Fire at Will: A Space Opera Adventure With LitRPG Elements

by Christian Kallias

  “ETA?”

  “An hour, give or take.”

  “You’ve got ten minutes.”

  “What? I need an hour.”

  “You’re a crappy Scotty, you know that?”

  “I’m not sure I under—”

  “Forget it, Zee, do your best.”

  “I always do. What about engineering?”

  “We’re here. Nothing looks damaged, but I don’t exactly know what to do past this point.”

  “I told you we shouldn’t have split up. This place gives me the creeps, and you don’t have your armor, so be careful. And for full disclosure’s sake, I might not be able to repair the one you had on Omicron.”

  “Now you tell me! Why can’t you just give me another one?”

  “I only had two prototypes, and Boomer’s is the older version of the two. So right now he’s the only one who can defend us should we need it.”

  “I don’t like it. Any idea where the armory is on this ship? Might as well equip us with some Arcadian badass weaponry at least.”

  “Give me a second.”

  Ziron entered a few commands on the old touch controls. He wasn’t used to non-holographic interfaces.

  “What’s that pulsating blue line on the ground?” asked Kevin.

  “You follow it, genius,” said Boomer over the line.

  “Hey,” Kevin complained, “I haven’t slept in more than a day. And when one licks one’s balls, one should be careful about criticizing others.”

  “That’s your defense? We both know you’d love to have that ability.”

  “Let’s not do this right now, okay?”

  “Uh—guys?” interrupted Ziron.

  “Sorry—all good.” said Kevin. “Over and out.”

  Now back to the engines, thought Ziron.

  It took the Sphynx a little over twenty minutes to get both life support and the engines back online to acceptable and stable levels. All that remained was the computer core. But he felt a strong hand grab him by the back of the neck and pull him off the console where he was crouched, working the controls.

  “What the hell! Lacuna! Help!”

  But when he turned around, he saw it was Lacuna who had grabbed him.

  “Thanks, kitty-cat, time for you to take a nap now.”

  Ziron hissed and struggled, trying in vain to scratch Lacuna before she swiftly waved a hand in front of his nose and a small pink vapor cloud put him to sleep. She then let an unconscious Ziron fall to the floor.

  “Just count yourself lucky that I may still need your help later, or I would have spaced your furry ass on the spot. Now, let’s see how I can get rid of the other two and claim that fleet as mine. These two bozos seriously damaged my position on Omicron, so it’s time to travel the stars in style while looking for better riches elsewhere.”

  She looked over the controls for a few moments when her face lit up.

  “That looks promising,” she said as she pressed a red button.

  20

  Kevin looked at his reflection in full Arcadian marine armor before putting the helmet on. He then pressed a button on the chest portion and it tightened around his smaller-than-most-marines figure.

  “Wicked! I feel like the master chief,” he cheered.

  “Yeah, if the master chief was one hundred plus pounds lighter.”

  “Hey! That’s not my fault.”

  Kevin checked his weapons next. A handheld gun with two settings. Red and blue. He set it on blue. He then grabbed the blaster rifle and raised it behind his back. The rifle magnetically attached to the armor with a satisfying clang.

  “Riiiight,” said Boomer, “after all you’ve been banned from the gym on account of finishing more video games than most people alive by the time you were fifteen.”

  “Touché. But isn’t that the reason I was chosen to save the universe?” Kevin said through his helmet’s visor, trying to do his best marine impression.

  “Or just being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “I prefer to think the right place at the right time myself, but I guess that depends on how you look at it. You know, glass half full kind of way.”

  The lights in the room turned red and started pulsating.

  “Don’t take it personally, buddy, but I’m gonna stay with my initial assessment,” said Boomer. “Wrong place all the way!”

  They both stepped out of the armory and back into the corridor, where a vocal alarm resounded.

  “Intruder alert, intruder alert, all security drones to level fourteen.”

  Boomer barked sharply three times.

  “When you’re right, you’re right,” conceded Kevin.

  Kevin opened a comm channel. “Zee, come in? What the heck is going on?”

  There was no answer.

  “Ziron? Please, come in?”

  “That lying two-faced—” said Boomer.

  “We don’t know what happened yet.”

  “Yeah, but we have an inkling about what could have happened. Don’t tell me the thought didn’t cross your mind?”

  “Well, let’s go back to the brid—”

  Kevin jumped and grabbed Boomer just before three blaster bolts were about to hit them. He used his momentum and rolled into firing position, grabbed his rifle and opened fire. He shot three flying spherical sentries dead center. They blew up in quick succession.

  “What were you were saying about me playing too much X-box?”

  “I take it all back, thanks.”

  “Anytime. Let’s get out of here before more of those things arrive. Can you—”

  But before Kevin could finish his sentence, Boomer already morphed into a large armored white tiger and let out a roar as he made a head move pointing toward the saddle mounted on his back as he unleashed an impressive roar.

  “You read my mind, Boomer.”

  Kevin climbed on the mount and Boomer sprinted forward.

  Four sentries appeared at the end of the corridor and opened fire. Kevin aimed and shot one of them. Upon exploding, it threw the one standing by it against the wall, sparking and falling to the ground.

  Two articulated cannons on both sides of Boomer’s tiger-armored shoulder plates came to life and reduced the rest to dust.

  “Nice!”

  “Well, I learned a thing or two watching you play.”

  “Evidently.”

  “Ziron?” Kevin keyed over the comms. “Come on, Zee, answer me.”

  But no answer came. Instead a panicked Lacuna came on the line. “I don’t know what happened, these things started showing up, I managed to seal us on the bridge, but they injured Ziron before I could do anything. Please help!”

  Boomer shook his head from side to side with a growl.

  Yeah, I’m pretty much with you, Boomer, but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt.

  “Can you disable these sentries that are after us?”

  “I’ve been trying, but that tech is too complicated. I don’t know how to operate it. I think I’ve managed to plot a safe route for you to get back to the bridge, though.”

  Boomer roared louder.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing, Lacuna. Can you activate the guiding system, like Ziron had done before?”

  “I think so—hang on.”

  A blue line appeared along the corridor.

  “Thanks, we’ll be back to the bridge in no time, hang tight.”

  “Hurry, Kevin. I’m scared.”

  Kevin grimaced and killed the comms.

  “It’s a trap!” roared Boomer.

  “I know…But knowing it is may give us an edge.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing. She could have killed Ziron already.”

  “Let’s hope not.”

  “And if she has?”

  “Then I guess I’ll do my first spacing.”

  Boomer bellowed. “As long as we’re on the same page. I haven’t eaten in a while. Just saying.”

  Kevin didn’t enjoy the mental image
of Boomer, in this form, eating Lacuna, but he enjoyed the image of a dead Ziron even less. Kevin’s expression turned icy.

  “That’s an option, too.”

  Kevin and Boomer blasted through another couple of dozens sentries on their way to the bridge. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the path that Lacuna fed them was overly complicated and much longer than it should have been.

  As a matter of fact, Kevin didn’t think they were anywhere near the bridge. But part of him hoped, deep down, that she wasn’t a bad person and that perhaps there was an explanation for her actions. But he couldn’t ignore his instincts, which were firmly aligned with Boomer’s on this, so he mentally prepared himself for the worst.

  Boomer ran through the opened blast doors, which promptly closed a second later. At that moment, Kevin knew that they were about to see what kind of trap awaited them. Boomer stopped running. The walkway that would connect them from their current position to the next set of blast doors on the other side of the room actually was disabled and they were looking at a chasm.

  “That’s our trap, alright,” said Boomer. “And here she comes.”

  The opposite blast door opened and Lacuna ran through, shooting at the corridor behind them.

  “Don’t trust her set-up,” implored Boomer.

  “I won’t.”

  Lacuna ran to the walkway controls, the same ones were on both sides of the chasm, except the one on their side had been damaged.

  How convenient.

  “There you are,” exclaimed Lacuna. “I came as soon as I realized that the walkway controls on your side were disabled,” she shouted over the distance. “Give me a second.”

  She interacted with her console and a blue force field walkway came to life between them.

  Boomer turned his tiger head and whispered. “We’re not falling for this, right?”

  “How is your smart armor, energy-wise?”

  “Still some juice left, but I wouldn’t try pulling out a dragon.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

  “Alright.”

  “What are you waiting for?” insisted Lacuna. “There are more sentries on their way!” shouted Lacuna.

  “Let’s go,” said Kevin. “Just be ready.”

  “I was born ready,” said Boomer with a low growl.

  Boomer ran toward Lacuna as Kevin observed her reaction, hoping there was still a spark of goodness in the young girl and that she would not try to double cross them. When Kevin felt gravity take hold, all he saw was wickedness inside Lacuna’s eyes and she mouthed the word “sorry.”

  The energy bridge collapsed, and they were plunging to their deaths. That’s when Boomer turned into a winged version of the Xenomorph, and flew back up rapidly as Kevin mounted the saddle. He grabbed his side arm and checked that it was still on blue. As Boomer rose to platform level, Kevin aimed at Lacuna. He fired and shot her in the leg. She lost her footing and fell on her ass.

  Boomer landed them nearby. The moment Kevin slid off Boomer, his friend, in Xenomorph form, approached Lacuna, who was immobilized. He bared his metallic looking teeth with semi-transparent viscous drool sliding down onto the floor. As he opened his mouth wider, a second smaller head shot twice toward the girl, stopping just a centimeter away from her forehead.

  Kevin could see terror in her eyes. Apparently, she had never seen a creature as vile as this one. Kevin remembered how scared he was just looking at it on TV, so he could only imagine how scared she felt right about now.

  “Easy, Boomer.”

  “We both know she doesn’t deserve to breathe.”

  “I—I’m sorry,” pleaded Lacuna. “I don’t think I entered the right command—”

  “Don’t waste your breath,” cut in Kevin.

  “Nor insult our intelligence,” added Boomer.

  “W—What are you going to do to me?” Lacuna asked.

  “There never was a relic? Was there?” asked Kevin.

  Lacuna looked away.

  “Answer me! Or I let Boomer eat you.”

  “You wouldn’t dare?”

  If there was ever a time for Kevin to practice a poker face this was it. He hardened every one of his facial muscles and gave Lacuna a stare to remember.

  “Try me.”

  Boomer approached her slowly and she threw her hands in front of her defensively. “Ok, ok. No, there was no relic. I wanted this fleet for myself. But there are plenty of them out there, perhaps we can share? I just need one of them. After all, without me you wouldn’t even know they existed.”

  “You’re unbelievable!” screamed Kevin. “You were willing to kill us to get them, and now you’re still trying to negotiate?”

  “Fair point—Sorry?”

  “Can I eat her now?” asked Boomer impatiently.

  “No, no, no,” she pleaded. “I can be of use to you, I promise. And after all, I haven’t given you the coordinates to the princess yet.”

  That much was true.

  “Where is it?” roared Boomer.

  “Come on now, if I tell you, you have no reason to keep me alive.”

  “At this point,” said Kevin, “does it really matter? Perhaps some actions are too heinous to forgive. Perhaps you need to learn responsibility the hard way, even if it’s the last thing you do.”

  “Just say the word, Kevin,” said Boomer with agitation.

  “Wait, wait. Ok, here,” said Lacuna, her voice trembling.

  She reached into her pants pocket and took out a small data crystal and handed it to Kevin.

  “This contains the last location the spy relayed to Jared and the ships’ energy signatures so you can track their current vector. I thought it better to not let the spy know of the change in ownership just yet, you know, loyalties and such. There’s also some valuable information about the Kregan destroyer on the crystal. It’s a one-of-a-kind ship, really, not at all the same as their other craft. The extra blueprints of the ship should provide you with a tactical advantage.”

  Kevin took his helmet off, threw it to the side, and grabbed the crystal, securing it in his own pant’s pocket.

  “Can I eat her now?” asked Boomer.

  “Wait, what?” exclaimed Lacuna. “I just gave you what you wanted. Have mercy!”

  “Like the mercy you’ve shown us and Ziron,” said Kevin.

  “Your cat friend is still alive. I just put him into a gentle sleep. Alright, he might wake up with a bit of a headache but that’s just an unfortunate side effect from the sleeping drug.”

  “We can’t trust you, and we can’t take you along, you may try to sabotage or kill us again. Letting Boomer eat you seems like the safest course of action.”

  Some sensations must have come back to Lacuna’s leg as she tried, painfully, to get back on her feet.

  “I’m glad you had that set on stun,” she said once she was standing up.

  “I’m not,” countered Boomer.

  Ziron’s voice boomed through invisible speakers. “Just kill her, she’s too much of a risk!”

  “Good to hear your voice, Zee,” said Kevin. “I—I don’t know, perhaps we should just give her a ship and let her go.”

  “Yes, that’s a great idea—”

  “Shut up!” roared Boomer.

  Lacuna froze.

  “Look, Kevin,” argued Ziron over the ship’s sound system. “If you’re not going to step up and do what needs to be done, then I sure will.”

  “What? Wait!”

  But Ziron didn’t. Two trap doors opened in the ceiling and two laser cannons lowered and acquired Lacuna with laser precision. Whatever fear Kevin saw in her eyes earlier had now grown tenfold. She had the look of someone who knew she was about to die.

  “No! Don’t shoot, Zee,” implored Kevin.

  “Sorry—”

  Kevin reacted instinctively and jumped forward, hands first. Boomer, who must have predicted his action, darted forward too when the laser cannons opened fire. Kevin grabbed Lacuna in midair, pushing her o
ut of the way, not even realizing that his head was somewhat being cushioned by her chest. Two powerful blasts left the cannons and one streaked past his head, burning the top of his shoulder, while the second blast was deflected by Boomer’s shield as he jumped to cover Kevin.

  Before he was about to crush both Kevin and Lacuna, he gave one strong flap of his wings and landed to the side.

  “Are you fucking insane, Ziron!?” complained Boomer. “You’d better have died of a heart attack or I’ll eat you myself!”

  But there were no answers. Not with words anyway. All they heard was a scared mewing sound.

  Kevin felt a strong pain in his shoulder where the laser had burned through his flesh and had fused part of his synthetic shirt with it, right between the reinforced plating neck and shoulder pieces. He got up, nonetheless, and grabbed his gun from the floor.

  “Thank you—”

  But Kevin didn’t wait for Lacuna to say anything else, and he shot her in the chest twice. She lost consciousness on the spot.

  “Let’s drag her sorry ass back to the bridge.”

  21

  Kevin didn’t see Ziron as he entered the bridge. Boomer, now back in tiger form, followed him in with Lacuna on his back, still unconscious.

  “Hey, Zee, where are you?”

  “I’m sorry,” said a tiny muffled voice behind a console.

  “You don’t have to hide, we forgive you.”

  Ziron’s head timidly peaked out from cover but retracted immediately when Boomer roared loudly.

  “Boomer!” shouted Kevin.

  “I’m so sorry,” implored Ziron. “I never wanted to shoot you!”

  “I know,” said Kevin. “It’s okay, it’s just a flesh wound. We need to get this fleet up and running.”

  “I’ve actually made some good progress on that,” said Ziron, his voice still shaky.

  Kevin gave Boomer a meaningful look. “Just come out from there, we’re not going to hurt you.”

  Ziron stepped out.

  Kevin grabbed the crystal and threw it to Ziron who caught it. “That contains all we need to get to Kalliopy. How soon can we be on our way?”