Meanwhile, Imran continued:
“Ivan Lozovsky wanted me to say the negotiations were very hard. We had six people: five of our faction’s six Gerds, minus you, and a staff officer, who was transmitting messages to the outside curators. The Dark Faction set the following conditions — cease our expansion to the north and surrender the Karelia node. With that, they were willing to sign a ‘treaty of everlasting peace’ and they even agreed to have the Geckho serve as guarantors.”
“But giving up the Karelia node would mean losing our route to the Geckho spaceport!” I objected. To me this sounded more like a demand for capitulation. “And the spaceport means trade, new technologies and our path to the stars! The alternative by ferry is too unreliable. Sure, it’s here today, but that all depends on the furballs’ whims. And they might jack up the transport prices, or even totally refuse to take our cargo! Plus, there are lots of things the Geckho won’t transport by ferry, and building our own ships is not just one week’s work. Also we would need more players with special skills for sea travel. No, giving up the Karelia node is a surefire path to defeat!”
“Lozovsky also thought so. He refused the offer,” Imran reassured me. “But not everyone agrees... Some of our faction’s negotiators were willing to accept almost any concession to obtain a peace treaty with such a strong enemy. It all led to endless fighting. Our side just never reached a consensus. In the end, the leader of the Dark Faction gave us three days to make a decision. After that, in his words we’d ‘talk with cannons instead of diplomats.’“
Chapter Twenty-Three. Second visit to the Pirates
AFTER RELAYING THE MESSAGE from the faction head, Imran asked my traveling mistress to leave the cabin so we could talk alone. And although the Dagestani athlete said it as delicately and politely as possible, the Princess still got offended and turned to me for support. Nevertheless, I was on Imran’s side because I knew that, without a good enough reason, my friend would never offend a woman. So I asked Minn-O not to be stubborn and return to her cabin. The Dark Faction Princess gave a snort of dismay and cast a gaze on me that didn’t promise anything good. But still she left.
The door had just barely closed behind Minn-O La-Fin when Imran continued:
“Gerd Lozovsky asked me to tell you alone, without anyone else around, that the war is unavoidable. In his words, not trading with the Geckho is an obvious dead end. It would mean turning down all the grandiose plans we don’t have the money or materials to complete. What’s more, there are now Naiads in the bay near our shores. They may be the ones the Germans expelled from their traditional homelands. So now there might not be any other way to the space port...”
“The Naiads won’t touch the Geckho ferry, so they won’t disturb our trade with the suzerains. But our own fleet, if the faction does decide to build one, will surely be sunk. But I interrupted you, continue!”
“That isn’t all Lozovsky is worried about. All our neighbors, from the NPC Centaurs and Harpies up to the Germans now see the Human-3 Faction as a force to be reckoned with. And that makes them try to curry our favor. But if we show even one day of weakness, we’ll lose all that. And together with our authority and respect, we will quickly lose all our allies, who will then run to a stronger player. And really ‘everlasting peace’ with one faction does not mean peace with all parties in the ‘great game.’ It’s just a brief respite until our weakened faction is captured by someone else.”
I totally shared that fear. Without new technology and complicated equipment, our faction would remain on the periphery of grand-scale politics and would very soon roll back to a mere source of cheap lumber. Eventually we’d just be wiped off the political map. Still, those were all words and thoughts. What did leadership want from me now? I asked that directly. The Dagestani gave an unhappy chuckle:
“Lozovsky wants a miracle out of you. Yes! Those were his exact words! He wants you to use all your political and family connections to repeat the trick with the Graveyard node, or something totally new, but just as compelling and destructive. As he put it, only such unexpected and powerful blows can force the darksiders to reckon with us.”
A miracle?! That was quite the tall order! For now, I had no clue how I’d do it. Kung Waid Shishish was far away, and the most powerful master of Earth wouldn’t listen to me. The Geckho would not interfere in struggles between their vassals on principle. And as for my family connections, they had seemingly disappeared along with the death of Coruler Thumor-Anhu La-Fin. His granddaughter Princess Minn-O just did not have the political weight in her world, so she wouldn’t be much help.
“And our boss also asked if the faction could count on a starship for the war. Wait, Gnat,” here Imran interrupted me, not allowing me to voice my doubts and objections, “Gerd Lozovsky already knows the frigate is damaged and doesn’t have weapons. He also knows that Uline Tar is co-owner of the ship. But he thinks that you can entice her, especially given her class, with profitable trade routes. Our faction has money now. Not as much as we might want, but we are willing to spend one hundred eighteen thousand crystals on high-impact alien weaponry. And I am willing to add some of my own funds. Eduard and Dmitry too, probably. And you won’t just sit on the sidelines I’m sure... We could also try and sell platinum again or something from the real world that might get Uline Tar’s interest. In one way or another, we’ll definitely find enough to entice the Trader! Lozovsky also said that even without stabilizers and whatnot, a space frigate could be useful as an untouchable observer. It could provide firing coordinates to our cannons, for example. Overall, everyone in the faction is counting on you, Gnat! Make us a miracle!”
With those words, Imran gave me an encouraging slap on the shoulder and walked out of the captain’s bunk, leaving me in deep thought. They wanted a miracle... But where was I going to get one?!
* * *
“WE’VE REACHED the Medu-Ro system. The station is in viewing distance!”
The Starship Pilot’s message tore me out of my hours-long contemplative silence. I was trying to think up a strategy for the next three days that would allow me to achieve all my goals in that limited timeframe. I raised my gaze to the screen and... sharply came to life. Wow! What a pretty sight!!! My oldest dream had come true. I was seeing a space station firsthand. It was something of a twenty-mile-long metal spindle, blurred somewhat by the forcefield surrounding it. And in nearby space were dozens of unbelievable ships, from tiny nimble Miyelonian interceptors to... what even were those giants? Ore freighters and isotope space-ice mining ships based on the game information. And all this space-age wonder had a similarly impressive backdrop — the pitch-black volcanic planet Medu-Ro IV with its crimson fractures, and the huge light-blue local star. An unbelievable, fantastic sight!
Eagle Eye skill increased to level sixty-eight!
Cartography skill increased to level fifty-six!
Mineralogy skill increased to level fifty!
Fame increased to 62.
Woah, woah. So many system messages after a long break! And the last was most likely connected with our ship being examined by the station’s automatic systems. My instruments showed that our frigate was now being hit with all kinds of detectors and scanners. And they were probably most interested in the symbiote. Just then, the satellite decided it didn’t like all this attention, unclipped from our fuselage and darted off, picking up unbelievable speed and disappearing into the depths of space.
“Captain, we’ve received a message from the station dispatchers,” Ayukh told me, and I asked to have it sent to me.
“Free Captain Gerd Gnat. Human. Purpose of visit: to purchase parts and repair my ship,” I replied when the emotionless metallic voice asked me to identify myself in Miyelonian.
Five to seven seconds passed, and the same lifeless voice answered:
“Permission to access spaceport zone granted. Landing bay 16-4. Follow the instructions and illuminated arrows to enter the dock. Welcome to Medu-Ro IV!”
Another forty m
inutes later, after waiting in a small line and passing into the long shaft that pierced the whole station, our frigate entered the hangar and stopped, held firm by gravity cranes.
“One day’s docking fee for a frigate-class ship is four thousand one hundred crypto. I have only crystals,” Uline told me somewhat alarmed, but I reassured my partner, saying I had enough Miyelonian currency.
I even payed for two days up front so the station couldn’t possibly complain. Then, after lining up my crew before the starship, I led a short information session:
“Some of you have been here before and know the finer points of this station. But I’ll explain for the others. Medu-Ro IV does not belong to any of the great space governments, everything here is controlled by the Free Captains. And that means there is no law here as such and might makes right, so to speak. If something can be obtained not by paying, but by force, that is exactly what any local will try to do. So the biggest crime you can commit here on the station is to show weakness, or even worse, lack of confidence or cowardice! After that, you will immediately be made a victim who not only can be insulted and robbed but must be. Do you all understand that?”
A few not-overly-confident responses rang out. Without even falling back on my psionic abilities, I could tell what the vast majority of my crew was now thinking: “why the hell did we even stick our noses in such a wild and dangerous place?” I had to explain:
“However, Medu-Ro IV is the largest trading hub in this part of the Galaxy. The market here has everything, and at fairly reasonable prices. Yes, smugglers trade here and pirates unload stolen goods, but for us, transparent origin of new parts is nowhere near the most important factor. Our biggest priorities now are low price and high quality. As a rule, those are not a problem on Medu-Ro IV because con artists are not well liked here and are killed on sight.”
I took a pause and made sure everyone was listening closely. Even Tini, a native of the station, perked up his ears and hung on my every word.
“Now, about the rules for how to behave on the station. There are just three, so it’s easy to remember. One: only VERY self-confident high-level players or idiots who will soon be ripped to shreds walk around here alone. Always stay in a group! Two: thieves here are like fleas on a stray dog, especially in the spaceport recreation zone. Geckho who don’t know what a flea or dog is, ask any human. The most important rule here is: always keep an eye on your bags!”
I had to take a brief pause, because Minn-O started laughing awkwardly. Clearly, the Earth native found it funny that someone might not know such elementary terms as dog or flea. But Minn-O quickly apologized and put on a serious face.
“The third and most important rule: the common language here is Miyelonian, so you will probably not understand what is expected of you. If you think you might be in trouble (and you’re probably in pretty deep by that point) you must never demonstrate fear or even mumble. You must respond confidently in your native language or with gestures, referring them to your captain. I will handle them. And if you happen to hear the sentence ‘Ah-sahntee maye-uu-u rezsh shashash-u?’ that means they are challenging you to a fight to the death. Do not take out your weapon and, preferably with lots vulgarity and middle fingers, tell that asshole to go... to me again. I’ll handle them. And you four-fingered Geckho, use either of your inner fingers... Basha, you can try it out as much as you want later. Now is not the time! Kirsan, this goes for you too!”
Authority increased to 47!
Authority increased to 48!
Well, well. My Authority grew twice after that fairly brief speech! Seemingly, my team now thought me a true space-pirate expert, capable of solving any problems that might crop up. Maybe because of that, when I asked who was willing to follow me to the pirate station, everyone wanted to come including the repair bots.
Chapter Twenty-Four. Familiar Mugs
I OF COURSE DID NOT bring the bots with me. There was too much work for them on the frigate. I also left the Supercargo and Navigator on the ship because I was planning to order some cargo and modules to modify the starship and I needed someone there to accept them. And I chose Eduard Boyko to stay behind as security. I ordered the Space Commando to don his full exoskeleton armor and never let his guard down, because carelessness was too costly a pleasure on the dangerous station and could have the most serious consequences. I planned to also leave Basha and Vasha to help Avan Toi, but then I figured having two big strong Geckho at my back would make me look very fearsome, which would be great on the pirate station.
But before going anywhere, I ordered all crew members to change their respawn points to Medu-Ro IV. And I recommended that they put it somewhere beyond the walls of this hangar, so they wouldn’t end up locked inside like I once had. I made the same changes in my respawn settings, which immediately made me feel at ease. Now, no matter how the Meleyephatian and Geckho battle ended on the Un-Tesh comet, my life was not at risk.
By the way, the situation with the Geckho military base on the comet was still unclear. In the official real-world news, nothing had been said about it yet, and Avan Toi had so far been unable to contact his old friend and get the news first hand. All that remained was to hope that help had come in time, and the Meleyephatian fleet was defeated. I wished the Geckho luck with utter sincerity, because the safety of my native earth depended on the power of their space fleet.
And so, once again reminding my friends to stay together, I led my group down the familiar round corridor, a huge ring that wrapped around the central shaft. By the way, I was on the very same floor, sixteen and I conveniently already had a map of it. Confidently leading my group to the fork toward the elevators, I drew their attention to a sign:
“This says: Document check. Registration service. Last time, I never figured out what documents were meant to be checked here and just killed the guy working there.”
“It’s normal crewmember cards,” Uline responded, walking a step behind me. “Everyone who goes into space has them, or at least they should. Mine doesn’t work now, because I changed ships, but they aren’t hard to get redone. Also, drawing up a new one for Imran and Minn-O at the checkpoint will be easy enough, and will ward off potential problems. But Ayukh should have given you a captain’s card. That is actually checked.”
We turned down a side corridor and in just ninety feet I saw the very same Gladiator that gave me such a fierce greeting before:
Aik Ur Miyeau Miyelonian. Pride of the Comet’s Tail. Level-66 Gladiator.
The lean five-foot tall gray Miyelonian draped head to toe in weaponry had not changed one bit since our previous encounter... uhh... actually how long ago was that? I did the math and couldn’t even believe it: just fourteen days! A mere two weeks! Strangely, I felt as if a whole eternity had passed since then. So much had happened! Then the fur-covered Gladiator had seemed a fearsome and insurmountable obstacle, but now I had significantly outgrown Aik not only in level, but combat ability.
“What, you’re still standing here leaning against a wall? Isn’t it boring to stay in one place for days on end?” I asked instead of a greeting, at the same time showing him my Free Captain card.
The Miyelonian, mechanically running his scanner over the blue crystal, stashed his tool in his inventory and raised his surprised whiskered face:
“Free Captain Gerd Gnat... have we ever met before?”
“You can say that again! You sawed off my hand, and I still have your tail in my inventory.”
His face brightened. He had finally lined up the pitiful lone Prospector with nothing worth stealing and the high-level Listener standing before him in unique ancient Relict armor and a team of loyal soldiers in tow.
“Woah! You’ve changed a lot, Gerd Gnat! I’m just killing time here... But which Free Captain would take me as crew? After all, they all want recommendations, a high level and a long list of trophies to prove combat ability. But where can I get that on the station?!”
Authority increased to 49!
I was a bit
worried that Aik would then start checking the rest of my team’s documents. And they didn’t have working ones or in some cases even have them at all. But apparently, the whole check was limited to scanning the captain’s card. The Miyelonian Gladiator stepped aside, letting us through to the space station. What, just like that? It was actually a bit boring...
I looked at the bored gray tomcat, who went back to leaning against the wall. Aik didn’t look like he was training day and night to raise his combat skills but who could say? Captain’s assistant Uline Tar constantly complained our crew wasn’t filled out. She said a frigate class ship needed around twenty-five or even thirty crew members, but we had just ten. And just two were of combat classes: Imran the Gladiator and Eduard the Space Commando, which really was not enough and made us vulnerable in case of a conflict. Preferably, to set a Free Captain’s mind at ease, there should be at least a dozen strong warriors. But where to get them?
I turned back to the Miyelonian:
“I propose a test: if you can defeat my level-59 Gladiator, I’ll take you to space as a fully-fledged crew member. And if you cannot defeat an enemy seven-levels lower then you, don’t get any ideas. I don’t want anyone like that, keep practicing.”
“Agreed!” the Miyelonian instantly came to life, and a pair of glimmering blades appeared in his hands.
Here I changed to my native tongue and called the Dagestani Gladiator:
“Imran, this tomcat wants to join our crew. Put him to the test! It’s a simple blade battle without any firearms, and it will be to the death. If you win, you’ll at least get his tail, and that means the respect of any Miyelonian. And if you get lucky with the drop, you might get a blade to match your other Miyelonian one. And if you lose, don’t stress. We’ll wait for you here!”
Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series Page 23