I looked over his shoulder to see a panting and sweating Norax doubled over in the middle of the room.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Any ship-based combat and you’ll have scrambled eggs for cargo unless you magnilock them to the wall,” the Kigle Director said. “Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt you to help your Rohviann to hide the illegal cargo a bit better next time.”
Norax collapsed to the floor with a groan. “You mean I…?”
The Director laughed so hard he doubled over clutching his pot belly. “Ah hahaha. Ho ho. Yeah. You really aren’t great at that. I’ll have the boys adjust your readouts before you leave. You wanna show me to the cockpit?”
We stepped around Norax, and the Directory pointed out the shoddy job Norax had done in re-hiding the contraband. I couldn’t really blame him. It was a rush job, and his main spec was Heavy not Smuggler. But still, how did he know so fast? Dumbfounded, I led the tiny man to the front of the ship.
“I don’t know what you’re looking for. J.T. modded everything to her own spec.”
Rounding the corner into the cockpit, Harmashk said, “Yeah. I know. She stole my design.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I have trouble reaching all the consoles in most ships, so I designed a cockpit that virtualizes all the controls. She picked that up from me when we used to run together with Rand.”
“Okay. So, what are you looking for?”
“I just want to make sure your maps are correct and you have the correct locations for your mission.” He started pulling up screens and creating holo-projections of monitors and keyboards.
After a short moment, I heard the whir of a motor somewhere inside the ship.
“I don’t know if that’s the best idea. I mean, J.T. can be pretty defensive of her stuff, and this ship is pretty new to us.”
“Yeah. You got it from some smugglers during your last mission, right?”
“Well, yeah. But…”
“No buts, son. I’m trying to save you some time and help you avoid any of the aliens on your way.” He finished tapping on the keyboard and pushed past me again on towards the cargo bay.
I couldn’t believe I was following some little stranger through my ship like he owned it.
“Look. I appreciate your help, but leave my ship and start fueling it up. Please.” I said trying to sound as authoritarian as I could.
“No problem. I’m done here. You’re ready to go. I’d get the mission specs from Rand and head out as quickly as you can.”
Outside the ship, he gathered the two Lobians and sauntered off into the building.
“That was one pushy, tiny, little man,” Norax said.
“You’re telling me. We’ve got a mission.”
“Did Omicron Base open back up?”
“Nope. Rand is going to pay us to go and rescue some people from a small farming colony.”
“Sounds good to me. Will I get to shoot something?”
“Probably a lot of somethings,” I replied.
“When do we leave?”
“As soon as I get the brief on the mission and gather everyone up.”
Neither of those proved to be hard work at all. Money talks, and Rand Aktar knew it.
04
“Yeah. But that’s more than double our Corps rate,” I argued.
J.T. sighed and spun the pilot’s chair in my direction. She shook her head and clicked her teeth.
“Oui, but I think someone should have stayed with Colin.” she said.
I said, “The doctors are doing all they can. Besides, he can’t log out. He’ll be there when we get back.”
“Fine. But why does she have to go with us? She’s not a member of the team,” J.T. pointed out.
“Are you jealous?”
“No. She just doesn’t have any skills that can contribute to the team.”
“Oh? Have you looked at her stat page? I have.”
“No. Anything interesting?”
I pulled up the team roster and was reminded of the Team Rank I had gotten earlier. I dismissed that and shared her stat page on the holo-projector.
Name: Meiying Na
Rank: N/A
Species / Gender: Human female
Position: Associate Researcher (Rank 5)
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 5
Intelligence: 10
Charisma: 9
Luck: 5
HP: 512
Armor: 0%
Specialization: Science
Secondary specialization: Crafting
Sub Skills: Computers 4. Cooking 3. Crafting 6. Melee 2. Technology 3. Science 7.
Status: Unknown.
“I don’t see anything special,” she said.
“Yeah? Technology, Science, and Crafting? She will make a great addition to the ship. I’m thinking she won’t be much in the line of fire, but she can help repair our gear and maybe help Schmidt if there’s a medical situation.”
“Oh. You like her.”
“Wait, no! I don’t…” I argued. “I just think she could be useful to the team.”
“Right. It’s l'amour de jeunesse.”
“Shut up. That’s an order.“ My high school French wasn’t quite up to snuff, but I knew l’amour when I heard it. “I need your help with something else. I got this Team Rank earlier and I’ve never seen this before. Have you seen it?”
“No. I didn’t notice an extra tab in the Team Roster for Team Rank, but I don’t have the ability to make choices in there. I guess that’s reserved for Team Leaders.”
“Well, I want everyone’s opinion on what to choose.”
I shared the Team Rank page to J.T. That was the first time I had looked at it as well. The skill selection was a massive web of skills with pre-requisites. I didn’t know where to even start. There were sections labeled Starfighter Team, Ground Team, Infiltration Team, Medical Team, Science Team, and a plethora of other options. I opened a comms channel to get feedback.
“I think you should put the point wherever you think. Personally, I think we need improvement in our Ground Team area because that’s ultimately what we are.”
“That’s what Norax and Schmidt both said, too.”
The three starter options were increased health, increased damage, and increased speed. The bonus applied when in a group where at least fifty percent of the members were on my Team. Our team was down a man, and we could use extra firepower. I tapped the icon for increased damage and confirmed the choice.
Congratulations! Your Team will now receive a bonus of 10% extra damage when in a group together.
The ship shuddered and rocked. Blaring alarms filled the air making the cockpit suddenly feel very small compared to the sound. A second crash rocked the ship again almost knocking me out of my seat.
“What did we hit?” I asked.
“Nothing, Captain,” J.T. said. “We are taking fire on the port side.”
“Well, take evasive action,” I commanded and opened a channel. “Listen up! It looks like we are taking hostile fire. Norax, you and Schmidt man the guns. Hold your fire while I try to figure out what is shooting at us.”
I looked at the comms station and without warning, my seat slid across the floor. My arms and legs flailed like a sales balloon from the classic video commercials. I tapped on the screens relying on my Luck and Computers. After what felt like forever and another three rocking hits, I managed to open an external comms channel on a local frequency.
“This is Captain Aaron Taylor of the Omi….” I decided against giving that bit of information away just yet. “Dragon’s Talon. Identify yourself.”
The volleys of plasma fire abated. A smooth reptilian face materialized on the large monitor. Its green scales were mottled with brown and red. It squinted a golden colored eye at me. I wasn’t used to communicating remotely without using holo-projections. The video felt disjointed and poor quality by comparison.
“Weeeellll, Captain Taylorr,” the reptilian
man said. “I am Ssurresshh. We are the Scorched Sands, and your ship iss oursss.”
“I don’t think I understand. This definitely isn’t a Dosch ship. And we didn’t take it from the Scorched Sands,” I said. The truth was, I wasn’t sure if the ship really belonged to them or not. I recognized the reptilian man as a Dosch, and their ships tended to be hotter and smell much more pungent.
“You are in our territory; thusss, your ssship isss forfeit. You might asss well give up now. We have you,” he hissed. “Sssurrounded.”
I flipped the comms channel closed, leaned back from the comms panel, and said, "J.T., how are we doing? Can you get us out of here?"
"Working on it, Captain. I don’t think so. It would be easier to check our course if I weren't trying to avoid these blasts as well."
The ship rocked again from a nearly direct hit. Warning lights started popping up all over the comms screens.
Quest:
You are under attack. Defend your ship or run away.
Objectives:
Defend the ship.
Reward:
Personal XP: 500 (if Defend). 0 (if Run).
Accept: Y/N
"Take the system controls. I'll fly it," I said.
We smashed into each other awkwardly as we tried to swap seats.
"Captain," Norax's voice cut over the ship's comm channel. "We're in position. From what I can see here, they have at least four fighters and a large salvage ship of some kind. They're definitely pirates."
Pirates sucked. They were almost always Player Characters and almost always douchebags. Players that liked to attack others just to steal their stuff and rack up a few Player Kills in the process. That explained why their fighter pilots hadn't completely destroyed our ship yet. They wanted all the cargo for themselves.
I settled into the pilot's seat and my vision blurred. I had never really piloted before outside of the introductory quests to the game. J.T.'s setup was obviously a bit different from the standard setup. My vision expanded to include the space around the ship. After just a moment, I could see the other ships circling around us as if I was the ship.
"You seriously fly the ship in first person mode?" I asked.
"Oui. Better reflexes that way."
I shrugged and blinked a few times. Or at least, I thought I blinked. My vision never stopped working, but I felt my eyes close. The longer I looked out into space, the more information I noticed in my field of vision. The ship's stats were in the bottom right of the screen. My minimap ability was already active and situated in the upper right. I assumed that was a mod that J.T. installed. A few other controls filled out the left side. I focused on the ship's stats. This was the first chance I had to see exactly what kind of ship we had.
Ship Name: Dragon’s Talon (Confirm? Y/N)
Type: Class 1 Freighter
Impulse Drive System: 0.9c
Hyperdrive System: 4x.
Armor: 47.5% / 100%.
Weapons: Twin-linked laser cannons (port and starboard). 2,200 damage (10% Team Bonus)
Front facing laser cutter.
Power: 80%.
Fuel: 90%.
Cargo Capacity: 6/12 tons.
Hot damn! Our ship was fast. At least, I assumed it was. A drive system stat of 0.9c was pretty hot. Hyperdrive rating of four wasn't too bad either.
Bright pink light filled the upper left corner of my vision. Another blast rocked the ship.
-12,147 hp. (-23,147 dam. 47.5% armor) HP: 28,119 / 50,000.
"Damnit. That one really rocked us. Norax, feel free to open fire anytime. J.T. can you send me a comms channel?"
"Oui. One moment."
A split second later the filthy Dosch pirate was in the center of my vision.
"Are you ready to sssurrender, Captain Taylorr?" Surresh hissed.
"Never. You'll have to blow the ship apart before we'll surrender. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into." I bluffed. I wasn't really confident in what we had gotten ourselves into.
Over my shoulder, I could see a spray of blue lasers firing from our ship. They followed the little fighter ships as they buzzed around us. The fighters moved more like birds or bats than ships. Their wings were thin and ribbed like the historical records often depicted pterodactyls. Another pink swell warned me that we were about to get seriously lit up, again.
I willed the ship to roll up and away from the attack. Space swirled around me in a dizzying arc. Our ship could move!
Another flurry of blue lights flashed, and Schmidt's voice cut the sound of battle. "I got one!" I small explosion behind us confirmed his kill.
-2200 hp. Ship destroyed. +200 xp.
I dodged under another blast of the slow-moving pink plasma. The Dosch had opted for large debilitating mortar-like attacks rather than anything nimble. I assumed they relied on their fighter ships to handle the maneuverable fighting.
"Surresh, you don't have to do this. I'll give you another chance to just fly away," I said.
"Pisshhhh. It was only one fighter. He deserved to eat it. He wass ssslow."
"Have it your way." I closed the comm channel and said, "J.T. protect Schmidt and Norax. Keep as much power as you can going to weapons. See if you can split any excess power between weapons and thrusters."
"Oui."
I spun around and kicked up the ship's engines. The G-Forces almost overtook the ship's artificial gravity. I lined the Talon up with one of the fighters and tried to keep up. It was definitely more maneuverable, but our guns could pivot. That made up for it in spades. I followed the line of blue lasers out and turned a bit extra to compensate for the smaller ship's speed. The lasers trailed right behind the ship until they finally slammed into the vessel. It erupted into a nice bright flash of orange and white.
-2200 hp. Ship destroyed. +200xp.
"That's two. Just two more and then the mothership!" Norax said over the comms.
Distracted by the small victory, I lost sight of the larger vessel's cannons. Bright pink plasma exploded right over our cockpit.
-16,950 hp. (-35,685 dam. 47.5% armor) HP: 11,169 / 50,000.
The blast knocked me back so hard that my consciousness kicked out of the piloting system. Suddenly I was very small and in a very small cockpit with bright red lights and buzzers going off all around me. A computer system on the wall next to J.T. sputtered sparks and belched out a gout of smoke. I leaned forward again focusing on the controls of the ship. Again, my vision expanded, but much more quickly this time.
"If that's how we're going to play it, fine!" I shouted.
"Captain, what can I do to help?" Meiying said.
"See if you can help J.T. with any quick repairs or putting out any fires."
"Yessir!" she said, a bit too excited to be fully realizing the danger we were in.
Another lob of pink junk sailed high and wide. I dodged low and flipped the ship around to try to find one of the smaller fighters.
"Captain," Norax growled. "I can't find the other two fighters. They're out of my scanners and vision."
"J.T., can you boost scanners?'
"No. Scanners are malfunctioning after that last blast."
Shit. I glanced at the ship's status screen trying to ignore the occasional flicker from the minimap. Our power reserves were depleting way too quickly. At the rate we were hemorrhaging power, we wouldn't make it through the fight, much less to the colony.
"Concentrate your fire on the main ship for now. We'll have to ignore the fighters until they show back up. Once they do, Schmidt, that's your job. Norax, I want you to keep the main ship busy. We haven't caused them nearly enough hurt."
"Aye-aye Captain!"
I pulled the Talon about for a pass on the bigger ship. It was only about twice the size of our freighter.
J.T. added over the comms, "Target their shield generator and their comms systems. I will try to put that on your maps."
My minimap settled a bit and three small red dots appeared. I wondered what my abilities would do
in the piloting system, so as I flew, I activated Scan.
A full readout of the enemy ship scrolled under my minimap.
Ship Name: Scorched Sands Raiding Ship
Type: Class 2 Freighter (modified)
Armor: 65% / 100%.
Weapons: Forward Plasma Cannon. 12,000 - 40,000 damage
I knew I wasn't lucky enough for there to be an errant exhaust port or anything, but there were several exposed communications antennae. Scan also connected a glowing line right to the enemy bridge. I targeted that and activated the ship's forward cannon. A bright white light shot out from where I assumed my chest would be and slammed into the other ship. The laser cut through several layers of armor as it traveled the length of the ship to their command center.
-9,985 hp. Armor reduced 10% (100% local reduction).
"No, no, no. Captain." J.T. said. "We can't afford to do that again. Power is at 12% and falling."
"Hopefully, we won't need to," I said. "Norax, target where I've opened up."
Both sets of blue lasers spun and converged on the trench that our forward cannon cut. Small explosions erupted from the gorge like tiny volcanoes.
-2200 hp. -2200 hp. -2200 hp. -2200 hp.
It wasn't much damage, but the multiple hits ignoring the armor I cut away definitely put a dent in the other ship's hull points.
I dodged up over another blast from their cannon, and two streaks of light shot out from behind the Dosch ship.
"That's where you fuckers were hiding," Schmidt said with an uncharacteristically aggressive tone.
One of the pairs of lasers spun off from the main ship and followed one of the enemy fighters around in a tight arc. Schmidt's accuracy was spot on though and that ship exploded.
-2200 hp. Ship destroyed. +200xp.
"One more fighter, team, and then focus fire the main ship."
The small fighter spun and rocketed straight for us. I figured Surresh was using this one as a decoy as well.
Null Protocol: A LitRPG Space Marine Adventure (Omicron Sector Book 2) Page 3