Fire at Will: A Space Opera Adventure With LitRPG Elements

by Christian Kallias

  Boomer smiled. “You should have led with that. Count me in, I got this.”

  Kevin shook his head, amused.

  I can’t believe playing on his ego worked. I thought that was mostly a human thing.

  “I wouldn’t mind if the sidekick is a cat,” said Ziron. “When you tell the story, I mean. I don’t actually want to take his place nor would I have time to reprogram the machine for me anyway.”

  “Well, we’ll make sure you’re not forgotten in the tale,” said Kevin. “But let’s first survive it, shall we?”

  “Typical cat attitude, take the easy way out,” snorted Boomer.

  “Let’s not forget we’re alive thanks to him,” argued Kevin, “and you didn’t exactly fill us with confidence until Zee became part of the equation.”

  Boomer didn’t answer but Kevin knew his words had the desired impact.

  “Hyperspace exit imminent,” said Mira. “Exit in five. . .four. . .three. . .two. . .one.”

  The Osiris and Orus battlegroup exited hyperspace only a few thousand kilometers from the Kregan fleet. The pirate ship escorts were the first ones to come about and vector toward them.

  “Give them hell, Boomer.”

  Boomer barked as his neuronal implant activated as did the successfully transferred armor on Kevin. He morphed into a Beagle and the sensation was bizarre to say the least. He took three steps and stumbled on the ground.

  That’s not good!

  “Zee,” he said, “it’s not working.”

  “Give the system a moment to sync up, the armor’s AI needs to scan your brain activity and know how to sync efficiently with it.”

  Patience under pressure, not my forte.

  But sure enough, Kevin metaphorically picked himself up and could walk without a problem, it felt slightly weird during the first few steps, but the more he did it, the easier it got. Soon, he was running circles around the bridge. The feeling was exhilarating. The low vantage point made his speed all the more impressive and even addictive. He changed into a cheetah and took things to another level.

  The agility, speed, and power he now possessed was generating so much dopamine inside his human mind that he felt like he had taken the best drug in the world. Speaking of drugs.

  “Should you give me the stim cocktail now?” asked Kevin.

  “You don’t exactly seem to be needing it, but I guess better safe than sorry.”

  Kevin in cheetah form stopped by Ziron who injected the cocktail of drugs under his fur. Kevin had never used such substances before, except for energy drinks, so to say the experience was intense was an understatement.

  Was it because it was the first time? Or was it amplified because he was a big cat? He didn’t know, nor did he care. He had never felt so alert, agile, and strong in his entire life.

  With a single thought, he added armor to his feline body, and two auto-targeting turrets atop the shoulder armor pieces morphed into place.

  “Locked, loaded, and ready to be beamed onto the enemy ship.”

  Ziron nodded. “Good luck, Kevin.”

  Kevin roared before being teleported away from the bridge of the Osiris.

  Fire At Will was Boomer’s first thought. And his fleet simultaneously started firing at the enemy’s ship.

  The thoughts swirling inside Boomer’s mind were indescribable and nothing he had experienced in his life as a dog. He was plugged into a holographic theater, ships maneuvering and firing at him and his fleet.

  When the Osiris was hit and the ship trembled, Boomer felt slightly overwhelmed and questioned the utter madness of this plan. Fortunately, Mira was connected to his mind and was a prompt comfort when he needed it most.

  Take a deep breath, Boomer. You’re doing fine, she said.

  The mental thoughts would take a little longer to get used to. Boomer was accustomed to only having inner monologues of his own making, so hearing any other voice but his own, no matter how sweet it sounded, was strange and unnatural.

  But there was a certain exhilaration and tremendous sense of accomplishment attached to what he was doing. He was, after all, the first dog to ever command an entire space fleet. Even though he had no doubt no other dogs would ever believe him in the poop park, the feeling of pride was real to him and that’s all that mattered.

  I suggest you focus your attention on the pair of incoming ships and celebrate your victory once it actually becomes one, said Mira.

  Kevin had told him how disturbing it was sometimes that Mira could read emotions and thoughts, and Boomer just got his first taste of that. Then again, with Kevin aboard the enemy ship, he was glad to have someone there.

  Boomer looked at the pair of pirate ships coming for a new wave of attack and peered at them thinking, “boom.”

  Simultaneously, both the Osiris and the rest of the battlegroup in range opened fire with high-powered lasers and plasma disruptors, and the Osiris even launched a volley of torpedoes. The result was devastating, and the first ship exploded with such force that the resulting shockwave diminished the second pirate ship’s shields and the last torpedo sent it straight to hell.

  Wow—How cool was that? Dammit! Now I’m feeling like licking my balls again.

  The moment the pair of pirate ships exploded, the other pirate ships took a more defensive stance, keeping their distance by retreating outside of the fleet’s firing range. Now that they were out of range, most of their firing salvos missed Boomer’s ships.

  “Ah! Ah! They’re shitting their tails!” exclaimed Boomer.

  But then a couple of minutes later, the Kregan destroyer changed vector and headed toward the fleet. It opened fire on the weakest of the old generation destroyers and it didn’t take very long to bring the first Arcadian battleship down.

  “Oh crap, I may have spoken too soon.”

  Xonax’s personal holo-screen burst to life and filled with the angry face of Captain Altanor.

  “You said there would not be a fleet coming here! This is not what we agreed upon!”

  “That’s unfortunate I agree, but my ship is more than capable of providing yours with cover. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m already down two ships. So you’d better.”

  “Do not mistake our alliance as one that resembles friendship. You knew there would be risks involved, I suggest you learn to deal with it. Fast.”

  “You better compensate us for our losses.”

  Right then and there Xonax questioned his wisdom in involving bands of pirates in the first place. They were volatile, and by definition, untrustworthy. But they were also mercenaries and so as long as they got paid, they would do their job. Something he couldn’t count on from other more civilized races.

  “I’ll replace your puny ships, now stop wasting my time and make sure to keep the enemy fleet occupied.”

  Altanor growled and spat toward his holo-camera before the image turned off.

  “Up yours, too,” said Xonax as he returned his attention to the holographic war theater.

  Sure, the arrival of a full-fledged fleet was not something he had anticipated, but even though the larger ships were numerous, their energy signature and shield’s power seemed weak compared to the Osiris.

  Additional scans also confirmed that there were no life-signs on board the extra ships, which brought a satisfied smile to Xonax’s face.

  They looked like relics from a time long gone. And Xonax had every intention to make sure to send them where they belonged, back to the dust of time.

  He opened a comm’s to the ship’s bridge.

  “Commander, target the fleet ships in the order I’m sending you. Focus fire on one ship at a time until they’re all but gone. Do not engage them individually. But make sure the Osiris’ shield never goes under fifty percent.”

  “But, Master—”

  “Do not think, do not argue, just execute my orders. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Like crystal.”

  The Kregan flagship adjusted its vector and started mowing down th
e old battleships.

  23

  Kevin was running along the corridors of the ship toward the cells. He had a holographic map overlaid in front of his vision inside his neuronal HUD. When red dots started flashing on the map, he knew he was about to encounter resistance.

  Three Kregan warriors darted at him, and Kevin knew the time had come to see what a big cat with pulse cannons could do. The auto-targeting turrets mowed down two of the Kregan warriors before they even could aim at him.

  The last one took his first shot at Kevin and it was a direct hit, but his personal shielding deflected the blast. The surprise on the Kregan’s face was all the distraction Kevin needed to make his move. He leapt forward, pushing on his back legs and literally flew in the air as he smashed the weapon out of the Kregan’s hands, leaving satisfying trails of cut skin in his wake.

  What happened next was pure instinct, and Kevin didn’t think about it, he mostly witnessed it. His only thought was to finish off the enemy, which triggered the instinct in his borrowed big cat’s motor system.

  The result was devastating, and before Kevin realized it, his cheetah’s fangs planted themselves into the Kregan’s neck, and Kevin saw surprise, despair, and terror in his eyes. The kill flooded his body with dopamine.

  When the next wave engaged him, Kevin felt like amping his stature. While the agility and speed of the cheetah was intoxicating, he wanted to experience a rawer form of power, so he morphed into a massive white tiger and charged the next three enemies, who were a couple of corridors ahead.

  What he had lost in speed, he made up for in pure strength, as he literally rammed the first Kregan warrior into the wall with such force that it catapulted the others nearby to the ground. As he impacted his head with the Kregan’s torso, he heard the warrior’s spine crack.

  The second warrior managed to grab his gun and aim it at Kevin’s head. He had to act fast, and that’s when Kevin thought how cool it would be if his tail was similar to a morning star. With that single thought, he swung it toward the Kregan warrior and his mental image took form while the move was happening.

  It resulted in the Kregan warrior being smashed against the wall, painting it in purple blood. Meanwhile, the auto-targeting pulse cannon put more holes in the last assailant than there were holes in a colander.

  When his holo-map showed an entire platoon heading his way, it was time to change tactics. Kevin couldn’t afford to waste too much of his armor’s power, and there was no way he would repeat the mistake he made on Omicron. No matter how good it felt to take down enemies in big cat form.

  Kevin morphed back into his Beagle resting form and hid under one of the dead warrior’s carcasses and thought about projecting an image of himself to the other side of the corridor. The multiple warriors avoided stepping on the downed bodies, and when they saw Kevin’s hologram, they opened fire. Kevin made the hologram run away and the warriors went in pursuit.

  Once they were far enough, he retook the cheetah form and ran toward the cells as fast as possible.

  Boomer cringed as the third of the Arcadian battleships burst into flames. It didn’t explode on the spot and when he thought it would be cool if he could do some serious damage to the pirate fleet if he could have the ship explode in the vicinity of a tightly packed trio of enemy ships. He watched in awe as the ship, still engulfed in fire, micro-jumped right smack in the middle of the enemy.

  Next the engines overloaded and took out all three smaller pirate ships, sending them straight to hell.

  “Wow!” he exclaimed with three upbeat barks.

  That was a very good move, congratulated Mira.

  “Thank you, girl.”

  Girl?

  “Well, you’re female aren’t you?”

  I guess you could say that. I never really thought about it much.

  The last half-dozen pirate ships backed off even more from the bulk of the battle, but there was something nagging at the back of Boomer’s mind. The Kregan flagship clearly had the power to take on the Osiris, but every time their ship’s shield would approach midpoint, the Kregan dreadnought would just change targets.

  I agree, Boomer. This makes no sense. Unless—

  “Unless what?”

  Unless they don’t want to destroy us.

  “Duh, but why?”

  To use a human expression, this is the million-dollar question.

  Boomer didn’t like it. But right now he had to keep buying time for Kevin. He needed to know for sure, so he had the remaining five Arcadian battleships move out of firing range and he brought the Osiris on an attack vector.

  “Are you nuts?” protested Ziron. “We can’t possibly take on that ship, and neither would we want to, Kevin is still onboard.”

  “Relax, Zee, I’m just testing a theory, I can micro-jump out of there at any time.”

  “I don’t exactly like it when Kevin calls me Zee, but I like it even less when you do.”

  Boomer barked and smiled, his tongue bouncing up and down. “Good. You’ll get over it.”

  The Osiris approached the Kregan dreadnought and it sprayed lasers from every turret. It only made small dents in the enemy shields, and the Kregans retaliated in kind, but as expected, stopped when the Arcadian ship’s shields dropped below fifty percent.

  “We’re missing something here, but what could it be?”

  “Okay, you had your fun, now back off, what if they blow us up with a volley of torpedoes at close range?” said Ziron, with no small amount of fear making his voice tremble.

  Boomer was certain this would not happen, but perhaps their holding off was a tactic to have them feel like they could do anything and not fear being destroyed. So just to be on the safe side, the Osiris veered away and kept just inside the firing range as it went to hunt for easier targets. One of the pirate ships was just within the limit of weapon’s range and their shields were fluctuating.

  “Buh-bye!”

  Three quantum torpedoes blew it into a million pieces.

  Kevin arrived on level thirteen of the Kregan ship after a couple more skirmishes with enemy forces, during which he used both a black panther form as well as a jaguar. The tactics in bringing them down differed slightly with each form, but at the end of the day, in terms of finishing off enemies, the only variations he got was from changing the weapon he attached in place of a tail.

  He had tried a few flexible blades, titanium tails, but his favorite by far had been the lightsaber tail, which sliced through enemies like a hot knife through butter.

  But in the euphoria of using that one he had forgotten that this specific mode was giving the expression double-edged sword its full meaning, as he burned himself slightly during a miscalculated attack.

  That had been it for using the weapon, the target here was saving Princess Kalliopy, in the hope she was still alive, and not about him having loads of fun. Sure, it didn’t hurt to get the best of both worlds, but he reminded himself of what happened the last time he let his enthusiasm for the thrill take over both his main objective and his battle focus.

  His armor’s power cell still had about half its juice. The ship rocked slightly from the battle outside.

  “Everything okay there, Boomer?”

  “Yes, we just tested a theory, I’m backing off and pursuing the smaller ships now.”

  “What’s our status?”

  “We’ve lost three ships. I’ve taken the rest mostly out of the fight for now.”

  “Is that wise?”

  “Somehow it seems the Kregan are going out of their way not to destroy the Osiris.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “Tell me about it. How are things on your end?”

  “I’ll be at the holding cells in a minute. Have Ziron get ready to beam us out the moment I give you the word.”

  “Sure thing—be careful.”

  “You too.”

  Kevin morphed back from a snow leopard to a cheetah for maximum speed. He was near the end of his rescue journey, and he coul
d feel it in every one of his bones, even though they technically weren’t really his.

  24

  Kevin literally dispatched the first three guards at the entrance of the cell area with perfectly lined up headshots from his turrets. The Kregan warriors were dead way before their bodies hit the floor.

  That’s when a scent he instantly recognized tingled his cheetah’s olfactory senses.

  I would recognize that smell anywhere, the damn thing cost me my first kiss.

  In a matter of seconds, Kevin had reached the farthest hall. He stopped running just before carefully looking around the cover to see what awaited him on the perpendicular junction. There were only two guards guarding Kalliopy’s cell. Just before he decided to charge and kill them both, he stopped himself.

  His instinct told him that was the wrong move. But why? Thinking things through for a few seconds, he realized that he might need the help of the guard to actually open the cell. Sure, he could just elect to blow the door off, but that had risk implications for whoever was inside the cell.

  And he was certain it was Kalliopy. The scent he had detected earlier was stronger than ever now.

  Hang on tight, Princess, I’m coming.

  For some reason, his mind wandered as he still observed the guards from afar. He imagined what nickname he would have after he brought the princess back to her people and in stories and songs that would be written about his exploits.

  Kevin, the Lone Wolf.

  And just like that he changed into a beautiful wolf without realizing it until he saw his vantage point and vision adjust slightly to his new morphology. He was tempted to change into a Xenomorph like Boomer had, but just seeing the beast had scared the crap out of him. The thought of becoming the beast was too overwhelming.

  Plus, the nickname Kevin the Xenomorph had no appeal to him whatsoever. When one of the guards looked his way, he knew it was time to move. When that same guard saw him hurtling toward their position, he aimed his rifle and opened fire. That’s when Kevin thought about how cool it would be if he was not only a wolf but an iron wolf, and his body was instantly covered with highly polished metal that deflected the energy blasts onto the walls and the ceiling.