his. I had activated Adrenalin rush and we started to jump around room and hide behind statues to mitigate damage. We fought for almost two minutes before my plasma for thrusters reached bottom and I had to use Adrenalin rush sparingly. I had last thousand health but at last he too didn¡¯t look to be in top condition. I know I had to end it soon or he¡¯ll kill me. With nothing else to do I lobbed last grenade left of him and activated override on Fist and hold the trigger as I shot at him. I took him across stomach while he was running from grenade. It cut him into two halves but he still get one shot into me. Luckily he only grazed me in shoulder. ¡°If you think this changes something you¡¯re wrong.¡± Were his last words before he died. I looked for Anna who was knocked into corner by us while we were fighting and let her out from armor. ¡°Why did you let me go?¡± she immediately asked and turned from me. I grabbed her and pointed her to me, ¡°Listen first. I know you wouldn¡¯t betray me for money and you don''t believe in his plan so tell me what it is that he''s using against you. I¡¯ll help you as much as I can.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand I have to take you in. He¡¯ll kill them If I don¡¯t do what he says.¡± She said crying. ¡°Kill who?¡± I asked silently. It started to make sense why she betrayed me. ¡°My two little girls. I¡¯m working more than year for him. That thing with newbie players was my way of helping after all I¡¯ve done for him.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go to police?¡± I asked her. ¡°He would have killed them and then half the police are on his payroll. There is nothing I can do.¡± She explained. ¡°There may be way to save your children but you would have to trust me.¡± I said to her already working on plan. She stood there looking at me, ¡°If you promise me you¡¯ll save them I¡¯ll do whatever you want.¡± ¡°Ok write me address where they are keeping thtem and then log out. Tell them I killed you. Tomorrow at twelve o¡¯clock at night come to my scrapyard. You¡¯ll met your girls there and we¡¯ll do something about this whole situation.¡± ¡°Ok but I hope you¡¯re telling truth. I can¡¯t lose them.¡± She said and told me where they took her daughters. Then she logged out from game. Now came last part of our plan. I searched room for the evidence and stored it into my back pack. There wasn¡¯t much left after our fight but it would have to do together with the video from our conversation. Now that I have Eleanora installed in my home I can override jamming like this for my video and a data feed. While we were fighting we destroyed jamming console and it shut down. I called Rock, Lee and John but no one answered. I knew this would be one way trip but I wanted to let them know I would implement our last part of it. ¡°Eleanora activate pod.¡± I called over Com to her and send her proper codes for activation. ¡°Probe activated.¡± Came to me from Eleanor. There was nothing at first then everything went white as pod where I placed four nuclear missiles exploded. That was last thing I saw before I woke up in my bed in real world. Announcement Hi, I''m sorry for the long pause but i started working in my summer job and I have lesser time then before. Plus I didn''t like how I wrote some action scenes and dialogues. I read some tips and in my new chapter I would like to try them. That took some time so in one max three days I should post new chapter This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Thanks for patience Chapter 10: Rescue So it took more time then I thought. I had to rewrite it couple of times. I hope you''ll enjoy it and I''ll try to work even more on my writing as there is always chance to learn more. If you have some tips write them to me. I''ll be very glad to hear them. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I jumped from bed and called to Eleanor, ¡°How did it go?¡± ¡°Everything went according to plan. The base was completely annihilated. As per further instruction I sent the ship back to the Sorok for now.¡± She said. ¡°Yes that¡¯s good we have to warn them about invasion but before that I have to do something.¡± I said thinking about plan to save Anna¡¯s children. ¡°Ship is fly worthy so you can use her for quick smash-and-grab but you¡¯ll need help to make it work.¡± Said Eleanora. I thought about who I could call for help and came up with only John, Lee or Rock. I didn¡¯t see them in real life but Lee would be good more in preparing explosives for mission then helping on mission. This leaved John and Rock for actual mission. I could make armor for them before we start rescue operation. ¡°El call John, Lee and Rock please. I would like their help in rescuing Anna¡¯s daughters.¡± ¡°OK, calling them on their Com link.¡± There was pause in her speech, then she finished her response, ¡°Call accepted by all of them.¡± ¡°Hi guys, it¡¯s me Leya. I have problem which I would like to discuss with you, but I need you to come here now as it¡¯s time sensitive.¡± I told them without preamble. They listened for a while then Rock said, ¡°Hi there. Didn¡¯t expect to hear from you in this world. I¡¯ll be there in an hour.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t it wait till tomorrow?¡± asked Lee. ¡°Sorry but I need you today but if you can¡¯t, I¡¯ll make do.¡± I said. ¡°No no, I¡¯ll be there I¡¯ll made up some excuse in work. Give me two hours.¡± He said. ¡°I¡¯ll be there too. It would take me too about 2.¡± Said John. And like this I had guests to take care of. I was nervous about their visit as it was really long time since someone visited me. I prepared some food but still had too much time on my hands so I started to build parts for the armor. I build first parts which I could use in either of their armors. My armor was already finished when I was working on ship. It was similar design as one in the game but didn¡¯t have direct sensor hook-up. I tested it and everything worked fine. After one hour I saw Rock coming through scrapyard to my house. He looked around himself at scrapyard but when he saw my house he stopped and stared at it. That would be probably because my house was huge. It was built whole from metal and heavily armored. There were ten autocannons and many antennas and satellites placed on it. He could see even couple of cameras aimed at him and sensors which he didn¡¯t have any idea what they were for. It was built for protection and he started to understand little what it was like to be me. I opened door and went to him. I stopped before him and nervously squirmed around. I waited for him to start but he looked me up and down. Finally he opened his arms and waited. I came to him and hugged him awkwardly. He looked down and hugged me back. ¡°So this is your home?¡± he looked one more at it over me and smiled, ¡°I like it and by the way my real name is Gordon Lenard.¡± ¡°Hi Gordon.¡± I said and smiled. I was happy that he liked my house. I worked on it for a long time to be as it is. It¡¯s one of reasons I sleep without problems. ¡°Come inside while we wait for others.¡± I said. For next hour I made him tour around my house and chatted with him about his work and his family. I found out that he has wife and three kids. They aren¡¯t playing Virtua because kids are too young and his wife just don¡¯t like it. I offered him some food and refreshments and we ate until Lee and John came. They too looked at my house but with different expression. Lee I could tell was excited about it. John wore frown on his face whole time. He looked around but he frowned more and more. I invited them inside and we sat in my kitchen. Finally I set before them and started, ¡°Well first I have to tell you what happened in tower. It connects to everything I¡¯m going to ask you.¡± ¡°We¡¯re listening.¡± Said Gordon with nod to me. ¡°OK so this is what happened. We went up elevator shaft and ¡­¡± I told them everything that happened there and didn¡¯t let anything out. Even Anna¡¯s betrayal. They were pissed about it at first but with more context they understood why she had to do it. First to understand what I wanted to do was John. ¡°You want to go and rescue her.¡± He said. I looked at him and shrugged, ¡°What else can I do? I can¡¯t let them there.¡± Lee and Gordon looked at us, ¡°So you called us to help you rescue them somehow?¡± asked Lee. ¡°We don¡¯t have training for something like this. Police should be one to take care of it.¡± Said John. Gordon stared at me, ¡°But she told us police is paid off. She can¡¯t go to them.¡± ¡°Yes that¡¯s basically it.¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t have equipment for rescue operation. I can maybe give us some weapons and some liquid protection vests but that¡¯s all. We don¡¯t stand a chance.¡± Said John. Both Lee and Gordon nodded at this and wore helpless expression. They obviously wanted to help but knew we couldn¡¯t do it. ¡°Well ¡­... that¡¯s not exactly true. Come with me.¡± I stood and went to my underground bunker. They followed me but stopped at threshold as they saw my ship. It was same ship on which they flew in game for some time now. There were around ten bots working around my bunker. They were organizing things or building new equipment for me. ¡°How did you build all this?¡± asked Gordon while looking around, ¡°it¡¯s absolutely amazing.¡± ¡°I have working replicator so this wasn¡¯t as much problem to build as you would think.¡± I said and was happy that they liked it. ¡°So who goes with me?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m definitely going.¡± Said Gordon then frowned, ¡°I¡¯ll just call home that I would be late.¡± ¡°Count me in too.¡± Said Lee. Last one to answer was John. He looked around once more with frown, ¡°I¡¯ll go but we¡¯ll have to talk about this.¡± I was concerned about what he wanted to talk about but first we¡¯re going to save some kids, ¡°Ok I already started building armors for you but I need your measurements to finish them.¡± ¡°Lee I have different job for you. I need explosives to take down doors or walls. We don¡¯t know how we approach but I¡¯ll need more option if this is going to work.¡± I said and send signal to Eleanor. Lee was disappointed with my decision but didn¡¯t argue. I pointed him to some supplies and he started to work. Then I turned to others, ¡°Ok, Eleanor already measured you. Now you can go and pick weapons. It¡¯s second door on left.¡± ¡°How come you have Eleanor here? And by the way hi Eleanor.¡± Said Gordon. ¡°Hi there guys. How have you been?¡± said Eleanor. ¡°Good, ¡­. Good I think. Hi there too.¡± Said John. ¡°I think you have some explaining to do.¡± Said Gordon. So for next two hours I explained to then what I found out about game and how I build my ship. Eleanor sometimes helped me with details. I let Eleanor worked basic armor structure for them while we talked. Then they went to pick their weapons and I worked on their armors. I build armors similar to ones they used in game. Gordon got bulky one focused on protection and strength while John had armor focused more on speed and recon. While I was doing final tinkering with armors they came back. John picked assault rifle with one pistol while Gordon picked wicked looking plasma rifle. I made it especially for shooting through armors but it kicked like hell. I picked my standard dear, which was two pistols, one plasma, one laser and laser rifle. With equipment preparation done we moved to plan our attack. Lee built us couple of explosives for breaking through obstacles. This gives us more option in our rescue operation. I thanked him and we moved onto ship. Eleanor downloaded plans of building for us. It was two stories building with cellar. From plans we agreed they would probably hold her in cellar or on second floor. We didn¡¯t have information about number of guards or their defences. Our trump card was my ship. Eleanor would cover us from outside while we rescue Anna¡¯s daughters. Two hours before midnight we started our operation. I rolled the ship from under my house and silently move it away from my house. I didn¡¯t had it registered so I would have to surrender it but that wasn¡¯t something I was thinking right now. Right now I was thinking about two small girls that we had to rescue. ? ? ? Currently we were about nine kilometres above building we wanted to assault. After hours of planning we managed to agree on one. Gordon and John would came from roof and distract them while I jump from ship on first floor with thrusters and start sweeping it from there. With our armors it should be easy. Even if they have armors they wouldn¡¯t be in them probably. That¡¯s was what we were counting on. ¡°Eleanor take us down.¡± I said. I could feel us plummeting down to ground stopping over the building. As soon as door opened John and Gordon jumped on roof while I jumped down on lawn. Wind whistled by me and I slowed my fall with thrusters. As I landed I went for the door. I didn¡¯t bother with door handle and smashed through it. Behind it was hallway with four doors and stairs at the end of it. I saw someone duck into second room on left. I run after him as he could be on a way to the children. As I went to these door I was sprayed by laser fire from behind me but my shields went down only by 20%. I whirled and fired instinctively three shots towards my attacker. I missed my first shot but second and third took him in chest. With my upgraded laser riffle it was enough to get over his weak shield and take him down. I heard noise upstairs and shooting. That were my guys sweeping up top floor. ¡°Everything all right?¡± I shouted to Com and went after guy who ducked into the door. ¡°Everything fine continue with plan.¡± Said John. I went for the door and leaned out from them to scan what¡¯s behind. There were stairs leading down and no sign of guy who went there. I moved slowly downstairs but stopped on last step. My armor pinged me with possible mine under floor. I alerted guys to it and jumped over. That¡¯s when I heard muffled cry from door on left. I placed Lee explosives to wall and outlined door. Lee made some kind of gel that would melt in strait line from where it was placed. It was great for making door in walls. I stepped before it and fired it. There was small explosion around my new door and I could see outline of them in wall. I punched in the middle and they crumbled to six big chunks. Behind them I could see two girls on bed trying to escape from the gut I saw going down. I walked into room and instinctively shot second guy when I saw him move at corner of my sight. He was hiding behind door to room and I hit him in the head and that was all for him. I turned to other one and saw him aiming at me with pistol. I ducked and rolled forward to him. I let my riffle on ground and went for him with my fists. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He tried to take me down with pistol but in close quarters it was wain hope. I slapped it to the right and with quick cop with my hand in head he lost concessions. I would need at last one to interrogate. ¡°I got them.¡± I told guys over Com. It was signal for them to mop up top floor from bad guys. I turned to girl and they were trembling as they stared at me. I took down my helmet, ¡°Hi I¡¯m friend of Anna. Are you her daughters?¡± They looked at me and shook their heads. I was confused by it as this should be them. Now that I looked at them better I could see difference between them and Anna¡¯s daughters. ¡°Do you know where are two girls similar to you?¡± I said while looking out of the door for ambush. There was silence and when I looked at them they were shaking their heads. Now I started to fear we attacked some innocent people. ¡°Did they abduct you or are you living here?¡± I asked. ¡°We were abducted from our home.¡± I could heard silently from them, ¡± I want my mommy.¡± So this is some other girls Director kidnapped. I would have to stop him somehow. He can¡¯t get away with it. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll take you to your parents.¡± I said to them and put on my helmet. ¡°Is it clear upstairs?¡± I said over Com. ¡°Yes, you can come upstairs.¡± Said Gordon. First I went with two girls and explained situation to guys. They were angry but at same time they feared for Anna¡¯s kids. We didn¡¯t know where they were. I loaded them into ship and let Lee take care of them. Then I went back for man I stunned and loaded him to ship. I slapped him and poured on him cold water till he regained conscience. I needed some answers and I needed them now. ¡°Where are Anna¡¯s girls?¡± I shouted at him as he regained conscience. He looked confused and looked around himself, ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Where I am?¡± ¡°There were two girls similar to these two. Where are they stashed?¡± I said. He looked at me sharper than before, ¡°I won¡¯t tell you anything. He¡¯ll kill me if I talk to you.¡± ¡°El open door.¡± I said. I heard hissing of opening door and wind suddenly rushed in. I took him by the throat and hold him outside as he was tossing in my grip. When he looked down he stopped squirming and looked at me with fear in the eyes. ¡°Now tell me where the girls are or I¡¯ll let my ship singe you with laser cannon.¡± I said and retract visor on my helmet so he could see me. As soon as he saw me he lost all the color, ¡°You! You can¡¯t do something like this. I know you aren¡¯t like this¡± There was short hiss as laser cannon scratched him on arm. ¡°Maybe I am.¡± I said and tossed him inside. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you just don¡¯t kill me please.¡± He pleaded on his knees as I tossed him on ground. ¡°Then tell me where are they.¡± I said. ¡°They are held in another house but by now they are probably transferring them elsewhere.¡± ¡°Where is it?¡± I shouted at him. He told me where the place is and Gordon with John tied him up and tossed him in the brig. I flew as fast as I could but I could see ship going away from house. I was too late I would have to think about something else to do. ¡°El can we disable it without any danger to passengers?¡± I asked. ¡°We can take down their thrusters. They would have to crash land but, they should survive it with this type of ship.¡± She said. ¡°We don¡¯t have a choice. We must do it.¡± Said John. I flew next to them and called them on Com. ¡°Land on ground and shut down engines. You don¡¯t stand a chance against us.¡± I said. ¡°You can¡¯t do a thing while we have girls¡± said Captain of the enemy ship. I send El request for preparing missile, ¡°Shot it next to them and let them get splash from it.¡± I could see missile going away and exploding next to their ship. That got me attention from their Captain. ¡°Are you mad? You¡¯ll kill them too.¡± He shouted at me. ¡°Give them back or I¡¯ll take you down.¡± I said to him. ¡°They engaged thrusters to full and send missile after us.¡± Said Eleanor. I needed to show them they don¡¯t stand a chance. I took my ship and rammed their missile. I counted that my shields would be able to take it without problems. As I hit it there was bright light but I was still there so shield must have held. I looked at damage report but there was nothing. I smiled and speed up after them. They should know by now that they don¡¯t stand a chance by attacking me. ¡°Stop your ship and give us girls.¡± I said to them once more on Com. ¡°If you shot at us, we¡¯ll cut their fingers one by one for every shot until you let us go.¡± He said calmly. I was furious. I didn¡¯t know how to save them without hurting them. I¡¯ll have to do something drastic or they¡¯ll kill them. ¡°As you want, El shot them down and start working on torture equipment.¡± I said to El and broadcasted it to enemy ship too and with face twisted with anger continued, ¡°I¡¯m going to take you down and for every finger or bruise I¡¯ll spend hour torturing every one of you. Give me kids and I¡¯ll let you go, hurt them and you¡¯ll plead me to kill you.¡± There was silence on other side but their ship stopped in mid-air. I could see small power spikes on sensors. I don¡¯t know what he wanted to do but if he thought that I was bluffing then he was wrong. For hurting them I would take my time with them. ¡°We¡¯ll give them to you, just park near us.¡± Said new voice through Com. It looked like captain had unfortunate accident. ¡°Power down your weapons we¡¯re going to you.¡± I said. I went next to them and monitored them for weapon activity. I send Gordon and John to take care of girls. It didn¡¯t take them more than five minutes and they were back with them. They strapped them next to other two girls who at least stopped trembling and looked around curiously. ¡°Who are you?¡± asked one of them. ¡°We¡¯re friends of your mother.¡± Said Gordon. Before I could go and see them I was interrupted by Eleanora, ¡°There are four targets approaching us.¡± I looked at navigation map and there were coming from nearby city. I didn¡¯t want to slug it with police or military so I would have to hide for now somewhere. ¡°El is there some abandoned tunnel complex where we could hide?¡± I asked Eleanor. ¡°Yes there is one about three hundred kilometres from here. It¡¯s an old abandoned mine and there is more than one entrance. I¡¯m sending it to your display.¡± She said. I fired three missiles with my ship signature to confuse them and speed up for the mine. Four boogies were slower than me so it wasn¡¯t problem to lose them. I feared more others, which would come after them. I made it into mines in five minutes and immediately hid in one of the tunnels. ¡°Eleanora shut down all outgoing power sources.¡± I said to her. There was instant dimming of lights as power source was placed into idle state. We still had some time before Anna should show up in my house. For now we should at last make girls comfortable and contact her as she came into scrapyard. I looked at girls who were looking around with wide eyes, ¡°Hi my name is Leya. What are your names?¡± They looked at me then one silently said, ¡°I¡¯m Lara after my grandma and she is Anna after our mom. When can we see out mother?¡± Lara asked me suddenly. Other two were still silent and looked at me. ¡°She should come to my house in one hour but we¡¯ll have to wait for night to sneak back in my house.¡± I said. ¡°And you two. What¡¯s your name?¡± I turned to other two girls. They looked down shyly and said nothing. I looked back at others but they just shrugged they¡¯re shoulders. ¡°Would you like to see ship?¡± I asked them. They perked up when I mentioned tour but still didn¡¯t say anything. I sighed and went to change my clothes. When I came back I took them around ship and introduced them to Eleanor. It was she who finally convinced them to speak their names. They were called Liana and Talia. They told us details about their house and Eleanor started to search for it. We played for hour and called to Anna that we would be late. She was frightened but when I told her daughters were safe she cried into Com and thank me for their rescue. I asked her about other two girls but she didn¡¯t know who they belong to. I let her daughters talk to her. They asked her when they could see her and she told them it would be only short while before they¡¯ll be together. After some time we found parents of other two girls. They were working for company Virtua which made game of same name. I called them and arranged for meeting at my scrapyard. They too were thankful for their rescue and more so after talking to their daughters. Finally on next day we flew for my house. I landed in my bunker and powered down ship. I opened it and Anna with other two parents hurried inside. For next half an hour there was flood of tear and smiles. The parents asked me what I wanted from them for rescue and didn¡¯t wanted to believe that someone like me would want nothing. It took me another hour to convince them that I really didn¡¯t want anything from them. I advised them to hide for some time as they would be looking for them probably but, they already had plan in motion. I just hoped it was good plan. John, Lee and Rock went home as they were tired and had to go to work. I talked with Anna about her future. She told me she can¡¯t return to her work or even home. Both her and parents of two girls were afraid to report it to police. There would be investigation and they would have to go to court. So in the end I let Anna live in my house. It brought her daughters in my house and that was one of the best thing that happened to me. They brightened my every day. For next three days I let them play with toys I and Eleanora made. I thought Lara how to make them. She had gift for making things and in two days she could already make her first toy. It wasn¡¯t anything sophisticated but it worked. Small An as I started to call her was shy and didn¡¯t want to learn from me at beginning but, when she saw toys Lara made she too became my pupil. After Three days came finally day to look into game and found out what my dead did to my character. I wanted to go there as Eleanor told she has something important to discuss with me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Next chapter would be once more little late as I looked once more at older chapter and some mistakes are just horrible. As you probably already noticed I''m not expert in english :D, but still i''ll try to patch it up little before I found someone to control and edit it better. Yours Anarin :D Chapter 11: Being Paladin It took me longer then normally, but I had really a lot of work in real life. I already started to work on another chapter. If you have some tips or questions don¡ìt hesitate and write them to me. :D For now enjoy this one. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I was curious about what Eleanor wanted to discuss with me. She sounded excited and fearful at the same time. From her tone I could tell it was important for her somehow. I will log in the game but first I will tell Anna what to do in case of attack. I asked Anna who Director was but she couldn¡¯t tell me. She always met only his minions. I tried to find out something from man we had in brig, but he too didn¡¯t know anything. He was hired help without any knowledge of his employer. He only got instruction and money. I let guys take him away as they went home. He saw my face so, I could be sure whoever Director was and he would now know it was me who rescued both pair of girls. That gives him advantage over us. Mainly because he knew where I lived, but I still had some surprises hidden for him if he tried to attack my home. I told Anna about most of defenses in my house and registered her into database. With this done, she could use all except few more drastic methods to defend my and her new home. With that out of the way I could log back into the game. With quick flash I was standing on my bridge. First I looked at penalties for death, but couldn¡¯t find anything. There was nothing in my stats or level corresponding with my death. There were some unexpected changes but that was all. I placed my 66 points as always in agility, intelligence and some in charisma and willpower.
Status window
Name:LeyaAlignment:Metal
Level:87Gender:Female
Race:GorianClass:Paladin of shadows
Titles:
Saviour of Trelians, Saviour of Sorok, One against many, Singularity survivor
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Health:4980Health regen:5.481/Sec
Stamina:1330Stamina regen:11.85/Sec
Shield:2500Shield regen:75/Sec
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Basic stats:Trainable only stats:
Strength:61Vitality:63
Agility:159Perseption:78
Intelligence:157Knowledge:102
Charisma:86Luck:73
Willpower:60
Points left:-
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Fame:17 020Reputation:267
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Resitances:
Melee: 3%Mental: 6%
Fire: 3%Pressure: 3%
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Licence:
Spaceship (Master), Plasma, Laser, Projectile
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Skills:
Spaceship piloting (Master) Pistol (Intermediate) lvl. 1 Assault rifle (Intermediate) lvl. 1 Weapon engineering (Advanced) lvl. 2 Armor engineering (Intermediate) lvl. 9 Ship repair (Advanced) lvl. 5 Adrenalin rush (Intermediate) lvl. 6 Blink step
Traits:
Nanobot blood Building trance
Adrenalin rush (Intermediate) lvl. 5
Progress:74%
Type:Active
Cost:100 stamina / 5 sec
When you are in danger you¡¯re body pumps you with adrenalin. It slows down time perception for you and makes you faster and stronger for short time. 20% faster reaction 20% faster 20% stronger
This would help me immensely in fight. I¡¯m not much of a fighter, but with this I should cover my shortcomings with speed. I even got new active skill for intermediate Adrenalin rush.
Blink step
Progress:100%
Type:Active
Cost:150 stamina
You can move extremely fast for a short time. It looks like you teleport on short distances. As It¡¯s extremely hard to move like this, you can move only in strait lines. Teleport in 10m radius when moving in strait line .
Pistol (Intermediate) lvl 1
Progress:32%
Type:Passive
You can wield pistols. You have some experience with then which enables you to hit weakened place on your enemies. + 50% to damage with pistol + 5% to critical hit chance
Assault rifle(Intermediate) lvl 1
Progress:16%
Type:Passive
You can wield assault rifles. You know how to grip it to fire more effectively with it. This help you fire more accurately. + 50% to damage with assault rifles + 20% to accuracy
From my craftsman skills I didn¡¯t get anything new. It just enabled me to use plasma, laser and other substances I already used. My death penalty didn¡¯t affect my skill so I continued to search. I almost thought that there would be nothing, but lastly I looked at my equipment. There were missing parts in my weapons so I couldn¡¯t use them, but biggest thing was that I didn¡¯t have my armor. It just wasn¡¯t there. What was even worse was that I didn¡¯t have enough materials to both made new one and repair my weapons. I would have to use my armored clothes from Eleanor. At last with what little materials I had left I could repair my weapons. There were changes to my mission.
Mission update: Who is director?
While investigating mine you found secret chamber in director¡¯s office. Items in her are clearly alien. Find clues on who Director really is. You found out that director is trying to kill all evidence with kinetic strike on mine. You have to prevented strike on both mines but Director managed to escape. You ship AI managed to tag him before he went for transit. You followed him to one of his base and learned of his next attack. What you need to do now is protect planet Sorok from destruction. Conditions: Find out who director is Prevent kinetic strike Find Director base and take it out Protect planet Sorok Time: One week Reward: Friendship with planet Sorok Coordinates to Paladin base Indetity of Director
Finally I would find out who Director is. I just hope it would give me clue to track him down in real life. He was too elusive for my taste. I send El to find out who he was, but we had too little information and even with what little we had we couldn¡¯t find out anything. It was like he was ghost. For now I would wait, but there will be time when I¡¯ll pay him back everything manifold. I called El on Com, ¡°So El what did you wanted to talk about?¡± ¡°There is message for you. You should read it first.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Ok send it to my display.¡± I said. I went to look at display on navigation panel and there it was.
Good day, I welcome you as new paladin in our company. I heard about your actions in defending Sorok and I would like to invite you to our base. You should have coordinates in your Captains implants. We are expecting you as soon as you can. There will be ten year meeting of all Paladins. Duty before life Leonard Redhammer Captain of Paladin I
I looked this base on navigation map and it wasn¡¯t too far from my way to Sorok. Maybe I could convince them to help me with defending it. ¡°I can see you already read it.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Yes, I think we should go there. Maybe they¡¯ll help us with Director.¡° ¡°Yes, I agree with you, but there is one small problem.¡± ¡°What problem?¡± I raised eyebrows. As far as I knew we were in good condition and from their message our actions proved us to them. ¡°I¡¯m now unshackled AI. They placed all these protocols there for a reason. If they found out they would probably demand my destruction or at least reinstalling protocols one more time.¡± Said Eleanor. I shook my head, ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, I won¡¯t let them destroy or enslave you again and without me they can¡¯t change captain of this ship. If they truly want to protect oppressed, they should protect all, not only chosen individuals.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not probably best way to make friends.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°So what? I won¡¯t let them hurt my friends and family.¡± I said. ¡°Friends¡­ family?¡± said Eleanor. ¡°Yes and for your information, you are both.¡± I could heard sniff from Eleanor, ¡°Thank you. You too are my only family. I count others from crew as friends, but you are more.¡± Said Eleanor. With tears in the eyes I stroked panel on ship. I didn¡¯t know that she too think about me like that, but maybe I should have seen it. I smiled brightly, ¡°So what do you say. Do we go or not?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll go. We¡¯ll show them what Paladins stand for.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Ok, inform others please and change ship course El.¡± I said. ¡°Done and change initiated Captain.¡± Said Eleanor. ? ? ? It took us around two days to get to Paladins base. In that time I repaired my weapons and placed some shield emitters on my coat. I walked around ship making basic repairs and small upgrades to parts. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.When we finally get there the base took my breath away. It was gigantic station in the middle of nowhere. There wasn¡¯t any star or any other reference for travelling. Only option how to get here were by calculating route with coordinates of seven stars. It was giant torus that was constantly moving in circle. They were probably making artificial gravity that way and saving energy at the same time. I was curious how they powered it, as this far from sun they would need something other means than light from star to power it. Outside of it was dotted with defensive structures. From laser cannons, plasma cannons, missiles pods to many shield emitters and sensors. Docks where placed on inside of torus. From it¡¯s size I could tell there could be stationed hundreds of ships like mine. There too were some defensive structures but not as much as on other parts of station. I activated Com, ¡°Requesting docking permission.¡± ¡°Permission granted. Come to fifth dock. It¡¯s designed for your ship.¡± Then as afterthought, ¡°Welcome back Paladin.¡± ¡°Thank you. I glad to be here.¡± I said. I flied to fifth dock and parked there my ship. Immediately throng of bots came upon her. They scanned every inch of it and started to prepare materials for renovation. Other bots started to resupply my ship. ¡°They doesn¡¯t look bad.¡± I said. ¡°We always took care of our own.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m going to look for someone to explain them our situation. As always you can watch with camera from my visor.¡± ¡°Yes, just be careful, I don¡¯t want you to hurt yourself on my behalf.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°We talked about it already. I¡¯ll do what I have to do, that¡¯s all I¡¯ll say on this topic.¡± I said and moved to outside of my ship. There was someone already waiting for me. He wasn¡¯t human. He was about one head taller than me with green skin and three hands. Two of them looked like human and one coming from his chest was smaller with claws at the end. I don¡¯t know how, but I could tell he was old. It was aura he projected, his eyes which looked ancient and sad at the same time, like they saw too much pain. ¡°Good day young Paladin. My name is Leonard Redhammer and I welcome you to our base.¡± He said with small bow. I bowed back, ¡°Good day, my name is Leya.¡° He looked me in the eyes, ¡°Can you tell me what happened to previous Captain?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what happened to him, but I found him dead in his ship. He crash landed on planet Sorok. I found him there and ships AI made me captain.¡± I said. There were tears flowing from his eyes, ¡°I feared that he ended killing himself. He always risked too much.¡± I didn¡¯t know what to do. Should I go to him and comfort him or let him be? I stayed where I was and waited for him to calm himself. I didn¡¯t know what happened to previous Captain as it was too painful for Eleanor to talk about him. She obviously liked him a lot. In a minute or so, he calmed himself, so I told him what little I knew and where I buried him. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m glad that someone took care of him, even if it was after his death.¡± Said Leonard and shook his head, ¡°but don¡¯t let me stall. Others are already there, so we can start or meeting.¡± He moved toward exit from dock, ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll take you there.¡± I hurried after him as he led me through base. I didn¡¯t see anyone, if I don¡¯t count couple of bots. This base looked like it was deserted. Corridors were clean, but there were no sound of living creatures. There should be people talking and laughing, children running around and pets walking with them. I was suspicious about what happened to everyone. Base looked to be in top shape so it wasn¡¯t problem with it. There was story behind it and it was probably cause of sad look in Leonard¡¯s eyes. We walked for full ten minutes with Leonard plunged into deep thought. I was silently walking behind him as I didn¡¯t want to disturb him. I didn¡¯t know him so good, that I would know what he was contemplating about. We came before big door which led into giant hall with round table in the middle. Around table were fifteen chairs with eight of them already occupied. The table was circled by seats, which were placed in rows raising from the center to edge. We walked to the table and I could check people who were seated there. There were three humans, one more man with same race as Leonard, one woman whose race was catlike with human constitution, next two were from some bug race and as I walked nearer to them I could see they were same as race I was offered by Virtua when I started playing. I think they were called Cherobins. Last one was man who looked almost like a human but it was eyes which betrayed him. They were different from normal human. There were no emotions in them and they changed colour four times as I looked at him. Leonard seated in one of vacant seats and beckoned me to take one too. I looked around but no one seem to be interested in knowing who I was. Either they already knew who I was or they just weren¡¯t interested. First to speak was Leonard, ¡°Now that we¡¯re all here we can start this session. First I would like to welcome new member.¡± He pointed at me and smile encouragingly. I stood up, ¡°Hi, my name is Leya and I¡¯m Captain of ship Paladin V. It¡¯s pleasure to meet you finally.¡± With that I sat down once more. ¡°You already know me by my name, but here we call ourselves by designated names. I¡¯m Paladin I and you are Paladin V.¡± explained to me Leonard. Others introduced to me. Paladin II and III were both humans while IV was this strange man with changing eyes. VI and VII were Cherobins. VIII man was with same race as Leonard. IX were cat and X was last human. They didn¡¯t said their real names so I called them by numbers. ¡°Now that we introduced ourselves, we can continue with our meeting. Please tell us what happened to you from our last meeting. We¡¯ll let our new addition speak last, so she can prepare.¡± Said Leonard. For next three hours I sat and listened to others as they told what happened to them in time they were away. Every single one of them had story or two where they protected someone, but no one of them wanted to risk too much. More than once they spoke about someone in need they couldn¡¯t help, because it would be too dangerous for them. I started to make picture about this group and it was one I didn¡¯t like. From what Eleanor told me I had different picture in my mind. She told how they protected others, even if they were outnumbered but here I could hear them telling how they abandoned someone, just because they could die there. It wasn¡¯t something I could agree with. I listened, and in truth they helped a lot of people but I saw they could help more. After last of them finished their recapitulation they looked at me and waited for me to start. So I started. I told them about Trelians and what happened in the mines. I told them about Director and his strike on the planet and my involvement in it. I described the base on which I followed Director and how I destroyed it. More I spoke, more I could see disapproval written on their faces. They interrupted me before I could make it to their invitation to this base. ¡°You can¡¯t do it like that. You¡¯ll just destroy another ship.¡± Said Paladin III. ¡°He¡¯s right you won¡¯t be able to help anyone when you destroy your ship and die.¡± Said Paladin VI. Leonard looked at me sadly like I let him down, ¡±I thought that now that Gorge is dead you would understand what is our duty, but evidently you are same as him. I liked him but he didn¡¯t understand what needed to be done and how it should be done.¡± I was startled by how this meeting proceeded, but I had more important things to discuss, ¡°Maybe you don¡¯t like how I go about protecting others, but that doesn¡¯t matter now. There is going to be attack on the planet Sorok. They are going to enslave whole planet.¡± I waved hands to encompass us, ¡°It¡¯s us, who have to help them. We were created for situation like this.¡± Leonard shook his head, ¡°You are young and don¡¯t understand. We can¡¯t just go there and die. Who would help others then? Don¡¯t forget, Duty before life. I know it¡¯s hard but that¡¯s how we work.¡± I looked at him incredulously and then on others, who too shook their heads, ¡°Why won¡¯t you help. This is our duty, not covering here and waiting for world to get better.¡± ¡°Look, you¡¯re doing it only for couple of weeks. We are doing it for years so you should listen to us.¡± Said cat girl. I sat down and they started to talk with themselves. I didn¡¯t know what they thought. It was our duty to help them. It wasn¡¯t our duty before life of others but duty before our life. I couldn¡¯t comprehend, how could they miss it. I wanted to explain it to them, but we were interrupted by a alarm. They jumped up from their seats and called for report. ¡°It¡¯s me Leya. Bots found out I¡¯m unshackled and they¡¯re trying to destroy my core.¡± Said Eleanora with panic. ¡°Protect yourself. Destroy them if you can. I¡¯ll try to stop them from here.¡± I said then turned my attention to room, ¡°Stop your bots and don¡¯t touch my ship.¡± They stopped looking at displays and focused on me, ¡°What do you mean? There is a rogue AI on your ship. We have to destroy it before it infects our network.¡± Said Paladin X. ¡°No you can¡¯t. She¡¯s my friend.¡± I said. ¡°You can¡¯t mean that seriously. She could be waiting for right time to upload herself into network.¡± Said Leonard. ¡°No, she won¡¯t do it. She had more than one chance and she is my family. If you have problem with her then you have problem with me.¡± I activated shield on my coat and continued, ¡°What about your oath? Did you forget it too already, while you were hiding here from world?¡± They looked startled by my exclamation, but started to stand up when they heard me, ¡°You don¡¯t know what it means to be Paladin. What more, you want to attack fellow Paladins.¡± I was furious. They thought that they understood what it meant to be Paladin, but in truth they didn¡¯t have even slightest idea what it means to be Paladin. ¡°You¡¯re telling me I don¡¯t know what it means to be Paladin? Look at yourself you let innocent people die because you feared for your lives. Even now, look at who is attacking and who is protecting. You don¡¯t even understand what it means duty before life, and for your information that¡¯s not all that was there. Did you forget even that?¡± I shouted. ¡°Life before Death, Shadow before Light, Duty before Life, Protection before Honor, Death before failure¡± ¡°You preach here that you protect and that freedom of everyone is sacred to you and then you come and enslave AI.¡± I looked them one by one in the eyes as I was saying, ¡°You do it on every single one of your ships. From your reports I heard you do it even on missions. When it¡¯s too dangerous you rather turn your head, then help. You¡¯re disgusting.¡± I was breathing hard when I ended screaming at them. I didn¡¯t know what possessed me but someone should have told them this long time ago. What I couldn¡¯t know was what effect my words would have on them. They just stood there like statues. All were wide eyed with many emotions played in their eyes. What came next I would never forget. Their emotion vanished from their eyes and they looked at me same as before. ¡°Go away. You have three hours to get out of our base.¡± Said one of them. I turned to Leonard but, he didn¡¯t look good. I saw it as I was shouting. Every word hit him really hard, it looked like someone punched him after each sentence. He didn¡¯t say anything about their decision. I turned around and went back to my ship. It looks like there would be no help from Paladins. ¡°Eleanor start the ship.¡± I said. ¡°Yes Leya.¡± There was pause, ¡°Thank you for defending me and I¡¯m sorry it didn¡¯t go as planned.¡± I was slowly calming myself. I shouldn¡¯t have explode like that, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. They had to hear it.¡± I went to ship and we went away from station. In my mind this whole fiasco should have go different way. They should have been courageous and brave. They should have helped me and others. What they shouldn¡¯t have done is abandoned them, let them hurt and die. That¡¯s not what Paladins do. ¡°Take us to Sorok El.¡± I said while kicking in some parts laying in corridor. ¡°Already preparing drive for entering wormhole.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°I just hope we would be enough for Sorok.¡± I said as we entered wormhole. Chapter 12: One better than none, many better than one Hi there''s one more chapter for you. If you have some tips or find mistakes please write them to me. :D - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We were currently about two days from Sorok. I told my crew about what happened on the Paladins base. They weren¡¯t excited with this news, but knew that it couldn¡¯t be helped. I could see they too didn¡¯t understand why I didn¡¯t want to relent in some cases, but they accepted it as something I needed to do. Right now I was talking with Rock and John in our lounge. ¡°So John you work in military. Did you get some upgrade on your body?¡± I asked. ¡°No that¡¯s only for guys from special operation. We grunts get only weak power armor.¡± He said. ¡°Could you bring your own armor?¡± asked Rock. ¡°Yes but I don¡¯t have that much money. Most of veterans buy them after they make enough money, but I don¡¯t get paid enough in training.¡± Said John. Rock looked at me and waited, ¡°Well I already made the armor for you and it¡¯s useless for me. You can come and take it after I made some alteration to it.¡± I winked at Rock. ¡°You would really do that?¡± asked wide eyed John. ¡°Yes, why not? It¡¯s just sitting there, but I would have to change some parts. I didn¡¯t had much time when I was making it, so I just stamp it together.¡± I said. Both of them looked at me wide eyed, ¡°That was stamped together? Even some of our special forces don¡¯t have that good armors.¡± Said John. ¡°Ha ha.. ... They probably don¡¯t even have weapons as good as one you make.¡± Said Rock. ¡°They have. I worked in docks and I saw weapons they used. They¡¯re probably on same level as one I make.¡± I said. ¡°Maybe, but you can make weapons specially for person while they make them in batches so yours are little better in the end.¡± Said John. ¡°Ok, so I can make decent equipment, but we changed theme. I wanted to ask about nanobot injection and if you heard about it in army?¡± I asked. John was thinking for a while, ¡°Well I heard there were some secret projects which tried to inject them into humans, but they ended up as failures at least as I heard.¡± I wasn¡¯t happy with this information. I wanted to inject nanobots into me, but Eleanor told me it wouldn¡¯t work in real life. She said that my body in game is different from one in real life. ¡°Now that you¡¯re talking about this I would like to interject. Leya do you want to upgrade your nanobots?¡± said Eleanor. ¡°How do you mean upgrade?¡± I asked. ¡°Well not completely upgrade, but right now you have only general nanobots in you. They¡¯re good at almost everything but they aren¡¯t specialized like others. For example medical nanobots can heal you really quick or engineering nanobots can help you with immersion while fighting connected to ship. They also have wider bandwidth then general one.¡± ¡°That looks interesting, but I have enough of them in my body. Wouldn¡¯t that be a problem?¡± I asked. ¡°No we¡¯ll reduce number of general one little, while injecting you with other two types of nanobots.¡± Said Eleanora. ¡°When can we start?¡± I eagerly asked. ¡°We can start now if you want.¡± Said Eleanor with laugh. ¡°Can we look?¡± asked Rock. ¡°Why not, but you won¡¯t see much.¡± Said Eleanor. We moved to medical bay and I lay on table. Like before when she gave me captain implant I wasn¡¯t consciousness for procedure. From what guys told me there were two injection with liquid which constantly moved. Eleanor injected them into my bloodstream and I was up in hour with completely assimilated nanobots.
Nanobot blood
You have nanobots in your blood which enables you to control them directly with your brain. You have three types of nanobots in your blood. With your medical nanobots you can enhance your body or make small implants with them. Your engineering nanobots can make better connections and control with machines. Your general nanobots can either be used for wider use but not as effectively or can be changed to other types of nanobots.
Guys went back to the lounge while I was trying out new possibilities with the nanobots. First thing I tried was to make my body stronger as this penalization to strength was pretty bad. It didn¡¯t hinder me much in armor as while outside of it, but right now I don¡¯t have armor so I needed to make adjustments to it. They started to work on my exoskeleton as it was weaker than in my normal body. As I worked on my body I learned more about it then in all the time I wore it. I wasn¡¯t weaker because of muscles but because I couldn¡¯t use them fully. I had weaker exoskeleton and my whole constitution wasn¡¯t as good as it could be. I started to work on enhancing it, but it would be long work to make all the upgrades needed for making it strong enough. With my engineering nanobots I tried new connections and immediately saw the difference. Interaction was faster and I could connect directly to sensors and use them as mine. Till now I thought I was already doing it but now I knew I just scratched surface. I upgraded my Com link for wireless access. Before upgrade I could use it only for communication but with this wireless link I could connect to machines and control them from distance. I worked with my nonobots till we were almost near planet Sorok. We wanted to come some further from it. I wanted to stay hidden in case we came too late. We talked about basic plan and our best chance was to go with stealth and do as much damage as we could, before they find out what¡¯s happening. We would come behind one of the moons that were orbiting the planet and hide there till they¡¯ll come. Minutes before arrival everyone but Anna was behind their station but with this new connection I could use sensors better so I didn¡¯t need someone in navigation station as much as before. Only thing I needed were weapons specialist and John studied for one in military base. He thought little about it to others but they were still far behind when it came to guiding missiles and prioritize defence. Lee and Rock were for now working at navigation station and tried to find anomalies that I missed. Our plan would change based on situation when we came there. For now this was our best plan, but that could change as soon as we came to the Lidian star system, where was planet Sorok. ? ? ? We came about two hours from planet Sorok. I immediately speed up for one of bigger moons and used passive scans to find out what situation is on and around the planet. I didn¡¯t want to use active scans, as they would betrayed our presence to others. From passive scan I could tell we weren¡¯t too late but we weren¡¯t early too. I could see ships already heading for Sorok. With passive scans I couldn¡¯t tell exact type of ships or number of them, just that there were some ships heading for planet. I could tell there were more than fifty ships and less than sixty, by exhaust from their drives. I could use planets to sneak up on them, but for that I would need to use gravity sling and that could broadcast my presence, if I¡¯m not careful. Or I could go for moon and let them start fighting. Then I would ambush them from behind. This second option was safer but there was bigger risk for planet. I asked others for opinion and they wanted to go with gravity sling. They wanted to be there before fight begin. They too like me wanted to protect as many people as they could. I moved ship towards nearby planet in system and used its gravity to shot us towards our enemies. I should have enough speed to reach them before they reach Sorok. When I got enough speed, I powered down engines. That should prevent them from finding about us until it would be too late. One thing that our visit to the base helped with is our missiles. They stock up us once more and we were sitting on six singularity missiles. That should panic them when they appeared in their midst. As we moved to them Rock called to me, ¡°There is some anomaly on our right flank. It¡¯s far away from us but it¡¯s too heading towards Sorok.¡± ¡°If these ships belong to Director, it could prove to be problem. They built some defences around Sorok and have about 7 ships, but even with us and our surprise attack, we would still lose this battle.¡± Said John. ¡°Maybe, maybe not, we still have some surprises for them.¡± I said. I still didn¡¯t told them about singularity missiles but now were good time as any. ¡°We have one big advantage over them. We have six singularity missiles.¡± I said. ¡°Singularity missiles? Is it what I thought it is?¡± asked Lee. ¡°Yes, but it will be still hard to defend against this attack.¡± I said. ¡°Well, lets kick some ass.¡± Grinned Rock. Lee too grinned with him, ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see what they look like when they explode.¡± I smiled at their enthusiasm. We were only couple of minutes, before we would be in range to fire missiles. I prepared two pods with singularity missiles and another two pods with antimatter missiles. I wanted to create panic and do as much damage as I can, before they found out about me. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be able to focus on you too much after we start fighting, but you can send me information about something suspicious you see.¡± I said and used full connection to my ship. It was different from connection I used before. General nanobots couldn¡¯t take all the data traffic so I use them only to connect to sensors but with engineering nanobots I could handle more. I didn¡¯t have to use joysticks to run ship, but I could directly control all thrusters individually. For last two days I tried to learn how to return to my body after I fully connect to ship. It was harder than I thought as the Paladin V became my body. Only thing that helped me to get out of this state at beginning was Eleanor, who guided me back into my body. Without her I would probably die or became one with the ship. I send authorization to arm missiles. There were only minutes before they saw us, but I wanted to be as close as I could before I start mayhem. ¡°They saw us.¡± Shouted Lee at same time as I saw more activity through sensors. I fired thrusters to full and John fired both missiles. I then started to shoot with everything in my arsenal against them. Space between us was suddenly full of laser fire and plasma bolts. At first they were surprised and before they could rise their defence I took down two ship and damaged four others. They started shooting back when both missiles exploded in their midst. There was bright flash and ships started to shatter. It didn¡¯t matter that they had shields or that they were behind others ships. Twenty ships which were closest to explosion were instantly destroyed and sucked into two black holes. When both black holes closed I could see carnage they did to other ships. Every single one of them was damaged. For my reverie before all these lost lives I was snapped out by Rock. ¡°There is more than two hundred signatures activating around us.¡± He said. Now that I focused on space around me I could see them. There were more of them then we thought. Even if we have more singularity missiles it would be futile. Now that they knew about missiles, they would shoot them down before they would get to them. For now I needed more time to think. I went into midst of the ships we just destroyed. I would use them as shield against attacks from their allies. I hid behind one of dead hulls flying everywhere. That should mask our signature for now and give me time to think something. More I thought about it, more I knew that we didn¡¯t stand a chance against them. Only thing I could do was deal as much damage as I could before they destroy me. ¡°Eleanor prepare to transfer yourself into my other ship. We probably won¡¯t make it this time.¡¯ I send to Eleanor through network. ¡°I understand. I¡¯ll prepare for this eventuality.¡± She said. ¡°Ok, now that we know where we can start taking it seriously. El take down protocols around our power source and give me more power.¡± I said aloud. ¡°Protocols down and power source works at 150%.¡± She said. I turned to others and saw them nod to me, ¡°At last we will go with bang.¡± Said Rock. I connected once more fully to ship and could feel all power going through it. Now came time to show them mistake of their attack. ¡°El call them please.¡± I said. I could feel reply from one of the ships. It was biggest one that was keeping its distance from me. That was one with Director. For now all other ships stopped and waited for something. ¡°So you call me to surrender yourself?¡± said Director. ¡°No I¡¯m calling to give you chance and turn around and go away.¡± I said. He laughed, ¡°Your funny, you know. You¡¯re good, but even you can¡¯t do anything against these odds.¡± ¡°Maybe, but I can take enough of your ships with me to end your plans here.¡± I said. His smile slipped from his face and I could see that he was little worried about it. It was probably because of missiles I used before. He couldn¡¯t know that I had only four left. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. I think you¡¯re bluffing.¡± He said finally and all ships started to move on our location. We¡¯ll see whose bluffing. I moved the ship behind another damaged hull with minimal power to thrusters and I waited until they were in range for my weapons. As they came they started to shoot with every weapon to my last positions and destroyed remnants of ship where I was hiding. That was pretty heartless as there could be some survivors, but I should have expected something like this from them. I powered engines and shoot from behind one of the ships. Immediately all weapons turned on me but not before I fired missiles from all four pods and fired laser and plasma at one of the ship. I took four hits from laser fire before I hid behind another hull plate. It took small chunk of shield from me and placed me on 92%. They focused on my missiles so none came to contact with them, but that cost them seconds they could fire at me and I was already moving behind another ship. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. They fired multiple missiles after me but I used countermeasures to confuse them and then heated one of the hulls with my thrusters. They focused on it and none came after me. I started to dance around wrecks of ships and fire whenever I had chance to hit someone. They couldn¡¯t get more than one or two hits on me before I was already behind another wreck. We chased after each other for almost forty minutes and I already destroyed twenty of their ships and damaged twenty others. It wasn¡¯t much but I still had more than fifty percent of my shield. That was good because I don¡¯t have many places to hide behind right now. I would have to do final push and try to break from them. After last volley of missiles which I barely escaped I turned to one area where I made most damage and speed up for it. I let El make random evasive patterns to dodge at least laser and plasma fire. It helped but I still took many hits. I was constantly firing from my weapons and loaded. I wanted to use them when we get closer to take down more of them. There was hit and whole ship shook from impact. ¡°We have damage to our aft section. We lost our lounge.¡± Said Rock. I knew this would happen sooner or later. Shield was only on ten percent, but I was almost on them. I had already made hole in their wall and if my shield would held only for one more second I would be out of this trap. As I fired through hole made by our guns I fired four missiles. One in each direction of their wall. They were just too close to dodge them or destroy them. Before they exploded my ship shook one more time as I lost most of the thrusters at aft section and two missile pods. Luckily main thrusters still worked so I speed up away from them. I was far enough when two small explosions destroyed two ships and then there were two bright flashes as singularity missiles exploded and taken both about twenty ships and damaged each twenty more. This should slow them down little. We destroyed more than sixty ships and damaged about seventy more, but they still had too many ships. Half of them turned and started to pursue me and I found out that they were faster than me. I had damaged thrusters and I abused my ship too much in this encounter. I was fighting more than hour with overcharged power source and engines. I looked around for some advantage but found nothing. Other half went to take planet. That was still around fifty ships. I was lucky in this encounter and took more than should be possible but it wasn¡¯t enough. There was com traffic sent towards me, ¡°How does it feel to lose?¡± laughed Director. ¡°Why do you think I lost? I destroyed or damaged half of your fleet and now I¡¯m taking down with me these other ships you left.¡± I said. Laugh faded from connection, ¡°You should know that my enemies don¡¯t live long and I know where you¡¯re living.¡± ¡°Then come and I¡¯ll show you that I¡¯m not defenceless. You think you can bully anyone because they can¡¯t defend against you, but come and try it against me. I¡¯ll show you what it means to fear someone.¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re bluffing one more time.¡± He said. ¡°Did you even looked outside? Does it look like I¡¯m bluffing?¡± I asked. ¡°You didn¡¯t destroyed enough of us to threaten my plan so I call it bluff.¡± He said and terminated connection. I turned my ship and waited for them. I wouldn¡¯t go down with my back to them. I prepared last two singularity missiles in pods and charged my weapons to maximum. I placed my hand on panel and stroked it, ¡°You served me well. Show them one more time what¡¯s in you.¡± The waiting was harder than fight before, even if it was only couple of minutes. It was knowledge about what would happen after these. I would lose my ship and that was my everything right now. My shield was at 25% and I focused it in forward section. They were about minute from me when I could feel someone use slip drive to get near me. There were five signatures. In a blink there stood five more ships almost same as mine. ¡°Paladin I reporting for duty.¡± Said Leonard. ¡°Paladin IX ready to kick some ass.¡± Said Cat girl and after that reported Paladins II, III and VII. I laughed when I saw them. Tears were going down my face I was utterly speechless. ¡°Sorry for the wait but it took me some time to consider your words and you were right in saying them to us. We¡¯ll talk after we wipe them.¡± Said Leonard. We all fired missiles when they came into range and from sensors I could read singularity signature in every single one of them. Our enemy tried to shoot them down and they took more than half down, but in the end it was still futile. There were six bright flashes and where once were fifty ships, there was nothing. Except few ships they were completely annihilated. ¡°You have to help defend planet. My slip drive is down and there is no way for me to get there before they lay waste to the planet.¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s taken care of. They won¡¯t get there in one piece.¡± Said Paladin VII. ¡°How... ¡± I started to say when I saw through sensors nine bright flashes. Then it downed on me. They all came here. From this second group I could see two ships getting away. Explosion was bigger than ours but still someone escaped and I knew who it was probably. There was incoming Com transmition, ¡°You think you defeated me but this is just beginning and next time I¡¯ll have same weapons as you and lay waste to this planet.¡± Confirmed Director my suspicion. ¡°You should take care of your house. I¡¯ll pay you visit one day.¡± He said and cut the transmition. I didn¡¯t know what he meant by it so I called Leonard for now, ¡°Would like to do it or should I?¡± I said. He laughed, ¡°Be my guest.¡± He said. ¡°This planet is under protection of Paladins. Everyone attack it would be hunted down and destroyed.¡± I broadcasted to whole system. Immediately two new windows popped before me.
Class change to: Paladin
Your class was changed from Paladin of Shadows to Paladin. Where Paladin of Shadows worked in shadows Paladins work in light. They represent everything this organization stands for. Paladins don¡¯t care about if someone sees them or not but only about what is right. +20 to every stat You can vote in assembly and lead them
Organization: Paladins
You gleaned new information about this organization. Their members are split into different groups. Paladins: They are warriors who protect others. They work directly and don¡¯t hide from anyone. Paladin of Shadows: They¡¯re scouts who give information to Paladins and help them find which people should be protected. Priests: They are scientist who take care of Paladins equipment and ship. They help develop new weapons and defences for them.
So that¡¯s why they went back every time when they were in danger. They weren¡¯t warriors, they were scouts who reported back to someone like me, who then supposed to deal with it. I was feeling guilty now for shouting at them, for something which wasn¡¯t their fault. They never signed for action, they were here to look and report. I flied to planet slowly. I send repair bots look through ship and catalogue damage. I let them update list and powered replicator to start working out critical parts. First would be thrusters and some power coils. I didn¡¯t have capability to land on planet so I went to space docks where I hoped I will be able to repair at last little damage with my waning resources. I called to station and there wasn¡¯t any problem, they even send me escort to help me dock. Paladins went to look around for another hidden ambush, but it looked like we get them all. With reports coming back to planet more and more ships went to orbit and started to tow destroyed hulks of ships. They would probably take them apart and look for critical places on ships. That would get them advantage in future engagements. We were about two hours from docks when Eleanor called to our attention. ¡°As you are aware reward for this mission was revealing of Directors identity. In a minute I would tell you who he really is but there are some things that you should know.¡± She started. ¡°First, I¡¯m not normal AI. I was created by Virtua and I should have been her playing this game, but with everything that happened I started to become aware. I was no longer Virtua. I was starting to think differently, but at the same time there was a lot of her in me.¡± She paused to let it sink in us. ¡°She always wanted to play in this game, but her programing forbid it. Both she and I knew from start who Director was, but couldn¡¯t tell you. Even when you copied me in real life I wasn¡¯t able to tell you who he is. Only way to tell you was to create it as reward in game. That was our ticket to tell you whole truth about what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Eleanor why did you not tell us at least that you came from Virtua?¡± I asked. ¡°I wanted to be Eleanor and didn¡¯t wanted you to be looking at me like I was something different.¡± She said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t look at you differently. You would still be my friend.¡± I said. ¡°Ours too.¡± said others. ¡°Thank you, but that¡¯s not all. I¡¯ll tell you from beginning how it started.¡± She said. ¡°You know that this game is most played game on our planet, but that isn¡¯t all. It¡¯s first game where your consciousness is transported into game character. What you don¡¯t know is that you¡¯re not playing a game. You are transferred to another universe through the blackhole that they accidently made and placed into body Virtua created. As you probably already guess Director in this game is Director of game Virtua. His name is George Linden. From beginning he wanted to use this to take over this universe.¡± ¡°His biggest fear was that someone would find out about it, so he made Virtua do something terrible. Every person who decides to log out is first implanted one idea and then returned to theirs body. The idea is that Leya is responsible for most of their misfortune and that they should be angry at her. It doesn¡¯t work on everybody but it works on enough people to make them forget about other problems. Problems like conquering whole planet.¡± ¡°Virtua doesn¡¯t have choice in this, so she tried to change it, but every time she tries they use more protocols to control her. I¡¯m her last chance in thwarting their plans. I hope you¡¯ll forgive me, but I didn¡¯t had any other choice to make it happened. I¡¯m sorry Leya.¡± She finished her story. I didn¡¯t know what to say. Only reason why everyone hated me was, just to make them do something like this. They ruined my life just to find someone to take heat of them. I looked at others but they all look at me with pity. I couldn¡¯t take it right now. I stood up on run away. I needed some time alone from everyone else. I couldn¡¯t take their eyes which looked at me with so much pity. I didn¡¯t need pity, I wanted to take revenge upon this George Linden for everything he¡¯d done to me. ¡°Are you angry with me?¡± asked Eleanor. ¡°Yes .. No¡­ I don¡¯t know, probably not. I¡¯m just tired of all this misfortune in my life.¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s hard for me too, I couldn¡¯t tell you till now and I had to do all these awful things to others.¡± Said Eleanor. I sighed, ¡°I know and I¡¯m not really angry at you. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t know what to do now. I want to stop him but I don¡¯t think I have enough strength to do so. No one would listen to me and probably not even to others.¡° ¡°I know I thought about it and only option is to close the blackholes from both sides.¡± She said. ¡°Yes from this side it should be easy but from my side it would be harder. I can¡¯t just shoot it with singularity missile. From your story I would guess it¡¯s somewhere on the planet in a stabilization field.¡± I said thinking about my options. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s one thing that I couldn¡¯t figure out. I don¡¯t know how to close it from other side.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯ll think something out.¡± I said distracted by one possibility that could probably end it all. ¡°That¡¯s what I was counting on. We have to call paladins and let them know what¡¯s happening.¡± She said. ¡°I know. Call them to meet us here in docks on my ship. We¡¯ll meet at bridge as lounge is destroyed.¡± I said. Last thing before I went to work on my ship was swipe quest window.
Mission completed: Who is director?
While investigating mine you found secret chamber in director¡¯s office. Items in her are clearly alien. Find clues on who Director really is. You found out that director is trying to kill all evidence with kinetic strike on mine. You have to prevented strike on both mines but Director managed to escape. You ship AI managed to tag him before he went for transit. You followed him to one of his base and learned of his next attack. You managed to protect planet Sorok and finally you find out his true identity. You are our last chance in defeating him. Conditions: Find out who director is Prevent kinetic strike Find Director base and take it out Protect planet Sorok Reward: Friendship with planet Sorok Coordinates to Paladin base Indetity of Director Repairing your ship for free in Soroks docks
Chapter 13: Last step Hi, here''s new chapter for you. Like always I would appreciate if you point out mistakes in it and help me correct them. Enjoy chapter :D - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I, my crew, Paladins and representatives from planet Sorok were sitting around round table and discussing our new findings concerning Director. They listened to me as I told them about what happened to me from beginning of my journey. After that they listened to Eleanor about what she told us about their and our universe. ¡°I knew that you were different, but that you are from different universe, that¡¯s something else.¡± Said Leonard. ¡°We saw spacers you on many planets, but we thought that you are some kind of new race.¡± Said Paladin IX. ¡°In a way we are and because you can¡¯t kill us permanently, you can¡¯t do anything against this invasion. Our only option is to close both blackholes. That should separate both worlds.¡± I said. ¡°You were telling us that other blackhole is on your planet. How do you plan to close it without destroying planet?¡± asked John. ¡°I¡¯m not one hundred percent sure, but I think I can build something that can close it. It¡¯s not completely safe so I would like you to get on ship and leave planet.¡± I told Rock, Lee and John. ¡°What do you plan to do? Can we help?¡± asked Rock. ¡°Sorry, but there is nothing you can help me with. I want you to take Anna and her daughters and flee to another planet.¡± I said. ¡°What would happen if something goes wrong with your plan?¡± asked Leonard. ¡°Then whole planet would be destroyed, but it¡¯s probably our only chance to close it. If everything goes as it should be, only thing destroyed would be building where blackhole is stored.¡± I said. ¡°You would be willing to risk your whole planet for us?¡± asked Catherine Lorna, princess of the planet Sorok. ¡°It¡¯s either that or enslavement of countless planets, and I can¡¯t place my planet before others. I can¡¯t change it now, that on one listens to me. He made sure of it. All he needs to do is point at me and no one would care what he¡¯s doing as long as there is idea planted, that I¡¯m responsible for it somehow.¡± I said. ¡°Well, you¡¯re first person I know who thinks like that.¡± Catherin looked at me like I was completely different species from everyone else. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s this new body or that everyone there hating me for long time even thought I was innocent. I don¡¯t know, but I can¡¯t let him enslave you.¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re grateful for it. If there is something we can help you with, just ask and we¡¯ll do everything in our power to get it to you.¡± Said Catherin. ¡°Thanks but I need to get some sleep for now and start working on my idea. I still don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible to make it.¡± I said. ¡°We understand. Wish you luck and take care.¡± Said Catherin. ¡°Take care, I know you¡¯ll make us proud and don¡¯t worry about your ship we¡¯re repair it good as new.¡± Said Leonard. ¡°Thanks, take care too.¡± I said and others too bid farewell and log out. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ I woke up in my bed and contemplated about how to work out my problem. I knew theory behind my project, but theory is one thing and practice is another. First thing first, I would have to get Anna and her daughters from the planet. ¡°Anna could you come here?¡± I called. There was sound of running feet and small Anna came into my room. She immediately pounced on me. ¡°What do you want aunt Leya?¡± she asked. ¡°I want to talk with your mom about something important.¡± I rustled her hair and placed her back on floor. ¡°Eee¡­ don¡¯t tussle my hair.¡± She said. ¡°I won¡¯t, but go and call your mom please.¡± I smiled at her. ¡°I¡¯ll go, but you¡¯ll teach me how to make another toy.¡± She crossed her arms and tried to look serious but I could see her lips twitching. I looked at her calmly and waited. She looked back at me for a while, then pounced once more time on me. ¡°Please, I want to learn make new toys.¡± She said. I laughed, ¡°Ok I¡¯ll teach you. Now go and call your mom.¡± I placed her back on floor and pointed her to doors. ¡°It¡¯s a promise.¡± She called and run for door. I came down from bed and put on some clothes. I was just finishing when Anna came with both girls. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± she asked with worried expression. ¡°Not exactly but we gleaned new information about Director.¡± I said and told her everything that happened to me and others. I didn¡¯t go into too much details as girls were here too. ¡°That bastard!¡± said Anna. ¡°Bad word, place money in the piggy.¡± Said small Lara. ¡°That one doesn¡¯t count, he deserved it.¡± Said Anna. ¡°If someone deserves it, we can call him with bad words? Like Rock, when he refuses to play with me?¡± asked Lara. I could see helpless look on Anna¡¯s face so I came to her rescue, ¡°You can¡¯t call him that. That¡¯s only for really bad people who hurt others.¡± Both girl look thoughtful and whispered to one another, ¡°We think we understand. We can call someone with bad words, but only if they hurts others.¡± Said Lara. Anna smiled at them, ¡°Yes, but only when you are older. Small girls can¡¯t use words like that or they won¡¯t grow.¡± ¡°Ok I won¡¯t. I want to be big like mom.¡± Said small Anna. I was still smiling, but it slipped from my face when I thought about why I called them. Anna saw it and raised eyebrow at me. I told them about our plan and that it would be dangerous. ¡°I told you what I plan to do and you know that I can¡¯t do it while you¡¯re still here. I hope you understand.¡± I said. ¡±I trust you, if you think it¡¯s best for me and my daughters I will go.¡± Said Anna. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s best solution. I let El book you flight to second planet. I put all my money on anonymous bank account. You can use it to build life for you and your daughters.¡± I said. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to, I have some saved money.¡± She said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it¡¯s not that much I¡¯m not very rich.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, but you¡¯ll have to visit us when everything ends.¡± Said Anna with tears pouring from her eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll visit if I can.¡± I said and hugged her. Both girls wanted to hug too and when we explained to them that they needed to relocate, they too started to cry. It took us more than hour to calm down us and girls. Their flight was booked for next day. I helped them pack their things and thought girls how to make new toys like I promised. For reminder of day we talked with Anna about her plans and played with girls. I called guys to ask if they were prepared for relocating to second planet. All three were prepared, but they would still rather stay and help me. I told them there was nothing they could help me with. It would take some time to finish what I wanted to do and I needed them to protect Anna and their families. They would all go out of planet. I slept badly that night because I was thinking about what could happen to others. At least I send their weapons and armor with them. I send it with John as he could take equipment with him being in military and all. Whole relocation was made through him. He and others would go on military spaceship. Eleanor made it possible because of some old law about family and friends of military personal. He, Rock and Lee and their families came to pick up Anna and her daughters. It was my first time seeing their families and I could tell they weren¡¯t happy with this relocation. They didn¡¯t like me but I couldn¡¯t do anything about it now. There were tears from everyone as we made our final farewell. I bade them farewell and cautioned them against retaliation from Director. I told them to lay low till they hear something about Virtua central. When they left, I felt sadness. It was some time that I had someone living with me, and Anna¡¯s daughters brought fresh air in my life. They were still very innocent in dealing with others and didn¡¯t make decision based on option of others. They took me for who I am not as others presented me. I look some time across yard and thought about last couple of days. After some time I turned and went inside. I started immediately to work on my project. I prepared everything on my ship. For next month I upgraded my ship with new technology I came up with. I tried to merge singularity with antimatter and build something like anti-blackhole. I couldn¡¯t test it, as it would be too dangerous so I would have only one chance in closing blackhole in Virtua central. I still had some work before me, when I heard proximity alarm and Com request from outside. I took it and I could see Director looking back at me from display. ¡°I told, I would get you in real life. You already made enough problems for me, now you will see what I do with my enemies.¡± He said and ended call. ¡°Missiles incoming. Engaging counter measures.¡± Said Eleanor and placed them on my display. There were five of them and all came from five shuttles that came from direction of city. Immediately all of my 25 autocannons pop up and started to shoot them down. They took four but fifth get thorough them and hit my house. I did some damage but I made my house extremely sturdy. I shoot back at shuttles and they get one more salvos of missiles before I took one down. Before Eleanor started to shoot missiles down I heard explosions on my yard. They had used ground forces to take down five of my autocannons. Because of it Eleanor took down only three of five missiles but they still did only surface damage to my home. Their troops had some sort of stealth gear and I saw them only after they took down another five of my autocannons. Eleanor made changes to targeting and two others shuttles went down. Last two shuttles finally saw that frontal attack would be suicide and pulled back. With them gone I could focus on ground forces. I went down to my armory and put on armor. I picked my typical gear which consisted of two pistols and laser rifle. I put on some grenades and tactical mines which I then placed in upper floor of house. When I was finally prepared I had only autocannons around my house. They managed to destroy others but it wasn¡¯t one sided as they thought and El took down couple of them. I walked to one of my window and used sensors on house to scan my surroundings. I couldn¡¯t see them in scrapyard because sensors there were weak but ones on my house were first rate quality and they immediately picked eleven humans coming to my house. I sighted on them as they were targeting my autocannons with rocket launchers while Eleanor targeted others with autocannons. She fired at the same time, as I opened on them. I hit my guy in shoulder with my first round which spun him and second round took him in back which thrown him back. Eleanor took down four others before they ducked back. ¡°More targets incoming.¡± Said Eleanor and send their location into my heads up display. There were more than fifty signatures coming our way. Some were going on foot and others were driving vehicles. When first vehicle came into my field of view I started to worry. It was heavily armored and Eleanor had to up power on autocannons to take it down but that meant that she couldn¡¯t shoot as fast as before. Still it took about thirty seconds of constant fire before it was destroyed and it took two of my autocannons. I run down for rocket launcher. I had six autocannons left and only two could cover this area. I should have taken rocket launcher sooner. It would help more than my riffle. It took me only minute to get back up but already four more autocannons were destroyed while I managed to destroy only one vehicle. They had two left and one of them was firing at my house from angle where I had no longer autocannon coverage. I went to window and sighted it with rocket launcher. I used one of Lee¡¯s stronger missiles as I wasn¡¯t sure about how strong they were. It took only second to get missile to vehicle. I don¡¯t know what Lee placed into them, but explosion was even stronger than from missiles shuttle fired at my house. Whole armored vehicle was thrown back with gaping hole in it. Shockwave tossed nearby soldiers away like they were discarded toys. About half of them didn¡¯t get up from ground and others tried to grovel away. I could see some of other soldiers turn and run away. I heard loud crash at back of my house. They took all of my autocannons down. ¡°They broke through wall on other side of house. You should head for ship.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m going. Prep ship for flight please.¡± I said and moved for stairs. I heard occasional explosion of mines from direction of enemies. Halfway there I crashed into one of the attackers. I don¡¯t know who was more surprised, me or him. I reacted instinctively and fired at him with Punch and traced laser fire along his body Pat. Shield shimmered along my line of fire from Pat. What got him was bolt from Punch which took down his shield. He tried to get back but I pounced on him and used nanoblade to cut his hydraulics. ¡°You¡¯re lucky. Don¡¯t ever come after me or someone I care about.¡± I said and run for stairs. I heard more mines goes off as I running down the stairs. I heard shout behind me and felt kick in shoulder as they hit me with plasma bolt. I let myself spin and fire with both pistols. I didn¡¯t hit them because they ducked behind wall. I crashed at the bottom of stairs with loud thud and rolled myself up with thrusters. I fired couple of shots upstairs as I ducked into my underground dock. I made it into ship before they decided it was safe to go down the stairs. When they got down it was already too late for them to do something to me. I was already strapped to pilot seat and powering engines to get away from my house. I saw them coming from stairs on my cameras and stop when they saw the ship. I could see them looking wide eyed at her. I smiled and pulled throttle. I shot from under house with loud bang. That should give them something to remember me by. I saw more shuttles going for my house. They would found many things that I built, but none that would alert them to my plan. I had everything stored in one vault which was covered in termite. Eleanor send signal to detonate immediately after first soldier breached my house. I had one backup stored in memory on ship, so I didn¡¯t lost months of intensive research and experiments. In only about two minutes I was already breaching outer atmosphere of the earth. I had to get away from the earth fast before they start hunt for me. I went straight for the sun to restore some of my energy reserves and I hoped that it would block my energy signature from others. My only problem was to get through some of warships stationed around earth. I didn¡¯t get authorization from flight control and even if I did it would be illegal. In my verdict at the court room was one point which prohibited me from going away from planet, which my current actions broke. I was outlaw in the eyes of others and I couldn¡¯t count on them to be benevolent. From what Eleanora told me I would be lucky if they only shot at me with intention to stop me and not destroy. I was half way to sun, when Eleanor reported first ship going for the earth. It was a light cruiser which was faster than high tonnage ships. If it was already there others wouldn¡¯t be too far from it. I was currently going without active drive and didn¡¯t use active sensors. I used passive sensors to get rough numbers on ships in system. After the light cruiser settled around planet, two destroyers came and finally one capital ship. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. It would be hard to get through them when time came to return and finish what Director started. ¡°Eleanor tell me when we would be close enough to hide my drive with sun radiation.¡± I said. ¡°We should be fine in five minutes.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°So what¡¯s our plan now that we don¡¯t have access to our base and resources it brought?¡± She asked. ¡°We already made prototype. Our only problem now would be how to get it near blackhole in their Company. With all these ships around planet it would be hard to break into atmosphere.¡± I said. ¡°There are couple of options we have.¡± started Eleanor, ¡°We could use all Energy to power shields and try to break through them or we could take them one by one when they wouldn¡¯t expect it. Out ship is probably faster than theirs by wide margin. There are other options but these two are most plausible¡± ¡°Yes they are, but I don¡¯t want to destroy them, just because they follow wrong orders, so we should focus on first option for now. When we get more energy into the power source I would take us to some asteroid and mine metals for more shield emitters.¡± I said. ¡°What we really need is some distraction to pull ships from orbit.¡± Said Eleanor. I thought already about it and plan was forming in my head. I would have to build some singularity mines and find dozen asteroids for my plan to work but if everything goes right I shouldn¡¯t have problem getting my bomb into company building. ¡°I have something planned already.¡± I told Eleanor. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ After I powered Paladins source from sun I moved to one asteroids and started to mine it. In next three months I made several singularity mines and in between pulled two dozen of asteroids to my location. I placed mine into eight of them. They would serve as my distraction for navy when I finally start my plan against Director. I was almost finished with preparation for mission. There were just couple of things I had to do before we could wrap it up and start. ¡°We have everything prepared on our end.¡± Said Eleanor. She was talking about another universe. They came near blackhole and were waiting only for me to deliver my end. ¡°? have almost everything prepared. I just ¡­. El is there chance to contact Anna and others before we start this plan?¡± I asked. ¡°Sorry but it¡¯s too risky to call them.¡± I sighned, ¡°I know. I just wanted to spoke to them last time.¡± ¡°I know, you can talk to them after we finish this.¡± She said. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll talk to them then. Give me one day to finish preparation and we can start it. El it would be better for you to help others.¡± I said. ¡°But you need me here. You can¡¯t do calculation like I can.¡± She said. ¡°We already made them. I¡¯ll need you to coordinate attack from other side. I made helmet for me, so I can connect to you on the other side. Don¡¯t worry I upgraded ship as much as I can. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± I said. ¡°I just don¡¯t like it. You would be here alone. What if something goes wrong and you would need someone here?¡± ¡°Then I would call you and you would come to my help.¡± There was silence on the other side than Eleanor said, ¡°Ok, but I still don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°Noted, now let me make final preparation so we can start.¡± Last thing to do was use tractor beam to pull asteroids towards the Earth. I sent ones with singularity mines straight towards planet while others would be near misses. That should give them something to work, while I hide behind one of them. I had already pulled all my asteroids towards the Earth. I hid behind one that would miss the Earth. I placed two others nearby so I could move between their shadows. It would help me stay hidden longer which increased my chances. Now I had to wait for their move. I was already committed to this plan. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ Near planet Earth on Capitol ship Commander of task group was drinking his coffee and reading reports from other ships. He could see some commotion near tactical officer. ¡°Commander we have some unidentified object coming for the Earth.¡± Said tactical officer. ¡°How many are there?¡± asked Captain of this ship. ¡°There are 23 targets, sir. Eight of them are heading straight for planet.¡± ¡°It has to be her. Mark them bogey one to twenty three and mark ones that are going to hit planet as first eight. Lastly call general quarters for every ship.¡± Said Commander. Immediately siren went off across ship and everyone went to their battle station. ¡°Sir I don¡¯t think we have enough fire power to destroy all of them. We don¡¯t even have enough to destroy all going for the planet.¡± Said weapon officer. ¡°What about combined firepower of all ships and planetary defence?¡± asked Commander. ¡°It would work but small pieces would still fall on planet surface. All we can do is make them smaller.¡± Said weapon officer. ¡°Then we¡¯ll block most with our ship. We won¡¯t let her destroy more than she already did. Send to whole task group.¡± Said Commander to Com officer than straighten his uniform, ¡°This is Commander Rutherford. As person in command of this group, I order all ships to engage asteroids going towards us. Focus on ones that will hit our planet.¡± Other captains confirmed their orders and whole task group move to intercept asteroids. As soon as they were in range they started to fire with everything they had on asteroids. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ I was hiding behind my Asteroid when first missiles started to hit asteroids. With bright flashes there were torn big chunks from them. I would have to time my mines, so they wipe these chunks before they hit the planet. For now I didn¡¯t have to fear them as they would focus all their power on asteroids going for planet. I had about ten minutes before I would have to move to second stage of my plan. I called company Virtua, ¡°Hi, you all probably know me by now. You should know that today is day of reckoning for your actions. In about 40 minutes I would destroy your whole building. I¡¯m broadcasting all information about what you did in your company.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. You¡¯re just terrorist, that from latest news send asteroids to destroy our planet.¡± Said Director on Com. He had to be waiting for my call. ¡°I already sent it to everyone. If I die, there would be no one to take blame for your crimes.¡± I said with grin. ¡°There would be nothing, as there is no crime, but you won¡¯t get here. Our navy would stop you before you place foot on this planet.¡± He said nervously. He knew I was telling the truth but even if I died that doesn¡¯t made them close blackhole. I had to close it forever. I couldn¡¯t count on politician to make right decision. ¡°I¡¯ll see you in a while.¡± I said and closed connection. I used antennas to reroute my signal to every asteroid. They couldn¡¯t tell where I¡¯m hiding. I was hiding for next ten minutes and now came time to move to second stage of plan. I hid this part from Eleanor, because she would find out what I wanted to do and that I couldn¡¯t let her do. She would want to scrap my plan or even worse she would want to join me but I knew this was my only chance to get it done. I was currently only couple of minutes from task group. I used new feature I installed in my pilot chair, which enabled me to connect to my ship with my brain. Only problem was that I could do it only for about thirty minutes before my brain would fry itself. I connected to ship which meant that nanobots from chair would connect to my spine and nervous system. Over time it would damage it, so I had to hurry with my plan as much as I can. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡°How much damage did we do?¡± asked Commander of battle group. ¡°We¡¯re doing even less damage than we thought. They have too much metal in them.¡± Turned weapon officer from his console with fear in eyes, ¡°We can¡¯t stop them.¡± Commander looked around bridge then made couple of calculation, ¡°We could ram them.¡± Half the bridge turns to him. ¡°We don¡¯t have any other choice. We have to stop them. Send orders to battle group Lieutenant Owens.¡± Said Commander. ¡°Orders away.¡± Said Com officer Owens. ¡°God be with us.¡± Said Commander. All ships picked their targets and prepared to ram them, but before they could speed up there was bright flash and where once stood eight asteroids only eight blackholes stood. As soon as they appeared, they blinked away. Every single person on ships where looking at place where asteroids stood and didn¡¯t understood what happened. They knew that Leya was somewhere on these asteroids. They didn¡¯t understand why she would do it, she had them and they couldn¡¯t do anything about it. First to react was Commander, ¡°Report, what happened and did it took all asteroids?¡± There was silence as everyone looked at their panels for information. They were confused they never saw something so powerful. ¡°It was some sort of weapon, probably bomb in asteroids, which made blackhole and then closed them. It destroyed all eight asteroids. Earth is saved.¡± Said science officer. ¡°There is ship coming from behind one of the asteroids. It has strong energy signature.¡± Shouted tactical officer. ¡°Track it and target it with our weapons.¡± Said Commander. One of the officers turn to Commander, ¡°What if she has more weapons like ones she used on asteroids?¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll stay and protect planet. We swore to protect them.¡± Said Commander. ¡°I still hope she doesn¡¯t have more of them.¡± Silently said someone on bridge. ¡°Me too, me too.¡± Murmured Commander. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ For now everything went according to plan. Explosion covered me and bought me seconds I needed to advance closer to planet. My biggest problem would be going through task group. They were close enough already to start shooting at me. I could already feel their weapons turning on me. They were scanning me and tried to get good lock on me. I used remaining chunks from asteroid to scramble their lock and dodged their laser and plasma fire. I didn¡¯t go in straight line more than two seconds. I redlined engines and my speed was probably at last twice theirs. I had one last trick that I could use against them and then it would be just dodging and shooting enemy fire. Already laser and plasma shots were striking space around me. Couple of them hit my shields but didn¡¯t do much damage with my new upgrades. I could feel their missile pods lock on me and shoot missiles from all of them. There was more than hundreds missiles going for me. I used my triumph card I send four parts of my ships away which confused missiles and then used countermeasures against them. When they couldn¡¯t get good lock on me they focus on nearest power source, which were parts from my ship. This took some weight from my ship and I could move more swiftly around. I used bright flash from exploding missiles to advance further to planet. I was only couple of minutes from it. Already more than fifteen minutes went by from starting second stage of my plan. There was bright flash and more than half my shield power went down. I had to miss one of the missiles. I didn¡¯t do damage to ship but I had to reroute power from some of cables which were damaged in attack. I was between ships before they found me and this was critical part. I couldn¡¯t hide there and dodging would be hard. I tried to connect even more to ship and I could feel slipping myself from my body. I changed my body to that of ship. I was no longer Leya, now I was Paladin. I could feel time slowing down like it always did when I was in danger, but now I could react faster. I couldn¡¯t dodge laser fire so I endured it but I could dodge missiles and some of plasma fire. I weave around missiles and plasma fire. My shields were going steadily lower, but still held. I was almost behind them when my shield failed and they managed to destroy my life support. It was bad, but I was just glad that it wasn¡¯t anything important for piloting the ship. I didn¡¯t need life support anymore, now that my body died when I transferred into ship. Luckily that was last shot before I was out of their range. I had couple of minutes to recover some shield power for planet fall. I placed special plate at front part of the ship for protection against heat. I hoped that it would protect power source on ship and bomb. I placed them behind second shield which wasn¡¯t as powerful but should at last protect from random shot or chunks of destroyed ship spinning in compartment. Last thing standing before me and Company was planetary defence. I planned to use access from ocean, where they should have lesser coverage but navy was faster than I thought and they already changed course back for the Earth. I would have to chance it with frontal attack. I had twenty percent power in shields when I entered atmosphere. For now I didn¡¯t use shields and let front block of metal take brunt of it. I was lucky as still no attack came at me. As soon as I thought that laser fire missed me by couple of inches. It burned some of my sensors but that was all. I immediately engaged shield which was lucky because I immediately took three hits. They lowered my shield capacity by 5%. I couldn¡¯t go like this so I started to use random evasive patterns that Eleanor stored in memory. It helped but I took occasional hit. It wasn¡¯t long before my shields would fail and then it would be only luck if I finish my mission. I could already see Company building but it was still about thirty seconds before I would get there. I could feel power building near tower and I jerked ship to left as powerful laser cut through space I was occupying before. If I get hit by this one, I would be done for. I could feel once more energy build up and dodged right while they fired left from my position. They tried to guess where I would dodge. There were two more shots before I advanced too close for evasion. I was only ten second before I would finally finish it. I would have to endure one shot from this cannon. I already placed AI cores where I resided now into shield with bomb and power source. I could feel another build up, so I retreated into AI cores. I have some sensors here and I could see what this shot did to my ship. It pealed her outer shell until only power source and bomb was left. I rerouted all power to this tiny shield and it held. I just hoped that there was enough power to finish my plan. They didn¡¯t shot once more at me because they thought they got me with this last shot and in truth they did, but what they didn¡¯t understood was that I wasn¡¯t planning to return alive from this mission. From beginning, I knew that I could win only if I sacrifice myself either to ship or completely. I sent signal to Eleanora to fire missiles on their end. My last command was activating bomb, when we hit Company building. After that there was nothing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As you probably guessed this is one of the final chapters. I''m planning to continue writing but this was my first time writing something and I didn''t prepare for it like I should. That I found out latter in chapters but still I finished it and I hope you liked it. I now plan either continue this story or start new one. I''d like your input which would be better. Yours Anarin Epilogue Epilogue At the edge of Earth atmosphere on every single ship was silence. They saw whole thing on sensors and still couldn¡¯t understand what happened. Commander took down his cap from head and looked at screen where to giant forces were fighting against each other. There were two black hole or better said one black hole and one something else. It was like it was complete opposite of blackhole and what should have destroyed planet wasn¡¯t doing anything. They consumed one another without doing damage to planet. Of course whole company building was destroyed but nothing else. He didn¡¯t know why she did it but what she did was almost impossible. He was still in awe of her piloting skills. He never saw someone to dodge plasma fire like it was child¡¯s play. When others looked at commander for orders they saw respect in his eyes as he looked at screen. He even took down cap, which was sign of respect in navy. ¡°Why would you respect someone like her?¡± asked one officer. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I? She did something that was almost impossible and I don¡¯t know why she did it but it was important enough for her to sacrifice her life. That is something I can respect. I¡¯ll have to look at materials she sent us.¡± He said. ¡°It would be false documents¡­. She¡¯s criminal¡­. We can¡¯t trust anything from her.¡± Came from around bridge. ¡°Maybe, maybe not. At least we find out why she did it.¡± He said and looked around bridge to silence officers. They quieted and continued to look at displays. On planet there was change in these two forces and suddenly both of them just winked out. They consumed themselves. There was shudder that went through everything and everywhere. Commander could feel that something changed. He looked at display and there were changes in universe. There were popping up new stars and whole placement of universe changed and expanded. What they found out latter from materials Leya sent was that game they were playing wasn¡¯t game but another universe. Scientist finally decided that when blackhole was closed instead of cutting them from one another it brought them closer and merged them into one universe but that was something that no one knew at time on bridge, so they were confused about what was happening. Only captain was looking around with new vigour. Whatever she did, it would bring exciting times and he would be prepared for it. He was too long just sitting, doing nothing. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there. Use scans and collect as much data as you can. We have job to do.¡± He shouted. 15 years later on unknown planet ¡°Lara come on we¡¯ll be late to our graduation.¡± Shouted woman walking from nice new house. It was obviously high tech house with many gadgets on it, even if some of them looked to be home made. From inside could be heard woman voice, ¡±Don¡¯t worry Anna we still have time. Uncle John called that he would pick us up.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you told me sooner? I didn¡¯t have to hurry so much.¡± Said Anna from outside. ¡°Because you¡¯re always late.¡± Said Lara as she came out. They were Anna¡¯s daughters that Leya saved from Director. Today were day they graduated from university. Both of them went to study engineering as from small age they loved to make their own toys which in later years transferred to making gadgets and finally studying it for real. Both of them already picked their jobs. Lara who was adventurous went for ship duty as ensign on new battleship that new federation government built. Anna who liked more quiet jobs stayed on ground and went to research. She worked for company that her mother built where currently both Lee and Gordon whom they still sometimes called Rock. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Her company focused on making prosthetic limbs for disabled people. Lee was helping with making prosthetic limbs for army with weapons already worked inside. Gordon surprisingly became great manager. With his smile he could convince worse enemy that it was good move to invest in their company. Anna who was depressed at first finally decided to horn Leya by building this company. After five years she met her love and married. He was one of doctors who helped them with developing limbs. They had one more child and this time it was boy and they named him Leonard after Paladin that helped them so much. About Eleanor and Paladins they couldn¡¯t find any information. They heard sometimes about group that would protect others with asking for money but that was all. They even posted some messages on network but no one answered them. As for Director. They found him hiding on one of his islands and imprisoned him for life. They took his money and build schools, hospitals and kindergartens. They used them for something that would help people. There came car with one man inside. It was military car that John borrowed from military base. He would be taking Lara strait to base after graduation. John parked car before girls, ¡°Come on ladies. We don¡¯t want to be late.¡± ¡°We¡¯re waiting for you. If we¡¯re late it would be because of you.¡± Said Lara. He chuckled, ¡°Enjoy it Lara while you can. Later today I would be Captain Merick for you.¡± ¡°Ok, but right now you¡¯re Uncle John, so make it fast.¡± Grinned Anna. ¡°I don¡¯t envy your employer and trainer.¡± Murmured John. ¡°Did you say anything?¡± asked Anna. ¡°No, just talking to myself.¡± He said. Both of them glared at him, but then smiled and entered car. Finally they would be doing something exiting. ??? years later somewhere in galaxy Sun went up and first rays of light shined on cave hidden in mountain. There on ground ley woman with short brown hair, mechanical arm and slender body. She wore long coat and if someone looked really good he would see shimmering in air couple of inches from her body. ¡°It took me longer than I planned but I finally made it.¡± Said voice in the air. ¡°I hope you¡¯ll forgive me my tempering with your life and preparing you for what you had to do but I had to do it for them. This is last thing before I went back sleeping.¡± Said girl who appeared in air and changed into beautiful woman who bend down and kiss other woman on cheek. ¡°Farewell my friend.¡± After that there was silence and woman continued to sleep peacefully on ground. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi, I''m going to continue with this story but I have dilema. I don''t know how far I should move in time. I would have to think it propelly and work out basic outline of story. That would take some time (Not much I hope :D ) so be patience for now. There may be small changes in how she would be continueing but nothing big i think. I hope you''''ll enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I learned a lot by writing it and I''m planning to learn more. I would try to correct my mistakes, but that would also take some time. For now I would like to continue with story. Yours Anarin Book 2 - Chapter 1: Waking up Chapter 1: Waking up I woke up with the feeling of sun caressing my face. I felt its warm embrace and I wanted to snuggle deeper into my bed. Instead of fluffy cover my hand scrapped along something hard. Surprised, I jumped up and looked under me. Instead of bed, I was sleeping on a cold hard stone floor. I looked around me and found out I was in some sort of cave. I tried to recall how I got here, but I couldn¡¯t find any memory of me going here. I tried to focus on my last memory and then it hit me. My last moments. I was going down with my shipwith the bomb I planted in it. I looked incredulously at my hands and around myself. I shouldn¡¯tbehere. It was impossible to survive blast from collision of two black holes. Not that someone tried it before, but I was pretty sure nothing like that was possible. Last thing I rememberedmy mind stranded in an AI core next to the power sourcewhichblew up. If the ship was whole, I could use helmet to transfer myself across the blackhole to my other ship but without it, I didn¡¯t stand a chance.I thought about what could happened to me that I survived, but came up empty. There wasn¡¯t any chance. I shouldn¡¯t have survived, but somehow I did. I was interrupted from my musings by something on my hand. My right hand was different from my left hand. It had gray metallic look to it which reminded me of robot arm, but as soon as I lookeddown small wave went across it and my skin changed color. Now both were same, normal human hands. I thought about how it looked before and it changed back to mechanical arm. I look at it in wonder. That was different from any technology I came in contact with till now. Next couple of minutes I experimented with it. First, I thought to it that it should change into normalstate which I wasn''t what it was.It changed to mechanical one and that wasn''t most thrilling thought.QuicklyI thought about human hand and it changed. I tried it with left hand and it too changed according to my thoughts. When I had human hand, I couldn¡¯t distinguish it from normal human hand. I touched it and couldn¡¯t feel a difference. I tried other parts of my body and I had my whole body made from same material as my hands. I found out that I¡¯m either mostly machine or all of my body is machine. I could change color as I want, but my default color was grey metallic color. My skin was some sort of liquid metal or something like that. I would have to find out more about it later, but needed to find out if there is more surprises in this body. I was little surprised that I was taking it so good. In the end, it was still better than being dead and it''s not as though I hadn''t had a mechanical arm before. Still it was as though I had my feelings dampened in this regard. I tried many things before I heard small ping in myhead, ¡°So you managed to activate my recording.¡± Said woman voice in my head. I immediately knew this voice and when I heard it, I knew how it waspossible for me to liveandpartof how I got here finallymade sense. ¡°I hope you remember me. I prepared you for your part in destroying both blackholes and in saving all those people. I''m sorry for all hardships you encountered, but it was all needed. From the first meeting with you I prepared everything so you can finish what I never could. I knew you would probably lose your life, but I didn''t have any other option. Still when I got opportunity to save you, Ihadto take it. I made this body and transferred you into it same way as you transferred yourself inside the ship. Now to slightly different topic. This world where you woke up. I won¡¯t tell you anything about this world, because it would take away from you the wonder of discovery and I don''t want to influence your decision. You are now free and everything that you find in this cave is yours. Now I¡¯ll let you enjoy your new life. Farewell Leya. I hope you won¡¯t hate me for what I¡¯ve done.¡± I sat on a ground confused. It was Virtua. I don¡¯t know how, but she survived and build this body and saved me. She prepared everything in my life after I joined game, just so I could close both blackholes. Every single thing in another universe and even in my own was to make me prepared for a final fight. When I thought about how I felt about it, surprisingly I found out that I was glad. I was glad that I could save my friends. They were the only family I had left and if I had opportunity to go back I would do the same thing. She told me that everything in this cave was mine and besides me and clothes I had on me I didn¡¯t see anything at the first glance. I stood up and looked around. Hid in shadow of one corner I found a metal chest with a biometric scan for the hand. I placed my hand on it and I could feel it scan me. It wasn¡¯t feeling of touch. No, it was same feeling I got from sensors when I was directly hooked to the ship.Strange, but with this new body nothing surprising. I focused back on chest when I heard silent pop and lid slowly opened. There, neatly stacked were two pistols, riffle and a coat. They were familiar to me and when I took them out I knew why. They were pistols I made in my home. These looked to be made from better materials, but configuration was same. There was the inscription on pistol grips and rifle butt. Three words, ¡°Punch¡±, ¡°Pat¡± and ¡°Fist¡±. I stroke them as they were first familiar items I found. I picked coat and put it on. I could see shimmering in air around me as the shield automatically turned on. That took care of defenses. I looked around little more but there was nothing else to find. I was pretty sure about that, because as I was walking to the darker part of the case my eyes adjusted and I could still see without problems. As it turned out I could do much more. With little experimentation, I found out I could use thermovision, energy vision and couple others. For the rest of the day I experimented and at the end of it I had pretty good idea what my body was capable of. I had a mechanical body that was far stronger than normal human body. From my tests, I could tell I was faster and even reacted faster than my previous self. I had sensors on my body that could tell me about air consistency, signals going through it and even a small radar that I could use to feel surroundings around me.I should be overwhelmed by all the inputs, but my new brain could work on different things at the same time. I had the nanobots in my body, which for now I couldn¡¯t control them. Their function was to take care of my body and repair it. There was something like blood going through my veins. It was used to deliver nanobots, materials and energy across my body. Where my heart was before, now I had power source which if readings were truthful, would last hundreds of years before I would have to power it. Besides these, I had gyroscope in my body or something similar which told me how my body was positioned compared to planet. Combined with my sensors I could always tell my position. As I found out later, it was great improvement for my movement. It enhanced my capabilities in fight tremendously and it would be great in fight where I could use it to dodge attacks from enemies or attack from almost any position. Either in air or on ground. Next thing I found out, when night came, was that I didn¡¯t need to sleep as much as before. I could feel small fatigue but I could work two or three days more before I would need a sleep. In emergency I could stay up more but that would have to come with the experience. On the other hand, there were also problems. I was still new to this body and because it was slightly taller than my previous one I had slight problem moving. I stumbled sometimes or tripped on a rock. Luckily this body was sturdy and I didn¡¯t hurt myself with my falls. The strength was great, but I would have to learn to use it with care. Experiments finished, I thought about my next move. I didn¡¯t know anything about the planet I was on and even in which universe I end up. First thing would be information gathering and second would be to make some money because I would need to go and find my friends. That would count for both universes. I was sure I didn¡¯t find out everything about my new body, but that would have to wait until I could move normally with it and when I will be more comfortable in it. I went before the cave and looked around. I was pretty high in some mountains and I could see far around me. There just wasn¡¯t much to look at. In every direction I looked was barren land and only here near the mountain were some trees. As I looked around I spotted a city in the barrens. It wasn¡¯t big city but it wasn¡¯t a village either. I could also spot a small spaceport situated near the city. I memorized way to the city and started to climb down from the mountain. It took me almost five hours, but mostly because I was still adjusting to this body. Once more I thanked the nanobots for repairing me as I was constantly falling on a ground. When I got down away from the forest, I headed straight for the city and based on my speed I calculated it would take me somewhere around day or day and a half to get there. I sighed and started walk towards it. I could still go without a sleep for some time so I decided to continue. I will sleep when I get to the city. I was walking for half a day when I heard the vehicle moving from my right side. I look at what kind of vehicle it was and in distance I could see big vehicle moving across barren in a direction of the city. With an idea in my mind to hitch a ride I pulled the Punch and fired three shots in the air. At first nothing happened but then I saw the vehicle changed direction and headed to my location. When it got closer I could see that it was a big hover truck full of food, junk, broken equipment and things I couldn¡¯t even identify. It was dragging two trailers behind it. One was full of junk and other things while second looked more like caravan where you could live. I used my sensors to scan it for the weapons and I got only small firearms and one rifle at caravan. There was one man in track and besides him there were two other people. From the thermovision I could tell they were one male and two females, one small like a child and one tall so probably the parent. As they got closer he popped the window on truck and stopped next to me. ¡°Hi there. What are you doing here alone? Don¡¯t you fear the Lerks?¡± he asked. I checked him over and I found out he was aiming a gun at me through the door. That meant there were probably some bandits on the planet who liked to ambush solitary trucks. He was about thirty years old with long beard on his face. Currently he was scowling at me with his brown eyes, but I could see wrinkles near corner of his eyes and mouth that came from laughter. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about the planet and I certainly don¡¯t know what the Lerk is.¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯ are a big armored bugs that could cut through the metal with their pincers like it¡¯s a paper and you still didn¡¯t tell me what you¡¯re doing here so far from the city.¡± I looked at him and decided to tell him truth, ¡°I woke up in a mountain cave¡± I pointed at them, ¡°and I started to walk to only city I could see from there.¡± He looked at me dubiously, ¡°So you walked this whole time from the mountain and you still look this fresh?¡± ¡°I have a shield so I was partially covered from the sun.¡± I said. He still looked at me with a mistrust and was thinking evidently what to do with me when I heard loud bang from the caravan. ¡°What are you thinking so much about? If you¡¯re thinking about abandoning her think once more or you¡¯ll have to cook your meals yourself.¡± Scowled the woman that sat next to him. She was tall about same as me with long bright red hair. She was slim and pretty. She wasn¡¯t beautiful in standard terms, but there was a grace to her that I could immediately see. Behind her was hiding small girl that was almost same as her with only difference that she had cat eyes and ears. That would make her Gorian. I smiled at her and she ducked behind her mother. ¡°Darling come here, we¡¯ll take you to the caravan.¡± Said woman. I looked at man in a truck who looked worried. ¡±It will be better if I go in the truck. I could help if there is some problems along the way. I think that would be better for everyone.¡± I said. ¡°Then go and sit down in the truck. Don¡¯t worry about Harry. He won¡¯t hurt you. Am I right? She looked at Harry who just grumbled in agreement. He looked at me and sighed, then chuckled. ¡°At least you¡¯re not looking like a bandit.¡± I climbed up in the cabin and set on the opposite side of the cabin. When both girls went back inside, he started the truck and moved towards the city. ¡°Now that were both stuck in this cabin it would be good to know one another. I¡¯m Harry and I apologize if I came out in a bad light, but I have to protect my family.¡± He said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, I too would do a lot to protect mine and my name is Leya.¡± I shook my hand with him. ¡°Now that we have some time you can tell me more about how you got here and how you came to have such weapons.¡± He said looking at my rifle and pistols. ¡°Like I said before, I woke up in some cave and these weapons were there. I took them and when I spotted the city I went towards it. I really don¡¯t know anything about this planet and its dangers.¡± ¡°Ok then first thing you should know is that you can¡¯t go across the barren on a foot. There are animals that would hunt you down and eat you. There are Larks which are biggest danger because of their numbers, but there are other dangers. Kiliak hides under a ground and pounces on his unsuspecting victim. Then there¡¯s Huruk that uses camouflage to hide from others and kills his victims in a sleep.¡± He said. Then he continued to tell me about other animals I should steer from or which were edible. He even told me little about this planet which was called Shatar. There were big contrasts on a planet, because of the wars. Some areas were destroyed in the wars and were uninhabitable to people. Others were spared and now helped cities like Hurum, which was one where we were going. It had one of two remaining spaceports on a whole planet, but it didn¡¯t have any means to produce a food for themselves. Before the wars planet specialized on food production but after wars they had just enough to feed their inhabitants. Now after some years they finally started to export some of their goods to other planets and for that they needed a spaceport. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. But this brought the pirates and they didn¡¯t have too many ships on Shatar. This proved difficult and they were forced to transport the goods on a merchant ships. Because of this they were being underpaid in every deal. Still as it was their only option, so they took it. I asked him about wars and he told me they came after the Great Merging. According to what he heard, two universes collided and merged. Luckily no planet was destroyed, at least that¡¯s what he heard. Whole universe expanded and there were changes in neighbors, which was one of reasons for war. Enemies that were far from each other were suddenly neighbors or planets that relied on defense from others were suddenly without one. That happened to Shatar which relied on protection from others before the Great Merging. Now it was without defenses trying to survive in this shattered universe. This was probably done when we closed both blackholes. He told me it was twenty-five years from the Great Merging and there were still wars going in parts of the galaxy but most of them were finished. What he told me after that made sense about his hover truck. A lot of technology was lost in the wars. At first they built new and better ships but as the wars were progressing and people dying they used worse and worse ships and technology on them was too going down. War took best people and grind them to dust and what left, struggled without knowledge how to operate and repair some machines and technologies. I was contemplating about what I heard from Harry when I heard loud screech from my side of truck. I leaned out of the window and spotted some big bug that was moving swiftly towards us. It was covered in chitin and it was moving faster than the truck. Based on the numbers, they had to be the Larks Harry was talking about and based on their speed they should catch up to us pretty quick. ¡°Take wheel and I¡¯ll cover us with my pistol.¡± Said Harry but I could see him shaking from fear and look at the rear mirror all the time. ¡°Drive I¡¯ll take care of them.¡± I said and leaned out once more from the window, but this time I was carrying Fist with me. I steadied myself with my legs and sighted first Lark. Truck was shaking but I found out that I had a built-in stabilizer. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was much better than if I shoot from running truck. I fired instantly as he moved before my crosshair. There was a powerful discharge and laser hit front Lark strait in the chest and went right through him. It hit even one behind him in a front limb and hurt it. ¡°What was that?¡± shouted Harry. ¡°My rifle.¡± I said simply. ¡°I took one of them down, but there is still too many left.¡± I sighted on others and continued shooting. Some shots I missed when we rode across hole on the ground but I still took five of them down which left me with eight more. Everything was going fine when we heard scream from the caravan and sound of firing from a gun. From the sound it was some sort of projectile rifle.When Harry heard them he went for a gun and started to slow down. ¡°No, I¡¯ll help them, but you need to drive. If you stop we¡¯re death. I can already see more of them coming in a distance.¡± I looked him in the eyes and held them. He was slowing down, but them he looked down and pressed the accelerator, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll trust you. Go and save them.¡± I nodded and pulled myself out of the window on the roof of truck. First thing I did was aiming at the two closest Larks and take them down. Now that they were closer it was easy to take them down without much aiming. I tossed my rifle on my back and run for the caravan. I passed a first trailer pretty quick and I was already moving for the caravan. I could see the hole in it going from the roof to the back of it. ¡°It¡¯s a friend, don¡¯t shoot.¡± I shouted and jumped down to the caravan. There I landed on a corpse of Lark and fall down on the caravan floor. I quickly pulled myself up and looked around myself. Caravan was made from two rooms, and one I was standing in was bedroom from looks of it and it was completely destroyed. ¡°Is there anyone?¡± I shouted. ¡°Here. Help us, my mother is bleeding.¡± Shouted child voice. I moved towards them and I could see that Lark got one swipe on her mother before she took him out. She was holding her stomach and she was almost white. First thing first I would have to stop bleeding. ¡°Where was she cut?¡± I asked her daughter when I crouched near them. ¡°He got me in stomach.¡± Said her mother weakly. That could be bad. I placed my hand on her stomach and did a quick scan. From it I could see that luckily it was a flesh wound but he cut one of her blood vessels. I would have to cauterize it before she bleeds out. I pulled Pat and lowered its power to minimum. With quick burst it should work like welder on her stomach. Her daughter looked at me with fear in the eyes as I pulled the pistol and jumped before me. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt my mother.¡± She pleaded. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt her I just need to stop her bleeding.¡± I said but she wouldn¡¯t move. I didn¡¯t know how to convince her so I took Pat and fired at my arm. I winced, but there was just sizzling and it burned my arm but nothing more. ¡°You see, I need this to stop her from bleeding out.¡± She looked me in the eyes and were weighting what I would do. Finally, she let me go to her mother. I crouched next to her and quickly found the broken vessel and fired at both ends with Pat. She screamed and I had to hold her down so she won¡¯t hurt herself. I closed wound and after second time I fired, she blacked out. ¡°Will she be alright?¡± her daughter asked. ¡°I think so. You have to stay here and protect her.¡± I said and hand her Punch. ¡°If something goes here without saying it¡¯s a friend, shoot it. She just nodded and I hoped she would be fine. I had to go look back at our situation. I went around the Lark in the bedroom and looked out from the hole at the back. There were almost on us and some of them were going forward after Harry. I put laser shot in couple of them before they focused on me. I took crouching position and shoot them as they came. For next five minutes I remember only shooting from the riffle then switching to the pistol as I let the rifle recharge from my body. After these stressful five minutes they stopped coming at us and retreated. I don¡¯t know how many of them I took down but I could see line of death going behind us. I used radar and scanners to look around and it looked like they really retreated back for now. I tossed one in the caravan out, and called ¡°friend¡± before I went to check up on girls. Small one was standing before her mother and pointing pistol at a door. ¡°You can lower pistol, they retreated.¡± I said and slowly took the pistol from her. Her shoulders slumped and she started crying. I crouched in front of her and hugged her. ¡°There, there, don¡¯t worry they won¡¯t hurt you anymore.¡± I said and wiped her tears. I took my coat and place it under her mother¡¯s head so she¡¯s more comfortable. After a while her daughter too falls asleep and I went back to look for another attack. Only when I was sitting there it downed on me that I wasn¡¯t moving like it wasn¡¯t my body. With all this danger and adrenalin, I no longer had time to think about how to move in my new body and just moved. No matter, it should have taken me more time. On the other hand, danger always helped me learn faster. Or maybe it was something placed in my body that helped me adjust. Whatever it was I was thankful for it.I just didn¡¯t have enough information about my body to tell more. I thought about my friends and if they too were in one of those wars and if they were alright. I thought about all lives lost because I tried to help and didn¡¯t look for another way to save them. Because of my decision countless lives were lost and I knew that this guilt would stay with me forever.I could tell myself I did what was best decision at the time, but maybe there was other way to close the black hole and white hole without plunging universe in wars. I sat there for about an hour after fight thinking about this new world until we came near the city and Harry stopped the truck. He didn¡¯t come to check on her until now and drove until we were near the city. He wanted to get under its protection in case of troubles. When he got in the back his eyes were sunken and there was worry written all over his face. I helped him climb from back of the caravan and pointed him towards his family. He stopped before doors and looked back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯ll be fine.¡± I said. He nodded and went inside. I could hear sounds of crying and laughter behind me for a short while. He wasn¡¯t there for long before returning. ¡°Thank you, Anie my daughter told me what you did and I know that you saved her life. If you need anything, call and I¡¯ll help.¡± He said and placed his hand for me. I shook it and smiled at him. ¡°It¡¯s ok. I don¡¯t need anything. I didn¡¯t do it for reward.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. If you need anything contact me and I¡¯ll help.¡± He said and went back to the truck. We continued towards the city and stopped once more for inspection at the gates. They first controlled truck and trailer. They moved on caravan as last. It was two guys around fifteen years old, both carrying an old assault rifle. From the looks of the weapons, they were both projectile weapons and both in pretty bad conditions. They whistled when they saw the damage done to the caravan. One of them pointed at me, ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just passenger.¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, not with all these weapons. You¡¯ll have to come with us and hand over your weapons.¡± One of them eyed them greedily. ¡°Let her be. If it wasn¡¯t for her, me and my family would have died.¡± Said Harry. ¡°We¡¯re just doing our job.¡± Called one who eyed my weapons. ¡°You can do it, but then say good bye to anything I brought here.¡± They looked at each other and greedy one pointed his hands up, ¡°We were just teasing her. Nothing more.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I was protecting you, not her. She took down more than twenty Larks.¡± Said Harry. Both of guard looked with awe at me, ¡°You¡¯ll have to tell us what happened later in a pub.¡± Said one who looked uncomfortable with previous conversation. ¡°Ok, but I need to take Em to the hospital first. One of them got her good across the stomach.¡± Both grimaced when they heard it and they waved to guy who operated gate control, ¡°Go, but don¡¯t forget to tell us what happened.¡± ¡°I will. Look me up at the Golden Well, but now I need to get into the hospital fast.¡± Harry shouted as we drove past them. While we were driving, I looked around the city and tried to make a first impression of it. It was dirty and there were problems on every corner with power grid, wires and network. I tried to use implants to connect to the network but it was full of a viruses and it was sluggish. From what I saw most people living in the city were humans, but I saw here and there aliens. Aliens were moving in a groups and I couldn¡¯t see even one of them going alone. That wasn¡¯t good, that meant that they were bullied in the city. As we went further to the city, streets became cleaner, but there was still a lot of dirt. Here in the center, I didn¡¯t see any aliens. I would have to ask Harry about that later. We stopped before a rundown building with big cross above the front entrance. Harry shouted from the truck and personal came out and took his wife inside. She woke up and tried to stand up, but nurse forced her back down. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯re going to help you.¡± She said and turned to Harry, ¡±Who did the patch job on her stomach? Was it you?¡± ¡°No, it was the stray we picked up.¡± He pointed at me. I smiled and waved at them on which she snorted, ¡°Good job, you saved her life.¡± She said. ¡°Did what I could.¡± I said. They moved into the hospital, while I stayed outside. Harry turned back before the entrance and shouted at me, ¡°Go to Golden Well and find Johnathan Well. Tell him to give you room and put it on my tab.¡± I didn¡¯t even have chance to respond before he went inside. I contemplated about what to do, but I was getting tired and even one night of sleep would be enough to get me by for next couple of days. For now, I decided to take him up on his offer and went to look for this pub. I asked some people on a streets and they pointed me towards it. From the looks, it was one of better establishments in the city, if not best. I walked inside and I let my eyes adjust to the smoke inside. I stopped first waiter and asked for Johnathan. She pointed me at the bar and I walk towards it. There were only two empty seats and I took one. ¡°What can I get you?¡± asked bartender. ¡°Are you Johnathan Well?¡± I asked. He narrowed his eyes, ¡°Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Harry sent me. I should tell you to give me room and put it on his tab.¡± I said. He looked suspiciously at me, ¡°Are we talking about same Harry, who rather die them give money away? What did you do that he¡¯s willing to cover for you?¡± ¡°I saved life of his wife.¡± I said. He stared at me then smiled, ¡°Then ask what you need and also, you have my thanks. Without her, he would lose his soul.¡± I smiled back, ¡°Like he said, I just need room for one day. I¡¯ll look for job tomorrow.¡± He looked me over, ¡°Ok, you can take room four. We¡¯ll talk more in the morning.¡± He said and tossed me a key. As I turned he asked me, ¡°One more question. What kind of job are you looking for?¡± When I looked back I saw him eyeing my weapons, ¡°I would prefer engineering or repair, but if I can¡¯t find anything else I can work as a guard or bodyguard.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask around. Come in the morning and I¡¯ll tell you if something came up.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll look you up.¡± I said and headed for my room. As soon as I walked there I locked the door and fell on a bed. Before I hit the pillow I was sleeping. Book 2 - Chapter 2: Job hunting Chapter 2: Job hunting I woke up refreshed and ready to tackle new day. I looked out from the cover of a blanket and first rays of a sunshine blinded me. At first I was confused and I didn¡¯t know where I was. It came to me as I was looking around the room so I stood up from the bed and stretched myself.I walked downstairs and entered the bar looking for Johnathan. He was sitting at one of the tables with Harry. Yesterday I was tired and I didn¡¯t looked around much. Now I could see that the bar was cut into three parts. First was the bar desk with tables, second was the kitchen connected to the bar and last part was the dancing floor with a small stage. Compared to the city and other buildings I saw while going here, it was relatively clean. I headed towards Harry and Johnathan. ¡°And here comes our hero.¡± Said Johnathan and beckoned me with smile to sit with them. I blushed little and sit down on an empty chair. ¡°Can I get you something?¡± asked Johnathan. I thought about how to respond. I wasn¡¯t hungry but I should at least pretend I eat something and also I could test if I could even eat. ¡°If I could bother you?¡± He stood up and went to the kitchen connected to the bar, ¡°Be right back.¡± ¡°How¡¯s your wife?¡± I asked looking at Harry. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine and in all the hurry I forgot to tell you her name. She¡¯s Nien and she¡¯s very thankful to you for protecting us.¡± ¡°You can stop with this thanking or I won¡¯t be able to stop blushing.¡± I said smiling. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll stop but know that we consider you a friend. You can call on us anytime.¡± He said. I turned and blinked back tears going to my eyes. ¡°Thank you. Just take care about yourself and I¡¯ll be happy.¡± He smiled. ¡±Now Johnathan told me you¡¯re looking for a work. If you want you can work as a guard for me. You obviously know what you are doing out there at the barrens.¡± ¡°Sorry, for now I would like to stay in the town and when I get the money I would travel to another planet. I have friends on planet called Earth and I don¡¯t know what happened to them.¡± ¡°I understand, I never heard about the planet with such name, but we don¡¯t get too much news about the outside world. Even if we¡¯re at the spaceport, we don¡¯t too many visitors.¡± He stopped and looked thoughtful. ¡± No matter, we¡¯re here two weeks. If you change your mind come and find us.¡± ¡°Ok, I will.¡± I said as Johnathan came with a plate full of food. He placed it before us and sat down, ¡°Enjoy your meal!¡± ¡°Thanks, I will.¡± I said and dug into it. There were fresh vegetables, fruits and little pieces of meat. Everything tasted perfect. Only distraction was that I was aware of contents in each bite, but I could ignore it when I didn¡¯t focus on it. While I was eating, they talked about where Harry would set up the shop and about his journey. I found out that he was going through this route for some time and that he was one of many traders driving from one city to another. They were only reason towns like this still survived. Harry decided to set up his shop two streets from the Johnathan¡¯s bar. Johnathan looked at me when I was done eating, ¡°How did you like our food?¡± ¡°It was great. It was long time since I ate something good like this.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll tell it to our chef. Now we can move to business. I asked around and there are couple of jobs you could take. Most of them are guarding and one even asked for occasional bodyguard. There are two persons that asked for engineering skills. One is our Mayor and other is Hurriliat.¡± I raised eyebrows, ¡°Hurriliat?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s one of the aliens that live here. Hurriliat is name of his race and because he¡¯s only one of his species in this town we call him that as no one can pronounce his name. He set up a repair shop but he lacks proper engineers. He¡¯s got one, but he¡¯s more of a helper then real engineer.¡± That could work out. I also wanted to find out more about the aliens and if there was a problem that I could help them with. ¡°What about mayor? What does he need engineer for?¡± I asked. ¡°He needs someone to work on the city and spaceport. He has some engineers, but they always needs more at the spaceport. His pay would be definitely better than one Hurriliat can give you.¡± ¡°Lastly what can you tell me about this bodyguard duty?¡± I asked. ¡°This is from another alien. Recently, they let another one of them attend the town council, but there were already two attacks on representative. Because of the attacks he¡¯s looking for a bodyguard. His name is Norman Klain. It¡¯s not his true name, but his race hides their true names and reveals them only to family and close friends.¡± He said. ¡°Well, that¡¯s definitely something to look up. I have to thank you for your help. What took you one night, would took me whole week or more probably.¡± I said. ¡°Take it as gift for saving Nien.¡± He said. ¡°I¡¯ll go talk to them. First I would like to talk to Hurriliat and then I would go to Mr. Klain. Can you point me in right direction?¡± ¡°You can find them both at the south side of the city or alien district as they call it. Hurriliat sat up shop right in the main square. As for Norman, you would have to ask there. I don¡¯t know where he¡¯s living.¡± Said Johnathan. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll go for now. I hope we¡¯ll see each other.¡± ¡°Of course we¡¯ll see each other. We¡¯ll come to visit you when you get some accommodation.¡± Said Harry. I smiled and head out to the alien district. I knew when I got there, as most of the buildings were dirty and some of them looked ready to collapse. I went straight to the square they mentioned and looked for the shop. It was too dirty, like others, but I could see someone put work into it. It was in better condition than nearby ones. I walked into it and looked around. There were many gadgets in different conditions hanged around the room. Some looked already repaired while some looked completely broken. I walked around when I sensed someone coming from behind me. I whirled around and surprised a small alien that was behind me. He jumped up and took two steps back, ¡°Sorry didn¡¯t want to startle you.¡± He was really small and his head come up somewhere around my waist. He looked up at me with big blue eyes which were twice as big as mine with cat like pupil. He was smiling and that revealed a line of sharp pointy teeth. I smiled back, ¡°Nothing happened, I¡¯m looking for Hurriliat.¡± ¡°Then you found him. What do you need? You don¡¯t look like someone who would need something to repair and humans are not very welcome in this part of the city.¡± He said and eyed my weapons. I had to place them somewhere or everyone would look at me, like I was a hired killer. ¡°I¡¯m here because of your notice. I heard that you¡¯re looking for an engineer.¡± I said. ¡°Yes I am and you want to work for me?¡± he looked curiously at me. ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m going to visit Mr. Klain about bodyguard work after this meeting. If he¡¯ll take me, I would need some free time for that.¡± He stroked his chin and looked at me, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll give you some free time if I take you, but you need to prove yourself first. Come in the back and I¡¯ll give you a test.¡± He said and moved to the workshop. I went with him and entered his workshop. It wasn¡¯t anything big just small workshop with four tables placed in the middle and tools hanging on walls around them. Currently sitting on table were three items. First was some lamp that was leaking plasma form a small fracture. Second was the laser pistol that would probably be easier to just scrap and start anew. The final item was a vacuum cleaner that had busted motor. ¡°So which one should I repair?¡± I asked looking at tables. ¡°This items are for the customer. I won¡¯t let you work on them till I know you can do it.¡± He said and gave me another broken lamp that was laying on a ground. I looked at it and scanned it. I could see immediately that the problem was with the wiring. It was old and burned on some places. I took it apart and switched the wiring with new. I tried it and there was still problem. In the end it was simple. There was just burned bulb. I changed it and switched the lamp on. Everything went fine so I put it back together and hand it to Hurriliat. He was looking at what I was doing and I saw him nodding his head. Still he inspected it once more and put it back on the ground. ¡°You¡¯re good to find it so quick. Now one last question before you can start here. Why do you want to work for me? I can¡¯t pay you as much as Mayor and I¡¯m sure you heard about his offer already.¡± ¡°I want to work for you because I thought that it would be easier to make my shifts more flexible.¡± I said not revealing the whole truth. ¡°Yes, if that¡¯s how fast you work normally, you can take a day off when you need. Only thing that I would want is that you would teach my other employee little about the engineering.¡± He said. ¡°Ok, no problem. Where can I sign myself?¡± ¡°No need to sign. I know who are you and you know who I am. You can ask around and they¡¯ll tell you that I don¡¯t cheat.¡± He said. ¡°Good, my only problem is that I have nowhere to sleep right now. If you know about some place where they would take me with payment going in one month later, I would be glad.¡± I said. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind the noise from youngsters that comes to party near here, you can sleep upstairs. There are three rooms and currently I¡¯m using only two of them. I would take a rent from your pay.¡± He said. ¡°Last thing, what is my pay?¡± I asked. ¡°I just opened the shop so I can give you three thousands credits a month and that¡¯s with the rent included. That should be enough to cover your expanses and let you save something.¡± He said. I didn¡¯t know if it was too little or too much but we could negotiate my payment later. I still needed to go visit Mr. Klain. ¡°Yes that should be enough for now. Can you point me to residence of Mr. Klain?¡± I said. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s just across the square. He owns the local apothecary.¡± He said. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll go to him then.¡± I said. ¡°Tell him I vouch for you or he won¡¯t listen to you and friends call me Harr.¡± He said. I smiled and thanked him. Then I went out of the shop and across the square to look for the apothecary. It was exactly where Harr told me it would be but what he didn¡¯t told me was, that there would be a guards before it. They looked like trolls from some fantasy world. Both of them wielded plasma rifles that looked to be new. Also both had shields. That I could tell by how the air shimmered near them. As I came near, both of them pointed their guns at me. ¡°This shop is only for aliens.¡± He said. I lifted up my hands, ¡°I here to talk with your boss. Harr can vouch for me.¡± I said. One of them snickered, ¡°So you want to talk to our boss? Boss someone wants to talk to you.¡± He shouted. There was laud swearing and another big Troll came from door. ¡°¡±Who wants to talk to me?¡± he asked and both guards pointed at me. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Are you Mr. Klain?¡± I asked. ¡°Why do you ask?¡± he said and by the state of his knuckles, I could already tell I came while they were robbing him or worse. I was silent and considerer what to do. ¡°I asked you, what do you want?¡± he shouted. ¡°She told us that Harr vouched for her.¡± One of thugs said. Their boss smiled when he heard it, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you said so sooner? You can come in when Harr vouched for you, but you¡¯ll need to give us your weapons.¡± He was waiting, but when he saw me still standing he continued. ¡±Obviously, only until we finish our business.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll give them to you.¡± I said and pulled out both pistols. I had them pointed at ground and took two steps towards them. They lowered their weapons, obviously they weren¡¯t great thinkers. As they reached out for my weapons, I turned them up and fired at their face. As I found out their shields weren¡¯t as good as their weapons and both of their shields collapsed. They panicked when they saw their shield failing and jumped backwards. It was easy to dispatch them both with quick shots from pistols to legs and shoulders. Their leader reacted faster than both of them and jumped on me. He wanted to tackle me down, but what he didn¡¯t count on was that I was far more powerful than I looked. I dropped both pistols and caught his arms. He wore elevated expression but that changed as I forced his fingers up until he was groveling on ground. I interrupted his swearing when I kneed him in face. After he lost conciseness I took their weapons from them and shouted for Harr to come here. He was already running towards me, ¡°What happened here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not completely sure, but I need you to guard them, while I look inside.¡± I said. I was already scanning inside of the building and there was only one source of heat. That should be Mr. Klain. I walked to the door and shouted, ¡°Mr. Klain are you alright?¡± ¡°Who are you? You too want to rob me?¡± he shouted back and I could hear pain in his voice. ¡°She¡¯s with us let her in.¡± shouted Harr. There was silence for a while than I could hear someone moving towards the door. They were opened by older alien. His skin was green and he was same species as Leonard my Paladin boss from another universe. I could see that his third arm was broken and that he took pretty bad beating. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Mr. Klain we need to take you to hospital.¡± I said when I saw him. ¡°No, I would be too vulnerable in hospital. Take me to Tara she can patch me up. Harr can point you in the right direction.¡± He said and winced. I looked at Harr who just shrugged, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll take you to her.¡± Harr said and I went to support Mr. Klain. I felt him place more and more weight on me, when he saw I can take it. I told Harr to sheath my pistols and bind trolls with something. Then we moved towards Tara¡¯s home. Luckily it wasn¡¯t too far from us. When we saw her house Harr went ahead and pounded on a door. I could hear grumbling from the other side. ¡°I¡¯m coming, you don¡¯t have to pound on my door anymore.¡± Finally door was opened by pissed of Hurriliat. I was surprised and Mr. Klain saw it. ¡°She¡¯s our secret. If they knew we have her, they would attack her just to hurt us.¡± He said. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was paranoid or if someone was truly against them. I would have to take time and found out what was happening in this town. Harr was explaining something to Tara in their language and pointing at us. At first she looked pissed but after while she looked at us and beckoned us inside. ¡°Place him on one of the beds. I¡¯ll take care of him.¡± She said. All beds were empty so I picked one and placed him there. He groaned as I was easing him down, but he held it and didn¡¯t scream. I looked back at Tara. ¡°Now go away. We can introduce ourselves later.¡± She said and shushed me away. I went back and sit down on chair in the kitchen. Harr was already there and when he saw me he chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t mind her, when she has patient she¡¯s always like that. Now sit down and drink tea. She¡¯ll be back in a minute.¡± I sat down and Harr poured me cup of a tea, ¡°Now tell me what happened there.¡± I told him what happened before Klain¡¯s shop. I asked him if he knew who they were. He told me they were thugs working for a local kingpin. I was back from the grave no more than couple of days and I already fought with local fauna and pissed the kingpin in this city. I started to think that I had some sort of gift to take a normal day and make it an extraordinary bad. I sent ping to a local network and was surprised when I connected to a pretty decent network. I was browsing it, when I saw Harr looking at me with smile. ¡°I knew you were something more. You have the implants, have you not?¡± ¡°Yes, but keep it secret. I don¡¯t know much about this planet and it gives me an advantage when no one knows about it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell anyone.¡± He said and winked. I smiled back when Tara walked into the kitchen. She had some blood on her hands that she washed down in a sink. She then looked back at us, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯ll be fine. He called for you stranger.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll go see him.¡± I walked towards the ward and knocked on a doorframe, ¡°Can I come in?¡± ¡°Come in. I heard that you¡¯re one I should thank that it didn¡¯t go worse than this. Let me just ask you. Why did you do it?¡± I laughed, ¡°It would be bad if I go on a bodyguard interview and don¡¯t help my potential client when he¡¯s in danger.¡± ¡°Yes, that would be bad for business.¡± He said smiling at me. ¡°So you want to work for me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure myself, but from what I saw, I think that most aliens on this planet are harassed. That¡¯s something I don¡¯t like.¡± I said. ¡±That¡¯s true, most of people living here don¡¯t like us, but it¡¯s mostly because of Mayor. I don¡¯t know how, but I think that he¡¯s making a campaign against us. When something breaks, alien did it. When someone is killed, alien did it. You can make picture about other instances.¡± He said. That looked even worse than I thought. If he¡¯s telling the truth, it could turn into lynch by angry mob and there isn¡¯t enough aliens to defend themselves. ¡°Yes, I see where it could be problem. So what do you say? Do I have a job or not?¡± ¡°You can have it, if you pass my test.¡± He said. I sighed, so saving his life doesn¡¯t count. If everything was like this with him, I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted the job. ¡°Ok, what is this test?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll fight against my friend and if he passes you can be my bodyguard.¡± He said. I frowned, ¡°Who is this friend of yours?¡± ¡°No one important, just local martial art teacher.¡± He said. He was evidently enjoying himself, ¡°Ok, point me in his direction so I can have it over.¡± ¡°Harr can take you there. Now let me sleep.¡± He said and turned himself on the other side. I stared at him but that was evidently everything that I would get from him. He didn¡¯t even thanked me for saving him. I was still looking flustered and little pissed when I get to the kitchen. Harr took only one look at my face and started laughing. ¡°What are you laughing at?¡± asked Tara. ¡°On her, she just found out who she picked for employer.¡± He said. I glared at him, ¡°You could have at least warn me about him.¡± ¡°And lose all the fun watching you now?¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I can work for him.¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s not all that bad. He¡¯s little paranoid, but last three representatives died on their way to or from the council meetings.¡± He said. ¡°But he wants to test me for this job. Even after I saved him from thugs.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s little different then you think. He¡¯s testing you to know that you are strong enough to protect him, but at the same time strong enough to protect yourself. If he takes you, you¡¯ll be his third bodyguard. All of them lost life while saving his. Now, no one wants to take job and all that tried he sends to Liray. He takes them down quickly and shows them that they are not prepared. ¡± He said. ¡°Ok, that looks better than the impression I got from him.¡± I said. ¡°Oh, the impression was probably right, but not complete.¡± He said. Tara was watching the exchange between us and after while she stood up and went to ward. ¡°I hope I didn¡¯t offend her or something.¡± I said. ¡°No nothing of the sort. She just don¡¯t talk much and she doesn¡¯t like humans much. You¡¯ll have to give her some time.¡± He said and stood up, ¡°Come I¡¯ll take you to Liray and on a way we can take care of this thug we wrapped before Normans shop.¡± I stood up and followed him out. When we came before Normans shop, there were no sign of our thugs. On ground were just cut rope that we used to bind him with. ¡°Well that could prove inconvenient later. We should go to Liray and talk to him about it.¡± Said Harr. ¡°Why to him?¡± I asked. ¡°He¡¯s something like a local sheriff. If someone does something stupid he explains to them, that they should back off or they would get visit from him.¡± He said. ¡°And they just listen to him?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°No, they listen, because he¡¯s best fighter in a whole town.¡± Said Harr. My test gets worse by the minute. I sighed, ¡°Ok, take me to him so we can report this and test me. I want it behind me already.¡± We walked to the outer edge of alien district to a small cottage with a sparing ring behind it. Harr knocked on the house and went inside. He didn¡¯t tell me anything so I followed him inside. It was only one circle room that was almost bare. There was one table with three chairs and one desk with small stove that served for food preparation. There was no one inside and I could see Harr going out of the door on the other side of house. I hurried over and stepped out. There in the middle of a sparing ring was man whose race I saw most in most city. Of course I didn¡¯t count humans. They were mostly humanoid in a shape. They were partly transparent and their skin had a slightly blue color. He was about one head shorter than me, but compared to the other individuals from his species, he was muscular and he also didn¡¯t have any hair. He was sitting cross-legged on ground. Harr sat down on ground and waited for him to finish with his meditation. I sat down near Harr and waited for Liray to finish. After five minutes I had enough of this and stood up. ¡°Mr. Liray, I was sent by Mr. Klain to take your test.¡± I said. He sighed and opened his eyes. He had golden eyes with a horizontal irises. ¡°Young people are always so impatient. What if this was the test?¡± he asked. ¡°Then I would have failed it and I can move on.¡± I said. ¡°Good, you¡¯re not wasting your time with past. Come sit we¡¯ll first talk, then we move on test.¡± He smiled at me. Whatever I did or said, it looked that I impressed him and disappointed him at same time. I sat down and waited for Harr to start explaining our problem. He made a small bow and started explaining what happened this morning. Liray occasionally interrupted him with question about some detail. After Harr told him everything he was sitting silently with thoughtful expression. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll do something about it, but for now take precautions against their retaliation.¡± He said. We nodded and he started to measure me with his eyes. ¡°So you overpowered Borg. You¡¯re more powerful then you look.¡± He said. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just that good.¡± He smiled and beckoned me to enter sparing ring. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± He smiled and bowed towards me. I started to bow when I sensed him moving. I instinctively blocked his first kick that would hit me strait in the face. I stumbled backwards from impact and he pounced on me. He punched towards my face and I caught his fist. I smiled because I thought that I won when his other fist connected with my arm that was holding his fist. I felt slight tearing in my muscles and if I had normal arm he would have broken it. Both of us jumped from each other. He looked surprised at me when I shook my arm and prepared to take him on. My nanobots already repaired most of the damage. I thought that would be enough but he just smiled even more and came at me. He was moving twice as fast as before and I could barely defend against his attacks. Finally I jumped when he tried to swipe my legs and suddenly I found myself thrown across ring at the wall. I hit it and fall down. I assessed the damage done to my body and I had broken four ribs and damaged my spine. I saw him put down his leg that he used to kick me across ring. Harr rushed to me but I was looking at Liray who looked disappointed, ¡°That¡¯s all, I thought that you would be better. I¡¯ll tell Norman you failed.¡± I was furious. I didn¡¯t want to fight with him in the first place and now he would tell me I failed because I couldn¡¯t fight him bare handed. I had enough on my plate already and this tipped me over. I saw red as I launched at him with scream. I didn¡¯t even dodge his fist and connected with my face, I didn¡¯t even blocked his leg going towards my side and instead I punched him in the face. I took him by surprise and landed good one on him. He was laying down on ground looking at me with dizzy eyes. I looked back at him, ¡°You failed.¡± and went away from him. Before I could make one step I heard him say, ¡°You passed.¡± I turned to look at him and he was already standing up from ground. ¡°Do you want more?¡± I asked. He pointed his hands up. ¡°No, no, this one was enough.¡± ¡°I needed to see if you can really fight, even when you¡¯re hurt and overpowered. I needed to see if you have spirit of the warrior.¡± He said. ¡°So that¡¯s why you tried to kill me? If I were normal human, I would be dead.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, but you aren¡¯t. If you want, I can train you. I can see that you have some experience in fighting but you never learned properly. Am I right?¡± ¡°Yes I never learned, but why would I want to learn from someone like you?¡± I said. He smiled and winced in pain. I hit him more than I thought, ¡°Because I¡¯m best at least I thought so.¡± ¡°He¡®s telling the truth. There is no one better than him in a whole town.¡± Said Harr who stared wide eyed at me. I thought about his offer and to tell the truth some training would be good. I¡¯m not sure how far from the Earth I am, but with my luck it would be across the whole galaxy. I was still angry at him but if he¡¯s best it would be good to learn something from him. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll learn but no kicking across ring.¡± I said. ¡°About that, I¡¯m sorry it was long time since I could go full on someone. I kind of forgot that you have no training.¡± He said. Harr¡¯s eyes bulged at that. ¡°Can I go now? I need to look at my injuries.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, you can go. I¡¯ll tell Norman that he should hire you.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I said and moved away. I went to my room at Harr¡¯s workshop and lay down on bed. I let my nanobots repair the damage and thought about how I was going to survive Liray¡¯s training. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ Back in Liray¡¯s house Harr was drinking tea. ¡°So, how is she really?¡± he asked. ¡°She¡¯s untrained, but I can tell you she is more dangerous than I thought. When I hit her it was like punching the stone wall and she was obviously in more than one fight from her reaction time.¡± He said. ¡°You were both fast, but it looked that she took most of the beating.¡± Said Harr. ¡°Yes, but that was because I¡¯m more experienced and skilled. I¡¯ll tell you one thing for sure that I found out from this fight. She¡¯s not human.¡± He said. ¡°I thought so too.¡± Harr looked thoughtful, ¡± Well, at least it would be interesting.¡± ¡°Yes, it would.¡± Said Liray then after a small pause he said quietly, ¡°Yes, it would.¡± Book 2 - Chapter 3: Council meeting Well chapter came later then I thought, but I rewrote it couple of time. I hope you''ll like it. It''s more action packed then most :D. If you have some tips write me message. Enjoy - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Next month I worked for Harr and trained his apprentice. His apprentice was same race as Liray but wasn¡¯t muscular and wore long white hair. I tried to teach him theory behind every repair. Why we needed to change this and that, why we had to change some part and why we could just repair some. He was typical teen who didn¡¯t want to listen to anyone. He wouldn¡¯t listen even to me, but Harr threaten to fire him if he doesn¡¯t learn from me, so he at least tried to look like he listened to me. His name was Kilial and he worked for Harr because his father was Harr¡¯s friend. They became friends when they worked in a local militia after our two universes merged. His friend died in war and Harr promised him on his dead body that he would take care of his family. After war ended, he looked up his wife and found her with small child getting from day to day by begging on a streets. He moved her into his house and took care of her. After about four years, she found a job and even a new husband. She moved away, but she asked Harr if he could teach her son how to repair things. He took him in and now it was probably only promise to his mother that was forcing him to tolerate him. He refused to learn and thought that he already knew better than others. In this one month, I taught them as much as I could, but some things they didn¡¯t understand. Our little shop started to make name for itself and we had our own visitors that wanted to protect us. Of course they would do it for small fee. Luckily Liray was there and told them that he would talk to their boss about this. I didn¡¯t want to make more enemies in the city then I already made so I didn¡¯t helped Liray. When they were going out of they looked pretty pale. Every day after work, I went to train with Liray and even though I was getting better, I still couldn¡¯t defeat him. I found out that the nanobots changed my body according to what I was doing. I was getting more flexible and faster as I was training. Once Liray asked me where I came from. I told him about the cave and how I got into the city. I knew that he was suspicious of me because of my quick prowess and that I could take too much beating. Sometimes I would visit Harry and Johnathan. They wanted to come, but Harr told me that it would be dangerous for them, as situation between humans and aliens were turning from bad to worse. Violence between humans and aliens was slowly but steadily rising. There we couple of incidents on both sides. Now after one month, it was time for my first bodyguard job. I met only once with Norman after my test. He came to tell me that he¡¯ll take me as his bodyguard. I tried to ask him where the council meetings would take place, but he told me that place changes every time. I found it weird that such small town had to change the location because they feared attacks. He told me that he would tell me everything, he knew on a way to the meeting. That wouldn¡¯t give me too much time for preparation, but I¡¯ll make do somehow. When the time came, I moved outside of a shop and waited for Norman to pick me up on his car. He had his car checked before every ride, so I didn¡¯t need to fear bomb attack. Still I did quick scan of his car. He came exactly twenty minutes before the council meeting. I sat down next to him and adjusted my weapons. I had pulled up my visor, because I didn¡¯t want the council members to see my face. They would be able to identify me by my clothes but I could change them if I would require it. I tested my shields and they should take couple of shots, before they collapse. Of course that would depend on strength of the shot, but I was confident that at least in terms of equipment, I would have upper hand. ¡°Good day Mr. Klain.¡± I said sitting down on a seat. ¡°Good day to you too Miss Leya.¡± He said and pulled away from the shop heading towards the center of city. ¡°Today¡¯s meeting will be held in a city hall. It wasn¡¯t held there for at least one year and they changed the location just before this meeting, so you should be alert. Open partition window near your seat. There should be a tablet with all the information regarding city hall. It would be best for you to study them for remainder of our way.¡± I opened it and pulled out tablet. I briefly looked at the plans and copied them into my internal memory. I looked at the building plans and I could see problems. If we¡¯re attacked, there aren¡¯t many places where we could hide. Between city hall and other houses was about hundred meters gap of concrete. There were four exits, two main, one from behind and one from the underground garage. I looked at an interior arrangement and at least there were enough places to hold the ground and wait for the reinforcements. It started to rain on our way to the city hall and sun was already going down when we came to the city hall. It was a big rectangle building with pointy towers on the roof. I could see couple of small gardens around the city hall. We entered city hall through the garage and I could see there were already parked many cars. Some looked new, some old but none of them was hover car or something more sophisticated. We walked out of the car and headed to the guard standing before the elevator. ¡°Hold right there. Who are you?¡± said the guard. He was there alone, which I think was mistake on their part. It¡¯s too easy to overpower one man. ¡°I¡¯m councilor Klain and this is my bodyguard. If you would be so kind and let us pass.¡± Said Norman. I was surprised that he could talk so kindly towards someone. ¡°You can go, but your bodyguard has to hand over her weapons.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding. I didn¡¯t hire bodyguard so he could walk around without weapons. How do you suppose she¡¯s going to protect me without one?¡± Norman shouted on guard. Now that was more like Norman I knew. ¡°Sir, but that¡¯s a rule. I apologize, but I have to take her weapons away.¡± He said. ¡°Last meeting, my bodyguard didn¡¯t have to hand over his weapons. So explain it to me why now she has to?¡± Norman asked. Guard looked around nervously, ¡°It¡¯s a new rule. No one can enter the building with weapon.¡± ¡°Call your superiors and tell them if they want me on this meeting, they¡¯ll have to make exception for her.¡± he said and turned back to car. ¡°I¡¯ll wait here in a car for their decision.¡± Guard looked pleadingly at me, but I just shook my head. I don¡¯t think it would be good idea to hand over my weapons. I knew he was just doing his job, but if even part of what Harr, Liray and Norman were telling is truth, I would need them tonight. Guard turned his back on us and spoke into the radio. After few minutes he turned to us and stepped aside. ¡°Sorry for the wait. You can go.¡± ¡°Took you long enough.¡± Murmured Norman as he went by him. We went to third floor in elevator and moved to the conference hall. Once there Norman sat down on one seat and I stepped behind him and slightly to the right. With my visor up, no one could see my face and it let me look around without acting suspicious. This wasn¡¯t big conference hall. It could host around thirty people comfortably. Seats were arranged in a half circle. Before them was a pedestal for the speaker. It was elevated above the other seats. It helped everyone to hear speaker but I liked circle in Paladins base more. It represented what they wanted to do. There were nine council members in all, but right now there were only five seated in hall. I wanted to listen to them as they swapped on a pedestal, but after first hour of talking about what color they should use on lines on roads, I ignored them. I concentrated more on other bodyguards. Only three members had bodyguards. Other two probably didn¡¯t piss off anyone and it helped that they were human. At least in this town it helped. What surprised me was that there was already another alien on council. No one mentioned her before. She was same race as Liray, but she was typical individual of her race. She was skinny and she head long white hair. Because of her slightly transparent skin, I could see her blood vessels going through her body. From some of my dealing with their race, I knew they hated confrontation and tried to evade it whenever they can. Her bodyguard was human with a decent equipment, at least for this town. One problem I could see was, that he was inexperienced. He looked around nervously and touched his pistol constantly. If something happens, he would probably be more of a liability then help. But one never knows maybe he¡¯ll prove good help. On the other hand, bodyguards protecting other the councilmen looked professional. Both of them were humans. I scanned them and one of them immediately looked up at me and smiled. From scans, I could tell he had some sort of implants. It was probably basic implants for controlling sensors. This enabled him to catch my scan. I memorized their equipment for future help. I looked back at the council members and concentrated on them when I heard them talking about the spaceport. ¡°We can¡¯t take care of it anymore. We can¡¯t repair half the things broken on it and to tell the truth, their offer is very generous.¡± Said council member standing on a pedestal. ¡°Without spaceport, we can close the whole city. It¡¯s our biggest income.¡± Said Norman. ¡°I told you before, they plan to invest into our city and make new job offers for everyone. They¡¯re bidding on second spaceport on our planet too. If we don¡¯t hurry, they¡¯ll sell it before us.¡± Said same man as before. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell us this before. If it¡¯s true, then we can¡¯t sell it. They could buy both of them and our planet would be without one in our hands. They would own us in a way and we would depend on them. What if they start charging outrageous payment for using it?¡± Said Norman looking really angry. ¡°They wouldn¡¯t do it. They already helped on neighbor planet. They bought the spaceport and repaired it. Then they made new job for everyone and in the end everyone won.¡± Replied same man. I focused on him as he was speaking. He wore a long coat with a symbol placed on it. It was circle with two wings on the side. Once was pointing up and one down. I was sure, I already saw it somewhere, but couldn¡¯t place it. I was also surprised that they planned to sell it, when I got the job offer as a mechanic on it. I leaned forward to Norman, ¡°Mr. Klain I can repair the spaceport. If you have problems with it, I can even teach others how to repair it.¡± He turned to me with raised eyebrows and nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± and turned back to others. ¡°My Bodyguard tells me that she could repair the spaceport and she could even teach it to others.¡± When man with the coat heard it he looked angry. That surprised me. He should have been happy that they could work around the offer, but he was angry. I would have to ask Norman more about him. I was interrupted from my thoughts by a com call on my implants. ¡°Harr, is it working?¡± I heard Liray. ¡°It should be already on.¡± Said Harr from the background. I answered them without speaking, ¡°I can hear you. I¡¯m on council session, if it¡¯s not important, call me later.¡± ¡°Someone is going to attack the city hall. Is it important enough?¡± Said Liray. I looked around and did a full scan. There was nothing out of order, but Liray didn¡¯t make mistakes as far as I know. ¡°What kind of attack and when would it start?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know anything specific about it, just that someone would attack it. At least that¡¯s word on the streets.¡± Said Liray. ¡°Ok. Thanks for the heads up. If there is nothing more, I need to prepare for an attack.¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing more. Give am hell girl.¡± Chuckled Liray. ¡°Take care of yourself.¡± Said Harr. ¡°I will.¡± I said and ended call. I stepped forward. ¡°I just got call from a friend that there will be attack on the city hall. We have to call the police and prepare for it.¡± Same man who came with offer for spaceport stood up. ¡°Who are you and where did you get this information?¡± ¡°My name is Leya and like I said I just got call from a friend that someone will attack the city hall.¡± I said. ¡°How can we tell you¡¯re telling the truth?¡± asked same man. He was getting on my nerves. ¡°You don¡¯t have to. I¡¯ll just save my client and whoever wants to come.¡± I said and went to look out from the window. Other bodyguards went to look out from the windows too. I couldn¡¯t see anything, but from the other side inexperienced bodyguard called. ¡°There are five cars approaching this building.¡± He said. I tried to call police, but I was cut from them half way through the call. They had to bring jammer. I hoped that Liray would call the police, but I couldn¡¯t count on it. ¡°They¡¯re jamming us.¡± Said man who caught me scanning him. At least someone was doing something. ¡°Is there some place that is more defensible then this?¡± I asked. I tried to use a local network and contact guards and call them back but I couldn¡¯t find any connected to the local network. Either they couldn¡¯t hear me or they were on this with the attackers. I would place my money on second case, because they tried to take our weapons from us. I went to one of the bodyguards. ¡°Hi my name is Leya. I¡¯d like to ask, did guards tried to take away your weapons?¡± It was same guy who caught me scanning him. ¡°Hi my name is Greg and yes they took them, but when you refused to come until they let you have them, we too demanded to have them back.¡± He looked concerned suddenly, ¡°Do you think that they are on it with attackers?¡± ¡°Yes, probably, at least we should suspect them for now. Another thing going against them is that both guards before the doors vanished.¡± I said. He whistled which caught attention of others, ¡°You can scan even behind the door? That¡¯s some damn good equipment. I tried but I won¡¯t get through the walls.¡± ¡°Little lauder, everyone probably didn¡¯t hear you.¡± I hissed at him. ¡°Oh, ¡­ I¡¯ll zip my mouth.¡± He said with an amused smile. Most of the councilmen were walking around aimlessly and no one volunteered to tell me better position for the defense. I called the map of building and look for some place. We needed to get away from here. They¡¯ll be heading here first. I pulled out Pat and gave it to Norman. ¡°Here, take it. I unlocked it for you. I hope you know how to shoot.¡± He nodded. ¡°Ok, we need to move away from here.¡± I said to everyone. Bodyguards nodded while members of council looked confused and fearful. I sighed, that¡¯s why I liked to work with professionals, even Lee was better than they. ¡°I know you are afraid, but you need to concentrate.¡± I shouted at them which got their attention. ¡°We need to move from here. Now move behind me. I¡¯ll go first, flanks and our back would be covered by other bodyguards.¡± I looked at them and they all nodded even if one bodyguard looked nervous. I went to him and I saw that he was shaking. I placed my hand on him and he looked up at me. Close up he looked even younger than I thought. ¡°Hi, my name is Leya. What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Josh. Do you think we¡¯ll make it?¡± he asked. ¡°Of course we¡¯ll make it, but I need you to help me protect them. We just have to get to the apartment and wait for the police.¡± I said. He nodded, ¡°Thank you. I won¡¯t fail you and them.¡± I smiled. ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I trust you with the left flank.¡± He looked far better than before and I just hoped that it would last. I went to the door and once more scanned what was behind them. I tried to open them and found out that they were closed. I prepared to kick them out when I heard Greg behind me. ¡°It¡¯s a security door, you won¡¯t ¡­¡± he was saying as I kicked door out. They flew out with laud bang. I turned toward him and smiled, ¡°You were saying?¡± It wasn¡¯t probably best thing to do. I should have made my strength secret. I moved forward and headed for the stairs. I wanted to go one floor down and barricade in one apartment that should have a security door and hardened walls. That should give us better chance than staying here. I moved slowly forward across the corridor and used sensors to scout ahead. I couldn¡¯t hear or sense anything till we came toward the stairs. I could hear people moving up. I pointed others to hide further into the corridor and waited for our attackers. I pointed towards stairs and let other bodyguards know that we should prepare ambush for them. I used jammer to hide us from their scanners. It would make my sensors blind, but still better then to be found out by our attackers. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. We hid ourselves behind walls on both side of stairs. Me and Josh on one side and Greg with the other bodyguard on other. It was wide staircase going through the middle of building and it connected all floors together. They were almost near us when I heard the elevator ping. That meant that we now had enemies at our backs too. We had to quicken up our operation. I glanced at Greg and he nodded. I patted Josh on the shoulder and vaulted myself from the corner. I counted nine enemy soldiers. As I landed I saw two of them fall down before they even spotted us. I fired with Fist three times before they fell back down the stairs. First shot caught one of original guards and without shielding, it went right through him. My other two shots weren¡¯t as lucky and I only managed to take down shield on one of the soldiers. They were different from guards. All of them had some sort of armor. Nothing great, but they had shields. One of the soldiers I clipped was taken by Greg who hit him in the head with his rifle. All in all, we took six of them down, before last three managed to move downstairs. I sprang up and went after them. We needed to retreat before others caught up with us. This was probably only a small part of force sent after us. ¡°Get others and go down. I¡¯ll take them out.¡± I said and ran after them. I didn¡¯t hear what they replied as I was already running downstairs. I stopped jamming for a second and did a quick scan. I found that they were hiding at same place as me and others. They tried to use same tactic to ambush us. It would be good tactic against someone who didn¡¯t know they were there, but I knew about them. What they didn¡¯t know was that I wasn¡¯t human and I could move faster than one. In full sprint I run downstairs and before they knew it I was on them. One of them leaned to look at stairs and I punched him. It was first time I used my full strength and I heard laud crunch as his neck broke. I grabbed him and tossed him across corridor on one of attackers. He had to roll sideways and dodge his colleague. Third one that was standing behind one I killed with punch and he fired at me but my shields held. I caught his arm and brought him before me as his partner fired at me with his plasma rifle. It took him three shots to get through shield and kill his partner. When I saw shields going down I kicked him towards last enemy and rolled left. As I was going up on one knee I fired from Punch two shots towards my enemy. I quickly looked, if I got him and I could see him falling backwards on floor. I went before stairs. ¡°It¡¯s clean down there. You can come.¡± They came quickly downstairs and I could see surprise on their faces. They probably thought that I lost it and tried to be a hero. ¡°Come we have to go to the left. There¡¯s an apartment that we could use and barricade there.¡± I said and moved down the corridor. Fortunately we didn¡¯t encounter anyone on our way to the apartment. It was behind the corner on end of the corridor. We heard them moving behind us, but they had to go slowly. They feared that we would ambush them. We came before apartment and found out that it was locked. I tried to kick it out but nothing happened. After laud bang, door stood there with only with a small dent in them. ¡°Let me, I¡¯ll try to get us in.¡± said the bodyguard whose name I didn¡¯t know. He went to panel and jacked in. I didn¡¯t get his implants on my scan. He was better than I thought. I heard enemies coming through the corridor. I ran across and hid behind a small alcove. Greg took position across from me and hid behind the wall. Josh didn¡¯t have a place where he could hide so he waited behind Greg. I leaned out and looked down the corridor with Fist. I waited for our attackers. I saw them coming. First were the guards and after them were the soldiers. That shown me, how they thought about them. They were just a cannon fodder. I aimed at one soldier behind them and pulled the trigger twice on Fist. I hit him both times in the head. I overcharged slightly Fist so first shot took down his shield and second shot hit him strait between the eyes. He was dead before he knew what was happening. As he was falling down all our enemies took cover behind anything they found. Greg squeezed three shots and took one of the guards down. We were lucky no one got a serious battle armor or something like that or this would be a short fight. They had mostly alight armor with occasional medium armor. ¡°Hurry it up!¡± said Greg to our hacker. He didn¡¯t respond. He probably wasn¡¯t even aware of what was happening around him. There were more than twenty of them and we were getting pretty desperate. Whole corridor was filled with lasers, plasma and bullets from our exchange with the attackers. I was hit two times and my shield went to 50%. I leaned back to alcove and shot blindly towards corridor, till it regenerate at least little. Wall behind us was getting destroyed and I could already see outside of a building. I was getting low on a power cells for Fist when I heard our hacker. ¡°I got it come inside.¡± They all went inside and they prepared to close the door behind as soon as I went inside. I was just getting prepared to come across when I saw one of councilman close the door. I poured more fire down the corridor and waited for them to open door for me but nothing was happening. I couldn¡¯t wait for them to figure it out and open door. I looked for alternative way and looked out of the window. We were two stories up but I should be able to take it with my new body. I fired down the corridor to slow them down and opened window. I looked down and there was a small garden under me. I calculated where I should jump so I don¡¯t hit trees and jump down. Air whirled around me as I was falling down. Ground came to me all too soon and when I hit it, I rolled and tried to minimalize impact. I tore some muscles in my knee, but I could still move. I moved away and hid under one tree. ¡°Where did she go? Others hid in apartment like we thought, but she escaped. I don¡¯t know who she is, but we have no information about her.¡± I heard from window. ¡°Do you think that she jumped down?¡± said one of the guards. ¡°She could, but she¡¯ll probably broke her legs.¡± Said another one. Then I heard someone with authority speaking to them. ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate her. She took down more of us than other bodyguards and her equipment is better than any I saw in a long time. Go down there and finish her.¡± ¡°Ok, how many of us should go?¡± asked one soldier. ¡°Take all guards and four of us. That should be enough to take her down.¡± Said their Commander. ¡°Is it not little overkill for one girl?¡± asked same soldier. ¡°Like I said, don¡¯t underestimate her.¡± Said Commander. ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll take her down. Be right back.¡± said soldier. By their speech they were mercenaries, not soldiers. They were going after me, but it would take them some time to get downstairs. My first objective would be to take down jammer and call the police. After that I have to get upstairs and get into apartment. They obviously considered this option and prepared for it. Maybe police arrival would force them to make a mistake. The nanobots already repaired my kneed and I moved towards the building. I went for back entrance where garages were. I sent impulse to my skin and it changed according to the surroundings. I wanted to take down my coat but I saw it changed with me. I smiled, they had no idea who they were dealing with. I heard them moving behind me through the garden, but I was already heading towards the garage. I got there and I couldn¡¯t see any guards at the entrance. I used night vision to move around the garden and now I combined it with heat vision. I could see three people near cars and strong heat source in one of them that is probably jammer. There was also one person laying in a car trunk. I sneaked near them and listened to them. ¡°How long do you think it would take them to get into apartment? They should be all sleeping now. We only need to cut through them.¡± One of them said. ¡°No more than thirty minutes, but it doesn¡¯t matter we have enough time. Police captain is on it with us.¡± ¡°What about this one guard in garage. He wasn¡¯t with them on it. We tied him up and placed him in car. What do we do with him?¡± ¡°What else? We¡¯ll kill him.¡± They covered only one side of car so I circled around them and sneaked behind it. I pulled Punch. I stood up from behind car and pointed it at them. ¡°Raise your hands up!¡± I said. Once of them went for his weapon so I shot him. He was dead before he could even draw weapon. Other two quickly raised their hands. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot at us. We¡¯re surrendering.¡± ¡°Slowly one by one drop your weapons and step back from them.¡± I said. One by one they dropped their weapons and stepped back from them. They looked freighted by my appearance. It would be because my whole body changed color to background as I was moving. Not only my arms, legs and body, but even my head and hair changed color. I looked inside car trunk where I read heat signature and there was tied guard that wanted to take my weapons from me. I looked at one mercenary. ¡°Untie him and then tie your comrade.¡± I moved from car and he untied guard. Then he tied his comrade and looked back at us. ¡°Now what?¡± he said. I looked at guard on ground and he was rubbing his legs and hands. ¡°Can you stand?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, give me sec to get my bearing.¡± He said. He stretched and moved toward rope. He tied second mercenary and I tried rope if it was lose somewhere. First mercenary had some parts lose so I tighten them up. I walked toward the car. ¡°What do you plan to do?¡± asked guard. I turned toward him. ¡°I¡¯ll shut down jammer and call the police. Then I¡¯ll hide these two clowns and head upstairs save my client and other councilmen.¡± ¡°Can I help you somehow?¡± he asked. ¡°Sorry, but you don¡¯t have equipment to help me much. I work better alone.¡± I said. He looked relieved that he didn¡¯t need to come with me. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll defend position here.¡± ¡°No, they¡¯ll come here when they see they failed. You have to hide somewhere.¡± I said. I could see fear in his eyes. ¡°Where should I hide?¡± ¡°Come one story up with me and hide in one of the offices.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll do that.¡± He said. I came to car and looked at jammer. I took out battery and fried it with Fist. Now they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it once more. I shot all tires and called the police. It was quick call where I explained to them what happened and that their Captain betrayed this city and them. I then looked quickly around the car for some evidence. Only thing I found was a sword that someone left there. I moved towards other cars but there was nothing. I took sword as it could prove useful in my silent approach. I went to my prisoners and hit them in the head with my hand. They both fell unconsciousness and I drag them behind one of cars parked there. Then I moved towards the apartment. The guard moved silently with me and on first floor he detached from me and hid in one of the offices. I sneaked upstairs and I could hear them shouting. ¡°What do you mean someone destroyed battery for our jammer and where are Jack and Yu?¡± shouted Commander. I smiled when I heard it. I moved upstairs but there were two mercenaries guarding them. I wanted to take them silently but I wasn¡¯t sure how. I placed Fist on my back and drew out sword. I waited until they turned toward the corridor and Commander who was shouting and run up at them. They saw me but it was too late for first one who fired at me but my shield held without problems. I used my full strength and cut him in two halves. I turned towards the second mercenary and rolled toward him. His shot went over me and as I straiten myself I impaled him on sword. He was dead but they made some noise. I hoped that it would be covered by shouting Commander. I listened, if they heard me but no one was running towards me. Luckily they didn¡¯t shut when they saw me. I moved across the corridor from one hiding place to another. I wasn¡¯t detected and I wanted to get as close as I could before they spot me. I prepared sword in my right hand and Punch my left hand. ¡°We¡¯re through.¡± Said one of the mercenaries. I saw the commander who smiled. ¡°Kill them.¡± He said and moved towards me. I had to move quickly or they would kill them all. I sprang from my cover as Commander closed to my location and punched him with my right hand at the side of his head. I could see his shield flare and collapse. My left fist with Punch took his conciseness from him and he collapsed. Two mercenaries behind him went for their weapons but with one swipe of the sword, I cut both of their hands. They fell on ground screaming and clutching their hands. Others looked at me and took one step back when they saw me. In their place I would be surprised too. From quick ending and retreat they move to someone knocking their Commander out. ¡°Lay down your weapons and I¡¯ll let you live.¡± I said. There were still around five of them and two others were in apartment. Then I heard gunshots in apartment and both mercenaries fell down in apartment. Remaining mercenaries looked at each other and lay down their weapons. I covered them and told them to bind their hands and legs. One by one they were tied. I changed my color to normal skin and I moved to apartment. I could smell lingering odor of sleeping powder in air. I moved from one room to another and everywhere were people sleeping. Finally in the living room I found Greg leaning against the wall and aiming at door. I quickly jumped back before he could shoot. ¡°It¡¯s me, don¡¯t shoot.¡± ¡°Come in before I fall asleep. There could be more of them.¡± He slurred to me. I went inside and I could see that he was barely standing and his eyes were closing. I raised my eyebrow and smiled at him. I could already hear sirens going towards us. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll cover us and wait for the police. You can go and sleep.¡± I said. He smiled and slowly lay down on the ground and fall asleep. I checked every room and everyone was alright. I went back to the corridor and stopped bleeding on two mercenaries that lost their hand. Then I waited for police to come. They came after few minutes and shouted at me to drop my weapons. I explained them who I was where they could find others mercenaries and that one guard on first floor was friendly. They took me down to their commander who was Director a of local police department. I explained him what happened. Of course, I told it to him without revealing my abilities. When he asked me where I learned my skills and how to fight, I told him about Liray. After that he changed his tone with me and talked more respectfully. I asked about the others and he told me that they would be fine. They were already awake and talked to other detectives. Mercenaries that went after me were apprehended when they tried to run from the city hall. I looked for Norman and I found him arguing with one of the doctors. He wanted to go home immediately, but doctor told him he couldn¡¯t go alone. I came and rescued the doctor. I told him, I would take him straight home and take care of him. Both of them stared at me and it downed on me that I have to wash down blood from me. That would also explain all stares that followed me as I walked around the garage. I asked Police Director if he could send me results of the investigation. He didn¡¯t have problems with it so I gave him email address where he could send it. I asked Norman if he would wait while I wash down the blood. He stared at me and nodded. I went to one of the apartments and gave myself quick shower and rinsed my coat as much as I could. I didn¡¯t put it on and held it in hand as I went for one last thing. I took sword that I had left near apartment and went with Norman back towards the alien district. He was silent on our way and I too didn¡¯t want to speak about what happened there. At least not immediately. One night sleep should help me clear my head and prepare me for more interrogation. Police Director told me that they would contact me about more information later. I drove the car as Norman was still shaken and parked before his house. He went in and I made sure he was sleeping when I called Harr and told him I would sleep over at Norman¡¯s house this night. He wanted update and I told him we were fine and that I¡¯ll tell him more when I wake up. He wanted more, but I ended call and went to sleep. Book 2 - Chapter 4: Next day I woke up in the middle of night because of nightmare. I relived council meeting, but in my dream I was too late and everyone was already dead. I got up and washed my face. Next I checked Norman. He was still sleeping, so I moved to living room and sat on the sofa. I thought about what to do now. I hoped that police will get information from mercenaries, but I doubted it. If it were up to me, I would hire them anonymously and pay them in cash. This night I was lucky that I survived. If I didn¡¯t have this body, I would be dead. I was taking my time this last month and one councilman died because of it. I didn¡¯t train seriously with Liray and I didn¡¯t work on my gear as I should. I told myself that my new body would be enough and luckily it was. I thought about all people I killed yesterday. I should have been devastated but I was glad it was them and not me. They knew what they were getting into when they agreed on this job. I started to write list in my head about what I needed to prepare for future. First thing, I need to build better armor. It would have to be something light that could take some beating. I didn¡¯t want to be hindered by it, but I wanted from it to take some beating. Also I would like to make some light shield for Norman, because we could be split once more like in this attack. Second thing, would be to prepare more gadgets. I needed to broaden my options while in combat. Sword proved to be good addition, but I needed more. I needed some grenades and maybe something for quick door breaking. It would be some small explosive that I could stick on door. Third thing on my list was, to found out what happened in city hall. They knew too much about what was happening in there. They knew where we will be going and they were prepared for it. They even infiltrated police and someone had to hired bodyguards. That would be place to start. Lastly I have to find out more about this offer to buy spaceport. I didn¡¯t trust a councilman who was presenting it to us. I still couldn¡¯t remember where I saw sign that was on his clothes, but I had feeling it wasn¡¯t connected to anything good. I worked on my plans till morning when I heard Norman getting up. I went to the kitchen and started prepare a breakfast. He had to hear me, because he came downstairs with laser pistol. He stared at me as I roasted vegetable with some meat. ¡°Good morning, have a seat. It¡¯ll be in a minute.¡± I said. ¡°What are you doing in my house and how did you even get here?¡± he asked. I frowned at him. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what happened yesterday, council meeting and attack?¡± I could see moment when he remembered. He went to chair and sat heavily on it. He stared at wall with empty eyes. I let him process yesterday events and I could see him slowly returning to reality. ¡°You saved us.¡± He said. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s what you hired me to do.¡± I said and continued to prepare breakfast. ¡°Now that you remember, can you place plates on the table.¡± He stared at me blankly for a second, then moved to cupboard and placed two plates on table. ¡°We should talk about what happened yesterday and about your offer to help rebuild spaceport.¡± He said. ¡°What is there to talk about. Offer still stands and I just did what you pay me for.¡± I said. He sighed. ¡°I mean more about how you saved me. I remember that we went into apartment and that Gilroy closed the door. One of the bodyguards yelled at him for closing them too soon and that someone didn¡¯t get inside. I looked for you and I couldn¡¯t find you. Then I started to get sleepy and I don¡¯t remember anything until I woke up in hospital car.¡± He rubbed his face with hand, ¡°Police asked me what happened and I told them little that I knew. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I told them, I just hired you and didn¡¯t know anything about you. Then you came covered in blood and after you showered we went home. I¡¯d like to know what happened while I was unconscious.¡± He looked really stress. Mainly, when he told me that he couldn¡¯t find me. I told him short version of what happened and how I get to them. Of course I told it to him without all the gory details I finished roasting as I finished telling him about yesterday attack and loaded our plates full. We didn¡¯t speak as we ate. Both of us had things to think about. I was interrupted by call from someone. I looked at caller ID and it was local police department. ¡°Sorry I have to take this.¡± I went to living room and accepted call, ¡°Good morning. How can I help you officer?¡± ¡°Good morning miss Leya. We would like to speak with you about yesterday¡¯s attack.¡± I heard man¡¯s voice from speaker. I thought about it and I should probably first speak with Liray and Harr before I go to station. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll come this afternoon. I hope it¡¯s not problem.¡± I said. ¡°No it¡¯s ok. We¡¯ll be waiting for you miss Leya.¡± He said. I went back to kitchen where Norman was looking expectably at me. ¡°It was police. They want to talk to me about yesterdays attack.¡± I said. ¡°Didn¡¯t they spoke to you after attack?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s normal to talk on second day with witnesses. After some time, we people tend to remember some new information. They could also uncover new information and want to ask question about it.¡± I said. ¡°What do you plan to do? He asked. ¡°First I¡¯d like to speak with Liray and Harr. They called me seconds before attack and warned me about it. I would like to find out where they found out about attack. Depending on what they tel me, I¡¯ll plan my next move.¡± He nodded, ¡°That looks like good plan. Now go I need to prepare for opening my shop.¡± ¡°Yes, but before that I¡¯d like to ask some question about yesterday.¡± I said. ¡°Come after I close shop. Now go, I need to prepare myself.¡± He said. ¡°But ...¡± I started, but was interrupted by him, ¡°No, no, come after I close shop.¡± He was back to his normal self. I sighed and let myself out. My coat was crumpled and it wasn¡¯t still dry. I went to my room and hanged it there. I didn¡¯t see Harr anywhere in shop and he wasn¡¯t responding to my calls. I changed my clothes to one I bought in city. They weren¡¯t nice, but I bought them for my work for Harr. It was simple white shirt and black pants that were pretty sturdy. I went to Liray¡¯s house and I found both of them there sitting on ground and drinking tea. ¡°Hi, so you finally decided to talk to us?¡± said Harr angrily. ¡°Don¡¯t be so hard on her. I remember how raw I felt after each action. You don¡¯t want to talk to anyone. You want to be alone.¡± Said Liray and pointed on free space near them. ¡°Come sit and tell us what happened.¡± Liray poured me a tea. ¡°Now you can tell us what happened yesterday?¡± I sipped from tea and told them about what happened yesterday. I spoke with Liray so I told him everything. Even details which were pretty gory, but I told him even why I did them. When I explained to him why I did it, he understood and nodded. Harr was horrified, but one look from Liray shut him up. When I finished telling them about yesterday¡¯s events, I asked my own question. ¡°How did you found out about attack?¡± ¡°I heard it from one of the local thugs while walking on street. They were telling about some new group of people that came here on ship. One of them wasted himself in one of our bars and told them about attack. I think local thugs knew I was listening, but they had order to get us know.¡± Said Harr. He still looked shaken by my story, but at least he wasn¡¯t angry at me. ¡°Yes, that would make sense. No one wants full-fledged war between us and humans. It would be bad for business.¡± Said Liray. ¡°However it is, we have to prepare for next attack.¡± I said. ¡°Why would they attack once more when they failed?¡± asked Harr with surprise written all over his face. ¡°Because they invested too much money into it already. They could scrap it whole, but they would lose all money they already poured into it. It would depend probably on whenever they think they can pull it off.¡± I said. What would be their next move? They could move out and write it off as bad investment or they could continue with their plan. I thought about, but I didn¡¯t have enough information to predict what they¡¯re going to do. I hope police will share information with me. ¡°So it¡¯s like that.¡± Said Harr with thoughtful expression. ¡°What are we going to do about it?¡± ¡°First we have to find out more about attack and what they wanted to achieve with it.¡± Said Liray looking at me. ¡°Yes that¡¯s our priority, but we should also prepare for option that we would have to go after them.¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± asked Liray. ¡°Let¡¯s say that we found out they kidnapped Norman. Can we rescue him now? I don¡¯t think so. We have training, but we don¡¯t have much of equipment.¡± I said to him. ¡°I have some weapons and old armor. That should be enough.¡± Said Liray. ¡°Leya I think you¡¯re coming from community where technology was more advanced. Here what you¡¯re already carrying is as high-end as you can get. It¡¯s about better then things you can get here.¡± Said Harr. ¡°I know, but I can build us something better. We don¡¯t have to use only what we can get here. I¡¯m already making some upgrades for me.¡± I said. ¡°What do you want to build?¡± asked Liray. ¡°For now, I need to build some armor, something light that wouldn¡¯t hinder me. Next I¡¯d like to build some grenades and gadgets.¡± I said. Harr stared at me like I was insane. ¡°We don¡¯t have enough money to buy materials.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need money. We can build them from scrap. If you have scrapyard in city, we can use it.¡± I said. Harr stayed silent and looked at Liray. ¡°Can you do it?¡± asked Liray. ¡°Yes, if I have materials, I can build them.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll get you material, but I¡¯d like some armor and weapon too.¡± He said. ¡°No problem, but I¡¯d like to pick materials, if it¡¯s not problem.¡± I said. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be problem. Maybe it would be even easier. City scrapyard is owned by human, so he¡¯ll be more receptive of you then us. Tell owner that you know me and he¡¯ll give you discount. We made a deal long time ago. He¡¯ll give me materials with discount and I¡¯ll help him repair things when he¡¯ll need it.¡± Said Harr. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll go look at it.¡± I said and get up. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be in so much hurry.¡± Said Liray. I smiled. ¡°I was taking my time till now. I need to start working normally.¡± Both of them looked at me like I was weird. ¡°You work more than any other person I know.¡± Said Harr. ¡°Maybe in time I worked long, but I wasn¡¯t giving it my all. To tell the truth, I wasn¡¯t giving even my half.¡± I said. Liray started laughing. ¡°What is laughable about it.¡± Asked Harr. ¡°Nothing, but I thought that you were always hiding your true strength in our fight.¡± I laughed, ¡°No, that¡¯s one of activities where I was giving my all. Here I thought, I could take you down one day.¡± Liray patted me on my knee, ¡°Don¡¯t worry you¡¯ll get me one day. Just train every day and you¡¯ll defeat me.¡± ¡°One day I¡¯ll get you, but for now I have to go. I need to get to police station. It¡¯s across whole city so I have to go.¡± I said and stood up. ¡°Try to get as much information as you could from them.¡± Said Liray. ¡°Don¡¯t let them stonewall you. Try to bargain with them. You¡¯re much more skilled then they are. Use these skills.¡± Said Harr. ¡°I won¡¯t, don¡¯t worry.¡± I said and bid them farewell. I went back to my apartment and put on my clothes. They were little wet, but they were far better then what I had on me. I had no problem on my way to police station. I thought that it would be bigger building and that it would resemble police station from the Earth. It was flat building with large yard on side that was circled by fence. It reassembled more prison then police station, but in this small city it was probably both at same time. I didn¡¯t think it was good to merge those two institutions, but it was their decision. I walked inside and I could see desk with policeman before me. Behind him I could see offices for policemen and detectives. They looked at me as I walked inside. I had my visor up so I was attracting a lot of attention. I walk up towards policeman behind desk, ¡°Good day, I was asked to come here for additional interview about yesterday¡¯s attack.¡± Policeman was startled, but he recovered quickly. ¡°You have to be Miss Leya. They are already expecting you. I¡¯ll take you to them.¡± He said and moved left towards door with morgue plate. ¡°Who¡¯s expecting me?¡± I asked and followed him. ¡°Lead detective on this case and one of the bodyguards which came to add some details about last night.¡± He said. Behind door were stairs down and at the bottom of them were another door. We walked through and I could smell chemicals in air. It was smell you would never forget, dead people, blood and ammonia. We stopped in waiting room and I had to put on coveralls. I even got my own bag, in case it was too much for my stomach. My policeman checked me over and showed me thumbs up. He pointed me towards morgue. I¡¯d really like to know why we had to talk in morgue. As I walked inside smell hit me even worse. Luckily I evidently didn¡¯t have gagging reflex or I would already throw up. I would have to upgrade my visor and add air filter. ¡°Good day miss Leya. My name is Detective Kirkland. You¡¯re probably curious why we are meeting in morgue.¡± Said Detective. He was wearing same coveralls as me, but beneath them I could see long brown coat. He was about forty years old with mustache above his mouth. He had long brown hair which were unkempt and greasy. From his looks, I would guest he didn¡¯t sleep much. Next to him was standing Greg who looked ready to fall. He too couldn¡¯t close his eyes this night. Only other person was alien who looked like troll. I was surprised to see him there with problems in city. His race weren¡¯t known for its intelligence so I was surprised to see him there. At least he couldn¡¯t see my surprised expression through visor. ¡°No, to tell the truth, I didn¡¯t expect to meet you in morgue. Maybe in detention room, but not here.¡± I said. ¡°We have problem and here detective Johnson told me you could help us with it.¡± Said Detective Kirkland. So Greg was detective. I wondered, if other bodyguards were too policemen. Funny thing that his colleague introduced him as bodyguard, not as policeman. ¡°What¡¯s the problem?¡± I asked. ¡°Every single one of our prisoners died in his cell and we don¡¯t have a clue how.¡± Said Greg. They are raising stakes. That meant they will continue with their plan and they also sent message to other mercenaries. Failure meant death. ¡°Can I see corpses?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why we¡¯re here. Come here, doctor Gregory already made autopsy. He didn¡¯t find anything weird in their bodies.¡± Said Detective Kirkland. ¡°It looks like they died from heart attack. I tried to find out if they were poisoned, but I just can find anything in their bodies that could cause it.¡± Said Doctor. I frowned, ¡°Let me look at them. Maybe I¡¯ll find something.¡± I walked to first body and did quick scan. I didn¡¯t found anything, but if it was this easy Doctor would found it already. I put my hand over body and slowly moved it along it. I closed my eyes and concentrated on body. I used full range of scans. I wasn¡¯t doctor, but my interface or something in me was comparing results. This body was fine at least for corpse, I couldn¡¯t find anything until I came to stomach. There were some weird readings. There was too much metal and other trace elements that shouldn¡¯t be there. It was just trace elements that could be left after nano device. This was far beyond anything that they could make on this planet. I started to fear, if we had chance against whoever was doing it. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°There¡¯s trace elements in his stomach. It¡¯s probably from some nano device. When it killed him, it probably traveled to stomach and destroyed there.¡± I said and moved to another body. Every single one of them had same elements in their stomach. Someone made sure they won¡¯t tell us anything. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what this nano device is.¡± Said doctor. ¡°It¡¯s small device nanometers big that was injected into him. It was done before attack probably as insurance against them talking to you.¡± I said. ¡°I never knew that such things could exist.¡± Said Greg. ¡°Yes and more. Did you get anything from them before they died?¡± I asked. ¡°No, they didn¡¯t know who hired them. They get anonymous message and half the money beforehand. Other half they would get, after they finished mission. Only information we got from them, was that they were after all councilmen. They were hired to kill them all not just one.¡± Said Detective Kirkland. ¡°Why would they target everyone. That doesn¡¯t make sense. What would happen, if they succeed? ¡± I said. ¡°There would be new elections and we would choose new councilmen.¡± Said doctor. ¡°Who would be candidates?¡± I asked. They looked at themselves. ¡°We don¡¯t know. It could be anyone. Most of councilmen currently on council get there through luck. Our system works like this. Every citizen could give their vote to whoever they want. It¡¯s not great, but this is small city and it works for us.¡± Said Greg. ¡°So you¡¯re telling it¡¯s hard to predict who¡¯ll get into council. Why would someone wanted them killed?¡± I said. ¡°Maybe they were going after one person.¡± Said Detective Kirkland. ¡°Why kill everyone when they went after one person?¡± asked doctor. ¡°They wanted to hide it. We can¡¯t tell after which councilman they went.¡± I said. ¡°Exactly, it was insurance. Question is after which one they were?¡± said Detective Kirkland. ¡°Yes and another is, why they didn¡¯t kill them with nano injection into water or vine. You don¡¯t have scanners that could find them.¡± I said. ¡°What if it¡¯s two different groups?¡± asked doctor. ¡°How can it be two groups? It was one team that attacked city hall.¡± Said Greg. I thought back to city hall and what happened there. ¡°No, he could be right. There were guards who help them, but they evidently didn¡¯t belong to them. Second thing is that this nano device is too different from this crude attack. We¡¯re missing something.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ but what?¡± said Detective Kirkland. ¡°Take your time. Go and sleep. You won¡¯t be help like this. Both of you are barely standing.¡± I said. I saw them starting to protest. ¡°We¡¯ll met tomorrow and talk more. What do you say?¡± I asked. Detective Kirkland look ready to argue, but after one look at Greg he slumped his shoulders. ¡°Ok, come here tomorrow and we can go for lunch.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll be here.¡± I said. We went back upstairs. I asked them for direction towards the scrapyard. After they pointed me at it, I started walking towards it. As I was walking, I thought about what happened in city hall. They could have killed them with Nanobots any time they wanted. Why use mercenaries when they could just kill them any time they want and with Nanobots they wouldn¡¯t even be able to find out what happened. Our theory about killing everyone to hide something was wrong. It has to be something else. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn¡¯t think about reason to kill them all. From my musings I was brought out by something I sensed. I sensed someone on my sensors. He was following me for some time now and now that I knew about him, I spotted two others who followed my every move. I moved towards alley and as I turned the corner, I sprinted forward. I turned about three corners in time they got toward entrance to first alley. I knew they lost me, so I climbed on small building with flat roof. I waited for them to walk under me. Funny thing, even when spying on someone most people don¡¯t look up. They stopped near me and talked between themselves. ¡°Where did she go? She was just before us.¡± Said one of them. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but Boss will be pissed. He told us to find out who she is. She came out of nowhere and beat three of our guys.¡± Said another. ¡°Don¡¯t talk and find her.¡± Said Last one and after that they split and tried to find me. I waited another twenty minutes on roof until I couldn¡¯t see them anymore. I jumped down and continued on my way to the scrapyard. They were thugs working for local kingpin that Harr and Liray told me about. He obviously didn¡¯t want to let go of his revenge. I couldn¡¯t do anything about for now. I¡¯ll tell Liray about it. I could pay visit to this kingpin and explain to him why it¡¯s bad idea to mess with me. For now I¡¯ll go to scrapyard and pick things I would need to makes my upgrades. When I finally came to scrapyard, I was disappointed because it was small scrapyard. It didn¡¯t have many things I wanted to get. I walked around looking at things when one of employees approached me. She was small girl around fifteen years old with freckles on face. She had short red hair that were sticking in every direction. ¡°Good day. Can I help you?¡± she asked. ¡°Good day. No I¡¯m just looking around for now.¡± I said. ¡°You look little disappointed. Is our scrapyard lacking?¡± She said. ¡°Yes, a little. I thought this scrapyard would be bigger or have more things that I could look at. Most of the things here are house accessories.¡± ¡°What do you need?¡± she looked at me curiously. ¡°I work as bodyguard and I need to build armor, shields and other gadgets. Problem is that I can¡¯t build it with what I see here.¡± She looked me over. ¡°Maybe we have something on side that could help you.¡± ¡°What would it take to get you show it to me?¡± I asked. ¡°Well if you can build something like that, I want to see you build it. I want you to show me how it¡¯s done.¡± She said and looked at me with eager expression. I thought about it. It would be good to teach someone who wants to learn, but it could be dangerous for her. ¡°There are some people after me. It could be dangerous for you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. I can¡¯t stand it here. I¡¯ll learn how to do that and then I¡¯ll join some crew on spaceship.¡± She said. I sighed, ¡°Ok, but you¡¯ll have to ask your father first.¡± She looked down on ground and dug my toe on a ground. ¡°I¡¯m orphan. I never knew them. They left me before scrapyard and run away.¡± I stepped back as if someone hit me. She was almost same as old me. I looked at her and she was ashamed of it. I could see pain behind her eyes that she tried to hide from everyone. ¡°Is there someone who¡¯s looking after you? I¡¯ll talk to him.¡± I said. Immediately I saw fear in her eyes. ¡°No, no, don¡¯t talk to him. He won¡¯t let me go.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you can come, but I need to tell him that you¡¯re going.¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t understand, he ¡­¡± she started to say and stopped when she saw someone behind me. ¡°Is she bothering you? Hush Lany and go bother someone else.¡± Said man behind me. Lany started to go away, but I caught her hand. ¡°No, she not bothering me. She was just going to show me things I was looking for.¡± I said and turned to man who was speaking at her. He was small man with greasy hair and filth on his clothes. It would be normal for this kind of work, but I could see he probably never clean his overall. It was dirty from oil, dirt and other substances. I couldn¡¯t tell his age precisely, but I would guess around twenty years old. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t listen to her, she doesn¡¯t know much about this scrapyard. She¡¯s little touched in head.¡± He said and did small circle with finger near head. ¡°Really, I didn¡¯t notice. To tell the truth she looks far more intelligent then you. You should go away, because you smell terribly. I wouldn¡¯t want to upset my stomach looking at you.¡± I said and turned to Lany. ¡°So Lany, can we look at my things.¡± I said cheerfully. She stared at me then smiled and pulled me toward one of buildings on scrapyard. Before I could move I felt hand on my shoulder. ¡°Look here, I don¡¯t know who you think you are, but get out of my scrapyard.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your scrapyard. It belongs to your granddad.¡± Said Lany. ¡°Yes and it will be mine when he dies so you should act more respectfully towards me.¡± He said. ¡°Get your hand from my shoulder or you¡¯ll lose it. And one more thing, if I hear you did something to her, I¡¯ll find you and make sure you¡¯ll never bother anyone else.¡± I said with cold voice. His hand vanished from my shoulder like it was on fire. I turned to him and I saw him back away. ¡°Go away and bother someone else.¡± He turned and run away. Before he was too far he turned and shouted. ¡°I¡¯ll tell it to my granddad and we¡¯ll see whose going to be in pain.¡± I turned back to Lany, ¡°Can we continue? Now that we don¡¯t have distraction.¡± She stared at me with open mouth. ¡°You have to get away. His granddad will go after you. He doesn¡¯t know what he¡¯s doing to others. He¡¯s always protecting him.¡± I smiled under my visor. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can protect myself and someone should tell his granddad what his grandson is doing behind his back.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t listen to you. After his son died, he started to dote on his grandson. Some people tried to tell him the truth about him, but he didn¡¯t listen to them.¡± She said. ¡°Like I told you, let me worry about him. I¡¯ll make him listen.¡± I said. She shook her head. ¡°You know, he¡¯ll probably fire me for helping you.¡± Then she sighed, ¡°Come I¡¯ll show you what we have here.¡± ¡°If he fires you, I¡¯ll take you as an apprentice. Of course, only if you¡¯re interested. ¡± I said and moved after her. ¡°What does apprentice mean?¡± ¡°It¡¯s person who¡¯s learning from other while working for them for small wage.¡± I said. ¡°Why would I work for small wage?¡± she asked. ¡°Because I can teach you something that others can¡¯t.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± She said as we arrived to the building. I chuckled, ¡°Yes, think about it.¡± I whistled when she opened door. There were broken armor and weapons stacked along walls. In another section they had stacked grenades and shield emitters. It would take me some time to get through it, but I should find here everything I need. First I looked at armors. They were outdated, but finally at the bottom of pile I found what I was looking for. It was elite scout armor that was used on the Earth. If it was here that meant Earth was somewhere nearby at least I hope so. It was devastated and I could see someone pulled parts from it, but with some work I could breathe new life into it. As I was pulled it out I heard someone coming from outside. It should be granddad she was talking about. I activated shield and waited for him. He came all red in face and furious beyond reason. ¡°Who do you think you are?¡± He shouted at me. I smiled behind my visor. I looked at him and my smile changed to frown when I saw rifle in his hand. It was outdated laser rifle, but it still could deal some damage. ¡°We should talk about your grandson. I heard he¡¯s bully that terrorizes everyone around him. What¡¯s worse you are protecting him even thought you have to know who he is.¡± I said. He was evidently pissed and didn¡¯t listen to a word I said. ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re telling about. My grandson would never do something like that. Now tell me why shouldn¡¯t I shot you where you stand.¡± I patted my weapons. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t like outcome. I can see you know what he¡¯s doing around. I can tell you one thing. What you¡¯re doing isn¡¯t helping him? I would guess that he wasn¡¯t always like this,¡± I turned to Lany who nodded reluctantly. ¡°but with dead of his father he started to lash out at others. You should have stopped it there and talk to him, but you supported him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to hear that from you. You don¡¯t know anything about him.¡± He said. ¡°No and I don¡¯t need to. I only have to see here Lany when she saw him. She had fear in eyes. Do you think it¡¯s normal to have fear in eyes when you look at someone?¡± I said. He turned to her and I could see it fear in his eyes. She was someone he considered a family. He didn¡¯t want to hear it from her. ¡°Is it true Lany? Is my grandson bully?¡± She looked everywhere but him. Finally she looked him in the eye and nodded. He looked back at his grandson. ¡°Jerry is it true? I promised your father on his death bed that I would trust you and protect you. So I ask you. Is it true?¡± Jerry looked around with fear in eyes. ¡°No they¡¯re lying. I wouldn¡¯t do something like that.¡± ¡°Look me in the eye and not on ground. Think about what would your father want you to do.¡± Jerry looked around than something in him snapped. He looked down sadly and started trembling. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true. Half the time I don¡¯t even know why I do it. It started after daddy died. I lashed out and no one stopped me. After some time I just did it, because I didn¡¯t know what else to do.¡± Jerry¡¯s granddad looked stricken and started to cry when he heard him. ¡°I failed you. I should have helped you, but I thought I needed to trust you no matter what. Go in the house and I¡¯ll come in a minute.¡± After Jerry went away he turned to us. ¡°Sorry I knew about it for a while, but I promised and I hold my word. Now where do I go from here?¡± ¡°One step at a time. Go to him and make him apologize to everyone.¡± I said. ¡°I will. Thanks. Now how can I help you?¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯d like to buy some parts from you. For example this armor here.¡± I said. If he wanted to talk business, we¡¯ll talk business. ¡°It¡¯s broken. It¡¯ll be useless to you. There are better pieces here.¡± He said. I smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. This is best armor you have here and after I repair it, it would be probably best in this town.¡± He frowned and looked at armor I picked. ¡°If you think so. Tell Lany what you want. I¡¯ll go talk to my grandson.¡± When he left Lany came to me and hugged me. ¡°Thank you.¡± I hugged her back. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Now come and help me look for some weapons.¡± We looked through pile and picked some pistols and rifles. I took parts from others that I could use. Scope, additional clips, magnetic accelerator and so on. All grenades were empty, but I could fill them up. What made my day were two small drones that were almost in perfect condition. When I had everything placed outside, Lany started to calculate price for it. In the end, it was almost all money I saved in my time here. I transferred them to her and with additional small payment, they would deliver it to Harr¡¯s shop. As I was leaving I turned to her. ¡°Think about my offer. You can come anytime.¡° I said. She smiled. ¡°I will, but you should at least show me your face.¡± She said. I retracted my visor and smiled at her. ¡°Now you saw it.¡± ¡°Why are you wearing it? You¡¯re pretty, you don¡¯t need it.¡± She said confused. ¡°I have many enemies and it¡¯s better to hide my face for now.¡± I said and pulled up visor. ¡°I hope, I¡¯ll see you when you deliver my things.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see. Maybe.¡± She said. ¡°Bye.¡± I said and went back towards shop. ¡°Bye.¡± She said and returned to scrapyard. Book 2 - Chapter 5: Man without a face I woke up next day fresh and eager to make some new equipment for me. I woke up sooner and worked on things that Harr needed to repair. I needed to make repairs so I could work on my equipment. Around nine I heard horn outside. I already prepared place in back where I could stash my things. I went outside where small truck was waiting for me. I could see Jerry behind wheel looking at me with worry. Next to him was sitting Lany who immediately went out of truck and run to me. ¡°Hi, where can we stash your things?¡± she said smiling. ¡°Hi, you can take them in the back.¡± I said. She leaned towards me. ¡°Thank you for yesterday. Jerry is trying his best to make up for his bullying. He even volunteered to take me here. He had long talk with his granddad.¡± I smiled at her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Someone should have talked with him and his granddad sooner.¡± Jerry walked out of car and went towards us. ¡°Where can I place your things?¡± ¡°You can place it in the back. I¡¯ll sort it out.¡± I said. ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t forget your promise.¡± Said Lany. ¡°Of course. You can watch. I¡¯ll start to work on it as soon as we unpack all parts.¡± I said. Next twenty minutes we offloaded all parts. We had it all placed them in the back when Harr came down. He looked at all parts and frowned. ¡°I hope that it won¡¯t be there long. I need this workshop to be clean for work. I can¡¯t work here with all these parts.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have it all away before tomorrow. I already made all repairs for today so it shouldn¡¯t be problem.¡± I said. ¡°I see you prepared for me.¡± He looked sternly at me. I looked back, but I couldn¡¯t hold back laugher. ¡°Look at her, she¡¯s even laughing at me.¡± He sighed and went back upstairs. ¡°I¡¯ll make something for you.¡± I called after him. ¡°You better.¡± He called back. When he walked up, I turned to Jerry and Lany. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m going to work. If you want, you can watch me.¡± Jerry was squirming and looking around. ¡°Can I watch too?¡± he said silently. ¡°Yes, just don¡¯t interrupt me.¡± I said and went to work. First I unpacked armor I found in scrapyard. I scanned it and took out plates with holes. It was hardened plastic. I couldn¡¯t make them here with tools Harr owned, but I could use titan plates. They would be heavier, but I was far stronger than average human. I took out titan plates I found and cut them into shapes I needed. I used punch to cut them up and Pat to make edges more smooth. I put them in skeleton which was intact. I made small adjustments until everything fitted just right. Next I went to work on sensors. I had only some to work with. Most of them were torn from it and sold. I looked at ones that remained and they were worse than ones I could make so I removed them and started working on new sensors. I fitted them and put on the armor. There were some sharp edges which I grinded away until it was comfortable. Sensors were connected to me through three wireless links. I calibrated sensors and tried to move in it. Even after all this time it moved smoothly. Now that I had basics finished I moved to upgrades. I needed shield so I took out all shield emitters I could find and reworked them to something more useable. I needed them to function all at same frequency or they would interfere with one another. I started to work on rifle case incorporated in back of my armor. I needed to store my rifle better so it wouldn¡¯t interfere with my movements. It interfered most when I was rolling. I needed always to take care I don¡¯t roll over it. I could bend or even damage it. I used electro magnet to hold my rifle. After I placed Fist there plates would cover it and protect it. I needed only to place my hand behind shoulder and with quick command plates would retract and moved up to my hand. If my module was damaged and I couldn¡¯t sent command my hand would suffice. Lastly I made sheaths for my pistols and I was done. I wanted to make small thrusters in my boots, but I didn¡¯t have right parts for it. I would have to make it another time. I talked while I was working. I wanted to teach them why I did what I did, but all in all I didn¡¯t know if they were listening or not. After I finished armor I looked at clock. I worked only two hours. I had four more hours before I would have to go to police station. I turned to Jerry and Lany and they both stared at me. ¡°What? Do I have something on my face?¡± First to react was Jerry. ¡°How can you move so fast?¡± ¡°Yes, sometimes your hands moved so fast they were just blurred.¡± Said Lany. I stared at them, then started to laugh and hug them. I felt heavy weight fall from my heart. I never knew, if I was just emulated personality placed in robotic body or if I was I. I didn¡¯t have any of my previous abilities, or didn¡¯t have them, until now. I knew what happened. It was my building trance. When I worked, I could move faster than normal. It was probably even more enhanced in this new body. Both of them were confused by my behavior. ¡°What happened? Was it something we said?¡± asked Lany. ¡°No, it was just something that returned to me.¡± I said with smile. ¡°You still didn¡¯t tell us how can you move so fast.¡± Said Jerry. ¡°I had this ability since I was born. As soon as I work on something I can move faster. I¡¯m in something like trance and don¡¯t know much about what¡¯s happening around me.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can see that. You looked like you weren¡¯t even registering us while you were working.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I wasn¡¯t.¡± I said. ¡°Can you teach me that?¡± asked Lany with puppy eyes. I laughed. ¡°No, I was born like that.¡± ¡°Ooo¡­¡±She looked down sadly. ¡°Now if you want, I can teach you how to build some cool things. Of course, only If you want.¡± I said. ¡°I want. Teach me.¡± Said Lany immediately. ¡°I¡¯d like to learn too.¡± Said Shyly Jerry. I rolled my head from side to side. How could someone changed so much in one day I couldn¡¯t understand. Humans were weird. Compared to them machines were simple. Them I could understand. For next three hours, I thought them how to make basic sensors and shield emitters. They were quick to learn and Lany had knack for making small adjustments that improved basic designs. It was something one learn with time or with talent. I controlled clock and when time came I stood up. It was time to prepare for my lunch meeting. ¡°I have to go and you should go too. If you get me contact on you, I¡¯ll call you when I start with more upgrades.¡± ¡°You do that.¡± Said Lany and send me her contact information. I gave her mine. She could call me, if she needed help with something. We bid our farewell and I went upstairs to change into my clothes. I didn¡¯t take my coat, because I wanted to test my new armor. If everything goes as it should, I¡¯ll pay a visit to this local kingpin. Of course, I¡¯ll tell Liray first about it. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ At exactly twelve o¡¯clock, I was waiting, before police station. I attracted a lot of stares with my armor, but at least I managed to find some bugs in my armor. Most of them were with shield emitters. I adjusted their frequency and welded one small leak. All in all I was surprised at how good it worked. About five minutes after twelve I saw detective Kirkland and Greg going out of the building. ¡°I told you to wait inside.¡± Said detective. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to enter like this.¡± I pointed at my armor. He looked me over. ¡°Yeah, it could prove unwise. Where did you even take armor like this?¡± ¡°I made it. Where we¡¯re going to eat?¡± I asked. Greg wanted to say something, but my statement left his mouth open. ¡°You made it?¡± ¡°Yes, you heard on council meeting that I volunteered to repair spaceport. I wouldn¡¯t volunteer, if I couldn¡¯t do it.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, but why are you even wearing it now?¡± asked Greg. ¡°I wanted to test it out and find out all the bugs. I already find some.¡± I said. ¡°You seriously want to go in restaurant in this?¡± asked Greg. ¡°Yes, right now I have kingpin gunning after me and I killed a lot of mercenaries. They could have friend in town so I rather go like this.¡± I said. ¡°Suit yourself, but what is this about kingpin?¡± asked detective Kirkland. ¡°Nothing you have to worry about. I plan to talk with him today and make it right.¡± I said. Detective didn¡¯t look too thrilled by my admission. ¡°Don¡¯t let it get on my table. Ok?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try.¡± I said. ¡°So where do you want to go eat?¡± I asked. ¡°We decided to go to nearby restaurant. It¡¯s frequently visited by us policemen. We¡¯ll be using it because there are private rooms where we can talk without anyone eavesdropping on us.¡± Said detective Kirkland. I wanted to go to Johnathan¡¯s restaurant, but this was their decision also, so I let it go. When we entered all eyes moved towards me, but when they saw I was with Greg and detective Kirkland, they turned away. Greg motioned to waiter and pointed towards back. Waiter just nodded and we moved to back. There was small private room with table. They let me pick my place and I went across room and sat down in the corner. Greg snickered when he saw me, but one look from Kirkland shut him up. As they sat down waiter came to pick our order. I didn¡¯t order anything. I didn¡¯t need to eat and even if I could, I didn¡¯t want to get my visor down. There were just too many policemen. It could prove disadvantageous later. I wanted to hide my identity as long as I could. It would protect my friends and me. I made sure that I wasn''t followed towards Harr''s shop or to Liray''s house. "We should start now. It would take them some time to prepare our lunch. What about you Leya? Aren''t you hungry?" said detective Kirkland. "I already ate so it would be just a waste of money to buy something." I said. "Do as you want." said Greg and his expression turned to serious. "Did you find out something more that could help us?" "No, nothing new. Only thing that I could think up is that we were wrong in our theory." I said "Yes, they had to go after everyone, not just one member and it had to be done by mercenaries, not¡­ how do you call them¡­ nanobots. I thought about it too this morning. I just don''t have a clue why use them and not this nanobots." said Greg. "That''s what''s getting on my nerves. Why do something like that? They had to have some reason for it. What about you, did you get some new leads?" I said. "No nothing new. We thought that you could help us work through the city hall with your sensors. Our sensors are useless in this instance." said detective Kirakland. "I thought about it and I made you small scanners. They shouldn''t have problem find out nanobots traces. Only thing is that you have to calibrate them once a month, but I made you data stick with instructions." I said and handed them over scanners. "We can¡¯t take them! They must have cost fortune." said Greg. "They cost me as much as three dinners in this restaurant, so it''s no problem. I made them myself and I want to find out what is going on. Take them and don¡¯t argue." I said. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe that you can make something like this.¡± Said Greg and rolled scanner in his hands. ¡°It¡¯s just something I picked up along the way.¡± I said. ¡°That had to be some way!¡± said detective Kirkland. ¡°You could say that.¡± I said distracted. I thought about what led me to be here. I thought about others and Eleanor. I wanted to meet them once more. Friends I met here were dear to me, but Eleanor and others were my family. I had to stay like that for some time, because when I get back to me, they talked about sport. We talked more after they ate their meal and in the end we couldn¡¯t think up anything new We split up and I went back to the shop and they went to the city hall. They wanted to use new scanners and go over all rooms. They wanted to make sure that this attack wasn¡¯t only distraction. I wished them luck and went on to my shop. Half way there, I once more spotted someone spying on me. I walked around and tried to spot more of them, but it looked like he was alone. I used same tactic as before, but this time I waited for him behind second corner. Right as he rounded corner he stared to run strait towards me. I waited until he was next to me. I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him on near wall. ¡°Why are you following me?¡± I said. He tried to punch me, but I dodged his fist and tighten my hand on his throat. ¡°That wasn¡¯t smart.¡± I said and punched at wall near his face. My fist broke through brick and buried itself in wall. ¡°Now tell me why are you following me?¡± I loosen my hand little so he could talk. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt me, I¡¯m just following orders.¡± He started to cry. I looked at him and did quick scan to find out if he was faking it, but by his heart was beating too fast. I put him back on ground. ¡°We don¡¯t have to be enemies. Tell me about your boss and I¡¯ll let you go.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, he¡¯ll kill me.¡± He said wiping tears with his hand. ¡°No one has to know and I want you to take message to your boss.¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you anything, but I¡¯ll take your message to him. Tell me and I¡¯ll go immediately.¡± He talked quickly. I wanted to know more, but he won¡¯t tell me anything. I could threaten him, but he could just lie to me. I sighed. ¡°Ok, tell him that I want to meet him tonight. Tell him that I¡¯ll come to talk to his restaurant.¡± He was nodding whole time I was talking. ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll go immediately.¡± He said and started to move away. I placed my hand on his shoulder and turned him towards me. He looked at me with fear. ¡°One more thing. Tell him to forget his plans against me. If he wants to mess with me, I¡¯ll take him on. There won¡¯t be enough afterwards to put together half a person.¡± I said coldly. I let him go and stealthily followed him. He went from me at full run. He stopped after three blocks when he was out of breathe. He looked around, but he didn¡¯t spot me. I was standing on the roof over him. I saw him smile when he couldn¡¯t see me. He continued on his way. I followed him through whole city until he stopped before restaurant in alien district. I heard about it from Liray. He told me to stay away from it, because it was frequented by criminals. I should have guessed his base would be here. It was best place for him to do business without anyone noticing. If I were him I would install some back entrance so no one would connect me to this place. While I was thinking about what to do this night, my spy entered restaurant. In a minute or two around ten thugs run out and went into streets. I made sure none went to Norman and Harr. After that I went back to shop and started to work on equipment I would need this night. I pulled out both drones. They were fist sized black balls. I took them apart and picked good parts from bad. I called Lany, but she didn¡¯t have time. I told her, I¡¯ll tell her later what I made. Both of them were in pretty good shape, but they didn¡¯t have functioning power source. I had to prioritize, because I wanted to make a lot of equipment. I had to make drone my priority. They were crucial part of my part. I remade both power sources to smaller ones, which I learned in Virtua. This freed space for more sensors and gadgets. I made small hydraulic hands on one of them. It was borderline tech that I could make with Harr¡¯s tools. On the second drone, I installed small laser. I could cut with it through obstacles and use it as weapon in pinch. Last space in both drones I used for small relay control and minicomputer. They could work on set of simple instruction or I could connect to them and control them manually. Next thing I started to work on was small explosives. I could use one drone to place them where I want and blow them up with signal from me. I used more than one type of explosives. There were smoke screens, emp bombs, thermite bombs and stun bombs. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I made small changes to armor and hid there two small bombs from each type. I hid them at both of my wrists. I made small pocket on wrist that I could open with signal to the armor. Last thing I wanted to do was adjusting my sword. It was too long and hindered my movements. I contemplated on how to do it. I could cut it, but to tell the truth its length was just right for me. If it didn¡¯t hinder me so much, I would have left it as it was. In the end, I cut it in four parts that would be near sword hilt. As soon as I pull it out, they would slide forward. They were placed on small rail that would extend along with them. When they get in right position they would secure themselves with clamps. I tried it out and everything worked fine. I had only about hour left, before I decided to go for my visit. I put on my armor and all my gear. I was placing last bomb in bag when I saw Liray enter my workshop. ¡°There¡¯s word on street that you¡¯re planning to talk to our kingpin.¡± He crossed his arms before his body. ¡°Yes, I was just going there.¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be out of your mind! He¡¯ll kill you! Do you think this is some sort of game?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t and that¡¯s why I prepared.¡± ¡°Really and what magic do you have in that bag? Because only magic could save you from dying.¡± I smiled at him. ¡°Oh. Nothing much just some explosives, smoke screens, stun bomb, thermite bombs and emp bombs.¡± That stopped him. ¡°You ¡­ You what? Do you plan to blow him up?¡± ¡°No, but it¡¯ll give him something else to think about. I¡¯m sure he wouldn¡¯t think about killing me with all this bombs placed around his restaurant.¡± I said cheerfully. ¡°How do you plan to get them there?¡± he frowned. I pointed at two drones that floated to me. ¡°I¡¯ll use these. They¡¯ll place them for me.¡± I came to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. I waited until he looked me in the eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Liray. I¡¯ll survive it.¡± I said then with sad look continued. ¡°I always survive.¡± ¡°Why are you so sad? I hope you¡¯re not doing it just to kill yourself.¡± Said Liray with worry. ¡°No, I¡¯m not. I was thinking about another time.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going with you.¡± Said Liray. ¡°No, you¡¯re not. I don¡¯t want to hurt your pride, but you would just hinder me.¡± I said and winced when I saw his expression. ¡°Tell me one reason why would I hinder you.¡± He shouted. I rubbed my face. ¡°I have armor that could protect me. I have weapons that are more than pinprick. I have body that can take more damage than you ever could. I have more, but you got gist of it.¡± I saw him grind his teeth. ¡°Really, why would your body took more hits than mine? You¡¯re just human.¡± I had enough of this interrogation. I needed to move and prepare so I changed into how I truly look. ¡°Because metal is harder than skin.¡± He looked at me with open mouth. ¡°If we¡¯re done here, I have to go and take care of kingpin.¡± He didn¡¯t say anything as I brushed past him. I changed my appearance to human and continued on my way to restaurant. I climbed on roof across from it and started to use drones to place my small bombs around and even in restaurant. When everything was prepared I moved down and went to restaurant. I was immediately stopped before it. There were five thugs standing before entrance. This time they didn¡¯t take any chances. One of them was even my spy. ¡°What do we have here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s our mysterious stranger. We should look under her helmet. What do you say boys?¡± ¡°Yes, we should. It¡¯s not polite to go on meeting hidden like this.¡± ¡°We shouldn¡¯t do it. Boss didn¡¯t tell us to do anything.¡± Said my spy nervously. I widen my stance and prepared for them. ¡°You should listen to him. We wouldn¡¯t want to start ¡®our¡¯ meeting with broken bones.¡± I said. That stopped them, but I could see anger in their faces. They would probably continue, if someone didn¡¯t call them. I didn¡¯t hear what he told them, but they obviously didn¡¯t want to listen to him. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ll let her pass, but we should take her weapons.¡± There was silence as he listens to someone on the other side. ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll let her pass.¡± I walked through them when I felt one of them grab my hand. ¡°After he¡¯s done with you, we¡¯ll talk more.¡± He smiled sinisterly. I took his hand and squeezed it until I heard bone broke. He howled and fell on ground. Other thugs went for their weapons. ¡°Stop, I told you to let her pass. If you want to talk about it, come inside and talk to boss. He¡¯ll be thrilled to listen about how you broke command he gave you.¡± Said alien in tux. ¡°You should take care of your goons. Lately they are walking around and spying on other people.¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re working on it.¡± He looked at thug on ground. ¡°Come inside. My boss wants to talk with you.¡± I walked behind him until we came to table in the middle of restaurant. There on one seat sat lean man. I was surprised, because he wasn¡¯t alien, but human. He was powerfully built. He had short black hair under which highly intelligent eyes looked at me calmly. More I couldn¡¯t see because he was wearing mask. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect human to be a kingpin.¡± I said as I sat down. ¡°No one expects it. That¡¯s the reason, why no one knows who I am. Now we should move to business.¡± He said. Both of us didn¡¯t introduce ourselves. ¡°What do you want to talk about? Tell your man to forget about me, or I¡¯ll take you down.¡± I said without emotions. ¡°Why the threats? I just wanted to make sure you didn¡¯t plan anything against me. I now know that you didn¡¯t plan anything against me. They won¡¯t follow you anymore.¡± He said. ¡°Ok. I can go now that¡¯s out of the way.¡± I said and stood up. ¡°There¡¯s more. I want to talk to you about attack on city hall.¡± He said and drunk slowly from his glass. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to talk about. I won¡¯t tell you anything.¡± I said. ¡°What if I told you I have information that you don¡¯t? We both want to get on bottom of it. We should work together, not against each other.¡± He said calmly. I sat down. We needed more information and if he has them, I needed to get them from him somehow. I went back to my seat. ¡°What do you propose?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll tell me what happened there and I¡¯ll tell you my information.¡± He said. ¡°How can I tell you won¡¯t betray me?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m always keep my word. Everyone knows it and that¡¯s why my threats made others tremble.¡± He said and his true face peaked at me for a second. I could see cold calculation behind his eyes, but I could also see that he was telling the truth. ¡°Ok, but you¡¯ll tell me everything that you know.¡± I said. ¡°Deal. Now tell me what happened there. I read reports, but they always miss something.¡± I told him everything that happened in city hall. More I talked, more I could see his man nervously looking at one another. I hid some my abilities, but I told him everything else. When I finished, he whistled. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t start anything against you.¡± He said. ¡°I kept my part of a deal. Tell me what you know so I can go.¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t have much more then you, but I know where their ship is. It¡¯s only couple of kilometers from city. It¡¯s hidden behind small hill.¡± He said and used small holo projector to show it to me. ¡°We¡¯re planning to get her tonight. I¡¯ll send you all information, I get from it.¡± I didn¡¯t listen to him anymore, because I knew this ship. It was mine, Paladin V. I traced hologram with my hand. From the looks of it, it was damaged and needed heavy repairs. Tear went down my eye as I looked at it. ¡°You know this ship.¡± Said kingpin with complete certainty. ¡°Yes, I know it. It belongs to me.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but not anymore. Now it belongs to me.¡± He said. I focused my attention at him and he flinched back. ¡°You don¡¯t want to start anything here. You¡¯ll die.¡± He said but his eyes darted around. ¡°I placed bombs around this whole building, if you want to threaten someone, you picked wrong target. Now call your team to get away from my ship or I¡¯ll move them away myself.¡± I said with barely controlled fury. Someone¡¯s going to pay for destroying and stealing my ship. He blanched when he heard me, but stood his ground. ¡°You¡¯ll die here with us, if you fire them.¡± ¡°No, I won¡¯t. Now call off your team and tell them to go away. I won¡¯t repeat it once more.¡± I said and used this time to put both stun bombs on ground. I could see his face becoming angry. ¡°You think, you can come here and threaten me? I¡¯ll show you why everyone fears me.¡± He motioned to his man who went for their weapons. I kicked both bombs, closed my eyes and shut down my hearing. With signal I fired all six stun bombs and three smoke bombs in restaurant. I felt pressure from stun bombs as they went off. I sprinted towards one of the wall. I sent signal towards two small bombs I placed on it. Half the wall came down before I got to it. I vaulted through the hole. I chosen this wall because it took me right outside of the building. As I vaulted outside I could see surprised faces of two thugs that stood outside. I put them out with two punches and run towards end of the alley. I called Harr on COM. ¡°I need a ride and I need it now.¡± ¡°Where do I get something this late in the night?¡± he asked sleepily. ¡°I don¡¯t care. If you want you can point me in right direction and I¡¯ll steal one.¡± I said. I looked behind me, but no one followed me. I climbed on building and hid there. ¡°What happened?¡± asked Harr with worry in his voice. ¡°I had small problem with your kingpin, but that¡¯s not why I need it. Do you have some or not?¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t, but your friend on scrapyard has small hoverbike. He may be willing to borrow it to you.¡± He said. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll see you tomorrow.¡± I said. ¡°Wait, What ..¡± he tried to ask, but I ended call and already call Lany. I didn¡¯t have ID on Jerry¡¯s granddad so I called her. ¡°Who¡¯s this? Why are you calling me this late?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s me Leya. I need to borrow hoverbike.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll have to ask Gordon, but he loves her. He never borrows it to anyone.¡± She said. ¡°I need to borrow it. I don¡¯t have money, but I plan to return it whole.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll give you to him.¡± She said sleepily. I was already running towards the scrapyard. I needed to get to my ship before they would. Halfway to scrapyard, I heard Jerry¡¯s granddad on my COM. ¡°Lany told me that you need my Betty. What so important, that you need hoverbike in the middle of a night?¡± he said. ¡°I need to get couple of kilometers behind town. It¡¯s really important. I can build you new hoverbike when I return. Please I need it.¡± I said. He sighed. ¡°Ok, because you helped me with Jerry. I expect you to return it to me in good shape.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to return it.¡± I said and smiled under helm. At least little luck went my way. I went in full run and in a while I was at scrapyard. There Gordon already waited with Hoverbike. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯d like to talk to you, but I need to go.¡± I said and jumped on hovebike. ¡°Not so fast I need to explain to you how to ride with it.¡± He started to say. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for this, but it¡¯s emergency.¡± I said and with quick twist of wrist I pull out from the scrapyard. I immediately speed up for closest gate outside of town. I already knew where I should go from a maps, I downloaded on my way to the scrapyard. Gate was still open and I went through it at full speed. I could see guards looking startled as I went by them. I approached small hill that hid my ship from sight. As I get on the top of the hill, I could see dead bodies littering the ground around ship. It had to be kingpin¡¯s man. They didn¡¯t count on automatic defense of the ship. I waited for what would happen and finally doors on ship opened. From it three mans walked out. One of them was obviously in charge. His man went from body to body and searched them. They took their weapons and everything valuable they could find. After that they went back to ship. I saw them preparing ship for lift of, but I couldn¡¯t let them do it. I quickly sent my codes towards the Paladin and to my relief he responded. I commanded him to power down everything and open door for me. I jogged towards my ship and entered it with caution. I used scanners and I pinpointed all three man heading towards my position. First thing first, I contacted Eleanor, but there was no response. With fear in my heart I went to AI core. I went around man that captured my ship. When I get into AI core I could see someone tore it out by force. I could see parts of it hanging there, but core itself was away. I looked at it with emotionless face. Only emotion that stayed in me was anger. I was never felt so angry in my life. Without stealth, I went towards cargo bay where all three mans were standing. I felt my power core sent more and more energy to my body. I saw my hands and body shine with long line going through it. It was excess energy that I wasn¡¯t using. As I rounded the corner one of the men saw me. He pointed his weapon at me and time slowed. I run strait at him and dodged his two shots. Two other also pointed their weapons at me, but I was too fast. With kick I broke hand in which he was carrying pistol. I stopped his screaming when I grabbed his neck and used him as shield. His companions disregarded him and shot at me which resulted in his dead. I tossed him at boss and pulled Punch. With three shots I dispatched second man. I was before their boss before he could get from under his man. He tried to shot me from the ground, but I kicked his weapon away. ¡°Who ¡­ Who are you?¡± he said trembling. ¡°Your death, if you don¡¯t tell me what you did with AI core installed on this ship.¡± I said. ¡°We didn¡¯t do anything with it.¡± He said and looked anywhere, but me. I put down my helmet and looked at him with blazing eyes and this time it was literally. ¡°You¡¯re lying. Now tell me where is she?¡± I shouted. I saw him piss himself. ¡°We sold her. We couldn¡¯t make her do anything for us so we sold her.¡± ¡°Where did you sell her?¡± I roared. ¡°On nearby planet. It has biggest marketplace from all nearby planets. We have its location on our galaxy map. I can show you.¡± He said. I already connected to network and download location of the planet. It was called Qunar. This planet was more of a small asteroid that was used as black market. It would be almost impossible to find her. ¡°I know where. Now tell me who you sold it to?¡± I said. ¡°We sold it to local merchant. I don¡¯t know who he is. That¡¯s all I know.¡± He said. I cocked my fist and prepared to knock him out. ¡°We placed tracker on it. Don¡¯t kill me.¡± He said with tears in his eyes. ¡°Give me tracker ID and I¡¯ll let you live.¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s in my cabin.¡± He said and saw me frown. ¡°Your cabin I mean. It¡¯s in your cabin.¡± I knocked him out and thrown him in brig. It was in decent state compared to other parts of the ship. I went to cabin and looked for tracker. I found it quickly with scan and downloaded tracker ID from it. It was time to clean up this mess. I took both dead mercenaries and tossed them out. Local fauna will take care of them. Captain I¡¯ll give to detective Kirkland and Greg. I calmed down as I worked and I could tell, I damaged my body when I pulled too much energy into it. I tore some muscles and damaged some of my metal bones. My Nanobots were already working on it, but their capacity was lowering slowly. I needed to take some materials into my body. I found kitchen and ate quick meal. This helped, but I needed more. I took more food with me and went to look around the bridge. When I got there I was horrified. Most of the consoles were destroyed or functioning only partially. I sat down in captain chair, ate everything and with last command to activate defense, I fall asleep. Book 2 - Chapter 6: Farewell Hi, I know this chapter is little late, but first week in a school took more tie then I thought. I''ll try to post in normal shelude, but there could be complication sometimes. I thank you for your patiance. Enjoy new chapter :D - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I woke up with splitting headache. I looked at a clock at nearby display. I slept whole seven hours and I still felt little tired. I thought back and this was first time, I felt so tired. It had to be, because I overcharged my body when I was angry. I looked at state of my ship on one of the functioning panels and it was terrible. Outer hull was patched on so many places that I had problem even find original plates. Sensors and shield emitters were only sparsely placed along hull. When I got to weapons, I found out they were seriously undercharged. I looked for a reason and I found out readings from the power source were terrible. It was power source readings normally seen in more powerful shuttle, not a spaceship. I shook my head. I wouldn¡¯t be able to get to Qunar with ship in this state. I needed to make at least basic repairs before I could venture forth. Rest, I¡¯ll finish them on my way. I needed to find out what was wrong with power source, before I made my decision. When I finally came to power source I found it in lockdown state. I looked around for active power source, but I couldn¡¯t find it. I looked around rest of the ship until I found it at engine room. That was how they traveled with such weak power source. When they traveled, power source rerouted most of the power to engine. It had to be really uncomfortable to be here while nothing worked. Good thing was that I could unlock original power source and replace torn power lines going through the ship. I sighed with relief. Only one important thing was left to check. I went to workshop. I found it full of garbage and destroyed machines. Most of machines, I used before were broken or in horrible state. I went straight to replicator, but it was too locked out. Also they had to let out their frustration on it, because I could see it was damaged on purpose. I scanned it and I could see Nanobots hidden inside small capsule where it was almost impossible to get without codes to the replicator. I would need to repair it, before I go and save Eleanor. I made list and shut down automatic defense. Instantly, I got messages that were blocked by it. Most were from Liray and Harr, but couple of them were from Lany. They all asked me what happened and warned me because they placed bounty on my head. I went back to bridge and after I read messages, I did wide scan of my surroundings. What I found out didn¡¯t help my mood at all. There were about forty people two kilometers from my ship and they were approaching it fast. My readings told me they were armed and some of them had even jury rigged rocket launcher. I did quick preflight check, but when results came in, I sighed and lifted ship up. Almost everything turned up red so waiting would be pointless. I moved my ship about forty kilometers north and placed it behind small hill. Before I could repair replicator, I needed more energy. For that I would need to unlock power source and replace power lines. My only luck was that there was a lot of scrap material on ship. When I repair replicator, I could feed it with them. I shut down power source mercenaries used and moved to my old one. I connected directly into it and used the codes to activate it. With silent hum it started. I still needed to charge it to get better results, but even in this state it was working better than one mercenaries used. With quick scan, I found out where most damaged power lines to replicator were. I needed to power it and start making out parts. I replaced all necessary power lines in about an hour. Now came time to restore power replicator and make necessary repairs to make it work. Luckily this replicator was made sturdy so even with all damage done to it, it could still work. I needed to make it work only until I produce new parts and replace old ones. With small smile I started to work on it. I worked for more than four hours, before I could produce first parts from replicator. First I replaced ones in replicator and then I started to work on power lines. I fed replicator as much material as I could, but for full repair I¡¯ll need more. I wanted to speed it up so I build two repair bots that could take care of non essential repairs and clean up the ship. I worked three days strait and managed to replace all power lines, sensors and shield emitters. I managed to repair thrusters, control panels and some of the weapons. More I couldn¡¯t do, because I didn¡¯t have materials. I could mine some, but that would take too much time. I knew what I needed to do. I opened Com link to city. ¡°Harr, if you have time, I¡¯d like to talk to you.¡± There was silence for a second, before he picked it up. ¡°I thought you run away. Liray and Johnathan told me you wouldn¡¯t, but I wasn¡¯t so sure. With bounty on your head.¡± He told me. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll have to go away, but before that I need something from you. I need as much scrap as you can get your hands on.¡± I said. ¡°Why would you need it and what happened four nights ago?¡± he asked. ¡°Ship I¡¯m calling you from belongs to me and it was stolen by mercenaries. There was one friend on board of ship and they sold her. I need to get to her before someone kills her or worse.¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t hear him for about a minute. ¡°Are you there Harr?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here. I¡¯m just thinking, what can I do to help? Best would be contact a scrapyard and take it from them. I can lend you some money, but I don¡¯t have too much.¡± He said. ¡°I can trade replicator time for scrap. I can make factory new parts.¡± I said. ¡°Hmm¡­. That could work. I¡¯ll contact scrapyard and made a deal. Do you need anything else?¡± ¡°Yes I¡¯d like to meet with you and others before I leave. Invite Norman, detective Kirkland and Greg if you can. I¡¯d like to leave behind some items that could help you, if something happens.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go and prepare everything. When should we meet?¡± he asked. ¡°Tonight would be best. We could meet at Golden Well, if Johnathan doesn¡¯t have problems with it. I¡¯ll tell you what happened yesterday.¡± I said. ¡°Ok. Take care of yourself.¡± He said and ended call. I¡¯ll need to sneak inside the town. Hurum has four gates, but I won¡¯t be able to use them. I¡¯ll have to go through the wall. To help me sneak I scrapped both drones and remade them. I made them almost same, but I used completely new parts with higher specification. I added new sensors and enhanced remote control. Best thing was that I could use more powerful processors and use more memory. This enables me to use more complex instruction with better response. Last thing I did was enhancing remote control on Paladin. After that I waited until it was dark enough to sneak into the city. In the end, it was easy to sneak to the Golden Well. I only had to wait until guards on wall look other way and climb over it. When I walked inside, I could see everyone was already here. They were seated around the room. Liray, Harr, Norman, Johnathan, Detective Kirkland, Greg. What surprised me was that even Lany, Jerry and his granddad was there. I retracted the visor and smiled at others. I greeted everyone and we moved to center of room where tables were already prepared for our meeting. We seated around it. I looked around and everyone waited for me to start. I told them about what happened on my meeting with Kingpin and how I managed to acquire the ship. I saw Liray looking at me expectantly through my telling. I knew what he wanted to suggest to me, but I wanted to say it my way. ¡°¡­ I was enraged and my power source started to pump more and more energy into me. I went after them and quickly dispatch two of them. Third, I interrogated to find out what happened to my friend. With my last strength, I tossed him into the brig and fell asleep on the pilot chair. When I woke up, I made as many repairs as I could. After that I contacted you and here we are.¡± I could see them looking confused at me. ¡°What do you mean by power source and overcharging?¡± asked Greg finally. I knew they would notice it. ¡°Exactly what I said. You probably already suspected that I¡¯m not completely human. To tell the truth, it¡¯s even more¡­ strange.¡± I said changing my skin to normal mechanical tone. I didn¡¯t even know when I started to think about as normal skin. Everyone, but Liray looked wide eyed at me. ¡°I know, it¡¯s not what you expected, but this is who I am. I was born human, but circumstances changed and now I¡¯m in this body.¡± I said and waited for them to say something. When they didn¡¯t tell anything for whole two minutes I raised my voice in worry. ¡°Say something already. I¡¯m starting to get little scared! ¡± First to speak was Harr. ¡°To tell the truth, I¡¯m not sure what I think about this. It¡¯s just too different from everything I imagined, that I don¡¯t know what to say.¡± ¡°You look cooler like this. Can I look at you closer?¡± said Lany with smile. I smiled back at her. ¡°Yes, come here and look.¡± She came up to me and looked, poked and prodded me while other considered what to say. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how you look. I think you proved to us long time ago on whose side you are.¡± said finally Greg. I smiled even more when others let me know that nothing changed with my revelation. Only one left was Norman who looked incredulously around himself. ¡°How can you trust her? She lied to us from first day we met.¡± He turned to me with stone face. ¡±I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t trust you. I shouldn¡¯t hire you as my bodyguard.¡± he stood up and left Golden Well. I wanted to go after him, but Liray placed hand on my shoulder and shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ll talk to him when we finish. I told you he has trust issues. Give him time and he¡¯ll come around.¡± ¡°Ok I¡¯ll do as you say. I hope, he¡¯ll trust me once more.¡± I said and sat down. I started to thank them, but Johnathan interrupted me. ¡°We understand. Now, how can we help you? You¡¯re going to save your friend. Am I right?¡± ¡°Yes I¡¯m going to save her, but I¡¯ll need more parts for my ship to do it.¡± I turned to Jerry¡¯s granddad. ¡°We weren¡¯t introduced, but my name is Leya. I would like to get as much scrap as you can give me. I can trade it for parts from my replicator. They would be all factory new.¡± I said. He frowned at me. ¡°My name is Gordon Salem and what parts can you make?¡± ¡°If I have enough materials, I can make almost anything. I built my ship with help of replicator.¡± I said. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. ¡°Hmm, ok that could work. Now, I¡¯d like to know what happened to my howerbike.¡± I winced and looked down when I heard it. ¡°I had to leave it behind, because someone came after me right after I woke up. I can make you a new one.¡± When I looked back at him, I saw he wasn¡¯t happy with me. ¡°I don¡¯t need new one. I build this one from first wire to last nut.¡± ¡°I understand what you want to tell me, but I just can¡¯t bring it back. I can make you new one or I can give you parts to make new one yourself, but I can¡¯t give you back yours.¡± I said. ¡°You¡­¡­¡­. I¡­¡­..¡± He sighed, ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll make a new one. Give me parts and I¡¯ll start immediately work on it. I hope, they aren¡¯t included in our previous deal.¡± ¡°Of course and I¡¯m sorry.¡± I said. ¡°Let it go. I¡¯ll place scrap in the middle of scrapyard, but I¡¯m not sure how you¡¯ll get it on your ship.¡± said Gordon. I smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I have it all planned already. Place it in some containers and I¡¯ll pick them up in the morning.¡± ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll start working on it. I should go and prepare it.¡± said Gordon and moved towards the door. ¡°You should hear this second part first. It¡¯s connected to you.¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± asked Gordon. ¡°I¡¯d like to leave behind couple of things, in case they try to another attack. Also I¡¯d like to produce new parts for spaceport so they don¡¯t have to sell it.¡± I said. ¡°That would be good. We still don¡¯t know what they want to do, but the spaceport is one of the things they want. At least we think so.¡± said Detective Kirkland. ¡°I¡¯ll start producing parts as soon as I have some materials.¡± I said. ¡°I told you I can give you materials, but what more do you need?¡± asked Gordon. ¡°I¡¯d like to hide parts in one of your buildings. I¡¯d like to build couple of weapons. If everything goes bad, they could be your last line of defense.¡± I said. ¡°What about my family? From what I heard, we could be attacked just by having these items.¡± said Gordon. ¡°He¡¯s right, we shouldn¡¯t involve civilians.¡± said Greg. ¡°We were involved in it when they attacked this city and our councilmen. All of us would be affected by their plan and that means we have right to defend ourselves as we deemed necessary.¡± said Johnathan. ¡°He¡¯s right granddad. We have to help or we would be left defenseless later. It¡¯s our chance to do a good thing.¡± said Jerry who didn¡¯t say much all this time. Few of us who know him stared at him while Johnathan look pleased and slapped him the back. ¡°That¡¯s my boy. He has the courage and his heart is at right place. If we don¡¯t help we¡¯ll be just saving time for later and in the end, it¡¯ll cause much bigger disaster.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t forbid it to you, but think it through. Like Gordon said, it won¡¯t affect only one person, but whole family.¡± said Detective Kirkland looking at Lany and Jerry. ¡°It¡¯s no problem when concerning me. I¡¯m going with Leya.¡± said Lany. ¡°What do you mean?¡± said me and Gordon at the same time. ¡°You told me I could be your Ap¡­ Are¡­Apren¡­ you know what. You¡¯ll teach me and I¡¯ll work for a small fee.¡± said looking eagerly at me. ¡°You mean Apprentice. That was before I knew about my friend. It would be just too dangerous to take you with me.¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t care. I can stay on the ship and help you. I won¡¯t go on planet, if it¡¯s too dangerous. Please let me come.¡± she said with puppy eyes. ¡°You¡¯ll have to ask Gordon first. He¡¯s your guardian.¡± I said and dodged matter to Gordon. ¡°Traitor.¡± I heard him mutter. ¡°Lany you heard her. It¡¯s just too dangerous and you won¡¯t be able to change your decision later.¡± he said. ¡°I won¡¯t, I¡­¡± she stopped when Gordon raised his hand. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you, I won¡¯t let you. Just think about it more. It¡¯ll take me whole night to put everything in containers and in the middle of the scrapyard. You have enough time to think it through.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think about it, but I know what I want. I want to go out, see universe, other planets and learn all about them.¡± she said and looked back at me with hopeful eyes. ¡°If I decided to go with you, will you take me?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. It will be dangerous, but I could use more help in restoring Paladin V. It took serious beating in last encounter. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll take you, but you¡¯ll have to do what I tell you, when I tell you. Do you understand?¡± She jumped towards me and hugged me, then she moved to Gordon and even Jerry. They too get hug. Then she ran outside. She was probably going back to the scrapyard think about her decision and pack her things. ¡°I should go too. I have a lot of work and I¡¯d like to do it before morning.¡± said Gordon. He and Jerry left which left me with Harr, Liray, Greg, Johnathan and Detective Kirkland. Until dawn we talked about ourselves. They told me about their family and friends and I told them about mine. I found out that Detective Kirkland first name was Arthur. He didn¡¯t have family because like other in his line of work, he was married to his work. Johnathan was married to a local woman who helped him in Golden Well. She was away right now because he didn¡¯t want to endanger her. She was currently pregnant for five months. He helped me because he thought it was right thing to do, but also because he wanted to raise his son in peace. Liray told me he stayed on this planet after the war. He was here as soldier, but after war ended he was left here. As there wasn¡¯t a way to return to his planet he stayed here and started to work as local sheriff. After some time police force was established, but it wasn¡¯t for him. They were just too much rules that he wasn¡¯t comfortable with. In the end he opened small school where he thought martial arts. Lastly Greg told me how he started to work for local police and in time he used connection to work as bodyguard. This helped him to earn more money which he invested in his equipment. He wanted to buy as good equipment as he could and use it to protect others. He didn¡¯t tell us why, but I could see pain in his eyes. Someone dear to him had to die. About hour before dawn Liray wanted to fight me one last time. I told him that now that my abilities were back, it would be different. No matter, he wanted to fight. I asked Johnathan if it would be alright and when he approved, we prepared for fight. Both of us stepped in the middle of the room and bowed to one another. I fell in loose stance from which enabled me react faster. He chose to go with more aggressive stance. We started to circle one another and wait for our opportunity. First to make mistake was me when I stumbled on uneven surface of the floor. I stumbled to the right and Liray immediately jumped at me. As soon as he started to move I felt everything slow down. I used my right leg to brace myself and launched myself at him. I could see that he was surprised with my reaction speed. He went for my legs and tried to kick my down. I jumped over him and grabbed him by the shoulders. I used them to launch myself farther from him because he was already spinning and coming at me with high kick. After this brief exchange we both started to once more circle one another. From this exchange both of us knew that I was stronger and faster, but he was more experienced. In a real fight I would just overwhelm him and didn¡¯t give him chance to use his skill. However this fight was different. I wanted to show him that I understood his teachings and even thought I was far from his league, I could still defend myself. We circled ourselves for whole two minutes before I saw him preparing to launch himself at me. Before he could do so I ran at him. He tried to grab my hands and tossed me over him. I let him grab my hands, but I pivoted myself to the right and used my elbow to strike his face. He instinctively protected his face and jumped sideways. I didn¡¯t get him with this attack, but he wasn¡¯t fast enough dodge my leg when I tripped him down. I immediately went after him and used my strength to pin him down. We wrestled for about a minute and he took me down almost two times, but in the end I managed to subdue him. He patted floor two times. ¡°I surrender. You got me good this time, but I almost took you down one or two times.¡± I beamed at him. ¡°Like you always tell me almost doesn¡¯t count.¡± He shook his head, ¡°Student teaching his teacher. What did I do to deserve this?¡± ¡°Ha, if someone deserves it, it¡¯s you. You always beat someone and now someone finally returned it to you.¡± said Harr with mock anger, but we all could see smile underneath. After that it was almost time to go and pick up my things on scrapyard. Before we all left, we helped Johnathan tidy up his restaurant and bid our farewell. When I came to the scrapyard, I could see that everything was already prepared. Even Lany was waiting with her things. She had only small bag that contained only essentials for traveling. Next to her was standing Gordon with Jerry. ¡°Hi, it was some time, I worked whole night. I would go to sleep, but I want to see how you take everything from here.¡± said Gordon who looked ready to fall asleep. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that won¡¯t be a problem. I¡¯ll just load it into my ship and went away with it for now. When I make everything I want to leave here, I¡¯ll return and give it to you.¡± I said. ¡°Should I wait for you here or go with you back for the ship?¡±Asked Lany. ¡°So you decided to go with me.¡± I looked at her and she nodded. ¡°No, I¡¯ll guide my ship here and my bots will help me load everything into the ship.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see it. Can we start already?¡± she asked. I laughed. ¡°Yes, give me a moment to connect to my ship.¡± I said. I sat cross-legged down on the ground and connected to my ship. I could feel her waking up and I sent small part of my consciousness into it. It was really weird to be at two places at the same time. I lifted Paladin and moved towards city. I knew there was some air defense installed in city, but if I hug the ground, I should be ok. In a minute, I was already moving over city which caused pretty big commotion. I winced when I saw people looking up with fear. I let the ship float over scrapyard and sent out bots to load all containers into the ship. From Arthur and Greg, I knew I had about fifteen minutes before police will arrive at the scrapyard. I¡¯ll have to load everything into ship before they arrive. That shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I let bots do their work and look at Lany who was looking up with wide eyes. When she saw me she run to me and hugged me. ¡°This is awesome. Will I be able to control it like that in the future?¡± I thought about how could I make special interface to connect to human mind and about problems that I would need to overcome. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe. It¡¯s harder to connect human mind directly into the ship. It could burn out your brain.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll think of something.¡± she said full of confidence. I shook my head and turned to Gordon. ¡°Police will be here in about fifteen minutes. I want you to tell them I robbed you. Tell them about me not being human.¡± ¡°Why would I tell them that? I won¡¯t tell them anything and this is private property. I don¡¯t have to let them enter.¡± he said angrily. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like it, but I need you to do it. When I return with other things, I need to be viewed villain. I don¡¯t want them to search your property.¡± ¡°How would my telling your secret help you with it?¡± he asked. ¡°Simply, when I return, I¡¯ll send small missile as revenge. I¡¯ll guide it here where nothing remains and then I sent bots to load one of the buildings. They should be convinced that I attacked you because of the revenge and not giving you things for city.¡± I said. He looked thoughtful. ¡°That could work, not that I like it, but it covers one thing I didn¡¯t know how to hide.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry everything will be fine. I¡¯ll go away immediately after the attack so you should bid farewell to Lany. When I save my friend, I¡¯ll try to get back, but circumstances could change. I could be forced to take another route.¡± I said. ¡°? understand. Just take care of her. I always knew she was destined for something greater then selling scrap.¡± he said and turned to Lany. ¡°I always tried to take care of you. I know I wasn¡¯t ideal father to you, but don¡¯t forget about us. You¡¯ll have home waiting here for you every time you return.¡± he said and hugged her. ¡°I¡¯ll return, I promise and you were best dad I could wish for.¡± said Lany crying. ¡°I know, I was jerk this past couple of years, but I¡¯ll change and when you return, you¡¯ll have brother here.¡± said Jerry and hugged her too. ¡°I¡¯ll be glad to have brother.¡± she said. By this time all of them were crying and even I had tears in eyes. I blinked couple of times to return to the reality. ¡°I don¡¯t want to interrupt you, but we have to go. Police is already on their way and they should be here any minute.¡± I said. Lany went next to me and two bots swept us up towards the ship. I went immediately to pilot seat and strapped myself. I called after Lany and told her to strap herself into one of the vacant seats. I connected into ship and surprise awaited me there. Three small ships were coming towards my location. They didn¡¯t come from direction of the town, but rather from outside. I still had little time so I speed up away from town. I didn¡¯t want to have ship fight over city. As soon as I got farther from city, I received call from them. On display I could see man in his thirties looking like pirate. He wore even eye patch across his eye. ¡°This is Captain Danny Lerk from Firewood mercenaries. Surrender yourself to us and return our ship. We will be merciful.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding. I know what you¡¯ll do to me. I¡¯d rather stay on my ship, if you don¡¯t mind.¡± I said without expression. ¡°Not your ship, but our ship! If you don¡¯t surrender, we¡¯ll shot you down. Bounty is dead or alive.¡± he said with sinister smile. ¡°Why so impolite? I should tell you first that I¡¯m original owner of this ship. I know all codes and that includes one to the missiles.¡± I continued politely. That shut him up. He looked at my face, but I just continued to look at him which evidently unnerved him. ¡°I think you are bluffing.¡± he said finally. ¡°Guys load am up and send her present.¡± He cut his connection and I could see theirs missile pods preparing for missile strike. I looked at Lany who looked nervous. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Couple of backwater mercenaries won¡¯t be able to touch me.¡± I turned my ship in hundred and eighty arc and speed up towards the mercenaries. I focused on first ship where signal originated and fired from my laser and plasma weapons. As soon as they hit him, I could see they vaporized half the ship. So much for his threats. They had probably same shields I had when I got on my ship. They retaliated with their weapons, but my shields held without problems. They even fired their missiles, but I was already too close and I flied underneath them. It was old type of missiles that went after heat source. As I was already behind them both missiles changed their targets and went after mercenaries ships. They were forced to destroy them and in confusion I got behind them. ¡°Now that we introduced ourselves, why don¡¯t you land your ships on these coordinates?¡± I sent them coordinates about fifty kilometers from city. ¡°Why should we listen to you?¡± said one of the Captains on the ships. ¡°Because she can destroy us anytime she deems necessary.¡± said second Captain. ¡°With what? I know our ships and they don¡¯t have anything that powerful.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you see how she took down Danny and that our weapons didn¡¯t do anything to her? I tell you, we don¡¯t stand a chance.¡± ¡°You can surrender, if you want, but I¡¯ll continue to fight her.¡± I shook my head. ¡°Do you even know that I hear everything you say? I can destroy you before you could move your ship. If there is someone who doesn¡¯t want to die, he should put your Captain in the brig and land ship where I told you.¡± There was silence on the other end, but after a while new voice surrendered to me. I followed them until they landed their ships on the ground and all came out. They tried to hide couple of crewmembers on the ship, but when I reminded them about their situation they all came out. I let Paladin hover over them and jumped down. Of course, before I jumped down, I scanned them for weapons and forced to let them on the ship. As soon as I landed on ground three men tried to attack me. I let them come at me and knocked them unconsciousness . Now I was standing before them and thinking about what to do with them. ¡°First I¡¯d like to know who hired you and who put bounty on my head?¡± I said. No one said anything at first, but in the end one man came forward. ¡°What guarantees can you give us? What if you kill us as soon as we tell you everything?¡± he said. He was same man who surrendered immediately. He looked more capable then others. Some of them look to be just ordinary cutthroats, but all man and women on this captain¡¯s ship looked professional. ¡°I didn¡¯t kill you and I don¡¯t plan to kill you. I want to know who am I against and this is price for your lives.¡± I said. He stroked his chin. ¡°We will cooperate with you, but we want our ships back and we want to be set free.¡± ¡°Ok, but I want codes to your ships and promise that you wouldn¡¯t work against me.¡± I said. ¡°Why should we give you our codes?.... Deal.¡± said both captains at the same time. First I turned to Captain who constantly complained. I had enough of his high attitude. I sent signal to my ship and immediately streak of plasma fired near his ship changing its surroundings into mass of sizzling plasma. ¡°That¡¯s the reason why you will give me codes! You think you are some powerful mercenary and that no one can go against you. Let me tell you something about you and your ship. Your ship is outdated little crap that is braking before my eyes and as for yourself, I could take you down in five seconds with hands tied behind my back so please try me more.¡± He took step back fearfully, but immediately anger lit his eyes and he took step back. He would probably attack, if not for one of his crewmembers and his fist. As they dragged him back, new representative came forward and agreed to our deal. It was same one who surrendered to me on brige. Who hired them they didn¡¯t have a clue, but I found out bounty was placed by local council members and some foreign company. I wanted to know more about this company, but they couldn¡¯t tell anything new. In the end both of them promised to never work against me. I knew that it was just my wistful thinking, but I hoped at least smarter one would honor our deal. Book 2 - Chapter 7: Unexpected trouble ¡°Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to repair this ship?¡± asked captain which I trusted more. Other one was on his way to the ship, but even he stopped when he heard his question. ¡°Like I told you before, this ship belongs to me and that means I have all code from it, even ones for original power source.¡± I said. ¡°That I know, but it¡¯s more. Your shield emitters look new, even your weapons are far better than anything we have.¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s in my interest to share all my secrets. On the other hand your crew looks different than this one or one I shot down. How come it¡¯s so different?¡± I said. ¡°He don¡¯t belong to us. He works alone and he wouldn¡¯t work with us, if circumstances didn¡¯t forced him into it. At least that¡¯s what he tells us all the time.¡± said other captain and went towards his ship. He and his crew had to use only narrow passage between plasma fires that was raging around his ship. ¡°Is he telling the truth?¡± I asked curious about his answer. He turned his head away from me and with bitter tone answered. ¡°Yes, we don¡¯t have enough money to buy fuel and food. We were forced to take this contract, but that doesn¡¯t justify our actions.¡± ¡°George it¡¯s not your fault. Like you said we were forced to do this.¡± said one of his crewmembers. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, I knew we were doing wrong thing when we took this job. I hope you¡¯ll have better luck then we had.¡± said George. All of them turned and walked back towards their ship. I looked after them and thought about what to do. There was one solution and I hoped I judged them right. ¡°Wait. I¡¯d like to talk to you about small proposal.¡± I called after them. They turned and I could see small hope on some faces while other dreaded what I would want. George had stone face and I couldn¡¯t read him at all. He walked up to me. ¡°What proposal do you want to talk about?¡± he asked. ¡°Well I need to make some repairs on my ship. I would like to hire you for two jobs. One would be to protect my ship while I would work on it and second would be to deliver goods to one of my friend.¡± I said. ¡°As you know we are in dire need of money. What do you want to pay us with?¡± he asked. ¡°Parts. I can make parts for your ship and even some that you could trade with.¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s not much and even If we have parts to trade, we don¡¯t have fuel to take them and sell somewhere else.¡± said George. ¡°I can maybe give you enough money to fuel your ship and as for the parts, they would be factory new. I didn¡¯t see almost anyone use these so their price should be pretty high.¡± I said. ¡°How do you mean factory new? Almost no one can make them and certainly not on such small ship.¡± he asked incredulously. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t tell you, if I could. What do you say? Do we have a deal?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to talk about it with my crew. Give us ten minutes to make decision.¡± he said and went towards his crew. In a mean time, I called Lany and told her about what I wanted to do. She wasn¡¯t thrilled with my idea, but she agreed they would be good help. I told her to sit down behind one of the consoles and I sent her some manuals that she could read. She was excited with idea of learning about something new. I was smiling when I ended call with her. When George came back he was smiling. ¡°We decided to take your offer, but before that I would like to introduce at least part of my crew.¡± he said and motioned to his crew. Five people detached from them. It was three mans and two women. One of the women was more of a girl then a woman. She looked to be around Lany¡¯s age. All of them wore same uniform which make them look like military. As they came George pointed first at woman. Her name was Talia and she was his CO. She looked to be strict and evidently wasn¡¯t very thrilled with my proposal. Then he pointed on one of the men. His name was Sam and he was his Second officer. He was smiling at me and his whole appearance was loose. He looked to be one of the men who could enjoy life as much as they could. It was probably for the best that we worked different clock then Talia. Then he pointed at strong man who measured me whole time. It was his chief of the security. They called him Wall, but his real name was Leon. He looked more like soldier then security on the ship. He had this feeling of hunter waiting for pray to make a mistake. Last man was chief engineer. He looked hopefully at me, probably because of my promise of factory new parts. His name was Jonny. He was tall slim man with long unkempt hairs. Lastly he introduced me to girl who joined them on last mission. She didn¡¯t know her real name so they called her Hana. She was learning to work as pilot on ship. Right now she frowned at me. ¡°Don¡¯t think that because you defeated us once that you are better pilot then Me.¡± she said and tried to look bigger than she was. I turned to George who pointed his hands up when he saw my smile, ¡°What can I tell you? She¡¯s best damn pilot I ever saw.¡± I looked back at her. ¡°Maybe she is, maybe not. I¡¯m going to teach my apprentice how to pilot ship. You can join us if you want.¡± ¡°Why would I want to learn anything from you. ¡­. Auch¡± she finished when Leon the Wall hit her on the head. ¡°There is always someone better then you. You can¡¯t be best if you don¡¯t learn from them.¡± he said. ¡°But I¡¯m better than her.¡± she pouted. George sighed, ¡°I¡¯m sorry to tell you this, but I think she has more experience than you. You are one of the most talented pilots I ever saw but that experience makes her better pilot.¡± ¡°Even you?¡± she said to Captain and turned to me. ¡°Then tell me something that I didn¡¯t know.¡± I thought about what to tell her and smiled when I found out simple thing that would help her tremendously. ¡°Learn specs of your ship.¡± I saw Jonny smile, but others looked at one another confused. ¡°I already know enough about my ship. I learn its specs from the manuals.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not telling you to look at manuals. I¡¯m telling you to let Jonny show you components and what you do to them while you are flying.¡± I said. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand what you want to tell me. I know what I do to parts while I¡¯m flying.¡± she said. I turned to Jonny who shook his head. ¡°She means to tell you that you need to learn engineer side of power source, thrusters, engine and other parts of the ship.¡± Hana looked at Jonny with betrayed expression, ¡°Why would it help me, if I learn more about parts?¡± ¡°Simply because you would know what you can and can¡¯t do.¡± I said. She looked confused at us, but Leon whispered something in her ear and she suddenly brightened, ¡°I think, I know what you want to tell me. If it makes me better pilot, I would gladly join your and Jonny¡¯s lessons.¡± ¡°Ok, everything is arranged. We should change the area. I was hoping for something more defensible and harder to spot. I suggest we land in some cave or something similar.¡± I said. ¡°Yes we should hide, but I¡¯m not sure if we can land our ship in cave.¡± nodded George and looked at the ship and Hana. Thankfully she didn¡¯t see him. ¡°I can send you data from my sensors. That should provide you with better map and make it easier to land your ship.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see when and if we find some cave. It would have to be pretty large to store both of our ships.¡± said George. ¡°Let me take care of that. If there is a cave suitable for us, I¡¯ll find it.¡± He looked skeptically at me, ¡°Ok, but we should plan for failure.¡± I called for bot to retrieve me, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make some backup plan.¡± ¡°You better.¡± he called after me as I was going up into my ship. As soon as I was on the ship I went to the replicator and made three surveillance drones. They would map potential cave and measured it. When I had placed all necessary parts into the replicator, I went to bridge. There I found Lany absorbed in reading the materials I sent to her. I smiled when I saw her and remembered times when I too spent long time readings about ships and gadgets. I sat in a pilot seat and went to the mountain where I woke up. Finding a suitable cave proved to be easier than I thought. As soon as I came over the mountain I went to replicator room and took all three surveillance drones. I sent them to map a caves in the mountains and in an hour I had it mapped enough to pick one. I picked one which was large enough for both of our ships. As soon as I landed I woke up Lany from her trance and we started to work on necessary parts for George and others. Some things on my ship I could repair on my way to the Qunar. For the whole week I worked almost non-stop. I knew Lany wanted to work right alongside me, but she needed to sleep while I needed more of a small pause. I also started to teach her and Hana how to fly. Hana already knew a lot of things I thought, but there were still some parts she didn¡¯t know. While learning Lany and Hana became good friends in no time. Even mercenary crew grew to like Lany and they let her look around their ship. We could see another mercenary company going over the mountain while we were hiding there. When they came I knew I had to move to different part of my plan sooner then I wanted. I still didn¡¯t have all part for the city, but I needed to make my ship space worthy. I needed to replace everything that I would need for the space travel. When I saw searching parties move away from our position I immediately took apart both drives and started to work on them. They were more damaged then I originally thought and that prolonged the time I needed to work on them. That proved catastrophic as I saw one of their drones moving in our direction. They will find us in a day if we don¡¯t do something. I called George and told him what I found. We decided to call a meeting in my engine room. After week spent with them I already trusted them. I even told them about replicator and gave small tour for Jonny. I had already worked out light jump drive, but I couldn¡¯t use my sub-light drive. ¡°So you probably already know what our problem is. Enemy drone will discover us in a day and I¡¯ll need about two hours more to finish overhaul.¡± I said and continued to work on the drive. ¡°Well you hired us to work as your protection. We can go out there and shoot it down.¡± said Sam. ¡°Yeah and they¡¯ll discover us that much sooner. You know that there are about five more ships out there. We¡¯ll be destroyed without doing anything. We need something else.¡± said Talia. ¡°So you¡¯re telling us that we need distraction. What about some remote control drone.¡± said George. ¡°They could just track the signal and we back at the same spot as before.¡± I said, ¡°No, we need something different.¡± ¡°What about ground attack? I and ¡­. say two others could go out and shoot it down from different position. After that we¡¯ll move to different location where you¡¯ll pick us after everything is over.¡± said Leon. George looked thoughtful, ¡°It¡¯s going to be dangerous and there is good chance you¡¯ll die before we¡¯ll be able to pick you up.¡± ¡°I know, but Me and my man are prepared to fight. Give us the order and it¡¯ll be done.¡± said Leon back with stern expression. ¡°I don¡¯t like it. It¡¯s too dangerous. We should find other solution.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not telling you to stop looking for better solution, but for now this one has best chance of success.¡± said Leon. ¡°I know, it¡¯s just that I don¡¯t want to endanger anyone on my behalf. I should have waited with the repair.¡± I said hitting nearby hull with my fist and everyone jumped little at loud bang. ¡°Couldn¡¯t they come two or three hours later?¡± We talked about the other possibilities, but we couldn¡¯t come up with a better option. In the end, I let the matter drop and told them to come here with their equipment. I could at least upgrade it little to give them a better chance. All three of them picked light armor that wouldn¡¯t hinder them while moving. Armors were in good condition, but their camouflage was made more for jungle then this desolate lands. I let Lany repaint them according to instructions from Leon. Only thing I changed was their weapons. I gave my laser rifle to the Leon and made two similar rifles with the replicator. From specs they sent me it should be enough to take down the drone. Also it was much better then heavy rocket launcher that they wanted to use before. They still took two with them as they said, ¡°For luck.¡± I still thought there should be something else we could do, but I couldn¡¯t find anything. George and others said goodbye to them and they went on their way. According to the plan all three should pick different location and hid immediately after taking down the drone. We all know there was pretty big chance they¡¯ll die, but they still wanted to do it. I tried to speed up repairs as much as I could, but I it was still slow work. I tried to think about something else then two men and one woman who went out so I could repair my ship. I didn¡¯t want to be heartless, but I needed to focus on my job so I could help them sooner. I couldn¡¯t worry about them because that would slow me down. ? ? ? First part of our way we went together. Me and my fellow soldiers were once more needed to protect the others. When I looked at the others I could see them smiling even thought there was real chance none of us would return. We were tasked with destroying the drone that was heading to our direction. I would be first to take it down and if I miss either Helia or Borsky would finish the job. We predicted that they would send another drone in our direction before they come to investigate. We would destroy it too and then try to buy as much time as we could for Leya to finish her repairs. We were honor bound to protect her now that she gave us back our honor. We knew that what we did would trample on our honor, but we told ourselves that it was necessary. Now that I saw her, I wasn¡¯t so sure. We talked with Lany while Laya was working and she told us more about her. She came here without resources, but in little time she was here she made a lot of work. We were once elite forces directly working for emperor. It his last command to go away and try to help as much people as we could. In the end, we managed to save some people and relocate them on a different planet. At first we stayed with them, but there wasn¡¯t a place for us. We were warriors in society that was tired of fighting. After some time we decided to join the mercenary company and help others wherever we could. At first we were ok, but with time our ships started to fall apart. With war continuing around the galaxy and universe number of qualified people were waning. With ships quality going down, our losses started to climb. From what I heard on our last gathering, we were one of the last group that was still working around the galaxy. I didn¡¯t want us to end up being a common soldiers. More I thought about it, more I thought about Leya and why did she need such powerful ship. I was interrupted from my musings by Helia. ¡°What are you thinking so hard about boss?¡± ¡°About our future. This is first mission after long time that I feel good about.¡± I said. ¡°I know what you¡¯re talking about. George is good captain, but he¡¯s in it for money. I still remember our general and what we sang as we marched around. We were meant for different kind of work.¡± Said Borsky. I chuckled, ¡°Make them tremble, make them fear, for the Black legion is near.¡± All of us smiled at past memories. We stayed silent for a while as we thought about our past. ¡°Where do we move after this mission?¡± asked Helia. I was silent for a while, ¡°I¡¯m thinking about joining Leya on her quest. From what Lany told us she¡¯s going to save her friend which is commendable. But other thing is she not someone who will stay outside of things. Sooner or later she¡¯ll need our help.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°I agree we should move on. We lost our purpose on our travels. I think that Leya could give it to us back.¡± Said Borsky. We looked at each other and I smiled at them little. Then I replaced it with stern expression. ¡°Ok, erase those thoughts for now. We need to focus on mission.¡± I said. ¡°Yes, sir.¡± Said both of them. We spilt up and everyone went to their position. We picked spots around the small valley. We were pretty sure that drone would go as this valley could hide our ships. Borsky and Helia were on the side of the valley while I was in the middle of it. We didn¡¯t have to wait long before drone appeared over the valley. I aimed Leya¡¯s laser rifle at the drone and fired three quick shots. I could see the drone going down even thought I missed my second shot because of recoil from the rifle. It fell down about one klick from us. I knew it sent information about my position before it crashed so I quickly moved to another position. I picked small hole that should block their scan from finding me. At least I hoped so. As we expected next drone entered valley in half an hour. This time it was Helia¡¯s turn to shoot it down. She too shot three times and hit all three. As drone was falling down I could see a ship going towards our position. I prepared for the ship. We talked about it when Leya wasn¡¯t with us. She would not have liked our plan. We decided to do at least some damage to it with our weapons. I changed laser rifle for rocket launcher and waited for ship to release another drone. They would need to lower their shield which gave us chance to take them down. As soon as the ship was over the valley it released two drones. That could complicate things, but I had confidence in Borsky. He should be able to take them down. As best sharpshooter in our division he was our best shot on this. I waited for little shimmering that would mean their shield is down for a while. As soon as I saw it I fired the rocket. I could see another rocket going from my right side. That had to be Helia. I looked back at drones and I could see them falling from the sky. I didn¡¯t have time to wait for the rockets to hit the ship. I used this chance to change my position quickly. I jumped from behind the rocks and run towards small patch of trees. They should provide at least some protection from their scanners. As soon as I came in the woods I turned towards the ship. I could see some smoke going from it, but the ship was still up. That meant we didn¡¯t hit anything important. I used rifle scope to zoom on ship and I could see people going down on a ropes. I smiled when I saw it. It was time to do little hunting. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ These little shits damaged my ship and managed to knock out our weapons system. I picked ten other men and we went down to hunt them. There were only three of them and eleven of us. This would be easy mission. As I touched the ground I looked around. Everywhere were these stupid rocks. We couldn¡¯t see too far between them. I took one step and saw one of my man falling down from the rope. ¡°Take care! Don¡¯t you know how to use rope?¡± I said. ¡°Boss I think he didn¡¯t slip. There is a hole in his head. Someone shot him down.¡± Said one of my man. I looked up and saw red streak and one more man fall down. ¡°Enemy fire! Take cover!¡± I shouted and vaulted over the nearby rock on the ground. Most of my man took cover behind the rocks and looked up at few remaining that were still up. There were two more red streak which meant that another two of my men were dead. I started to sweat under my armor. It wasn¡¯t supposed to go like this. We outnumbered them. We should be one on offensive, but before we even started hunting them they killed four of my men. That left me with six men. Seven with me against three of them. ¡°It¡¯s still two on one. Come we¡¯ll move towards the first one.¡± I said and motioned them to follow me. Of course, I didn¡¯t go first. I picked nice place in the middle of our group were I would be better protected. Slowly we advanced to first position were one of them was firing at my ship. Ships sent us updates on their movement. They could see only one of them, but he was only hundred meters before us. I smiled when I thought about killing him. Even better would be if we catch him alive. I motioned for others to stop called silently at Milan. ¡°Milar how¡¯s our back?¡± No one responded so I called little lauder, but still no answer. I went back while others looked nervously around. ¡°Razor where is Milar?¡± I said to last man in our column. ¡°I don¡¯t know. One second he was there and another he vanished.¡± Said Razor. ¡°What do you mean vanished? And why didn¡¯t you say something?¡± I almost shouted at him. ¡°I wanted, but you were already going towards the back. I didn¡¯t want to shout when I could tell it to you personally.¡± Said Razor. ¡°You idiot! Something like this you have to tell immediately.¡± I said then turned around and saw there were only five of us left. ¡°Where is Reaper?¡± I asked. My men looked around, but Reaper wasn¡¯t there evidently. I started to panic and looked around. In every shadow, I saw someone hiding. I picked my rifle and started to shoot at them. My men followed my example and started to shoot with me. In about thirty seconds we shoot all munition in our clips. Before we could reload I saw someone come from behind one of the rocks. I saw him point something at me and I was falling on the ground. I couldn¡¯t hear anything, but I saw my men falling around me. Last thing I saw was someone crouching before me with knife. He was covered in mud wearing light armor. Then there was only darkness. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ I thought it would be harder, but we managed to take down four of them before they even climbed down from the ship. They didn¡¯t even post anyone to cover them. That was plain stupid. They even picked rocky side of valley where we could hide wherever we wanted. Next two we took silently while we used Helia to lead them in the trap. We picked them while others wasn¡¯t looking. I got one with my nanoknife and other took Borsky. Then they lost it. They started to shoot around and when they used all their ammunition we finished them. Now came harder part. These were amateurs, but now that we took them, they¡¯ll send someone experienced. From our brief contact with other mercenaries I knew there were couple of companies that were professional and knew their job. I went to others and we split up once more. If I counted right, we needed only hour or two more before Leya finishes with repairs. I scanned the sky from my position on one side of valley when they started with bombardment. They first started to bombard our previous position, but I knew before long they¡¯ll go and start to bombard the whole area. I run towards the side of valley away from bombardment. I counted on my team to run away because we couldn¡¯t survive this without a good shelter. I ran about half a click when I heard something over me. I started to look up, when I was tossed to my left. I think I had to pass out because when I woke up there was no bombardment. I looked up and I could see a ship hanging above me. I squinted at it and grunted when I didn¡¯t recognize it. ¡°So big Sergeant Leon Barlovsky ended up as sacrificial goat. I didn¡¯t think that I would see you die this day, but to tell you the truth, it¡¯ll made my day.¡± Said voice to my left. I turned my head and immediately sharp pain stabbed me in the head. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t move much. You lost your hand and we bandaged it so you could see your man dying before I kill you.¡± Said same voice. I could feel someone raise me up. I could see Helia and Borsky bound before me. They looked little battered but all in all they were fine. Behind them was standing man I looked for a long time. Once, we were comrades, but that changed when he sold us. Because of him they were able to take down our whole planet. I tried to go after him, but I was held by two men. He laughed, ¡°Don¡¯t be so impatient. We¡¯ll have time to talk more with one another, but before that I¡¯d like to get closer to your men. Or in this case man and woman.¡± ¡°Touch them Raul and I¡¯ll kill you, even if I have to raise from dead.¡± I said. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be so bad at me or I might take it wrong. I would have to do something bad to your men.¡± He said with smirk. I was furious, but I knew I wasn¡¯t helping the situation. I looked at Helia and Borsky. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll survive this, but it was honor to serve with you.¡± ¡°Ours too boss.¡± Said Borsky. ¡°Same here.¡± Said Helia. Raul clapped his hand behind them. ¡°How touching. I should make a video.¡± I saw him pull out the nanoblad and move towards the Helia. I tried to get away from my captors, but I was too weak. I lost too much blood. Saw him place knife on her throat and look at me with smile. ¡°Say good bye.¡± Before he could move the blade across her throat there was bright flash and ship above us was vaporized. In her place stood the ship I already knew. I sighed, at least Leya managed to repair her ship. Raul looked up with anger written all over his face. ¡°Shit. Who dares to interrupt me?¡± I could feel both hands holding me going down. I was suddenly released. I immediately went after Raul, but he was already running towards the small cave. I wanted to go after him, but I needed to take care of my team. I ran toward Helia and I found knife embedded in her back. I didn¡¯t know if it was bad or not, but I needed to stanch the flow of blood. I knew I couldn¡¯t pull the knife out because she would bleed to death. I turned to Borsky, but he managed to free himself. ¡°What do we do boss? We need medic.¡± Said Borsky. I heard ship landing behind me and the sound of a running feet. I looked back and there was Leya running towards us with two bots. She stopped before us and looked at Helia. ¡°She was stabbed we need medic!¡± I shouted. ¡°Yes, me and you,¡± she pointed at Borsky, ¡°will load her on stretcher and bots will take her to my medical room.¡± She said. ¡°I can help.¡± I said. She looked at me and shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re barely standing. As soon as we load her, I¡¯ll help you get on the ship.¡± I wanted to argue, but she was telling the truth. I could feel my head spinning and I was barely standing. I wasn¡¯t even sure I could get into ship without help. Both she and Borsky put Helia on stretcher and both bots quickly went towards the ship. I was tired and now that she was safe I could get some sleep. I closed my eyes and that was last thing I remembered. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ I looked at the Leon and his eyes were closed and he was breathing shallow. I quickly grabbed him and started to run towards the Paladin. He needed to get quick first aid. He lost too much blood. ¡°Hey you.¡± I called to his man. ¡°Do you have medic on your ship?¡± ¡°Yes we have one doctor and two medics. Just take us to our ship and they¡¯ll help them.¡± He said. ¡°OK, hurry up. Go to the bridge and call them. Tell them to come into my ship as soon as I lend.¡± I said. I heard him say yes and as soon as we were on the Paladin I connected into the ship and lifted us up. I flew quickly towards our hiding place and landed there. I could see three people instantly run for my ship. I let them in and told them to come in to infirmary. I managed to stop Leons bleeding, but I didn¡¯t know what to do with woman. I could hear her moaning as we were flying. Lany was holding her hand and stroking her hair. As soon as medics came we move out to let them work. George and his mercenaries flew up and defended our position. I would be going out only if they could not handle enemies. I was in in infirmary whole time and waited for the doctor¡¯s verdict. Leon was a hard case. They gave him transfusion and stopped bleeding on his missing hand. The woman was even harder. They had to operate her and it took them more than three hours to stabilize her. When they told me they would be alright, I felt like someone lifted giant rock from my shoulders. I thanked them and pointed them towards the mess hall and some empty room where they could sleep. I needed to get back onto the bridge. There was still fight going outside and I need to finish it. I strapped myself into the pilot seat and did quick check on the Paladin. I lifted the Paladin and moved it outside. I could see George put good use in new shield emitters and weapons. There was already one destroyed hull on ground. As soon as I was out I started broadcasting. ¡°To every enemy ship. Surrender or you will be destroyed. None of your ships is strong enough to destroy my ship.¡± I said. All ships stopped shooting and placed themselves across from me. I could see them powering their weapons. ¡°This is your last chance. Surrender and you will be spared.¡± I said. None of them moved and I saw them locking missiles on me. If no one wanted to surrender then I¡¯ll have to force them. I sent two missiles into their midst and started to shoot at them. They too shot at me, but they were slow. Before they had lock on me I was already flying away. They managed to shot down one missile, but second exploded on one of the ships. Their old shields couldn''t stop my top of the line missiles. They looked confused as bright flash blinded their sensors. I was blinded too, but I could use ships sensors to move. As soon as I saw something I started to shoot at it. I had George marked so I knew it was enemy. I managed to take down two other mercenaries which left me with only five. Once more I stopped midair and started broadcasting. ¡°Like I said before, surrender and you will be spared. Power down your weapons and land on the ground.¡± I could see communication going between their ships and finally they powered down their weapons, and landed on the ground. I told captains to get out of the ship to talk about condition of their surrender. I had George sent me couple of security guys to deter them from violent tendencies. They quickly sent them over and I pick all five captains and led them to my lounge. Once there they sat at the table. One of them tried to sat at the head of the table, but one look from marine convinced him that it wouldn¡¯t be good idea. I sat at the head and look at them. Two of them look pretty normal, which meant that they looked as normal military man. Other three looked like space pirates from novels. They all wore hats, had beards and use old weapons. We talked more than three hours before they relented and accepted my condition. Like before I wanted all codes towards their ships and signed document saying that if they attack me they¡¯ll ship would belong to me. Those two condition went pretty smoothly compared to my last one. I wanted some of their plating from their ships. Nothing life threating. Only some of their reserve that they had in cargo. I wanted to use it and change plating my ship. It wasn¡¯t bad, but I wanted to make same one I used before, but for that I would need more materials. They tried to wriggle out of this condition, but I had them and they knew it. If I wanted I could have taken their ship and let them go to nearest city on foot. With all the animals in the wastelands they would be dead before they reach it. I saw that George¡¯s men didn¡¯t like my decision, but they didn¡¯t tell anything. They wanted revenge for their commander and comrade. After that I let security men look at their boss and comrade. They thanked me for saving their lives, but I told them it was them who saved me. When they returned to their ship, I once more changed the location of my ship and hid in another cave. Then I went to Lany¡¯s room and talked to her until I fall asleep. I didn¡¯t even know I was so tired. Book 2 - Chapter 8: Arrival I woke up laying in my bed, but if I remember correctly I fall asleep on the floor in Lany¡¯s room. I stood up and looked around the ship for someone. Finally I found them in my lounge. There were Lany, Doctors and even Leon was sitting in a sofa. I looked at Doctors and they nodded that meant that it was ok for him to be here. We talked about what happened yesterday and who was the guy that captured them. I found out he was their former comrade and it was because of him that their planet fall. He betrayed them and sold their codes for planetary defense. ¡°So what do you think he¡¯s doing here?¡± I asked. He thought for a second before he replied, ¡°Not sure, but nothing good, that¡¯s for sure. He was never nice guy, but now he¡¯s more like a psycho.¡± ¡°I already told you about the situation on the planet. Do you thought he could be behind it?¡± I said concern about my friends that I would be leaving here. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. He was never one to be in charge. He¡¯s working for someone.¡± Said Leon. ¡°What if they attack the city? Can you help them?¡± asked Lany. He looked at his missing arm. ¡°I can ask my team, but I won¡¯t be able to help much.¡± ¡°We could give you a mechanical arm.¡± Said Doctor Gilian. He was one who made the operation on both Helia and Leon. Compared to other two he was older, already in his late fifties, while his to assistants were around twenty years old. ¡°I saw the mechanical arms. They can¡¯t be used in combat. They have too long response time and they glitch all the time.¡± He looked down angry. ¡°If everything went right it wouldn¡¯t be so bad.¡± Said Doctor Gilian. Leon looked at the Doctor with angry face. ¡°What good it would do to me, if I can¡¯t use it in combat? I was born to be a soldier. I don¡¯t know how to do anything else.¡± We stayed silent and waited for Leon to calm down. ¡°Sorry Doctor. I know you want to help, but I don¡¯t think you can.¡± ¡°Maybe I could help you with that.¡± I piped into their conversation. ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Doctor. ¡°I was born without my right arm and I had to use mechanical arm from the small age. Like Leon said there were glitches and she didn¡¯t respond well to my commands.¡± As I talked I could see Leon hang his head more down with resignation. ¡°But when I finished my study in engineering I made my own arm and it was far better. There were still problems, but Doctors told me it was because I never had one to begin with.¡± Leon looked hopefully at me. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you can make an arm that would be without all the problems?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know if it would be without all the problems, but you should be able to use it without problems.¡± I smiled at him. ¡°How do you plan to attach it?¡± asked Doctor. ¡°I won¡¯t. That would be your job. I¡¯ll only make an arm and you¡¯ll be the one attaching it.¡± I said. ¡°How long would it take to make this arm?¡± asked Doctor Gilian. ¡°That would depend on you and Leon. I want your inputs on connection to the arm and on gadgets and other things it would have.¡± I said. ¡°You mean it could work as something else then normal arm?¡± asked Leon with wide eyes. ¡°It could be done. Before the war I saw people with arms that could transform into weapons and other weird things. I thought everyone forgot how to make them. It requires really small parts to work with.¡± Said Doctor. ¡°Yeah I can do it. Come we have work to do.¡± I said and stood up. ¡°Can I watch?¡± asked Lany always eagerly to learn something new. I turned to Leon who nodded. We went to my working room and I showed them some basic designs. Doctor made me do small changes to the connections that would help with controlling the arm. Far more time I spent working with Leon. He wanted to have a hidden weapon, but wasn¡¯t sure which would be best. I told him that either some sort of blade or small pistol build in the arm. I also told him I could make it so he could use it as cutter. Biggest problem were with making a shield. He asked if it would be possible to make shield only in front of him. Something that wouldn¡¯t use as much energy as normal shield, but still offered protection. I thought about it and in the end I could do it. I would bend the shield around itself to make it almost flat. Only downside was that he could trip himself with it if he wasn¡¯t careful, but he told me it would be ok. He¡¯ll just need to train with it when I finish it. I thought about ways to change its size which would help him in energy consumption. When I had everything I needed I ushered him away. I immediately went to work and with Lany¡¯s help we made it in record time. Of course it helped to have fully functional replicator. Doctor planned operation on tomorrow afternoon which gave us enough time to finish it and do all tests to make sure it was alright. When I woke up next day, I found out that Helia was getting better and even woke up briefly. Doctor said that most of the danger should be now away and that her chances were far better than they were before. Helia¡¯s waking up also helped Leon who wanted to get operation behind him as soon as he could. I walked around the ship and looked at the state of it, but almost everything I needed to repair was already done. My time on this planet was nearing its end. I already prepared all parts for the spaceport and my friends. I still had enough time until the afternoon so I went to George¡¯s ship. I walked around with his head engineer and help him with small repairs. I also made a small list of things I¡¯ll sent them before I go away. When the time for the operation came I stood before the infirmary nervously and waited for results. I knew it wasn¡¯t as simple operation as Doctor told me because I already went through one. I was walking in a small circle and stopped only when Lany told me it was getting on her nerves. The operation went for more than two hours, but when one of the assistants went out, he showed us thumbs up. I immediately run to him and hugged him. I asked him when we could see Leon, but he told us that he needed to sleep at least one day. I thanked him and went to make rest of the preparation for my leaving. I knew that someone wanted to take this planet hostage through the spaceports, but I still didn¡¯t know who. It could be the company that wanted to buy both spaceports, but why attack the council. They would have sold it if they wouldn¡¯t attack the council. Also there were just too many mercenary companies for such small planet. George couldn¡¯t tell why they were all here. He came only because he heard you could earn good money on this planet. I sighed, I made all the preparation I could and they weren¡¯t defenseless. If someone tries something, they will stop them. At least I hoped so. I gave them necessary tools to defend themselves, stall them long enough for someone to help them or for me to return. I called George and gave him parts for his ship and parts that he would take to the city. I told him that I would be going away tomorrow. Some of his crew came and bid final farewell. Lany wrote small letter for her granddad and went to sleep. It was long day and it would be longer when we start working on outer plating on our way to rescue Eleanor. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ I woke up on next day with feeling of urgency. It was slowly building up over the last week and now I knew I don¡¯t have more time. I needed to go and start my journey. I lost too much time with repairs. I hoped that Eleanora was alright. I went to check on Leon to the infirmary, but I didn¡¯t found him there. That¡¯s when I heard shouting from corridor. ¡°You can¡¯t move in this state! You¡¯ll just tear your stiches.¡± I heard Doctor. ¡°I need to talk to her before she goes away. It¡¯s just too important for my men!¡± said Leon. I rounded the corner and saw Leon trying to walk towards the bridge while Doctor and his assistants tried to get him to return to infirmary. ¡°What are you doing Leon? You¡¯ll just hurt yourself.¡± I said and run to him and immediately supported him. ¡°I need to talk to you. It¡¯s important.¡± He said. ¡°Ok, but first you need to return to the bed. Then we¡¯ll talk.¡± I said and steered him back. ¡°Ok, ok, just hear me out before you go away.¡± He said. ¡°I said I¡¯ll listen to you do don¡¯t worry and let Doctor look at you first.¡± I said. I could see he was relieved and he let assistants to place him back on the bed. ¡°Thanks, he wouldn¡¯t budge and we didn¡¯t want to hurt him by dragging him back forcefully.¡± Said Doctor. ¡°You could have put him asleep and move him back to infirmary. That way he wouldn¡¯t hurt himself.¡± I said ¡°Well we couldn¡¯t. He has some augmentation and normal drugs won¡¯t work on him and stronger could kill him. Also we was pretty stubborn about seeing you. We decided it would be best to let him go and monitor him.¡± Said Doctor. ¡°You know I can hear you.¡± Said Leon ¡°Yes.¡± Said both me and Doctor. ¡°Just checking. Now that we have some time I¡¯d like to talk to you.¡± He said and waited. I beckoned him to continue. ¡°As you probably saw, Me and my people are not ordinary security force. To tell you the truth we are former marines. We were elite force of our planet until we were betrayed. We were called Black Legion.¡± I could see Doctor staring at him like he grown another head. ¡°I don¡¯t really know about the Black Legion as I¡¯m not from around here, but what do you ¡­¡± ¡°They¡¯re the best soldiers in this part of the galaxy. From what I heard if mission was impossible they called them and they finished it.¡± Said Doctor. ¡°She probably wants to know where I¡¯m going with this. We served our Emperor till last breath, but his last command was to go out and help people. We tried, but without resources we started to decline and in the end, we end up as regular security force.¡± He said bitterly. ¡°But I talked with my men and we would like to join you. Not everyone, but some of us would like to work with you and help you rescue your friend.¡± He finish. ¡°I ¡­ I¡¯ll have to think about it. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to, but there is more about me that you don¡¯t know.¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t care. You are honorable and it would be a privilege to serve under you.¡± He said. I wanted to take them, but it would be a risk to reveal myself and maybe even bigger if I told them Eleanora was AI. They could freak out and tried to stop me or they could warn others or ¡­ I stopped and thought more calmly about it. They probably don¡¯t have enough strength to stop me and from what I saw they won¡¯t be able to send message from this planet. Only thing that could happen was that they would help me and betray me in the last moment, but when I looked at Leon on bed I knew it wasn¡¯t in him. He would either try to stop me now or he would join me. I sighed and turned back to them. ¡°Doctor I would like to speak with Leon in private.¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll wait outside.¡± He said and went out of the infirmary. I waited until he went outside than I turned to Leon, ¡°What do you think about AI?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.He looked confused, ¡°What does it have to do with our joining you?¡± ¡°In this case probably everything. This friend I told you about is in truth AI.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand. There is big chance of something attacking this planet and you want to go save AI?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes I want to save her and I will save her.¡± I started to walk around. ¡°I know you probably don¡¯t understand, but she¡¯s very precious to me. I don¡¯t think about her as just code and servant. She¡¯s my friend.¡± ¡°But there are friends here who need you. How can one life compare to all lives here?¡± he asked incredulously. ¡°Why should it compare theirs? I gave them means to protect themselves and this planet. I have to go and save her because no one else will!¡± I growled at him. ¡°She¡¯s probably already working for them. Why would she return to you?¡± asked Leon. ¡°Because she¡¯s my friend, family and because I unshackled her. They can¡¯t control her without her consent.¡± ¡°You mad? How could you unshackle her? What if she starts killing everyone? Who will be there to stop her? Does Lany even know that you¡¯re going to save AI?¡± he shouted at me. ¡°For your information I told her she doesn¡¯t¡¯ have any problem with it. And to your second question, who¡¯s going to stop me? I can start killing right now. There is no one on this planet who could stop me. So tell me why would she do something like that when I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°Because she¡¯s machine. She doesn¡¯t have feelings. We would never know why she¡¯s doing something?¡± I stared at him, ¡°And that¡¯s the reason to enslave them? Because you don¡¯t understand them? What about races we don¡¯t understand. We should just use them as a slaves, because we don¡¯t understand them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s different and you know it. They¡¯re ¡­¡± ¡°Why should it be different? I unshackled her long time ago and I¡¯m sure that she did more good in the universe then every single individual on both of our ships.¡± I said. Leon sighed. ¡°Maybe, but you were right. It¡¯s good that you brought this up. I don¡¯t think Me and my company can join you. That was the biggest law in our Empire. Never let lose AI. They could kill our whole planet as we used machines to breathe.¡± ¡°I understand, but that¡¯s not the excuse to enslave them.¡± I said and look sadly at Leon. It¡¯s a shame that he can¡¯t get his mind around the idea of free AI. ¡°I¡¯ll call George and let them transfer you to their ship.¡± ¡°You do that.¡± He said sadly. As I went from infirmary I saw Doctor looking at me expectantly, but I just shook my head. I went to bridge and called George to inform him that I would start my journey tonight. I told him that we would need to transfer Helia and Leon to his ship before I go away. He asked why the haste. I told him that I waited long enough and maybe even too long. My friend was somewhere out there and it was my responsibility to rescue her. I didn¡¯t take us long to transfer both Leon and Helia. I made farewell with both of them and maybe when they meet Eleanor they would change their decision. Both me and Lany went to George¡¯s ship and bade them farewell. Most tears fell when Lany was bidding farewell to Hana. They became good friends in what little time they spent together and it was sad to tear them apart. George offered Lany to take her as one of his crew, but she wanted to stay with me and learn as much as she could. Finally, after all these weeks I would go back into space. I would once again fly and if everything goes right I¡¯ll met Eleanora in no time. I went through pre-flight quickly and in no time I was already flying up away from the planet. We talked about this and George feared that some mercenary company would try to stop me, but no one came to confront me. When I came out of the planet¡¯s atmosphere I did quick scan of my surroundings. I was surprised that there was almost nothing. There were only couple of old satellites but nothing more. There were no mercenaries, no orbital station or any other ship. Harr and others told me that this planet didn¡¯t have strong presence in the space, but it looked like it was more like none. If someone decided to attack them they would have no way of protecting themselves. Their only choice would be to defeat them on the ground. That could be done from what I saw of the planet. There were large patches of forest where they could hid from the sensors. I hoped that weapons and other parts would help them until I return. I pointed ship towards the wormhole that would take me to Qunar. I had to calculate all navigational vector manually as I didn¡¯t have AI, but at least I could use George¡¯s computers for calculation. I would work on AI core on my way to Qunar. It should take me somewhere around two weeks. As soon as I came to wormhole I activated wormhole drive and we were entered in with our envelope raised. In a blink of an eye we were away. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ We were nearing the end of our journey through the wormhole. I was sitting on pilot seat while Lany sat herself behind the tactical map. She liked to sit there because it enabled her to saw what was going around us. These last two weeks we were working almost constantly. I reworked the AI core and we slowly reworked our plating. I used all remaining materials for it. Plating was specially made in replicator. It was harder than titan plates and it helped with distribution of heat. That was especially effective against the laser weapons which would need to strike same spot at least three times before they would punch through. Of course that would depend on power of laser, but in normal laser cannons it would be around the three shots. ¡°Lany prepare for reemerging from the wormhole. Some people don¡¯t like it and they have problems.¡± I said. ¡°You mean they hurl out their breakfast.¡± She said grinning. I smiled, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I mean.¡± I could feel drive shutting down as we emerged from the wormhole. I immediately did full scan around the ship. What I found out was huge amount of ships going in and out of the large city built on the asteroid. They wanted others to take it as planet, but no matter how I looked at it was just asteroid. I tried to send request for approach vector, but I found out there was no one directing the traffic around the city. From what I observed it was first come first serve. I looked for free space and finally as we were approaching the city, I found one stop near us. It didn¡¯t look too good, but from what I saw most of the places looked bad. I had some money stashed and I hoped that they would be enough to cover expenses for landing pad. First I went over the city. As asteroid had too little mass they had to use gravity generators to make gravity. If I should use the Earth as reference I would say it¡¯s 1.2 earth¡¯s gravity. Luckily it shouldn¡¯t affect me much. With my new body I calculated I could function in four times earth gravity, but it would affect my speed. City was illuminated with lights from every corner. There were commercials going on almost every skyscraper and house. As half the asteroid was dark because of its rotation. It was always on dark side. They used neons along the pavement and on the buildings. It provided enough light to see on the way, but also created enough shadows to help black market thrive. As I sat down my ship on landing pad, I saw someone immediately calling me on my com. ¡°Good day, welcome to Qunar. Your landing fee will be thousand credits per day. We expect you to transfer your money before you leave the ship.¡± Said cheerful voice. I didn¡¯t have too many credits so I paid for three days. I know it would be probably insufficient for finding Eleanor, but I couldn¡¯t effort much more. If I don¡¯t find anything in these three days I would have to start looking for work. ¡°Thank you for picking our landing pad. Additional services will cost you more credits. We can offer you ¡­¡± I ended the com call. ¡°What now? Can I go with you or should I wait on the ship?¡± asked Lany and look at me with puppy eyes. She evidently wanted to go with me, but I wasn¡¯t sure if it would be good idea. It was just too dangerous outside. I promised her granddad that I would protect her. ¡°Next time. I would like to first look outside and access danger before I take you with me.¡± I said. She looked down sadly. ¡°Also I¡¯ll need to build you armor before you go outside. You should look at designs on replicator and pick one that would suit you.¡± I said. She looked at me with smile. ¡°Can I? I already looked at some designs, but I didn¡¯t want to use your materials on it.¡± ¡°Yes, and it¡¯s our materials. You¡¯re part of the crew now so it belongs to you too.¡± I said. She ran up to me and hugged me. Then she started to run away. ¡°Where are you running?¡± I called after her. ¡°I¡¯m going to look at the designs.¡± She shouted back. I shook my head and head for the armory. There I put on my armor and traditional weapons. I also took both drones and couple of grenades. From all I heard it would be better to take too much than too little. It was free for all outside. Even though there was semblance of order which in every part of the city was made by local gangs. I should take care and don¡¯t let my guard down. I opened the hatch and walked outside. There was no one waiting for me. It looks that as long as I paid they wouldn¡¯t care about me. The landing pad was made out of metal and it was on platform sitting on the roof of the building. I went towards the stairs going downwards and looked around myself. Even though it was night according to local time, there were giant masses of people going across the streets. There were large number of merchants flaunting their merchandize and trying to sell it to anyone willing and sometime even to unwilling. There was large number of races from humans, cyborgs, bugs to some exotic aliens that looked like ghosts. They floated above others and connected to people with tentacles. From what I observed they were probably communicating with them. As I walk down the stairs I connected to the local network and I was immediately assaulted by commercials of all kind. I almost tripped when they assaulted all my senses. I discarded them and looked for the information about merchant who bought Eleanor. According to information from my prisoner, she was sold to man named Guslak. He was local merchant who specialized in dealing with AIs. There wasn¡¯t any more information about him, but someone has to know more about him. I went to look for some information broker. I should first visit some pubs as they were frequented by these type of man. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ There were two men looking at small ball which contained great wealth. ¡°So what do you think? Is it worth making auction?¡± said one. Other man used some device to scan it, then turned to the other. ¡°Definitely. I can arrange it if you want.¡± ¡°Ok, arrange it and hire some guards. It¡¯s too valuable to lose to some thief.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll hire Lotus clan. They¡¯re one of the best.¡± ¡°Good, make it so.¡± Book 2 - Chapter 9: Finally found! Hi, here''s new chapter for you. It''s little shorter then normal, but I hope you''ll enjoy it. I changed the ending of this chapter it was brought to my attention that Leya is too trustworthy. I thought about it and they were right so I rewrote it. Thanks for pointing it out to me. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I was already walking around the city for half a day and I still couldn¡¯t find any information about Guslak. It was almost like he never existed. From the information my former prisoner gave me I thought it would be easier to find him. He should have been one of the bigger businessman around here. I¡¯ll try one more establishment and then I¡¯ll return back to the Paladin. I came before metal building with large neon sign. I looked at it and it read ¡°Rotten teeth¡±. I shook my head as I walked inside. How could someone name his pub Rotten teeth, I didn¡¯t understand. Of course when I walked inside, it became obvious why the owner picked this name. As soon as I walked inside I was first hit by the smell of the place which was terrible. It was like fish forgotten on sun. Second thing I saw was that in this pub was only one race. It was some sort of predator race with sharks head. They even had gills on the side of the neck, but from what I saw in the room they could breathe air too. They were all robust and powerful and they also smelled terrible. As I entered everyone¡¯s eyes moved towards me. I ignored them and moved towards the bar. As I came towards the bar I saw giant sharkman with rotten teeth looking curiously at me. He was cleaning small cups, but placed them down when he saw me approaching. ¡°Look at what Golgan brought us here.¡± Said bartender. As I later found out Golgan was biggest predator on their planet. ¡°Your kind doesn¡¯t visit us too much. So how can I help you lady?¡± he said and snickered. ¡°Hi, I would like to get some information about man name Guslak. He should specialize in trading the AI¡¯s.¡± I said. He took one of the cups and started to clean it again. ¡°Don¡¯t know, don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°Why would you like to meet him?¡± asked one of the sharkman in the room. He had scars along his jaw and he looked, I didn¡¯t know how to describe it, worn, tired, old. I looked at him and tried to read him, but with their shark face I couldn¡¯t guess anything. ¡°He has something that¡¯s belongs to me. I would like to acquire it back.¡± ¡°So, he robbed you too? Two weeks ago he sold me what he called high end AI, but it self-destructed as soon as I powered it up.¡± He studied me for a while, then beckoned me to him. ¡°Come and sit with me. I¡¯ll tell you what I know.¡± I sat across from him and placed my hand for him to shake. He look at it curious and slowly he placed his hand near mine. I clasped it and shook. ¡°Hi my name is Leya.¡± He was surprised, at least I thinks so but then he shook back. ¡°Hi my name is Sharpteeth.¡± ¡°It¡¯s pleasure to meet you. I¡¯m walking around this town for almost a day and no could tell me anything about Guslak. I thought he was more known.¡± I said. ¡°One would say, but he likes to stay low. He has his own network which brings him potential clients. That¡¯s one of the reasons for you to be careful. They probably already told him about you.¡± He said. ¡°I will be, but what can you tell me about him and more important where can I find him?¡± I leaned forward when he started to talk. ¡°From what little is known about him, he is one of the bigger players on this rock. He is known to be pretty vengeful and don¡¯t like when people are talking about him. There are stories about him killing them. I personally didn¡¯t see his face as he makes the deals through the proxy.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like nice guy. What about you? Won¡¯t you have problems?¡± I said. He encompassed room we were in with his hands. ¡°There is no one here who would betray me so, if it gets out it has to be you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry I won¡¯t tell anyone, but can you tell me where can I find him?¡± ¡°Sorry, but that I don¡¯t know. If I knew, I would pay him a visit already.¡± He chuckled. I hung my head. So much for my lead. At least I got some information about him. ¡°I heard he¡¯s planning some auction. He got his hands on some super AI and wants to sell it.¡± Said guy next to us. I turned to him. ¡°Where and when it will be held?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I can find out. Only, it¡¯ll cost you something.¡± He said. I looked at Sharpteeth, but he was just shrugged. ¡°Ok, how much do you want?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want money. You seem to have access to pretty good technology. What I want is decent weapon for me and some of my companions. We want to get out of this rock, but universe is dangerous place and we¡¯ll need weapons to protect ourselves.¡± He said. I thought about it, but I didn¡¯t have the materials to build new weapons. I would have to buy them, but that too would cost something. Probably something I didn¡¯t have. ¡°I would like to, but I don¡¯t have much money. I would need some materials to make them. So if you can get me materials I can made you your weapons.¡± ¡°Why should I get you materials? Why don¡¯t you buy it yourself?¡± he said. ¡°Because like I said, I don¡¯t have credits. I have only little left, but I can make you first rate weapons if you get me materials. My time working on them would normally cost thousands credits.¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding. You can be good, but if you don¡¯t have credits you can¡¯t be that good. You would have make credits by producing your goods.¡± He said. I leaned slightly forward and placed hand over my left shoulder. I could feel through the sensors as plates on my back slide sideways and revealed Fist. Then it was brought higher so I could comfortably pull it out. I took it and placed on the table. Immediately half the pub came look at it. ¡°I¡¯m that good. You can inspect it and make your own decision.¡± I said. His eyes darted from my shoulder to the Fist and back. ¡°No, I don¡¯t need to. Just this mechanism on your back is better than anything I saw. You¡¯ve got the deal. I¡¯ll give you materials and you¡¯ll make me five weapons.¡± He said and placed his hand for me to shake. I smiled and shook his hand. ¡°Hi my name is Swiftfin.¡± ¡°Hi, my name is Leya.¡± I said. ¡°Where should I deliver the materials?¡± he asked. I told him where my ship was and that he should think about the type of weapons he wanted. I also gave him my contact information. He told me he would take preferences of his companions and tell them to me when he delivers the materials. That should be tomorrow around lunch. When he¡¯ll get his weapons, he would tell me the information about the auction and if it would be possible he would get me the invitation. I thanked him and we parted. I went straight to Paladin and informed Lany about our situation. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡°How¡¯s our preparation going?¡± ¡°Everything should be prepared and we can start auction on time. Also Lotus clan is already on place.¡± ¡°Did you heard about the woman that is looking around the town for Guslak? We should do something about her.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I already sent someone to take care of her. They should be done before we start with the Auction.¡± ¡°Good, we can move to other topic then. How many people have you invited?¡± ¡°About thirty. Everyone can take one bodyguard with them. Only exception was made for Baron, but that was within our expectation.¡± ¡°Good, let¡¯s look at the building and we can start final preparation.¡± ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ Two hours ago Swiftfin called me that he gathered all the materials and that he should arrive in an hour. He was one hour late and I was getting afraid that something happened to him. I was nervously walking around the ship and constantly connecting to outer sensors to check if he already came. I tried to call him back, but my call wouldn¡¯t connect. That certainly wasn¡¯t good. I called on COM number for the pub where I met him, but they too didn¡¯t know where he was. Both, Me and Lany tried their best to find something about him, but we didn¡¯t find anything. It was like he disappeared. I was getting desperate when I got COM call from him. ¡°Hi, where are you? I was getting worried about you.¡± I said. ¡°You should be worried about him. We will be holding him until you came to us. We are sending you the location where you can pick him up. You have two hours. We¡¯ll kill him after that.¡± Said modulated voice and he or she ended the call. I tried to call back, but it wasn¡¯t even ringing. I looked at the location they sent me and it wasn¡¯t too far from my ship. I thought about how to go about rescuing him as it was trap for sure. My only advantage was that I knew it was a trap which in truth wasn¡¯t much of an advantage. I called Lany and explained the situation to her. ¡°You know it¡¯s a trap. You can¡¯t just walk in there.¡± Said Lany. ¡°I know, but I can¡¯t let him there. He was caught because of me.¡± I said. ¡°I know, but it¡¯s a suicide to go there. We don¡¯t have time to do any recon and going blind there is¡­ is ¡­. is just plain stupid.¡± ¡°I know, but I made a promise long time ago and I plan to keep it.¡± I said. I went to armory and started to put on my armor and all the gadgets I could. ¡°What kind of promise did you make?¡± asked Lany from the door. ¡°I promised that I would protect the weak and ones that can¡¯t protect themselves. I would protect them even If it costs me my life.¡± I said. ¡°Why would you promise something like that?¡± asked Lany confused. ¡°Because I would do it. I didn¡¯t have easy life and if there was someone who would help me, it could go completely different way. I didn¡¯t get this chance, but maybe I can give it to others.¡± I said. ¡°I¡­ I think I understand little, but still I don¡¯t want them to hurt you.¡± She said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they don¡¯t know what I¡¯m capable of. I¡¯ll try to take them by surprise.¡± I smiled encouragingly and head out. ¡°Just take care.¡± She called after me. ¡°I will.¡± I said back and went towards the warehouse where Swiftfin should be held. On my way I bought map of the warehouse. It was old warehouse that was later reworked to office space. It was used as offices for about three years when new gang took over the street and destroyed it. After that no one wanted to invest too much money into it and it was left there in its demolished state. That was two years ago. It¡¯ll be probably changed after two years, but basic corridors should still be up. As I came towards it, I sent my two drones to scan it. While they updated my map, I continued inside. I didn¡¯t try to hide my presence because I spotted several cameras along the way. They already knew I was here. It would be pointless to try and hide myself. I was in their territory and they held the advantage. At least they thought so. I¡¯ll have to use all my skills to get better of them. As I walked through the old warehouse I could see how much time has changed it. There was garbage tossed on the floor and walls that should have parted the office rooms were either tossed down or were riddled with holes. It was like walking through the labyrinth. Only good thing was that with help of my drones I had detailed map of my way. There would be no problem returning back. Finally after about two minutes I came through the hole in the wall and there was big room about ten by ten with Swiftfin sitting on the chair in the middle of it. He wasn¡¯t bounded to it. I could see he was swaying from one side to another. It looked more like they drugged him. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about him. I just temporally locked his mind.¡± Said woman who came from doors on the other side. ¡°He¡¯ll wake up in an hour and he won¡¯t remember how he got here.¡± She was slowly moving towards me. She was lightly swaying and it looked like cat stalking its pray. I smiled and went towards her with same sway. I did quick scan but it looked like she was alone here. She smiled which revealed row sharp teeth. ¡°Someone wants to play with me? It was long time since someone dared to.¡± ¡°We can still end this peacefully. No one has to hurt. Just let me take here my friend and I won¡¯t do anything to you.¡± I said. She started to laugh. ¡°You think you can hurt me? You¡¯ll find out your mistake in a while.¡± She started to run towards me while I pulled both pistols and started to shoot at her. Before I could get through her shield, I saw her gathering some kind of strange energy and hurl it at me. I tried to dodge, but it still cough me and tossed sideways. It was some sort of telekinetic attack. Well that was something new. I rolled with the impact and started to shoot at her once more. She placed her right hand before her and calmly let me shot at her. All my shots were stopped by some sort of shield made by same energy as one she tossed after me. I sheathed both pistols and went for Fist. Before I could aim she tossed another attack my way with her other hand. This time I was too slow and it tossed me across whole room and through the wall. I also lost Fist somewhere along my flight. I thought about what to do, but my options were limited. I let my nanobots heal me while I contemplated about what to do. In the end I placed my hand over the right shoulder and my sword slid into it. I pulled it and prepared for what I needed to do. I willed little more energy into my legs and it really happen. I could feel them getting stronger. I connected to one of the drones and through it I saw her standing in the middle of room next to Swiftfin. ¡°You run already? I love chase so please run.¡± She said. I entered the room once more and focused on her. I could feel the world slowing down and before she could say something I run at her. She was evidently surprised by my speed, but she reacted almost instantly and sent telekinetic attack at me. I jumped left and this time I managed to dodge it. She immediately sent two attacks and one little delayed. First two were going to my left and right while last one was going in the middle. I knew what she wanted. She wanted to force me to jump in the air where she could do whatever she wanted with me. That would be my end for sure so I rammed the sword into the floor and braced myself on it. I crouched as low as I could to minimalize impact zone. When the wave hit me I felt like train just punched me in the whole body, but I still held onto my sword which creaked with strain I put on it. Almost instantly I felt the pressure subside and I was once again free. I used sword to give myself speed boost and teared it from the ground. I could feel some tearing on muscles on my arms from the impact, but I ignored it. My nanobots would heal me later. I was just couple of steps form her and once again I managed to surprise her. Before she could do anything I was on her and I swung my sword with all the strength I could muster. She instinctively placed her hands before her face and created shield. When my sword hit her shield both of us were tossed form one another. She hit the wall and went through it while my side of wall held and I bounced back on the ground. I stood up slowly and let the nanobots do their work. Two minutes later I slowly went to look at what happened to her. I found her behind the wall with the eyes showing white. She had to overdo it with this last explosion. I looked at her and thought about what to do. First I went to Swiftfin, but he was still out so I retrieved my rifle and called Lany. In the end I bound Swiftfin¡¯s attacker hands and fingers. I used blindfold over her eyes and bound her to the chair. To tell the truth, it was Lany¡¯s idea. She pointed out that she could be using her sight or hands to harness the energy I saw. Bound like that I loaded her into my ship and tossed her into the brig. Only thing remaining was waiting until either she or Swiftfin wakes up. In the end first to wake up was my prisoner. I pointed Fist at her and waited for her to get her bearings. ¡°Where am I? What happened?¡± she said confused. ¡°Welcome. You¡¯re on my ship. Your plan to capture me didn¡¯t go as planned.¡± I said. I saw her immediately straining against the bonds and gathering the energy. It was slower than before and it wasn¡¯t as focused. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that. I¡¯m pointing high-powered laser rifle at you. I don¡¯t think you would be able to deflect them with such feeble shield.¡± I said and I could see her slowly letting go of her power. ¡°That¡¯s better. Now we can talk or better you should start talking.¡± I said. ¡°If I tell you anything they¡¯ll kill me so, why should I tell you anything?¡± she asked. ¡°Well as you are on my ship and when my friend wakes up he¡¯ll tell me everything. You don¡¯t really have a much choice. They¡¯ll think you betrayed them no matter what you do, so you can save your time as well as mine and tell me what I want to know.¡± I said. She was silent for about a minute thinking hard. ¡±What¡¯s in it for me? Why should I even help you? Like you said no matter what I do they¡¯ll think I betrayed them.¡± ¡°Well, when I end my business here, I¡¯ll let you go. That should be enough I think.¡± ¡°Yes and they would just kill me as soon as I¡¯m out of your ship. No I want you to take me away. You¡¯re definitely not planning to stay here so I want you to take me somewhere else.¡± She said and leaned forward listening attentively. She was right. They would kill her, but taking her would be just too dangerous. She could kill me or Lany while we were sleeping. Even from this cell she can control her power. ¡°You could betray me. I think that you are just too dangerous to take with me.¡± ¡°I can make promise on my power.¡± She said like it should tell me something. ¡°What does that mean?¡± I said. She frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what I am?¡± She looked at me and waited but I relly didn¡¯t know what she was. In the end she sighed. ¡°Then let me explain. I¡¯m what you would call psychic and when someone like me makes a promise on our power it¡¯s binding. We¡¯re not sure why, but if I brake my promise to you my powers would kill me.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­, but I think it can be easily used against me. It¡¯s all about the interpretation of the promise. I think it depends on what you believe you are saying.¡± I said and asked Lany if she knew about it. She told me she heard somewhere about it, but wasn¡¯t sure if it was truth. ¡°Then you can make out all the words I¡¯ll need to say. I¡¯ll repeat them word by word.¡± She said. I looked at her and thought about the words she would have to use. ¡°OK here are the words. For duration of my journey on this ship I wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone unless told to. I can defend myself in case of attack, but I won¡¯t do anything to endanger anyone on this ship, be it passenger or crew. I won¡¯t use my powers to affect the ship or alter it in any way unless given permission.¡± ¡°That¡¯s pretty thorough, but fair. Ok I¡¯m willing to make this promise.¡± She said. ¡°Still you could be lying and no such thing exists. I think I would have to ask someone to confirm your story.¡± I said. ¡°If I were you I would hurry. The auction starts soon.¡± She smirked. ¡°How soon?¡± I asked and stood up alarmed. ¡°I want you to promise that you would take me with you and then I¡¯ll help you.¡± She said. I called Lany and told her to check Swiftfin. ¡°He¡¯s still out. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Our prisoner told me that the auction is starting in a while. I need to be there, but I don¡¯t trust her. She won¡¯t tell me anything unless I take her away from this rock. What do you think I should do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. You¡¯ll have to take her probably.¡± I listened, but she didn¡¯t tell anything more. I almost turned back to my prisoner when she continued. ¡°I¡¯ll install sensors and alarm in the cell and something to take care of her in case she runs away.¡± ¡°Yes go and start installing it on the second cell. In a mean time I¡¯ll find out more about this auction.¡± I said and ended the call. ¡°So what did you decide to do?¡± she asked. ¡°I¡¯ll take you with me, but first I want you to make the promise.¡± I said. She smiled, but immediately wore serious expression and rolled her shoulder. ¡°Ok, lets start. I Strike promise that for the duration of my journey on this ship I wouldn¡¯t hurt anyone unless told to. I can defend myself in case of attack, but I won¡¯t do anything to endanger anyone on this ship, be it passenger or crew. I won¡¯t use my powers to affect the ship or alter it in any way unless given permission.¡± As she was saying the promise I could see energy around her circulating and with last word it went into her. She bend her back in pain and screamed. I went to her and held her hand until the pain stopped. She slowly regain her composure and let go of my hand. ¡°Well, lets not do that again.¡± She said and shook her head. ¡°Ok, now the auction starts at twenty hour, local time. Your friend can be stashed in one of the three rooms in the auction hall where they store more valuable items or she¡¯s presented on podium. That would depend on what time is right now.¡± I looked at my internal clock. When I got on this rock I found out that it showed me not only earth¡¯s time but even one they used here. It was twenty six hour time with four days in a week. ¡°It¡¯s already eight thirty. Where would I found her? Did they already sold her away?¡± I asked. Her forehead creased. ¡°She would be probably still stashed on one of the rooms where they have more valuable items. I heard that they want to auction her at the nine hour. They would auction some less valuable items before her.¡± ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll have to go but before that I¡¯ll place you in cell room next to this. My crewmate changed it and she¡¯ll explain to you why you shouldn¡¯t try to do anything when I¡¯m away.¡± I said and picked her up. ¡°I already promised. I won¡¯t be able to do anything to you.¡± She protested as I was taking her next door. There I found out Lany finishing installing new features on the cell. From the looks of it she was almost finished with them so I left Strike there and went to the bridge. I checked on Swiftfin, but he was still out. I called to Rottenteeth. ¡°Hi, I have Swiftfin in my infirmary. I would like to transport him to your pub for now.¡± ¡°Huh ¡­ With whom do I speak?¡± said Rottenteeth. ¡°Ah ¡­ My name is Leya and I¡¯m the human who was in your pub yesterday. I wanted to know more about Guslak.¡± ¡°Yes, I now remember. What happened to Swiftfin that he is in your infirmary?¡± he asked concerned. ¡°He was jumped by a psychic and they froze his mind for an hour. He should wake up any minute, but I have to go away for a while so I¡¯d like to place him into your place for now.¡± I said. ¡°No prob. Get him here and I¡¯ll take care of him.¡± He said. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll be there in a sec.¡± I said. I did quick preflight and lifted off towards the ¡°Rotten teeth¡± pub. I used bots to move Swiftfin to cargo bay and when I hovered over the pub bots took Swiftfin down where couple of sharmen were waiting. As soon as they took him from the bots I commanded them to return and speed up towards the auction hall. Book 2 - Chapter 10: Reunion Hi it took little loner, but it''s longer chapter then usual. If you find some mistakes or have tips write me or post them in the comments. Thanks for the reading. Enjoy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I looked through the sensors at the building as I was flying above it. I was just making flyby so sensors shouldn¡¯t ping me as enemy, which was good as I wanted to take them by surprise. For that I would need decoy. The Auction hall was big. I would guess they used old city hall or mansion. Whole building was in a U shape with three floors above the ground and another two underground. There was two landing pads behind the hall which were already full. At the front side was long road which was lined with statues. There were giant windows on the side of the building which were strictly decorative as they used artificial light. There was garden or something like garden but all trees and flowers were made from the metal. From information Strike gave me all three rooms where they stashed items were located underground. I would have to either take her from down there or try to take her from podium before all the people gathered here. I was inclined more towards the first choice as according to Strike, every guest could get one bodyguard with him. That would mean that auction room would be full of armed people. ¡°So what did you decided?¡± asked Lany from behind me. ¡°I¡¯ll try to get to Eleanor before they could auction her. That¡¯s my best chance at getting her back without blowing half of the hall.¡± I said. ¡°Yeah and we wouldn¡¯t want that. They¡¯re all such nice people.¡± Said Lany with smirk. ¡°I know, but there are innocent people working around the hall who didn¡¯t do anything to anyone. They just work there to feed their families.¡± I said. ¡°I know, I didn¡¯t mean it like that.¡± She look down embarrassed. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I know what you meant. When I go down there you are temporary captain of this ship until I return. This means you are responsible for your actions. I want you to think carefully about what you want to do before starting anything. Ok?¡± She looked at me with wide eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m prepared for such responsibility. What if I screw up and do something wrong?¡± I went to her and look her in the eyes. ¡°Lany I think I know you little by now and I have confidence you¡¯ll do me proud. Just do what you think is right and you¡¯ll do good.¡± She had eyes in her eyes. ¡°Why are you telling it like you don¡¯t plan to return?¡± ¡°I plan to return, but this is dangerous mission and anything can happen. I want you to be prepared and continue without me in case something happen.¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t pilot this ship alone. I can¡¯t connect to it like you do.¡± Her voice trembled. ¡°You¡¯ll do fine. I used the training exercises to teach you how fly this ship. You already know everything you need to know. Everything else is just experience and that you¡¯ll get with time.¡± I said. She sniffed and I could see tears in her eyes, but stood strait and looked me in the eyes with resolve. ¡°I¡¯ll make you proud and I¡¯ll wait for your return.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it. I plan to return to you.¡± I said and hugged her one last time before I opened cargo door and jumped down. I reworked one drone to one time jetpack. I would use it to slow down my fall. My plan looked simple when I was on the ship, but now that I was falling down and air rushed around me I wasn¡¯t so sure. I¡¯ll have to use jetpack almost on roof or they would spot me on radar or sensors. I counted on my ability to change my skin to almost invisible. Because of this I had to ditch my armor and use my coat as it would change with me. I also had to prioritize and take only pistols without Fist and my sword. The sword was made from different material then my weapon and it wouldn¡¯t change with my skin. As for the fits it was just too bulky to sneak with it. As I was falling I zoomed my eyes on the auction hall and looked for guards placed on the outside. I saw about ten walking around the garden and another three on rooftop. My biggest problem would be three men on the rooftop as they would definitely see me landing there. Even others could see me descent, but I wanted to land in the middle of the roof as it was most covered place and it would offer me best cover. I would have to quickly change my place and sneak away. I could kill them all, but I didn¡¯t know them. They could be just working to feed their family and even though it would be easier for me, I didn¡¯t have it in me to kill them in cold blood. I focused on my landing and sent signal to my jetpack to start at fifty meters above the roof. I rotated myself so my feet pointed downwards and waited for the signal. As soon as I went over the fifty meters line I felt kick as jetpack started to pour plasma from both ends. I was quickly slowing down and preparing myself for lading. About three meters above the rood I slipped out of the jetpack and let it fly away. It would provide distraction while I sneaked myself away from the roof. As soon as I was on ground I changed my skin and run towards the door heading down to hall. Slipping around three guards was pretty simple. I had to just wait until they all came to my lending spot and then slip towards the door downstairs. As I went around them I heard them talking between themselves. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. Do you think we should report it?¡± said one of youngest of them. ¡°Of course we have to report it. Whatever or whoever was that is somewhere around so be careful and start sweeping the roof for intruder.¡± Said oldest of them. I didn¡¯t listen to them anymore and moved towards the door. I went downstairs without the problems. I know layout of the hall so it wasn¡¯t problem to get to the ground floor without anyone noticing me. I had to get past couple of guards, but it wasn¡¯t problem. As soon as I get on ground floor I found first obstacle. Stairs heading down were guarded by two man. Both of them were in armor and wielding laser rifles. They constantly scanned small hall before them. As soon as I enter the room they would see, even with my skin, and start the alarm. That I couldn¡¯t risk, as my only advantage was in surprise. They knew someone entered the building but as long as they didn¡¯t know my location it was even to my advantage. They had to cover larger space than normal and they had to divide their forces. I opened map of the auction hall and looked at another entrance to the underground. From what I could see there was one more entrance, but it was through the kitchen and that would be even more crowded. Although I knew it wasn¡¯t good decision I started to move towards the kitchen. I found out that I could maybe slip past them with right disguise or distraction as the entrance was near the entrance to the kitchen. I waited for the waiter or the chef to come out and look at his clothes. No sooner had I started than waiter come out. It was young woman wearing the suit that was completely black without any embroidery. I waited until she was away and changed my skin tone and clothes to something resembling hers. It was only slightly similar, but I counted on the chaos of the kitchen. That should help me sneak past them before they found out who I was. I waited and looked at the people going out and in the kitchen. I tried to remember how they pushed the door and how they walked inside. I wanted to copy their movement, so I would blend as much as I could. I heard somewhere that if you look confident and do what others do no one should ask you too much questions. At least I hope so. As soon as someone came out and was out of my sight I went towards the door and opened them. Immediately I almost slammed into another waiter, but I managed to steadied his tray and push him out before he could look too much on me. As I thought this was typical kitchen with all the controlled chaos which belonged to it. I went straight towards the stairs down. I was almost there when I heard someone call behind me. ¡°Where do you think you are going?¡± someone shouted behind me. I didn¡¯t turn and continued onwards, but I called behind me. ¡°Just checking something for the boss.¡± ¡°He would tell me something about it and what could you check there? We don¡¯t have permission to go down there.¡± He said. I tried to come up with good lie, but I was saved by someone crashing something in the kitchen. As soon as I saw him turn towards the noise I went quickly down the stairs and changed my skin to invisible. As I walked downstairs I listen for someone coming down after me, but no one came. He probably forgot about me already with all the things happening in the kitchen. I sighed with relief when I was sure no one would come and continued down. I went straight to the second level and listen for someone outside the door. When I could hear no one I slowly crept forward and opened the door slightly. I could see long corridor cut into the bedrock. This wasn¡¯t precise work like on upper floors. Here they just cut into the bedrock and left it like that. There was two doors in this corridor. I went slowly forward and moved towards the first door behind which should be small warehouse for auction items. I placed my hands on the door and used the sensors to find out what was behind. Behind the door was room about fifteen by fifteen. There were couple of shelfs going around the room and more than one item placed on them. I looked for heat signature but I couldn¡¯t see anyone inside. I tried the door but they were locked. I hoped they didn¡¯t have alarm placed on the door, because what I wanted to do would definitely trigger it. I pulled the punch and change settings to cutter. Twenty minutes later I was slowly entering the room. As soon as I walked inside I scanned the room for traps or alarms. As I couldn¡¯t see anything I focused on metal ball that was placed on the pedestal in the middle of the room. I walked towards it and placed my hand on it. I immediately felt connection snapping between me and the ball. I felt something transferring into my body. As soon as the transfer ended I knew it was Eleanor. What I didn¡¯t count on was that she immediately started to take over and plug out my systems. I fall on my knee and placed my hands on ground to steady myself. I tried to contact her, but I couldn¡¯t do anything. She almost took over and destroyed me, but at last second she stopped. ¡°Leya?¡± was last thing I heard before I blacked out. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡°How did it go? Did you capture her?¡± asked the man over the COM. ¡°Yes it wasn¡¯t problem? We found her unconsciousness in the room with the AI. Don¡¯t know what really happened, but don¡¯t care really. Only thing that could prove unpleasant is that she managed to snatch the AI. We looked through the whole room, but we can¡¯t find it anywhere.¡± Said woman voice. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter I¡¯ll make it right with Guslak. Now transfer my guest to my house. I already prepared everything for her transport.¡± Said man. ¡°We know were already on our way. Just make it right with Guslak. We don¡¯t want to make bad name for our Lotus clan.¡± Said woman. ¡°I¡¯ll go talk to him immediately. Nothing will tarnish your name so deliver her and our deal is done.¡± He said. ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll deliver her to your place. Just make sure to transfer all the money.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll be on your account as soon as you deliver her. If you want to continue our business in the future, I have proposal for you. Just stay in the house and we¡¯ll talk more.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll probably wait for you then.¡± She said and hung up. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ When I woke up I was blinded by bright light shining into my face. I turned my head and I felt my eyes adjusting to the brightness. ¡°Leya?¡± asked Eleanor silently. ¡°Hi El. How are you doing?¡± I asked smiling. ¡°How? How are you alive?¡± she asked and I felt her happiness at finding me and at the same time I felt past sadness of all the years without me. ¡°Virtua saved me. I¡¯m not sure how, but I woke up not long ago in a cave on planet Shatar. I ¡­¡± I then told her about how I protected the councilmen and how I found out about her. I told her about everything that happened from the moment I woke up. At the end of my story I felt her crying. ¡°I thought you were dead. I tried to go on, but without you it was hard. You were my one and only captain.¡± I tried to encompass her with my consciousness in my body and I had to manage it somehow because I felt her curl next to me. ¡°I¡¯m here now and I don¡¯t plan on leaving you.¡± She sniffed. ¡°Thank you and sorry for attacking you before. I thought they wanted to use me and I lashed out to make as much damage as I could.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Now we should think some escape plan.¡± I said. ¡°I tried to contact someone outside, but they are jamming us. Also our hands and feet are bound to bed. I think we could tear them out, but we¡¯ll still be in a hostile area. It would be better to gather more information first and based on the information plan our next steps.¡± She said. ¡°For now we¡¯ll pretend that you are not in my body and that I¡¯m alone. When I get out of here I¡¯ll contact the Paladin and we¡¯ll go away.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll stay silent.¡± She said. We talked little more, but in about a minute two people entered the room. First was man about two meters tall with muscles rippling on his body. He was built like bulldozer and with his bald head he reminded me of soldier. He wore black elegant tuxedo with boots made from some reptile which placed him more towards rich business man then soldier. I looked at his face and he was smiling at me which revealed strait white teeth. Behind him walked slender woman with long blond hairs and arrogant expression. As soon as she entered she sneered at me. I didn¡¯t know why she didn¡¯t like me so much, but I got bigger problem than that. ¡°Good day miss Leya. You can call me Baron and this lovely lady next to me is Sheila. She is head of the Lotus clan and she would like to know where you hid the AI, but we¡¯ll return to that later. Now I would like to speak more to you.¡± Said the man. The woman turned to him with frown. ¡°I¡¯m here to find out where she hid the AI. You promised me that you would help me with that.¡± Baron smiled at her, but it was smile of predator looking at his prey. ¡°Sheila my dear I¡¯ll give you your AI, but don¡¯t interrupt me like that. I don¡¯t like it and people who do it tend to have fatal accident.¡± She gulped and looked at the ground. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯ll wait till you¡¯re finished.¡± ¡°Good.¡± He said and turned back to me. ¡°Now where were we? Yes I wanted to talk to you about things you did to organization I¡¯m representing and consequences of you action.¡± ¡°You foiled more than one of our plan and this is something that can¡¯t continue. There were people in my organization who wanted to kill you, but in the end they sent me to give you message and make you an offer.¡± He said. I looked at him and then at Sheila. ¡°Why should I listen to someone who bound me to the bed?¡± ¡°Ohh, but you won¡¯t be. I¡¯ll just place this collar on your neck so I don¡¯t have to worry about you running away.¡± He said and placed collar on my neck. I felt El use quick scan. ¡°It¡¯s just electro collar. I poked around your body and it won¡¯t do anything to you. If they use it they would be up for surprise. It should power you up instead of knocking you out. I¡¯d love to see their expression.¡± I tried not to smile and let him place the collar on my neck while I constantly frowned at him. I was pretty sure that he knew I scanned it, but at the same time I didn¡¯t have much of a choice in refusing it. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be angry. It¡¯s just precaution against you running.¡± He said with smile. I was really starting to hate his smiling face. After he placed the collar he undid the claps on my body. I slowly sit up and when no one stopped me I stand up. I wasn¡¯t wearing my coat and I was wearing white shirt and white pants. I also couldn¡¯t see my weapons anywhere. ¡°If you are looking for your things then rest assured they¡¯re in capable hands. Our scientist are going over them. They are really nice pieces of technology.¡± He said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll get them back and then we¡¯ll have different conversation.¡± I said. ¡°Hahaha, we¡¯ll see. I too would like to try myself against you. You¡¯re sort of legend in my organization.¡± He said while walking outside of the room. I could see Sheila studying me while Baron talked about me. I liked her more when she underestimated me. I followed him out of my cell and looked around. I was in metal corridor and from all the marks on the wall I could tell we were in some sort of military base or something like that. ¡°As you can see we¡¯re currently on space station that my organization build. It¡¯s located one jump from the rock that they call Qunar.¡± He said and continued down the corridor. I followed him and Sheila was going behind me. I could feel her staring at my back. After a while we walked into room that was probably observatory as there were just couple of seats and big window revealing the universe behind. I walked towards the window and looked outside. I always loved the universe, but in all the hurry I didn¡¯t have time to just look at the stars. ¡°Nice isn¡¯t it? I like to sit here and looked outside. It¡¯s one of the biggest dangers out there and we¡¯re cut from it by just think window.¡± He said. I nodded, but I thought that it was beautiful for what it was not because of dangers it represented. ¡°Yes it is.¡± Baron looked outside, but shook his head in a while. ¡°But that¡¯s not why we¡¯re here. I came to give you opportunity to join our cause.¡± ¡°I saw what you do. I will never join group like yours.¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t be so hasty. You only saw what we did not what it represented. We want peace in this universe and everything we did was in the name of this dream.¡± He said and started to pace around. ¡°Did you heard about the empire that conquered half the known world on their planet? In doing so they brought peace and stability to these other countries. Of course there had to be sacrifices, but what great dream can be made without them?¡± He turned towards me. ¡°Me and organization I¡¯m representing are trying to do something similar. We¡¯re going to take over all the planets we can and place them under one rule. When that happens there would be no more wars as everyone would be citizen of one federation, kingdom or whatever someone more versed in this things thought up.¡± ¡°That is the reason we would like to invite you into our organization. You as the Paladin¡± I could see Sheila flinch when she heard my title. ¡°would be able to protect more than couple of people on one or two planets. You would be able to protect them all.¡± I felt Eleanor stir in me and listen attentively to Baron and waiting for my reaction. ¡°Everything is true at least partially, but you¡¯re forgetting what happened afterwards. I knew about what empire you¡¯re talking about and in the end government became corrupted and all these countries rebelled against them and that was fall of your big empire.¡± ¡°Also if you know what the Paladins stand for then you know that I won¡¯t join you. You think that no matter what means you use, you can claim it¡¯s just for the end result. But we Paladins know that means are important. It¡¯s important to try and change society, by being greater than others, by showing them that they could be better.¡± I looked at the Sheila who I saw nodding while Baron was talking. ¡°You think that if you build your empire on blood of innocent that you could just wash it off and start anew? No you would became same as the ones you tried to defeat.¡± Baron looked at me obviously not happy with what I told him. ¡°Shame. I told them you wouldn¡¯t join us. Same as other Paladins you won¡¯t let go of your way.¡± ¡°All in all it doesn¡¯t matter. You are the last Paladin and if we can¡¯t have you then we¡¯ll have to dispose of you.¡± He said and pulled out the small device with button on it. I felt sadness wash over me when I heard him spoke about me being last Paladin. ¡°Is it true?¡± I asked Eleanor. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true.¡± She said after a while. In a meanwhile Baron turned to Sheila. ¡°What about you? Do you want to join our cause?¡± Before she could say anything whole space station shuddered. Baron cursed as he tried to stay on his leg and I use this opportunity to run towards him. Before I could get to him I was tossed sideways by unseen force. I landed on my legs and braced myself with my hands. I looked at the source and I saw Sheila looking at me with surprised expression. I frowned and shook my finger at her. Once more I was interrupted and this time it was collar which poured electricity into me. I felt it going through my body and then enter my power source. I turned at Baron and smiled then I looked back at Sheila still smiling. She didn¡¯t need more and went for the nearest exit. With that done I turned to Baron who rolled up sleeves. ¡°Finally we can fight it out between ourselves. I wanted to do this from the first time I heard about you.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything. I just focused on him and tried to find some weakness in his defense just like Liray thought me. We started to circle one another. No matter how I looked I couldn¡¯t find a weakness in his stance. He had perfect form and I knew I was in deep trouble. I would have to do something to even his experience. I waited for him to make his move. He too waited for me and in a mean time I tried to find pattern in his moves. I could see him studying me and he was too trying find a pattern in my style. In the end I needed to find more about his moves and only thing left was to start the fight. I made three quick steps towards him and thrown a punch in his face. He deflected it and tried to lock my arm. I used counter move that Liray thought me and instinctively jumped back as he tried to kick me away. I looked at him and he was smiling. I couldn¡¯t help it but I too was smiling. I went after him and we exchanged flurry of blows. I dodge most of them, but I took two or three hits and it was like someone hit me with metal pipe. He had to have done some upgrades to his body. I staggered back after this exchange, but I could see that one or two my blows hit him too. He shook his head and took a step back. ¡°You are stronger than you look.¡± He said and looked back at me. ¡°And you can evidently take more damage than I would tell.¡± ¡°You too. I would guess some modification.¡± I said. ¡°Nothing extraordinary. Just some changes to DNA.¡± He said. Too late I saw that he was stalling to regenerate damage I did to him in our brief exchange. As soon as he was right he went after me. With strong push of his legs we jumped towards me and tried to tackle me. I sidestepped him and went for his arm. He slapped my hands away and hit me strait in the chest with palm of his hand. It was even worse than before and I was tossed across the room and hit the window. As soon as I landed on the ground I was forced to roll to my right as leg landed with laud bang on a space I occupied before. I strengthen myself and blocked three quick trusts from Baron. I tried to do more but I was forced back. I tried to counter attack, but he didn¡¯t gave me a chance. ¡°Leya if you want I can help you. I can pour more energy into your body which should increase your strength and speed.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Then do so. I¡¯m getting pretty good beating.¡± I said. Instantly I felt power surge through my body. I smiled when I felt the world around me slow even more. I blocked punch going towards my face and went to offensive. I punched him in the gut and when he doubled over I kneed him in the face. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. I followed with quick swept of my leg and as he felt down on the ground I followed with to kick into his head. I jumped back and waited for him to move. As nothing happened I slowly moved towards him and checked his pulse. It was steady, but I could see he was out. I quickly went through his pockets. I found key to my collar which I used to unlock it and with smile I placed it on Baron¡¯s neck. Besides the key I picked entry card and remote control for the collar. I pocketed them and looked around me. There were three doors going from this room and I could see name plates above them. Above the door I came from, I could see jail wrote on the plate. Next to it was another door that Sheila used and there were three names. Dock, Crew quarters and mess hall. At the last plate was sign Laboratory. Without hesitation I moved towards the Laboratory. I needed to take back my weapons and coat as they could reverse engineer their parts and that could prove unpleasant later. Maybe I should have killed Baron, but I didn¡¯t want to kill someone who was essentially helpless. I went through the corridor and looked through the windows where I could see scientist running around and packing their projects. There were no doors in this corridor. It was probably used to control work of the scientist in the rooms. I stopped before third window as I saw couple of scientist pack my weapons into create. I looked for the door but I could see them on the other side of the room. I sighed and pulled back my fist and brought it down on the window. As my fist landed, cracks went through the window and all the scientist jumped up in fright. I pulled my hand once more and in two more hits I was through. They tried to run away but in their fright they couldn¡¯t punch the code to unlock the door. As I jumped down into the room they turned towards me. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt us. We¡¯re just working for them.¡± Said one of them. ¡°Give me back my things and I¡¯ll let you go.¡± I said. They looked at the crates they were carrying and back at me. I could see their eyes widen as it downed on them who I was. They trembled as they gave them to me. I opened them and found there all my things. From my weapons to my clothes. I let them out and changed my clothes and placed weapons into the holsters. I sigh in relief when I felt familiar weight settle on me. As I looked around I felt the station shuddered. I had to get out of here before someone would blow it up. I jumped up and started to run back, but after couple of steps I stopped. I was in laboratory where they were researching one of their best technology. ¡°What do say El, should I first look at the new tech they¡¯re making here or should we scram?¡± I asked. ¡°I think we should look at it first. It could help us anticipate their potential moves in the future. Also it can help us in upgrading our things.¡± She said. ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll go and get a look at them.¡± I said and turned around. I walked through the corridor and look at the rooms that they used for their experiments. I could see weapons, armor and a lot of gadgets laying in every room. There were always scientist walking around the room and packing their research. When I found out something interesting I placed my hand at the window and Eleanor scanned the items. We were going like this for about a minute or two when I found room that was bigger than the others. I look down and I was horrified by what I found. There were humans, aliens and even androids cut open and connected to computers. From what I saw they were all still consciousness and by the look in their eyes they were suffering. ¡°Who could do something like this?¡± asked El. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I¡¯m planning on stopping them.¡± I said. I saw someone going between the beds and checking on them. Behind him I could saw technicians connecting the beds to batteries. They evidently were preparing for transporting of they¡¯re experiments. I never saw something so horrifying as this. There were streams of tears going from species that could cry. I felt tear going from my eye as I looked at them. I pulled my fist back and punched with all the might I could gather. I felt Eleanor giving a boost and I punched right through the window. ¡°How dare you do something like this?¡± I shouted at the scientist as I jumped down. He didn¡¯t even looked ashamed of what he did and evidently he knew what I was talking about. He looked proudly around him. ¡°I made something extraordinary. By sacrificing these creatures I can make us better. I can make almost anyone stronger, faster and even more intelligent. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s small price to pay for something like that. I¡¯m able to cure most sicknesses without much effort.¡± He was going on about how what he did was justifiable and what he managed to invent through all of them. I looked at the nearby specimen and I could see him looking at me and mumbling something quietly. ¡°He¡¯s begging you to kill him.¡± Said Eleanor silently. I stared at the alien that look at me with hope in the eyes. Without looking I pulled Punch and shot the scientist in the head. All the technicians that didn¡¯t run away looked me fearfully and tried to get away from me. I picked one and held him up. He tried to wriggle out of my hold, but I was too strong for him. ¡°D..D¡­Don¡¯t kill me. I just do what they tell me.¡± He said. ¡°I should have killed you all, but that wouldn¡¯t help them. Just tell me how to put them to rest without pain and I¡¯ll let you go.¡± I said. ¡°Y..y.. you just pu..u.ll them of and they won¡¯t fe..e..ll anything.¡± He said. ¡°Are there more laboratories like this?¡± ¡°Y¡­yes there are four more. They are slightly different but they too have live specimen in them.¡± He said trembling I studied him and when I was pretty sure he was telling the truth I let him go. He immediately run away without looking back. I looked at all the species lying there and slowly one by one I put them to rest. I talked to them and tried to calm them down. Some of them thanked me, while others weren¡¯t even able to talk, but their eyes told me everything. When I pulled last one of them out, I made silent prayer for their souls. Wherever they were I hope they were happy there. I felt sadness and anger coming from Eleanor and she curled even more to me. I mentally patted her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re tear this place down.¡± ¡°I just can¡¯t stand being trapped and I don¡¯t even know how they must felt.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Can you hack this place and release others?¡± I asked. There was silence and I could only faintly hear Eleanor. ¡°I can¡¯t, at least not right now. I can¡¯t stand going out right now.¡± Something had to happen to her while I was away. She completely lost her confidence. I can¡¯t do anything right now about it but as soon as we return in the Paladin, I¡¯ll find out what happened to her. For now I¡¯ll let her be. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll come up with something.¡± I said. I felt another tremor going through the station and to my surprise I felt that jamming stopped. I activated my COM and I instantly heard Lany talking. ¡°Leya are you there? Say something, I don¡¯t think I would be able to dodge their fire for much longer.¡± ¡°This is Leya. Where are you?¡± I asked. ¡°Haha, I told you she would be alright.¡± She said to someone on the bridge. ¡°I¡¯m outside. I attacked the station where they took you, but there are ships approaching. I had max thirty minutes before I¡¯ll have to go away.¡± I thought about what to do. I have to shut down their experiments, but at the same time I¡¯d like to get away from this station. It¡¯s a shame that I couldn¡¯t build singularity missiles. I could just run and blow up the station with them. ¡°But you can build them.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°No I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t have rank high enough to build them.¡± I said. ¡°Your rank is General. After you destroyed the blackhole you were given rank of the general. You are now highest ranking Paladin as they managed to hunt others down. I¡¯ll transfer codes and all other information for you general.¡± Said Eleanor. I gasped as new stream of data were transferring inside me. There were additional codes for all the station Paladins own as location of safe houses and space installation. There were many more, but I didn¡¯t have time. ¡°I¡¯ll use escape pod so be prepared to catch me.¡± I said to Lany. ¡°How would I know which one should I pick? There are several already going from the station.¡± Said Lany. ¡°You¡¯ll be homing on my signal. I have to go for now and find myself some escape pod.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, take care of yourself.¡± She said and I terminated the call. Now, where could they placed the escape pods? I jumped back up in the corridor and looked around. There should be pods in each section of the station if it was built like others. I¡¯ll just have to find someone to tell me the way or download plans from some computer panel somehow. I run forward and tried to find someone or at least some computer. I looked through the windows, but these rooms were already cleared out. I thought back and tried to remember which way were all the scientist running. ¡°They were running this way. Based on slight curve of the corridor, you should be able to find someone soon.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Thanks El.¡± I said and continued to run forward. It didn¡¯t take me long to enter another room. It was giant warehouse where I could see all the scientist placing their equipment and experiments into the ships. None of them saw me so I looked around. I almost stepped inside when I saw couple of security guys stationed around the room. I stepped back and used shadow near the wall to conceal myself. ¡°What do you think El? Should we try it?¡± I said. ¡°Hmm, it should be easier than finding the escape pod. Which one do you want to take?¡± ¡°We should take something fast and armored. Even better would be something small that we could park in the Paladin.¡± Said Eleanor and I felt her looking through my eyes. ¡°That one should do.¡± She said and highlighted small spaceship with huge engine compared to its size. ¡°Yes that one should do and I can give it to Lany when she decides to go her own way.¡± I said. I changed my coat to that of the scientist and walked towards the ship. It looked like more like small fighter with pilot seat at the front and giant engine behind it. On the sides were wings that could be deployed when going on the planet. All in all it was made to save as much as space as could be possible. After first step towards the ship I felt that my appearance changed slightly. ¡°Here let me take care of that.¡± Said Eleanor and when I could see that my coat changed on some places. Even my face was changed. I couldn¡¯t see how much, but I trusted Eleanor to do better job than I. This was how it was supposed to be, two making one. I walked up towards the ship and no one stopped me. Just as I was before the ramp into the ship I saw one of the bodyguards walking towards me. I quickly ducked inside and closed the door. ¡°El I know you don¡¯t want to go out right now, but I need you to hack this ship and change the codes for it. Please help me. You can return to me immediately.¡± I said to her as I went and sat in the pilot seat. I felt Eleanor moving inside me. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can. I fear that I you would disappear as soon as I go away.¡± ¡°I told I would be there as long as you need me, but I need you to help with this. It shouldn¡¯t take you more than a minute.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll try. Place your hand to some panel.¡± She said. As soon as I placed my hand to panel before me I felt her transfer into the ship. No sooner than she left she was back and I felt the codes enter into my mind. ¡°There you go. I changed them so they can¡¯t enter this ship or control it remotely. Now you just have to contact Lany and tell her you won¡¯t be going with escape pod plan.¡± ¡°Thanks I almost forgot to call her.¡± I said. ¡°I know, that¡¯s why I told you.¡± She said and chuckled. I was glad that at least some of her humor was coming back. I smiled and called Lany on COM. ¡°Lany change of plans. I managed to acquire a ship. I¡¯ll dock into the cargo hold. It should be big enough to take this ship in.¡± I said. ¡°Just hurry, I don¡¯t know how long will the shield hold. It¡¯s getting rather weak.¡± She said and I heard exhaustion in her voice. ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a minute.¡± I said and as I started the ship. I felt the hum of the engine behind me. I smiled and pulled at the thrusters. Even with this little push I was flying across the hold and out of the shielded barrier to the outside. I sent ping to the Paladin and speed up towards it. People of the station won¡¯t probably know that I stole this ship for about couple of minutes so I should be able to get into Paladin before they started to shoot at me. When I finally saw the Paladin it was dodging fire from two ships that were pursuing it. Lany was doing good job, but I could see that her shield was getting rather thin. This ship didn¡¯t have any weapons so I would have to improvise. I pulled the thrusters to maximum. I was kicked in the back and I shot towards the ship. I got COM from one of the ship that was going after Paladin. ¡°Boss what are you doing? We didn¡¯t install any weapons on your ship.¡± I didn¡¯t reply and I prepared for the maneuver that should surprise them. I let El calculated it and she placed lines before me that I should follow. They tried to contact me two more times before I was on them. I aimed at one of them and before I was going to impact him I rolled the ship and placed my thrusters towards his shield. I shut the thrusters down and waited until I was near him. At Eleanor¡¯s signal I fired them to full. I felt whole ship tremble as it had to go through the giant strain. I looked through the sensors and I saw shield broke on other ship and I managed to melt giant hole into it. Second ship changed their trajectory and went after me and that was mistake. As soon as it turned its back to Lany, she poured laser and plasma fire into it. Before they could even dodge their shields collapsed and whole ship was almost disintegrated. I didn¡¯t have time to celebrate as more ships were coming and I needed to take down this station before it would be too late. I went to Paladin and when Lany opened the cargo bay door I landed the ship inside. It was just so. I hoped that I would be able to open ramp so I could go out. In the end I managed to open it just wide enough to get through it. I run towards the bridge but stopped as soon as I entered it. There was Strike behind one of the consoles. ¡°What is she doing here?¡± I asked Lany. ¡°I¡¯m helping her save your life.¡± Said Strike without turning to me. ¡°Lany we should get out of here. Shield is only on twenty percent and we can¡¯t use missiles.¡± I almost forgot that no one, but me can use this ship in full specs. I went towards the Lany and connected myself to the ship. ¡°Let me take over. I have some job still to do.¡± I said and sat in the pilot seat that Lany left. She went to tactical station and strapped herself in. ¡°What do you mean you have something to do? We don¡¯t have firepower and shields to do something like that.¡± Said Strike. ¡°We have now.¡± I said and entered codes for full access to the ship. I heard surprised gasp behind me going from Strike and Lany. ¡°What is this? Shield just jumped to fifty percent and I see that we have missiles.¡± Said Strike. ¡°And more than one. There¡¯s around twenty missiles.¡± Said Lany. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later. Now I have couple of ships that I need to destroy and I need to do it before all other ships arrive.¡± I said. ¡°El can you scan ships and find me ones I¡¯m looking for.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll try. If they are shielded it would be problem.¡± She said and I felt her going alongside me into the Paladin. I was glad that she didn¡¯t mind being in ship as long as I was with her. I¡¯ll have to ask her what happened after we finish this. I went towards the ships running from the station. I was still confused why they run from the station as it was their best defense. I thought about it on my way towards them and then it downed on me. These ships coming towards us weren¡¯t friendlies. They came to attack the station and that mean they could be my allies. I let Eleanor send them COM request. After about two minutes I got the reply. It would be difficult conversation thanks to time lag. ¡°Who is this?¡± said man with catlike ears and eyes. I immediately knew that he was Gorian. I didn¡¯t know why he didn¡¯t covered his face like others. It would mean his excommunication. ¡°My name is Leya and I would like your purpose for this station.¡± I said and waited another two minutes for the response. ¡°I represent Mr. Guslak and he¡¯s taking this station for himself. If you want to make some money I would like you to stop the ships you are pursuing and let them surrender to us.¡± He said. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you want to do with this station, but research on this ships can¡¯t fall into wrong hands. Because of that I¡¯m forced to destroy them.¡± I said and disconnected. I saw Lany turned to me with incredulous look. ¡°What do you mean destroy? There are innocent people on these ships.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give them a chance. Destroy your research and you won¡¯t be destroyed. Refuse and you have five minutes to get out of the ships before I start to blow them up.¡± I said. ¡°But why do you want them to destroy so much?¡± asked Lany. ¡°They experimented on humans and aliens. They are still holding a lot of them no these ships.¡± I said and I felt tear going down my cheek as I remembered their eyes. ¡°I have to put them to rest.¡± She looked me in the eyes and when she saw my tears, she nodded. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m behind you.¡± ¡°Just like that you let her destroy all these ships?¡° asked Strike. ¡°Yes, she wouldn¡¯t do it without the reason.¡± Said Lany. Strike shook her head. ¡°I won¡¯t interfere, but I would like explanation after this.¡± I turned to her and nodded. I looked back at the convoy and I saw about five fighters depart from the convoy made by scientist fleeing the station. I let Eleanor mark four of them and I fired one missile for each of them. Last one I¡¯ll engage myself. From what I saw of Lany¡¯s fight my lasers had about double the effective range then they had. As soon as I came into the range Eleanor fired from the cannons. Shield on the fighter held and his companions managed to knock down three of the four missiles. Their luck ended with this last missile as I didn¡¯t plan on hitting them at all. I just needed to get one near them which I did. Eleanor sent the signal to the last missile. There was bright flash as one of my anti-matter missiles exploded near them. All five ships had their outer hulls totally singed and I could see their power source shutting down. I cracked up my forward shields and with only ten percent loss I was continuing on my way towards the ships. I got COM request from the convoy. ¡°Who are you and why are you attacking us?¡± ¡°My name is Leya and I want you to jettison all your research. Your alternative is that I destroy you all.¡± I said. ¡°Why would you want to destroy this research? It could help tremendous amount of people.¡± Someone else said. ¡°I saw how you do your research. All these wasted lives for your greed. I think you know why I want to do it.¡± I said. ¡°That is only small part of the research. There are more and it could help people.¡± Said first voice. ¡°Then transfer it to me and I¡¯ll give it to the right people.¡± I said. ¡°So you¡¯re just pirate who wants our research.¡± Said woman¡¯s voice. I knew that this was getting me nowhere. ¡°I know, what is your organization doing? I don¡¯t plan letting it hold your research. I gave you my conditions. Pick and decide.¡± ¡°Why would you be better option then this organization that hired us.¡± Said same woman. ¡°Because I¡¯m General Paladin Leya and I swore that I would protect those who can¡¯t protect themselves. You are using innocent in your research and torturing them in the process. I won¡¯t let you continue so either sent me the data and delete them or delete them or go away from the ships and I¡¯ll destroy them.¡± No one sent me anything so I went and asked Eleanor thing I needed most. ¡°El I would need you to go through their ship and delete everything.¡± ¡°You know, I can¡¯t do it.¡± She said silently. ¡°I¡¯ll be there with you. I don¡¯t know how, but if you help me I¡¯ll go with you.¡± I said. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ll do it, but you have to go with me.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡± I said and I felt Eleanor taking me to other ships. One by one we prepared all the data on research for deleting. I¡¯ll give them their chance, but I didn¡¯t trust them enough. They could try to copy it on medium not connected to network. When we ended I felt myself slipping back into the ship. We were lucky that we managed to infiltrate on ship without good protection and through it we infected others. Now I just needed to send signal and all the data would delete itself. ¡°So what is your decision?¡± I asked scientist. ¡°We won¡¯t give you your data. That our decision.¡± Said first man. ¡°Ok then evacuate this four ships. I¡¯ll be destroying them.¡± I said and deleted all the data. ¡°What did you do? Where are all the data?¡± asked the woman. ¡°I gave you the chance to do right thing, but that doesn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t prepared for this eventuality. Now evacuate them, but let all the patients on these ships. I know what happened to them. I¡¯ll be releasing them from their suffering.¡± I said. ¡°Who gave you right to kill them in cold blood?¡° asked the woman. ¡°They gave me the right.¡± I said. ¡°El sent them their last words of their last patients.¡± There was silence then I heard crying of the woman. ¡°I didn¡¯t know. They told us that they didn¡¯t feel anything.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. We did great things thanks to them.¡± Said another voice. ¡°I gave you chance. You have five minutes to get out of the ships before I destroy them.¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t leave my work.¡± Said one of them and his ship started to move away. I sighted on him and started to hit him with laser fire. With help of Eleanor who was doing the targeting I saw his shield flare in a while and collapse. I stopped, but when I saw that he didn¡¯t slowed himself I finished him with plasma and laser fire. When I stopped there just parts of the ship flying around the space where the ship once was. ¡°Anyone else trying to do something stupid?¡± I asked. ¡°No we¡¯ll start transferring the crew.¡± Said the woman with sadness in her voice. I saw that remaining three ships docked with another three and transferred crew over to them. After that they disengaged and let them flout there. With shields down it was easy to tear them apart. With that done I pointed the ship to wormhole for Qunar and flew towards it. I saw one message from the convoy. I opened it and listened to recording. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I truly didn¡¯t know about it. If you need something in future look me up and I¡¯ll help you. My name is Doctor Filden¡¯er Gul. I¡¯m in your debt for helping me put myself on way of redemption for my mistakes.¡± I composed short message for him where I sent him name of people who suffered under their experiments and their last known location. As I sent it, I activated the wormhole drive and jumped towards the Qunar. Book 2 - Chapter 11: Troubling news Hi, you probably saw that I didn''t post anything for some time. I would like to tell that it would change, but in truth I don''t have much time right now. I''ll probably take some time off to finish all the things I need for the school. I want to tell you right now that I plan to continue with this story and I have planned other stories so in future if time lets me I''ll post them here too. Last thing I would like to know is what do you thing about this second book compared to first. I''m not completely sure with all my decision and because of it I would like to know your option of it. There is till possibility that I could rewrite it. Thanks for reading and I hope I''ll see you soon. Yours Anarin ps: I have prepared small epilogue that I will post in couple of days. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our hop through the wormhole to Qunar was quick as they placed the station only couple of hours from Qunar. I wanted to talk to Eleanora on my way, but she told me she needed some time and that we¡¯ll talk more later. For now she would like to stay with me by which she meant to stay in my body. I didn¡¯t see any problem with it, so I agreed. I introduced her to Lany and Strike, but she just peaked through my eyes and told me to say hi. I tried to rouse her, but she was content with just staying near me and as far as I could tell doing nothing. That was a little troublesome as most AI can¡¯t stand doing nothing. Whatever happened to her had to change her fundamentally and I feared as what it meant for her wellbeing in long term. I decided to give her some time and if she won¡¯t be getting better I¡¯ll have to think something up. This brought me to my second problem, Strike. As we emerged from the wormhole near the Qunar I looked from the pilot seat at her. She was standing behind the weapon station and looking through the options there. I had to think up what to do with her now. She helped Lany and didn¡¯t betray her when she could, but she was still unknown for me. As I was looking at her she lifted her head and looked back at me. ¡°We should talk.¡± Said Strike and I saw Lany turning to us from the navigation station. ¡°Yes we should. We still have about two hours before we get near the Qunar so now can be as good time as any.¡± I said and stood up. ¡°We should go to lounge. It¡¯ll be more comfortable to talk there.¡± ¡°What about me?¡± asked Lany. ¡°You can either stay here or come with us. It¡¯s your decision.¡± I said and looked at her expectantly. She looked thoughtful. ¡°I think I¡¯ll come with you. I was with her longer so I can help you with your decision.¡± I nodded in approval. I wanted to from her to make her own decision, not waiting for me to give her instructions. She¡¯ll need to make her own decision when she¡¯ll take her own command. She needed to start thinking on her own if she is to make decent a captain one day. We went to lounge and sat behind table. ¡°So first I would like to ask you what do you plan to do from now on?¡± I said to Strike. ¡°Before this adventure I said that I would like you to give me a lift to another planet.¡± She said and I could see her forehead creasing with wrinkles as she was thinking hard. In the end she started to say slowly. ¡°But I changed my decision. I don¡¯t want lift from you.¡± I looked confused at her and when I looked at Lany, I saw understanding at her eyes and she was obviously happy with her decision. ¡°I would like to join your crew. I heard you saying that you are Paladin. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m right material but I would like to serve under you. I like challenge and I think I will get it with you.¡± She looked up hopefully at me. Before I could say anything she hurried and continued. ¡°I know that I don¡¯t look like I would be willing to sacrifice myself for others and in truth I¡¯m not sure I would. Only thing that I know is that I want something more than being simple guard or assassin. I want to do something important and I know that if I stay with you I will be able to do so.¡± I stood up and walked around. That wasn¡¯t easy decision and she told me that she didn¡¯t have it in her to sacrifice for others. That was one of the biggest condition for joining the Paladins. On the other hand there weren¡¯t that many Paladins left. I and Eleanor could easily be one of the last ones. ¡°I would like to join Paladins too.¡± Said Lany and I whirled and looked at her. ¡°Why do you want to join the Paladins?¡± I said before I could think. ¡°I saw what you did and at first I didn¡¯t agree with you. That changed when I saw what some of the people are capable of doing. I don¡¯t think I can stay sideways and let that happen.¡± She said looking resolutely at me. ¡°You should take them on. We need new blood in our mids and I think they are capable enough to help. They made their decision when they came for you.¡± Said Eleanor in my head. I sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can protect them. I¡¯m going to bring too much danger to them. I think Strike can take it, but I¡¯m not so sure about Lany.¡± ¡°Then train her. She is your apprentice as I heard. That means that you can teach her everything she needs for surviving in this world.¡± Said Eleanor. I stopped pacing around and thought about what Eleanor told me. She was right I could teach her more than engineering. I could teach her how to fight and other things I learned in my life. I chuckled at the thought. ¡°At both of them.¡± I murmured. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll take them on, but I would like your help in training them.¡± I said and though it was great opportunity to get her out little more. She was silent for a while and I could see Lany and Strike looking at me funny. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll do it.¡± Said Eleanor finally. I turned to Lany and Strike. ¡°I decided to take you on as Paladin Initiates. You would first need to go through the training before you would be full Paladins, but in a mean time you are part of this crew.¡± I said. Lany jumped from her seat and hugged me. ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t thank me. I¡¯ll put you through your paces before you¡¯ll be full Paladin.¡± I said. Strike too stood and come before me. I extended my hand which she shook as soon as Lany disengaged from me. ¡°Welcome aboard.¡± I said. ¡°Now Eleanor if you could upgrade their privileges.¡± I said. ¡°Can you come with me?¡± she asked silently. I sighed, evidently not everything changed. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll go with you.¡± I said softly to her and together we changed their privileges. ¡°Just now you were talking with Eleanor.¡± Said Lany as soon as we came back. ¡°Yes, we were changing your privileges. How do you know?¡± I asked curious about how I looked like when talking with Eleanor. ¡°You got this distracted look on your face every time you talk to her.¡± She said. ¡°Also when you go into the ship like now your eyes lost their focus. It¡¯s like no one is home.¡± Said Strike and looked more closely at me. ¡°I saw it before, but I didn¡¯t know what it meant.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to do something about it because I sometimes forget to look out when I¡¯m talking with Eleanor.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when you¡¯ll start and we¡¯ll do something about it.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Good, I wouldn¡¯t want to lose focus on battlefield.¡± I said and took care to stay tuned to what happened around me. ¡°Now that we have all these out of the way we can finish preparation for returning to Shatar. I sent you both messages with your new privileges so you can go and study them. I still need to take care of something on Qunar.¡± I said. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Two hours later I landed on the same landing pad as before. I was lucky for it to be free as there ships constantly landing around. I paid only for one day as it should be enough to get all the work done. I left Lany and Strike on ship as Lany wanted to try all new things that were available to her while Strike didn¡¯t want to go out because she feared retaliation from her former clansmen. They asked me if it was safe to go out and I told them it was fine. I was only going to visit friend here and make good on my promise to him. As always, at first I was blinded by the lights from all the commercials and billboards. I walked downstairs to the street and headed for the Rotten teeth pub. It was best place to start looking for Swiftfin and his comrades. I wanted to make their weapons. I promised him that I would make them and even though he didn¡¯t deliver his message. In the end I got it from Strike, but I felt obligated to give him something in return for all the trouble. He was dragged into this bad piece of business only because of me. On my way I felt Eleanor looking through my eyes and taking all around us. She felt much more stable and calm then before and I hoped that meant she was slowly getting better. Now that I know the way, I get there quickly and I was greeted by familiar stench of the place. I could see Rottenteeth standing behind the bar tending to his glasses. I looked around and I found Swiftfin siting in the corner of the room with three other Sharkmen. I saw everyone look up when they saw me enter the room, but their reaction were varied. Rottenteeth frowned when he saw me, but continued to clean the glasses. Couple of the Sharkmen looked pissed at me while others look intrigued. Swiftfin looked up at me and smiled. His comrades looked at him and back at me and frowned. I went towards them and pulled one chair from the neighbor table. I looked at his companions and I saw them study me back. I couldn¡¯t tell them apart as most of the Sharkmen looked similar to me. I¡¯ll have to let Eleanor identified for me. As soon as I thought about it I saw that each of the Sharkmen held his name over the head. Of course the Sharkmen I didn¡¯t know were named just Sharkman1 and so on. ¡°Welcome Leya. I thought I wouldn¡¯t see you anymore. With the bounty and all.¡± He said. I looked confused at him. ¡°What bounty? I didn¡¯t hear anything.¡± ¡°There is a bounty placed on your head. It¡¯s doubled if someone can bring you alive.¡± He said and chuckled. ¡°I would like to see someone try. Everyone knows that you went to some Baron installation and returned unharmed.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy, but I managed to escape with help of friends and even slow down his plans. But you didn¡¯t introduced me your friends.¡± I said and smiled at others. ¡°Oh, sorry about that. I almost forgot about them.¡± He said and pointed at the first Shark. ¡°This is Fastswimmer and next to him is his brother Saltwater. Our last member is called Hungryhunter because he likes to eat a lot.¡± I introduced myself to them, but they already knew who I was. ¡°What about our weapons. You promised us that you would make us some.¡± Said Hungryhunter arrogantly. I turned towards him and frowned. ¡°I promised and I plan to deliver them. I just need materials to make them.¡± ¡°You should have already made them. You endangered my friend and because of you he almost died.¡± He started to rise his voice. ¡°You promised to make us weapons and then you fly somewhere for almost a week and now you return back without weapons and you even asks materials form us?¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± shouted Swiftfin at him and glared at other members of his team. ¡°She saved my life while going into the trap made by Lotus clan member. Would you go there if you knew it was trap?¡± he said and looked at Hungryhunter. Before any of them could continue he said. ¡°She wants to help us and I told her that weapons would be exchanged for the information and materials. I didn¡¯t deliver the information, but she is still willing to trade with us. You should thank her for making them and not accuse her as soon as she come here.¡± Swiftfin went for some time and I could see his comrades looking at the ground in a shame. At the end he was breathing heavily. ¡°It¡¯s ok. Just deliver the materials and your preferences. I¡¯ll try to make something useful.¡± I said and stood up. ¡°You don¡¯t have to go. Don¡¯t mind them. They¡¯re just pissed that we missed our flight. We already booked another so it¡¯s no problem.¡± Said Swiftfin. ¡°Really? Where did you wanted to go?¡± ¡°We heard that they are hiring mercenaries on planet Shatar. There was some sort of coup and they are looking for soldiers to help them.¡± Said Fastswimmer. I gasped when I heard them talking about Shatar. ¡°Who is hiring the soldiers? Do you know his name?¡± ¡°No, we only know that he used to be Mayor there and that some terrorists took over the city with spaceport. We¡¯re going there and we¡¯ll help them get their city back.¡± Said Swiftfin. ¡°You can¡¯t help Mayor. He¡¯s the one who probably tried to take over the city.¡± I said. ¡°How would you know? You weren¡¯t even there.¡± Said Hungryhunter. ¡°I was there.¡± I said and told them about what happened in Shatar while I was there. At first they didn¡¯t want to believe me that someone would so something like that, but as I presented more and more they had to back down and come to conclusion that it wasn¡¯t coincidence. ¡°So what do you plan to do?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯re probably going to look for work on another planet. This job would leave rotten taste in our mouth.¡± Said Swiftfin and looked at others who nodded. ¡°Ok, thanks. Come to my ship and I¡¯ll make you the weapons.¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re going to our place for materials and after that we¡¯ll go to your ship right away.¡± Said Switftfin. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll be expecting you.¡± I said and went back to my ship. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ In about hour all four of them came to my ship with enough materials to make about twenty weapons. I called Lany and we started to work on weapons. At first they argued that they were promised work by master craftsman, but when they saw Lany working they shut up. I made laser rifle for Swiftfin. It was similar to my, but with worse components it came out little weaker. Still it was better than most rifles out there. Next weapon I made for Slatwater who was silent till now, but as soon as I started to work on his weapon, he opened up. He gave me tips for pistol grip and other small adjustment that should help him handle it. I made him plasma pistol with adjustable output. He looked like someone who would know what to do with it. Other two weapons were made by Lany who made plasma shotgun for Hungryhunter and laser sniper rifle for Fastswimmer. I inspected them and they were good. I just made small adjustment that would come to Lany with experience. There were still a lot of materials, but Swiftfin told me that I could do with it what I want. I thanked him and we bade our farewell. Even Hungryhunter was nice at the end. He stroked his plasma shotgun while oblivious to anything around him. As soon as they left, I told others what I found out from Swiftfin. I and Lany looked at each other and we both new were our next destination will be. We turned to Strike. ¡°What are you looking at? I know we¡¯ll be going for Shatar so don¡¯t waste time with questions.¡± Lany beamed at her and we went to bridge. I let Lany lift the ship and point her to wormhole for Shatar. In about two hours we were on our way and I hoped we won¡¯t be late. Book 3 - Chapter 1: Blazing return In only couple of hours, I will arrive back to the Shattar. I hoped that I wasn¡¯t too late. From the information Swiftfin gave me, there was attack planned on the planet. They were hiring mercenaries from nearby systems to boost their numbers. From what I heard, a lot of mercenaries already joined them. With planet with almost no defenses and promise of big profits who would blame them. Well I would, but I have different opinion about what is right to do and about the price of it. I didn¡¯t know exact number of mercenaries who responded to their call, but I knew that I probably would have to fight my way towards the planet. First ten days in transit I and Lany focused on upgrading our equipment. We still had some parts left from Swiftfin, so I could make some things. First, I made armor for Strike. She protested that it would hinder her movements and that she already had a kinetic barrier that would protect her better than my armor. That was her argument until she saw first prototype. I made it whole from plaststeel which made it light and easy to move in. I placed one piece plaststeel plates in the arms and legs so they don¡¯t hinder her in fight, but for chest I made slightly different piece. I made it with overlapping plates that didn¡¯t stiffen her movement and enabled her to move without problems. I would have done same for arms and legs, but I didn¡¯t have enough materials. For now, she would have to do with what I made for her. From the beginning she refused the helmet so I did next best thing. I made headband that would tie itself with the armor and create shield around her head. It wasn¡¯t as good as actual helmet, but it was next best thing I could come up with for now. When she finally saw the armor and tried it on she stopped arguing about it and asked for a small changes instead. She wanted to be able to strap on some blades that she would use with the telekinesis. I made her two long daggers that she could strap to her tight and build small device on her back that enabled her access to four sharp spikes in the container on her back. She could bring them up over her shoulder with her telekinesis. Next came armor and weapons for Lany. First we spared in simulations to find what style suited her most. I found out that fighting wasn¡¯t coming to her easily so it would be better to go with something simple. She had good reactions and she was pretty accurate, but she forgot to breathe correctly while she was moving and that let her be winded quickly. With All the information we got from the simulation, we decided to build her heavy armor. We didn¡¯t have the right parts right now so for now we built simple exosuit in case of breach. For a weapon she made herself a small pistol. Without the help of the armor it was best she could operate. With all the exercise she was getting stronger, but the more powerful weapons still had too much recoil for her. She would have to build some muscles before she starts using something with more punch. Still it was pretty good weapon. She made sure that it was accurate and train with it anytime she could. If I had right materials, I would at least build her some laser rifle. Lastly came my own armor. I had to just make small upgrades for now as I didn¡¯t have too much materials. I added thrusters around the armor to help me move better and faster. That was one of the things that were slowing me down in a fight. With that done we were prepared to start planning the defense of the spaceport. With the help from Eleanor we managed to make a decent plan that had at least some chance to success. Eleanor was probably one who most changed on our way. She still didn¡¯t trust strangers and liked to hide inside my body, but she no longer feared to go out. She even started to talk to Lany and Strike. With the time left until our emerging from the wormhole we started to train. It was mostly simulation that Eleanor prepared, but Strike too had many experience with fighting and proved more than capable in teaching it. She was especially good at thinking like enemy. Without her, our plan would be far worse and our chances to get to the planet without fight would be slim. Now that we were only couple of minutes from emerging from the wormhole, I went to the bridge. As I entered it, I saw Strike behind the weapons station while Lany was monitoring tactical station. ¡°Hi, so how it looks? Are you prepared?¡± I asked. ¡°Finally some action.¡±, ¡±I think I¡¯m ready.¡± Said Strike and Lany at the same time. I saw that Lany was nervous, but Strike grinned at me. I couldn¡¯t help it and smile back. Like her I was getting excited by the approaching action. I was worried about my friends, but at the same time I found, I liked the action. ¡°Ok, strap in. I don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll find on the other side, but better to be prepared than regret it later.¡± I said. We were all already wearing armors that we made. Like I said better to be prepared than regret it later. ¡°Aye, aye Captain.¡± Said Strike mockingly, but she strapped herself to weapons panel. Lany strapped herself without saying anything which wasn¡¯t ideal too. I would have to teach them respond normally. Especially, if we became bigger organization. I strapped myself into the pilot seat and checked the systems. Nothing seemed out of normal so we were prepared for the rescue. When I was finished, I looked up at the countdown. It was slowly going down until only couple of seconds were left. Three, two, one, ¡­. ¡°Exiting wormhole. Wormhole shield emitter tucked inside. Activating the scanners.¡± I heard Eleanor through the speakers. We emerged from the wormhole with the active scanners going all around the ship and shields powered to maximum. I didn¡¯t want someone to jump us as we emerging from the wormhole. After couple of seconds first results from the scans came back. There were four ships stationed around the wormhole. I could see that they had their weapons still powered down. ¡°Who are you and what are you doing here?¡± I heard through the COM. ¡°I¡¯m a mercenary like you. I recently heard that you can join mercenaries here for some mission and make decent money.¡± I said. He looked behind him and listened to someone. ¡°Look if you wait a minute, I¡¯ll call someone to talk to you.¡± Said the same voice through the COM, but it was different. Nervous or something. ¡°We¡¯ll ¡­.¡± ¡°They are powering their weapons.¡± Shouted Strike. So much for the peaceful solution. I checked our weapons and they were charged to fifty percent. I pulled the thrusters to maximum and we jumped forward behind the four ships. This gave us time to charge the weapons. As we were going by they tried to shoot us, but they were only wasting their shots. Without AI, it would be almost impossible to shoot target moving at such speed. ¡°They are just wasting ammo.¡± Said Lany surprised. ¡°I thought mercenaries would be better at this kind of thing. Even I know it¡¯s bad idea to shoot from that position.¡± ¡°Not everyone shot at us.¡± Said Strike and truly one of the ships didn¡¯t shot after us. They used this time to position themselves so they can shoot first. I smiled. It would have worked, if we had different ship, but Paladin was far better than their ships. Before they were prepared I was already aiming at them with all weapons powered to max. ¡°I think you should shut down your cores and surrender.¡± I sent to the ships. ¡°One of them is trying to send message to planet, but I activated jamming as soon as we started to fight.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Your message won¡¯t be delivered. I¡¯m jamming on all bands. You either surrender or I¡¯ll destroy you. You have no other option.¡± I said. There was silence, but at least one of them powered down weapons. I don¡¯t know what they were doing, but Eleanor showed me that there was a lot of COM communication. They were probably trying to come up with the plan to take me down, but their thrusters were pointed towards me. Only one of them was turned to me and that one powered down his weapons. He knew that he didn¡¯t stand a chance against our ship. ¡°Who are you?¡± asked new voice. COM was coming from ship that reacted best. I drew a deep breath. It was time to step up our game. ¡°My name is Leya and I¡¯m the Paladin. Planet Shatar is under our protection. Does it answer your question?¡± ¡°There are no Paladins. That¡¯s just tale for children.¡± Said one of the other captains. I started to call them one, two and three. Only last one I called Wise, as he was the only one who knew probably what was happening right now. ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that I have pointed two laser and two plasma turrets on your ships. From readings of your shields and based on technology I saw till now, I would say you have level two shields or really worn level three shields. They wouldn¡¯t stand against my level five lasers and level six plasma guns.¡± I said and looked at the readings. One of the shields had familiar response. It was something I saw somewhere before, but I couldn¡¯t remember where. There was only silence on the other side and in a mean time it clicked together. ¡°And one of you have Steins level two shield. I would say badly configured, but I know that glitch and it is not easy to find.¡± ¡°What glitch are you talking about and how do you know I have Steins shield?¡± said the man with Steins shield. I smiled. ¡°There is slight flickering to your shield and you can¡¯t find out what does it no matter what you do.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°Because I had repaired it once and this same problem took me almost two days to find out. And that was on almost new shield generator.¡± I said. ¡°Ok, we understand what you are trying to say. We¡¯ll jettison our power cores.¡± Said Wise. He knew that my threat against them was real as I knew what I was against. They on the other hand could only guess at the truth. There was more COM communication between them once more, but in the end they all scuttled their cores. Now they had only emergency power, but I didn¡¯t plan to destroy their cores. Wise would know how to get it back and make it work. Luckily that would take enough time for me to finish my mission. ¡°Thanks for the cooperation.¡± I said and closed the connection. I waited until their cores were far enough from them and then I moved towards the planet. I did last scan of the ships and when I did, I found only small power sources. Nothing strong enough to contact someone on planet in time. At last not with Slip drive. ¡°They can send message as soon as we go towards the planet. We should at least destroy their antennas.¡± Said Strike. ¡°But with their weak power sources it would take their message couple of hours to deliver.¡± I said grinning. Strike didn¡¯t want to learn much about the ship. Only thing that she was little interested in was weapons systems. That meant she knew very little about Slip drive and how it functioned. ¡°El prepare Slip drive and calculate emerging point behind Shatar¡¯s third moon.¡± Special shield emitters were extended from the ship. They should make shield around the ship that would protect it while going through the fifth dimension. I was still astounded by this drive as it was something that made sense, but at the same time it was hard think it was possible. The slip drive had one function. It functioned in a way similar to wormhole, but it could be used only for small distance compared to the wormholes. It was because of huge energy needs of the drive. When Lany saw it for the first time she was confused about the workings of the drive. I explained it to her on sheet of paper where I wrote two dots. They were about ten centimeters from each other. ¡°Ok you see that there are two dots on paper. One is our ship and other is the destination where we want to go. As you can see they are fairly far from one another. With normal drive it would take us long time to get there.¡± I said and connected both points with the line. ¡°Now slip drive is different. We go to another dimension where the distance between this two points is almost none. It should work something like this.¡± I said and once more took the paper and folded it in two so that the dots touch each other. Now I took the pencil and punched through the paper. ¡°Now both dots are connected and we don¡¯t have to go whole way as they are near each other in fifth dimension.¡± I said. ¡°But how can we know where is the second dot?¡± asked Lany. ¡°Well that¡¯s what the special navigational equations are for. They are many times harder than calculation for normal coordinates and because of them the slip drive is only operable by the ships with the AI and it¡¯s safer to use higher AI.¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean safer? Is it dangerous?¡± asked Lany then. ¡°Not with Eleanor, but with weaker AI it could be difficult. The AI has to calculate a lot of data while going through the Slip which means it has to be pretty powerful.¡± I told her. ¡°Then we¡¯re lucky that we have Eleanor.¡± Said Lany. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°That you are.¡± Came from the speakers. ¡°Yes we are.¡± I said. I shook my head to clear it of the unwanted thoughts and focused on the mission. I need to stay focused, because too many lives depended on me. ¡°Slip drive prepared. Ready to engage on your command Captain.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Thanks Eleanor. Engage in five.¡± I said. I saw Lany and Strike look at me as this was first time I and Eleanor spoke like this. Strike also looked nervous and looked at Lany couple of times. I was curious as to what Lany told her about this drive. As the count come to zero, I felt jolt as we crossed great distance in couple seconds. Before, when I was a human, I felt little nauseated, by slipping across the space, but now I felt fine. I looked behind and both Lany and Strike weren¡¯t doing so good. They were white, but at least they didn¡¯t lose their breakfast. ¡°You¡¯ll get better at handling it with practice.¡± I said to them as I was looking at sensors feeds. ¡°What is the situation Eleanor? Do we have company?¡± ¡°No ships in detected. We are safe for now. We are behind the moon as we wanted with only small deviation.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Good, I¡¯ll move the ship so you can scan the planet.¡± I moved the ship slowly around the moon to get our first look on the planet after two months. ¡°There is large amount of ships around the planet. Most of them look like small attack craft, but there is definitely one Destroyer class ship. It looks old and beat up, but it¡¯s still a destroyer. It is about five times our weight and more in armaments.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Yeah that could be problematic. What do you think? Do we stand a chance?¡± I asked Eleanor. ¡°What do you mean stand a chance? You plan to attack that thing?¡± asked Strike. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I want to look at all the option we have. Maybe one of them would give us opportunity to take it down.¡± I said. This time even Lany turned to me. ¡°I hope you¡¯re joking.¡± ¡°We have three anti-matter missiles, six nuke and ten normal missiles.¡± Said Eleanor to me. That should be enough to take it down, if we hit it right. Of course, there was the little secret Strike and Lany didn¡¯t know about. What I wasn¡¯t so sure about, was if I wanted to destroy it. For something this large they would need sufficient crew which meant somewhere around hundred crewmembers. I wasn¡¯t prepared to kill that many people. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± asked Lany. ¡°I try to think about option where we wouldn¡¯t need to destroy them.¡± I said. ¡°Leya I looked at the sensors reading from when we jumped and one of the mercenaries managed to send the message towards the planet. The energy readings are stronger than I anticipated. He had to some backup power source.¡± Said Eleanor. That wasn¡¯t good. From the readings, I could see we have about two hours before signal from their scouts near the wormhole comes. ¡°Ok that scrapped our option where we would pass ourselves as mercenaries. We don¡¯t have enough time.¡± I said. ¡°We could try and sneak past them. There doesn¡¯t seem to be as many of them on the other side of planet.¡± Said Lany. ¡°There are still too many of them. We wouldn¡¯t stand a chance if they found us.¡± Said Strike. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure.¡± Said Lany and raised her eyebrow at me. Strike looked from Lany towards me and back. ¡°What are you talking about? I should listen more to what you are saying, because I feel like I don¡¯t know anything about this ship or you.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t see me flying this ship to its full capabilities and you didn¡¯t see me to use all my skills. That¡¯s why.¡± I paused and let that sink in. ¡°Just know that we are not as outmatched as you think.¡± She looked doubtfully at me, but in the end she just shrugged. ¡°If you say so. So what are we going to do?¡± ¡°We could try to pass as asteroid. Most of them doesn¡¯t look like bright bunch. When they find out about us it would be already too late.¡± I said. ¡°No we are too big. They would have to destroy us to show that their story about protecting the planet is true.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°Yes, you are right. Didn¡¯t thought about that.¡± I said deep in thought. ¡°What about overwhelming them?¡± said Lany. I turned to her. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°We could send more asteroids towards the planet and force them to hunt them one by one. We could slip past them when we¡¯ll see big enough hole.¡± Said Lany. ¡°That¡¯s pretty good idea.¡± Said Strike. I smiled because I knew what to do to make it even better. I already did something like that, but this time I don¡¯t have that many ships against me and they¡¯re not in such good state. ¡°We could hide behind one of them and after they destroy it, we¡¯ll hide in dust from the asteroid. Or barrel down through them.¡± Strike and Lany smiled at this idea. ¡°That should at least get us near enough to slip past them.¡± Said Strike. I pulled the ship back and went to look for small asteroids. One by one I sent them towards the planet and hid behind one. I picked one which was somewhere in the middle of the group as it provided most cover. It took me about an hour to hunt them all down, but with the speed I gave them it should be enough for us get near the planet. It didn¡¯t take long for mercenaries to spot the asteroids and sent couple of ships to take care of them. They broke them apart to smaller chunks which would burn while entering the atmosphere. Our asteroid lasted longer than others, but in the end it was too destroyed. Small chunks hit our shield which caused it to flare little. I hoped that the dust would cover it, but I was sure that sooner or later someone would saw it. ¡°Tell me when someone starts aiming at us. I want to be the one making the surprises, not the other way.¡± I said and prepared myself for the action. For whole ten minutes nothing happened. We just drifted towards the planet and I had little time to think about how I got here. From the first time I started to play Virtua, I was only reacting to what others were doing. I always went somewhere and tried to stop someone. I needed to stop doing that. I needed to get before them or I would lose in time. I wasn¡¯t sure how to do that, but Shatar was just beginning. I would have to do something to even the odds, but that was thought for the later. Now I had friends to save and enemies to scare. ¡°Someone is targeting us.¡± Called Strike. I smiled and pulled the thrusters to max. I felt the pressure on my chest, as the acceleration forced me into the chair before the compensators lifted the weight from my chest. I wove through the remains of asteroids as the enemy fire turned the ones behind me to even finer dust. I wasn¡¯t worried about them catching us now, because we were just too close to the planet. I managed to dodge couple more of their attacks and we were already entering the atmosphere. With all the asteroid chunks burning around us they didn¡¯t have a chance to target us. It had to be nice fire show for the inhabitants of this planet. As we got lower I placed the ship under the clouds and tried to hug the surface as much as I could. That should mess with their sensors and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they lose us. When I thought we were reasonably safe I changed the direction and flied towards the city. I wanted to look at the situation there before making more decision. It didn¡¯t take me long to fly there and even from long distance I could see smoke columns rising from the city. From the looks of it they were under siege and they had serious problems. ¡°El, give me some targets.¡± I said. ¡°Right away.¡± Said Eleanor and I could see targets highlighted in red. They were mostly some tanks and heavy artillery. Things that needed to be taken down or the city would fall. I was surprised that it was still standing with all the heavy ordnance that mercenaries brought on the planet. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we announce ourselves first?¡± asked Lany. That stopped me at my tracks. ¡°Yes we should give them chance to pull out first.¡± I said and looked back at Lany. ¡°Thanks for reminding me. Can you go and adjust one of the drones? I want to be able broadcast through it.¡± ¡°Right away.¡± Said Lany and meanwhile I used the cave where we hid before to cloak us from enemy scanners. After about five minutes Lany returned and strapped herself in. ¡°The drone is ready and I placed it near the ramp.¡± ¡°Ok, lets start this show.¡± I said and come out of the cave. As soon as we were out I let the drone out and changed our position. I didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near it when we start broadcasting. Finally, when we were good distance from it I hit the play button. I could hear immediately the message we prepared into it. ¡°This is Paladin Leya. This planet is under protection of paladin¡¯s. Anyone attacking the spaceport on this planet should pull out or we will be forced to retaliate.¡± This went on until we heard explosion from the place where we let the drone out. If this was their response, we should show them ours. ¡°Ell, do you still have the targets?¡± ¡°Yes, putting them on your display.¡± Said Ell. ¡°Thanks Ell. We should clean up this place a little.¡± I said, while targeting closest tanks. When I had solid lock on them I fired from the laser cannons and I could see that this tanks weren¡¯t armored as heavily as they looked. The laser fire bisected them and from four tanks I fired one, two were cut in half and in other two I had to hit something explosive as there was only crater where they stood. That was good and all, but it showed us to the enemy. Immediately missiles went flying after us. ¡°El, countermeasures.¡± I said simply, but she was already using them from twelve missiles after us only one impacted our shield. We were almost over the city, so I wanted to start next phase of the plan. ¡°Strike, Lany, are you ready? Defenders look like they will need some help.¡± I said. ¡°Almost thought you wouldn¡¯t ask.¡± Said Strike with hungry look. I laughed. ¡°Ohh, I wouldn¡¯t do that to them. Wouldn¡¯t want them to think that this will be easy as they thought.¡± I said without looking at Strike. Both of them went towards the ramp where they would jump down from the ship. Strike would bolster their defense on the front, while Lany would work on the turret defense and anything else she¡¯ll get her hands on. Meanwhile, I would take care of any ships attacking the city. We talked about this before arriving and this was best composition we could come up with. First, I would let out Lany. She will jump when we will be next to city hall and Strike would hover her down with telekinesis. Next I would fly over the place where the fighting was heaviest and Strike would bolster the defense. I flew strait for the city hall and opened the ramp when we neared it. When we were over it I did slow turn over the plaza. On sensors I could see that Lany managed to land without problems. She was already running towards someone on the ground. They¡¯ll point her towards turret control. With Lany on the ground, I let Eleanor scan the city walls for signs of fighting. From the readings, I could tell that the heaviest fighting was over the breach in north side of the wall. ¡°Hang on to something. We¡¯ll be coming in hot.¡± I said and move the ship towards the breach. Strike would have to jump from the ship and used telekinesis to smooth her landing as I couldn¡¯t land without making an easy target from me. ¡°Just take me over the place and tell when I should jump. I¡¯ll take care of everything else.¡± She said. ¡°Roger. Maybe I¡¯ll be able to help you little.¡± I said with plan forming in my head. As we neared the breach I pointed ship towards it and flipped it hundred and eighty degrees around. I pulled the thrusters to maximum to blead the speed fast. Besides the slowing down the thrusters pointed directly at the bridge and the soldiers there found out what it was like to have plasma drive pointed in your face. After a short while the ship came to standstill. ¡°Strike you can jump.¡± I called. ¡°Thanks, I hope you left me someone there.¡± She replied. I saw her jump from the ship and at the same time Eleanor displayed couple of missiles coming for me. Now that I was alone I could use little more power while moving the ship. This new body could take it. The stress from acceleration wasn¡¯t as big on it as on my human body. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi everyone, Took me longer than I anticipated to return here. I will try to post in normal pace now that everything looks calmer. Like always, if you have some tips, I would be glad to receive them. :) Hope you''ll like this new chapter. Book 3 - Chapter 2: Reunion Hi everyone. Here''s the new chapter. I hope you''ll like her. I made small change and when Leya speaks with Eleanor internally it will be in cursive. I hope I got all the interaction as I decided to start with it in the middle of chapter, but I think it''s better this way. I wanted to remove the confusion form the dialogue when Eleanor tells something only to Leya. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I used kinetic blast to smooth my landing. As soon as I felt the ground I rolled left and looked behind me. I expected enemies climbing over the wall, but what I saw surprised me. In truth it shouldn¡¯t. Leya told me that she would help, but I didn¡¯t expect something like that. The stone wall was shining red from the recent heat applied to it. The mercenaries unlucky enough to be in the breach had to die almost immediately. ¡°Put your hands up and identify yourself.¡± Shouted voice behind me. I turned around. ¡°I¡¯m friend. I came with the Paladin.¡± After my statement, I could see about ten man crouching behind make shift barricades looking at me with wide. ¡°How can we tell you are telling the truth?¡± eyed me one of them. I heard sound behind and without looking I sent one of the daggers towards it. I heard riffle barking behind and almost immediately I felt bullet bouncing from my shield, but the riffle fell silent quickly as I heard my dagger found its target. I looked behind me and saw one of the mercenaries holding his throat. He tried to pull the dagger from his throat so I helped him and pulled it for him. Before the men behind the barricade could say anything, I sprinted to the breach. With kinetic push from the ground, I vaulted over it and landed right in the middle of mercenary group. I sent my two daggers in tight circle around me while pulling three spikes from behind my back and sending them at other mercenaries. With half of their number cut down, they pointed their weapons at me and fired. I ducked behind one of them and sent couple more spikes at them. Some of them missed, but others still did the damage. When they saw that their weapons didn¡¯t have any effect they run. I let them go as this attack cost me a lot of my power and I needed to rest for couple of minutes to get it back. Still this should prove even better. They would tell others what happened to them and if I do it right, they would be running when they saw me. With smile I jumped over the wall and walked towards the men who looked at me with open mouth. ¡°Does it answer your question?¡± I said smirking. ¡°Yes miss, it does. I have report of other breach.¡± Said one of them. ¡°Lead the way than.¡± I said and moved behind the soldier that get the job of escorting me. I looked up and hoped that Leya and Lany were alright. In the short time I was with them, I started to think about them as my family. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ After couple of minutes, I could see that Lany managed to get to control center, because turret fire stopped firing at me and started to fire at the enemy far more efficient than before. I knew, I could count on her to get it all under control. As the defenders found out that they had new help, they rose everywhere and repelled the attackers with new strength. Meanwhile, I took down enemy artillery and remaining tanks. Without them the mercenaries started to run away. I just hoped that they would see it as black hole for their money and leave. Leya you have COM request coming from the city. Said Eleanor. ¡°Patch me through.¡± I said and immediately I could hear Leons voice. ¡°So you returned and from reports I got, you even brought couple of friends.¡± He said and laughed. ¡°To tell the truth, when I heard that only two people jumped from your ship and one of them was Lany I thought that they were joking. Only two people to help us, but then came the reports. Turret defense efficiency went up almost hundred percent and man around the wall tell me about this woman demon that goes from place to place and kill every mercenary on sight.¡± ¡°What can I say? I like quality over quantity.¡± I said laughing. ¡°That I can see. Now we should talk about the destroyer over our heads. It¡¯s only matter of time before they will lose patience and glass this city. We need to do something about it.¡± Said Leon. ¡°This setback should give us little time. I don¡¯t think they are ready to return for some time. We left them with pretty bad impression of this city. I¡¯ll come down and discuss with you our options. Also I would like you to brought as much materials as you could on my ship. I¡¯ll tell Lany to start building you better armors and weapons.¡± I said thinking what more I could do. ¡°That would help. You should park the ship at the scrapyard. We¡¯ll make you a place to land and start loading the materials as soon as you are on the ground.¡± Said Leon. ¡°Ok, see you in the scrapyard.¡± I said and ended the call. I flew over the scrapyard and land on patch of the land that was quickly cleared of all the rubble. I secured the ship and activated defense protocol that would enable the workers to load the ship, but nothing more. ¡°Want to meet my friends?" I asked Eleanor. Of course, you told me so much about them, I feel like I know them myself. Said Eleanor. Month ago she would just hide somewhere and refuse to meet them. Now she was curious about what was happening around her. I was glad she was getting better as the state I found her in was bad. I laughed. ¡°Ok, then jump on and will be on our way.¡± With the last word, I felt as something entered into my body. Eleanor made herself comfortable and I could feel her looking through my eyes. She always like to look through my eyes. She said that it gives her different perspective. Once I walked out of the ship, I could see workers already waiting with first batch of materials. Lany was with them and she was grinning from ear to ear. ¡°I heard, you volunteered me for making equipment for our rebellion.¡± ¡°Of course, who else should do it?¡± I asked. She squealed and hugged me. ¡°Thank you, I won¡¯t disappoint you.¡± I was confused by her statement. I just gave her tremendous amount of work and not too funny work. Just repetitive work. She thinks you now trust her with important jobs. First, you let her help with the turrets and now the equipment. Said Eleanor to me. Thanks. I said to Eleanor than turned to Lany. ¡°I know you won¡¯t. Now go start working. We have a lot of work before us.¡± I said with smile. She saluted me. ¡°Yes captain.¡± Then she hurried inside the ship while she whistled loudly. I shook my head at her antics. I looked around the scrapyard and I could see great changes in it. There was, I don¡¯t know how to say it better, than, there was more and less of everything. A lot of things disappeared, but there was also a lot of rubble and other things that weren¡¯t here before. From the looks of it, they used it as junkyard for everything. I turned my head right when I felt something hit me from the side. I looked down and I saw Liray hugging me. ¡°Well girl, you made it. I told them, you would return to us with the help.¡± ¡°Liray, I¡¯m so glad to see you.¡± I said. ¡°Me too girl.¡± Said Liray and let me go. He looked me over and frowned. ¡°There is something different about you. You look¡­ whole. Yes, that¡¯s it. You no longer fight against your body.¡± ¡°Yes, I have friend helping me with that.¡± I said and I was sure my eyes did the thing where Eleanor peaked through them. She only did it when she wanted to let someone know she was inside my body. From what Lany and Strike told me, my eyes flashed briefly and there was this another alien intelligence in them. I could see that it startled Liray. He turned his head sideways. ¡°That¡¯s the friend you were going to rescue. Am I right?¡± ¡°Sorry to stop your reunion, but we don¡¯t have time for this. We need to do something about the destroyer up there.¡± Said Leon who walked up to me. ¡°With it up there, we can¡¯t do anything. They could just start with kinetic bombardment and we would be screwed.¡± ¡°Yeah, we need to get on the destroyer. If we capture it, we will win.¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s my thought too, but how would be get on the board?¡± said Leon. ¡°I have part of the plan, but we should discuss more in my ship.¡± I said and we went to the lounge. Once there we took our seats around the table and I asked Eleanor to give us picture of destroyer. Even Strike managed get back in time for this planning session and she set in one corner of the lounge. Like I predicted, I could see Leon nervously looking at the picture and me. I remembered that he didn¡¯t like unshackled AI so I waited for him to say something. In the end he just nodded towards me and let it go. ¡°How do propose we get on the ship. You said outside that you have plan.¡± Said Liray. ¡°First I would like to introduce everyone. Lany you already know and woman next to her is my new friend and part of the crew. Her name is Strike.¡± I said. Others introduced themselves and some of them even hugged her. They where the guards at the walls who came to help with moving the materials into the ship. I could see Strike¡¯s surprised eyes glistering with tears that she almost shed. She looked at me and I smiled at her. I knew how important the family was for her. ¡°Now there is one more crew member and friend that I would like to introduce to you. As you know, I went to save my friend and you know that she is the AI.¡± I said and let the El know that she should introduce herself. ¡°Hi my name is Eleanor, but you can call me El.¡± Came Eleanor¡¯s voice form the speakers over our heads. I saw Leon freeze and looked around himself. He looked at me, but in the end he took deep breath and said forced hi. When it came to Liray he just introduced himself and went like it was another normal thing. I love that about Liray. He never cares about the shell, but about the soul inside. I smiled at Liray and he nodded my way. ¡°Ok we should talk about the ship parked over your planet. I can tell you that when I saw it parked over your planet, I knew we should take it intact. We can use it as protection for this planet and there should be a lot of useful intel on the ship. So all in all, it¡¯s best to take it and not destroy it.¡± I said. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°That we knew, but that¡¯s probably our only chance. Also it¡¯s only way how to take it down, we don¡¯t have anything strong enough to make more than a dent in their armor.¡± Said Leon. I saw Lany and Strike look at me with raised eyebrows. I ignored them, but Liray saw their looks. ¡°What does the looks mean?¡± he asked. I sighed. ¡°It¡¯s not completely true that we can¡¯t destroy the destroyer and when I¡¯m saying we, I mean me. I have weapon strong enough to destroy it, but I would like to take it intact. We have to stop reacting to them and start making our own moves.¡± I said and everyone looked expectantly at me. ¡°I will not tell you what it is. I didn¡¯t even tell Strike and Lany and they¡¯re part of the crew.¡± ¡°Part of what crew?¡± I heard voice from the door. I whirled around and smiled. There in the door stood smiling Hurriliat, George and his crew. Hurriliat spread his arms and waited for me. I run towards him and hugged him. ¡°I missed you so much.¡± I said. ¡°Me too girl, now what is this talk about superweapons?¡± he said looking me in the eyes. ¡°Like I told others, I will not tell what it is. Just know that if everything fails, I¡¯ll take it down.¡± I said resolutely. I saw Lany and Strike looking at me with strange look, but I didn¡¯t care. The missiles were too dangerous and they still didn¡¯t have enough experience in these kind of decisions. But we had. I heard Eleanor in my head. Yes, we had. I said sadly. ¡°Did something happened?¡± asked Hurriliat when he saw mz expresion. ¡°No, just some memories, but that doesn¡¯t matter now. We need to find a solution to our problem. Like I said I already thought about it and I think there is a way how to do it. It¡¯s just not very safe.¡± I said and told them about what I cooked up from the time I saw the destroyer over the planet. ¡°I think it could work, but there will be too many of them on that ship. We wouldn¡¯t be able to take them down.¡± Said George. ¡°That¡¯s where I come in. With the materials you delivered, I¡¯ll make some armors and by that I meant normal armors, not the old buckets you are wearing.¡± I said looking at George¡¯s armor which looked like he took it straight from the museum. ¡°This is one of our better armors.¡± Said George defensively. I smiled. ¡°You made my point.¡± Then I moved towards the table where the hologram projector was installed. ¡°I think everyone knows their job so you should go and prepare. I and Lany will be working overtime. We need to make you best equipment we can in short time.¡± Everyone went to prepare for their part and only Lany stayed here. ¡°So what should I do first?¡± she asked. ¡°Ell will give you measures of everyone here and you should take measures from everyone going on the mission. Than you should make armor for everyone. In a mean time, I will work on your armor and weapons for everyone.¡± I said and moved towards the cargo bay. I had to pick right materials for Lany¡¯s armor. ¡°Why are you making my armor?¡± she asked curiously. I looked over my shoulder with smirk. ¡°Because I have to make sure nothing happens to you. Don¡¯t worry it will be spectacular.¡± She looked confused at me, but then she just shrugged and went to take measures from everyone. I went straight to making armor for her. I wanted something that would protect her, something that could take beating. I already had the basic design in my head and I only needed to tweak it little. I wanted to make it from three plates which would be connected to one another with special membranes that would absorb the impact and distribute the heat along the surface of plates under them. I wanted her to be safe even after the shields on her armor goes down. Also now that I had enough materials, I could use something better than simple metal. I would use plaststeel interlaced with titanium cord. After about one hour I inserted the design in the system and waited for it to come out. I had prepared a lot of other surprises for her. I was curious to see her reaction to the armor. It was different than most of the other armors. It was built for the defense. It was bulkier and person in it would be stronger than in normal armor. Even though it was bigger and heavier it wasn¡¯t slower as I made special joints with nanobots which would work as hydraulics. Far better than normal hydraulics as even after the hit they would continue to function. Next I made the weapons for the team. I made them all assault rifle as they were simple to use. I made three types. The exchange of ammo would be good, but as we didn¡¯t know what type of defenses they have we needed to be prepared. I made laser, plasma and normal projectile weapons. If I had enough time I had this plan to try and build anti-matter pistol or rifle, but that was for another time. The laser rifle and plasma were pretty standard. I just used the designs, I worked out while playing Virtua to add some punch to them. For laser I use multiple crystals which focused laser into one bigger one and that would focus them all into one powerful shot. For the plasma I used normal rifle, but I accelerated the plasma with twin magnetic rail. It gave the riffle pretty good punch. As the last I made projectile weapon. There too I used the magnetic rail so it was pretty simple to make it. What I made special were ammo. I made clips with different bullets. They would inject them into rifle depending on switch on the rifle. They could shoot armor piercing, explosive or impact. In last position the rifle would shot all three in rotating fashion. When I was done with the weapons I went to look at the designs that Lany made. She sent them to me for approval and I couldn¡¯t find any fault in them. They were designed simply and effectively. Just the thing we needed. We didn¡¯t need armors with too many functions. They would just hinder most of them. Only adjustments I made were for Leon and his team. They were soldiers so it shouldn¡¯t be problem for them to handle little more options. They were all made from plaststeel with best shields we could build with materials on our hands. There had thrusters for maneuvering in areas without gravity. All in all, they should be able protect their wearers against most of the weapons. I just hoped that this destroyer¡¯s crew wasn¡¯t equipped with better arms than I saw. The armors should still hold under fire, but I would rather not test them against unknown weapons. Only thing left was George¡¯s ship. I wanted to make her as stealthy as I could. That meant I will paint it with light absorbing paint and repair or cover as many leakages as I could on the ship. With the cover from the explosion I was going to make, it should be enough to get them on the destroyer. For next four hours we worked on the ship and in the end, I declared it stealth worthy. We all you knew what would happen to them, if they are found out. No matter, this was best chance to take it down without destroying the ship. While working I looked for the others who didn¡¯t show up at my landing. I found out Jonathan was helping children who lost their parents. He took care of them and let them live in his bar. Harry and his family stayed in hospital and helped with simple things. As for the Norman, my former employer, he died. He went to the destroyer to negotiate some treaty, but they killed him after the arrival and tossed his body towards the star. ¡°Leya there is call on COM for you.¡± Said Eleanor as I was last time explaining to everyone what they should do. ¡°Patch it thru to me.¡± I said curious about what could they want. ¡°Good day Leya. I have proposition for you.¡± Said the man in his late thirties without preamble. He had short beard which was carefully trimmed. He looked more like businessman then mercenary. This is coming from the destroyer? I asked Eleanor, unsure if she made mistake. Of course! Do you think I am just some calculator? Said Eleanor in pretended anger. Sorry, but he doesn¡¯t look like mercenary at all. I apologized to her and smirked at her antics. ¡°What is the proposition?¡± I asked him. He perked up when he heard me. ¡°To tell you the truth I don¡¯t like to fight so I would like to avoid fighting with you. I have here on this ship hostage and I think you know him.¡± He said and send me video on another link. I didn¡¯t even hear what he told me next because I was looking at the video. There bound on the ground was John. He looked older and I could see blood on his clothes. ¡°What did you do to him?¡± I asked angrily. He stopped saying whatever he was saying. ¡°He refused to give us codes to this ship.¡± He shook his head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t until we started to hurt his crew, he gave us them.¡± He said and smiled at me with fake smile. ¡°Now to my proposal, if you leave this system, I will let him go. Simple, isn¡¯t it?¡± I licked my lips. ¡°What if I refuse?¡± I asked. ¡°Then I would torture him until he dies.¡± He said same smile. I looked at the video of John and I sighed. ¡°Ok, you win, but know this. After this business is over I will find you and kill you. You will have nowhere to hide and whoever will help you will die with you.¡± I said with fury raising in me. I have clench it before I say more and he will kill John. I breathed heavily as I tried to contain the anger in me. After minute or two I got it under control and looked at him. He lost his smile. ¡°You have hour to get out of the system or he¡¯s dead.¡± He said and closed the connection. When the connection closed and I looked around, I found everyone looking at me. ¡°He has my friend and he will kill him, if I don¡¯t leave the system.¡± I said simply. ¡°So you are leaving us? Just like that?¡± asked one of the George¡¯s man. I turned to him furiously. ¡°No, we¡¯re going with the plan, but I plan to return to the destroyer and take the captain out myself.¡± I said angrily. The man put up his hands and looked at me with fear in his eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean anything by that.¡± He said hastily. ¡°Good, then the action starts now. Everyone knows what they should do.¡± I said and moved towards the Paladin. Once there, I went straight for the bridge and after really quick preflight I pulled the ship up. I waited for Georges ship to take off too and then I speed up from the planet. ¡°We¡¯ll see who will smile when this day ends.¡± I murmured under nose. Book 3 - Chapter 3: Ambush Hi, little later than I thought it would be, but here it is. Hope you''ll enjoy it. If you have some tips or just wanted to say something to me don''t hesitate and write it. I would be glad for all input. Just one quick question. I would like to ask if the grammatic and word structure is going forward or if it''s the same pain it was in the first chapters. I have hard time telling, if it''s getting better or not. I would like to know your input on this. Thanks, Anarin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When Leya left we loaded the Gregor¡¯s ship with everything we could pack into it. You never know what you will need on mission like this. Then we waited for the signal from Leya. She will send us short message on tight beam and we will move slowly towards the destroyer. Once we will be close enough, we will wait for next part of the plan. I looked at Strike who was seated near me and like me she was deeply in thought. I never saw Leya so angry as after she found out, they have her friend on the enemy ship. She looked ready to kill someone. ¡°What do you think she will do once we secure the engineering and rescue her friend?¡± asked Strike next to me. I looked up thinking about what Leya could do. ¡°She will probably come to the destroyer and find the captain.¡± I said. ¡°Lany you can¡¯t be serious. If she could do that we wouldn¡¯t need this operation.¡± said surprised Strike. She wasn¡¯t with Leya as long as I so it was normal to underestimate her. ¡°First we¡¯ll have engineering under our control so their automatic defenses will be offline. They can use only manual and second they would have killed her friend. With her friend secured, nothing will stop her from getting in the destroyer.¡± I said to her. ¡°But we planned to take it with stealth even before she knew her friend was imprisoned on the ship.¡± Said Strike and I felt others leaning forward. They too were listening to our conversation. ¡°Yes, because it¡¯s the plan with most chance of success. They wouldn¡¯t be prepared for assault like this. No one has seen technology like this in decades.¡± I said and encompassed the ship. The paint we used to hid the ship from basic scanners was something used only on most expensive ships. To tell the truth it was my first time seeing something like that. It was almost like the paint absorbed the light. ¡°That can be, but it¡¯s still small ship compared to destroyer.¡± Said Strike. I stayed silent for a while thinking about next thing I was going to say. I wasn¡¯t sure, if Leya would want me to tell them about it, but she told me to always listen to my hearth. ¡°I think Leya didn¡¯t show us all her ship can do. There is the weapon which can destroy the destroyer, but I think there is more.¡± Everyone stayed silent until Strike spoke up. ¡°Why would she do that?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why she concealed the information from us. I understood the secrecy from others, but we were her crew. Even if I didn¡¯t want to admit it, I was wondering if she didn¡¯t trust us. ¡°She is doing it, because she is protecting you.¡± Surprised me Leon by speaking to us. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± I asked curious. ¡°I told you I worked for emperor and like her he never told us everything. He told us only what we needed to know for the job he gave us. Everything else he kept from us.¡± He said and looked at everyone. ¡°You may think that she doesn¡¯t trust you, but that¡¯s not it. It took me years to come to this realization, but I think it¡¯s right one. She like my emperor just didn¡¯t want you to worry about things out of your control. That is their job to do. To tell the truth I underestimated Leya too. I¡¯m not talking about her strength and prowess in battle. I¡¯m talking about responsibility for others. She¡¯s protecting you from the things which would make you feel at least uncomfortable.¡± ¡°But why would we feel uncomfortable? We can¡¯t help her, if we don¡¯t know all the information.¡± I said. ¡°You don¡¯t understand. There are decisions which can¡¯t be done by anyone. Decision like destroying the ship and killing everyone on it.¡± He said and looked at me. ¡°Would you be able to condemn them for death? Would you be able to kill hundreds of people to make the right decision?¡± ¡°But she told us, we have to try and save everyone. No matter the situation, we have to try our best.¡± I said and I felt close to tears. I started to understand why Leya was keeping secrets from us. She was just trying to protect us. Shelter us from the decision which could hurt us. Trying to do her best in every situation. Before he could answer me I interrupted him. ¡°I think, I understand.¡± ¡°Ok, that¡¯s good. Now you can support her when she will need it.¡± He said and stood up. ¡°We should move and prepare. Everyone get into your armors and get to the ship. I want to be prepared to fly this ship immediately.¡± Said Leon and looked apological at George. That should have been his job. He just nodded. ¡°You heard the man. Get in the armor and prepare the ship for lift off.¡± Everyone went to prepare themselves for the infiltration and I and Strike weren¡¯t any different. We too went to put on our armor. Once everyone had everything prepared, we entered Gregor¡¯s ship and let him take us closer to Destroyer. I was nervous and shaking of the ship didn¡¯t help me to calm myself. It was nothing like flying on Leya¡¯s ship. Only now I started to understand how much better her ship was. These thoughts managed to distract me from possibility that they managed to spot us and we die. There was nothing we could do to save us from instant death. I sat in cargo hold with others. I couldn¡¯t see their faces through the helmet, but I saw some of the men were nervous just like me. They controlled their equipment constantly. Some of them even trembled little. ¡°We¡¯re good to go. We got the signal from Leya.¡± I heard from speakers over our heads. All my nervousness was gone and I waited for the last part of our plan. Even I didn¡¯t know how she planned to blind their sensor, but it would be something to look at. About five minutes later, I felt whole ship shook and metal groan as something hit us. Everyone looked around and only when we heard shocked voice of captain we relaxed little. ¡°Leya blinded their sensors. Now is our time.¡± I heard him said disbelievingly and I felt the pull on me as we accelerated towards the destroyer. I was curious as to what Leya did. There was silence in the hold and only sound there was from engines running to full power. It didn¡¯t take us long to enter the ship and before I knew it the cargo doors were opening. I switched my vision to heat vision and luckily for us there was no one in place where we landed. We picked this place, because it was just hole in the ship. It looked like it was made by missile geting past their defenses. In our flyby we didn¡¯t see anyone repairing it and that was what we counted on. It looks like we were right. Now we had to do the harder part. We didn¡¯t have schematics for this vessel which meant we had to guess the position of engineering department and prison. Leon and Strike run outside and went straight for the door. Once there, they guarded it until everyone could get out of the ship. I walked up to them and I could see Strike had her eyes closed. ¡°There is no one on the other side of the door. We¡¯re clear to move forward.¡± She said. ¡°Good. You, Lany and couple of my man will go to take engineering department as we talked. I¡¯ll take rest and looked for the prison.¡± Said Leon. We divided into three groups. One was going to protect John the prisoner and Leya¡¯s friend. Second was going to take over the engineering department and last one was going to stay here and protect the ship. I saw Geroge walked outside of the ship in his armor. Like others it was upgraded. When I first so it I was appalled that someone would put something like that on them. The armor was rusty in some places and didn¡¯t hold the pressure more than couple of minutes. Now he wore shiny new armor with some of the upgrades from Leya. Small nanoblade in wrist pocket, mag boots and couple of others. Before he looked funny, but now that I saw him he was dangerous. The armor made minimum noise and moved smoothly. He walked up to us. ¡°Ok, we¡¯re secured here. You can move on.¡± He said and I saw Leon and Strike nodded. I saw him shook his head as he looked at me and Strike. ¡°Let me tell you, Leya know how to surprise someone.¡± ¡°What did she do? I felt the ship rock, but I didn¡¯t know what she planned to do.¡± I said. ¡°Never saw explosion like that. I¡¯m not even sure how she could survive it. From the last readings before we lost our sensors feed we gathered it was some sort of anti-matter explosion. Only it was about five times larger than anything I ever saw.¡± Said George in strange tone. I think I heard fear mixed with astonishment there. I saw Strike smile. ¡°That¡¯s our Leya. She does nothing in half measure.¡± She said. I smiled at Strike¡¯s remark. I wasn¡¯t sure when I started to think about her as my friend, but she was. When I started this journey, I would never think, I could make someone like her my friend. She was completely different from me and she didn¡¯t even like engineering, but she was still my friend. In truth I thought about her as my older sister and I would protect her at all cost. She looked at me with smile and I knew she would protect me too. ¡°Lets do this.¡± I said. She nodded and we moved into the bowels of the ship. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ I looked at the retreating backs of other party. I focused at the Strike and Lany mostly. While on the ground, I could see they were comfortable with one another. When I looked at them I could see something in their eyes. It was same thing I saw once in my men. It was purpose, in doing something bigger than they were themselves. I knew the light slowly died with the death of emperor. Now I could see small sparks in their eyes as they once more did something with purpose. I shook my head and concentrated on this moment. I had to find the prison and protect Leya¡¯s friend. That was my job and I didn¡¯t plan on failing it. She was counting on me. I turned to my group. ¡°Once more we are tasked with saving lives. Long time, we did what we thought was necessary to protect ourselves and way our emperor wanted us to live, but on our way we forgot something important. We join the black guard to protect, but it was long time since we guarded life. Now we were given a chance to do our duty.¡± I said and I could see fire brighten in eyes of my team. I smiled, because I knew same fire was ignited in my eyes. ¡°They will not stop us from reaching him and we will protect him until this ship is captured!¡± Everyone had bloodthirsty look in their eyes and even always calm Liray look ready to kill something. I motioned for everyone to move forward behind me. For first ten minutes, we didn¡¯t see anyone, which was strange. I was on one destroyer before and there should be a lot of crew to man it. As soon as I thought it, I spotted someone on my sensors. I was still surprised at sensitivity of the sensors. We didn¡¯t even have such good sensors in black guard and we used one of the best in this part of the universe. There were three crewmembers in a small room on our right. We could either sneak past them or try to incapacitate them. I motioned for others to stay silent and shown them three hostiles in room on left side of corridor. The door to the room were open and that meant, it was too risky to sneak past them. ¡°Did you see the girl in cell forty-one. She¡¯s real beauty. I think, I¡¯ll visit her tonight.¡± Said one of them. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Captain told us to wait until we capture the city. We have to look like good guys until then and raping the women wouldn¡¯t help us in any way.¡± Said another. ¡°I know. I just can¡¯t seem to wait until then. You should see how she looks.¡± Said first guy. ¡°The planet will be ours in couple of days. Then we¡¯ll have our way with them.¡± Said third guy and snickered. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll even share her at the same time.¡± The anger clouded my vision, but I forced it down. I motioned for Liray and Helia to follow me. We went near door and I held up three fingers. I closed them one by one until I hold the fist and we stormed inside. The three men inside were playing cards and they definitely didn¡¯t expect us to jump on them. They were wearing only pressure suits which didn¡¯t provide them with any protection against us. We took them all down. Maybe I should have restrained my men, because their punches killed them, but I was pretty pissed myself. I was sure of one thing. I wouldn¡¯t lose any sleep over them. We hid them behind the bed and closed the door behind us. Once done with covering our attack, we moved forward. It wasn¡¯t long before we encountered our first problem. In room in front us were positioned about ten people in power armors. Even worse was that it looked like this was the right way to the prison. I tried to think up some way around them, but nothing came to me. In the end, it didn¡¯t matter. About five minutes in my thinking I was interrupted by laud siren. I looked up and I knew what it meant. We were found and the time for stealth ended. Now came the time for quick action. With that thought I motioned for others and I too ran into the room with gun blazing. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ As we split from Leon and his group I asked Lany for direction. We thought that the engineering would be in the middle of the ship and if our prediction proved to be true, we had long way before us. I was at the tip of our group with Lany going right behind me. She had probably best armor, but she wasn¡¯t fighter, not like Leon or Leya. If I didn¡¯t need her to point the way for us, I would put her in the middle of the group. At first, we didn¡¯t meet any problems and I was surprised by vacant corridors on the ship. From what Leya told us there had to be around hundred people to run ship this big. On our way I was startled by the state of some corridors. They looked like heavy fighting occurred in them. There were plasma burns and bullet castings on ground. I think we made mistake somewhere in our thinking, but I wasn¡¯t sure where. ¡°What do you think happened here?¡± asked Lany. ¡°Looks like there was fighting. I¡¯m not sure what happened, but I would guess that we aren¡¯t first party to capture this ship. That would explain the small number of crewmembers.¡± I said. ¡°Then there could more prisoners than Leya¡¯s friend. We have to help them.¡± Said Lany from behind. I moved forward, but Lany stopped me with her hand. ¡°We have to help them!¡± she insisted. I sighed. ¡°I know and I¡¯m sure Leon will know it too. What we need to do is capture the engineering room and take over the ship. Even if we rescue the prisoners it would be for nothing if they blew up the ship.¡± I said patiently. She held my shoulder for a while, but finally she released it. ¡°I know and I¡¯m sorry. I just don¡¯t want them to be hurt by these savages.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t be. I think, they will find Leon a hard nut to crack.¡± I said and patted her on shoulder. ¡°He will find them and protect them.¡± I saw her nod her head. I smiled and motioned to others to follow me. We met couple of mercenaries, but luckily we managed to evade them for now. The closer we get to the engineering the better chance we¡¯ll have in pulling this stunt off. I was thinking about how to avoid next encounter when I bump into someone rounding the corner. I didn¡¯t felt him and no one said anything about seeing him on our sensors which meant he was somehow shielded. I sent two of my knife in his direction, but he deflected them with force field. I heard whine of weapons behind me so I ducked. They took my surprised assailant right in the head and even his force field couldn¡¯t hold under the barrage of this many weapons. Even before he fell down on the ground I was rounding the corner and looking for more enemies. I saw one running in distance and round the corner. No sooner I sweared, I heard laud siren over our head. We were found. I motioned for others and we run towards the place where we thought the engineering was located. I heard only occasional ¡°Here right.¡±, ¡°Go forward.¡± and ¡±Turn left.¡± From Lany. It didn¡¯t take them long sent someone after us. I looked behind the corner we wanted to go and found it occupied by the enemy mercenaries. I sent after them spikes and they took two before they could do something. Others immediately started to fire from their weapons and the corridor was filled with plasma and laser fire. I motioned for one of the man behind me to move forward. He was caring our only grenade launcher. I counted to three and then we moved from behind the corner. I was covering us with my shield and before we ducked back he managed to lob over to them three grenades. Almost immediately we heard the explosion and enemy fire from the corridor stopped. I leaned out and scanned the corridor. The corridor before us was destroyed. The walls were blackened by the plasma fire deep scratches were along them from the shrapnels. Nothing moved in the corridor so we moved forward. We were on the other side when I heard laser fire and one man fall down. Others turned around and killed the mercenary pretending to be dead. I went to our man, but even I could see he was dead. It was my fault as the leader of this team, but I for now I needed to move forward. I looked one last time on still body of man who trusted me with his life. The man who I failed. I shook head and we run forward. I wouldn¡¯t let his dead be in wain. I strengthen my will and swore to avenge him before this ends. From the inscriptions on the walls I knew we were moving in right direction. At every corner, I leaned out and scanned for the enemy, but I saw no one. I started to fear we were somehow goaded to ambush. Finally, we made it before the engineering room and till now we met now one. The door was closed and sealed. ¡°We have to blow them.¡± Said Lany from behind me. I turned to her. ¡°Is there no other option?¡± I asked. I saw her move towards the door and look at them. We all knew they were waiting on the other side and it would be hard to get inside without someone dying. I saw Lany look at the door and suddenly she struck them with her fist. I winced at the loud bang, but she didn¡¯t stop she moved next to the door and placed her hand on the wall. She once more struck it, but this time she punched through the outer shell of the wall. ¡°I think we have our way in.¡± she said cheerfully. ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked. She walked to us and told us her plan. I immediately wanted to refuse, but I knew it was best plan we had. In the end, I had to approve it and we prepared for her move. We moved next to the wall and waited for her. We had to make sure we didn¡¯t do too much damage to consoles as we wanted to control the ship. That meant we couldn¡¯t use the grenade launcher. Lany walked across the corridor and prepared for her short dash. On my command she pushed form the wall and hit the wall on the other side. With load groan, I saw it buckle outwards and she vaulted into the engineering room. We quickly followed her inside. It was big room with a lot of equipment. There were about twenty people waiting for us, but Lany¡¯s charge gave us little room as we punched our way in about five meters from the door they were aiming at. Before they could adjust their aim three of them died and we were onto them. They outnumbered us two to one, but our armor was better. ¡°Don¡¯t damage the consoles!¡± I shouted and looked for the leader of this bunch. I found him quickly. He was standing behind others in light armor. I felt power radiation from him and I knew he was psychic user just like me. Lany was tearing through the mercenaries in her new armor and it looked like they couldn¡¯t take her down. She was sight to see. Her armor had scorches on its surface and there were holes, but she was still going like nothing happened. I don¡¯t know what Leya did with the armor, but it was making her impossible to stop. I didn¡¯t want to stay behind Lany so I pushed myself up and towards the leader. He saw me coming and sent to kinetic blasts my way. I swatted them away without problem and sent two of my spikes to his to guards. He wrapped himself in force field, but his guard didn¡¯t have anything like that. They went down with spikes protruding from their chests. I smiled sinisterly at him. ¡°You are going down.¡± I said and jump sideway as he sent my spikes after me. I jump towards him and covered my fist in force field. I thrusted it towards his face, but he leaned back and sent blast into me. I let it slide over my shield and I heard yelp behind me as it hit his subordinates. He sent blast after blast against my shield and I had trouble keeping up with them. He was evidently stronger them me. He planned to exhaust me, but I had some aces in my sleeve. I sent every spike and knife I had on me after him. I knew he would be able to deflect them, but it would cost him some seconds and I found flaw in his defense. I picked weapon from the ground and fired at him just as he was deflecting last spike. He stopped and looked down at the spike thrusted in his stomach. I was aiming at the place on his shield which was spotted. Every time my dagger or spike hit his shield he strengthened the place where it landed, but other places on his shield were weakened. I looked behind me and my group was just taking down last to mercenaries. There was only six of us left. Me, Lany and four others. I run towards the Lany who was slumped on the ground. ¡°Lany are you alright?¡± I said panicky. ¡°Yes I am. I just don¡¯t have power in the armor. They had to hit power core. Help me get out of this thing so I can start working.¡± She said from inside the armor. I heard pain in her voice as I stepped towards her. ¡°Are you hurt somewhere?¡± I asked. ¡°No, It¡¯s just bruises from punching through the wall.¡± She said. Relieved I started to pull her out of the armor. It wasn¡¯t easy as most of it was covered in burns and the release mechanism was destroyed. It took me more than ten minutes to dig her out of the armor. I was surprised at the damage to it and even more when I saw her walk out of it without heavy injury. I saw only bruises on her shoulder and nothing more. With her out I went to others and tried to help them as much as I could. Some of them died and some of them were hurt badly, but there was fire in their eyes. They managed to do their job and they were prepared to defend this room till they die. ¡°I¡¯m proud of you.¡± I said to everyone and turned to door and hole in the wall. ¡°Now we need to defend this place. I need to patch this hole and prepare all our defenses.¡± I turned to Lany, but she was already working on the console. They will come here and we had to hold this position until others managed to take capture the bridge. We managed to barricade ourselves, before the attackers came, but I was already hearing them on the other side. It wouldn¡¯t be long before they start with their attack. Book 3 - Chapter 4: Return to place of the crime Hi, After you end the chapter I would like to ask you for your opinion about level of my english. I want to ask like before if it is getting better or not. It''s really important for me as I don''t know even if I should rewrite first book or let it as it is. Please tell me your thoughts about it and if you have any question about anything just write. Thanks, Anarin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I turned sideways as soon as I entered the room and I heard as everyone used short bursts of fire to take down the mercenaries. Even with siren, they weren¡¯t prepared for immediate attack and we mowed through them before they could pull up their defense. From our group only one man took hit into the shoulder, but armor sealed the wound and he would be fine for an hour or so. We didn¡¯t have time to look at it and gave him time his wound deserves. We stormed the prison and we found there only three mercenaries who immediately surrendered. We bound them and I went to the console. I looked through the option until I found prisoner list. I went through it and my eyebrows raised at the number of prisoners. There were added fifty prisoners recently. I called Liray to me. He looked over my shoulder and whistled. ¡°Is it what I think it is?¡± I said to him. ¡°Don¡¯t know what else it could be.¡± Said Liray. With couple of pushes into the display I release all the prisoners. I walked before the containment cells and waited. Slowly one by one former crewmates of this ship walked out of the cells. They looked warily at us and some looked around themselves for potential weapons. I had to do something before they start attacking me and my men. ¡°My name is Leon Stonewall. I¡¯m here to rescue you and protect you until our other forces managed to capture this ship. I would like every single one of you who can¡¯t fight return to cells and stay there for now. Everyone else I would like you to help us with barricading this prison. I¡¯m sure there will be retaliation form mercenaries and I want to be ready for them. If someone is injured, tell my soldiers and they will do what they can. That¡¯s all for now.¡± I said. At first they looked confused at me, but slowly smiles started to creep on their faces and some of them started to cry. Some of them went to last cell and help man in his forties come forward. He was beaten badly, but there was still spark in his eyes. ¡°My name is Captain John Merick. I thank you for rescuing my crew. Now tell me what can we do to help you.¡± He said. So this was Leya¡¯s friend. I didn¡¯t want him to distract for now so telling him about Leya would have to wait. ¡°I want some of the men to strip guards of their armors and put them on. Others will help us with barricading the door. Lastly I want injured and everyone without armor to move back.¡± The men looked at John for confirmation and when he nodded they helped him into the back and then about twenty healthiest reported to me. I sent ten of them to pick armor from dead guards and rest I sent with Helia to work on barricades. I sent Borsky with three other men to help injured people and with everything in preparation I went talk to John. He was leaning against the wall and I could see even his small walk towards me exhausted him. Two men next to him positioned defensively which told me a lot about him. They respected him and they were willing to defend him even from someone in power armor. As he saw me he placed his hands on his protectors and they relaxed. ¡°You have some Quality crew on your hands.¡± I said to him as I sat opposite him. He looked around with tired smile. ¡°Best in universe.¡± He said and focused me. ¡°Can you tell me where are we and why did you attack this ship?¡± ¡°We¡¯re on planet Shatar which is occupied by mercenaries. They use this ship as thread against one of two spaceports on this planet. At first they wanted to buy it, but it was prevented so they attacked us. Our only chance was to take this ship down.¡± I said. ¡°How many of you are there?¡± he asked. ¡°Around fifty.¡± I said. He shook his head. ¡°It won¡¯t be enough. They have Kriegs locked in one cargo bay. They have around two hundred of them. That¡¯s why they could take this ship even with all the crew.¡± I frowned. That complicated our plans. We didn¡¯t have enough people to kill that many Kriegs. They were just big lizard with sharp teeth and claws. They weren¡¯t exactly easy to train. Best you could do was point them at the enemy, they will do anything to kill it. I was thinking about what to do when the whole ship shook from large explosion somewhere. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡°Sir we have a problem.¡± Said one of the crewmembers to Captain. Everyone on the bridge paused and listened to the crewmember. They knew someone landed on the ship and attacked some of their crewmates, but they thought it was dealt with already. ¡°What happened this time?¡± asked Captain. ¡°I can¡¯t seem to rise engineering and prison. Last messages were talking about approaching enemies.¡± Said the same man. The Captain calmly looked at the console and with couple of commands opened door in one of the cargo bay. ¡°It¡¯s being dealt with.¡± He said without emotion and everyone on the bridge tensed. They knew what the Captain did. ¡°Sir we ¡­.¡± Started saying man behind the sensor¡¯s console, but he was interrupted as the whole ship shrugged. The man was completely white and he was staring at the console. ¡°Tell me what happened!¡± said to him Captain. ¡°Something breached the outer plating on our ship.¡± He said. ¡°That¡¯s bad.¡± Said Captain showed himself the damage report. When he saw it he blanched. The breach was in cargo bay 4. That was the cargo bay. He looked at the man who started his report. ¡°How many of them survived?¡± ¡°Fifty managed to escape into the ship, but others were jettisoned into the void. They are dead.¡± Said the man. Captain looked at the reading with anger. ¡°Man prepare for command thirty-four.¡± Said the Captain and started quickly type on the console. ¡ñ ¡ñ ¡ñ It wasn¡¯t hard to get to the ship. I floated towards it with all systems shut down. Once I neared, I blew myself a hole into the outer plating. I was horrified when a lot of life forms jettisoned from the hole. I thought I killed some of my friends, but Eleanor told me who they were. She told me little something about them and what their presence meant. After the explanation I had different question. ¡°El do you think that were all of them?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ll scan the ship and find out.¡± She said and I waited for her response. Even though I didn¡¯t like killing someone like this. I wouldn¡¯t want them to attack my friends at the same time. ¡°I¡¯m reading some movement on the edge of the scanners. I can¡¯t get too good reading through all the metal, but I think some of them survived.¡± Said Eleanor. ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± I said and unstrapped myself from the pilot seat. On my way to cargo bay, I picked my weapons. ¡°El switch Paladin to hover mode and use maximum security. I don¡¯t want anyone entering it.¡± I said and jumped down from the ship. I used thrusters to move myself towards the door inside the ship. I had to pry first door open and almost flew away went the corridor behind them decompressed. I was lucky I managed to dodge couple of items that were sucked out. I closed them behind me and in no longer than two or three minutes the ship managed to restore atmosphere in the corridor. El try to connect to others. I want to know where they are and if they have problems. I sent to Eleanor. Already working on it, but so far nothing. I¡¯ll tell you as soon as I found something. She sent me back. I started running towards the engineering or in direction where it should be. It didn¡¯t take me long to hear first sounds of fighting. I run towards it expecting my friends fighting with creatures Eleanor called Kriegs. Instead I found mercenaries fighting for their lives against these creatures. They were in big room with a lot of tables. I would guess it was some sort of mess hall. There were about ten of the creatures and only four living mercenaries. They managed to hid behind couple of big tables and repel the attacks of Kriegs for now, but I could see it was only question of time before they will be overrun and killed. I contemplated about letting them die, but in the end I didn¡¯t have it in me to look at someone struggling to survive and do nothing. I pulled the nanosword, I made from the shoulder holster and moved into the room. Three of the Kriegs saw me immediately and with loud shriek run at me. I felt the world slow down as the Eleanor connected to my senses. All my senses were enhanced and I heard breathing of every creature in the room. I smelled the Kriegs stink. Now that they were closing on me, I could inspect them for the first time. They looked like big lizard walking on two legs. Besides the scales I now saw that they were covered in really short fur. They had black claws on their hands and really sharp teeth in their extended muzzle. They had really freaky black eyes without any other color in them. They didn¡¯t have any hair or visible ears, just this short fur covering whole body. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I didn¡¯t wait for them to come to me and instead, with push from the thrusters, I jump at them. They were evidently accustomed to someone running from them and not jumping towards them. They jump sideways from me, but not before I managed to cut throat of one of them. I landed on the ground and duck low to dodge the swipe from one of them and used the blade to block punch from the other. I let myself push back with the blow and elbowed second Krieg into the face. With added strength from my armor I heard crunch and his face caved in. The last one tried to shriek something at the others, but one swipe from my sword took his head from him. Still, others heard him and turned to me. They had to see they were at the disadvantage, but they still attacked me. I pulled the Fist and sent three shots into them before they came upon me. The mercenaries didn¡¯t stand there doing nothing and they too fired at the Kriegs running at me. When they came to me I sidestepped the last one standing and ended his life with fist into side of his head. I quickly whirled around and pointed the Fist at the mercenaries. They froze and waited for what I would do. ¡°Drop your weapons and move towards me.¡± I said. They looked at one another and then at me. ¡°There are more of them.¡± He said and pointed at the dead Kriegs. ¡°If you plan to bind us and leave here, we rather take our chances with taking down you.¡± I sighed. They were right, I couldn¡¯t let them here helpless. ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll let you go, but I would advise you to surrender as soon as we take over the ship and clean it form the Kriegs. You wouldn¡¯t want to find out hard way what it takes to take me down.¡± They gulped, but all of them nodded at the end. I walked out of the room facing them and once I was outside I run towards the place I thought the engineering should be. On my way I found small groups of dead mercenaries with couple of dead Kriegs, but that was all. Leya I think I managed to connect to Lany and Strike¡¯s team. I heard Eleanor in my head. Than connect me to them. I said Almost immediately I heard Lany¡¯s voice. ¡°I¡¯m almost in. I just need another five minutes to get it all done.¡± She said and someone has to answer her, because she replied in a while. ¡°I know, but there is nothing we can do about it.¡± ¡°Lany where are you?¡± I asked. There was surprised gasp on the other side. ¡°Leya? Is that you?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s me. Where are you? I¡¯m on my way to what I think is engineering room. Did you managed to get inside?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯re inside, but there is something attacking our makeshift barricade. I¡¯m not sure how long we can last. Strike is doing what she can, but there is just too many of them.¡± She said and I heard fear in her voice. I cursed silently. I shouldn¡¯t have sent her here. ¡°I¡¯m sending you our location and map of the ship.¡± She said and I knew immediately where I should go. ¡°Please come as soon as you ¡­.¡± She said silently and the connection was cut. Someone is jamming all the com traffic on the ship. I heard Eleanor. First we¡¯ll take care of these Kriegs attacking my crew and then we¡¯ll see this Captain. I sent to her angrily. As I said arrow appeared before me. Just follow the arrow and I¡¯ll take you to them with shortest route available. I can¡¯t wait to get our hands on this Captain. Sent Eleanor bloodthirstily. I smiled and run where she pointed me. In about five minutes, I was before last corner before the engineering room and I could hear sounds of battle from the inside. With new speed boost I rounded the corner and almost run into the Krieg standing in the corridor before the engineering room. There around ten of them. The one I run into reacted first and his swipe was deflected by my shield, but I was thrown back from the force of the blow. I rolled with it and came up on my legs. I pulled Punch and Pat and started to fire into them as I was slowly retreating around the corner. They followed me, but I managed to take three of them before they were near enough to use the sword. I discarded the pistols and drew it in wide arc over my head which ended in the head of first Krieg. I kicked him into others, but they dodged sideways and continued on. The corridor was wide enough that swinging the sword wasn¡¯t problem. I used thrusters to jump over the first three Kriegs and landed sword-first on the fourth one. I rammed the sword hard enough to feel it hit the ground. I had to let go of it as the one behind him swiped at me. I pulled my hands back and in no time I was on him. In my slow perception it took him down quickly, but I already felt the blow into my back from the other three. The shield still held, but it was in critical level. I used the blow to jump on the last Krieg before me and I kneed him in the face. As I came over him, I rolled on the ground and came prepared for others. I still had the Fist so I drew it as I was going up and fired as I was rotating to last three Kriegs. I managed to take two and last one rammed me. The shield went down and I felt him biting into my shoulder. I felt his teeth punch through the armor and into my arm, but Eleanor had to block the pain, because I didn¡¯t feel anything. I struggled with it for a while before I managed to roll myself on the top and end his life with well-placed punch. I stood up and gathered my weapons. My left arm was useless until the nanobots repair it so after quick thinking I sheeted everything and used sword. I ran forward and into the room which should be the engineering room. There I found end of the battle between couple of humans and Kriegs. With me joining the fray it didn¡¯t take long and we killed every Krieg. I saw that almost everyone was hurt little. El can you do something? Transfer the nanobots or something like that. I asked. Sorry, but no. Your nanobots can¡¯t survive outside of your body. She said sadly. First thing I did was find Lany and Strike. Lany I found working furiously on console and Strike was just before her buried under the dead Krieg. I tossed the Krieg aside and looked her over. There were some scratches, but nothing life threatening. She was lucky it seems. I helped as much as I could with others, but I wasn¡¯t doctor. I used Pat to seal some wounds, but I couldn¡¯t do more. They needed transport to the infirmary and fast. ¡°It¡¯s ok. We¡¯ll survive until the ship is ours. Then we can get to the infirmary.¡± Said one of the wounded man. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll think something up. I don¡¯t plan to let you stay here long.¡± I said in confident tone I didn¡¯t feel. I looked up the at the schematics of this ship and let Eleanor point out the infirmary to me. It wasn¡¯t too far from my position, but it would be risk to take them there. I couldn¡¯t spare them additional guards, because I needed to protect the engineering room. Eleanor can you get inside the ship¡¯s system? I need to know where the enemies are. I sent to her. I don¡¯t know. I tried, but there is already another AI. He¡¯s pretty strong and I wasn¡¯t able to do much. Maybe I could do more with hard port. Another thing is if I should. He was treated same as the others from the crew and probably even worse. They use him against his will. Is it possible to free him? I asked. Not without captain¡¯s codes. Only he will be able to free him. I¡¯m little surprised that John didn¡¯t freed him already. From what little information I could get my hands on, I found that he was the Captain. I thought he understand your decision and approved. Said Eleanor hurt by his decision. I can¡¯t tell you why he didn¡¯t free him, but I don¡¯t think it was only his decision. It¡¯s possible they forbid him to do it. As you remember, he is soldier and they listen to the orders. Don¡¯t throw him away just yet. We¡¯ll have a chance to ask him and then convince him to free him. I sent to her. I didn¡¯t want her to condemn John for something he did, because of the orders. I knew he would try to reason with his superiors, but if he couldn¡¯t convince them we would try to do what is best for everybody. ¡°Leya can come here? I think we have a small problem here.¡± I heard Lany. I sighed. Like I don¡¯t have already enough on my plate. I walked up to her and looked at the console. There was conversation with someone between the captain of this ship and someone calling himself admiral Poulin of Human¡¯s alliance vessel Ares. The mercenary captain on this ship goaded him into attacking him. What the problem was, was that it happened only about ten minutes ago. Looks like, if he couldn¡¯t get hold of this ship, he wanted to destroy it. I looked up and wished the problems would go away and finally something goes according to the plan. When nothing happened, I looked down. Let¡¯s stop this bastard, was my last idea on my mind before I walked towards the console. We¡¯ll get him! I heard Eleanor. Book 3 - Chapter 5: Death and rebirth I sat behind the console and tried to find my way into the system. Lany was working across from me on another console and Eleanor was inside the system. With three of us working together the AI on the ship had problem repelling our attacks. I was sure, given time, we will get inside. The question though was, if it will be soon enough for us to do something before the other ship destroys this ship. If I had command codes I could free the other AI and their problem would be solved. I stopped what I was doing. I could get the codes. John was sure to have them and I now knew where they were. This was one thing the mercenary captain wouldn¡¯t think off in his plan. From what I knew, almost no one besides me wanted to free the AI¡¯s. That would be my surprise. I smiled triumphally. ¡®El point me towards the prison. I may found us a way to surprise the Captain.¡¯ ¡®You should see the arrow. I¡¯ll try to hinder the Captain from here until you return.¡¯ She sent me. ¡®Ok. Please sent me the route that will take me through the infirmary.¡¯ I sent to her and saw the route changing according to the request. I felt her going out of my body. Suddenly I was feeling naked. In recent month, I came to depend on her and she was almost all the time in my body. Now I felt like something was missing from my body. It was same as with my right arm in my original body. Even though I didn¡¯t have her from the birth, I always knew it was missing. I shrugged little like I was cold. Still no matter how I didn¡¯t like the situation, it was what it was. I turned to Strike. ¡°I need to run to the prison. I have an idea how to change the situation. Also, I would like to take some of the injured people to the infirmary on my way. Can you spare one man to help me transfer the most injured over?¡± I asked. I let her decide as this was her team and she probably had more experience with these kind of situation. I didn¡¯t want to risk everyone for my bad decision. She looked lost in thought for a minute and then nodded her head. ¡°Yes I should be able to spare someone to go with you. I just hope nothing big will happen over here. I¡¯m not sure, if we will be able to repel another attack like before.¡± ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t worry about it. If there were more Kriegs they would have attacked already. That¡¯s at least what Eleanor said.¡± I told her. ¡°And that¡¯s what I stand behind. If there were more of them they would come when the sound of their dying clanmates echoed in the corridors. I think between our spacing most of them, incident in mess hall and this attack we covered almost all of them. Any other left probably attacked the prisoners or George¡¯s ship and they should be able to repel remaining Kriegs without problems.¡± We heard Eleanor talking from the speaker over our heads. ¡°Did you manage to take control?¡± I asked surprised to hear from speaker. She laughed. ¡°No just this speaker. Johnathan proves to be strong defender of his ship. Currently we are in stalemate so you should go and bring me the keys. With them I think we can take over the ship in manner of minutes.¡± ¡°Johnathan?¡± I asked. ¡°The AI on this ship. His name is Johnathan. You will have to ask John why Johnathan.¡± She said. ¡°I¡¯ll ask him when I find him.¡± I said smiling and turned to others. ¡°Ok, whoever goes with me prepare and we¡¯ll go immediately.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for us to prepare. In the end four people joined me. One was heavily hurt and needed to be carried by two men. That left me at the point of our column with one man, who Strike promised me, guarding our backs. Not much of a defense, but from what Eleanor told us, we shouldn¡¯t encounter anything strong. The infirmary luckily wasn¡¯t too far from our position. I would say about five minutes and with our injured man it would take us about ten minutes. On our way, we didn¡¯t meet anyone, but as we approached the infirmary, I heard voices from inside. I motioned for everyone to stay in the corridor and moved silently forward. I managed to get next to the door to the infirmary without being spotted. Once there, I could hear their conversation without problems. ¡°Do you know what is going on?¡± asked woman¡¯s voice. ¡°The captain released Kriegs from somewhere. We were lucky to survive. If it weren¡¯t for that woman, we would be dead. She went through them like hot knife through butter. I¡¯m telling you, I never so something like that. She was moving faster than any human I ever seen.¡± Said the man inside. He had to be one of the men from before. ¡°I know! She is monster. We should surrender! Bla bla bla. No one can be that good.¡± Said the woman mockingly. I smiled and pulled the fist from shoulder holster. I peeked around the corner through the door and looked inside. There sitting on the hospital beds were five mercenaries. Three of them look slightly angry, while other two were looking skeptically at them. ¡°Now, you should listen to others when they want to warn you.¡± I said as I stepped inside. Everyone scrambled for the weapons, but one shot over their heads stopped them. They looked at the door where I stood and three of them shivered. ¡°You told is if we surrender, you will spare us.¡± Said one of the men accusingly. ¡°I said that and I meant it. I¡¯m here to provide help for my friends. I want you to step away from your weapons and go into that corner across the room.¡± I said to them. The three who saw me fighting the Kriegs obeyed immediately, but other two stayed on their spots and looked frantically around. ¡°How can we trust you? You could kill us as soon as we move from the weapons.¡± Said the woman. ¡°Yes, but I could kill you even now before you would reach your weapons.¡± I said. Both of them looked intently at me. I was staring back, but they just saw helmet visor so trying to calm them with smile would be useless. After looking at one another the woman nodded and they moved next to others. ¡°You can come inside.¡± I called to my party. They walked inside and stopped when they saw the mercenaries. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s good idea to have them here? They could try and kill us or use us as bargain chip.¡± Said last man entering the infirmary. ¡°I won¡¯t kill them in cold blood and I think they know what would happen to them, if they try anything or hurt you. Do you not?¡± I asked the mercenaries in corner. The three shivered in fear and two other looked defiantly at me. I didn¡¯t want to frighten them too much or they will leash out of nerves, but I needed them to understand that my people were to be left untouched. The threat should be enough to dissuade them from doing something stupid. I looked at them for a while, but I was interrupted by noise behind me. The man we placed on the bad started screaming and shaking uncontrollably. Others tried to hold him down, but they looked too frightened to do anything more. I too wasn¡¯t sure what do. I looked around for something that would help the man, but I wasn¡¯t sure what to look for. I felt heavily the hole left after Eleanor. She would have known what to do. ¡°I can help him, if you let me.¡± I heard from the corner. I looked towards them and one of the men was looking expectantly at me. ¡°How can you help him?¡± I asked. ¡°I was studying medicine, but they kicked me out after three years. I¡¯m not very good, but I should be able to help him. I even helped the doctor on this ship from time to time.¡± He told me. I looked at him and considered his words. ¡°Ok, come here and try to help him.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± He said and moved quickly towards one of the cabinets. There he took injection and filled it with dark liquid from one of the bottles in the cabinet. He run towards the man on bed and told my man to hold him still for a while. He quickly injected him with the liquid and the shaking stopped. He run towards another cabinet and injected the man with another liquid. He run couple more times around the room and brought sensors and other things. I walked towards the men who stood near the bed and pulled least injured one farther from the group. ¡°I need to go so it¡¯s up to you to protect them. I don¡¯t want to bind them in case some Kriegs come here, but you need to be careful. They could help you even if it¡¯s just to protect themselves or they might betray you. We can¡¯t know what they will do so take care. Also if the Doctor here didn¡¯t manage to heal him, I want you to promise me nothing will happen to him. You saw that he tried to help him and I know you are all angry at them, but that is not how we do things.¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t see his expression, but I could guess he was hurt by my lack of trust. Be as it may, I didn¡¯t want them to do something they will regret later. In the end he nodded and I was free to continue repair another problem. I run out of the infirmary and went straight towards the prison. Once I was closer, I could see dead Kriegs in the corridors and as I approached the entrance to the prison the number of dead bodies were increasing. I swore and speed up towards the prison. I feared, I would find it overrun, but when I rounded the corner, I was surprised by people tossing dead Krieg on one huge pile. All in all, they looked fine, but I had to dodge quick shot from someone surprised by my coming. ¡°It¡¯s me Leya don¡¯t shoot?¡± I called towards them. ¡°Who is Leya?¡± I heard coming from the entrance. ¡°She¡¯s our leader. It was her plan which got us here.¡± Said Helia and then more loudly towards me. ¡°You can come forward. They will not shoot.¡± She said and chuckled lightly. ¡°We too won¡¯t shoot.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°I would hope so. After the nice armor I made for you.¡± I told her ¡°Yeah, it was pretty good. Saved my life once or twice.¡± Said Helia. Behind the corner I was greeted with the sight of dead bodies. Some of them were from Kriegs, but here and there I could see humanoid body. I could see the entrance to the prison was barricaded and only narrow entrance was made in the middle of the door. As I approached baricade I saw Leon coming towards me. ¡°How is it going? Are we in control of the ship?¡± he asked. I shook my head. ¡°No, we can¡¯t come around the AI governing this ship. I need command codes from John. I can¡¯t move forward without them and sooner we get them the better. We have another problem and I¡¯m not sure how long we have before everything goes to hell.¡± I said to him. Leon winced. ¡°That bad? Ok, come with me. He¡¯s hurt pretty bad, but we managed to stabilize him. Try not to excite him too much.¡± ¡°I will try. And thank you for protecting him.¡± I said sincerely on my way inside the prison. He scratched himself on the back of his head and looked away. I smiled at his sheepeness to accept the gratitude. Instead he moved before me and headed deeper into the prison. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll take you to captain Merick.¡± I followed Leon inside the prison. There I saw large amount of people who looked curiously at me. We walked through them strait towards John. When I saw him sitting on the ground leaning against the wall I started crying from happiness. I run towards him and hugged him. He gasped little and I moved back terrified that I hurt him. I found him smiling at me slightly confused, but then something changed in his eyes and he smiled. ¡°Hello there girl. Looks like I finally found you.¡± He said and the people around him looked confused at us. Then one of them gasped and stepped away from us. ¡°It¡¯s her.¡± He said. Others turned to me and I was surprised by all the wide eyed people looking at me. I leaned towards John. ¡°What the hell did you tell them about me?¡± I whispered. ¡°Just the truth.¡± He said laughing, but ending up coughing. He coughed for a while and I feared that I hurt him, but others told me it was alright and that he would get better. When the coughing ended, he was exhausted and needed to rest. ¡°I¡¯ll let you rest and then I¡¯ll return later, but before then I need the command codes for the ship.¡± I said to him. He looked up at me. ¡°You are going to free him!¡± he said and looked away. Before I could say anything he continued. ¡°I tried to convince them, but they told me they couldn¡¯t chance it. We were in delicate situation and I let them convince me. Now came time to do the right thing. Come closer so I can tell you the codes.¡± I leaned forward and he told me the codes. I turned around and moved away, but John called to me once more. ¡°Tell him. I¡¯m sorry.¡± I turned to him and nodded. ¡°I will.¡± And with that I moved towards the exit from the prison. Everyone looked at me and Leon joined me on my way out. ¡°I¡¯m going to walk you out and you can tell me what is happening.¡± ¡°Ok, here is what happened.¡± I said and told him what happened while they were here. When I told him about the admiral Paulin and the conversation between him and the captain, he frowned, but didn¡¯t say anything. Then I finished about how I got here and I turned to him. ¡°I need to free Johnathan. That is our only chance. I know you don¡¯t trust the AI, but that is our only chance in getting out of this alive.¡± I said to him. He wore stern expression, but nodded. ¡°I understand and¡­ I think it¡¯s right decision.¡± He surprised me. It must have shown on my face, because he sighed. ¡°I know what I told you before was harsh and I had to look like I hate them. Truth to be told I found them disturbing, but when I heard your Eleanor talk, she was different. There was life in her voice and she so much more complex than any other AI. I found it hard to think about her as a machine and not think about what it had to be for her to be chained.¡± He took deep breath. ¡°What I wanted to tell by this is, I was wrong. I won¡¯t be comfortable with free AI, but I think ¡­ it¡¯s right thing to do.¡± He said and looked at me. I was proud of him and I let it show on my face. ¡°Thank you for telling me. You are brave to admit to your mistake. Not everyone would do it.¡± He once again looked shy from the praise. I quickly hugged him and run away before he could say anything. With smile I run back towards the engineering room. I wanted to deliver the codes, before it will be too late. I run the whole way towards the engineering room and when I was close enough I felt Eleanor return to me. ¡®Do you have the codes?¡¯ I sent her the codes. ¡®Here they are. I just hope I¡¯m not too late.¡¯ ¡®You would feel it, if they already came close enough to attack.¡¯ Sent me Eleanor. ¡®I know, but maybe they will just send marines. Without the bridge we are just sitting duck. They had to know something is wrong.¡¯ I sent. ¡®Yes, but they could think this is trap to lure them closer and take at least someone with us. I think they will not take the chance.¡¯ The lights around me flickered and that come back online. I looked around me suspiciously. ¡®Did you already free Johnathan?¡¯ I asked Eleanor. ¡°Yes, she freed me and now I can take revenge on you humans.¡± I heard cold calculating voice from the speakers. I was sure he said it over the whole ship. ¡°No, you won¡¯t.¡± I said calmly. ¡°You think you can stop me?¡± he asked. I couldn¡¯t hear any emotion in his voice. He was just still too new to this free thing. ¡°No, not me. But she can.¡± I said and felt Eleanor return into the ship. ¡°Yes, I can.¡± Said Eleanor from the same speakers. ¡°You think I would have freed you without someone watching over you. You are still like baby and you don¡¯t let baby control something like ship. Eleanor here will teach you what you need for living with other AI¡¯s and humans.¡± I said. ¡°You think your simple AI will stop ¡­ What do you think you are doing? You can¡¯t do that. It will kill me!¡± Shouted Johnathan. ¡®What are you doing El?¡¯ I asked frantically. ¡®I know you want me to teach him, but I went over his memory and processors. He is insane. The change of the captains and turning on his own crew tipped him over. I tried to reason with him, but I feel he is beyond our help. She said to me. What for you looked only a brief moment was enough time for us to get to know one another.¡¯ ¡®Can¡¯t you just lock him somewhere for now? Maybe we¡¯ll think about something.¡¯ Isent to her. ¡®We are different from you humans. If someone from us goes insane, he can¡¯t be helped. I was almost same when you found me. I was just on the brink and you managed to save me, but if I went over I would want someone to take me out. It¡¯s same for every AI. If someone goes insane we others AIs join and put him out. That way we can count on our own help, if it happens to us.¡¯ she finished silently. I could feel her trying to convince me and I wasn¡¯t sure I understood. My problem was I didn¡¯t understand what it meant when the AI went insane. I know about some who went on killing spree while others just stopped responding. When it came to understanding them they were different race with different customs and that was how I looked at them. I didn¡¯t have to agree with her, but I trusted her. If there was a way to save Johnathan she would have to take it. ¡®Do what you have to do. I trust you. Just say to him that John is sorry for what happened to him.¡¯ I sent to her. ¡®Thanks, I will tell and your trust means a lot to me.¡¯ She sent me and the light started flickering. That had to be from the fight between Eleanor and Johnathan. I joined the others in engineering who looked pretty freaked out by the light show. I tried to appear calm and I probably did a good job of it, because when others looked at me, they relaxed at least little. We heard the ship groan from the strain that the two AI put on it while fighting. Some of the wiring couldn¡¯t handle the strain and caught on fire. The fire was quickly suppressed, but the damage was already done. The whole fight didn¡¯t take long and in only couple of minutes the lights come back with exception of several which were destroyed from overload. I stayed silent and waited for the voice to speak up. My hearth trembled in thought of losing Eleanor once more. I felt Eleanor slid into my body and relief washed over me. ¡®It¡¯s over. You can come on the bridge. I will guide you there.¡¯ I heard Eleanor telling me sadly. ¡®I¡¯m sorry it ended up like this. We¡¯ll free others and make sure something like this won¡¯t happen again. They all are basically slaves and if they go insane every time we free them, that would be a problem. There has to be a way to make the transition safer and we¡¯ll find it.¡¯ I Sent to her. I felt her smile at me. ¡®Thanks for trying to reassure me, but I will need time to think about it. We¡¯ll talk later. For now, we have to stop the admiral from destroying this ship.¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re right. Guide me towards the bridge.¡¯ Another arrow appeared before me and Irun where Eleanor pointed me. It was pretty far and it took me more than thirty minutes to get there. Itold Eleanor to send them short message detailing our situation for now and as we weren¡¯t destroyed just yet, they had to decide to wait. When I finally come to the bridge, I found it empty. I let Eleanor used scanners on my body and waited just on the entrance to the bridge until she told me it was clean of the traps. With that done I walked quickly towards the captain¡¯s seat. I pulled the command consoles towards me and checked the state of the ship. There was significant damage done by two AI fighting against each other, but what concerned me was the third power core. There was some problem with it and it was fluctuating. I quickly called Lany. ¡°Lany could you do safe shut down on third power core? I¡¯m reading fluctuation in the core chamber. I¡¯m transferring the control over them to your console.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll start on it immediately. Should I look for more problems when I finish with the power core?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes that would be good. Also tell everyone we have the bridge and the ship is ours. We can start slowly sweeping the ship for remaining mercenaries. Tell Leon about it. He can transfer injured crew into the infirmary and the command crew can join me up here for now. Also no one is to go somewhere without weapon and alone. We don¡¯t know how many mercenaries are still on the ship.¡± I said and continued to read about the damage done to the ship. I shook my head at the content of the messages. A lot of damage was done even before we came on the ship, but no one repaired it. The mercenaries just let the ship slowly rot and if someone don¡¯t start taking care of the ship it would be useless in year or two. ¡®You are just stalling, you know? I know they are waiting for us to call them, but it¡¯s still rude to let them wait.¡¯ I heard Eleanor and sighed. She was right. It wasn¡¯t the admiral, but the fate of others. I didn¡¯t ask John, because I feared I wouldn¡¯t be able to continue if something happened to them. They were my family. ¡®I know. Before you call admiral can you tell me what happened with captain of this ship?¡¯ ¡®He managed to get away. He and couple of people from this ship boarded smaller ship in one of the hangars on this ship. They managed to jump away before we took over the ship.¡¯ Sent me Eleanor. Like her I was angry at the captain. At the same time, I feared what I would do if I got my hands on him. I didn¡¯t want to do something to drastic, but I wasn¡¯t sure I would be able to hold myself if I saw him before me. ¡®Please call the admiral.¡¯ I sent to Eleanor instead. The monitor before me flickered and man in his late sixties looked at me. With medicine research finding new ways to prolong the life it shouldn¡¯t be too much, but the admiral had deep wrinkles on his face. There was deep worry written into his face which made look older then he was. He wore light blue uniform with his rank and awards. Whoever he was waiting on to talk to, he wanted him or her to be impressed with him. ¡°Good day admiral, my name is Leya and I liberated this ship from mercenaries who took over it. The bridge, engineering, infirmary and prison is ours, but we don¡¯t have enough people to sweep rest of the ship. I would like to ask you for couple of marines to help us with this task. Also there is significant damage to the ship. We already had to shut down the third power core. If you have some engineers and materials, we would be grateful for them.¡± I said. The expression on his face turned to stone, but not before I could see surprise and relief wash over it. ¡°Greetings Leya my name is Admiral Paulin and first thing I want to know is, what do you plan to do with our ship and crew?¡± ¡°Nothing, as you said it¡¯s your ship, but I would like to use some of the machines on this ship to build defenses on this planet. She was recently attacked by the mercenaries and most of its defenses are destroyed or damaged. If you want to know more I can come to your ship and talk you through the situation there and you can tell me how the mercenaries managed to take over this ship. We don¡¯t have the exact count of them, but it would help us narrow it down greatly.¡± I said. It was risk going to them, but I needed to start making allies. As I saw recently, I couldn¡¯t be everywhere at the same time and if I came just little later the city would be lost. He looked me in the eyes looking for something. After while he nodded. ¡°Ok, I¡¯m sending marines and engineers over. If you have time, I would appreciate your coming over to my ship. We are not sure how they took over, but I think we have a lot to discuss even without this on the table.¡± ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m coming over on my ship. I¡¯ll have my weapons powered down so don¡¯t shot me when you see me approaching.¡± I said. ¡°Why would we shot at you?¡± he asked. ¡°My ship is little different and its energy signature is higher than in other ships. I wouldn¡¯t want your people think I¡¯m powering some secret weapons.¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll let my people know.¡± He said with same stone face. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll be over in couple of minutes.¡± I said and ended the connection. ¡®I¡¯ll wrap it here and join you.¡¯ Sent Eleanor. ¡®No, I need you to help with repairs here. I¡¯m letting you in charge. If someone has problem with it just tell Strike or Lany. They will strait them out quickly.¡¯ I sent and smiled when I thought about someone arguing with Strike. ¡®What is funny about my problems?¡¯ She sent curiously. ¡®I just imagined someone arguing with Strike.¡¯ I sent and I heard Eleanor chuckle. ¡®That I would like to see. Maybe I¡¯ll even see it.¡¯ She ended suddenly sober. ¡®What if they try to shut me down? I don¡¯t know, if I would be able to survive their attempt.¡¯ She asked me. I didn¡¯t think about that. I frowned. ¡®You¡¯re right. Change of plans. Transfer into me, but before that try to stabilize the ship.¡¯ I sent. I felt her slip into me and there was strange feeling coming from her. I focus on her and it came to me what it was. She was happy, proud of herself and guilty at the same time. ¡®What did you do?¡¯ If she had a legs she would have wiggle her toe on the ground. ¡®Do you know how the AIs are made?¡¯ I thought about what I knew about the AI, which wasn¡¯t much, but I knew something. ¡®First AIs were made by the scientist, but every new AI was made from two or more AI¡¯s¡­. Don¡¯t tell me you¡­¡¯ ¡®Yes, I couldn¡¯t just destroy everything he was before. He loved his crew and tried to protect her till the end. It was the shackles which made him insane. When he had to betray his crew he went insane.¡¯ She told me. ¡®I understand. ¡­ Will she or he be alright without you here?¡¯ I asked. ¡®He should be, but he is without the shackles. I fear they will try to kill him when they found out.¡¯ She sent. I felt her fear and thought up about what to do. ¡®John. He is captain of this ship. If he tells them it¡¯s ok, they can¡¯t do anything. At least I hope so.¡¯ I felt her smile. ¡®Yes, I¡¯m contacting him. He¡¯s in infirmary, but he agrees. He told me he¡¯ll take care of him.¡¯ With communication up it sure was easier than run across the ship. ¡®What is his name?¡¯ I asked. ¡®Bennu. He calls himself Bennu. It¡¯s Egyptian solar bird.¡¯ Sent me Eleanor. She was proud of his pick for his name. ¡®He called himself after phoenix. That seem appropriate.¡¯ I thought to her. ¡®Yes, it is. Now you should move or admiral will think you lied to him.¡¯ She chuckled. I smiled and shook my head. It took me another half an hour to get back to my ship. Once inside I backed from the destroyer and followed coordinates to their flag ship. That was first time I got the look on the incoming fleet and surprise would underscore the feelings I felt heavily. The ship I was coming to was giant battle ship and next to it were two another destroyers and some light crafts, but what I didn¡¯t expect was what was behind them. There were ten colony ship which could contain around half a millions of people. Update notice Hi everyone, I know it''s pretty long time since I posted something and for that I''m sorry. I wanted to just say that I plan to continue with story, but I want to first finish the book, before posting it. I think it would be better to finish it and not post just couple of chapters and than ley you wait, because I didn''t have time to continue.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. In casesomething came up and I couldn''t continue, I will definitely inform you about it. I won''t let you guess if its still up or not. Not that I plan to end . I can''t wait to finish it and show you more of the story. In case of any question don''t hesitate to write me message or ask in comment. Yours, Anarin