by Drew Cordell
“What now?” Brandon asked.
“Gwen, you know Dalthaxian military better than the rest of us, is there any obvious solution?” I asked.
Dalthaxian military forces—other players and not just NPCs—would be swarming the station soon. There was no way Gwen’s light freighter was going to get past the blockade wrapping around to strangle the station, and if the bounty hunter chasing us earlier decided to get in on the action, he knew exactly where to find us if we decided to try to wait this out on Gwen’s ship.
Gwen answered, her voice slightly muffled by the EVA helmet. “I don’t know. But we can’t let Dalthaxia get this fragment, and it’s obvious they aren’t interested in buying it from us. I was deployed from Anchorhead when it was in the battle in Treshvyn orbit. It’s worth billions of credits, and this map fragment is apparently worth enough to warrant them pulling it away from New Dalthaxia along with all its crew.”
“Can’t you just log out, Gwen? Wait for this to blow over?” I asked, the sheer simplicity of the idea hitting me like an ingot of titanium.
She shook her head, starting off toward the direction of the elevators that would take us to other levels of the station which now felt a lot smaller than it had before the start of the invasion. “Eternity Online is designed not to let players cheat their way out of danger. There are ways to track players who have gone offline, and they’ll just wait me out. Believe me, if Dalthaxia finds me, they’re going to lock my character down and I’ll be out of this war for good. You know the rules—one character per player.”
I frowned. “Give Fen the map fragment, and she can wait this out separately until it blows over if the rest of us are caught. She can hide the fact that she’s a player from Dalthaxia, that will work, right?”
“If I give any of you the map fragment, they won’t stop looking for it, I know that now. And I’ll never be able to escape again. I won’t be able to log back into Eternity Online if they find me, and until I can officially strip my Dalthaxian player registration, I’ll respawn on New Dalthaxia if I die. Fen will have the best chance of hiding from them, but I don’t think it would work. Nowhere on this station is safe for us.”
Fen spoke up. “I do not know if it changes our course of action, but I just got a notification that our supplies were delivered to Ether Rogue's docking bay.”
Dread set in my gut when I realized our best chance of escape. Pulling up the file given to me by the bounty hunter, I prepared to call Cadan Graves.
22
“Kyle, I’m so glad you decided to talk with me, we have a lot to discuss. I hope you’re doing well?” Cadan asked as I connected to the deep layer chat lobby with him. The conversation was a sublayer of my conscious embedded in the technology enabling me to play Eternity Online. This meant that I didn’t have to speak in-game to talk with Cadan—I only had to think my words, much like I did to issue mental commands to my technology. This was as private as conversations got, even with the most sophisticated technology available before Eternity Online.
“Cadan, I don’t have time for pleasantries right now,” I growled, trying to keep the irritation and fear out of my tone and failing for the most part. “I need you to listen. Are you aware of what’s happening on Vrenn?”
If Cadan was neutral and unaligned with Dalthaxia, then he might be able and willing to help us escape this mess, even if that came at great cost. The stakes were higher now, and though I had just met her, I wanted to do everything I could to keep this opportunity intact and protect Gwen.
“Vrenn?” he asked, seemingly puzzled. “One second, Kyle. Let’s see…” He paused as if parsing through information. “Edge of Dalthaxian space, mostly neutral class-two orbiter station? Looks like it’s nothing more than a particle on the map. What’s going on?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Dalthaxia is invading and they’re trying to capture my friend Gwen, would you happen to know anything about that?”
“Kyle, I’m neutral just like you. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still serving the country I swore to protect before this war started. And that means going against the corruption in Dalthaxian leadership. I was everything Dalthaxia needed me to be and what do they do to repay that? Shoot me in an alleyway and leave me to bleed out on the icy pavement.”
I wasn’t going to feel bad for Cadan anytime soon, remaining objective instead of inserting some kind of comment about how he deserved what had happened, though it was the first I was hearing of Dalthaxia turning on him. “So you really don’t know anything about this invasion?”
“No, I’m not working with the people who claim to be serving Dalthaxia’s best interests any longer…” Cadan paused. “But if you’re in a predicament, I might be able to help. Do you have any idea of what kind of forces Dalthaxia deployed to try to get your friend? My guild has resources, and if we can win this battle handily, then it might be something I’m willing to commit to.”
“Anchorhead is here, and it looks like they’re about to deploy military forces all over the station to find us. They have a full blockade and perimeter defense set up around the exterior of the station,” I said, not bothering to fabricate a different narrative.
“Good Gesh, Kyle. That’s a super capital-class ship. What about Vrenn? Is the station trying to fight back or delay the invasion? If Dalthaxia was willing to deploy a super capital-class ship, this girl must be important—or must have something important at least.” Cadan’s tone was different on the last part. He sounded like a deep space miner who had just found an opportunistic prospect.
“No, Vrenn is complying with the temporary takeover of the station, they’re committing resources to try to resolve this quickly. Look, I don’t know what you want from me or why you were willing to pay 22k eCr just to talk to me, but if we get captured here, we might be out of this game for good. Gwen seems to think they’re going to put her in an internment camp on New Dalthaxia, and I can’t help but feel the same fate is waiting for me even if we part ways now.”
Cadan paused, considering this. “Dark Eternity has resources, but not the kind that can go toe to toe with a ship like Anchorhead for more than a couple of minutes and achieve a favorable outcome. Do you have a ship you can use to escape if we clear a path for you? Needs to be fast with a jump drive.”
I recalled the tour of Ether Rogue and its interior modules, remembering the beefy jump drive and impressive power grid. “Yeah, we’ve got a ship—it has good shields too.” I realized the shields probably wouldn’t matter if the Dalthaxians started shooting at us. Even one snubnose fighter would be enough to incinerate us in our tracks if it landed enough of its shots.
“Okay. If I help you with this, you and I are going to sit down to talk in-game once you’re safe. That’s the condition if you want my help. I don’t want to hurt you, I only want to talk, and I want to make sure you’re safe in Eternity Online and the real world. I have many regrets, and what happened to you on Salgon three years is one of them.”
I hesitated, not eager to take anything he said at face value. “I’ll sit down and talk with you, but I can’t guarantee more than that. I also need your word that you’re not going to harm me or my friends and that we’ll be free to go our own way after this conversation if your offer doesn’t interest us.”
“Of course, that’s all I ask, and I think this bargain is more than fair for you given the fact I’ll have to risk so much to get you out. Transmit your ship’s signature so we can escort you away from Vrenn until you can jump. I’m sending you the coordinates of Dark Eternity’s station. We’ll meet and have our conversation there once I’ve escorted you out of Vrenn. Is that agreeable?”
“It is. Send the coordinates and I’ll send over Ether Rogue’s signature. We’ll be on standby in Gwen’s ship. How will we know when to leave the station?”
“I’ll give you a call, but you need to be ready. I’m going to put together your escort force now and we’ll prepare to jump into Vrenn’s proximity—it won’t be long. Keep this chat lobby on st
andby so we can connect quickly… And Kyle?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m looking forward to seeing you again. Stay safe and good luck.”
“Good luck to you too.” I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him, but this was probably our only way out of this mess, and we needed all the help we could get, as much as I wished that wasn't the case.
I minimized the chat lobby, once again fully immersing myself with the world of Eternity Online. “Come on, we’re loading up Ether Rogue with our supplies. I just spoke with Cadan Graves. Dark Eternity has agreed to clear an escape path for us on the condition we sit down and talk with them once we’re safely free. They want us to jump to their station, and Cadan is going to send me the coordinates.”
“Are you crazy?” Gwen asked me. “You told me what this guy did to you, now you’re ready to trust him again. How the hell could he possibly have something that could hold off Anchorhead and all its supporting ships for long enough for us to slip past?”
“I’m not crazy.” I grimaced. “What other options do we have? Dalthaxian soldiers will be swarming the station in minutes. If we leave now, we can load up our cargo and have a chance to slip past the blockade. This is our best option, it’s that or get captured and spend the rest of the war in an internment camp. If you die, you die. But we’re not going to be able to pass unnoticed if we stay here, you said it yourself.”
Gwen seemed to consider this. I couldn’t see her face through the EVA helmet she wore, but I was sure she was conflicted. “Fine. Let’s go. I hope you’re not wrong about this.”
“I hope I’m not wrong either. This okay with you?” I asked, turning to face Brandon, wanting to give him his say in the matter.
“It’s our best shot, I’m in too.”
“I am in,” Fen said.
With everyone in agreement, we jogged back toward our docking bay, prepared to load the cargo and wait for Graves’s signal for our escape. A notification popped up on my UI and alerted me that Cadan had sent over the coordinates for the Dark Eternity guild’s station through our private conversation lobby. It would be easy to punch in coordinates of our own for escape, but I wasn’t eager to make more enemies and breach the agreement I had with the only man who could get us out of this mess.
I checked the timer for my alarm that would pull me out of Eternity Online. It had slipped below three hours, and I had the strong suspicion that Brandon and I were going to have to take an unplanned vacation day on Tiyvan IV so we could get out of this mess. Nick Ramirez wasn’t going to be happy about it, but there was a literal fortune at stake.
Three large shipping containers were waiting for us at the front of Ether Rogue’s cargo hold ramp. I pulled the ship’s signature while the others set to work, sending it to Cadan and hoping the information would get to him in time.
I sent our escape coordinates to Gwen so she could plug them into her ship’s navigational computer. The jump drive would handle the rest, but getting it charged and ready to go while avoiding an invasion force large enough to prevent any ship from leaving under the current lockdown seemed like a nearly insurmountable task.
Fen deployed the loading ramp and Brandon hopped on the forklift anchored to the inside of the ship, driving it down the ramp and hauling the cargo crates into the ship, one at a time. With the crates secure, we were ready to board Ether Rogue and prepare for our attempt at escape. My adrenaline was already pumping in anticipation.
From the energized energy barrier separating us from the vacuum of space, I could see there were even more Dalthaxian ships now, buzzing around and quickly isolating and locking down any ships jumping into Vrenn space. It seemed that people had stopped trying to leave the station, the mangled wreckage of multiple ships deterring any further attempts.
“Stop right there and put your hands up!” a metallic voice commanded. I looked up to the observation deck of the docking bay where six Dalthaxian soldiers stood, blaster rifles raised and ready to fire.
23
We raised our hands in compliance as the soldiers trained their blasters on us. My AIVO identified the soldiers as other players, but I wasn’t able to pull their levels or any other supporting data that might help us get through this encounter alive. They were all wearing light composite-armor with a Dalthaxian logo in the center of the chest pieces.
From what Gwen had told me, these soldiers were probably all trained with the same skills and would have standardized gear for their role in the squad. One of them would be able to administer healing, one probably had some support equipment like deployable cover or drones, and the other four were probably tasked with dishing out as much damage as possible. I couldn't tell their individual roles from this distance. Thankfully it didn't look like any of them were carrying a rocket launcher or portable torpedo. One APAVM missile could scrap Ether Rogue in an instant, but concentrated blaster fire from small arms wouldn't be so unforgiving.
The Dalthaxian soldiers had caught us in a bad position, and with their high ground advantage and the ample cover from the docking bay’s observation deck, we’d get cut down if we tried to engage. I scanned our surroundings for suitable cover, dismayed to see the docking bay didn’t offer much. Ether Rogue itself could provide partial cover from its cargo ramp or the three landing gear legs jutting out and anchoring the ship to the durametal platform with magnetic seals. Shipping containers and maintenance equipment along the outer edges of the docking bay could be used in a pinch, but most of it didn’t look like it would hold up against sustained blaster fire.
Our best chance in a firefight would be to wait for the soldiers to come to us, and even then our odds didn’t look great. Even worse if this group actually had some cohesion and knew what they were doing. Losing even a single party member would be a devastating setback for our expedition.
“Uh… We’re just loading some cargo, we weren’t planning on leaving the station until the lockdown is lifted. How can we help you, sir?” I asked, talking to the man who seemed to be in charge. I didn’t dare move from my position or give them any encouragement to unload their charge packs on us.
The man seemed irritated and on edge, probably from seeing other players on a station as remote as Vrenn during a high-value military operation. “We’re looking for a wanted fugitive. I can see you’re other players. Identify yourselves at once.” His voice was hard and direct, giving an indication that his patience was limited.
“I’m a mercenary working protection for these merchants, I’m just trying to make a livin’ in Eternity Online just like everyone else. That a crime now?” Brandon asked, trying to sound as clueless as possible and mostly doing a convincing job in bringing life to his fictitious confusion. “As far as we’re aware, none of us are fugitives.” The massive shotgun slung across his back lent credibility to his fabricated identity. Brandon definitely didn’t look the part of a merchant, but the rest of us might be able to pull off the lie.
Gwen hadn’t spoken yet. Maybe they could identify her voice if she did, even with my helmet on. With her current outfit consisting of an oversized coat, baggy pants, and the solar-shielded EVA helmet, she looked ridiculous, but it was almost impossible to tell her gender just from a quick glance.
The lead soldier spoke again. “We’re coming down to check you and your ship. Don’t move or we’ll vape you all.”
“Got it, we won’t resist or be any trouble. Don’t shoot,” I said, keeping my hands raised while I reconnected with Cadan in our chat window. I knew we were cutting it close with our planned escape, I just needed to know how close.
Cadan’s voice filled my mind. “Kyle, we’re preparing to make the jump, it’s going to be a close one, so you need to be out of your docking bay in exactly fifteen minutes from now. Fly in the trench we carve for you and jump as soon as possible. We’re going to stay as long as we can, but I am not losing my ship today and we're not going to be able to help you if you get shot down.”
“Understood. We’re being held up by Dalthaxian soldiers
right now. We’ll be ready,” I replied in my mind, thankful the approaching troops couldn’t hear the mental exchange. I minimized the chat window so I could focus on solving my problems one at a time.
“Kyle—” Cadan started, but I had already disconnected again, needing to focus on one problem at a time. Our current predicament was going to kill us long before the crazy flying Gwen would need to do to navigate a light freighter through the full power of a trigger-happy Dalthaxian blockade.
I exchanged glances with my new friends, confirming they would be ready to fight when the time came. I noticed that Fen wasn’t with the others, she had managed to slip away somehow, and it seemed she’d done it without the Dalthaxian soldiers noticing.
Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to escape, but it was also plenty of time to die. We needed to stall this out as long as possible with these soldiers or eliminate them before they could call in for backup. The second they called for backup or failed to check in with the command center orchestrating this operation, everything would go downhill. For all we knew, the Dalthaxian soldiers had already called this in and more troops were on the way.
The mysterious bounty hunter in the commando armor was the other wild card in this situation. I had a strong feeling he might be coming back now that Dalthaxia seemed to know the true extent of what Gwen recovered from Treshvyn.
Two of the Dalthaxian soldiers stayed on overwatch on the observation deck while the other four, including the squad leader, hurried to the elevator platform to come down to inspect us and Ether Rogue. There would be no quick escape while they used the elevator, and no opportunity to take up preemptive defensive positions for a firefight.
The four soldiers, including the leader of the squad approached us, stopping three meters away so the two shooters on the observation deck above still had a clear shot without the risk of friendly fire. It was a surprisingly organized and professional effort given the fact that these men probably hadn’t served in the military before Eternity Online.