The Mysteries of the Relict Pyramid
Date: 2022-07-25 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction
Description: Gnat the Devourer is becoming a more prominent figure in grand space politics. Sure, he may not be totally independent yet, but he has enough leeway to be able to differentiate Earth's interests from those of its Geckho suzerains and act exclusively for the good of his own kind. Gnat must balance obligations to his almighty suzerains against a desire to advance humanity’s position in space, and his home planet’s search for ever more allies. Although Earth’s masters are not big fans of his independent ways, the great war has shifted the historic balance of forces, and the Geckho are no longer a
Publisher: Magic Dome Books

The Mysteries of the Relict Pyramid (Reality Benders Book #9)

Michael Atamanov

Published by Magic Dome Books, 2022.

Table of Contents

Title Page

The Mysteries of the Relict Pyramid (Reality Benders Book #9)

Introduction. Defense of the Capital

Chapter 1. Uncrewed Ship

Chapter 2. Debut

Chapter 3. Repair Issue

Chapter 4. An Ocean of Dangerous Knowledge

Chapter 5. Running Human

Chapter 6. The Night before the Hunt

Chapter 7. Hard Landing

Chapter 8. Dropping Like Flies

Chapter 9. Special Cargo

Chapter 10. Course to Freedom

Chapter 11. Real World Days

Chapter 12. New Home

Chapter 13. Forty Sixty

Chapter 14. Friend or Foe?

Chapter 15. It Has Begun!

Chapter 16. Tier 43, Group 12, Heading 78

Chapter 17. Hold Formation!

Chapter 18. The Urmi Massacre

Chapter 19. The Biggest Betrayal

Chapter 20. Gnat Bites Back

Chapter 21. Eight Ummi Locked Away

Chapter 22. Sole and Infallible

Chapter 23. Refuge and Invar

Chapter 24. Unarmed Man

Chapter 25. Expanded Horde Council

Chapter 26. A Call for Mutiny

Chapter 27. Earth’s Burgeoning Strength

Chapter 28. The Hierarch’s Final Battle

Chapter 29. New Fears

Chapter 30. To Reverse the Inevitable

Addendum. Crew list of the assault cruiser Di-Pal-Yu 781

About the Author

The Mysteries of the Relict Pyramid

––––––––

a novel
by Michael Atamanov

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Reality Benders

Book#9

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Magic Dome Books

Reality Benders

Book #9: The Mysteries of the Relict Pyramid

Copyright © Michael Atamanov 2022

Cover Art © Vladimir Manyukhin 2022

English translation copyright © Andrew Schmitt 2022

Published by Magic Dome Books, 2022

All Rights Reserved

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

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Introduction. Defense of the Capital

Planet Urmi II, ancestral homeworld of the Miyelonian race

Star City, capital of the Union of Miyelonian Prides

Western Shrine of the Great First Female

THE NINETEEN LEADERS of the largest Miyelonian prides who had arrived on time to the emergency session of the Council of Miyelonian rulers sat and listened to Great Priestess Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo’s sermon, making no attempt to hide her annoyance with the latecomers holding up proceedings.

“I see this as a downright travesty! The issue on today’s agenda could not possibly be of greater importance: the defense of the Urmi capital system, and yet a whole three council members couldn’t bother to show up on time! First Star Fleet Commander Kung Poosh-Sheer is nowhere to be seen, even though his ships have a special part to play in the upcoming battle. Also absent is the ever-punctual head of the Miyelonian Archive Service, Leng Teerr-Miauss. Finally, Fourth Star Fleet Commander Kung Keetsie Myau also has yet to show her face!”

“Has Keetsie not yet been stripped of her fleet command post and seat at the Council of Rulers?” the beautiful, pure white and gracious Leng Ayvi U-Mawoo, youngest of the incarnations of the Great First Female, asked in surprise and even dismay. “I thought that after the terrible defeat in the Y-567 System, where she lost her fleet in an unimportant battle with the Composite, and left our capital in such a vulnerable state, Keetsie Myau would not be welcome in polite society.”

“Strictly speaking, she is still a fleet commander,” responded Second Star Fleet Commander, Raoo-Miayawoo, who enjoyed great respect among the military. “Still, I also believe that after such an intoxicating display of incompetence, the commander of the Fourth Star Fleet has no place in the Council of Rulers!”

“Then I motion for an immediate vote to strip the self-obsessed upstart Keetsie Myau of all her titles,” Leng Ayvi spoke up again. “There’s no point drawing this out and letting our subjects get agitated!”

The Great Priestess closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay. This was playing out exactly as predicted by her experienced Diviners and Truth Seekers, but the discord in the Union of Miyelonian Prides’ ruling class was coming at the worst possible time. What they needed to do was put old grievances behind them, rein in personal ambitions, and unite the forces of all prides for the defense of the Urmi capital system, but here two leaders were speaking out against the head of the Pride of the Sharp Claw — the largest Miyelonian pride comprising over thirty billion citizens. Nevertheless, now the gauntlet had been thrown and, as chairwoman, the Great Priestess simply could not ignore the motion.

“Who supports the motion to depose the Head of the Pride of the Sharp Claw?” The Great Priestess turned her attentive eye on the rulers of the Union of Miyelonian Prides one after the next.

Just two paws went up — Ayvi U-Mawoo’s and Raoo-Miayawoo’s. Third Star Fleet Commander Leng Wa-U Miaoo was also going to support the motion but, after seeing the lay of the land, opted to lower his paw before it had been counted. Wise move. The Great One, as Kung Keetsie Myau was still called by the common citizenry despite her fleet’s recent crushing defeat and the full-force propaganda assault mounted against her, was never known for showing mercy to political opponents.

“The motion does not prevail,” Leng Amiru announced.

After that, she reminded the council that Kung Keetsie Myau was backed by the Pride of the Sharp Claw and its allied prides, representing fifty inhabited planets and one out of every five Miyelonian space fleet troopers. And while perhaps some council members thought that the Fourth Star Fleet Commander’s Fame and Authority had been rising a bit too precipitously recently, making Kung Keetsie start to overshadow the other leaders of the Union of Miyelonian Prides and even speak in the name of all Miyelonians rather than her pride in particular, that was merely reflective of a new reality the other leaders would have to come to terms with.

The Great Priestess also mentioned that the Union of Miyelonian Prides had received forty-five diplomatic notes from neighboring states, some quite politely formulated, but others in unacceptably harsh terms expressing discontent with the surveillance of the illustrious Miyelonian commander. King Hugo the First of the Trillians, Krong Daveyesh-Pir of the Geckho, and even Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz of the Meleyephatian Horde had demanded an immediate cessation of the harassment of Kung Keetsie Myau, who they viewed as a trustworthy ally and military leader, having put up some of the best results in the war against the unstoppable intergalactic invaders.

Even a few second-tier races had joined in the political stunt. The Cleopians, Crystallids, Jargs, Earth Humans, Tailax Humans, and Gilvar Syndicate Humans had all sent diplomatic notes of protest. A diplomatic note had also come in from Human Emperor Georg the First through Meleyephatian intermediaries. And even a previously unknown race, the Elvinians, had expressed protest despite the fact the Great Priestess herself had never heard of them.

The usually taciturn head of Miyelonian intelligence, Kung Wauu-Miaoo suddenly took the floor to clear up the baffling situation.

“The Elvinians are a highly advanced and powerful interstellar race with territory stretching for hundreds of thousands of light years and comprising a myriad of star systems. They share a border with the Human Empire, and even waged a protracted war against them, but eight years ago signed a peace treaty and military alliance with Georg the First and the Human Empire. According to our intel, the Elvinian military fleet is very powerful and contains twenty thousand starships.”

Everyone fell silent, taking in the new and highly important information. Another great spacefaring race with an official position for them to reckon with. But Second Star Fleet Commander Leng Raoo-Miayawoo just snorted in dismay.

“What difference does it make how many ships they have? They are very far away, even farther than Georg the First’s Empire. Our starships would take more than a decade to reach them. How could they possibly know about Kung Keetsie, and why do these Elvinians even care about our internal affairs? We might as well wipe our rear ends with their warning; it’s just an empty threat with nothing to back it up!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that if I were you, commander,” the intelligence chief objected with a respectful bow. “A small Empire fleet is currently travelling to our galaxy via Meleyephatian Horde warp beacons and has already made it a third of the way. I suspect it is a recon fleet, scouting out the route before the Empire sends a more considerable force. Furthermore, perhaps this got drowned out by the flood of information in the last few days and went unnoticed, but the Human Empire laid claim to the uninhabited GF-111K system on the border between the Meleyephatian Horde and Geckho space. No other spacefaring race disputed their claim in the legally allotted timeframe, so technically the GF-111K system now belongs to the Human Empire. That means Georg the First and his military advisors are certain they can reach the system, which is just eight days’ flight from our space.”

The council members started buzzing with commentary. So, the semi-mythical faraway Empire of Georg the First and the Elvinians were more than capable of deploying combat starships to the Miyelonian border, and that was something they would now have to take into account.

“I can explain how Georg the First and his allies were made aware of the Miyelonians and Kung Keetsie Myau,” the Great Priestess again joined the discussion. “Recently, Free Captain Kung Gnat, a Human with a fair number of Miyelonians in his crew, travelled to the Empire and conducted negotiations. And his Translator there was a Miyelonian named Ayni Uri-Miayuu, who knows Kung Keetsie Myau well, and is actually a good friend of hers. She was also present at a subsequent informal gathering between the two Human leaders, so she had plenty of opportunity to tell him about her distant homeworld.”

Just then, another hologram platform lit up — Leng Teerr-Miauss, head of the archive service, had finally made it to the council session. The wise scholar gave a deep bow to the council and apologized for arriving late, which he claimed was occasioned by a need to personally monitor the loading of invaluable Star City artifacts onto transport starships for evacuation away from the warzone.

“Did I miss something? Has the evacuation of the capital been announced already?” Leng Yava Uri-Maoo perked her ears up. A Miyelonian female of flawless beauty, she was considered another of the three currently living incarnations of the Great First Female. “Should we not then start evacuating highly valuable artworks from our museums as well?”

Leng Yava Uri-Maoo was head of the Department of Finery, tasked by the Council of Rulers with representing Miyelonian painters, sculptors, dancers and musicians, so her interest was of a professional nature.

“No, there has not yet been an official evacuation announcement,” the head of the Communications Department noted. “And I presume such an announcement will never be made, because it would immediately undermine the population’s faith in the strength of our military and cause unnecessary panic.”

“Without a doubt!” Leng Amiru supported the previous speaker. “Our enemies are powerful and highly dangerous. According to recent intel, the Composite fleet attacking us is composed of from seventy-six to eighty thousand starships. You are all aware that our force will be five times smaller than that, so the situation is critical. But I didn’t call this session to discuss a shameful retreat — instead, I intend to make plans for the defense of our capital. I want you to think, look for ways of reinforcing our positions, and suggest tactics or solutions that might help us come out on top.”

Seeing that the other leaders were in no hurry to make suggestions, the Great Priestess Leng Amiru took it on herself to start talking and counting on her clawed fingers.

“First of all, no evacuation! All our public statements must project confidence that we can hold Star City. Second, there must be a battle for the Urmi system even if the balance of forces is completely hopeless. Otherwise, the citizens of the Union of Miyelonian Prides will not understand and start rioting. Third, if even the slightest chance of winning exists, we must seize on it and smash our enemy! At any cost! Reinforce existing orbital batteries on Urmi-II and build new defensive fortifications. We must spare no funds or resources. I want us engaging as many civilians as possible. Fourth, summon all available Free Captains and mercenaries from pirate prides, promise them mountains of gold as long as they come to our aid. Fifth, we look for support from outside, from our neighbors. Ah, if only Kung Keetsie Myau were with us now, we could put the Great One on this assignment — the other rulers know, respect, and trust her. But Keetsie is missing, and time is of the essence. Who would be willing to conduct negotiations with the great spacefaring races?”

No one responded quickly. The pride leaders just traded looks and shook their tails nervously. But that very second, the two last missing ruler holograms lit up — the Commanders of the First and Fourth Star Fleets had made it after all, though they were very late.

“How dare you bleach your fur?!” Leng Ayvi U-Mawoo fell straight on Kung Keetsie with reproach. “This is unprecedented sacrilege! Only the three true incarnations of the Great First Female — those such as me, Amiru and Yava Uri-Maoo have the right to adopt such an appearance!”

The Commander of the Fourth Star Fleet, who had been wearing a black bandanna over her injured eye and a metal prosthesis for a right arm was indeed now standing before the Council of Rulers without her usual black muzzle spots. But the Great One didn’t comment on her new appearance, much less apologize for it. Nor did she make excuses for being late. She just announced to the assembled pride leaders that the negotiations with the great spacefaring races had already gone successfully, and the Miyelonians’ neighbors would come to their aid for the defense of Star City.

The Great Priestess cut Leng Ayvi’s mic to mute her incessant whining and asked the newcomer to go into more detail. Kung Keetsie Myau was all too eager to explain.

“King Hugo the First agreed to send half of the Trillian Royal Fleet to assist us. Twelve thousand starships, including fifteen battleships and the Kibo-Poro-Toysh exterminator. Krong Laa of the Meleyephatian Horde is also willing to send us aid: his Fifth Fleet in its entirety, as well as all units withdrawn from Geckho space. That is a total of seven thousand combat starships including three battleships. The Geckho will assist only with transport ships and repair bases because they’re having a hard enough time as it is: the Composite is making a big push on them right now. They’re essentially constantly engaged in bloody battles. But Geckho vassals will assist us. The Cleopians, Cyanids, and Earth Humans will send their ships. It won’t be much, just one hundred fifty frigates and interceptors, but they certainly won’t hurt. And it’s also possible they will have a Relict assault cruiser, which is currently being repaired at Tailax’s space docks — Kung Gnat promised to do everything in his power to bring it to my aid.”

“Just your aid, not the entire Union of Miyelonian Prides’?” the Commander of the Second Star Fleet got caught up on that one word, but Kung Keetsie ignored his question and responded to Leng Amiru, who had asked what this assistance would cost them.

“Nothing much, although... depends how you look at it. None of our allies demanded territorial concessions or repayment in any other way. The only required condition for providing aid was that the Miyelonians immediately cease the shameful and inappropriate squabbles between the commanders of their currently divided fleets and that they transfer command of the unified fleet to a sole leader. An experienced commander who has fought the Composite before and who our neighbors can trust.”

In the silence that fell after that, First Star Fleet Commander Kung Poosh-Sheer’s statement had a particularly contrasting and sharp ring.

“Keetsie and I made a decision to unite our fleets. The First and Fourth Star Fleets will join together into a new combat unit — the united Star Fleet of the Union of Miyelonian Prides. And I voluntarily hand over the reins of the united fleet to Kung Keetsie Myau, as the most capable strategist and successful fleet commander!”

First to react to the new developments was the Commander of the Third Strike Fleet. Leng Wa-U Miaoo got down respectfully on one knee before Kung Keetsie, bowed his head and said:

“Great One! For saving our race from total annihilation, I entrust to your faithful paws all the starships of my Third Fleet as well as my own life!”

Leng Amiru couldn’t hold back the satisfied smirk. Oh well. The admiral had gotten his bearings quickly and made up for the recent misstep when he nearly voted to depose the young commander. Incidentally, Miyelonians were famed for their speedy decision-making, and their politicians were expected to be able to quickly read the lay of the land and adjust their policies accordingly regardless of prior position. He would go far! Or at the very least keep his seat on the Council of Rulers. Unlike his associate from the Second Star Fleet, who had misread the situation and was still standing unhappily with his arms crossed, expressing scorn for his political opponent who had regained her former glory and even soared to higher heights than ever before. That was a miscalculation...

Kung Keetsie Myau put a kindhearted smile on her snout and waved a paw majestically, telling the former commander of the Third Star Fleet, now her subordinate, to stand but then turned to Leng Raoo-Miayawoo. And the expression on the Great One’s snout changed with frightening speed into the snarl of a bloodthirsty predator.

“I have conducted my own investigation into the recent spate of assassinations outside virt pods on Urmi-II, which resulted in the deaths of many commanders loyal to me, my fiancé Gerd Lekku, and nearly myself. Leng Raoo-Miayawoo, I officially charge you with inciting unrest and multiple counts of murder for hire. I also put to a vote a motion to strip you of all your posts and have you executed.”

Twenty-two paws shot up, even that of the pure white beauty Ayvi U-Mawoo who had recently accused Kung Keetsie of sacrilege, trying belatedly to make up for what she’d done and earn the Great One’s forgiveness. Upon seeing the results of the vote, the Second Star Fleet Commander also raised his paw. Unanimous! After that, Leng Raoo-Miayawoo, already no longer a member of the Council of Rulers or a fleet commander, took out his razor-sharp curved blade and cut off his own head in one fluid motion. His hologram immediately faded out.

“Raoo-Miayawoo is a proud warrior and will surely now kill himself in the real world after exiting his virt pod to avoid a shameful execution,” came Leng Azari Ur-Maya, head of the Department of Scientific Progress. “And his fleet will be rolled into yours, oh Great One. But I wish to address an unrelated topic. What do you know about that Relict cruiser, and why has Free Captain Kung Gnat opted to have it repaired at Meleyephatian Horde space docks rather than ours, or those of his Geckho suzerains?”

“I myself am not well informed about the ancient cruiser,” Kung Keetsie confessed, not ashamed to admit her ignorance. “My informant in the Kung of Earth’s crew was badly injured and lost the ability to speak with me in the usual way. My only suspicion is that the cruiser’s sudden appearance is somehow connected with the recent notification about the conclusion of the war between the ancient races and the coming of characters with the classes of Devourer, Arbiter, and Investigator to the game that bends reality. Why did my friend Gnat choose not to have the repairs done by us or the Geckho? He’s clearly afraid, and not without reason, that the great races might take an interest in the ancient starship, and even try to seize the ship by force. The Meleyephatians are currently duty-bound to treat Kung Gnat with the utmost respect. Furthermore, he has with him on his cruiser over one hundred subjects of Emperor Georg the First — huge spiny insects I believe belong to the ‘Iseyek’ race.”

“But why Tailax?” the chief scientist was still surprised. “I seem to remember the captain’s wayedda having a very hard time escaping the surveillance of the prelates of Tailax, and a Miyelonian Medic helping rid her of all the surveillance devices. Why should the Free Captain stick his head back into that trap?”

“Good point,” Kung Keetsie Myau agreed. “I hadn’t considered Kung Gnat’s apparently illogical move from that perspective. Of course, there is the possibility he has faith in Horde leader Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz. But I know Free Captain Kung Gnat well, so I suspect that is not why. There’s something strange afoot on Tailax, a new political game of some kind. Kung Wauu-Miaoo, have our intelligence services gather data on the situation. Furthermore, the ancient cruiser is just as interesting to me as the Relict laboratory, which I gave blueprints of to our scientists.”

Kung Keetsie took a cursory glance around at the assembled rulers hurrying to demonstrate their loyalty and allegiance to the Great One, who had now acquired unforetold power. She held her gaze a bit longer on the mendicant Leng Ayvi U-Mawoo — the youngest of the currently living incarnations of the Great First Female — who was kneeling to beg forgiveness. And then, she adjourned the council session.

One after the next, the glowing holograms went out. That left only two Miyelonians in the hall, Kung Keetsie Myau, who had just gotten control of all the Miyelonian race’s ships, and the great Priestess Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo.

“You were amazing, Keetsie!” the elder Miyelonian praised her younger friend. “A truly powerful and wise ruler, who showed up to provide hope when things were at their tensest and all others were wallowing in despair.”

“All I did was stick to your script, mentor!” Keetsie bowed respectfully to the Great Priestess. “But, as you correctly noted, all I have brought so far is hope. The balance of forces is still not in our favor, and we will have to fight hard to secure victory in the battle for the Urmi capital system.”

“Yes, the battle will be dire and gruesome, but we will certainly stand a chance. The lines of the probable future tell me so. And after you emerge triumphant, none will have any doubt in your right to call yourself Krong, the sole ruler of the Miyelonian race.”

“But what about that little favor, mentor?”

“Prevail, Keetsie, and I will name you an incarnation of the Great First Female before billions of believers, then your authority will be both absolute and indisputable. As for the fact there are only supposed to be three living incarnations at any one time, I will take care of it. I must admit, the young fool Ayvi left me very disappointed with her incompetence and inability to find her footing just now. Yava Uri-Maoo is also far from a shining intellect, but at least she stays out of issues she does not comprehend. So, Ayvi. I’m afraid the youngest incarnation of the Great First Female is not destined to survive the inevitable chaos of the gory battle for the capital system...”

Chapter 1. Uncrewed Ship

“One sec, Paa Um-Um Paa, there’s one part I’m still not getting... Are you trying to say this whole huge cruiser was manned by just four Relicts???”

The cruiser’s artificial intelligence, projected as an opaque glowing hologram of a Relict, was taking me on a tour of the ancient starship. We were walking through one of the cruiser’s four command centers. Just like in the three others I’d seen before, there was just one operator seat — in front of a console with inactive instruments there was a metal hemisphere containing ten docking ports for a cybernetic entity to link into the ship’s systems. The back of the “seat” had quite a large opening the crewmember was supposed to use to enter their workstation, leaving space behind for the Relict’s massive abdomen.

“Five Relicts, Devourer Kung Gnat,” Paa Um-Um Paa corrected me, meanwhile chasing off five Small Guard Drones, which had taken an interest in my two guard drones and started playing a game of tag with them in the relatively small room. “Still, to pilot a standard Vatu-Mocho heavy cruiser, only four crewmembers are truly necessary.”

“Just four? Let me think. A pilot of course. Most likely a Gunner as well. Then a Navigator...” I started enumerating, but the AI interrupted my awkward attempt at guessing.

“No, no, young Devourer. Commanding such a complex starship required experienced players with more functional and advanced game classes, minimum second rank on the Pyramid.”

My interest was piqued, and I asked for more details. The command program was eager to explain.

“A Slider would perform the functions of both a Starship Pilot and Navigator. They steered the ship and set courses across all spatial layers. The Listener was tasked with gathering and transmitting data, as well as maintaining uplink with the Pyramid and helping command the heavy combat drones. The Devastator or Arbiter was in control of all weapons systems: cruiser cannons, wormhole generators, and combat drones. The Supervisor was in charge of the energy units, forcefields and temporal shields. So, four crewmembers were plenty for a standard Vatu-Mocho cruiser. Furthermore, the cruiser’s command program could step in temporarily for any of the four crew. But this ship is not a standard cruiser. The flagship of the White-Purple Fleet was assigned special tasks in battle. Kung Pin-Ish-Ish-Pin the Devourer was responsible for coordinating and commanding the whole fleet as well as monitoring the allied ship support unit — a very complex and energy-intensive system that takes up practically a third of the interior of this starship.”

My virtual tour guide had already mentioned the differences between our Di-Pal-Yu 781 and a standard Vatu-Mocho cruiser on several occasions. This ship had only four main cannons instead of the usual seven, and out of the many additional armament systems a standard cruiser might have had, this one had only a wormhole generator. However, it did have two extra forcefield units, increasing the capacity of the energy shields and feeding a special device on the command ship, which was the reason they had sacrificed the star cruiser’s attack power.

This ship could hand out bonuses for speed and maneuverability to allied starships, reinforce the capacity and restore speed of their energy shields, and perform instant null jump retreats, bringing along a group of allied ships (even those that had lost their own engines or were being held down by enemy disruptors). It could even absorb damage taken by allies with its highly advanced shields. I had no clue how it worked on a technical level, much less what skills a command ship captain needed to perform such a difficult role, but I was hoping to figure it all out quickly.

“And where was the Devourer’s workstation?” I asked and even opened a three-dimensional diagram of the cruiser because we hadn’t yet come across the fifth command center.

“Devourers have no need for such primitive systems,” the Relict hologram pointed its glowing limb at the console and hemispherical seat. “The capabilities of a Pyramid Hierarch surpass those of lower rank players by many orders of magnitude. Devourers are always mentally linked with their ship and can control any systems with no intermediary or additional technical means necessary.”

Woah... I was still far from such lofty heights but comprehended the overall idea. I was already capable of taking control of some systems mentally without any console for interface. But so far, every time had been a serious challenge to my abilities, and the success chance was not always one hundred percent.

Perhaps when my Psionics, Mental Fortitude, and Machine Control skills improved, I would be able to control the ship more easily and confidently. I was already constantly gaining experience, but... to captain a ship purely with my own mind? To constantly keep the whole picture in my head without monitors, locator data, or external cameras? It sounded unthinkably difficult. It would be a hundred times more difficult than playing chess blind. There at least the board was two-dimensional, while the pieces followed set movement patterns and were not trying to kill you.

It felt impossible to do my job without my usual workstation with its dozen or so screens of tactical maps, and data from scanners and other instruments. Much less without reliable experienced assistants to lighten the load. By the way... The cruiser now had seven unopened temporal chambers. What if the experienced crew Paa Um-Um Paa told me about were there awaiting their hour. I could really use a Slider, Arbiter and Supervisor. I asked the control program what it knew about the frozen players.

“Devourer, I have located the information you requested. The six temporal chambers contain captains and crewmembers from various starships picked up from rescue pods during the White-Purple Fleet’s final battle. Neither their names, nor professions were recorded. The seventh chamber contains Void.”

“Void? Like the chamber is empty?”

“No, Kung Gnat. The word ‘Void’ is written like a personal name. Extremely little data. I found just fragmentary information. There is a short record made two days before the White-Purple Fleet’s final battle saying, ‘after interrogation, the captive captain was fed to Void.’ The log also contains an older record of a tragic incident that took place on the cruiser during peacetime. Just two sentences: ‘The cruiser’s Devastator accidentally made contact with Void. Captain hired new Devastator to fill vacant post.’ My guess is that Void is some kind of living creature. Perhaps the previous captain’s pet. I hope the Pyramid contains more complete information about the creature and you, as Devourer, can be given access to it.”

Yes, most likely. My status as Pyramid Hierarch gave me full access to all the information the Relicts had gathered over the millennia, and I had to take advantage of it. But how to request information from the Pyramid I had not yet discovered because as a Listener I was usually sending data to it rather than being told anything. When I got some free time, I’d have to look into it and try to find more information about this Void.

The former captain must have had a dangerous pet if they were feeding prisoners to it, and the beast was even capable of killing allies. And to add to the weirdness, it also said that neither the prisoner, nor the late Devastator had come back at their respawn points. Had the records in the game been made about events in the real world? Or could this creature kill fully in the game like a Devourer with the Life Suppression ability? I’d have been a little more careful transporting such a dangerous creature. That said, a ghastly level-999 Devourer couldn’t exactly have peaceful pets. It was hard to imagine Kung Pin-Ish-Ish-Pin keeping a birdcage full of squawking parrots in his cabin, or an aquarium of colorful guppies. In any case, the temporal capsule containing Void was worth keeping shut. In fact, all seven temporal capsules had to be blocked off with a force barrier so none of my crew would open them whether out of curiosity or purely by accident.

I was distracted from those thoughts by a chipper voice in my headphones. It was Orun Va-Mart my Engineer telling me the repair brigade had finally cut out and removed the twisted steel wreckage blocking entry to the ship’s nose section around the huge hole in the hull. And while the rest of the repair brigade continued to clear rubble and restore pressure to blown-out sections with a special metallic film that hardened quickly in a vacuum, the Engineer himself had proceeded down the previously inaccessible corridor and discovered a whole storage area containing replacement parts for guard drones — both small and large.

“Captain, this is a great stroke of luck! Now, I will be able to repair our Large Guard Drone with the Kirsan repair bots!”

“And that isn’t all the good news, Captain Gnat!” Geckho Supercargo Avan Toi echoed the Miyelonian, also having entered the newly opened area. “I found a whole arsenal in a compartment next to that storage area! There are shelves of Relict small arms, all in excellent condition. Annihilators, pulse pistols, and another kind I don’t recognize... Uh, well, I don’t have enough Intelligence to read their information. Might be a grenade launcher.”

Then, his icon grayed out. Avan Toi was dead. And would respawn in fifteen minutes on Earth, where along with Gerd Uline Tar, Kisly, Taik Rekh, and Gerd T’yu-Pan, he would await the return of our ship. That was the very kind of reckless curiosity I was worried about when thinking about blocking off the temporal capsules. I had already lost five crewmembers in the process of investigating the ancient cruiser. Who could say what other kind of dangerous surprises the ancient starship might harbor after drifting through space for forty thousand years? I had no desire to add to the list of unnecessary losses.

I turned to the command program and had it block all the cruiser’s remaining doors other than the safe residential bunks in the central area where I was planning to move part of the frigate crew as soon as possible. Then, with no rush and under calm circumstances, we could study the remaining sections of the cruiser in an organized fashion.

And put together a list of valuable items found on board! I was pushed into that decision after running a scan and discovering Secret Master Gerd Tini in the dangerous arsenal rifling through the dead Supercargo’s belongings and stuffing some loot and a few items from the shelves into his inventory.

“Tini, back where you belong!” I sent a mental order, and my ward, not expecting detection, hurried to empty the stolen items from his inventory and return to invisibility.

I thought back on the guard drone replacement part storage... and asked the control program to tell me in greater depth about the drones on the cruiser.

“Devourer, standard Vatu-Mocho combat cruisers are equipped with twenty-seven large guard drones kept in hangars located in the nose, arranged into three rows of nine. But they are empty now. I assume combat ships and automatic Precursor hunters were able to shoot down the White-Purple Fleet’s drones even though one large drone was thought to be equivalent to two such hunters in battle. The five small drones still patrolling the interior of the cruiser on orders from its former captain belonged to the Listener from the former crew. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any information about what became of him. And I cannot transfer their ownership.”

“No matter. I have enough authority to transfer the drones to other owners. I myself can control up to five drones... Or rather, I will again be able to once the repair bots resize the Devourer Energy Armor Suit to fit me. The other two small drones can be taken by Gerd Ayni the Listener — I can assign them to her as Pyramid hierarch. And as for our crippled Large Guard Drone, we can place it in the hangar intended for it. After repair, that drone will join our cruiser’s fledgling battle group along with the two automatic Precursor hunters. Actually...”

I had just been struck by a crazy notion. What if I offered a spot in the cruiser hangars to the satellites still accompanying me and my ship? They weren’t likely to agree, of course, but it was worth a shot. The status of the two symbiotes, I had to admit, was still a mystery to me. The Precursors had agreed to share the two satellites with me as compensation for blowing up the mobile laboratory, but they did not belong to me, and I could not actually control them. Ever since I got my new ship and put an end to the ancient war, both satellites had followed the Relict cruiser and my old frigate everywhere. Allies? Precursor spies? Additional security? Or Precursors attached to the Pyramid Hierarch to serve as intermediaries for possible future talks?

I closed my eyes, focused and mentally summoned the two autonomous Precursor hunters, which were accompanying my new ship from a quarter mile away.

“I, Pyramid Hierarch Gnat the Devourer, hereby grant you the right to recharge from the cruiser Di-Pal-Yu 781 as you did previously from my frigate Tamara the Paladin. I also grant you permission to pass through my ship’s energy shields and enter dock. I provide you with two hangars for the purposes of docking and repair,” I opened the cruiser diagram and marked two neighboring slots intended for the placement of Large Guard Drones.

Diplomacy skill increased to level forty-three!

The response was practically instantaneous. As assumed, the symbiotes refused. Although... surprisingly, they did add that they had taken my offer into consideration and, if needed, they would dock to repair or take cover from an external threat.

Gerd Imran the Arbiter and his young bride San-Sano the Engineer walked up to me. They said the central corridor, which ran the length of the thousand-foot cruiser, had been cleared. And that the breach in the hull of the starship had been sealed with the special film, which would be checked for leaks by main Engineer Orun Va-Mart after it hardened, then the damaged sectors would start repressurizing.

“But emergency film is just temporary measure to keep ship stable. Devourer, the ship require full repair at one space dock,” the cruiser artificial intelligence stated in quite broken but fully comprehensible Geckho. Not bad, it was learning quick and adapting itself to new conditions.

“Paa Um-Um Paa, the ship will require not only full hull repair, but a total overhaul. Our crew is missing several of the classes you said were required to pilot the cruiser, such as Slider, Devastator, and Supervisor. Also, our Listener Gerd Ayni does not yet have all required skills to fully replace her long dead predecessor. Furthermore, all the command centers and instruments were made for Relict bodies. Humans have different ways of perceiving information. Our eyes work at different framerates, and the only ones who understand Relict are me, you and Ayni. Repair and overhaul will be necessary. But no matter what star system we go to for repair, we could be in for very serious problems.”

“Why, Coruler Gnat?” San-Sano didn’t understand.

“Because, if I were in the place of the Miyelonians, Geckho or really any advanced spacefaring race, the first thing I would do would be to try and seize this valuable artifact-packed starship if it was dumb enough to dock for repair! Furthermore, this starship could hardly fit thirty defenders inside. That’s no obstacle to taking it by force. So, I’ll have to think up a way we can go in for repair without risking our new trump card.”

And by the way... the battleship Bride of Chaos, which now belonged to me along with fifty smaller ships, had just made it down the warp beacon chain into Meleyephatian Horde space. I didn’t know exactly where the flotilla was, but I could split off ships from it to defend my cruiser. And recruit more crew, as well as dispel any dangerous illusions by the repair dock owners about whether they’d be able to take the ancient cruiser by force. I turned to my personal bodyguard.

“Imran, your new game class has an intriguing ability to track characters in the virtual game no matter where they are. Have you tried it out yet?”

The Dagestani athlete said no.

“Well, now seems like the perfect time for a test run. Remember the blond robot woman on Bride of Chaos called Luana, the perfect copy of android queen Leng Bionica? Find her! And tell me exactly how far away she is now.”

The Arbiter spent a few seconds standing perfectly still with glassy eyes, then responded without too much confidence that a marker had appeared, and pointed toward a metal wall, saying she was that way at some insane distance in miles. A long number with sixteen or no, actually seventeen digits.

“Wait up, I’ll connect you with the Navigator. Read that off to Avan Toi, have him figure out which Horde system that is. And as for you,” I turned to Paa Um-Um Paa, “ready the cruiser for instant transport to Earth orbit so we can pick up our respawned comrades. Then, we’ll be going to a set of coordinates my Navigator will tell you!”

Chapter 2. Debut

IT WOULD BE TOUGH getting by without my usual Listener Energy Armor Suit. I’d practically grown up with it. It was like my second skin, and way of interacting with the outside world. But I gave my old armor suit to Gerd Ayni, which only required small tweaks to fit the small humanlike Miyelonian. The white Kirsan Mechanoid repair bot took care of it in less than an hour. But the Devourer Combat Armor Suit, which had been discovered in the personal chambers of the cruiser’s former captain, was proving a much more difficult and intimidating piece of Relict technology to adapt.

The huge black armor suit actively absorbed light and bent time. Any timekeeping device would slow down when brought near the Devourer Combat Armor Suit and would stop completely if placed atop the ancient artifact. The armor suit was made of a strange multilayered material — a particularly tough substance somewhere between plastic and cermet, alternating with layers of heat- and impact-absorbing gel embedded with tight grids of microscopic superconductive filaments. Inside, we also found a complex integrated electronic system constantly gathering information from all the joints and armor plates to monitor the status of the overall suit. Removing the “excess” limbs or the section for the Relict’s huge abdomen would mean destroying the complex integrated system and breaking the unique ancient artifact. My two Engineers and three mechanical centipedes spent a long time discussing before admitting that they had no real idea yet of how to even get started on the extremely difficult task.

“Looks like there’s no getting by here without the aid of the best Mechanics or Armor Suit Crafters,” my friend Gerd Uline Tar voiced her opinion when I shared my woes. “Gnat, I’ll ask around with the most famous Geckho crafters. Maybe one of them will take the challenge. But I can’t even begin to imagine how much it might cost...”

I could sense notes of uncertainty in my furry friend’s voice. And it wasn’t so much that she had any doubts in the abilities of her race’s great crafters, or that we would find the funds to pay for their labor. The issue was something different. I cautiously probed the Trader’s thoughts. Ah, there it is...

Gerd Uline Tar was uncertain of herself. The Trader could see that she was the lowest-level crewmember, including even the later additions of Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest and Cleopian Historian Gerd Eda-No Edeyya, who were fifteen and twenty levels higher than the Geckho woman respectively. Furthermore, as first mate, she realized that Team Gnat was handling all its tasks without her assistance and could even get by without the profits from her infrequent trade deals. And so, my business partner was seriously concerned that the newly minted Devourer would one day no longer require her services, leaving her back on Earth as the Relict Faction trade representative, or on Poko-Poko station as a viceroy, thus relegating her to a sort of honorable exile. And the lucky star Uline had once hitched her wagon to would fly on to new triumphs and achievements, leaving her to languish in desolate obscurity.

“Your lucky star isn’t going anywhere without you,” I reassured my big friend, making Uline look embarrassed that I was reading her secret thoughts. “You are my friend, and I do not give up on my friends. It’s easy to find work for an experienced Trader. Especially now that our faction has publicly announced its existence and will have to live up to its image as the dominant force on Earth. We also have to portray Earth as a new player on the arena of interstellar politics, a force all others will have to reckon with. On top of that, Earth is inching toward a war with the Gilvar Syndicate, and I need combat starships in large numbers.”

Gerd Uline Tar shuddered and perked up her furry ears — she did not have that information before, and meanwhile the heated conflict with the Meleyephatian Horde representative was a serious challenge to her captain and business partner. I then put the mission into concrete terms.

“I see a way of obtaining combat ships from the Human Empire, but I’ll need an incredible amount of ‘magic jewelry’ to trade. Nefertiti the NPC Dryad is working day and night in her jewelry workshop, hammering out rings and bracelets to improve characteristics, which are so in demand in Georg the First’s Empire. Provide our little worker with all the materials she’ll need: gold and platinum wire, precious stones, whatever Nefertiti asks for. But that won’t be enough. One Jeweler won’t be capable of fulfilling such a massive order. So, start buying up ‘magic’ jewelry wherever you can find it, no matter how cheap. I suggest you get in touch with Gerd Ussh Veesh the Trillian. He specializes in that line of business and, as a friend of mine, will give you good discounts. And of course, I will cover all expenses...”

“No, no, Captain Gnat. I won’t be needing any funds,” the Trader interrupted me, looking suddenly engaged like a hound that had just caught a scent. “We can settle up after all the trade deals are complete.”

That was good, because I was not exactly in a financial position to go wild. I still had money left over from selling the platinum — eighteen million Geckho crystals, which would probably be enough to refit the Devourer suit and provide the cruiser with minimal repairs. And although buying goods for trade with the Empire would pay off handsomely, it would require expenses, so I was glad my business partner could cover the costs.

“And another thing, Uline. There are a lot of refugees now. Millions of inhabitants of the galaxy are running from the war with the Composite, and not all are poor urchins. Some are big players and have savings on the order of a clan or pride. Or even their own starships, including combat ones. With equipment offloaded from factories. With experienced crafters and players belonging to a large number of professions our faction needs. Cast a line. If you catch anything good — people willing to join Relict and work for us — offer them safe asylum on Earth or Poko-Poko. I have a huge amount of game nodes on the virtual Earth, which technically belong to my faction but are essentially empty and need to be settled and actively developed. So none of our neighbors get an idea to take any of the essentially unowned territory for themselves.”

“Are any of the terrestrial factions really brainless enough to defy the Kung of Earth? That sounds like suicide!” my friend was surprised and in sincere disbelief, but I was not so sure.

“Plenty of wars have been waged over small scraps of land on my home planet, and I would not like that negative experience brought into the game.”

Uline Tar, looking noticeably in better spirits, ran off to carry out my orders. I then started preparing for an official visit to the Meleyephatian Horde space station, which a small Horde flotilla was currently stationed near. And at a respectful distance from them were my new starships: the huge battleship Bride of Chaos with a group of support ships.

* * *

I HAD TO RACK MY BRAINS over how to make the Kung of Earth and new Relict Pyramid Hierarch not look foolish and even comical in the eyes of his new subjects and the Meleyephatian Horde. And while I was never a fan of the official La-Fin dynasty head outfits from the magocratic world, I couldn’t find anything better suited to the situation. Wearing the floor-length blood-red robes of an Archmage and coruler of Earth’s Humanity embroidered with the crests of the La-Fin family and its vassal houses, I proceeded in a majestic gait down the adjoining corridor before stepping foot onto a small Meleyephatian station called Buga-Tau-Ro. The heavy carved staff thudding off the floor and echoing with my every step left me fully looking the part of a great mage accustomed to giving orders.

In my party were Gerd Imran the Arbiter, wearing his famed suit of armor gifted by the Geckho ruler; Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Listener, wearing the black Relict Energy Armor Suit and showing off a set of blades made from the fangs of Trillian ruler Hugo the First; Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez the Investigator, clad in the ghastly dark sorceress robes; and Gerd Tini the Secret Master, lurking in invisibility. Also accompanying me were the seven Small Relict Guard Drones circling overhead like a rocket-propelled carousel, ready to throw themselves on anyone I pointed out. It was, so to speak, a debut for me as a Devourer and my retinue with their new exotic classes, and I wanted to make sure we made the right impression on the station’s owners.

Authority increased to 154!

Looks like I may have overdone it. The two large prominent Meleyephatians in combat armor who greeted us in the hall were Buga-Tau-Ro’s station chief and the commander of Horde Reserve Flotilla Forty-Two. They pressed their jointed limbs tight up against their carapaces and fell to the floor. Their guards, standing relatively nearby, did the same. Odd. I had never seen that behavior in Meleyephatians before.

“It is a sign of the deepest respect, given only to rulers of the very highest rank,” Ayni explained in Russian so the Meleyephatians wouldn’t understand.

Aha. With a swipe of my hand, I gave the bowing Meleyephatians permission to stand. The cephalothorax of the commander of Reserve Flotilla Forty-Two was adorned with a glowing medal in the shape of a seven-pointed star and studded with little gemstones. A medal? As far as I knew, the Meleyephatians did not honor their distinguished fighters that way. But the Horde contained dozens if not hundreds of subordinate vassal races, and it was easily possible that combat medals were awarded by some of them. And the Meleyephatian standing before me must have made a great showing somewhere like that.

At any rate, I quickly lost interest in the medal and its eight-legged bearer because there was a growing patter coming down the long corridor sounding like a huge number of feet on a cermet floor. And not long after, I saw the large group that had brought me to this obscure, utterly unremarkable backwater star system — one hundred especially large and fast Alpha Iseyek troopers gifted to me by Georg the First, selected specially by Swarm geneticists. Tough, completely fearless, deadly, and unswervingly loyal to their master.

My new troopers had a very striking appearance — large and spiny, they looked like overgrown praying mantises clad in armored space suits, glimmering with bright lights on their shells and holding plasma cutters and firearms, some of them heavy. The Alpha Iseyek didn’t need melee weaponry either, because they were all already armed with razor-sharp deadly front appendages capable of penetrating any carapace or armor vest. And meanwhile, the Iseyek moved with such speed that the Meleyephatian station guards were hardly able to jump aside to avoid being trampled by the one and a half times taller and at least four times heavier creatures.

Upon seeing the death machines flying straight at us, little Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez tensed up and extended her hands forward, starting to cast a fireball. Odd. Like Ayni and Imran, she had seen Alpha Iseyek before and had no reason to be so frightened. Just in case, I reassured the little magess and explained that they were our new allies. Furthermore, they were already technically part of our crew, and would be joining the cruiser’s boarding team. The fireball, which had already reached the size of a basketball, disappeared into thin air.

I meanwhile remained perfectly calm and did not step out of the way of the whirring wave of creatures, watching with detached curiosity as the huge insects came my way, performing some strange ritual to greet their new master. Testing my restraint? Trying to make sure their new master is worthy? In one way or another, my Danger Sense skill had nothing to say, so there was no true threat.

And it didn’t let me down. The nearest Iseyek came to a sudden stop just three feet away from me, after which they bowed low with their faceted-eyed heads and froze completely. After that, the huge, ghastly looking troopers split to make way for a young blond human woman wearing a very thin black form-fitting track suit. Had she run several miles down the long space station corridors from Bride of Chaos’ docking site together with the battalion of Iseyek troopers? If that was so, there was no telling it by Luana’s appearance. The android woman didn’t look tired or out of breath. She walked up and gave a dignified bow.

“My Kung, I have completed your order and brought the Swarm troopers you requested from Bride of Chaos. Twenty starships have split off from the flotilla and stand ready to accompany your cruiser. The group comprises five Flycatcher destroyers, six Warhawk heavy frigates, and nine Pyro frigates. What are your further instructions?”

She said all that in very cleanly accented Geckho. I was unable to respond because the word Gerd had suddenly appeared before my eyes in the beautiful android woman’s description. How about that? The modest Translator, one of a hundred thousand copies of android queen Leng Bionica, was of great interest to the Horde military, and representatives of all kinds of Meleyephatian secret services who were beyond all doubt watching this encounter very closely. And that brought her Fame high enough to be considered a Gerd, meaning “above the crowd,” in Relict.

“Congratulations on the promotion, Gerd Luana!” I smiled then, on the contrary, frowned and started unhappily. “I thought Bride of Chaos and the ships accompanying the battleship were going to come to Earth as quickly as possible.”

“Indeed they are, my Kung!” the android woman assured me.

“But then explain to me, Gerd Luana, why the flotilla has been drifting around for a whole ummi in this star system rather than proceeding further down the warp beacon chain.”

My synthetic assistant looked crushed and lowered her head.

“Kung Gnat, Bride of Chaos is holding us up. The huge battleship needs time to recharge before it can make another long-distance jump. All warp beacons in Empire space are equipped with charging ports made to quickly refill the energy of docked ships. But here in Horde space, there is no such thing. We aren’t getting accelerated charging, which is severely restricting our speed at travelling the warp beacon chain.”

I see... I asked Ayni the Miyelonian to translate that to Meleyephatian, then looked up and started speaking to the ceiling where scanning had detected video cameras, microphones, and a lot of other hidden tech including even high-speed automatic turrets hidden behind ceiling tiles.

“This flotilla has been authorized to travel to Earth by Krong Laa and is in compliance with Meleyephatian Horde interests among other things. Which is why I hope greatly that energy support for faster travel can be provided to the Empire ships at all subsequent stops in the route. Such a great and technologically advanced race could easily stretch a power cable from the station reactor into space.”

Fame increased to 151.

Authority increased to 155!

No answer followed, and none was required. I knew that my message had been heard. And I hoped the Horde would take appropriate measures so the many hour stops along the way would no longer be delaying my starships at every point in the warp beacon chain. Considering my mission complete, I had Gerd Ayni tell the hundreds of stock-still Iseyek troopers to follow me, then turned suddenly to leave the station.

Successful Perception check!

What was that? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the medal I noticed earlier disappearing from the commander of Horde Reserve Flotilla Forty-Two’s cephalothorax. Had the Meleyephatian stored the medal in his inventory? Or...

“Tini,” I called out mentally into the empty space, “cut the thieving and give that medal back to its rightful owner. There are infinite cameras watching us, so what you did was definitely spotted. Now, you can say it caught your eye and you had to make sure the protuberance on the Meleyephatian’s shell wasn’t presenting a danger to your master.”

I was not wrong. The tailed Secret Master appeared a step away from the large Meleyephatian and returned his seven-pointed medal, repeating what I said word for word. After that, he disappeared again. The incident was settled, and I kept walking to my docked cruiser.

“My Kung,” the long-legged synthetic blond suddenly spoke up, left all alone, “may I also be allowed to follow after you?”

I was surprised, stopped, and turned to the synthetic Translator.

“Luana, you and I agreed on the following terms: you bring the Empire ships to Earth, then I put you in my crew. Do you androids really have such short memories?”

“Not at all, Kung Gnat. Androids never forget. And my model is capable of much more than serving the flotilla as one of a dozen Translators, each of which has already learned Meleyephatian and can help the pilots in negotiations with the owners of the intermediary stations.”

Well, well... Unexpected stubbornness from the humanoid robot, who was not happy with her modest responsibilities, and trying to stand out. She was starting to amuse me. Seemingly, she was more than a compliant hunk of metal. This was a woman with character. I asked Luana to tell me about her abilities and the role she saw herself playing in my inner circle.

“I was created as a perfect copy of Leng Bionica and have equivalent functionality to the queen of the androids. And she spent many years serving the future Emperor as a proxy and personal secretary, successfully served as Economy Minister for the large Unatari State, in battle helped command the fleet, and provided communication with thousands of allied starships. No offense to flesh and blood creatures, but there are many areas where robots have always been and always will be more effective than living beings. And your retinue, Kung Gnat, has no robots. I could fill that niche...”

I got caught up on something the android said. I was reminded of the workstation on the Relict cruiser where the operator was linked directly into the ship’s computer systems. None of my companions from Team Gnat were up to the task, but I thought Luana could handle such a role easily. The android could surely find a common tongue with the cruiser’s command program, and quickly learn all the necessary tasks. And communicating with the Pyramid... particularly searching for data in the databank the Relicts had spent tens of thousands of years compiling... I had already made an attempt and realized that finding anything useful in that ocean of data would be a titanic undertaking for a human. But yes. That was exactly the kind of work I could use the android assistant for.

While I gave it some thought, Luana just kept talking. She told me about her fast learning and the hardcoded limitations to android programming forbidding them from killing or harming any living creature. About her ability to take in thousands of incoming messages and filter them down to only things of interest to her master. About her wealth of experience interacting with the Iseyek, and knowledge of their behavioral, anatomical and physiological quirks...

I held up a hand to stop Gerd Luana’s torrent of words. I took another look at the fit beautiful blonde, whose sheer clothing did nothing to hide her alluring feminine curves, on the contrary only emphasizing them.

“I think I’ll use you another way.”

The synthetic blonde took my purely aesthetic interest in her flawless body the wrong way and blushed in embarrassment. Geeze, she really must have been an advanced model given she could express such complex emotions. I had to crush the robot’s illusion and hope.

“Don’t even dream of it! That niche is more than full. But I need an intermediary for communicating with the Pyramid, and you seem like the perfect fit.”

Chapter 3. Repair Issue

“SO, YOUR PRICE IS eleven million crystals...” it cost me a great deal of effort to maintain my calm exterior when the famed Geckho Armorer Vayzeh-Ush Duwe-Laymeh, who had come to Tamara the Paladin, finally finished examining the ancient armor suit and announced his price. Given my high status as Kung, I couldn’t afford to fly off the handle and express my emotions openly, much less admit to a lack of finances, so I didn’t damage my Authority even though my chest was burbling with urges. Eleven million to refit an armor suit?! That was not merely excessive — it was an expenditure that upended all my long-term plans. My Frenzy bar filled up, so I had to drain it by levelling the corresponding skill.

Frenzy skill increased to level eight!

That made things a bit better. At the very least, I was no longer seriously considering using mind control on the Armorer sitting before me in an armchair to force him to do the job for free. But still, eleven million... That was too much. It would mean not having enough to pay to dock my cruiser or repair it even cosmetically. I had to think on my feet.

The conversation was taking place in Tamara the Paladin’s common room. I wasn’t letting outsiders aboard my cruiser, particularly given repairs were underway, so the twin brothers Basha and Vasha had brought the Devourer Combat Armor Suit to the frigate and placed it in the middle of the room. Gerd Vayzeh-Ush Duwe-Laymeh, the gray-haired hunchbacked Geckho had flown here from his home planet on a Shiamiru passenger-cargo shuttle. He was a level-224 Armorer and had spent an hour and a half bringing an incredible number of boxes aboard containing the tools of his trade before he could even start and had categorically refused help due to the fragility of some of the items. After that, the old man spent eleven hours studying the Relict artifact he was supposed to modify, scanning it, connecting it to a device, and inspecting it from every possible angle. In that time, I met with the crews of the twenty escort ships and smoothed over a few organizational issues. I had even dozed off and gotten some quality sleep before Gerd Uline Tar came into my room without knocking, spooking me and embarrassing the frisky naked Gerd Valeri to say the armorer had finished his inspection and was ready to explain his terms.

“The difficulty of this task pains me,” the gray-haired Geckho commented, seeing that I was in no hurry to agree to his conditions. “A true test of my abilities. One wrong incision and the armor suit will have to be thrown on the scrap heap or relegated to a museum of ancient curiosities.”

After he said that, I made up my mind and named my terms.

“Then my one caveat would be that for every time you level up while working on the armor, the eleven million comes down by one million. After all, I am not the only person interested in a Devourer armor suit. This would also be a unique chance for you, Vayzeh-Ush, to hone your abilities.”

Diplomacy skill increased to level forty-six!

The Armorer took that as a compliment and gave a satisfied rumble, revealing a set of yellowed fangs. Then, with a smirk, he noted that he would be lucky not to owe me money after completing such an unusual order. And immediately suggested different terms.

“Three million six hundred thousand crystals, and I get to keep the leftover material when I’m done. Also, the Kung of Earth will allow me and my whole large family to resettle on his home planet.”

Now those conditions looked a lot more attractive. I was willing to agree, but still clarified how many Geckho were part of the respected craftsman’s “large family.” Gerd Uline Tar answered for him.

“By ‘large family,’ he is referring to his entire clan. The artisan clan of Duwe-Laymeh comprises seventeen thousand two hundred Geckho.”

“And what? All seventeen thousand need asylum on my home planet?”

I tried to express dismay clearly in my voice, but inside I was ready to jump for joy. After all, this was exactly what my business partner and I had just been discussing — settling the empty nodes on the virtual Earth to develop the unused land!

“Yes, Kung Gnat, saving the lives of Clan Duwe-Laymeh would be a necessary condition of the deal. My clan is frightened by the Composite’s advance. Their starships draw ever nearer to our planet. We are not fighters. We are peaceful artisans and want to escape this war, which has already resulted in dozens of inhabited worlds being annihilated along with their inhabitants. Planet Earth is considered a quiet, safe location under Geckho jurisdiction, so my clan would like to resettle there.”

I spent thirty seconds considering it, nervously drumming my fingers on the arm of my chair, then said pensively.

“Vayzeh-Ush, that would be a serious obligation for the Relict Faction, and I can’t go throwing such promises around idly. I’ll have to think about whether those conditions are something we could meet, and consider their consequences,” I announced, and stood from the flying armchair. “Uline, follow me to the captain’s chambers. We have to discuss.”

Diplomacy skill increased to level forty-seven!

Looking tense, we left the respected craftsman in the common room to await our decision. While I was gone, Gerd Valeri-Urla had left the captain’s bunk, and in my wayedda’s place had come Gerd Ayni the Miyelonian sitting in front of a big mirror primping and brushing her big fluffy orange tail. Uline Tar and I kept no secrets from my personal assistant. So as soon as the doors closed behind us, the Trader dropped the serious contemplative look and, unable to contain her delight, grabbed me in her strong paws, lifted me and spun me around.

“Well, how’d I do? I both found someone to repair your armor and found a bunch of new settlers! You have to agree, captain. I’m useful! I’m sure if we keep pushing, Gerd Vayzeh-Ush will agree to work on the armor for free.”

Successful Constitution check!

“Uline, you are no doubt useful. Just let me go and put me on the floor before your stormy ‘embrace’ breaks my ribs. I am a human after all, and I currently have no armor and am very vulnerable.”

The Trader apologized and let me go, but still kept rumbling deep in her belly with the delight overflowing her, showing off her short fangs. I then smoothed out my bunched-up clothes and continued.

“We won’t put any pressure on the master armorer and deprive him of his well-deserved profits. I don’t want to be thought of as an ungrateful cheapskate by the Geckho. Instead, we should agree for Clan Duwe-Laymeh to share fifty experienced crafters to help us repair the cruiser. And find transporters to bring the seventeen thousand refugees to Earth. We could use the starships we got from Clan Tush-Laymeh, or you could put them all in your big Kituvaru.”

Gerd Uline confirmed she understood. And asked permission to finish the negotiations on her own and complete the deal with Clan Duwe-Laymeh because, as a Trader by class, it was a chance for her to improve skills and level up. I agreed, and Uline Tar ran off to the Armorer awaiting our decision.

* * *

NO SOONER HAD THE DOOR closed behind the Trader, than the tailed Listener started talking to me.

“Did I miss something, captain? Didn’t you already make up your mind about where to repair the ancient cruiser?”

It really was a sensitive topic, and Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu knew that perfectly well because she was there when I discussed the issue with my crew officers and the captains of our escort ships. She had served as a translator from Geckho into Imperial, because I had yet to gain a full grasp of the Imperial tongue and was lucky to get a third of what the captains were saying.

My other Translator, Gerd Luana the android was unable to take part in the conversation because, under command program Paa Um-Um Paa’s watchful eye, she had hooked up to the work console of the Di-Pal-Yu 781 cruiser for the first time, necessitating a long absence. Luana had now been lying motionless for two days in the metal hemisphere connected by wires to the starship systems, not reacting to voice or touch. Paa Um-Um Paa assured me that the android woman was doing just fine, and she just needed time to get her bearings in the unfamiliar virtual environment and learn to control the data streams. When I then asked how long it took to train an operator, the artificial intelligence answered evasively.

“Sometimes it would take a few ummi. But other times, the interface was worse, taking dozens or even hundreds of ummi, and not always ending in success. In such situations, the Relict operator needed to be looked after so they wouldn’t die of starvation or dehydration. But Luana is an android, and needs only electricity to live, so starvation is no concern.”

I then also answered my tailed companion evasively. Nowhere near every dock was suitable to repair such a large starship as this thousand-foot cruiser. And nowhere near every star system was a place I would feel comfortable leaving such a valuable ship in a vulnerable immobile state. Of course, we now had an escort of twenty small class ships, and a hundred praying mantis troopers to scare off any ill-wishers. But if a great spacefaring race got it in their head to do something bad to me or my cruiser, those things would be no obstacle. Our Analyst Gerd Jarg had looked through and refused hundreds of possible repair locations specifically because they would leave the ship vulnerable to capture. At the end of the day, the spiny Analyst suggested we make a stop in the Tailax system, though he quickly admitted that the chance of running into trouble there was also far from zero.

The Tailax star system was famed for its large number of orbital docks, where Meleyephatian Horde combat ships gathered and were repaired. Furthermore, as vassals of the Horde, they had a large number of reasons why not to attack Free Captain Kung Gnat’s starship. First of all, I had been officially granted the right of repair and modernization by the Meleyephatians, and a vassal breaking a promise made by their suzerain could be a move fraught with very serious consequences. Second, the Prelates of Tailax had seriously upset Horde ruler Krong Laa already when they tried to track me and my wayedda the Tailaxian Valeri and had paid a heavy price. The wise prelates were unlikely to make that same mistake twice. And third, I was looking for ways of officially negotiating with the rulers of Tailax for personal reasons. A war between Earth and the Gilvar Syndicate was on the horizon, and as Kung of Earth I needed if not military support from Tailax, then at least to keep their branch of the human race out of the intra-species squabble.

“So, Tailax it is...” the orange Miyelonian shook her head dubiously. “Kung Gnat, I’m not going to talk you out of it. Let me just remind you that your travelling wife Gerd Valeri-Urla has been declared a wanted criminal there. And although the surveillance has been temporarily called off, she is still a fugitive. That could cause serious problems as soon as we enter Tailaxian space...”

Yes, it was a grave issue that I had to bear in mind. On the other hand, the charges against my travelling wife Gerd Valeri were specifically related to her home planet of Zeta-Reaper III, better known as the Quarantine Planet. Its natives worshipped Valeri as the sole Great Huntress of the entire planet after she defeated all Twelve Horrors of the Forest and, to top it off, established contact with the indomitable and dangerous Forest itself. The ghastly forest creatures, feared by the planet’s inhabitants and keeping them cooped up in fortified settlements, couldn’t touch the dainty Beast Master. Valeri-Urla had survived several encounters that had killed all past challengers. Her authority on the Quarantine Planet was undisputed. There, the Great Huntress might as well have been law itself because they believed the Forest spoke through her. If Valeri-Urla declared her right to rule the Quarantine Planet, many of its natives would support her.

That was precisely what I was planning to communicate to the Prelates of Tailax. And getting rid of my wife’s criminal status looked like a small concession compared to the chance to obtain its new ruler’s favor and thus ink exclusive contracts for gathering rare resources from the Quarantine Planet.

“You know best, Kung Gnat. No matter what you choose, and where you choose to fly, I will follow you,” the orange Miyelonian finished styling her thick fur and looked at me with a wicked glimmer in her eyes, then cast a gaze at the wall clock and breathed a heavy human-like sigh. “It’s time to go to the meeting. Yesterday, you announced another all-hands captain meeting to discuss something important.”

ATTENTION!!! Leader of the Duwe-Laymeh Gerd Vayzeh-Ush proposes unification with the Relict Faction on the following terms: Clan Duwe-Laymeh shall join the Relict Faction in its entirety, Relict will provide territory for the clan to settle. Do you accept? (Yes/No)

The message meant that my business partner Gerd Uline Tar had brought the negotiations with the old Armorer to their logical conclusion. Excellent! I chose “yes,” thus growing the Relict Faction by seventeen thousand players. That brought us up to a total of over one hundred thousand. Woah! We’re growing fast!

Now, there really was nothing stopping me from heading out to the ancient cruiser, where the captains of the escort ships were already waiting. And the topic of discussion really was as serious as they come — I was planning to repeat the experiment of assigning virt pods in the real world to NPCs. But this time, I wanted to try using not just Alpha Iseyek, but also humans.

Chapter 4. An Ocean of Dangerous Knowledge

OUT OF TWENTY FRIGATE and destroyer captains, just one did not wish to receive their own virt pod and exit into the real world — a young woman from the Warhawk-1 by the name of Tamara Vujek. And she was the topic of Ayni and my discussion after the meeting. Tamara Vujek was a short, thirty-year-old, dark-haired woman of athletic build, whose sumptuous breasts were adorned with a constellation of Imperial combat medals. I understood little of their significance, though I could read a four-pointed silver star with the number one hundred fifty-three, showing how many space battles she had taken part in. And a Black Star, meaning she had successfully completed a combat raid with practically no chance of survival.

“She is a veteran who is greatly respected by the other captains. It’s a huge shame we couldn’t find the right words to convince her,” I lamented, truly surprised and even annoyed by the NPC’s stubborn lack of desire to become “immortal.”

None of my exhortations or persuasion had any effect. Even the argument that Tamara Vujek was a young woman and potential mother, who owed her offspring a full life in the real world rather than the drab existence of an NPC in a videogame. The vaunted captain categorically refused to change any part of her fate and responded that she was completely fine with the present state of affairs.

“Gerd Tamara Vujek lives to fight, she’s like a Valkyrie from your home planet’s mythology,” the orange Miyelonian noted. “And that is why she decided to go to far-off Earth, because the Empire has been at peace for years with its neighbors, and she is bored of sitting around idle.”

Yes, that really was true. It was exactly why she would make a great example and inspire others to also enter the real world. She could lure many experienced captains and officers to my side from Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle’s space fleet, and as Kung of Earth, I could really use combat officers with space battle experience. I needed them as an example to imitate and to teach capable pilots from my home planet with zero space battle experience.

“Captain Gnat, it seems to me you are doing the opposite of what you should. Don’t promise peace and tranquility or assure her she can survive even the most heated battles. Instead, announce that dangerous missions will only be assigned to captains capable of respawning if shot down.”

Intriguing. I praised my tailed friend for the great advice. Yes, that was exactly what I had to announce at the escort fleet captains meeting. Just then, my talk with Ayni was interrupted by a report from Paa Um-Um Paa. The ship AI told me Gerd Luana had emerged from her three-day slumber and although the synthetic woman was still hooked up to the cruiser systems, she was conscious and requesting an urgent meeting with the captain. I was already on the ancient cruiser, so I told the command program I would go to command center two in a minute to see how the android was getting along as a starship operator.

The long-legged blonde was lying in the metal hemisphere with thick wire bundles stretching to the ports on the back of her head and both temples. She turned her head toward me and held back a flood of emotions with enormous effort. She told me about the wonders she had uncovered while connected to the ancient ship’s systems. A true ocean of information containing the answers to any question I might have. The history of the Universe and Relict civilization. The ancient chiefs and exploration of infinite space. Technologies and physics principles modern humans had yet to even guess at. Data on thousands of species throughout the galaxy, many of which had already disappeared without a trace. The history of the creation of the Relict Pyramid and the game that bends reality. Secret Relict-created centers that could be used at any time to make changes to virtual reality and even the very rules of the game...

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred eighty-three!

I had decided to cut off Gerd Luana’s verbal torrent before I saw the popup message, but that just added to my determination.

“Luana, stop! Cease talking at once! And tell me how to turn you off. I will only turn you back on once I’ve figured out what to do with such dangerous information.”

She told me how, then I touched an imperceptible on-off switch above her right ear, and Gerd Luana’s blue eyes closed. I turned to my tailed Miyelonian companion and announced.

“Ayni, you’re worth too much for me to turn you off. But you have to understand how dangerous what Luana just said could be. If that information gets out, our lives will be small change at best. Space rulers, even the most loyally inclined, would stoop as low as anyone could go to get their hands on ancient race technology or the chance to adapt reality to suit their tastes. So from now on, you must be at my side. It’s the only way I can protect you and the information in your mind. I can also provide defense against mind reading and ask our Priest Gerd Svyatodukh to constantly buff you for mental defense.”

I was expecting my tailed friend to be confused or frightened, but I couldn’t even see a hint of fear in the Miyelonian’s eyes. On the contrary, the orange beauty was smiling with satisfaction.

“I always wanted to be by your side, Gnat. As Miyelonian sages say, one’s desires are always to be feared. They have a way of coming true!”

* * *

TAILAX, ALTHOUGH IT was an earth-like planet, looked nothing like my homeworld. An impenetrable film of thick clouds was constantly covering the planet, blocking all view of the seas and continents from orbit. Even when landing in the huge megalopolis capital, with a population of two hundred million, we just followed radio instructions from the dispatchers, totally unable to see the hundreds of miles of city stretching out below. Nevertheless, the experienced Starship Pilot Gerd Dmitry Zheltov and his partner San-Doon Taki-Bu landed Tamara the Paladin masterfully right where the dispatchers directed us, and I got ready to disembark.

The Devourer armor was still in for repair, so I had to put on the Magocratic world archmage outfit again. It gave no protection from the environment, but from what I’d read in the guide, the air on Tailax was suitable for humans to breathe, and gravity was nearly equivalent to that on earth, so I wasn’t expecting any trouble related to planetary conditions. Nevertheless, there was trouble right away.

While proceeding down Tamara the Paladin’s gangway with a proud majestic look, I stopped in indecision, not knowing where to go. It was like a kingdom of eternal twilight, and everything was blanketed in milky white fog. Even in the middle of the day, it was dark as an unlit cellar, so I wanted to grab a flashlight. The treacherous fog also swallowed up all sounds, so even the nearby footsteps of Gerd Ayni the Listener sounded muted as if coming from underwater. My starship had supposedly landed in a lively central space port on a large, industrially developed planet, but there was no way of telling that based on what I could actually see. All around me for three hundred sixty degrees was just thick white fog. We only had to walk ten steps before I couldn’t see my frigate at all.

Scanning skill increased to level one hundred thirteen!

That’s a lot better! The mini-map showed a neat row of interceptors and corvettes parked nearby on the landing field as well as the edge of a large building — clearly the local spaceport. There were people everywhere — technicians raced around the starships, and a big group waited to board a passenger liner. I also saw a small flying vehicle coming our way. Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Miyelonian turned with flawless accuracy toward the approaching vehicle. Either she could hear it with her sensitive mobile ears, or she had run a scan.

A dark three-seat antigrav emerged from the wall of fog and came down silently onto a stone slab five steps away from me. The door opened, and a young pilot of athletic build jumped down wearing a black uniform. The kid had painfully pale skin and the huge inhuman eyes of a nocturnal creature but, other than that, he looked exactly like an Earth human. Messing up his words badly, the pilot said in Geckho:

“Prelate condition to beee necessar. Kung Guh-nat. And one translationer Tailax language or Melyephate. None else. No weapons.”

Those were the very terms set earlier by the planet’s rulers, so none of this was news. I pointed wordlessly at my tailed companion. Although Gerd Ayni now had a different game class, she had spent many long years in the game as a Translator and could speak hundreds of languages fluently, including Meleyephatian. My orange companion also understood Tailaxian perfectly well and could converse in it freely.

“Kung Guh-nat, begging forgive. I to must you and translationer giving searches. No weapons. Is order.”

Now that was taking it too far! The very demand to come unarmed and with only one translator as a companion felt strange — were the Prelates of Tailax really so worried about the Kung of Earth visiting them in the game that they couldn’t even count on their numerous guards? But still, I consented and assured the authorities of Tailax that both I and my translator were unarmed. A Kung’s word was sacred and could not be tested. Which was why the young man froze with glassy eyes as he reached out to Gerd Ayni. I walked up unhurriedly to the pilot, unclenched his pinched right-hand fingers and shook out a millimeter microcapsule onto the landing field stones, which the Tailaxian was trying to stick to my companion’s fur.

So there it is... With such harsh negotiating conditions and hostile treatment, they must not have cared all that much about showing respect to their prominent guest from Earth. The Prelates of Tailax most likely remembered me as a simple adventurer from a savage, backward planet, who they once tried to buy off and recruit as an agent. In that case, I’d have to show them that things had changed and warn them that they had chosen a very bad person to play their stupid espionage joke on.

“Touch me or my companion, and you’re a dead man!” I mentally promised the paralyzed boor, then said aloud for Gerd Ayni to translate to Tailaxian, knowing they were listening. “If I detect any kind of Tailax’s famed spy bugs on myself or the Listener after the negotiations, I will kill not only the pilot, but every Tailaxian I meet for the next day. And I won’t care if they’re guards, innocent bystanders, or the prelates themselves. And they will die not only in the game but in the real world as well. I hope you understand me, and there will be no further troubling incidents.”

Successful Authority check!

Authority increased to 156!

Diplomacy skill increased to level forty-eight!

Diplomacy skill increased to level forty-nine!

You have reached level one hundred fifty-nine!

You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: forty-nine)

The huge number of subsequent system messages served as confirmation they were listening and had taken my threats seriously. I released the pilot’s mind and ordered the kid, whose eyes had doubled in size out of fear, to bring me and my companion directly to the palace of rulers.

The antigrav lifted off smoothly and slid through the milky fog, but I saw another few popup messages about successful Authority checks, Fame boosts and Danger Sense skill-ups. The negotiations were already off to a rocky start...

* * *

THE DIMLY LIT ROOM was on one of the upper levels of a tall tower, which suddenly emerged as a dark shadow out of the fog right in our antigrav’s path. In the middle of the room was a wide table no smaller than King Arthur’s legendary round one. And hovering over the very middle of it was a glowing hologram of a large lemon-yellow Meleyephatian — the Horde Observer and military commandant of the occupied planet.

Gerd Daa-Royzzz. Meleyephatian. Clan Biro-W17-Tailax. Level-218 Observer.

There were eighteen identical armchairs around the table. Two of them were occupied by me and my orange companion. The prelates of Tailax were seated on thirteen of them — the middle-aged men and women in shadowy dark togas were all Lengs over level 200 and either Priests or Inquisitors by class. Another three of the seats were empty. As far as I could tell, the empty seats had earlier been occupied by prelates recently executed on orders of Gerd Daa-Royzzz acting on instructions from Meleyephatian Horde leader Krong Laa.

I wasn’t bothered by the observer. In hologram form, the Meleyephatian would be unable to use any mental abilities and could only watch the negotiations. But even if Gerd Daa-Royzzz were here in the flesh, he was a mere Gerd, so his Intelligence had to be much lower than mine, meaning he’d never have been able to break through my mental defenses, much less my companion’s. On top of that, I had nothing to offer the Tailaxians that would violate Meleyephatian Horde policy, so there was no way the Observer would have any quarrel with me anyhow.

Even without using psionic abilities, I could sense a pervasive atmosphere of fear suffocating the Tailaxians. The pale huge-eyed humans were trembling in fear of the eight-legged Observer and afraid to incur his wrath. Too much engagement was certainly not welcome, and any suggestion that might violate Horde policy would be brought to a swift conclusion by the death of whoever dared make it. It was very hard to conduct negotiations under those circumstances, but nevertheless I tried.

We had three main things to discuss: repairing the ancient Relict cruiser at Tailax’s orbital docks, the unacceptable fact that my wayedda Gerd Valeri was a wanted criminal, and a political and trade partnership between Tailax and Earth. But point three the prelates suggested we steer clear of until the two before it could be settled.

They had the most questions about my wayedda and her status. The prelates only wanted to know where the fugitive Tailaxian Gerd Valeri-Urla was hiding after serving out her sentence for murder under aggravating circumstances now that she had rid herself of all the tracking devices that constituted her parole. I did not deny that she was in one of my starships in the game, though I also told them I would not allow anyone to detain my travelling wife, and that the Beast Master was liable to flee at any moment by killing herself to be transferred to a safe refuge far beyond anywhere Tailax authorities could reach. I suggested I could pay compensation for all my wife’s crimes, but they were not okay with that because, and I quote: “it violates the principle that punishment is inescapable and could serve as a bad example to other criminals.”

Strange as it may have been, repairing the ancient starship was the part they questioned least. The authorities of Tailax gave the Di-Pal-Yu 781 permission to dock at the orbital docks for repair. We had just minor disputes over the price and timeframe. To repair the holes in the cruiser’s hull and replace all the missing and damaged armor plates, which was all I wanted initially, would not have taken much time, and would have cost no more than five million Geckho crystals. But now I wanted more. It was possible to totally refit the ancient cruiser at Tailax’s wharfs, adapting it for use by a crew of Humans, Geckho, and Miyelonians.

I had discussed such sweeping changes before with my Engineer and the cruiser’s command program. Orun Va-Mart and Paa Um-Um Paa were confident that it would be possible. I wanted to put a single unified command center in one of the spacious stern sections of the starship, a “bridge,” where the whole crew could perform all functions necessary to operate the ancient starship. Essentially, that would entail moving down all consoles and instrument panels from the three “command points,” and replacing the monitors and systems with ones better adapted to our eyes and bodies. It would not have a negative impact on the assault cruiser’s combat capabilities, though it would get me a fearsome ship I could then fully control even without Paa Um-Um Paa’s assistance. The last of the four remaining command centers I was planning to keep as a communication channel with the Pyramid and source of new knowledge, which I could get through Gerd Luana the android. Yes, she was currently offline, but I was planning to get her back to work soon enough.

Rebuilding the ancient cruiser to such a degree would require much greater financial investment. At first, the prelates named a price of one hundred twenty million Geckho crystals, but we were quite quickly able to negotiate them down to seventy-six million. Sure, I may not have had that kind of money just then, but I was hopeful I could get it soon. By even the most modest estimates, selling magic jewelry to Georg the First’s Empire was going to bring in more than one hundred million crystals, which would be more than enough to complete the ship’s total overhaul.

However, my suggestion that I would pay upon completion of the repair works did not exactly inspire enthusiasm. The prelates of Tailax wanted their money upfront and had a different suggestion: the twinbody frigate Tamara the Paladin, which had essentially lost its significance to me, but which could easily fetch a price high enough to cover all the expenses. It was a pity to part with the ship, which had served for many months as my home and bore the name of my now dead friend. But still, deep down, I was aware that after the assault cruiser’s repair was complete, my current frigate would lose relevance and in the best case become part of the Relict Faction fleet and might even end up rusting away at Earth’s spaceport. And so, I was willing in principle to agree to sell the twinbody frigate. But suddenly, Gerd Ayni tensed up, put a paw to her right earphone and said something loud enough for all to hear.

“Kung Gnat, I’ve got an incoming long-distance call for you from Union of Miyelonian Prides ruler Kung Keetsie Myau. They say its urgent.”

Authority increased to 157!

Break off negotiations with the prelates of Tailax for a talk with the ruler of the Miyelonians? Not the most elegant solution. The local rulers might get offended by such disparaging treatment. And the Tailaxians did indeed start whispering amongst themselves and glancing at the Horde Observer, awaiting his decision. Gerd Daa-Royzzz lit up and, considering it briefly, chirred out something which the Miyelonian was all too eager to translate.

“Kung Keetsie Myau has proven herself a reliable ally in the war against the Composite. The Horde respects the Great One. The Miyelonian ruler would not be bothering our guest over a minor issue, so something important must have happened. I say we call a pause for a quarter ummi. Kung Gnat, the long-distance comms room is two floors down. I then will have a talk with my subjects during your absence and tell them my view of the situation. I trust that will simplify our further negotiations.”

Chapter 5. Running Human

I RETURNED FROM the long-distance comms room for the second round of negotiations with the Prelates of Tailax deep in contemplation, and with an extra eleven million crypto in my wallet. Horde Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz was not wrong. The reason for Kung Keetsie Myau’s urgent call was as serious as could be. A large Composite Fleet was about to reach the Miyelonian capital system of Urmi. All Miyelonian military analysts and Diviners were unanimous in considering the invasion of Urmi inevitable and even said approximately how long they would take to reach the capital system: twenty-three to twenty-six ummi. In no more than six earth days, Composite starships would be attacking the historic homeworld of the Miyelonian race, bringing death to its billions of inhabitants.

Kung Keetsie Myau confessed that the Miyelonians could not hold the capital by themselves. But the great spacefaring races had not refused the Union of Miyelonian Prides in its hour of need. Unfortunately though, the majority of neighboring states’ fleets would not be able to reach Urmi fast enough to take part in the battle. Still, the great spacefaring races were able to provide nineteen thousand combat starships, and together with the Miyelonians’ own ships, the defenders had a fleet around thirty-four-thousand strong.

But still that was not enough. Scouts were reporting that the invading Composite army contained eighty thousand starships. So the Miyelonians were asking for help from anyone who could possibly support them in the upcoming grand battle. Minor races, mercenaries, Free Captains, corporations’ and wealthy players with personal fleets. Any aid was welcome and would be repaid handsomely.

“I am aware that Earth’s space fleet is weak. But even a couple frigates and interceptors could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. If Earth’s ships take off right now, they’ll make it in time for the beginning of the battle. But still, Kung Gnat, that wasn’t the reason I reached out. You have an original style of gameplay which has caught me totally off guard many times before. Do you maybe have something up your sleeve that would be... extremely destructive... like that bomb from the Empire?”

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred seventy-two!

Apparently, she had probed me psionically, not trusting what I was saying and trying to find the answer for herself. I shook my head in reproach.

“Keetsie, you should not have done that! I realize that you are a Truth Seeker and have grown accustomed to digging around in other people’s brains, but I consider you a friend, and would have responded honestly even without psionics. Unfortunately, I do not have another bomb. But I do have the Relict flagship cruiser, which can travel instantaneously and hand out bonuses to allied ships. However, she is currently in a sorry state, and the Tailaxians want to shake me down for eleven million crypto to repair her....”

Keetsie gave no response, but my wallet beeped to say the balance had changed. I didn’t even take it out of my inventory, realizing how much must have just come in. I gave a respectful bow to the influential woman and promised to do everything in my power to complete the repair and make it to the Urmi star system before the start of the battle.

“Kung of Earth, that was more than I was expecting,” the pure white Miyelonian with a black sash tied over her injured eye copied my deep bow. “You’ve caught me by surprise yet again. But what about Earth’s fleet? Will you send ships?”

The Miyelonian was clearly expecting me to agree to Earth’s fleet joining in the operation, but I just shook my head and winced in dismay.

“Earth’s factions don’t even have proper ships, they’re just trash. A couple corvettes, but they can’t even leave the Solar System. There’s also four interceptors and a couple antiquated frigates without trained crews. Even if these starships are able to make it to Urmi in time, they’d be nothing but cannon fodder, and wouldn’t last even a minute. But still, I’ll bring ships. Frigates and destroyers of Human Empire design. Twenty of them. Plus, I’ll have Tamara the Paladin, my personal frigate. That will make a total of twenty-two starships.”

“Thank you... Gnat, my friend. I expect to see you in Urmi in five days. And if we’re destined to prevail, I invite you to my capital palace. And I promise to throw such a crazy party it’ll make our little bender on Kasti-Utsh III pale by comparison!”

* * *

THINGS HAD CHANGED in the meeting room while I was gone. The eight-legged Horde Observer hologram had disappeared, and there were less negotiators on the Tailax side. Just eight now remained, all of them Priests. For some reason, all the Inquisitors had gone. Gerd Ayni, who I had not taken with me to the long-distance comms room for obvious reasons, and who had been waiting for me on a little sofa in the waiting room, also noticed the changes and asked the prelates for their commentary on the reduction in size of their delegation.

“We no longer have any need for the five Inquisitors,” responded an ancient old woman named Leng Satori Yomaji, the eldest and highest level of all the Priests, after which she made an unexpected admission. “The Inquisitors were here only in case things took a violent turn and were supposed to drain the Kung of Earth’s Magic Points if he tried using any mental abilities. But the negotiations have been peaceful. The starship repair is practically settled, and the minor issue of Kung Gnat’s fugitive wayedda the Horde Observer suggested we resolve peacefully so it will not be an obstacle to Earth and Tailax’s future relationship.”

Okay, nice to hear. I didn’t beat around the bush, and said I had the money needed to repair the cruiser, so I considered the first issue settled. After that, I wanted to hear the prelates’ suggestions about how to peacefully resolve the Gerd Valeri issue and remove my traveling wife’s criminal status.

“On Tailax, once per tong, we hold a... how to put it...?”

For some reason, the old woman hesitated and looked up at me with her huge whitish eyes. I even had to look away to avoid accidentally reading her thoughts.

“A grand show much loved by the populace, where center stage is taken by criminals with either life or death sentences. Officially, it is known as the Great Amnesty, though criminals have to earn their vindication in a trial of abilities and fortune. And I’ll be direct — few of those who take part survive and truly earn their amnesty.”

I was not a huge fan of what I was hearing. It didn’t exactly sound like a “peaceful resolution to a minor issue.” Nevertheless, I asked Leng Satori Yomaji to tell me more about the event.

“Particularly dangerous prisoners are brought to the ruins of Tailax’s former capital, which was destroyed during the Meleyephatian Horde’s occupation of our planet. They are unloaded from antigravs and released from their shackles. The lucky saps who survive the subsequent brawl then find weapons and equipment in a set of containers nearby. Their mission is to find a way out of the endless labyrinth of ruined buildings either alone or in groups. And meanwhile to avoid encounters with other criminals and the many predators, combat robots, traps and groups of hunters tracking them to try and take them down. Those who are able to survive and make it across the finish line officially have all their sentences dropped and obtain freedom.”

That made me frown even more. I was reminded of the old film Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It depicted a very similar blood sport pitting criminals against one another, and winning was also how they obtained their freedom. But I had an incredibly hard time picturing my beautiful wife taking part in such a gruesome spectacle. Gerd Valeri-Urla was a brave and agile woman, having been born and raised on the Quarantine Planet in inhumanly difficult conditions, but still would have had a hard time surviving something like that.

Meanwhile, the old woman continued:

“Normally, the event is held in the real world. But for your wife, Kung of Earth, we are willing to make an exception and hold the show in the game that bends reality. If your wayedda can overcome all the dangers and successfully complete the test, her sentence will be expunged, and she will be a free woman. But if not, don’t worry. She will not be executed, but Gerd Valeri-Urla will have to serve out the rest of her legal sentence in a Tailaxian prison. You will have to give your word that she will not try to escape again. Your word as Kung of Earth.”

The old woman stared into my face with her colorless eyes yet again, and I again had to look away to avoid being accused of using psionic abilities. I kept silent, shocked by the Tailaxians’ suggestion. This was what they called “mercy” and a “peaceful resolution?!”

Seeing that I was in no hurry to continue, and even about to stand and leave, my tailed companion Gerd Ayni spoke up on my behalf. The Listener was speaking Meleyephatian, but I basically understood everything.

“I may be missing some element of your suggestion, esteemed prelates of Tailax, but I see only stick, no carrot. What reason would my captain have to send his immeasurably beloved travelling wife (then a word I didn’t understand maybe meaning to indulge, or to entertain) the viewers of this (apparent expletive) show? Kung Gnat would be taking a serious risk and could lose his wayedda, gaining nothing in return. And why the hell would Gerd Valeri-Urla risk her own freedom? In case of victory, she stands to gain nothing she does not already have. Valeri is already both free and beyond your reach.”

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred forty-five!

“Furthermore,” I finally emerged from the state of shock and joined in, “my wayedda is the Great Huntress of the Quarantine Planet and is de facto equivalent to the ruler of that planet. Valeri-Urla is a very respected and famous player throughout the galaxy. Even Meleyephatian Horde leader Krong Laa and Grand Chief of the Geckho Krong Daveyesh-Pir have taken an interest in her fate. Human Emperor Georg the First has also inquired about my wayedda, and the ruler of the Miyelonians Kung Keetsie Myau has even shared a hotel room with my travelling wife. Already now, Valeri-Urla could easily reach Leng status and gain control of her own faction, or even under certain circumstances become the full-on Kung of the Quarantine Planet. And you want to use such a remarkable person to entertain the masses in some show?! What do you imagine would possess her to do that?”

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty!

Psionic skill increased to level two hundred thirteen!

I was unable to hold back my emotions, or totally stop myself from using psionics. With a certain trepidation, I looked at the prelates sitting around the table. I wonder if they noticed I used magic. Will they accuse me of a psionic attack? But no one got indignant. Leng Satori Yomaji was still smiling with the corners of her lips. And again stared utterly shamelessly right at my face with her massive eyes. Was this lack of tact? Or... could the old woman’s stubborn insistence really be random chance?

That time, I didn’t look away. And drowned in her huge whitish eyes, with black pupils contracted even in the dusky room and looking like tiny little dots...

“Finally! And here I’d already figured all the rumors of your extraordinary mental abilities and sharp mind were exaggerated. Bravo, Kung of Earth! You and your fluffy friend noted everything correctly. The suggestion to send your wife into a blood sport would be utterly inappropriate without a fitting reward. And you described Valeri’s good side very well. I was applauding you inside when you said that. Valeri-Urla is a ruler by status, and the reward must be fitting in case of victory. Look around. Notice anything? Empty seats. Tailaxian law stipulates that there must be sixteen prelates. We now have just thirteen. And your traveling wife could occupy one of the empty seats. Ask... no, demand that Gerd Valeri be made a prelate if she wins the Great Amnesty! The other prelates will agree. I will, too.”

I had to admit, I had basically stopped understanding a thing. First the prelates were putting on serious pressure and demanding the impossible, and now they wanted to put my wife on their level.

“But what’s in it for the prelates?”

“Not all the prelates. Just me. I have been going gray in this hall for ages, but I do not know the other council members’ feelings because I have never spoken genuinely with any of them. As a human from another planet, it’s hard for you to understand. You have no idea what it’s like to live under total control with your every action, every step, and every thought being tracked and tested. It’s worse than death. But finally, I see someone capable of changing the situation for the better and lightening the burden of the inhabitants of this slave planet. I will help your wife. I know the ruined city, because I prepared the arena before the last show. The virtual copy will also have an underground passage leading straight to the finish. I can tell you how to find it. Bring your wayedda into the council and through her pass laws weakening Meleyephatian oppression. They wouldn’t dare touch your wife even for the boldest speeches and suggestions, because you will be behind her, and the Observer is afraid of you.”

That made sense. That was why the Tailax negotiators, or at least the oldest and most influential among them, were behaving the way they were. I broke our over-long eye contact to avoid suspicions. I sat back in the seat and looked at the eight prelates one after the next. No, I wasn’t reading their thoughts, but I could easily understand their emotions. Hatred. Curiosity. Envy. Hope. But above all, fear. They were afraid of me. Or rather, they were afraid not so much of me as the possibility I might refuse and thus earn them a punishment from the Horde Observer, who had instructed them to settle all issues with the Kung of Earth.

I had to take advantage of that.

“I see no reason for my wife to take part in a blood sport unless the prize matches the level of risk. So here is my counteroffer. In case Valeri prevails in the Great Amnesty, the three vacant seats among the rulers of Tailax,” I pointed to an empty seat which had been unoccupied the whole time, “will be given to three authoritative players independent of the Meleyephatian Horde. My wife Valeri-Urla, a representative of Earth no lower in status than Leng, as well as one respected player from Georg the First’s Empire. That will strengthen the bonds between Tailax and the other human states, and most importantly rein in the tyranny and lawless conduct of the occupation authorities so the people of Tailax can breathe a bit freer. With time, these three corulers will achieve the total liberation of Tailax from the yoke of the Meleyephatian Horde and independence for your planet.”

A simultaneous gasp of fear rang out from all sides. I may have said exactly what they were all hoping in their secret dreams to hear, but the prelates of the occupied planet themselves would certainly have been executed for saying such harsh things about the Meleyephatians.

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-one!

Based on the system message, what I said had resonated in their hearts. I smiled with the tips of my lips and continued.

“And one more key condition. What kind of a husband would I be if I let my wife take part in a dangerous game by herself? So I will be joining Valeri in the ruined city, along with ten troops from my personal guard. You can make the monsters stronger, the traps more complex, and the hunter brigades more numerous in order to compensate, but I will only agree under those conditions. And one more thing. I don’t know what kind of rumors have been going around about my wayedda and me here on Tailax, but for some reason everyone here is afraid of us. I don’t like us being portrayed as monsters in the eyes of the Tailaxians and want to fix that. For the duration of the reality show, me and my group will be accompanied everywhere by a flying journalist drone, which will broadcast live unedited sound and video. Do you all understand me? No objections?”

I again looked away from the rulers. The prelates seemingly had yet to recover from what I said about liberating their planet. At the very least, nobody objected to the new conditions.

“Excellent. I consider my suggestion accepted. Separately, I wanted to discuss steps to bring Earth and Tailax closer together militarily and politically. But if my representatives will be made prelates of Tailax, there’s no point discussing. As far as I know, you only make decisions unanimously, so any motions hostile to Earth will now be blocked regardless. So, if you have no further suggestions or objections, I consider the negotiations completed to my satisfaction.”

“One thing, Kung Gnat,” one of the Priests stopped me, having hardly spoken up the whole time. “My colleagues and I understand your terms, have discussed them and consider them acceptable. But there’s one thing we don’t totally understand. If your wife Gerd Valeri prevails in the Great Amnesty, why would you not want to become a coruler of Tailax yourself, Kung of Earth? It seems like the obvious move and is simpler than just inviting someone unknown.”

“Because...” I took a three second pause before continuing, “I believe there is a more attractive role that better fits my status. I plan to become the Observer presiding over Tailax’s Council of Prelates!”

Chapter 6. The Night before the Hunt

“KIRILL, I’M SCARED!” my travelling wife Valeri admitted, clinging onto me. “Very, very scared! What if I can’t make it to the finish line alive? Will I have to spend the next six and a half years in prison along with Tailax’s most hardened criminals?! I won’t be able to take it! And you’ll probably just try to forget me and find yourself a new wayedda, because being linked to a criminal would tank your Authority and mean risking your Kung status...”

The conversation was taking place in my bunk aboard Tamara the Paladin, where Gerd Valeri-Urla had come several hours after lights out. I had already fallen asleep but was of course glad to have a visit from my beautiful wife, who normally only came to my bunk at night for one thing. Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Miyelonian, who had shamelessly taken advantage of her official right to be at the captain’s side day and night, and had de facto moved into my bunk, took Gerd Valeri’s intentions unambiguously. And in order not to get in the way of intimate time, particularly before a long period of absence, shambled off barefoot wearing nothing but skimpy pajamas to Gerd Uline Tar’s bunk.

But that night, Valeri was not there for amorous reasons. Which I realized when I saw her pet Little Sister, who was normally left outside. The Tailaxian admitted she was afraid of the next day’s test and could not sleep because she was so worried and had so many ghastly thoughts filling her head. The big-eyed girl, stroking the muzzle of her Shadow Panther, who was alarmed by her master’s unusual behavior, pressed herself up against me and trembled as if she was chilly, even though there was a heater on in the room (Ayni was always cold, so she turned on additional heating, because Miyelonians felt more comfortable in hot climates). I hugged my wayedda and tried to calm her down.

I told her I would not leave her no matter how the test ended up. But if Valeri was so worried and unsure of a favorable conclusion, there was always the option of trading her out for a Morphian. Yes, I would have to put the cruiser repair on pause and jump to Poko-Poko, but we could easily make it there and back while my good friend Fox would be sure to agree to help. On top of that, her and the Wise Vaa’s joint search for the Morphian traitor aboard Poko-Poko station had yet to bear any fruit, and the capture of Kung Maa had been set aside for an unknown time. And I had no doubt the vaunted warrior Kung Eesssa the Betelgeuse Planet Devouress could make it to the finish of the prelates of Tailax’s test.

Gerd Valeri-Urla thanked me for the concern, but still refused to be swapped out. The concepts of pride and honor meant a lot to the Great Huntress from the Quarantine Planet, and Gerd Valeri-Urla was ready and willing to prove to the whole galaxy and herself that she could overcome any challenge. Yes, my wayedda was seriously worried and afraid of the upcoming test, but still believed in herself, and that her husband could protect her.

I immediately assured my wife that Team Gnat’s best fighters, headed by the Relict Hierarch himself, could protect the precious Tailaxian from any danger and bring her to the finish line. I told her my group was unrivaled in battle with all the other Army of Earth units, and during the sacking of Poko-Poko, Valeri-Urla had seen for herself that Team Gnat’s fighters could make it through any obstacle or barricade no matter how many defenders we were up against.

Psionic skill increased to level two hundred thirty-four!

I tried to speak as convincingly as possible, adding a generous dose of Magic Points, and was seemingly able to overcome my wife’s worries. Valeri-Urla gradually settled down and soon drifted off with her head on my knee. Her Shadow Panther had also fallen asleep on the floor at her feet, purring happily in her dreams and snoring like a tractor. I on the other hand couldn’t get back to sleep, my mind racked by concerns. To be honest, my confidence that we would prevail at tomorrow’s Great Amnesty had dropped severely since the prelates of Tailax announced the conditions.

The game field was significantly larger than normal, and the reason for that was the massive interest the unusual reality show starring Free Captain Kung Gnat had garnered. I was known throughout the galaxy and watching me desperately attempt to get my wife’s severe sentence expunged and thus free her from Tailaxian prison, was something people wanted to watch on many planets, and not just humans. Broadcast rights for the Great Amnesty had already been acquired by three hundred news and entertainment channels across the galaxy, while advertisements were expected to sell for the same amount as Tailax made from all its arms sales in a year.

The organizers had severely underestimated the level of interest in the “internal affair,” which had never attracted viewership from other planets before. And so, they did everything in their power to make sure the show wouldn’t disappoint or end too soon. Several neighborhoods of the ruined city served as our arena, forming a rough square with approximately ten-mile sides. It had also been decided to vary the weather conditions for better viewing, so some areas of thick Tailaxian fog were alternated with zones of high visibility. Tailax’s Engineers were now fervently installing weather generators as well as placing thousands of stationary and mobile cameras in the ruined city for broadcast purposes. A flock of creatures living in the ruins known as sharpbeaks, which looked like huge flying manta rays and would never shy away from a juicy bite of human flesh, had been riled up by spraying pheromones in the air, their numbers beefed up with individuals brought in from all over the planet. The basements and lower floors of the buildings, meanwhile, had been packed with deadly predators, but the number and varieties of these creatures as well as their locations were being kept secret.

However, the four evacuation points had already been announced — one at every corner of the square arena, Valeri just needed to reach one of them to complete the test and be rid of all her legally imposed punishments. They had promised to land our team by antigrav in the middle of the field on a ruined skyscraper, which had once been truly colossal at over half a mile in height. During the storming of Tailax by the Meleyephatian Horde, most buildings in the center of the capital had been completely destroyed by the intense orbital bombardment, and those that remained were lucky to be half as tall as they were originally.

In any case, the first thing we’d have to do would be somehow get down from the massive tower, knowing that many skyscrapers’ staircases were collapsed or blocked with wreckage, which promised additional difficulties. The rules of the show meanwhile forbid the runners from using any methods of flight (including jetpacks or antigrav backpacks, paragliders, techno-wings or levitators) to quickly move through the city ruins, so getting down from the skyscraper would be a very difficult task.

Regular parachutes, as far as I knew, were not against the rules. But when I suggested using them to quickly make it down and win some time, Eduard Boyko the Space Commando and Gerd T’yu-Pan the Shocktroop were adamant that parachuting in the expected dense fog conditions in a city center down onto what was most likely rubble with sharp pieces of twisted metal sticking out everywhere was far from the smartest idea. It could mean losing several team members at the very start of the test, and we might get scattered and lost.

So we decided to make it down without parachutes and try to get away ASAP, because the six hunter brigades would be told our arrival location a quarter ummi after landing. Each of the opposing brigades would contain twenty-five high-level players, experienced and highly trained in urban and dense-fog combat. Five of the hunter brigades were headed by Inquisitors from the Council of Prelates, which meant our opponents would have mental defenses, rendering our psionic magic less effective. The sixth brigade then was fully composed of Meleyephatians and headed by Horde Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz, which meant we had to think about defending ourselves from mental attacks as well.

At any rate, the Inquisitors’ abilities only reduced but did not fully block magic, so I was intending to use psionics to their fullest extent and even added little Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez to our group. Yes, my ward was still young and unable to wear any kind of armor, but a link of three mages had proven highly effective during the storming of Poko-Poko, so I was counting on breaking through the Inquisitors’ defenses with Gerd Valeri and Leng Soia-Tan’s help.

To defend the lightly armored and vulnerable group members, I had also brought along five heavy “tanks,” capable of joining their forcefields together into one. Gerd T’yu-Pan the Shocktroop, Gerd Vasha Tushihh the Geckho Heavy Robot Operator, Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest (who was also doling out bonuses to team members and giving at least a bit more psionic defense), Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh the Trillian Gunner, and Gerd Eduard Boyko the Space Commando formed the inner defensive perimeter and were there to protect me and the two mage girls.

Yes, you read correctly. I added my former companion Eduard to the team, because given the billions of viewers, I was hoping to boost his Fame and bring my friend up to Gerd status. And my plan worked perfectly! It wasn’t long after the announcement of my team’s composition on the news that all of our Fame, including mine, went shooting up. And for the Space Commando, that was enough to reach his coveted Gerd status. Eduard Boyko had proven a high level of effectiveness and resilience even in the very epicenter of heated battles, and his combat figures had only improved since then.

Also in my team were Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa the Miyelonian Medic, Gerd Tini Wi-Gnat the Miyelonian Secret Master, and Gerd Imran the Arbiter. Those three were supposed to scout and reposition quickly around the ruins of the city. On top of that, I was counting on my ward Tini to seek out and disarm traps, while the Arbiter had assigned all five Inquisitors and the Observer to his search settings, and thus could see their direction and distance, which made it easier to avoid encounters with the hunter brigades.

Gerd Ayni the Listener begged me to take her along, promising to constantly be scanning and telling me about passageways through the labyrinth of debris and enemies she could spot, but I didn’t want to risk my beloved NPC Miyelonian’s final life, so I turned her down. The tailed beauty was a bit offended, but still didn’t throw a fit, and even gave her legendary blades made of Trillian ruler Hugo the First’s fangs to the Dagestani athlete Gerd Imran. Testing had shown that the Arbiter was capable of cutting through very tough sixteen-inch-thick armor plates with them like cardboard, so even the thickest of armor wouldn’t be able to help our foes.

I spent a very long time thinking over who to bring on as the twelfth and final member of my group. I really wanted to bring an Alpha Iseyek — the Tailaxian hunters definitely wouldn’t be ready to fight opponents like that. The praying mantises could move with lightning speed around the ruins of the city, including climbing walls, whereas in close quarters they were absolutely unrivaled. But that would cause a problem. Communicating with the Swarm troopers, who didn’t know a single language spoken in our brigade to coordinate would be nearly impossible. And for me, constantly maintaining mental contact with an Iseyek trooper would mean getting distracted, which was irrational. Also, Alpha Iseyek, as far as I knew from my talks with Georg the First, were very vulnerable to mental attacks, including cardiac arrest attacks, which was why Human Truth Seekers could easily crush Iseyek infantry in the war between the Empire and the Swarm, blowing them away, so to speak. Among our opponents there was a whole brigade of Meleyephatians, and every player of that race was capable of psionics from birth. That meant they could very quickly take down a praying mantis or, equally probably, take mental control of them and sic them on Valeri and her companions.

So after a long period of contemplation, I ended up deciding on the experienced Gerd Destroying Angel. Yes, without her brother Grim Reaper, the German woman would be missing some extra bonuses, but she could take down targets at distances of up to twenty-three hundred feet without him unfailingly, and such a skilled Gunfighter with lightning-fast reaction time was exactly what I needed, particularly in high-visibility areas. On an instruction from boarding team leader Gerd T’yu-Pan, the German beauty changed out her standard light armor for a special Dark Faction scout costume, making her completely invisible in the thermal spectrum and harder to spot overall, particularly when not moving.

My group had already been dubbed by the Tailaxians, “the Brigade of Prominent Runners.” And I should say so! A Kung, a Leng, and a whole ten Gerds in a group of “runners!” Nothing like that had ever before happened in the history of the Great Amnesty, and so the upcoming hunt was a source of particular public interest. But high expectations had to be justified, otherwise we could end up looking silly in front of an audience in the billions. My group and I spent the whole day in a private location, practicing coordination and training in the thick fog, which was abnormal for us, but like home to the Tailaxian hunters.

And I trained with them until I was sweating like a pig, preparing for the trial ahead and testing out my new skills like Time Stoppage or Teleportation. Also, the refit of my Devourer armor was finished, which would be a huge help. The elegant armor suit, perhaps the finest in the galaxy, inspired optimism and confidence in my survival.

Devourer combat armor suit (primary Pyramid Hierarch combat armor)

Armor: 450.

Defensive field capacity: 6000 points, +5 shield capacity per player level.

Radiation shielding: 98.3%.

Built-in heat shielding (up to 2055 degrees Fahrenheit, and down to absolute zero).

Carrying capacity +26 lbs.

Built-in defense against time stoppage or focusing of any kind of beam weapon.

76% defense against kinetic or resonance effects.

+ 2 controlled drones.

Frenzy skill +15. Time Stoppage skill +15. Life Suppression skill +15.

Built-in filtration system.

Single air tank duration: 11.5 hours (additional tank attached, bringing duration up to 23 hours).

Skill and statistic requirements:

Level 150. Fame 150. Authority 150.

Constitution 40 or Intelligence 40.

Medium Armor skill 100 or Heavy Armor skill 100.

The Devourer armor contained no extra equipment slots in the chest plate or wrists, but it already had integrated features similar to those of the Pyramid Signal Booster and Control Bracelets. It also had two additional equipment slots on the back. Right now, they were occupied by the extra air tank, and the Time Distortion Unit, which allowed me to stop time for two seconds whenever any material object crossed an energy barrier around the suit.

I had already tested my new armor today and was more than happy with the results. Being at level one hundred fifty-nine, the Devourer Combat Armor Suit had a forcefield capacity of fifty-nine thousand points. That was huge, considering an infantry blaster could only do a thousand. Adding the armor, which could absorb 450 damage from every strike, as well as the kinetic pulse dampener, built-in heat shield, and the ability to dodge blows using time stoppage, a player wearing this thing could survive in practically any situation.

I dumped forty-nine of my unused skill points into Psionic, bringing it up to two hundred thirty-three (and considering the still active blessings from the Temple of the Dawn of Life, it was effectively two hundred ninety-eight). I also invested into bringing Mysticism up to one hundred fifty — practice had proven that there was no such thing as too much mana, and having it restore quicker meant my reserves could be back in shape faster. That was precisely why I took the 20% Magic Point restore speed boost for my second Mysticism specialization.

After all that, and a whole day of training like mad, here was how my Devourer was looking:

Kung Gnat. Human. Relict Faction.

Level-159 Devourer

Statistics:

Strength

14

Agility

18

Intelligence

39 + 7

Perception

35

Constitution

19

Luck modifier

+3

Controlled drones

3 (5) of 5

Parameters:

Hitpoints

5137 of 5137

Endurance points

1356 of 3117

Magic points

13117 of 15376

Carrying capacity

62 lbs. + 26 lbs.

Fame

155

Authority

157

Skills:

Electronics

127 * ability to see weak points and errors in electronic systems

Scanning

114 * Find hiding spots, traps and anomalies

Cartography

115 * See rare items

Astrolinguistics

145 * Understand written language faster

Rifles

78

Medium Armor

117 * +10% armor suit forcefield capacity, +10% shield restore speed

Eagle Eye

130 * +20% visual range.

Sharpshooter

67

Targeting

103 * Lock on to targets quicker

Danger Sense

184 * Reduce enemy skill effectiveness, earlier danger warnings

Psionic

234 (300) * +30% psionic attack power, ability to form link with other mages, mana expenditure halved against weaker opponents

Mental Fortitude

172 (220) * Control several targets at once, increased psionic attack defense

Machine Control

157 (201) * +1 controlled drone, +3% hack chance

Mysticism

150 (192) * +20% magic points, +20% restore speed

Telekinesis

77

Training

96

Disorientation

60

Tenacity

33

Athletics

16

Diplomacy

51

Teleportation

6

Frenzy

10 (25)

Time Stoppage

4 (19)

Life Suppression

3 (18)

Attention!!! You have chosen 24 of 25 available skills

And while it may seem shocking that my Life Suppression skill was up to level three, I hadn’t killed any of my sparring partners all the way. But I had tested out my “ult” on mechanical targets in the training area and saw for certain that I could even damage robots very severely using the ability. But I was bitterly disappointed by the results of the Life Suppression test. It didn’t destroy targets, just dealt damage, serious though it may have been. Around eighteen to nineteen thousand Life or Resilience Points. The ability to kill in the game and stop opponents from reappearing in the real world would only be given if I chose the corresponding specialization at skill level one hundred. Or... When entering Death Machine mode after the Frenzy bar filled up, which was nowhere near always a condition I could meet.

I spent a very long time thinking about which skill to choose as my twenty-fifth, but I just couldn’t make up my mind. It was the very last skill my character would get in the game that bends reality, and I certainly didn’t want to rush such an important and irreversible decision.

It would be easy to think I had not a character, but a truly unstoppable monster dealing out damage left and right and taking control of opponents’ minds. But I wasn’t getting ahead of myself, and certainly did not think of the upcoming test as a walk in the park. My opponents were powerful and surpassed my group in number by more than ten times. Furthermore, our training sessions had shown that Scanning alone couldn’t be trusted in fog, and it wasn’t always possible to take down opponents even when marked with the Targeting skill because they could be hiding behind walls or barriers. But much worse was on open terrain. Any sniper could take down my troops with a laser weapon while remaining far beyond our detection range.

And thus, recon was our most important task. For that purpose, we chose three inconspicuous drones to transmit information to Gerd T’yu-Pan’s combat tablet, the exoskeleton armor of every trooper wearing one, and my Devourer Combat Armor Suit. We also brought my five Small Relict Guard Drones to supply our group with information and guarantee death from above came crashing down on any target we detected. However, we were not the only ones using drones. The hunters had them, too. In fact, our opponents were expected to have the very latest in technology, so taking on the hundred and fifty troopers was going to be a herculean task...

I was sitting in bed, stroking the hair of my snoozing wife and thinking about the test, which was now going to be today. My communicator gave a beep to say a message had come in. I reached for the device, read the text and found myself frowning.

Kung of Earth, this is to inform you about an important alteration to the rules of the Great Amnesty games!

To increase the entertainment value and make sure the runner and the players accompanying her do not sit in safe cover among the ruins, a time limit has been added to the hunt. Now the fugitive has just four ummi to reach an evacuation point. If Gerd Valeri-Urla cannot reach the finish line within the time allotted, she will have failed.

Best of luck!

Great Amnesty organizing committee

Damn! Of course, we weren’t planning to hide in some basement or just barricade ourselves tight in some collapsed building, forcing the hunters to spend ages searching for us before storming our fortifications. But just four ummi... That was about one day. It meant we would have to rush toward the finish line, racing through the labyrinth of demolished neighborhoods, through heaps of ruins and monster-flooded districts five miles to the evacuation point. And if our chosen finish line were to be guarded by powerful opposing groups (and holing up near an evacuation point was an obvious strategy for the hunters) then we would have no chance of reaching another evacuation point. And so, we would be forced to fight even if the balance of forces was not in our favor.

Whereas I thought before that we had about fifty-fifty chances, after these changes to the rules, I wouldn’t have given our group more than thirty percent. But we still hadn’t lost yet, and definitely weren’t going to surrender! And tomorrow, we would show the galaxy just what a Devourer and his retinue could do!

Chapter 7. Hard Landing

THE YUMA-BLEUMUAGE (Sharpbeak Alpha in Tailaxian) autonomous passenger-cargo antigrav’s thrusters hummed plaintively, clearly struggling to take off from the spaceport’s stone slab. Once in the air, it set a course for the ruined capital of Tailax, which was a forty-minute flight. I breathed a sigh of relief, saying goodbye to the landing field as it faded into the white haze. Although the show’s organizers had assured me that the cargo antigrav would be capable of transporting my team and all its equipment to the hunt arena, I was still left with doubts. Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh the Trillian alone, wearing his heavy armor suit and fully equipped, weighed over three tons. Add to that three troopers in exoskeleton armor, half a ton each minimum. And then Gerd T’yu-Pan and Gerd Imran, though their armor was lighter, were hardly a pair of Thumbelinas themselves. Add me in the Devourer Combat Armor Suit. Then add the rest of the crew and my wife’s five-hundred-pound pet Little Sister, who could not be ignored either. And finally all the equipment we were bringing along, innumerable boxes and containers which hardly fit into the relatively small antigrav. Overall, I had definite doubts, and was glad the antigrav had managed to take off...

And still, despite the slight drama of take-off, I was happy with the group’s calm confidence. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of despair, much less fear. Every Team Gnat trooper knew their role and place in formation. Everyone was confident in their abilities and eager to fight. And although Gerd Valeri-Urla, sitting at my side, had her eyes closed and was silently moving her lips and clutching at a thin little green stone amulet around her neck and praying to the spirits of nature, it looked more like a habit and tradition before a big test than an expression of fear or panic.

As an aside, I had studied the green stone around my companion’s neck many times, and never detected any magical qualities. A regular piece of jasper, cut crudely and hanging from a thick piece of waxed thread. The amulet gave no bonuses or power-ups. I even told Valeri to use another amulet which would really power up her skills or characteristics, but my wayedda was adamant. The green stone had been given to her long ago by the shaman of a primitive settlement on the Quarantine Planet after her first successful hunt, and now had served as a reminder of her distant homeworld for many years, giving her a boost of confidence.

We said nothing for the first half of the flight, all deep in our own thoughts. But the prolonged silence was broken by boarding team leader Gerd T’yu-Pan, who started running step-by-step through each team member’s tasks after we landed in the arena. Everyone was only half listening, because we all knew very well what to do and when. Nevertheless, Gerd T’yu-Pan had a fastidious approach to his role as group tactics specialist and never stopped running down the list of every player’s duties.

Right after landing, release drones to scout the area. Gather information about the positioning of every hunter squadron, the flock of flying monsters, and the position and condition of the neighboring tall buildings. If possible, take down nearby opponents with the Small Relict Guard Drones, even though their effectiveness was expected to be low in the thick fog. Choose a neighboring skyscraper a thousand or better fifteen hundred feet from the landing site. Shoot a special grappling hook for penetrating concrete at it from a pneumatic cannon on a tripod and set up a zipline. Have everyone check their carabiners and safety lines, then move the whole team to that building to throw off any pursuers. Leave behind mobile holograms of our whole team at our initial landing site, surrounded by automatic self-aiming turrets and bomb traps as a nice little surprise for the quickest hunters to reach our landing site after the organizers tell it to them.

Gerd T’yu-Pan fell silent and looked at me, unsure of whether to go into the group’s next moves. The thing was that I had just mentally warned the boarding team leader that I had detected a large number of microphones and bugs in the antigrav with a scan. People were listening, and all the information was probably being sent straight to the hunters.

Not turning my head to the boarding team leader, I sent him a message mentally:

“Keep talking. Let’s pretend we didn’t notice their bugs. Go into the subway system option. I want the hunters waiting for us in underground tunnels. Then we can go another way.”

Yes, yesterday Gerd Jarg the Analyst and I had reviewed Leng Satori Yomaji’s suggestion for a quick win. To go down into the subway system and follow it to the finish without running into any powerful monsters or groups of hunters. To be frank, its simplicity put me on guard. I mean, our enemies couldn’t have overlooked the old subway system when drawing up their plans! And Gerd Jarg the “space armadillo” validated my concerns. A definite trap! Maybe the old woman wished us well, and that was why she suggested it, but the Meleyephatian Horde Observer had already dug through my mental talks with Leng Satori Yomaji and thus would be taking measures. If my group really did decide to go down into the old subway system, we’d be blocked in on all sides and wiped out. Satori Yomaji herself then would be sentenced to death by the occupation authorities for her craven attempt to defy the Meleyephatians. That had been set aside for now, because events on Tailax were garnering too much attention, and the Horde Observer didn’t want it to be a scandal. But as soon as the Great Amnesty was over, and the Kung of Earth and his retinue left Tailax, Leng Satori Yomaji was going to die.

The huge and cruel magocratic world native was pretending the pause in his speech was just to take characteristic boosting and exhaustion reducing medicines. He gulped down a handful of pills with some water from his flask, and continued:

“Attention! Seven minutes to landing. Everyone take the pills you got from the Medic. Priest, begin your blessing rituals. So then, let me remind you. Once on the new, taller building, we tie on ropes and rappel down. We scout the area and scan, as well as send recon drones to look for passages through the heaps of wreckage. Our highest priority is finding any entrance into the abandoned capital city subway system. According to our informant, the subway tunnels are still in good condition, and we could reach the evacuation point via the branch leading southeast in a quarter ummi. If necessary, we can clear a way down with explosives, though that will reveal our position. But it won’t matter. There shouldn’t be any monsters in the tunnels, and we will have a good chance of finishing the game before the hunters even reach our original landing point.”

Just then, our antigrav shook, and the right thruster started making a piercing whining sound like a circular saw. Along with Gerd Valeri next to me, I stared out the porthole and watched with growing concern as the right antigrav thruster started to give off smoke, leaving behind a trail of black exhaust in the air, then burst into flame.

“Kung Gnat, that was not me!” Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh started making excuses for some reason. “I haven’t even placed the charcoal into my thurible yet, much less lit it. I did not cause this.”

But I was no longer listening to the Priest, trying instead to take control of the flying vehicle, which was now leaning hard to the right and losing hull integrity fast. No use. The antigrav had a hard time carrying us with two functioning thrusters, but with just one there was no chance of continuing the flight. We quickly started losing altitude. A building even flickered by on the right, and we came astonishingly close to slamming into it at full speed. Through gaps in the sparse fog, I caught a few glimpses of the ground.

Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred fifty-eight!

Telekinesis skill increased to level seventy-eight!

“Prepare for a hard landing!” I shouted. “Eduard, open the cargo hatch! Jettison the nearest container. And jump out! Everyone in exoskeleton armor, after him! You have impact absorption systems...”

I was unable to finish my sentence. The antigrav tipped nose-down and went racing toward earth, gaining speed quickly. We would have been lucky to have even one second before impact. Stop time! I grabbed Valeri’s fear-stricken face with both hands. I looked out the window, choosing a spot. Teleport!

Time Stoppage skill increased to level five!

Teleportation skill increased to level seven!

* * *

VALERI AND I APPEARED mid-embrace on the flat roof of a small one-story structure. A garage or hangar, or maybe some antiquated and long abandoned livestock farm. It didn’t matter one bit. A second later, seven hundred feet away, an explosion blossomed and the ground beneath us shook. Two group members’ icons went gray. Gerd Tini Wi-Gnat down. Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez down. Not good! We had lost two team members at the very outset of the blood-sport reality show.

Cartography skill increased to level one hundred sixteen!

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-one!

I had no doubt the Great Amnesty had technically already begun. I had already found my bearings and realized that our antigrav had crashed inside the game arena near its eastern edge. Had we fallen half a mile to the east, maybe I could have tried to appeal to the organizers of the show and claim the runner team was not inside the agreed-upon game zone, and thus we needed a do-over. But we had crashed inside the arena, and the show’s countdown had already begun, so there was no chance for an appeal.

The one silver lining was the fact that the rest of my group had survived the crash and subsequent explosion, even though many of them had seriously reduced health bars. The only ones not to be hurt were Gerd Eduard Boyko the Shocktroop, and Gerd Vasha Tushihh, both of whom had managed to jump out of the doomed antigrav. Their exoskeleton armor had integrated systems for slowing fall speed, and both troopers had made a soft landing. Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa the Medic was also barely hurt. As far as I could tell, the Miyelonian had used his inherent skill to relocate quickly, and also left the antigrav at the last second through the open cargo hatch.

“Little Sister is dead...” the Beast Master wrinkled her nose, taking the temporary death of her beloved pet a bit too hard.

“She’ll respawn at your side soon,” I reassured my wayedda and, looking around, pointed to a big box coming down with a parachute. “Most importantly, all our equipment survived. Go on, go collect your package. You know what to do!”

I myself rushed to the burning wreckage of the antigrav, which the five Small Relict Guard Drones were spinning circles around. The drones had been flying outside the vehicle, and thus had not been harmed. But we had also lost the three recon drones. And overall little of our equipment had survived based on the broken boxes and raging flames at the scene of the crash.

I sent all five drones out to scout the area, then sent Gerd Destroying Angel out with the same mission as soon as the Miyelonian healer was done treating the burns on the German woman’s face with a healing spray. Gerd T’yu-Pan the Shocktroop, Gerd Eduard Boyko the Space Commando, Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest, and Gerd Vasha Tushihh the Heavy Robot Operator were still just loitering around and poking through the boxes that had been rescued from the flames, but the four tanks would make about as good scouts as bulls would make dairy cows. They were missing the requisite skills, had low Perception, and wouldn’t be able to move inconspicuously in their heavy or exoskeleton armor.

“What about the other wounded?” I asked the Medic, who was stitching up our Trillian’s lacerated hide, and the Miyelonian bristled his whiskers in dismay.

“Looks like we lost our Gunfighter and Arbiter. And the Trillian has broken three legs, including both back ones, meaning he will not be able to move. A lot of fractures and torn ligaments. I have injected Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh with pain killers and stimulants. Otherwise he’d already have passed out. But as a medic, let me say — it would be more humane to just finish him off right now so he can come back uninjured somewhere safe...”

“I’ll finish you off one day, you sorry excuse for a healer!” Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh came indignantly, and even tried to stand, but collapsed heavily to the ground. “Captain Gnat, I can still be of use. Have them drag me off somewhere with good cover. I can still shoot without coming out into the open. The hunters have probably already spotted the downed antigrav, and soon this place will be crawling with them.”

It was a sound idea, particularly the warning that we’d soon have company. I pointed the four surviving tanks to a hangar building that I could hardly see through the fog and ordered them to bring the “crocodile” over there. After that, I walked up to Imran, who was lying on his back and had an IV bag hooked into a vein. The Dagestani did not move, just tracked me with his pupils.

“His back is broken,” the Miyelonian Medic told me, picking up his tools in a little backpack, “our Arbiter is essentially paralyzed. A lot of injuries. Internal organ damage, severe internal bleeding. He can speak, but it is hard. Without medicine and Life Point restoring elixirs, he’ll die immediately. He needs an emergency operation with good equipment, which I have lost...” the Medic looked bitterly at the big fire where our stuff was still burning away.

“Where are the Inquisitors and Observer right now?” I asked my injured friend.

Gerd Imran cracked open his mouth with huge effort, unwittingly revealing his missing front teeth, but instead of words, all that came out was bloody foam. Gerd Mauu-La wiped the blood away with a cotton pad, but I didn’t torture the Dagestani, instead asking mentally.

“Three brigades to the south... of here... Very close... Closest is less than half a mile... They’re all coming... One is far to the northwest. Eight miles. The fifth is also south... one mile... but seems to be underground... The Observer is also rushing this way... But he’s still far... Southwest, three miles...”

“Woah...” I came, thinking out loud. “Our foes are much closer than I would have thought. Four divisions are all in one small patch of the huge arena. Strange coincidence, don’t you think? The hunters must have known where our antigrav was going to crash and got in position to finish off the survivors. And there isn’t a single camera in this location, even though thousands of them were rigged up before the event... I’ll have to turn mine on so I can tell the audience what happened, and about our foes’ bad faith deceit.”

I looked around again and said decisively into the microphone:

“Prepare for battle. First group of hunters incoming. Friends, try to take one alive, ideally the Inquisitor at the head. I really want to have a chat and find out the name of who clued in the hunters to wait for us here at the edge of the map, rather than in the middle of the arena!”

Chapter 8. Dropping Like Flies

“SO, YOUR CLAIM IS that Horde Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz himself positioned the hunter brigades on the arena? And that the Observer personally ordered four hunter brigades to wait for the runners here next to the edge of the arena, and he was perfectly aware that our antigrav was rigged to blow, and was supposed to crash just after crossing the edge?”

Suspended by the wrists using Telekinesis and hanging up in the air, the gray-haired Inquisitor we were interrogating responded affirmatively, after which he moaned out in pain and closed his lone surviving huge right eye. Yes, our prisoner had taken quite the beating. His left eye fell out, his right foot got blown off, and overall he had a lot of fractures and injuries. Team Gnat’s fight against the first group of hunters was grueling and bloody. The firefight and subsequent melee battle were no place to get sentimental. I turned away from the gray Inquisitor and ordered Shocktroop Gerd T’yu-Pan to finish off our much suffering opponent. A lone gunshot sounded out, and I finally let the old man’s body fall to the ground.

Psionic skill increased to level two hundred thirty-five!

Telekinesis skill increased to level eighty-one!

You have reached level one hundred sixty!

You have received three skill points!

Damn! A rare instance of me not being too happy to level up. After all, I was intending to publicly accuse the Horde Observer of not playing fair, and my arguments were based, among other things, on the stats of one of the hunter brigades. Now the audience of the Great Amnesty might connect Kung Gnat levelling up with the very convenient information I got from my prisoner and accuse me of using mind control to put words in his mouth.

But oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. I quickly put three free points into Psionics, raising my main skill to two hundred thirty-eight (which the blessing from the Temple of the Dawn of Life brought all the way to three hundred five), looked around at the scene of our recent battle and shook my head. Yes, things got heated... We were unable to keep them at bay, and the fog and invisibility systems the hunters were using allowed them to reach the one-story building where my small party was holed up behind improvised barricades.

The main problem was the fact that my psionic magic wasn’t working all that well. And it wasn’t that I was being lazy or half-assing it, I really was trying to attack the hunters with psionics one after the next. However, the mental defense placed on the whole group by the prominent and very experienced level-213 Inquisitor was truly very tough. Furthermore, all the Tailaxians had also taken a ton of combat boosters and pills, including some to improve defense against psionics. I then was all alone without my usual magic link. My young but experienced and reliable companion Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez who normally boosted my magic and mana had not survived the antigrav crash. Gerd Valeri-Urla wasn’t helping either... she... I tried to block out all thoughts about my wayedda, because even in my mind I didn’t want to give a hint to my opponents about what my wife was currently doing.

Yes, I quickly realized that psionics were not going to decide the battle and switched tactics. I found opponents and marked them with Targeting to make things easier for my gunfighters. I was also able to hit a few of them with Disorientation. But still, we were outgunned four to one, and it was pretty apparent. We had lost Trillian Gunner Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh, and now Gerd Mauu-La, Gerd Vasha Tushihh, and Gerd Eduard Boyko were all wounded. But we pulled it off! No small part in thanks to the hunters making a basic error by bringing an Immolator along to increase their own firepower — a huge eight-legged combat robot sold by the hundreds of thousands here on Tailax for Horde use.

So, you might ask, where was the error? The fact that the Inquisitors could not give mental defense to robots. Furthermore, I had already come across similar model robots, even owned one myself, so I had a fairly easy time taking control of the Immolator. The combat machine’s fearsome firepower quickly determined the outcome of the battle when, at practically point-blank range, it shot down the still living hunters one by one.

The Immolator was now next to a sooty building wall pointing its many plasma turrets to the south, where we expected the main enemy groups to be coming from. The robot had also taken serious damage. It was sparking and studded with straight-through holes, but still in fighting shape, and I had a lot of hope for its firepower. The journalist drone which eventually tracked us down and was now constantly spinning around nearby broadcasting live from the scene of events to billions of viewers throughout the galaxy was looping around the Immolator and showing the damaged combat machine in great detail.

I called the drone with a hand, and it flew over obediently. Looking straight into the camera, and even taking off my helmet to show my face, I started my address to the audience. It was not my first, but before I had just told them about my fighters, the fact that the antigrav had crashed, and the situation in the arena. But then I decided to go into the injustice of it all.

“So, now my suspicions have been confirmed. Meleyephatian Horde Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz knew in advance that our antigrav wasn’t going to make it to the middle of the arena and placed his brigades around the expected crash site. I suspect the Observer was also mixed up in the bomb planted on our antigrav. And I consider such blatant deception on the part of the Meleyephatian Observer, who was placed on Tailax to uphold the law, to be not only blasphemy but a black mark on the reputation of the entire Meleyephatian race! After all, they have many detractors who criticize them for their aggressive expansion, and the enslavement, and extermination of intelligent races. But no one ever would have thought the great and proud Meleyephatians would violate their own word or back down from their obligations. But here on Tailax, the Meleyephatian Horde’s own observer is violating the Horde’s laws and regulations! How are we supposed to interpret that?!”

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-two!

Mysticism skill increased to level one hundred fifty-two!

I took a short pause to open and drink down a can of Magic Point restoring Miyelonian alcoholic cocktail. Yes, I had run all the way out of mana. It was unwise, of course, to use Psionics for my address to the audience knowing we would soon be attacked again. But I had heard from Imran that the remaining hunter brigades were still relatively far away, so I would have time to restore mana. And so, I kept up my emotional speech.

“As I’m sure you are aware, my wife Gerd Valeri-Urla and I could easily have not taken part in the Great Amnesty. I personally consider the charges against my wayedda to be preposterous. She has been accused of murder for killing a man on the Quarantine Planet who attacked her and tried to rob her of her honor. Yes, Gerd Valeri-Urla is a Great Huntress, and the laws of that world categorically forbid hunters from killing humans. But what choice did she have?! To just stop resisting and allow him to commit a crime? Let me remind you that, on the Quarantine Planet, attacking a hunter is also considered a crime punishable by death. So I am in full support of my wife’s actions and believe that she never would have been charged on any other planet.”

Fame increased to 153.

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-three!

I looked at the system messages with satisfaction and continued.

“But the laws on the Quarantine Planet are different and the mere fact that Valeri is a Tailaxian by race was how she escaped death. Valeri-Urla could easily have gone to live a life of peace on Earth or a thousand other planets, but wanted to fight her sentence, so she came to Tailax. The Great Amnesty the Horde Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz suggested that we take part in was falsely advertised as a fair game with clearly defined rules: one quarter ummi head start for the runners, to give us plenty of time to hide from the hunters in the ruins of the big city. But in reality, it was very different. We were given just four ummi to reach the finish. Our antigrav was destroyed along with our equipment. We lost a third of our crew and were downed in a place where we had enemies already waiting for us. This is blatant cheating! Nevertheless, I plan on prevailing in the Great Amnesty and proving to the whole galaxy that my wife Gerd Valeri-Urla deserves to have her sentence dropped and be made a free woman!”

* * *

“WELL, HOW’D IT GO?” I reached out to Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu, who was still back on Tamara the Paladin.

The Miyelonian NPC, who had been helping me broadcast the show before the journalist drone came on the scene and was first to report on our antigrav crash. Now, she was watching the news and tracking audience reactions while at the same time telling me about events in the arena, which we could not see from our vantage point.

“There is some good news, Kung Gnat. One of the hunter brigades — the one waiting to ambush you in the subway, just got taken down in a sudden monster attack. Another brigade took a serious beatdown from a flock of sharpbeaks while traveling on levitator boards. The hunters lost either five or six players and will now have to travel on foot.”

That was very good news. And most importantly, I knew why the creatures suddenly banded together and started attacking our foes. The organizers’ big mistake was filling the arena with deadly predators when their main target was a Beast Master, and a very skilled one at that.

“You’re also a great speaker, Captain Gnat, and the audience’s sympathies have shifted dramatically,” the orange kitty gave a very humanlike smile. “Before the show kicked off, your team of runners had just thirty-percent audience support, but now it’s over ninety-eight percent. They sympathize with you. The number of requests to the organizers to put a stop to this whole sham is multiplying. Along with that, the audience is starting to question why your team isn’t trying to run away, and just staying in one place.”

“Tell them there’s no point. The hunter brigades have us surrounded on all sides. We won’t get out of the ring now. We studied the whole area. There is no good cover anywhere, just abandoned fields and lonesome buildings. So we dug in around a fairly sturdy building, and here is where we will defend.”

“The audience is also asking what happened to Gerd Valeri. Your wayedda hasn’t been spotted since the first few scenes after the crash. Your Small Relict Guard Drones have been conspicuously absent, as well. They didn’t even see use in the first battle, though they could have come in very handy.”

I tried to hide my disarray behind a happy smirk. Nothing gets past these eagle-eyed viewers! They’re complaining about Valeri and the drones... I’d have to come up with a plausible lie.

“Tell them we’ve got her locked up in the basement, so enemy snipers can’t take her down so easily. The drones and Shadow Panther are with her to protect against stealth assassins or enemy drones.”

Gerd Ayni wished me luck and signed off. I then turned to the heavily wounded Gerd Imran. I needed information about the position of our opponents, and to be ready for what was coming.

* * *

GERD IMRAN WAS DYING. Even for someone without medical training, it was obvious. Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa the Medic was fussing over him, pumping him full of injections and advanced medications trying to stave off the inevitable. He had even restarted his heart several times, but still the Miyelonian was not all powerful. Which made it all the more surprising when Gerd Imran opened his eyes, and even managed to focus them on me.

“Gnat... Enemies on all sides... Very near... They’re on the attack.”

After that, the Dagestani hero’s eyes closed for the last time and his heart stopped again. I ran a scan of the surrounding twelve hundred feet and detected no foes. Nevertheless, I ordered into my helmet mic for everyone to take position and prepare for battle.

“Svyatodukh, replenish everyone’s psionic defense. Also, the group is going to lose its combat bonuses in a minute. Replenish them, too!”

“Yes sir. But you’re very spread out,” the Priest’s answer sounded out in my headphones, “I can’t reach everyone with the blessing. But bonuses you will have!”

I heard a choppy musical number in my headphones when suddenly, the first few chords of the legendary song Blood Type[1] by Viktor Tsoi blared in at full volume. The tailed Medic shuddered in surprise, tapping his paw on his helmet and turning my way.

“Surprisingly, it’s working. I got a temporary bonus to Agility and fear resistance. But Captain, our Arbiter is still dead...” Gerd Mauu-La said with pity in his voice and... the Miyelonian’s head gave a sudden twitch, burned straight through by a laser beam! The Medic’s icon on my screen instantly went gray.

“Attention! The battle has started!!!” I shouted while estimating the position of the enemy sniper based on the position of my teammate’s head and the burn mark on the wall behind him. Somewhere near a mound of bricks and debris in the distance... And I teleported straight to it.

Teleportation skill increased to level nine!

Successful Perception check!

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-two!

The enemy sniper was lying on the stones and construction debris in a camouflage suit, rendering him completely invisible to the human eye. But the Tailaxian IR Lens gave the Sniper away. His was a slightly more basic model than the one I had used for so long and then gifted to Gerd Ayni along with the Listener armor suit, but also had a Perception bonus. At first, I noticed the magic item marker on my mini-map, and only after that the enemy player himself. My enemy froze and tried not to move, but that did not save him from a practically point-blank Annihilator beam to the head.

Rifles skill increased to level eighty!

My Devourer Combat Armor’s forcefield immediately started blinking, marking the many shots absorbed by the energy field. There were enemies everywhere, and they were all concentrating fire on me. All the better! I could afford to take a hail of gunfire for a little while, which would take some pressure off my team. Furthermore, we had lost all players capable of moving quickly and detecting opponents, which meant that was now my job!

I was not too worried by the damage. Much worse and more concerning was the fact my Magic Points were quickly starting to dry up. I realized right away that enemy Inquisitors were draining my mana. Without mana meanwhile, I lost almost all my advantages and became a practically helpless character — not a mage, not a sniper, not a gunfighter, and I’d make a poor melee brawler to boot...

No way, keep dreaming!!! My Frenzy bar had filled up but this time, instead of bringing up the corresponding skill, I went into “death machine” mode. And one after another, I drank down three alcoholic cocktails to restore my mana because I didn’t even feel the first one.

Failed Constitution check!

ATTENTION!!! Intoxication effect received! Agility reduced by three points. Perception reduced by three points. Intelligence reduced by three points. Magic Point regeneration speed reduced by 270%. Duration: 120 seconds.

Those debuffs really stung, particularly the Intelligence one, and subsequently also my psionic and number of Magic Points. But they didn’t worry me much. I had flown into a rage and was now sowing terror and death on the battlefield.

Chapter 9. Special Cargo

EVERYTHING AFTER THAT felt like a disjointed kaleidoscope of separate events. I teleported and stopped time, placed Targeting markers on enemies and shredded their bodies with Telekinesis, then shot holes through particularly well-armored foes with Annihilator blasts. One unarmored Scout I stuck straight through with the Annihilator because in the heat of battle, I hadn’t even noticed the ancient lethal weapon’s charge running out. Nevertheless, the most surefire way to kill the Tailaxians, though it did require advance Scanning, was to detonate the miniature bomb they all had implanted near their hearts. It only took a second to drop them like that!

I was racing around the battlefield bringing death and destruction everywhere I went. The blood in my veins was boiling from the surge of adrenaline and my intoxicated mental state. My fury and rage gave me strength, and the blaring music in my headphones made for a great soundtrack.

Blood type on my armband,

Got a serial number on my armband,

Wish me luck in battle, wish me,

Not to be left in this grassy field,

Not to be left in this grassy field,

Wish me luck, wish me luck!

Off in the distance, my troops were very focused, following my Targeting markers and taking down opponents one after the next. The Immolator thundered out loudest of all, but soon our robot fell silent and toppled onto its side. And not long after that, the high-speed cannon on Gerd Vasha Tushihh the Geckho’s exoskeleton armor also fell silent. I didn’t see Gerd T’yu-Pan the Shocktroop dying, but at a certain point his icon suddenly went gray in the group window. Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh though, I saw die with my own eyes.

A level-206 Inquisitor suddenly appeared from invisibility next to our Priest and stabbed my fighter in the chest with either a long spear or staff. I don’t know what the purple glowing tip of the enemy weapon was made of, but it went straight through his sturdy exoskeleton armor.

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-three!

I shouted in horror at the realization that I had no way of helping my friend. A bit too late, I stopped time and threw aside the limp body of the enemy Gunfighter, whose head had just been smashed to pieces by a set of hands in armored gloves. I tried teleporting to help Gerd Ivan but... I was not yet done recharging the Teleportation skill, so all I could do was place Disorientation on the enemy Inquisitor and watch the drama unfold before me.

Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh dropped his Annihilator (which I gave him from the arsenal of the ancient cruiser to replace his old AK-47), lowered his head and looked down at the terrible wound in his chest. After that, in the priest’s hand appeared... a thurible, which Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh swung around like a flail, knocking the head off the enemy Inquisitor!

I finally teleported over and grabbed the heavily armored Gerd Ivan to stop him from falling. The formidable fighter recognized me, smiled and... took from his inventory a long flagpole topped with a banner depicting a flying gnat carrying an Annihilator. Bracing himself on the pole, the Priest stood up proudly straight, looked around the body-littered field and said:

“This was a great battle, Gnat! Looks like I’m out of time. But don’t you dare lose on me!”

Another Inquisitor appeared right next to us, but I just swatted him away with Telekinesis, sending him flying into a wall before the ghastly old man slid down onto a pile of broken bricks like a shapeless heap. I then picked up the last enemy I had detected and marked with Telekinesis and slammed him into the ground with a thundering force that sent scraps of flesh flying.

Telekinesis skill increased to level eighty-five!

You have reached level one hundred sixty-one!

You have received three skill points!

Meager compensation for losing so many fighters... Nevertheless, I placed the three points into Mysticism, bringing it up to level one hundred fifty-seven. My mana situation was dire despite all the cocktails I’d imbibed and could easily be empty in a minute or two. And although two of three Inquisitors were already dead by then, so my mana was no longer being drained quite so much, I was still spending it constantly on moving around the battlefield, scanning, using magic, and telekinesis.

“I need help!” Gerd Destroying Angel’s voice rang out in my headphones, reminding me the battle was not yet over.

I looked around, trying to figure out using the mini-map where the German woman was. Not far at all. But for some reason, I just couldn’t see her. There, on the roof! But by the time I’d figured it out, it was too late. Gerd Destroying Angel’s icon went gray, meaning she had died. Her killer didn’t last much longer though. A movement flickered by in the foggy air and the Shadow Panther’s toothy maw appeared for just a second all bloodied before Little Sister ran off in search of more enemies.

I was down to one ally. Gerd Eduard Boyko the Shocktroop was alive and fighting someone. I could hear their cursing and shouts somewhere on the other side of the building along with the odd blast from the shoulder-mounted cannon on his Space Commando exoskeleton armor suit. I rushed to his aid and... was again too late. The Space Commando was lying on his back in a pool of blood, his exoskeleton suit completely trashed. His armored right hand meanwhile was tightly clutching the decapitated head of some old man.

Head of Leng Pierre Dunn, level-246 Inquisitor (trophy).

Woah! The strongest and highest level of all five “prominent” Tailax Inquisitors! The ghastly old man was who I feared seeing most. On the battlefield, which I had crisscrossed many times with my teleporting, I could constantly sense the old Inquisitor’s presence — he could see me and was causing a lot of pain with his mana draining, though he himself always remained cloaked. So that was who got our powerful enemy. And Gerd Eduard Boyko had taken down the high-level monster on his own even though the fight had also claimed his life...

* * *

“JUST YOU AND ME NOW...” I patted the Shadow Panther affectionately on the scruff of her neck as she laid at my feet with satisfied purring. “You’ve done a great job, Little Sister. You mauled so many enemies today you even levelled up. Patience. This stupid show will be over soon, then you can go see your dear master again. I hope she hurries up! We’ve been entertaining the audience and hunters for five hours now. It’s about time for the last enemy brigade to gather their courage and come pay us a visit.”

I was sitting on the steps in front of a half-collapsed building not even trying to hide. I had even turned on the light on my helmet because it was getting dark, and the already shadowy conditions were slowly giving way to full nighttime. Maybe my relaxed, calm demeanor was throwing off my opponents, but for some reason the final brigade of hunters, composed entirely of Meleyephatians was in no hurry to attack. Still, I could sense that they were nearby and studying me carefully. That was when I realized I’d have to give them a little push or end up sitting there until morning. I sent the Shadow Panther into the building and holstered my Annihilator, stood up and walked into the darkness.

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred eighty-six!

Finally! I stopped. I didn’t even teleport or stop time, though I had every chance. I wonder what the Meleyephatians will do? Attack mentally?

Yes, a mental attack was indeed what followed. But first, I heard a barely audible whisper before being entangled in ten thickly woven nets. I didn’t move so I wouldn’t get tangled even worse and, without particular effort, deflected the mental attack — although the Meleyephatians were capable of psionics, the vast gulf between our Intelligence scores due to my high status and investment into stat points worked as intended.

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred seventy-three!

I fought it back and waited for more. But nothing happened for almost a minute. And all that came then was another mental attack, which was just as much a failure. I even taunted indignantly in Geckho:

“Well, you’ve got me. What will you do now? Come out where I can see you, or stay hidden in the shadows and invisibility? There are twenty-five of you, and just one of me. Work up some courage and show your faces!”

It worked! One after another, the arachnid hunters started appearing around me. Big, spiny, brandishing weapons and looking very tense. Seven. Eleven. Eighteen. Twenty-one. Twenty-four...

“Uh, one is missing! Where is your leader Gerd Daa-Royzzz? I want to have a heart-to-heart with that cowardly creature. I don’t care about the rest of you.”

Authority increased to 158!

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-four

Finally, the leader, a level-218 Observer appeared a bit apart from the other hunters. His armor immediately caught my eye. It looked an awful lot like my old Listener armor. Either it was real Relict armor that had been refit, or it was a replica produced by the Meleyephatian Horde itself. The Observer was also holding a true Relict Annihilator. No, two Annihilators! Not bad, not bad. But before saying anything to my chief opponent, I started loudly.

“Valeri, all the enemies are here. You may begin.”

All the hunters threw up their weapons and started looking around, but nothing happened and the Meleyephatians slowly settled down. The Observer even found the courage to walk over closer, but still stayed behind his fighters.

“Kung Gnat, you have been sullying my honor all day! You wanted to cast me as a liar to get your wife out of her test. But your strategy didn’t work. The Tailaxians would never dare to defy me. You have lost, Human. And because of that, now you will die!”

“You think I’m the one who lost?” I laughed loudly, which clearly threw off and surprised the hunters. “Oh no, I actually have prevailed despite all your traps, guile and nasty tricks. My wayedda Gerd Valeri-Urla has been next to one of the evacuation points for a long time, ready to finish the game at any moment. All we wanted to do was make sure all the hunters from the final group were here in one place so nobody would be standing guard next to the finish.”

“You’re lying again, Human!” the Observer didn’t believe me and sent five Meleyephatians out to check all the nearby buildings.

Little Sister met them with desperate rage, throwing herself on the nearest Meleyephatian. But the Shadow Panther didn’t even last two seconds, air-holed by many guns at the same time. But the subsequent powerful explosion brought down the rest of the building and buried all five of the hunters, which served as clear evidence that the Meleyephatians had not noticed the bomb left behind by my troops. And before the dust could settle, the journalist drone circling overhead made a loud announcement:

Attention! Gerd Valeri-Urla has reached the northwestern evacuation point and successfully passed the Great Amnesty test!

“I don’t believe it! It’s just not possible!” the Observer announced to his troops, “the Human has set his drone to lie to us on cue!”

But the other Meleyephatian hunters, seemingly in contact with players outside the arena, started to all confirm that the runner Valeri-Urla really had passed the test and earned full amnesty, meaning the show was over.

“That doesn’t matter now!” the huge spider in matte-black armor went mad with spite, unable to hear the words being spoken to him. “You have spent the whole day slinging mud at me and sullying my good name, so you die today no matter what, Human!”

Gerd Daa-Royzzz aimed his two Annihilators at me and... time and again pressed down on the triggers only to find the weapons unable to fire! The Observer checked their batteries, and the safety mechanisms on their triggers, but still it was no use.

“I’ve had that happen before when I was trying to kill the Relict Pyramid Hierarch using a Relict weapon,” I commented with a smirk, after which my voice went metallic. I had in fact just entered Death Machine mode, draining my long-full Frenzy bar to zero. “Gerd Daa-Royzzz, you have sentenced Leng Satori Yomaji the prelate of Tailax to death for attempted interference in the integrity of the Great Amnesty. And meanwhile, you yourself were guilty of crudely interfering in the integrity of the test, so by law you also deserve to die. Drop your Annihilators, they’re useless now! And look me in the eyes, because I will be your judge, jury and executioner. This is how you kill!”

There were no flashes of light, bolts of electricity or any other light or sound effects. The Meleyephatian’s arms and legs just all snapped, and he crumpled onto the ground.

Life Suppression skill increased to level four!

* * *

I HAD A FAIRLY INFREQUENT visitor waiting for me in the captain’s bunk of Tamara the Paladin — Gerd Jarg the Analyst, who took the Universal Translator off his neck pointedly as soon as I came in to show me that he wanted to address fairly delicate subject matter, and conversation would be best done mentally.

“Captain, did it all go smoothly?” the spiny six-legged armadillo asked instead of greeting.

“Well, almost,” I fell wearily onto the couch and filled myself a glass of orange juice. “I would have preferred not to be sent to respawn after all the Meleyephatian hunters got mad at me for killing their leader. I held out for almost thirty seconds under constant fire even though I wasn’t resisting at all in order to avoid turning the whole Meleyephatian Horde against me. I haven’t died in the game for a while. I was not used to it. What a shame about the bonuses from the Temple of the Dawn of Life...”

“Well, Kung Gnat, I did warn you that was likely!”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal. Gives me an excuse to drop by the Un-Tau ice comet again. Maybe this time, I’ll be able to put the obelisk in the correct position. Most important is the fact you were exactly right about the hunter brigades. After Leng Satori Yomaji’s attempt to give us a hint came out, our opponents were all hunkered down in the subway tunnels and near the southeastern evacuation point. Which was why I sent my cargo antigrav there and broke one of the thrusters a few miles before the border using the Machine Control skill. Nobody guessed. The crash was amazing, best of all we were able to save the box containing the tame sharpbeak, which made my wayedda’s job a lot easier — I didn’t have to look for wild ones and tame them during the show. There was nothing in the rules saying we couldn’t travel via winged pet, but nobody was aware that sharpbeaks were even tamable. Valeri-Urla is unique in that way. She can find a common tongue with any monster!”

“Yes, the special cargo containing the winged monster was a great idea!” Gerd Jarg agreed.

I put the empty glass on the table and continued.

“After that, it was just a matter of technique. Valeri flew away on the sharpbeak with the five small drones for protection while we kept the hunters distracted. Honestly though, the captive Inquisitor did take some effort. The old man just refused to play nice. But still, I broke his will and took over his mind, then got myself the information I was after. It went much easier with the Observer, who had weak mental defenses. Him I could manipulate however I wanted. And in the end, I nailed him down with my ult so the Truth Seekers couldn’t work him hard enough to mess up the picture of events, which came together so well. Also, it’s now confirmed fact that the Meleyephatian will not come back in the real world.”

“Yes, captain, that post is vacant. It’s yours. Very high probability!” My Analyst promised.

“True, if not for one serious problem: I killed the Horde’s selected viceroy. I have been forbidden from leaving Tailax. My court date is tomorrow, and the punishment could be extremely severe.”

The Jarg froze for a few seconds before carelessly waving off his concerns.

“No worries! You have a talk with Krong Laa, and it’ll all be settled. The whole galaxy thinks the Observer broke the law and tried to cheat you in the test, thus bringing shame upon the Meleyephatian race. Captain, you did the right thing getting rid of that scumbag. You were defending the honor of the Meleyephatians, so Horde leader Krong Laa will be thankful. Furthermore, quarrels with humans are not in the Horde’s interests right now given the bloody war against the Composite, and the very recently settled conflict with the Human Empire. I am certain you’ll get a reward from Krong Laa. The viceroy post, which is what you wanted.”

Chapter 10. Course to Freedom

I REALLY LAID INTO my troops. Yes, we had come out on top in the blood sport. Or rather, survived long enough in the arena to give Gerd Valeri time to reach the finish line. But I was expecting more out of my players. At the very least, better coordination and more thought-out plays along with some clever tactics and improvisation. And at most, I thought we could have scored a pure undisputed victory over all the hunters. I was after all positioning my team as elite, the best of the best. But in reality, we had lost (let’s be honest) to members of a police force from some backwater planet, who had never taken part in combat, and had zero experience doing anything but chasing off protestors and snatching up unarmed rioters.

Yes, our entry to the arena was a surprise, nothing at all like we’d practiced. But that was for the best for me as a captain. It gave be an immediate picture of how prepared my boarding team really was for unorthodox situations. Shuttles being damaged and making hard landings was a fairly frequent occurrence in real battle, meaning the fact that a third of the team had either died or taken heavy wounds was, to me, a sign of poor preparation. Would our opponents really be giving us a head start, not shooting while they allowed us to set up position? No, real enemies would always stop at nothing to kill us.

I was frank in my expressions and the troops lowered their heads dejectedly, agreeing with their captain’s fair reproach. Even my travelling wife got told off. Apologies, but why the hell had the Beast Master made for the very farthest evacuation point in the northwest when her instructions were to fly to the much closer northeastern one? Valeri-Urla could have finished the stupid, pointless show in twenty minutes! But instead, she risked her life and our shared victory, slipping away from the hunter brigade only by a miracle and nearly losing her flying mount by getting into a fight with a group of male sharpbeaks in the middle of the arena. Then there was her taking down the hunter brigade in the subway tunnels. Although it ended up helping out our whole group, it was not the Beast Master’s top priority, and the hour of time wasted on it came at a high cost to the rest of us.

Today, I was feeling very annoyed. Dying in the arena had zeroed out a nearly full progress bar, setting me back to the beginning of level one hundred sixty-one, and making me lose the blessing from the Temple of the Dawn of Life. But that was not even the main reason I was in a bad mood. It was critically important now to have a long-distance comms session with Meleyephatian Horde ruler Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz before showing my face in Tailaxian court. But the Krong’s assistants were stubbornly refusing to put me through to their boss, saying he was busy preparing for the upcoming battle against the Composite. I knew that wasn’t true. Or rather, Horde leader Krong Laa did indeed have a lot of work and concerns, and his First Fleet was in a pitched battle with the intergalactic invaders. But I got the sense he had a different reason for not wanting to talk. He was simply afraid of me!

Over the last few hours, my Gnat’s Fame figure had gone up six (!!!) points while my Authority had been boosted by three. I saw only one explanation for that phenomenon: Horde Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz had not respawned in the real world after I killed him in the arena. Players dying due to the death of their character in the videogame contradicted the fundamental principles of the game that bends reality, and the slaying of the Horde’s representative on Tailax had been top news for the last few days. The only place where nobody was discussing the circumstances of his mysterious death was perhaps Composite space, and the name Kung Gnat was a constant fixture in these discussions. And so it was no wonder Krong Laa’s guard team was not willing to risk letting me talk to their leader before all the causes of the Meleyephatian’s death were uncovered.

Only when I had already completed the training and let my troops prepare for the victory ceremony on Tailax, then received the finished stern sections of the cruiser along with Orun Va-Mart the Engineer did the situation move from a dead stop. Gerd Ayukh the Navigator’s voice rang out in my headphones.

“Captain, you have been sent an official communication from the Meleyephatian Horde. I’m forwarding it to you!”

I brought up the incoming video on my helmet’s faceplate. I saw an unfamiliar Meleyephatian with white and pink coloration. He gave a courteous bow and said that his name was Leng Yasheea Ur-Vee. After that, he spent a minute chirring on about something, but I honestly didn’t really understand it, just caught him mentioning the name Gerd Daa-Royzzz twice, and planet Tailax. I didn’t really understand the Horde language very well under the best of circumstances, but this Meleyephatian was chirring very quickly, so I couldn’t even piece out the individual words, much less comprehend their meaning. Even playing it back at half speed wasn’t much help. I had to ask my Translator friend to take a look.

“Ayni, where are you right now?”

In response to my radioed question, the Miyelonian turned on her helmet camera to show me what she was seeing. A very large room. Must have been an empty hangar at the space docks where our cruiser was currently parked. Neat, tidy rows of huge Alpha Iseyek with dozens of Humans from the Empire starship crews that had sworn allegiance to me standing and even sitting on the floor. The little Miyelonian was walking between the rows of humans and nonhumans with a microphone in her clawed paws and everyone was listening.

“Captain, I am conducting another Geckho language lesson for our new crew,” Gerd Ayni explained. “Today they will be going into the real world for the first time, so I want them to be able to say and understand basic phrases.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure anyone will understand Geckho in Novosibirsk, where I set the former Imperials’ virt pods...” I shook my head dubiously. “So you know, it’s a zone closed off from the outside world inhabited by thousands of players from the Relict and Human-23 Factions, so the newcomers won’t be all on their own. Our crew’s virt pods for the most part are also in Novosibirsk, even the Miyelonians and Geckho have asked to have their physical bodies relocated there. So the newcomers will be looked after. They won’t be judged too harshly for acting strange. But Ayni, I was looking for you for another reason. I got a video here. I’m sending it over. Help me translate it. I can’t tell what he is chirring about.”

“Well first of all, it’s a she,” the Miyelonian corrected me after one look at the recording. “She is the new Vassal Race Coordinator for the Meleyephatian Horde, Leng Yasheea Ur-Vee, who has recently taken over the post from Leng Towo, who died during the Composite attack on the Throne World. Leng Yasheea is saying she has seen your explanations about the death of Observer Gerd Daa-Royzzz and overall agrees that you had no other choice than to be so cruel to the Tailax viceroy who broke the law and tarnished the Horde’s reputation. Your actions, Kung Gnat, have been recognized as justified, and the Horde has no quarrel with you. Along with that, Vassal Race Coordinator Leng Yasheea Ur-Vee is demanding that you refrain from using the Devourer class killing ability on Meleyephatians in the future because the Horde’s reaction next time will be extremely severe. With that, she considers the incident settled.”

It was as if a stone fell off my shoulders. It worked out! I had to admit, I was worried the consequences for killing the Horde Observer could be much more severe, going so far as my arrest and the confiscation of my ancient cruiser. But now, the court on Tailax, where I was supposed to appear in an ummi and a half, had been rendered an empty formality because the planet’s true rulers had already announced their verdict. I even wanted to see the looks on the local judges’ faces while they tried to wriggle their way out of the unconventional situation and justify the death of the chief representative of their occupation authorities.

Meanwhile, Gerd Ayni continued:

“For part two of her speech, the Horde Vassal Race Coordinator would like you, Kung Gnat, as one of the most authoritative Human players, to serve as viceroy on Tailax in place of the old Observer. You understand Human psychology better, and thus will be more successful at administering Tailax than the Meleyephatian occupation administration, which has not managed to achieve a good relationship with the natives after so many long years. There will be just two requirements: meeting starship production targets for the Horde and suppressing any popular uprisings. Otherwise, as viceroy, you will have complete freedom to act as you see fit in matters of economy and internal politics. Tailax may even be given some autonomy in external affairs, within reasonable bounds, of course. Other than that, if you accept the offer, Kung Gnat, you will be made one of the one hundred eighty-seven leaders who have a say in the policies of the Meleyephatian Horde as a whole and be entitled to sit in at council sessions with an advisory vote.”

Well, well! My Analyst Gerd Jarg may have gotten some of the details wrong, but overall his prediction was dead on. The Meleyephatian Horde had indeed appointed me its viceroy on Tailax and provided me full carte blanche on the occupied planet. They had even invited me to join their “expanded Horde council,” composed of vassals and Meleyephatian-controlled races. And although that “expanded council” had no real say, and all truly important decisions were made by a tight circle of Meleyephatian rulers at the very top, it still was a deliberative body with a certain political weight in the galaxy. And so I was planning to agree to the offer and make full use of the political opportunities it provided.

* * *

WHAT A SIGHT TO BEHOLD! My arrival to the capital as new prelate of Tailax and Horde viceroy was a showy affair. For the occasion, they had even dispersed the clouds over the capital city spaceport so the planet’s inhabitants could enjoy the broadcast of the twinbody frigate Tamara the Paladin coming in for a landing accompanied by six silvery Imperial Warhawks. And although it was being broadcast live in the real world as well, not every inhabitant of the planet was satisfied to sit at home and watch. Over four hundred thousand Tailaxians had logged into the game that bends reality then, by hook or crook, made their way to the landing pad at the capital city spaceport to see the arrival of their new rulers with their own eyes, bringing with them hope for their long-awaited liberation.

Clad in the official garb of a La-Fin dynasty Archmage and carrying a heavy carved staff in my right hand, I came down the gangway unhurriedly and majestically, leading my glamorous wayedda Leng Valeri by the left hand. My travelling wife had changed out of her light armored spacesuit for the triumphant occasion into a fancy bright red dress, put her disobedient hair into a fashionable down style, and colored the tattoo on her right cheek of four white wavy lines, the symbol of her Great Huntress status, with bright gold make-up. The pure white and fearsome Little Sister was walking to her master’s left, underlining Leng Valeri’s uniqueness with her presence. Because despite being a Tailaxian by race, she had been born on the unruly primitive Quarantine Planet. The Shadow Panther meanwhile kept wanting to go invisible, and the Beast Master had to constantly reassure her pet, who was not used to such large crowds of humans and nonhumans.

And yes, that was no mistake. My wayedda had changed status from Gerd to Leng. This morning, Valeri-Urla had followed my advice and left the Relict Faction to found her own Free Tailax faction, which was immediately reported on all Tailaxian news channels. Many famous citizens and authoritative Tailax politicians saw Valeri as the future of their planet and wanted to join immediately. My wife’s faction then had been growing at explosive pace since the first minutes of its existence, and in just four hours numbered over twenty thousand. By the end of the day, our Analyst was predicting over one hundred thousand players in Free Tailax, which would make my wife’s faction the largest and most influential on the planet, easily comparable with my own Relict faction.

Valeri and I together had greeted the ten or so troops standing in formation near the gangway who represented Team Gnat in the recent show, then proceeded along the rows of huge stock-still Alpha Iseyek. The ten-foot “praying mantises” looked both impressive and as identical to one another as peas in a pod. And although the Alpha Iseyek seemed like immobile stone sculptures, I knew that my guards were extremely watchful and capable of taking down any threat to their master at lightning speed.

My wayedda and I walked over to the high-speed shuttle that was supposed to spirit us away to the council of the prelates of Tailax and stopped two paces from the door. Leng Valeri-Urla turned to face the crowd, which was just twenty steps away but separated from us by a forcefield, smiled at the Tailaxian citizens and waved welcomingly. That very second, all of the many screens surrounding the spaceport showed my glamorous Tailaxian wife making the cordial gesture and happy smile.

The triumphant cry that rose up after that was so intense that it left me stunned for a few seconds like a boxer that just took a hit to the face. And it wasn’t so much because of the volume as the focused stream of adoration from the crowd, which I could sense clearly as a psionic. If my character were a Priest, Actor, Dancer or some other class capable of deriving power from crowd energy, the force of adoration there would have made me able to move mountains. But for mages, such emotions only got in the way.

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-five!

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred seventy-four!

Authority increased to 162!

Holy crap! And that was only a “glancing blow” because the stream of emotion was directed at my spouse, who stumbled in the surge of emotion. I helped Leng Valeri get into the shuttle. After the doors closed and the shuttle started flying toward the tall Council tower, which was far on the horizon, my companion sat back wearily in the seat and said:

“I make a shit politician. I have no skill working with people. The last few minutes exhausted me more than a whole day hunting on the Quarantine Planet.”

“You should go easier on yourself. You were spending Magic Points and Endurance Points too fast. I dumped half my mana into you over those few minutes, because you exhausted your own reserves back by the frigate gangway.”

“I knew you were giving me support, and Soia-Tan was also there and could have helped, so I was going all out. I had to make the proper impression on my subjects,” Leng Valeri chuckled, then gave a pained groan and started massaging her temples with her fingers.

I looked at my spouse with sympathy and tried to cheer her up.

“Get used to it. It isn’t easy being popular. But I should tell you, the people of Tailax adore you!”

“Yes, I noticed. And to be frank, that both surprised and scared me. I haven’t done a thing for them yet, but they would give their lives for me, and I could sense it!”

“You’re exaggerating,” I said dubiously, because I hadn’t felt anything like that.

“Not at all! I read their secret thoughts and got a picture of the overall mood. They were expecting me to give a signal to rise up. And had I given an order to that effect, all the millions sitting in front of their screens and hundreds of thousands of people crowded up on the airfield would have thrown themselves on the Meleyephatians with their bare hands. They might have even been able to liberate the planet from occupation...”

“Not for very long because the Horde would not have forgiven such disobedience on an occupied planet and would have quickly replaced their divisions,” I hurried to intervene before Valeri swelled our heads with fantasies.

I ran a belated scan of our shuttle. Nope, all clear. No listening devices. No one had overheard my wife’s seditious speech. Valeri then proved she had not lost her mind due to the sudden flood of recognition and was perfectly aware of the balance of forces.

“An uprising wouldn’t stand the slightest chance; it would just make the Horde angry. And that would lead to a big slaughter with the Meleyephatians executing everyone involved, and many who would simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the last thing I want is to share the fate of your fanatic friend Tamara. I like being alive more than becoming the name of your next starship!”

And the rest of our shuttle flight passed in silence. Both of us had serious issues to consider. I had never called for an uprising or resistance against the Horde in my speeches before the council of prelates, or during the Great Amnesty show. I had set an example for the inhabitants of the occupied planet though, and now they knew that Meleyephatians, even the highest ranked, could be killed with impunity. Meanwhile, I had declared unambiguously that I was setting myself a goal to improve the lives of the people on the occupied planet, and subsequently to fully liberate Tailax from outside control. And my travelling wife Leng Valeri-Urla said the same in her speeches, promising the planet’s citizens that change for the better was coming.

And seemingly, they were buying it. In fact, they were even willing to go to bat for us. We had brought hope for liberation to the people of the occupied planet. They realized that the most deeply held dream in their hearts, despite the centuries of harsh repression and total control during the occupation, might now be made a reality. And to bring about that reality, the people of Tailax were willing to risk it all. Even an open armed rebellion.

* * *

BUT AS THE NEW HORDE viceroy on Tailax, the last thing I wanted on the lands entrusted to me was a bloody uprising. That was precisely what I tried to communicate to the prelates. They meanwhile were sulking and on guard, not knowing what to expect from the new overseer of their planet, who was taking the place of a cruel Meleyephatian who was quick to punish. As an aside, there were just twelve prelates now excluding my traveling wife. The old Leng Satori Yomaji, who tried to help me out in the Great Amnesty, was officially stripped of her seat on the council and was expected to be executed in the central city prison. I ordered the ancient Priestess brought to the chambers of the council of prelates, where she had been chair for many long years.

It wasn’t long before she was led in by a group of prison guards. Shaking with weakness, she had clearly already bid farewell to this life many times over the last few days and was ambivalent to what was happening around her. Her state was very similar to that of a victim of Truth Seeker interrogation. The Meleyephatians must have pulled everything they could out of the would-be rebel Priestess, leaving her mind in a badly twisted state. I did not give the old woman her seat back. I just embraced her warmly and tried to reassure her with words and psionics, thanked her for the help and trust, then ordered all charges be dropped and she be taken care of for the rest of her life. I also ordered a replacement be found who was younger but still known and respected on Tailax.

I then told the rest of the prelates the basic principles life on Tailax would follow from then on. The main and most important change would be the course toward liberating the planet from occupation and restoring its independence. And meanwhile I suggested a gradual rescinding of existing restrictions, change in existing laws, gradual weakening of control and simultaneous granting of new rights, opportunities and liberties to the planet’s inhabitants.

The very first step would be that desiring freedom and the liberation of the planet from occupation would no longer be considered a crime, and civilians would be free to speak their minds and discuss such ideas without consequence. All civilians sentenced to such crimes according to current law were to be set free immediately and all the enhanced round-the-clock surveillance was to be dropped.

I also announced that the monstrous seventy-percent occupation tax placed on conquered Tailax would have to be reduced. For step one, today, it would go to forty percent. And in the future, I was hoping to have the Horde agree to a reduction to thirty percent, which was standard for vassals rather than occupied territories. I also added a rule that five percent of taxes imposed would go not to the Meleyephatian Horde itself, but to its viceroy on the planet.

My suggestion for what to do with the funds freed up by reducing taxes was to put them toward developing the economy and, most importantly, creating a combat space fleet for Tailax. Technically, the fleet would be part of Meleyephatian Horde military command to avoid upsetting the Horde’s admirals, but in practice all its actions would have to be agreed on by the viceroy of Tailax, i.e. me. I then promised the prelates not to allow Tailax’s starships to be used in external conflicts not directly concerning Tailax and its rulers.

I purposely told the people that to remind them of it later, when Tailax’s ships would be needed for the brewing conflict between Earth and the Gilvar Syndicate. No objections or clarifications came from the prelates, so the motion was accepted unredacted.

The next point in my program was to remove the Horde’s occupation forces from the planet. As fast as I may have wanted to settle the issue, we had to keep in mind that Meleyephatian troops were responsible for maintaining order. And so, before deciding to remove them, which the viceroy was entitled to do, I first would have to create an army of Tailax and beef up law enforcement departments. I told the five Inquisitors to take care of that.

After discussing the most important and radical changes, we got onto routine issues. New space docks, and another order from the Horde to construct starships. Filling out the budget. The demographic situation on the planet. As the new viceroy, I listened to the speeches with great interest, familiarizing myself with my new domain, but my travelling wife quickly lost the thread and got bored.

“I’m so tired...” a mental message came in from Leng Valeri and knocked me off course. I stumbled in the middle of my response to one of the Inquisitors and fell silent. “My husband, I only needed one council session to see how unfit I am to serve as a prelate. Having to spend two ummi every day sitting in this chamber discussing politics and economy... A couple days of this and I’ll snap!”

“Be patient. Another hour or two and the session will be over. You won’t have to attend every day anyway. You are my wayedda. You have to follow your husband everywhere in space. So you just make a couple appearances, then a representative can show up in your place. Gerd Radugin. You might remember him. He used to be in charge of the Human-3 Faction until he had a nervous breakdown and had to resign. Radugin isn’t doing anything now, though he is a good Administrator, and his characteristics are high enough to become Leng again by just changing faction. I have spoken with him, and he’s given his preliminary agreement.”

Yes, I had indeed had a long-distance chat with the former H3 Faction leader this morning. I immediately informed him that, as head of the La-Fin Dynasty and heir to the Great Archmage Leng Thumor-Anhu La-Fin, I was perfectly aware of all of Leng Radugin’s behind the scenes agreements with the Dark Faction. I did not inform the present leadership of the Human-3 Faction about his, to put it lightly, unambiguous collaboration with the enemy, and was not planning to do so in the future. That long-ago war was over. Peace had been achieved. Skeletons could be left in the closet. But in return, I expected my representative on Tailax to put every effort and Administrator skill point toward bringing under my complete control the huge industrially developed planet along with its many space docks for building starships of every class.

* * *

THE COUNCIL OF PRELATES had yet to adjourn when a young secretary boldly stepped into the chamber. After apologizing for interrupting the important meeting, he said that Kung Gnat was being summoned on his starship Tamara the Paladin. And he claimed it was important.

Had something happened? I instantly changed out of the Archmage outfit into the Devourer armored spacesuit. My companion Leng Valeri-Urla also changed out of her civilian dress into light armor a second later. My main Starship Pilot’s voice immediately rang out in my headphones.

“Captain, Zheltov speaking. Sorry for taking you away from business, but there’s something I thought you should know. You probably remember that today, our guys were supposed to welcome the newcomers to the Human-23 Faction base in Novosibirsk, the former NPCs from the Empire. The Geckho and Miyelonians from our crew even transferred their bodies to Earth for the occasion...”

“Yes, I am aware,” I said impatiently to the overly verbose Starship Pilot. “And what happened?”

“Well, nothing we can’t recover from... So far. The newcomers have successfully left their virt pods. Humans and these... insects. A lot of them. It was a mess of course. They practically don’t speak Russian. But Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez the Psionic was able to establish mental contact and served as translator. All the newcomers were given a warm welcome and a place to stay. After that, as is proper, they gathered in the canteen to mark the historic meeting. But the small hall couldn’t fit everyone and... I don’t know whose idea it was at first... But the whole noisy crowd of Humans, Geckho, Trillians, Miyelonians and Iseyek have left the Human-23 Faction base. They requested fifty taxis and drove off to downtown Novosibirsk. As Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh the Gunner put it: ‘To see the sights and people of the Earth city and have a big party in the very best restaurant we can find to celebrate our victory on Tailax.’“

That news made my jaw drop. All I could find the inner strength to ask was how the security of a military facility had allowed a group of extraterrestrials to leave the base. Why didn’t they stop them?

“How were they supposed to do that,” Gerd Zheltov grumbled back, “when they had Soia-Tan La-Varrez with them? The guards not only opened the gates for her, they hopped in a taxi and went off to celebrate, too. I closed the gates myself because there was nobody left to guard the top-secret facility...”

I traded looks with Valeri, who had also heard Gerd Zheltov’s message. My wife tried to settle me down.

“Well sure, a big group of extraterrestrials in an Earth city is highly unusual. But you shouldn’t be so worried, Gnat. I mean, it’s not like they’re gonna burn the city to the ground! They’ll paint the town red, celebrate meeting in the real world and the victory in the arena, then go back to their base. I mean, you’re the one who wanted to reveal the truth about the game that bends reality to the people of Earth. And you got what you wished for. By the way, Gerd Zheltov, why didn’t you go with them?”

For some reason, the Starship Pilot looked embarrassed by the very basic question. Seemingly, my hard-working Space-Military Academy Graduate hadn’t even considered the option of going off to party in the city with a crowd of humans and extraterrestrials.

“Now here, Zheltov, are your captain’s orders! Get yourself a taxi and go catch up to the others. That way, I’ll be more at ease knowing at least someone smart will be with our wild gang of casino robbers and troublemakers, and you can rest up after an endless string of shifts and outer space. And when you get there, remind our crew that I expect all of them back on the cruiser in precisely twenty-four hours. We’ll have to pick up the assault starship after repair and run a test on all its systems in real space conditions. We have a big battle in the Miyelonian capital in two or three days, and we’ve never even tested our cruiser’s cannons!”

Gerd Zheltov confirmed that he understood the order and signed off. My wayedda then breathed a heavy sigh.

“I envy our crew. They’re going to have an amazing time...”

Hearing my wife say that made me feel very uncomfortable. After the group of assassins attacked us on Poko-Poko station, and Ayni sacrificed her own life to save me, I was only going into the real world to reset the in-game timer. Just for a minute or two, then right back into the virt pod. I lived, worked, and slept in the game, having totally abandoned the real world. My travelling wife Valeri-Urla was forced to live the same way, constantly at her husband’s side. She must have been so tired of this endless videogame! She must have desperately missed the normal world with no bars for life and endurance flickering in front of her face.

“Yes, I do,” Leng Valeri-Urla agreed, having read my thoughts. “But what I miss more is the breezy celebratory atmosphere and chance to talk to my husband without at least twenty other players around or behind thin barricades. We prevailed in the arena and won an entire planet. Is that really not a good enough reason to meet one-on-one in the real world and spend a day or so together?!”

“Agreed. I have to admit, I’m also sick of waiting for Fox and Vaa to track down the Morphian traitor and make Poko-Poko station safe for us. And we really do have such a great reason to celebrate — in one way or another we are now rulers of a whole planet! So right after this council session, we’ll go into the real world and spend a whole day there really letting loose!”

Chapter 11. Real World Days

THE SKY DID NOT FALL, and the world did not end. The visit of dozens of alien creatures to the downtown of a Russian city of over a million went so unnoticed it pained me. It wasn’t reported on Russian state television, or news websites, much less foreign ones. Just local Novosibirsk news sites had little articles about the extraterrestrials visiting a restaurant, but they got deleted in a matter of hours. A couple dozen social media posts were also made about it, but they were drowned out by the mocking comments and calls for posters not to have drunk so much on an empty stomach. All the pictures and videos of the Geckho and Trillians were dubbed “bad Photoshops,” or “CGI.” Annoying. Earth’s humanity had again chosen to bury its collective head in the sand like an ostrich and pretend it hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary.

The truth couldn’t be ignored forever though — the consequences could end up being very severe. And that was exactly what I was discussing in my hotel suite on Poko-Poko with the heads of the two Russian factions, H3 and H23. And whereas the leader of the main Russian Human-3 Faction, Leng Igor Tarasov, was someone I had known for a long time and even considered a friend, his counterpart from the Human-23 Faction I had never met before. The constantly smiling thirty-five-year-old man with dark curly hair and wearing an expensive suit from a famous European brand said his name was Ivan Muzhik and that he was very glad to meet the legendary Gnat.

“Muzhik[2] is not a nickname or username, it’s my real last name,” he got ahead of my unasked question. “In the real world, I’m a businessman from Vladivostok. In the game, I’m a Trader by class, currently at level ninety.”

The man made a positive impression on me, and the story of his ascending the ranks of the semicommercial faction only made me like him more. Ivan said he found out about the game through business partners and bought himself a spot in the H23 Faction four and a half months before to treat his hernia and chronic asthma. At first, he was planning on only using the game for its healing qualities, but then he found himself drawn to the virtual world and dove headfirst into the game, particularly because he saw a huge number of opportunities for developing his character.

Because he was assigned the Trader class, the first thing he did was visit the coastal nodes of the largest Earth factions, compose a list of goods imported and exported, then figure out their prices. He got to know the Geckho that crewed the cargo ship at sea and transported goods from the spaceport to the more distant terrestrial factions. He started landing the “furballs” new trade deals for a certain commission on profit, then bought in as a full shareholder. After that, he bought out the cargo ship, and now the Geckho crew was working for him. He saved up crystals, bought himself a Shiamiru cargo-passenger shuttle, and even landed himself a couple profitable gigs transporting equipment to Earth for the planetary shield generators. And just a week ago, much to his own surprise, he found he had the most Fame and Authority in the Human-23 Faction and took over leadership from the Scientist Leng Vinogradov the Academic. Or now rather Gerd Vinogradov, as the Trader told me.

The former head of the Russian “commercial” H23 Faction had never enjoyed particular respect from the suzerains, and so the story of his faction’s people being kidnapped and brought to space did nothing to boost the gray-haired academic’s Authority among the Humans or Geckho. Then, Vinogradov had made a serious diplomatic error trying to get directly in touch with the commander of the Third Geckho Strike Fleet Kung Waid Shishish in circumvention of all his superiors such as the Kung of Earth, or Geckho viceroy Gerd Kosta Dykhsh and his numerous administrators.

And it would have been no huge problem if the topic he wanted to discuss with the Geckho admiral really was urgent and important and could not bear delay. But no, the head of the H23 Faction had asked the fleet commander if the suzerains could contribute to the construction of another spaceport on Earth, because the current one was too far away from the virtual planet’s “big” continent, and thus inconvenient for many Earth factions. What made him think that needed Kung Waid Shishish’s attention and couldn’t just be asked to some Geckho representative on Earth Vinogradov was unable to explain to his factionmates after. But he made a particularly bad choice of who to talk to.

The Commander of the Third Strike Fleet was never known for his patience, and to test that now during a crisis over a minor issue was basically an overly elaborate form of suicide. Having taken a beating in the exhausting war with the Meleyephatian Horde, the Third Strike Fleet was sent to another front with no reinforcements where the Geckho were trying fruitlessly to hold back the Composite invasion. And so, Kung Waid Shishish was in no mood to hear any whining from an unknown vassal from a far-off peripheral system. The H23 Faction was issued a heavy fine of forty million crystals while its head was executed three times in a row to make a point, causing a severe drop in levels and skills, not to mention Authority tumbling far into the negative.

And the reason the two Russian faction heads had come to Poko-Poko was to ask for money to pay off the fine our suzerains had imposed. They had even moved their real-world exit points onto the space station so they could conduct diplomatic and commercial meetings with members of other spacefaring races more effectively.

THE H23 FACTION WAS relatively rich by Earth standards, so they had some of the money ready to go. The new leader had also added some of his own funds. Another couple million crystals they had managed to raise by selling resources brought from Earth. The Human-3 Faction had provided eight million to get their allies out of the jam as well. But they still had about fourteen million left to find. And that was why both leaders had come before the Kung of Earth as soon as it was announced he would be making a visit to Poko-Poko station.

I told them I really did have the money. But I already had plans for it, which were very important for the development and defense of our entire planet. The Relict Faction now had two heavy-class starships not adapted to planetary landings. And so, we needed to build orbital wharfs for them to dock and repair at. But orbital docks are very vulnerable without defense systems. Any rogue raider frigate could come and destroy them. And so, I asked my friend Gerd Uline Tar to scour the markets for orbital rocket and laser cannons, as well as a powerful forcefield generator for the docks. All of that would take money, and quite a lot of it.

Furthermore, recently, cargo turnaround on Earth had skyrocketed, and the choke point in our logistics had become offloading cargo from space to the surface and vice versa. The huge space cargo ships, with rare exception, were unable to land on planets and thus had to be unloaded in space, meaning we needed orbital storage facilities. Ideally, we would also build a space elevator, which could take the place of the hundreds and thousands of cargo and passenger shuttles flitting back and forth.

The more I said, the more contemplative and sour my visitors’ faces became. I thought I had spent enough time telling them my plans for the future while also putting some fear into them and could thus get to business. Yes, I was willing to help out the troubled Human-23 Faction with fourteen million crystals. But not for free. The days when Gnat just handed Earth factions priceless alien technologies, cash and resources were behind us. Now, I had my own faction, which needed to make progress and a lot of investment. And although the fine was not nice, it was pretty far from being catastrophic to all humanity and was something the H23 Faction could easily solve on its own, though it would take a little while.

Nevertheless, we could come to a mutually beneficial agreement because both sides had something to offer.

“I provide the cash. I am prepared to send you not fourteen million crystals, but seventy million. From you then, I need people in my faction. A minimum of two thousand players from laborer and military professions. And more free virt pods on Earth. To be completely accurate, for the Relict Faction’s needs, I require three thousand three hundred virt pods and would be willing to purchase them,” I announced my terms and, so they wouldn’t think me a madman, explained.

The Relict Faction positioned itself as one made up of players from both parallel worlds. Doing so was going to be of critical importance for both planets when the tong of safety ran out, and therefore I had to make absolutely sure the balance between players from our world and the magocratic one was maintained. At present, there was a severe slant toward the magocratic world, which could lead to the disappearance of my native version of Earth after the virtual and real worlds synchronized.

The arguments were persuasive, and both sides agreed without much convincing. I explained my faction’s need for unoccupied virt pods as well. I now had run into the problem of where to place the fifteen thousand Geckho who had just joined my Relict Faction. Half of the furballs I was able to put up in the magocratic world’s First Directory, but they had run out of virt pods. They were already building new corncobs in the First Directory, but needed more time, which was a problem plaguing me constantly. Also, sticking the Geckho in the magocratic world would only make the imbalance worse, which I wanted to avoid.

I placed a few hundred of the Geckho on Poko-Poko, but the space station was not elastic, and had very limited space. A number of the Geckho refugees were taken in by Germany in two huge Relict Faction data centers created for the game near Dortmund and Munich. Another five hundred refugees were taken in by Canada in the province of New Brunswick at the former Human-8 Faction base, which now also belonged to my Relict Faction. Work was also underway in Australia to rebuild the abandoned base of the defeated Human-11 Faction, which would soon be made a Relict base with eight hundred virt pods. Another five hundred Geckho could be taken in by the Relict base in Novosibirsk, where people were already used to all different kinds of extraterrestrials, and now the city dwellers had also gotten to meet them.

But nevertheless, that left three thousand three hundred Geckho refugees, which I as Kung of Earth had promised a safe new home. A Kung’s word is sacred, and I had no choice but to fulfill my promise. And thus I suggested we place the extraterrestrials in Tomsk. As far as I’d heard, a whole forty new corncobs had recently been constructed there, and they had some unoccupied virt pods left.

“Overall, I agree,” Leng Ivan Muzhik said after a minute consulting with Igor Tarasov. “We just have to name a price and all the terms for the furballs visiting the facility, so the Geckho don’t cross paths with any high-level Russian politicians, who might make things difficult.”

* * *

THE LEADERS OF THE Russian factions and I talked through the details of the big agreement and the principles by which our factions would continue to coexist with Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi, who I had summoned as well. And just then, Leng Valeri-Urla walked into the office with a glass of sparkling wine in one hand, wet from a swim in the pool, barefoot and wearing nothing but a short white robe. I must admit, I sighed with relief because I had left my travelling wife asleep on the bed naked, while she could easily have been foolish enough to come greet guests looking just like that, being from the primitive Quarantine Planet.

Our guests all stood at once, greeting the Kung of Earth’s wayedda. Meanwhile, despite the radiant smile on the Mage Diviner’s face, I could sense a distinct distaste for Valeri in my Chief Advisor, though I couldn’t place the reason for his negative attitude. Odd. Gerd Mac-Peu definitely saw the Tailaxian as an enemy, though he was trying not to show it behind the false smile stretched over his face. I thought it the wrong time to dig too deep into her relationship with my Chief Advisor, but nevertheless made a mental note to figure the situation out.

Because my wife didn’t know the new head of the H23 Faction, I introduced her to Leng Ivan Muzhik and meanwhile told him about Valeri:

“My gorgeous wayedda, Valeri-Urla. One of the sixteen prelates in command of planet Tailax, which has a population of four billion. And Leng of the Free Tailax faction, which contains one hundred twenty thousand players.”

“How many?!” Igor Tarasov, normally quite reserved, couldn’t hide his surprise.

I repeated myself, confirming that the head of the Human-3 Faction had not misheard. One hundred twenty thousand players. And since yesterday, my Relict Faction had been in a military and political alliance with Free Tailax. And that meant that his Human-3 Faction was also allied to my travelling wife’s faction, because it was a member of the same military and political alliance.

“I must admit, that makes me feel a bit strange,” the career military man gave a somewhat tortured smirk. “I am also a Leng and faction leader, but still I have only seven thousand subordinates. H23 meanwhile is just five and a half thousand. Or rather, three and a half now, because two thousand of them are going to join Gnat’s faction...”

“That was exactly what I wanted to talk about!” I again took the initiative in the conversation. “The situation on the virtual Earth is changing quickly. But still you’re psychologically stuck in long gone times when three or four thousand players was all it took to fight off attacks by the Dark Faction and aggressive NPCs. But those times are behind us, and we have to push forward!”

“But Gnat, you know perfectly well about the problem of building more corncobs under the Dome,” Igor Tarasov tried to object, but I didn’t even listen to his foolish justifications.

“Bullshit! There’s nothing stopping you from building another base with enough room for a hundred, or even a thousand corncobs full of player virt pods. Then, you could bring the old and new factions together to keep command unified from the underground Dome because it will be more convenient to the H3 faction. Why haven’t you done so yet?”

Leng Igor Tarasov looked ashamed and stared at the floor. But I kept up the pressure.

“I have paid for the construction of eighty new corncobs in Novosibirsk with my own money because the matter at hand is of primary importance: all Earth factions must grow numerically to a massive extent. In forty-three days, Earth will have to maintain an armed contingent of a quarter million troops according to a message from Krong Daveyesh-Pir, leader of our suzerains. And if we fail to obey the Geckho leader’s order, the suzerains will be immeasurably cruel to soothe their dismay. I, as Kung of Earth, would also be hurt, as would all the Earth factions. And this wouldn’t be the kind of thing one could get out of with a forty-million-crystal fine. Heads would fly and not only in the figurative sense.”

The leader of the H3 Faction gulped nervously, then asked the number of troops his faction would have to provide. My advisor Gerd Mac-Peu scrolled through the records on his tablet and read off:

“The Human-3 Faction, as one of the most powerful from the version of earth with withered magic, will have to provide thirteen thousand well equipped and trained soldiers for the unified Army of Earth no lower level than fifty. Last time, an exception was made for the Human-23 Faction because it was so weak and small, but this time it will be joining the list of regular factions and will be expected to provide five thousand troops.”

Both of the Russians were sitting there looking sedate and despondent. I had already announced the fact the Army of Earth would have to be five times larger on several occasions, and Geckho viceroy Gerd Kosta Dykhsh also made periodic mention of that to Earth’s leaders. But seemingly, the new reality was still too shocking for my visitors to comprehend. They spent a long time saying nothing before finally Leng Tarasov asked softly.

“Kung Gnat, what do you think? Will they really be able to draft such a huge army in such a short period of time?”

“Well, I don’t see why not.” I shrugged. “The Relict Faction provided ten thousand troops for the first wave, and this time is prepared to field fifty or sixty thousand. We had no recruitment problems in the magocratic world factions either. All told, they will add one hundred ten thousand troops to the Army of Earth. The Chinese Human-1 and American Human-12 factions have also confirmed that they will meet their targets. The Indian Human-9 Faction even said they could double what was asked of them. South Korea and Japan haven’t answered yet, but as far as I’ve seen, they’ll be fine. Just the UK’s Human-2 Faction has asked for a bit of a break. They are not prepared to provide five thousand troops, but they can give us three and a half. I intend to refuse them in harsh terms and demand that they provide the required number of recruits for the Army of Earth over the remaining month and a half. And if the H2 Faction needs a change in leadership to accomplish that, I will make it happen through our Geckho suzerains!”

“In that case, Kung Gnat,” Igor Tarasov stood up from his armchair and straightened up proudly, “the Human-3 Faction will also do its duty and provide as many troops as needed! You have my word!”

Leng Ivan Muzhik of the H23 Faction said the same, though with a bit less melodrama. After that, the two faction leaders bid me farewell and left my suite. Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu was also planning to go, but he called me over for a private talk first.

“Kung Gnat, I’d like to discuss two important topics in private. One: the second stage of our expansion plan is complete; the Relict Faction now has control over all desired nodes. Now, we are digging in in territory we control, putting up defensive fortifications, adding to the border patrols and preparing for a difficult conversation with Earth’s other factions. And that conversation is now inevitable. Our foes will soon realize that no matter how expansive the virtual planet seemed at first, there are now practically no free nodes left to expand into. Meanwhile, the Relict Faction already occupies thirty-four percent of the planet and is continuing to grow, expanding into the nodes we encircled earlier to block other factions from going in.”

“Alright, we saw this coming, and sooner or later there was surely going to be a big talk with our neighbors. I say we don’t put it off, and instead get the ball rolling ourselves. Arrange for a big diplomatic conference in ten days for the heads of all terrestrial factions from both worlds. We can hold it at the spaceport... or no, better on the grounds of Gerd Kosta Dykhsh’s residence. Let the Geckho viceroy also be there — that will make the talks official while at the same time letting the suzerains serve as arbiters for solving possible disputes.”

My Chief Advisor gave a respectful bow and moved on to the second issue he wanted to discuss.

“My Kung, the lines of your probable future are starting to scare me. There is definitely someone powerful and influential who wants you dead and is making moves to that effect. I was unable to determine the source of the danger, though I did try. It may be competitors from other Earth factions, but most likely the threat originates from somewhere outside Earth. Still, I would strongly advise my Kung to change his real-world exit point because here on Poko-Poko things are getting dangerous for you. Your next real world exit here on Poko-Poko, if it goes on too long, will end in your death with a probability of forty-two percent. Your wayedda also has a fairly high chance of dying even though she is not the main target and would have no problems coming to the station without you.”

Woah... I thanked the experienced Mage Diviner for the warning and the help, then asked him how the big battle of our galaxy’s unified forces against the Composite in Miyelonian space would go. My advisor laughed happily.

“My Kung, you flatter me! The greatest Analysts and Diviners in the world, who are quite a bit more experienced than me, cannot calculate the outcome of that grand battle. I’d estimate the Miyelonians’ chances at forty-sixty, and not in their favor. But you, my Kung, have over ninety-eight percent chance of surviving the battle no matter the outcome.”

“Good. And one last question. How is my wife Gerd Minn-O La-Fin doing? The princess won’t talk to me long-distance, and only gives one-word responses to my messages and with a big delay.”

The smile instantly crept off my Chief Advisor’s lips. His face took on a serious and contemplative look.

“My Kung, there is no basis for concern. As you know, Princess Minn-O’s baby will be important to the La-Fin dynasty and magocratic world as a whole. He is the culmination of both worlds’ magic, a future Archmage of Archmages! So the best specialists are looking after her round the clock. Princess Minn-O is getting all the mental and psychological aid she needs. And your wife’s freedom is not being inhibited. The princess is free to go where she likes and speak with whoever she likes. I don’t know why the ruler of the First Directory is refusing to speak to her husband, but I again repeat — there is no basis for concern. The child will definitely be born strong and healthy. The best Mage Diviners are proactively monitoring the situation and exposing and weeding out any possible negative scenarios in the future. “

* * *

WHEN THE DOORS CLOSED behind my Chief Advisor, Valeri-Urla lit up in her armchair and made a confession:

“I don’t like that guy! And I haven’t liked him since the first day we met on the rocky island, when you and I had a swim with the Naiads. He’s saccharine and always smiling but looks at me like a venomous snake. He’s afraid that my influence on you will outweigh that of your legal wife, and Gerd Minn-O La-Fin and I will change places.”

You know what? That explanation for why the Chief Advisor treated my wayedda so negatively actually made sense. His family had served the La-Fin dynasty of mage rulers for generations, after all. And meanwhile, Leng Valeri-Urla finished her glass of wine and set it down before asking an unexpectedly serious question:

“My husband, I have never interfered in your relationship with the Humans of Earth before, but now that we’re alone I wanted to ask something. Why don’t you try recruiting troops from my Free Tailax faction? After all, I know perfectly well what your suzerains want the Army of Earth to accomplish: to capture the Quarantine Planet from the Meleyephatian Horde. It will be my war no matter what, and now I can play a central role. So why not bring in supporters of mine from Tailax? They’d be happy to come!”

“The only reason, Valeri, is that after we train tens of thousands of citizens of conquered Tailax to be soldiers, there will be no going back. Those soldiers will refuse to obey the occupiers of their own planet and will rise up against the Meleyephatians. But overall, I agree. The idea is sound. We’ll have to form an army made up of Tailaxians one day, but they’ll have to train and be stationed on Earth, far from prying eyes. And where to send that army — to the Quarantine Planet or Tailax itself — will be based on how things look at the time.”

“I see...” Valeri glanced at the wall clock and said with a frisky smirk. “We don’t have to go back into the game for another ummi. I say we have ourselves a good time. Hey now, not so fast!” she stopped me from reaching the drawstring on her robe. “Let me remind you, I am still a Great Huntress, and men have to earn the right to be with me!”

“We tried working that out yesterday, and you lost fair and square in a psionic duel!” I reminded her and tried to give her another hug.

But Valeri-Urla was adamant, and escaped my embrace with surprising ease, leaving her robe in my arms. Now nude and still wet from the swim, the Tailaxian ran ten steps away nimbly and turned around. The frisky glimmer in her huge eyes told me my wayedda had something unusual and fun in mind.

“Gnat, let’s not do any magic this time! Only strength and agility. Catch me, defeat me, and make me yours! I am, after all, your wayedda, meaning ‘lawful plunder.’ Well, prove that you can take me! And another thing, you are mistaken, my husband. The liquid on my skin is not water. It’s a slippery aromatic oil. And yes, I can still read your mind with ease and know all your plans. Try and best me under these unusual circumstances and I will show you what a savage woman from a primitive planet can do in bed!”

Chapter 12. New Home

“CAPTAIN GNAT, welcome back to your ship!” came a chorus of greetings in the hallway of my cruiser from Gerd Tini Wi-Gnat the Miyelonian teen, and Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez the little mage who were loaded down with bales of their belongings and heading toward the residential bunks.

“Are you not moved in yet?” I asked with surprise, pointing at both of my wards’ armfuls of personal items.

There was time for the crew to move their stuff from Tamara the Paladin onto the Di-Pal-Yu 781 on the schedule, but it was supposed to be done an ummi before I arrived. Now they were supposed to have just finished checking all the systems in preparation for my return to the game, and the ship was supposed to be ready to take off from the repair bay.

“Almost done,” the little sorceress responded for them both. “Tini and I were just put into different bunks at first, but I convinced Gerd Uline Tar to put us in the same one like on the frigate.”

“Convinced? Or did you use mind control on my first mate?” I asked with a smirk, and the kid looked down embarrassed at the floor.

I see. She had broken my rule not to use psionics against my crew. I shook my head in reproach. Nevertheless, I didn’t go back to the original crew bunk plan because my wards really were very attached to each other and essentially acted like brother and sister. And just then, Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu found out her captain was back, appeared in the corridor and hurried over with a report.

“My Kung, welcome back! The repair of the new starship is almost complete. The Iseyek have been fed and placed on the cruiser. Your bunk is ready. I selected the furniture and layout myself. Please take a look and tell me what you think,” the orange Miyelonian sent me a marker for my bunk and pointed to a nearby elevator.

Yes, the former captain’s old bunk was way too big, so I turned it down in favor of making it a cafeteria for the cruiser crew. Instead, I had a random living quarters on the port side of the starship assigned to me. My tailed assistant Gerd Ayni the Listener promised to do it all up as best she could and now clearly wanted to boast about her job well done.

Nevertheless, the Miyelonian didn’t go into my bunk with me because just then, fifteen feet behind us, Leng Valeri-Urla appeared with her pet Little Sister, having just returned from the real world. The orange kitty turned around and walked over to share some gossip with my travelling wife.

I headed for the elevator, but my high Perception allowed me to hear what the two women were talking about.

“Well, go ahead, girl. How’d it all go?” Ayni asked in a whisper.

“Amazing! Even better than I was hoping. But I had to lock Little Sister up. She just kept trying to join in the fun games Gnat and I were playing, especially tag. She knocked me off my feet at the worst possible time...”

I chuckled. Yes, that happened. The Great Huntress’ suggestion of a “husband test,” ended almost as soon as the Shadow Panther came out to investigate the noise and laughter and decided to also take part in the fun and games. On the other hand, my wayedda and I were left with more time one-on-one in the locked bedroom away from her annoying pet, so we got our fill of love and were left very happy with the end of the relaxing day.

The elevator arrived and I walked in when I heard the two girls continuing their conversation.

“Ayni, I’m no good at reading the lines of the future, but I get the sense Gnat and I conceived. I’ll have to exit into the real world again in the next few hours to take some birth control.”

“You would kill the fruit of your love?” the Miyelonian was horrified.

“I’ll have to. Otherwise, all the mages on Earth will gang up against me and wish death on me and my child.”

“Don’t you dare!” I hurried to intervene before something irreversible happened. “What kind of a Kung would I be if I couldn’t protect my child and lover?”

That left Valeri-Urla very embarrassed that her private conversation with the Miyelonian was being overheard, but she quickly got herself together.

“I understand, husband, and will abide by your will. I entrust my life and the life of our future child to your reliable hands. But from now on, it will not be safe for me to meet your Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi or any other powerful mage from Earth. I’d even prefer to avoid meeting your ward Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez in the real world even though she thinks well of me. Still, she is a mage ruler and belongs to the same group as my foes, and fooling a mere adolescent is very easy.”

* * *

WELL, WELL! I SPENT the whole walk from my bunk thinking about what I’d overheard. Was it really all so serious? Members of the ancient dynasty of mage rulers of the First Directory, and a few other magocratic world directories were practically already worshipping my unborn son, seeing him as the future of their world. Many mages viewed Kung Gnat La-Fin as just an intermediate link in a chain of La-Fin dynasty rulers, a temporary interruption that had to be tolerated before things could get back to normal. The fact that their ruler would now have another heir would place Princess Minn-O La-Fin’s child’s rights in doubt, especially if my two wives actually did change place in the hierarchy, and Valeri-Urla did indeed become my “primary” wife.

This is all so complicated! It was so easy to live as a simple adventure seeker wandering the cosmos on my frigate. But now I had to carry a weight of responsibility for the people that trusted me, wheedle and look for diplomatic moves considering the positions of all the aristocrats and mages. By the way... had my Chief Advisor maybe said that my wayedda Valeri-Urla could visit Poko-Poko station without fear for some secret purpose? After all, the station was packed full of Relict Faction players, many of whom were powerful sorcerers from the magocratic world. Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi himself was a very powerful Mage Diviner, capable of seeing and manipulating the lines of the possible future. One imperceptible curse, one slightly adjusted line of the future and the competitor to Princess Minn-O’s child would never be born...

ATTENTION!!! Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz, leader of the Meleyephatian Horde has proclaimed Kung Gnat the Human to be Horde Observer and rightful viceroy of Tailax.

Legitimacy increased to 3%

An unusual and very interesting message. And seemingly, the leaders of the various other branches of humanity taking part in the great game had all seen it. That also had to be taken into consideration... Yes, I had taken another little step on the path to Krong status — that of the sole ruler of the Human race, which was scattered throughout the Universe. But most likely, Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, ruler of the Empire, had a different opinion about who was supposed to head a united humanity. Dictator of the Gilvar Syndicate, Yoji Umoro probably did as well, ruling a union of eight planets and famed for his difficult character. He was not likely to voluntarily give up on his ambitions.

I suppose I really should give some more consideration to keeping my body safe in the real world. Poko-Poko Station would no longer do as a game exit point. Gerd Mac-Peu my Chief Advisor, despite his negative opinion of my wayedda, did his job as a Mage Diviner well and was looking after my life, finding and avoiding dangerous lines of the future. And he had good reason to remind me that the next time I came to Poko-Poko would present a serious danger — the experienced mage must have seen a true threat to his master’s life.

But where to place my real-world exit point? The First Directory? It was the most obvious option, and my foes, who I now had a lot of, had probably considered it and would be ready. For my wayedda Leng Valeri, that option would also mean at least the death of the unborn child and perhaps its mother as well. Then maybe my Earth? But the last thing I wanted was to again find myself subject to the whims of Earth’s leaders. No way. One arrest over a disagreement about the political structure of the virtual planet was enough for me. I was not going to get fooled again.

What about Tailax then? The dark, always foggy world had taken government surveillance technology to never-before-seen heights. I personally was not a fan of that planet, but it was the perfect option for Leng Valeri because there no one would dare to so much as lay a finger on her. On top of that, her huge eyes were adapted to Tailax’s light conditions, which was also a plus — my wayedda would not experience any discomfort in the thick fog. I closed my eyes and mentally summoned my travelling wife, then told Valeri to change her real-world exit point to Tailax.

“Wait, two seconds. Done. But what about you, my husband? Does your faction even have virt pods on Tailax? If not, I could give the Relict Faction a hundred or two of the empty ones I have for Free Tailax.”

“Fifty will be fine. Okay, I see them in my settings. Thanks, Valeri!”

I severed the mental link. Not bad! My faction could definitely use fifty virt pods on another planet. But as for me, I considered moving to the Meleyephatian Horde enslaved planet and rejected the idea — the last thing I needed was to hand Krong Laa and his minions a tool they could use to pressure me. I valued my freedom and did not want to end up dependent on the Meleyephatians.

Kasti-Utsh III? Been there done that. And there, I’d be dependent on the Miyelonians and their opinion of me. Now, Kung Keetsie Myau saw me as a friend, but she wasn’t the only Miyelonian leader. Keetsie herself then warned that any Miyelonian would betray a friend without a second thought if the opportunity was good enough.

Nevertheless, there was one place in the Universe where none of the leaders of the great spacefaring races could ever get me. Dark and mysterious, massive in size, filled with dangerous creatures, and hidden from prying eyes for thousands of tongs. The Syam Tro VII refuge.

* * *

NO, I WAS NOT SUICIDAL, and was nowhere near planning to throw myself into the dangerous unknown without preparing diligently first. Naturally, the first thing I needed to do was figure everything out about the distant and mysterious Syam Tro VII refuge. There was no way to do it before, but now that I had gotten the ancient starship, I had a unique channel to obtain the knowledge that had taken the Relict Pyramid millennia to accrue. I also had an operator capable of digging through that ocean of knowledge to find exactly what I was after.

And that was what I was doing, conversing with Gerd Luana in my captain’s bunk, who I had ordered turned back on. By the way, the cabin was surprisingly comfortable despite being a bit larger than my old one on Tamara the Paladin. There was nothing out of place, and the only real luxury item was an obsidian sculpture in one corner called the Spiral of Life made by the Miyelonian artist Murrrash Whisker-Purr — the very one I had gifted Valeri after our duel on Ponty IV when I prevented my big-eyed companion from leaving to join the dangerous Leng Astarta and her smuggling ring. Nevertheless, the soft color-changing shag carpet with electric heating, half-wall monitor, corner sofa and two large armchairs blending harmoniously into the interior decor along with the oval table and cabinets set into the wall made the room surprisingly bright and cozy. It was a place I wanted to live.

And that was exactly what the blond android woman said when she was first reactivated. Which made the tailed Miyelonian, who was sitting in a rotating chair nearby advise Gerd Luana not to even dream of such things and choose her words more carefully when talking about getting close to the captain. Because “androids can easily be disassembled, but there are no guarantees they will work properly when reassembled.” The hint was very clear, and the conversation after that stayed purely on topic.

Gerd Luana promised to find everything she could in the Pyramid’s databank about the Syam Tro VII refuge. Its overall structure, a diagram of all the floors, defensive systems, water reservoir locations, residential capacity, and occupancy rate of its virt pods upon last contact. Separately from that, I asked for information about the invar living in the refuge — what kind of creatures were they, where did they come from, were they vulnerable to psionics, how did the Relict combat them, and why had they allowed the dangerous parasites to live in their refuge?

Air composition, temperature, and other conditions inside the refuge may have changed drastically over the millenia, but still I was interested in the initial data. At any rate, I was hoping to get answers to the questions through experimentation — I had all kinds of beings in my crew, and they could survive in almost any environment. Yes, Alpha Iseyek would not be able to fit in the Syam Tro VII refuge standard virt pods, and the huge praying mantises would not be able to be sent there. But I also had Historian Gerd Eda-No Edeyya in my crew, who could give the Swarm shocktroops a run for their money in terms of survival ability, and even surpassed them — after all, it’s pretty rare to be able to completely reconstitute your body from a tiny little scrap of flesh. The time had come for the Cleopian to change from a simple passenger on my starship into a useful crewmember and start paying his dues to the captain for being rescued. Furthermore, the Historian was specialized in ancient races and would probably want to see the long vacant Relict structure.

I was also interested in any information about other extant refuges, though I was aware that it had been tens of thousands of years since the defeat of the White-Purple Armada and capture of the Di-Pal-Yu 781 in an extraspatial pocket, and any information would be severely out of date. But one Relict structure had definitely survived down to the present day — I was thinking about the subterranean base on the planet Ruvaru-Yosh Prime, which had been activated after so many thousands of years in suspended mode and had even repaired itself. What was the underground facility for? What was its purpose before the great war? I also asked her to look that up in the Pyramid’s databank.

I was also hoping to find the code table the Relicts and Mechanoids had used to communicate during the great war. Because without an active code, the Mechanoids would not let me enter their secret base in the UF-98 system, or give me the decoder, which I needed to read the data from God of War, Emperor Georg the First’s flagship. I didn’t even have a clue whether the data on the ancient drive was valuable, or if it was all info I could find in the Pyramid’s knowledge base, and without an active code I had no way of finding out.

I also asked Gerd Luana to look up all possible information about the Void — a dangerous pet belonging to the former captain of my cruiser, Hierarch Kung Pin-Ish-Ish-Pin the Devourer. The temporal capsule containing that dangerous beast was still on my starship, and practically in the central room. And so, despite all the measures taken to block the temporal capsule and prevent anyone from making contact, the potential hazard nevertheless worried me.

I was also unable to avoid mentioning the large upcoming battle. The android woman assured me that she was capable of maintaining two-way communication with the escort ships and translating all incoming commands and messages. Furthermore, Gerd Luana was actually somewhat offended by my initial mistrust and reminded me that she was a precise copy of android queen Leng Bionica, who specialized in playing just such a role in battle.

“Captain, all ship systems have been tested and are working properly,” a loudspeaker message from Starship Pilot Gerd Zheltov interrupted my conversation with the robot. “Our starship is ready to leave the repair bay.”

I switched on my helmet microphone.

“Copy. I’ll be at the bridge in two minutes. All crew, take positions! Let me remind you that we only have a day or two to learn how to use all our new goodies. After that, the Composite will give us a big test to see just how much we’ve learned in battle.”

Chapter 13. Forty Sixty

“SUSPEND TRAINING!!! Playtime is over...”

I looked at the tactical screen to see a cloud of debris left by a Warhawk-class frigate a quarter mile from my cruiser. For some reason, the ancient starship had blocked it even though I had marked all the escort ships as allies in the settings. Beyond that, an hour ago, we had practiced taking cover in an emergency, and all small ships had taken position inside the assault cruiser’s trusty forcefield without issue.

“Which of our ships crashed?” San-Doon Taki-Bu the copilot asked, and I responded without hiding my annoyance and even partial surprise.

“Gerd Tamara Vujek. Our most experienced captain. She tried coming in to the cruiser at a speed of twenty thousand, but the shield didn’t let her through.”

“Executing maneuvers at twenty thousand miles per second?!” Gerd Dmitry Zheltov the Starship Pilot called out with a strange mixture of admiration and reproach. “I mean come on! That chick is a real nutcase. Just like another Gerd Tamara...”

The last part Dmitry Zheltov didn’t say out loud, but I read it in his thoughts. I tried to defend the captain from his criticism.

“That ‘chick,’ as you put it is five years older than you and has fought in more space battles than all of Earth’s pilots put together. And now, we were testing if we can escape the lightning-fast Dero interceptors, which are faster than any other starships known to us.”

Yes, I personally was a fan of daring captain Gerd Tamara Vujek for her reckless abandon and total lack of fear. Furthermore, she was a highly experienced veteran even by the standards of Georg the First’s Empire. One hundred fifty-three space battles! And that’s at the fact that Tamara Vujek was essentially an NPC for all the years she served, meaning she could have died permanently at any time. She was a true legend without any exaggeration. Her whole chest was covered in medals, even the Emerald Comet and Black Star, which were the two highest and most respected medals awarded by the Imperial military.

After becoming “immortal,” Gerd Tamara Vujek had lost all the factors that held her back before, and after one three-hour training phase, where we were all practicing coordination, testing comms systems, and working out tactics using frigates in concert with drones and symbiotes, she asked permission to train individually, separately from the main group of ships. Her explanation for the unexpected request was simple. In the Empire’s fleet she was always at the head of the pack, first to catch her quarry with stasis webs and warp disruptors, after which the fleet’s big guns would destroy the immobilized, pinned down target. But given that the Composite armada was primarily composed of small interceptors, her normal speeds and tactics might prove ineffective. We had to try something new. It sounded convincing and I gave my permission.

So while the remaining ships practiced focused fire on Targeting markers placed by the flagship, Tamara Vujek was going absolutely wild, pushing her Warhawk-1 to extreme speeds all while trying to execute dodges and other space battle maneuvers. “I’m trying to find the limits of both my vehicle and the human body,” as she put it a minute before the disaster in a radio message. Now, in the end, the Warhawk was able to take the G-forces, as was her body, but the Relict cruiser considered such a high-speed approach dangerous and refused to open its forcefield.

I started speaking into the cruiser’s loudspeaker.

“Gerd Uline Tar, where do Gerd Tamara Vujek and the rest of her crew have their respawn points? And was her crew all androids, or were some of them living people?”

A few seconds later, the furry Geckho woman responded.

“Captain Gnat, everyone on Warhawk-1 other than Gerd Tamara Vujek was an android. They are all dead. As for Tamara’s respawn point... I’m sorry, Kung Gnat, but I do not have that data. Gerd Tamara Vujek took some convincing to put her in a virt pod, so she didn’t go through the process with the larger group of newbies I explained the safety rules to.”

“Bad news! We have to figure that out ASAP and go pick her up. We can’t leave her behind on Tailax or at the orbital docks. Someone should exit into the real world and meet Tamara next to her virt pod...”

“But Tamara doesn’t know any earth languages, and practically knows zero Geckho,” Gerd Ayni the Listener chimed in over the loudspeaker. “She won’t understand what’s being said and won’t be able to explain much.”

It really was a sticky situation. Neither of my Translators could exit into the real world because one was an NPC, and the other was a soulless robot. I looked down the active player list for Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez, because the little sorceress could at least converse mentally, meaning language ability was no obstacle, but she wasn’t on my ship. The little sorceress had not been taking part in the training sessions, so her and Tini were out in the real world. Looks like I’ll have to send an Imperial from one of the escort frigates.

“Captain, do you think I could go out into the real world after Tamara Vujek?” offered Gerd Dmitry Zheltov the Starship Pilot. “Maybe I can find a common tongue with her and get to the bottom of things. Plus, she’s pretty.”

It was such a surprising and even inappropriate suggestion it caught me off guard and I couldn’t figure out how to respond. But suddenly, Gerd Jarg the Analyst jumped to the Starship Pilot’s defense.

“A perfect solution. These two will be able to understand each other even despite communication issues. Many common interests. Opposite sex. May lead to the two human pilots getting feelings for one another.”

“Alright, go on,” I said to Zheltov, who was now red as a beet and left the game that very second.

* * *

SOON ENOUGH, WE REALIZED there was no need to send anyone after Tamara Vujek. The celebrated captain had set her respawn point on my cruiser, which was of course a blatant violation of every safety rule in the book. Which I told Gerd Tamara Vujek straight away when she came to the bridge to receive her sanction from the Kung of Earth for the downed frigate.

Gerd Luana provided translation with a happy smile. Gerd Ayni was normally our translator, but she was again teaching a Geckho language lesson to the Alpha Iseyek, so I just called the android. Strange as it may have been, the synthetic woman took that as me raising her status in my team and bringing her into my inner circle and thanked me for the trust.

She was overall behaving much more confidently and comfortably than before, unashamed to express her point of view and make commentary in Human conversations. There was also a reason: during the recent training sessions, Gerd Luana had demonstrated an ability not only to maintain two-way communication from her operator’s seat with the twenty escort ships, at the same time she had completed my request and dug up answers to all my questions in the Pyramid’s ocean of knowledge.

Now, I knew for certain that the Syam Tro VII refuge was not stationary and could travel around the Universe much like starships or Relict laboratories. And meanwhile, it was truly gigantic and had a capacity of up to one hundred thousand or perhaps even a million creatures. It was a full planetoid capable of supporting life and had once supplied enough nutrition for all its inhabitants via hydroponic farms and expansive water-flooded caves the Relicts used to raise all kinds of animals. Chief among them were invar — fierce and quite large, but also low maintenance and good for eating.

Gerd Luana had not found any data suggesting the invar would be hard to slaughter. They could be killed by many methods, from cold and energy weapons, to psionics, so no Relicts ever would have predicted the problem that had happened at the Syam Tro VII refuge, where the hunters became the hunted. But I was not the least bit afraid of a domesticated animal, even one with big teeth that had gone feral over the last forty thousand years. And so, I made up my mind to visit the ancient refuge as soon as Gerd Eda-No Edeyya the Cleopian Historian checked the composition of the atmosphere near the virt pods and confirmed that it would be breathable for a Human.

The second important piece of information Gerd Luana had dug up over the last few hours was the code table the Relicts and Mechanoids had exchanged during the great war. Very valuable information! Now, I could visit the cloaked Mechanoid facility in the UF-98 system where I had not been allowed earlier and get the coveted decoder I needed to read the data from God of War.

But most valuable of all was the data on the facility on the silicon-organic world Ruvaru-Yosh Prime. Hidden beneath a layer of sand and thick stone, it was a base that served as a “workstation” for one of the Pyramid Hierarchs, Reality Administrator Kung Mogi-No-No-Mogi, where she (context told me she was a female) had “conducted battle with the ancient enemy, controlling time and realities” along with her servants and children until the very moment contact was lost. The information lined up very well with the inscriptions and texts I had read in the ruined Relict city on Ruvaru-Yosh Prime, where the name of the great Kung Mogi-No-No-Mogi was mentioned.

Gerd Luana had managed to dig up a diagram of Mogi-No-No-Mogi’s underground base. And the first thing that jumped out at me was a room full of temporal capsules. Perhaps, in one of the active temporal capsules, the protomother of all Relicts was still there frozen outside time. And she would be insanely powerful and dangerous, capable of stopping time and altering reality. To be perfectly frank, I did not want to cross paths with her. And so, we would have to visit the underground facility with extreme caution, particularly given the complex’s defense program was definitely in working order. I had even communicated with it and given it orders. And the command program would definitely “wake up” the Reality Administrator and take her side if it suspected me of trying to deceive it even a tiny bit.

Gerd Luana watched my expression and emotions closely while I looked through the results of her search. She quickly realized the captain was extremely happy with her work and saw her as a useful member of his crew, and from then on, she would be guaranteed a seat at the Kung of Earth’s side. And thus she started behaving more confidently. Unlike Gerd Tamara Vujek, who was all antsy when I summoned her to the captain’s bridge.

* * *

JUST FOR THE SAKE OF cheering her up and distracting her from dismal thoughts about the lost frigate, I asked:

“What’s it like to come back from the dead? You like it?”

“I... still haven’t returned to my senses. My life should have ended today, and yet I am alive. Even though I don’t deserve to be. I made a mistake, but here I am, alive and well. The rest of my crew died though, and they trusted my abilities and had become like family to me over the many years we served together. I spent so long adjusting the settings on those androids and teaching them to act human. They had all gained true personalities and were no longer standard minds. I will miss them...”

Tears even welled up in Tamara Vujek’s eyes. To be so upset about some robots? Were they not produced by the millions and even billions in the Empire? After all, robots could be replaced with identical models and reconfigured the exact same way. Then they’d be perfect copies of the original. I looked at Gerd Luana, also unable to hold back tears and sympathizing genuinely with her sadness, and so I held back from making an inappropriate acrid comment. Seemingly, a few androids had indeed gotten their own unique personalities with time, and in that way, they were little different from Humans.

Which was why I was speaking officially without commenting on what Tamara said.

“Before the big battle in the Urmi system, we will go back to Tailax or visit Poko-Poko. Tamara, you have to set your respawn point in a ‘green zone,’ somewhere that can’t be destroyed. If not on the planet or space station themselves, then at least at the space citadel of Tailax.”

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred forty-six!

I of course could have said that mentally, but I was trying to say the long and complex phrase in Imperial tongue. And although Gerd Luana the robot was in the room, and just frowning and shaking her head at my terrible accent and badly structured sentence, Gerd Tamara Vujek understood me, which was all that mattered. After that, for some reason she tried making excuses, even though I had not asked.

“My Kung, I...” in her unusual combination of Imperial uniform and Relict Faction emblem, she hesitated and made a long pause, “with time, I will try to repay the cost of the Warhawk, which was lost due to my blunder. I just tried a maneuver to get the speedy interceptors off my tail. I thought I could lose them by going through the forcefield of a large, allied ship. Apparently, that was a mistake.”

“Not at all. The idea was sound, it just didn’t work out. You were going too fast, so the cruiser’s command program classified your frigate as a potentially dangerous object.”

Gerd Luana the translator had to intervene and rephrase that one because Gerd Tamara Vujek didn’t understand me at all. But I was unashamed and kept practicing my Imperial language skill.

“As for the crashed frigate, don’t worry. You aren’t to blame. We of course will not be able to bring back the androids from your crew, but I can find a new ship. First, I wanted to give you another Warhawk from among the cruiser escort because your skills and level surpass the other frigate captains a great deal, but then I got a better idea. In the stern hangar of this cruiser, my personal frigate Tamara the Paladin is currently sitting half disassembled. It is well known throughout the galaxy, and carries the name of a proud, fearless warrior named Gerd Tamara. To my eye, she could have no better captain than an equally fearless Gerd Tamara. The ship is now yours!”

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-six!

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred forty-eight!

“Kung Gnat, you are making big strides in studying our language,” the synthetic Translator Gerd Luana praised me, looking at me with a charming, beaming smile. She really did need to correct just a few phrases. Other than that, I hadn’t made any mistakes despite the fairly long speech.

But for some reason, Tamara Vujek had lowered her head and was seemingly upset. And that did not escape the attention of Dmitry Zheltov, who turned his pilot’s seat and watched the warrior woman’s reaction. The Starship Pilot decided to join the conversation of his own accord and give some praise to the ship he had spent so long captaining.

“Hey, hunk of metal,” my pilot addressed the android, “translate this, but keep it word for word, no fancy stuff! Tell her Tamara the Paladin is not a mere frigate, she’s a work of art. She has a clever design with two power units reducing the effective mass, so despite being a twinbody, she’s lighter than a frigate with one fuselage. And that’s with twice as many thrusters and weapons! Tamara the Paladin is just a little bit less maneuverable than your old interceptor, but her firepower is as high as a cruiser’s! Furthermore, the frigate has all the best equipment and systems one can find anywhere in the galaxy. I will teach Tamara how to pilot the super-ship myself...”

I gestured for Zheltov to cut the overly gregarious speech and asked my guest, who was still standing with her head hanging low:

“Tamara, don’t you like your gift?”

The celebrated pilot shrank, glanced up at me, then looked away again.

“Of course I do. It’s a massive honor, and I am of course proud to be given so much trust. But my Kung, please don’t get me wrong. Even the most capable pilot in the galaxy wouldn’t be able to learn how to use totally novel technology in one day, much less that of an alien race. There’s no way to learn to pilot that ship well enough to join a formation in such a short timeframe. I have to learn all its strong and weak sides before going into bloody battle without fear. And that means I cannot take part in the upcoming grand battle, where over one hundred thousand starships will come together. For a combat pilot to miss an epic battle that will define the fate of our galaxy would be equivalent to wasting my entire life!”

I needed translation for that, after which I spent a minute or so in total silence, thinking hard.

What she said contained a veiled reproach to me for concocting the mad scheme. There was no way to learn a ship well enough in such a short period of time to then confidently pilot it into battle. My crew and I had very recently moved onto the Di-Pal-Yu 781 assault cruiser, and still had learned how to use all the ancient starship’s systems. Sure, we wouldn’t have to make any steep banks or squeeze the cruiser’s thrusters for all they were worth, much less direct the fleet in battle and come up with brilliant tactics and counter tactics. I wasn’t expecting the Relict ship to have extreme firepower either. My cruiser had a slightly different job: to mark targets and hand out bonuses to allied starships, support damaged ships by absorbing blows and, in case of a real threat of annihilation, transport the cruiser and our other ships out of danger to somewhere safer for us to continue the fight.

They were no less difficult and important tasks than the others in the battle, but my crew did not have enough experience to be of maximum use, or even just to not get confused in the whirlwind of space battle. Ideally, we’d be able to do a lot more training and learning our ship, improving skills and gaining experience before going into the heat of a real space battle. But I had given my word to Kung Keetsie Myau that I would come to her aid, and that meant I had to go to the defense of the Miyelonian capital regardless of whether we were fully prepared and trained or not. It was a matter of honor!

Gerd Mac-Peu the Mage Diviner put our chances in the battle at forty-sixty. Not particularly favorable, to put it lightly. And after all, even if we wasted all our remaining time on training, it wouldn’t have a significant impact on the outcome of the battle. Sure, maybe we could do a bit of work on targeting or handing out bonuses, but nothing more.

But what if I could use the remaining three to four ummi more effectively? For example, by jumping to Un-Tau and visiting the ice comet’s Temple of the Dawn of Life to get back the bonuses I had lost on respawn. My Gnat needed Psionics and all its associated skills badly, so improving those abilities could bring me a significant advantage in battle. Or I could pay a sudden visit to Georg the First — the highly experienced and capable fleet commander might have valuable advice for the grand battle. Maybe he even had an ace up his sleeve like another super-powerful antimatter bomb.

Dropping by the Emperor’s looked like the most realistic and promising way to get more powerful. My intuition was also telling me that if there were any ways of changing the negative prognosis for the battle, they would be connected with Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle and his people. I raised my head and discovered that everyone on the bridge was totally silent, patiently awaiting the Kung of Earth’s decision.

“Alright, Tamara, you can have a Warhawk like you’re used to. We can discuss Tamara the Paladin after the battle. Gerd Ayukh,” I turned to my Navigator, “calculate a jump to the Aysar Cluster! We’re going to pay another visit to Georg the First. Maybe our Emperor buddy has a trump card he’ll agree to share with us.”

“Oh, I think he will!” Gerd Luana said confidently, which surprised me and the officers on the bridge a great deal. “I’ve never had a chance to speak with the emperor, but I have an expansive dossier from the Imperial Androids about him and, with no exaggeration, I can see he’s a great politician and fleet commander. If the information in that dossier is trustworthy, Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle will agree to everything Kung Gnat asks for just for a peek at the recordings of the epic battle, which will be the largest one in space in the last hundred years.”

Chapter 14. Friend or Foe?

THIS TIME, tracking down Georg the First was very simple. The android on watch at the Aysar Cluster warp beacon (seemingly, the same one we took prisoner last time we visited) accepted the comms request from my cruiser, listened carefully and told us that Kung Georg was currently in the Tivalle System. He even offered to show us the way on the star map and Imperial warp beacon system just in case.

But we already knew where we were going. On our last visit to the Empire, my Navigator Gerd Ayukh had copied down all information on inhabited star systems and the warp beacon fast travel network, so he had the coordinates of the Tivalle system. Thirty seconds later, all the data had been entered and we spilled out into the new star system and...

Cartography skill increased to level one hundred eighteen!

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-four!

Scanning skill increased to level one hundred sixteen!

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred eighty-seven!

It would be hard to say who was more surprised — Emperor Georg the First upon suddenly seeing in his training area an alien cruiser accompanied by nineteen small Empire starships and two diffuse balls of plasma, the symbiotes — or me, upon discovering my ship in the midst of a star armada that surpassed everything I’d ever seen before in my life in both number and composition.

On the big screen, twelve hundred miles away, I saw the familiar giant God of War exterminator — the flagship of the Imperial fleet. But now, it was no longer the largest ship. There were two identical black disks twenty miles in diameter accompanying the flagship.

Miya the Red Queen. Empire Supercarrier.

Astra the White Queen. Empire Supercarrier.

Escorting the three gargantuan ships at the core of the Imperial fleet were fifteen smaller vessels. And although they were smaller... Still they were ten miles in length. And all of them were named with a very Earth word, Mammoth, which was strange to see out here, millions of parsecs from my homeworld.

Feral Mammoth. Large Imperial Cruiser.

Hungry Mammoth. Large Imperial Cruiser.

...

Unruly Mammoth. Large Imperial Cruiser.

All-Consuming Mammoth. Large Imperial Cruiser.

There were plenty more large ships, as well. Exterminators which were a bit smaller than the flagship God of War. Small Quasar- and Uukresh-class carriers, of which there were over fifty. Several kinds of battleships, totaling at least four hundred. Large landing ships...

On the backdrop of those giants, regular cruisers got totally lost, not to mention smaller class ships. If the tactical computer was telling the truth, the total number of starships taking part in this training session was seventy thousand. Three times more than the Meleyephatians and Miyelonians had estimated in the whole Imperial fleet. And they had launched combat drones into space... I gave a nervous gulp and looked at the computer’s estimate of three point five million such objects inside our tactical grid.

Meanwhile, a few seconds later, the whole mass of dots on screen turned an alarming shade of red — my starship’s command program had identified them as hostile. Seemingly, the same thing happened in Imperial fleet headquarters because the huge number of combat drones and interceptors changed trajectory to come racing straight at us.

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred eighty-eight!

“We’re (expletive)!” said Gerd Zheltov, and I was in complete agreement with his evaluation, particularly when a few lines ran by on the screen saying stasis webs and warp disruptors had been placed on my cruiser.

“Hierarch Gnat, shall we flee to safety?” Paa Um-Um Paa the AI suggested, confirming my theory that no amount of combat electronics could interfere with my cruiser’s null transport system.

But the drones and interceptors suddenly started flying away from us at top speed. A second later, a video call came in. I accepted. As expected, the face on the communication screen was that of Georg the First and he looked impossibly upset.

“Kung Gnat, you better have a damned serious reason for showing up here like this. You just interrupted my fleet’s big practice session!” he barked out threateningly from on screen.

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred seventy-five!

That left me impressed. It wasn’t a Psionic attack, the emperor’s voice just conveyed incredible might. I suspected Georg the First had perfected his command voice over the long years giving orders to troops and had perhaps even used some kind of skill like Intimidation. At any rate, the words had an incredible impact, and even scared me. The amount of pressure made me want to bow and start groveling to justify myself and beg forgiveness. But it didn’t work on me.

Nevertheless, before I could even open my mouth, my tailed friend Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu appeared, blocking the camera’s view of me.

“Emperor Georg, the reason really is as serious as they come. My species’ capital world is at risk of destruction, and I convinced my captain to come to you for help...”

The bold Miyelonian had clearly decided to defend me and block the highly powerful man’s rage. Praiseworthy... but stupid. It was simply no way to speak to an Emperor. I pushed the orange kitty out of the way decisively but fairly delicately and started talking.

“Greetings, Georg! I do not come to you as a supplicant. I simply have something that I believe will catch your interest. Now, as far as I know, you love big starships and grand space battles, right?”

Kung Georg gulped like a hungry street dog that had just seen a tasty bone. He looked off to one side as if consulting with someone off screen, or even asking permission. I guessed that it must have been the ghastly Leng Florianna ton Unatari — the strongest Truth Seeker in the Human Empire and Georg the First’s long-time consultant, whose judgement he trusted implicitly. Apparently, the Truth Seeker’s reply was positive.

“Alright, Kung Gnat, we really do have something to discuss. I’ll be expecting you in forty minutes on God of War. You can take along a couple companions, just not your ghastly little mage girl Leng Soia-Tan. My wife Astra is here on the ship right now and after the incident with Florianna, she... let’s just say she has no lost love for your little ward.”

* * *

I BROUGHT MY WAYEDDA Leng Valeri along to the negotiations because I had been informed that Kung Georg would have his wife Leng Astra the “White Queen” with him, so it looked like a logical move to mirror that. It might seem strange, but the head of the huge Free Tailax faction, comprising a quarter million players, was no fan of official events and did her best to avoid them. Nevertheless, one of the topics on the agenda was planet Tailax and the appointment of an Imperial representative as the sixteenth prelate, so there was no way for Leng Valeri-Urla to wriggle her way out of the negotiations. She did try though, and I even had to talk my wife out of it.

Valeri-Urla removed the crude leather band containing a green jasper amulet from her neck with an exaggeratedly upset facial expression and changed it for an elegant silver necklace with little glimmering gemstones — a gift from the people of Tailax. After that, the Great Huntress unclipped her laser pistol holster from her belt and set it on the table, as well as her hunting knife sheath, which she brought along practically everywhere. As far as I knew, the simple old knife with a split handle wrapped in wire was the only reminder of Valeri’s father she had left after he died many years ago on the Quarantine Planet.

After that, utterly unashamed by my presence, and maybe on the contrary especially for me, she put on a real show. First, she stashed her top in her inventory, and a second later her underwear. Standing naked in front of the mirror, Valeri shook her head unhappily and changed her usual ponytail hairdo for something more elegant and aristocratic. A second after that, her face was made up with cosmetics as well. And after another second, my wayedda had thin glowing lines on her arms and legs outlined with green and gold ink and coming together into a fanciful floral pattern. She must have wasted half a day getting this make-up done once upon a time (perhaps even before meeting me) and had saved the style in her character settings, and now was just loading it up. The character editor had settings for that, though I personally never used them, considering them an unnecessary indulgence.

Over the next few minutes, twirling in front of the big mirror, Valeri-Urla cycled through fifty different outfits. Dresses and suits, vests and short skirts, some strange airy garment woven out of colored ribbons and hardly covering her naked body. My beautiful wife finally decided on a floor length silver dress with a high collar like the kind depicted in pictures from the Middle Ages, but with a very deep neckline and a side cut that went down practically to her waist. The dress was very open and provocative, especially considering Valeri was not wearing underwear, but it would be sure to catch eyes and did a great job emphasizing my wife’s fit legs. Her silvery shoes, glimmering bracelets, rings, earrings, and diamond diadem rounded out her image as a mighty and wealthy but also young and friskily inclined star princess.

Leng Valeri-Urla had also brought her pet Shadow Panther along, and she wasn’t even muzzled, instead wearing a delicate golden collar attached to, to my eye, quite a flimsy leash. Nevertheless, before leaving, the Beast Master gave Little Sister a talk and said she had to always stay at her master’s side, behave with restraint, and not go invisible to avoid upsetting the emperor’s security detail.

We went into the hallway, where Gerd Ayni the Miyelonian was waiting. I was taking her along as the second companion I was entitled to by protocol, and translator. Kung Georg knew the Miyelonian well and treated the woman he jokingly referred to as a “talking kitty” nicely and even with a certain affection. I was expecting the Miyelonian, who loved getting dolled up no less than human women, to spend a long time getting ready and picking out an outfit, but Gerd Ayni didn’t overcomplicate that decision, and set off for the official negotiations wearing her matte black Listener armor suit with no helmet, even leaving her Hugo the First fang blades on her belt. I didn’t get too inventive either and left on my Devourer Energy Armor Suit.

* * *

A SHUTTLE BROUGHT US into dock on the huge Imperial flagship, after which my glamorous companions and I proceeded past rows of stock-still Imperial space fleet officers in ceremonial uniforms. There were a lot of troops. Hundreds, maybe even thousands. Not many were young, half even had gray hair. They were draped in medals for long-ago military exploits and battles, but I saw practically no young officers at all. Either the Empire only let time- and battle-tested veterans serve on its flagship, or Georg the First was having serious problems with recruitment.

And although the officers were standing at attention, they were looking curiously at me and my companions. And I should say so! To have another Kung, technically equal to your Emperor as a guest. And with him another prominent human, an incredibly striking woman with huge eyes walking a big pure white creature on a leash. But the officers’ attention was particularly drawn by the short orange Miyelonian — most of the humans had never seen a member of her race before. While we walked down the halls of the big ship, Ayni even levelled up, and I got two Authority and Fame boost notifications. My Diplomacy skill also went up by one, even though I hadn’t said a word.

Successful Perception check!

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-five!

The invisible guards were still here, which I could tell by a barely perceptible wavering in the air. Transparent Alpha Iseyek and chameleon warriors were walking in front of our group, behind it, and even above it on the ceiling. But I was expecting the emperor’s guard to act strangely and tried not to pay any attention to our invisible escort.

In the massive hall where the two psionics Leng Soia-Tan and Leng Florianna had clashed the last time, Emperor Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle was awaiting us with his wife Empress Leng Astra royl Veyerde. To the left of the White Queen, stunning as ever and looking like a fine porcelain doll, stood her little sister Leng Florianna the Truth Seeker wrapped in dark robes with a hood over her head. To the Emperor’s right side then was the blond Android Queen Leng Bionica. Overall, it was the same group that greeted my delegation the last time.

And no sooner had we entered the hall than triumphant music started blaring out. I started down the carpet and... just like last time, overheard a mental conversation that was not intended for me.

“Your opinion, Flora?!”

“He is no enemy to your Majesty, but definitely dangerous. I don’t know what his Devourer game class can do, but Kung Gnat has no doubt that he could kill anyone in this hall with a snap of his fingers. And that seems to be true. Which is very strange, because the difference between our psionic abilities isn’t so drastic and has even come down since last we met. The orange Miyelonian is no danger and has a friendly attitude, even though the daggers on her belt are capable of ignoring forcefields and any armor. Now Gnat’s wife is a surprisingly powerful psionic. Odd that I didn’t notice her the last time. I think she’s worth checking the traditional way...”

What the heck...? Another scripted encounter. But this time, unlike little Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez, who I had specially prepared for the duel with the ghastly Truth Seeker with long training sessions, stat-boosting blessings, and elixirs, and given the very best “magic” rings, my travelling wife was in no way prepared for a psionic showdown. And the only thing I could do for her now was add Valeri to a mental link with me to bring together our power and mana reserves. Leng Valeri-Urla accepted my invitation.

And that change must have been sensed by our opponent. Florianna froze for a second, taking another scrutinizing gaze at the Beast Master, after which she lowered her hood and took a decisive step forward. I hurried to warn the strange psionic woman not to do anything hasty or dangerous.

“Flora, if you’re thinking of attacking my wife, you’ll have to fight both of us at the same time! You want to know what the Devourer class can do? Well, that’s it. I can end peoples’ lives. Any living creatures’ in fact, even immortal ones. If we fight, you will not survive. In fact, few in this hall would escape with their lives.”

“Back down, Flora!” Leng Valeri-Urla, who was listening in, now joined the conversation. “We come in peace, and do not wish any harm on you or your Emperor. So don’t go turning us into enemies! And my husband is correct. You don’t stand a chance against the two of us.”

“You think I am the only Truth Seeker in the fleet?” our ghastly opponent wasn’t the least bit scared by our threat, instead swelling with determination to take us on in a pitched psionic battle. “There are hundreds of Beta Iseyek in the neighboring rooms, and dozens of experienced psionic mages! I’m even getting mental power right now from Crown Princess Deianna, the daughter of the emperor and the Red Queen! I will not lose!”

In response, I just gave a pitying chuckle and shook my head.

“I see it hurt to lose to Soia-Tan, a child, and this time you have prepared a bit more seriously. But tell me one thing, Flora. Is Crown Princess Deia aware that you have taken for yourself the rings I brought as a gift for her? Yes, yes, I’m talking about those two cute little +2 Intelligence rings you have on your pointer fingers. I recognize them. They were a gift for my son’s future wife. Or were you going to take advantage of the underaged Crown Princess Deianna’s lack of experience and try to take my son for yourself?”

“WHAT??? You are wearing gifts intended for me?” Another voice joined into our unheard conversation, and the ghastly Leng Florianna’s overflowing energy suddenly dried up. Then, she hunched over and started looking half her size. The mental battery of a hundred psionics she had created fell apart. The Truth Seeker removed the rings, took a step back and retook her usual position at Georg the First’s side.

Psionic skill increased to level two hundred thirty-nine

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-eight

Diplomacy skill increased to level fifty-nine

You have reached level one hundred sixty-two

You have received three skill points!

Now that was an unquestionable knockout victory. We could breathe a sigh of relief — the unwanted psionic battle had been called off and now I knew that Georg the First’s Truth Seeker would never again try to test me or my companions. The whole mental conversation meanwhile went by quickly, in just a couple seconds. I didn’t even lose my step, and kept walking toward Georg the First, who was seated on his throne. With the exception of perhaps the emperor, no one else in the hall seemed to have any idea the unseen forces that were very nearly unleashed.

“Oh, how lovely!” Empress Astra suddenly jumped out of her seat and ran forward to hug the Shadow Panther, practically hanging off the powerful beast’s neck.

I saw the emperor and empress’ visible and invisible bodyguards start off but still they didn’t interfere. The huge, fanged Little Sister was clearly surprised and even spooked by the unfamiliar woman’s reaction. Nevertheless, she behaved peacefully and just turned her snout toward Valeri as if to ask her master if it was okay.

The childishly direct and sincere move by Astra broke the ice in our relationship, and I felt like the initial tension was finally starting to melt away. We were being received as friends, not competitors or enemies. Furthermore, Georg the First then followed his wife’s example, stood from his throne, and walked over to extend me a hand.

“Greetings, my visitor from far away!”

“You’re look great, your Imperial Majesty!”

And there wasn’t a hint of flattery. The first time we met, Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle looked like a chronically ill world-weary old man. Recently, he had undergone a striking transformation. His gut had shrunk noticeably. His wrinkles smoothed out. But above all, he now had a glint in his eye like someone truly engaged and making grand plans, burning with desire to bring them to life.

“Ah, it’s nothing...” Georg the First gave a happy laugh and, after greeting my companions, turned back to me. “I just got my lust for life and forward progress back. It’s like I woke up from a years’ long dream. I issued a decree to expand military recruitment and take our combat ships out of long-term standby. Maybe you really were right, and it’s time for the Empire to come off the sidelines with war raging in the Galaxy and old borders being smashed to bits. But you, Kung of Earth, didn’t just sit around idly either. You scared yourself up a new ship, got a new suit, and improved your Legitimacy.”

It all sounded like a joke, but I could tell Georg the First had noted the system message about my Legitimacy and given it some consideration.

“Yeah, I didn’t have any time to sit around. I took part in a couple big space battles, dropped your mega bomb in another galaxy on the Composite flagship, and put an end to a war between the ancient races that had been going on for forty thousand years. I also took part in a survival reality show where I won myself a planet from the Meleyephatians and managed to turn a small group of your troops immortal. Now, I’ve been invited to take part in a grand battle against an armada of space invaders. In a few ummi, more than one hundred thousand starships will clash, which will be a sight to behold even though we are severely outnumbered.”

The emperor immediately turned serious, looked at his wife Astra, who was smiling happily and engaged in a discussion with my wayedda Valeri with Bionica translating, then suggested the two of us proceed to a smaller chamber.

“Gnat, while our ladies discuss getups and fluffy critters, let’s go talk about serious man stuff.”

Okay, I was all in for a serious conversation with the very mighty man. But Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu was clearly confused, not knowing what to do. She had not been invited to come with us, as she was not a man, and the group gathered around the Shadow Panther, which even the White Queen’s sister had now joined was talking carelessly, laughing happily and getting by just fine without her.

Georg the First noticed my companion’s mental anguish and invited her to come along with a gesture.

“Come with us, orange kitty! We’ll be talking about your tailed kind anyway, so we’ll need you as a consultant. I also have a gift I’ve been wanting to give you. You’re definitely going to like it!”

Chapter 15. It Has Begun!

OVER THE NEXT FOUR HOURS, the emperor and I discussed a great many topics. We started with the upcoming grand battle in the Urmi system and the possibility of the Empire providing aid to the Miyelonians, even making certain orders to our companions. After that, we moved onto plans for cooperation between Earth and the Empire militarily and scientifically and establishing ties all around. We finished up with relations between the various branches of the widely scattered human race and other neighbors in space.

And the conversation was extremely open and harsh, pragmatic and at times even cynical. Relations between humans and the great spacefaring races, if they found out the topics we touched on, would have deteriorated if not to the point of war declarations, then at least so badly they would have taken a long time to recover. Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle was level-277 on top of being a fleet commander with a mountain of experience behind him, and that was immediately apparent. The emperor reminded me of a grand master at a chess board, or an experienced Na-Tikh-U player absolutely unconcerned with the fates of those they had been entrusted with, much less unrelated pieces and pawns, and willing to sacrifice even their most valuable piece to secure an overall victory. You might say it’s the very way the greatest masters play, and I would agree with that. But in this round, the pieces on the board were the Miyelonians, Geckho, Composite, Trillians, and Humanity’s other neighbors in space as well as me and my ships, and the spaces on the board were whole regions of space and key planets with populations in the billions.

Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Listener was sitting with us and at times even joined in the conversation of Humanity’s two Kungs, responded to questions or made comments, but I got a sense of just how uncomfortable my friend was feeling, and also just how badly afraid she was. I suppose if not for the unique pair of Hugo the First’s fang blades, which granted protection against fear, the tailed woman would have had a panic attack.

And I have to admit, I would not have blamed her. Some of the things the emperor suggested scared me to death, as did his directness when discussing slippery topics and his absolute lack of comprehension of concepts such as proportional application of force. Devastating inhabited planets with orbital bombardment, or even feeding their entire populations to praying mantis landing troops were things Georg the First viewed as completely acceptable and even normal. The Miyelonian saw fearsome power in Georg the First, who could now go to her usual world and scatter the game pieces currently on the board, turning some of them his color, and destroying the rest ruthlessly. And all that thanks to his vision of a bright future where Humans would become the dominant power in space.

Perhaps the Strategist’s frankness was part of an insidious little game, and Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle was hoping I would react this way. The plump middle-aged man sitting back in his armchair in an unbuttoned military jacket with gold epaulettes crossed his legs and waxed philosophical, holding a glass of dark red wine in his hand.

“Once upon a time, when I was still a Crown Prince fiftieth in line to the Imperial Throne, a Chameleon Diplomat complained that Humans are aggressive without justification and blaze themselves a trail into the future with force. Like Humanity had gone to war with forty-eight of fifty-two races they had encountered in space, and completely exterminated eighteen of them.”

“That really is a frightening statistic...” my tailed friend agreed with the Diplomat, having joined the emperor on the fine wine, which finally made the fearsome ruler like her.

I though refused to drink, because I wanted to keep my mind clear for the negotiations, and the big battle, which was going to start soon. Kung Georg didn’t insist, but he and the Miyelonian were already on their second decanter and did not look like they were going to stop any time soon.

“Yes, talking kitty, the statistic speaks for itself. Rulers change, conditions in space change, but Humans have always gone to war. I didn’t stand on the sidelines and only contributed to making that statistic worse, adding a few races to the list of both those we’d met, and those we’d exterminated. And that cruelty might sound unjustified. But the truth is we had no other choice!”

“Why?” Gerd Ayni asked curiously, emptying the decanter into their two glasses.

“Because Humans are fighters by spirit, and without an external enemy, we start getting hostile to each other. And during periods of long peace, Humanity stops progressing and starts to quickly degrade and wither. You may not believe me, but I know what I’m talking about. We need war! But despite all our aggression, Humans are honest and noble in their treatment of loyal allies and help them advance and grow stronger, even sacrificing their own lives to defend friends. The Chameleons, for example, trusted me and now they are flourishing like never before! The Iseyek Swarm was on the verge of extinction and turned to me for aid out of desperation. Now the Iseyek are flourishing. You know why I’m telling you this, kitty?”

I glanced curiously at my tailed companion. I wonder how Gerd Ayni will respond to such a pointed question. The Miyelonian then saluted me and the emperor with her glass of wine, drained it unhurriedly and responded in detail, though in a way that caught me off guard.

“Your Imperial Majesty, you assume I wormed my way into the Kung of Earth’s trust, because I am spying on him and telling valuable information to my race. And thus, Kung Georg, you want me to use my usual communication channels to tell the leaders of the Miyelonians about Humanity’s military might and present them with the fact that, from now on, they will have to take Humanity seriously.”

The almighty man broke down laughing, delighted by Gerd Ayni’s answer.

“Precisely! You are very smart, fluffy kitty, and I understand perfectly well why Gnat keeps you around as an advisor. But I’m not just assuming you’re spying on your master. I know it for a fact. Powerful Truth Seekers such as Leng Florianna have broken through your defenses a few times and dug around in your brains. And so, my tailed guest, here is a special gift for you!”

The emperor extended Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu a metal crown — silver and with spiny outgrowths sticking out on all sides. The curious Miyelonian immediately donned it, making her look like the ancient Greek goddess of witchcraft Hekate or the Statue of Liberty in New York, listened to her own feelings and looked back at Georg in incomprehension.

“That is a Blocker,” Georg the First explained. “It shuts out all psionics and mindreading. It’s Composite technology, which our scientists managed to figure out. Remember the captive pilot you handed over to my troops? Unfortunately, the prisoner self-destructed, leaving behind little of value but still we were able to scrape a few hunks of flesh and pieces of tech off the walls. This device is the result of their studies. You’re welcome to keep it, talking kitty! And tell Kung Keetsie Myau, who seems to be the smartest of your rulers, that I see only two ways forward for the Miyelonians.”

The emperor drained his glass and set it back down loudly on the table, then leaned over to Gerd Ayni and said distinctly, pausing after each sentence to observe her reaction.

“You could become loyal vassals of Humanity, in which case you would have defense, advancement, and prosperity. Or you perish, adding your race to the list of those no longer on the stage of history. And meanwhile, us Humans will not have to wipe you out. We will simply ‘not make it in time’ to save you from the Composite or some other neighbors, who will surely come knocking when you’re in a weakened state. Because the battle for the Urmi capital system will seriously weaken your race no matter how it may end. And your stronger neighbors, such as the Meleyephatian Horde, or the Trillians, will not miss their chance to exact revenge on you for your ‘ability to quickly orient yourselves in changing situations and turn your backs on former allies.’“

Ayni listened closely to Georg the First’s speech and suggested that Kung Keetsie Myau would have her shot before she could even finish saying something so seditious and borderline treacherous.

“That may be so,” the level-277 Strategist agreed easily, sitting back down in his seat. “Yes, Kung Keetsie Myau will be indignant at first, and even furious. But she will cool down eventually, think everything through and make the right decision. She need not even tell the other rulers, because they will never get it. There’s no need for any official treaty. The Great One’s word will be enough. Not now, but in a tong or even two, the Miyelonians will recognize a united Humanity as their suzerains. Or, talking kitty, your race will be doomed to disappear. The choice is yours.”

Cruel? Perhaps, but the emperor discussed many issues in the same style. Tailax? Appoint a representative as one of the sixteen prelates? Support my wife Leng Valeri on her path to liberating the planet? That wasn’t even a question! But there would be no point until all sixteen prelates, not just Earth and the Empire’s appointees agreed on their positions and would strictly uphold a clear, sustained plan to liberate the planet from occupation. Was I, as ruler of Tailax, prepared to work on the other prelates and guarantee that none of them would put a stick in the spokes and sabotage the process? And did I understand where that would lead the planet, because Tailax would be unable to survive on its own without its Meleyephatian protectors surrounded by dangerous predators hungry to swallow up valuable prey?

The Quarantine Planet? Leng Valeri-Urla again? Was I not putting too many eggs in one basket on the political arena? And really, what was I doing with the savage Tailaxian given Georg the First had a whole three adult Crown Princesses of marriageable age, each of whom would come with a dowry of an entire stellar region comprising ten inhabited planets and billions of subjects? Furthermore, that would mean the title of Imperial Duke, so I could officially intermarry and take my place in the line to the throne of the whole huge Empire. Because marrying our children for an alliance would of course be grand, but one of them wasn’t even born yet, and it would be nice to have something stronger for reinforcing dynastic ties. No? True love and all that? Alright, especially given Valeri-Urla and the White Queen got along, and our two wives were now together painting a picture, which would probably be yet another masterpiece in Leng Astra’s style as head of the Imperial Artist Faction. Then I would have support capturing the Quarantine Planet, but Georg the First himself was sincerely disappointed in me if my plans were limited to just capturing one planet, rather than a full-scale war with the Gilvar Syndicate — a political competitor to our branches of Humanity.

And what then about my other wife, Gerd Minn-O La-Fin? The pitiable and sickly ruler of just one faction from one version of Earth. What good was she? Obviously, I needed an official wife until my son was born so our heir could have all the privileges and titles that were his by birthright. But in three months, after the future Great Archmage would be born, I would have to lower her to wayedda status, then further demote her to favorite with a generous buyout. And that opened up new possibilities for a dynastic marriage to one of the emperor’s daughters, and along with that military and political support, defense of my home planet before the term of safety was up, and a huge fleet in Earth orbit, which could fight off any aggressor who wanted to tangle with Earth.

And so on in that vein... Cruel, pragmatic and even cynical. Strange as it may have been, the upcoming grand battle in the Urmi system was the source of the least discord and dispute. Although Georg the First’s initial suggestion had shocked both Ayni and me, especially given we had yet to get used to Georg the First’s mode of communication.

“Gnat, tell me the truth. Why should I help anyone in this battle? I say let the Composite armada and the united ‘team’ of the galaxy’s great races go head-to-head and wipe each other out! Then it will only be easier to talk with the overstepping Trillians when their initial fleet is reduced by half. The Miyelonians meanwhile, especially if their capital falls, will just put their tails between their legs and turn soft as silk, agreeing to anything to save their own hides.”

My orange companion’s eyes doubled in size after hearing the emperor say that, making Gerd Ayni look like a native of foggy Tailax. Georg the First looked at the terrified Miyelonian and laughed.

“Calm down, talking kitty. It was just a joke. I only wanted to see your reaction. You always react so emotionally to everything I say, so I couldn’t help myself. Of course I will help your kind. Not because I like you, though that did have an impact on my decision, but for entirely concrete political reasons. But the battle is far away, and there won’t be enough time, so my options are severely limited...”

Georg the First did not have a second megabomb, at the very least not ready to pack up and transport. All Kung Georg could provide were four stealth bomber squadrons of five ships a piece with experienced crews packed to the brim with the Imperial Fleet’s most powerful thermonuclear and gravitation charges. Plus as many space gravity mines as my Di-Pal-Yu 781 cruiser could carry in two trips. He could also spare an admiral with experience fighting thousands-strong fleets to aid the Union of Miyelonian Prides’ fleet commanders. But most importantly of all, the ghastly chief Truth Seeker Leng Florianna ton Unatari had a unique ability to predict exactly where enemy fleet warp tunnels would appear. And that meant knowing exactly where to place the mines. He was also willing to give us the White Queen’s sister, but with a clear promise to return her alive and unharmed, along with all the Empire’s stealth bombers that survived the epic battle.

“If you use that aid intelligently, it will easily suffice to radically bring down the Composite’s small class ship numbers, particularly their rickety Dero interceptors. Taking down enemy small fry then means gaining the mobility advantage, at which point you can dictate conditions on the battlefield. I am providing you that chance. Not to lose that advantage and the battle overall is the concern of your fleet commanders. I’ll be frank, I have come out on top in battles where I was more outnumbered, so I will be very eager to see the recordings and I will evaluate the Miyelonian Strategists’ work like a strict exam proctor.”

Coming from anyone else, those words would have sounded like egocentric braggadocio. But not from the emperor. Too many people had told me how talented the slumping, sullen old man truly was. He had supposedly never lost a single battle in a life full of them, and so I took Kung Georg’s statement very seriously. Yes, he knew space battle like none other. He knew about political intrigue firsthand as well, having cleared himself a path to the Imperial throne even though he’d had to climb more than fifty spots up the line of succession to get there.

But it was just so hard to talk to Georg the First! It felt like I was being given an exam by a strict professor. The negotiations lasted for four hours, and in that time, I got six (!!!) Diplomacy skill-up notifications. Twice my Mental Fortitude skill had grown as a consequence of pushing back against his intense psychological pressure as well. And my Danger Sense got a double boost when I was on the verge of disappointing the emperor and losing ally status with either my words, actions, or inactions.

Worst of all was the fact that I was unable to use Psionics in the negotiations. Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle was not a Paladin or Diplomat by game class, but his mind was blocked from reading or control. And though it wasn’t a brick wall like Fox the Morphian had during the final test in the Army of Earth camp, this was something more intricate and... dangerous. I could sense echoes of his emotions and thoughts, but at the same time I could sense that some part of them were wrong or inappropriate to the situation. As if the emotions and thoughts were false, specially put on display to provoke and invite further investigation. I had acquired a wealth of experience reading minds, and so I was aware that there was something fishy going on. In IT security there is a concept called a honeypot, meaning a system intentionally left vulnerable to tempt hackers into attacking, which will then make them easier to track down. It looked very much like experienced Imperial psionics had created something like that in his mind. Any attempt to read the emperor’s mind was instantly detected and would have severe consequences for the psionic that dared attack the almighty ruler of the huge and powerful state. And I did not give in to temptation and conducted the negotiations without using my mental abilities.

We discussed purchasing Imperial class frigates for Earth using the “magic jewelry” I had brought. We even talked about buying a patent to produce such ships right on Earth. We discussed Gerd Tamara Vujek’s successful respawn and getting her another Warhawk frigate. I didn’t have to buy it, Georg the First knew her well and ordered another android crewed Warhawk be issued to the celebrated warrior.

We also spoke about the chance for the Empire’s Humans to get virt pods and thus immortality. And although the emperor desired such a fate for his children, to my massive surprise, he was none too enthusiastic about doing so himself. I was ashamed to even ask why the almighty and beyond a doubt wise man would refuse “immortality.”

“You see, Gnat...” Kung Georg breathed a heavy sigh, kept silent for five seconds, and then continued, “I was immortal before. I remember telling you that my wife the Red Queen was a VERY unusual woman. Miya was a Reality Administrator, or something like it, and could violate the very laws of physics. She could do the impossible. Create items out of thin air, travel through space including visiting other worlds and spending long periods of time in them. At times, Miya brought me with her. And then one day...” Georg looked at the empty glass on the table, but didn’t refill it, just breathing another heavy sigh, “Miya killed me in the real world. All of that took place on your Earth, where my wife and I were living at the time, and that was how I learned your language.”

[Author’s note: The events described by Georg the First take place in the novel Perimeter Defense. New Contract.]

“She killed you?” the shocked Miyelonian asked.

“Yes, talking kitty, she killed me. She poisoned me in a restaurant. She had to in order to bring us both to this world urgently, and I do not fault her for murdering me. But my body there in the real world died a long time ago and decayed, so no virt pods will be able to bring me into the real world.”

The negotiations continued and we discussed another few topics until suddenly, I got an urgent incoming message from Orun Va-Mart the Engineer on my cruiser.

“Captain Gnat! Miyelonian news just reported that the Composite armada has embarked on a hyperspace jump toward the Urmi system from two different places at the same time. Two large groups of combat starships. Fifty-five and thirty thousand ships. They will reach Urmi in approximately half an ummi. It Has Begun!”

Chapter 16. Tier 43, Group 12, Heading 78

MY TRAVELLING WIFE Leng Valeri-Urla had gotten held up for some reason, so I had to call her mentally and hurry her along because we were cutting it very close to the beginning of the battle, and every minute was of the essence. We had finished loading the first shipment of space mines, and the twenty Imperial stealth bombers had already been placed beneath the ancient cruiser’s forcefield (I had provided access to those twenty ships during the negotiations with Georg the First), and even the experienced Alpha Iseyek admiral Georg the First had given me had arrived to the starship. But my wife was still missing...

Finally, my wayedda showed up in God of War’s huge shuttle hangar. Leng Valeri-Urla was walking unhurriedly, accompanying Leng Florianna ton Unatari the Truth Seeker in her wheelchair, and holding a picture three by five feet wrapped in an opaque film. The women had an impressive escort of thirty huge praying mantises and armed Humans, but the entire defense team stopped delicately fifty feet in front of me, entrusting the two prominent ladies’ security to the Kung of Earth.

“Forgive me for the delay, my husband,” Valeri crossed her eyes and pointed at Flora, who really could not go any faster, much less walk on her barely functioning legs. “And for the fact that I was not able to help you in the negotiations with the emperor.”

Along with Ayni the Miyelonian and two security troops that hurried to help, we picked up Leng Florianna’s chair and carried it into the shuttle. Valeri placed the wrapped painting alongside her. I noticed that the Tailaxian’s hands and fingers were covered in dry paint, primarily green. My wife’s opulent dress also had plenty of stains. In what must have been a sudden burst of inspiration, the two artists had produced a collaborative work, and had done it in such a frenzied rush that they had no concern for keeping their clothes clean.

“No need to apologize for the negotiations,” I said when the shuttle doors had closed, and the flying vehicle started lifting off. “Valeri, you were actually a big help. No matter how fearsome and cruel a negotiator the emperor may be, he has a weakness: his wife, the White Queen. Kung Georg loves Leng Astra madly, listens to what she has to say, and trusts her opinions. The White Queen meanwhile really liked you and your pet... by the way, where is Little Sister?”

I looked around in surprise, because I could not see the Shadow Panther that normally followed Leng Valeri everywhere.

“She’s here, in the shuttle,” Gerd Ayni the Listener pointed a clawed paw at the end of the compartment and I turned.

Visually, there was nothing there, but I ran a scan and confirmed what she said. The Shadow Panther had stuffed herself into a faraway seat and was for some reason cowering.

“I sent her back to the shuttle,” my wayedda smiled embarrassedly, “because Little Sister was too afraid of the picture, which is actually of her in the first place.”

“Oh... Show me!” I demanded, and the Beast Master eagerly pulled back the picture’s wrapping.

Based on the scraping sounds I heard at the same time, Little Sister had panicked and tried to scratch at the metal wall and leave the shuttle into open space. For good reason. If I were the Shadow Panther, I’d have been scared too. The backdrop was primarily green, including all possible shades of the color. Inside that field of green, in the very middle there was a perfect white circle. And inside of that circle were two terrible predatory eyes burning with an orange, crimson flame looking unmistakably like they wanted to kill the viewer of the painting. And unlike the backdrop and white circle, the eyes were painted with painstaking detail using a fine brush and seemed truly alive and dangerous.

“Why make the eyes red?” I asked without commenting on all the rest, curious. “Little Sister’s eyes are dark blue like the sea in calm weather. But those are a blood-red flame.”

“We tried blue at first, but the White Queen said that the color was not achieving the proper effect at all. And that took away the savage man-eating beast’s mad turbulent energy. So we repainted the eyes fire red.”

Well, what could I say? Astra really had achieved the intended effect. No wonder the White Queen was at the head of the Imperial Artist Faction. She was certainly a talented painter.

“That’s not all, she can also dance,” Flora added from her chair. “When my sister Astra dances, everyone forgets the world around them and just stops to admire.”

I caught myself with my guard down in front of the very powerful Truth Seeker, which she immediately seized on to read my thoughts. And meanwhile, she was not even bothered by my defenses and didn’t expose her actions until she joined the mental conversation. I couldn’t say what Leng Florianna was able to dig up from my head. It was unlikely she had figured out anything secret or dangerous, otherwise Florianna would never have revealed herself. But in any case, the emperor’s advisor’s behavior had to be cut off at the root.

“Flora, digging around in my thoughts is not recommended! Some of the information in my brain is too dangerous, and you aren’t old enough for the other stuff!”

I couldn’t tell you why I phrased it like that. Florianna was already of age, just a few years younger than me, so she was about as much an adult as I was. Still, I understood that the disabled Truth Seeker was surrounded at all times by healers and her Beta Iseyek minions and was unlikely to have had any “adult” experiences in life. Still, I wasn’t trying to offend her or make her feel disparaged. I was just very indignant about her digging around in my brain and possibly getting a taste of my erotic memories and fantasies. But the effect of my warning surpassed my boldest expectation!

Flora jolted upright like she’d been whipped, and practically fell out of her chair. She turned toward me and stared with eyes wide in horror. Her face was pale, and her body was shaking like a death rattle. I was not at all expecting her to react so intensely to a basic warning, and even asked what was wrong.

“Those words...” Flora calmed down a bit, breathed a heavy sigh and got a better seat in her chair, digging her pure white fingers into her armrests. “I heard the exact same words on the scariest day of my life when the Red Queen punished me for my insatiable curiosity. That painful lesson was plenty for me... Kung Gnat, I promise not to try and read your thoughts again, and even swear by my abilities as a Truth Seeker!”

The sudden tension evaporated when we heard my wayedda Valeri giggling happily in the shuttle, trying to calm down her Shadow Panther and laughing at her misplaced fears. The Beast Master called her pet and offered a treat shaped like a piece of dried meat, but Little Sister, despite appearing from invisibility on her master’s orders, had all four paws on the floor and her butt stuck into the far corner, refusing point blank to come near the dangerous red eyes on the big canvas.

“It’s no use,” Leng Valeri-Urla admitted a minute later. “I’ve never seen my clever pet not listening to me before. Husband, let’s hang this up in your cabin! Then Little Sister will never try to get in there again and bother us at night.”

* * *

THE FIRST THING I DISCOVERED when I stepped aboard my cruiser was a large Alpha Iseyek bent down awkwardly on the floor with a tar-black shell, head tilted to one side, and appendages tucked in. Above him circled the seven Small Relict Guard Drones like a lethal carousel keeping a close eye on the “intruder” while they waited for their captain to return. And next to them were two crew members: Gerd Vasha Tushihh and Gerd Imran, who were trying to no avail to chase the drones away from the experienced Imperial admiral who had been sent to aid me. And the fact that this was the celebrated admiral I read straight away:

Leng Masss Azhzh. Alpha Iseyek. Swarm Star Fleet Faction. Level-208 Strategist.

A Leng, and he’s level 208?! What an uncomfortable situation... I immediately added the praying mantis admiral to the list of friends allowed to visit my cruiser. And at the same time, I added Leng Florianna the Truth Seeker before the guard drones took an interest in our newest visitor. I apologized to Leng Masss Azhzh and even extended an armored glove to his sharp upper appendage to help the huge insect stand up. Once the massive ten-foot-tall Alpha Iseyek was towering over me, I even gifted him a +1 Constitution ring because the celebrated admiral was looking wobbly and had a hard time standing after so much time balled up.

Diplomacy skill increased to level sixty-five!

Diplomacy skill increased to level sixty-six!

Diplomacy skill increased to level sixty-seven!

You have reached level one hundred sixty-four!

You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: six)

What was that just now??? That many game messages for common courtesy? I checked my distinguished visitor’s emotions and saw for certain that the incident was fully settled, and the nonhuman did not harbor any resentment toward me. It came in very handy because the celebrated Strategist, as I managed to figure out, commanded all the Swarm fleets and bore the revealing title Human Executioner, which he had earned in the nearly fifty-year-long war between the Swarm and the Empire. I absolutely did not want to have such an intelligent and dangerous monster for an enemy.

“A seemingly chance episode, but the consequences will be so severe...” Leng Florianna the Truth Seeker sighed regretfully. “There will come a day when the Swarm will have to decide which of the emperor’s six children to support in their claim to the throne. Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh will have to make a difficult choice. He will remember this day and support Crown Princess Deianna, wife of your son. Even though Deia will only be fifth in line to the throne, after the emperor’s three eldest daughters and Georg Junior, son of the White Queen. Miya the Red Queen, even after losing her palace intrigue eight years ago, will still achieve her goal and get her daughter on the Imperial throne...”

“You can already read the lines of the future that clearly?” I asked.

“Nothing is ever definite in the future. There are just too many unpredictable factors that could interfere and change fate. But lines of the future can be less or more probable. And this is one of those cases. Yes, now the most probable line of the future will have your son becoming emperor and his wife Deianna empress. That will make many years of civil war inevitable, which will seriously weaken humanity because nowhere near everyone will agree to that line of succession, and a schism will form. Astra’s son, Crown Prince Georg Junior will have the support of the Elvinians and Meleyephatians. Crown Princess Likanna will be supported by the Imperial military and its whole Headquarters lead by Leng Nicole ton Savoia. Crown Prince Roben Junior will also have his supporters. How it will all end up I cannot even come close to saying. The lines of the probable future are just tangled into a ball after that. They have been ever since you, Kung Gnat, came to the Empire and met with Georg the First... But enough about the distant future. First, we have to crush the Composite, otherwise none of these discussions will have any point!”

* * *

WHILE MY TWO ENGINEERS quickly whipped up a workstation for the admiral and Truth Seeker on the captain’s bridge, I tested the readiness of our stealth bomber escort one more time, ran a monitoring Scan of the ship (to make sure we had no espionage bugs, or uninvited stowaways, and that everyone was on board), after which I ordered the Navigator to enter coordinates to warp to the Miyelonian capital star system of Urmi. A few seconds later, the picture on the big viewing monitor changed.

Cartography skill increased to level one hundred nineteen!

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-six!

And again, I was astonished. This system had almost as many starships in it as what I saw earlier today at the big Imperial training sessions. Forty-eight thousand ships! Still of course, in class and size, the majority of them lagged seriously behind Georg the First’s Imperial fleet. I saw many hurriedly refit cargo and passenger shuttles on screen as well as light pleasure vehicles of surface-near-space class. I even saw opulent yachts with a few laser turrets mounted on by the owners to technically classify them as combat ships.

Compared with the ragtag band of ships, the Trillian Royal Fleet was the very image of cohesion and mastery positioned three thousand miles away from the rest of the units. Twelve thousand starships formed a shifting sphere around the huge Kibo-Poro-Toysh exterminator, as well as fifteen fearsome battleships.

I also saw the main Miyelonian capital defense fleet, which was formed of Meleyephatian Horde and Miyelonian ships. Twenty-four thousand starships. The fleet was positioned next to the Urmi system’s fearsome space citadel and was split into three large tactical groups, each containing roughly eight thousand starships. At the core of each group was a “small carrier,” as such motherships would be classified under the Imperial system. All told, the unified fleet of the Union of Miyelonian Prides and the Meleyephatian Horde comprised three carriers, nine battleships, around eighty cruisers, and the rest small class ships. And although there were very few large ships in the organized unified fleet, the defense forces gathered in Urmi looked respectable and intimidating.

And finally, the hodgepodge grouping of all kinds of starships I first noticed when I arrived in the Urmi system. It included professional mercenaries and Free Captains who had answered the call, ships belonging to private corporations, and common volunteers. All told, my tactical computer put their number at twelve thousand. And although the only large class ships were four cruisers and a giant mining barge fit with combat drones, I had to admit, I was expecting worse, so what I saw boosted my mood.

And meanwhile, the Miyelonians noticed our arrival. My cruiser was scanned from the star citadel, after which I got a video call request from a Miyelonian battleship called the Akami-tu-Duri (“Instant Downfall,” or “Immediate Disappearance of Matter” in Miyelonian). Kung Keetsie Myau appeared on screen with a black bandanna over her injured eye looking determined, full of energy, and simply impossibly majestic in her heavy pure white armored spacesuit, which had a blue ribbon running diagonally over the chest plate, the Geckho race’s most coveted military decoration. I already knew that the Geckho were more providing moral support for the battle than anything else, because Earth’s suzerains were simply unable to recall their combat starships from the front. Obviously, the Geckho Diplomat had given the Great One that decoration in the name of Krong Daveyesh-Pir before the decisive battle.

“Kung of Earth, you heeded my call. And brought Empire ships. I will never forget this, my true friend! My aides can tell you where to go in the formation. May fortune favor us all! And may we do our best to survive!”

Authority increased to 165!

The screen went out before I could say anything to the Miyelonian ruler, much less tell her I had an experienced fleet commander sent by Georg the First to aid Miyelonian command. Of course, as commander of the defense of the capital, she now had bigger concerns than talking to me. It was actually surprising she found the time to send a greeting.

“Gerd Ayukh, get in touch with the Miyelonian military! Tell them we’re about to disappear temporarily to bring another group of frigates. So the Miyelonians don’t think we’ve deserted right before battle. Also offer their commanders help from experienced fleet commander Grand Admiral Masss Azhzh.”

My Navigator sent that over. And almost instantly we were given the friend foe codes, but we had to wait for the next call and instructions. Finally, ten minutes later, someone contacted us. The unfamiliar disheveled Miyelonian ran down the data on his screen and said:

“Kung of Earth, put your frigates in tactical group Galo-Yood 67. The cruiser should go to the Rohan auxiliary fleet. Tier 43, Group 12, Heading 78. Your comms channel is one hundred eleven. Sending over encryption keys now. Don’t stay in one place. There are enemy cloakers in the system.”

As if to reaffirm what he said, one hundred miles from my cruiser, in the thick of a group of small auxiliary ships, the flower of a nuclear explosion blossomed, taking down thirty starships at once. The Miyelonian on screen swore and signed off.

So, is that all? Not a word about the grand admiral, and the very idea of separating the specialized stealth bombers with crews that did not know Miyelonian from their command on the cruiser and using them in battle as mere frigates seemed to me, to put it lightly, irrational.

“That’s a clear error,” Gerd Jarg the Analyst commented.

“A very crude error,” the Grand Admiral confirmed after Gerd Ayni translated.

In that case... Well, it wouldn’t be my first time ignoring instructions and moving forward at my own risk. I mean, I was of course planning to put my cruiser into the formation as told (after coming back with another batch of frigates), but right now I had absolutely no idea what the Miyelonian command wanted from me or what they meant by Tier 43, Group 12, Heading 78. Still, I was definitely not going to sacrifice the valuable stealth bombers so pointlessly.

“Cloakers, on the field! Fly a safe distance away from the cruiser, mark out a system to work with, create convenient points of attack and warp out. Only take orders from me and Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh. All other commands, ignore. Flora, you’re up! Show me why the emperor values you so much!”

Chapter 17. Hold Formation!

HALF MY MANA WAS GONE in an instant. I was even shaking because I’d lost so much magic energy so quickly. Eight thousand three hundred Magic Points in one second had gone to who knew what.

“Kung Gnat, here is where they’ll exit warp!” the little stylus lying on the instrument panel raised up into the air and drew a short, curved line on the touch screen. “This is group one. Thirty thousand starships. Light frigates and small interceptors.”

Telekinesis skill increased to level eighty-seven!

Mysticism skill increased to level one hundred sixty!

I forced out a smile, leaned on the edge of the table and turned to the Truth Seeker, whose seat was behind mine on the captain’s bridge. The girl, whose face was half covered by her lowered hood, smiled back at me with the very corners of her lips.

How was Florianna doing that??? And I didn’t mean picking up the stylus with her mind. That was Telekinesis, which I could also do. I meant how could she tell EXACTLY what to draw? Leng Florianna ton Unatari and I were in a magic link just then, as was Investigator Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez and Leng Valeri-Urla. Technically, I now had all the same abilities as the emperor’s personal Truth Seeker. But all I saw was a dim flicker in my brain that lasted at most a tenth of a second. Or rather a thin little beam cutting through the blackness of space in a curved angle. How could she have guessed that the little beam was a signal from an enemy fleet flying through a layer of subspace and line THAT up with the tactical map, and even be aware of what ships would be coming and how many there were? It was a kind of miracle... either that or pure quackery.

For a second, I even considered that perhaps Florianna hadn’t seen anything sensible, much like myself, but had just drawn a random line on the tactical map so we would stop asking her stupid questions and demanding the impossible. But then what had become of the large amount of mana, which would have been enough to boil a train cistern full of room temperature water?! There also had to be some basis for the stories of the battles won by Florianna for her master Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle! When the positions of enemy starships were known BEFORE arriving to the system, allowing the battle to be won before the first shots were even fired.

By the way, what exactly had Florianna just drawn on the map? I zoomed in and took a closer look at the line. And my heartbeat sped up in fear because the Truth Seeker’s prediction for how the enemy ships would behave made a lot of sense. I turned to Gerd Ayni the Listener, who was present for the battle on the captain’s bridge and responsible for comms with Miyelonian command. Normally, my Navigator Gerd Ayukh was in charge of all comms systems, but the experienced Geckho veteran wasn’t very good at Miyelonian, so Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu would have had to have been there to translate anyhow, which was why I had simply given the job to her.

“Ayni, tell Miyelonian headquarters that the first group of Composite ships will be attacking the citadel and will come out of warp near her fleet. Thirty thousand small-class starships, they will appear in a four-hundred-mile-long line. The nearest ships will appear just three miles from the citadel and start attacking it straight away.”

The Miyelonian not only conveyed my voice message, but also repeated it visually with all the figures, attack vectors and tactical diagrams I had described. For those untrained in the art of Miyelonian numerals and how to write them, my assistant’s behavior may have looked like she was just playing because her hands were racing so fast over the touchscreen making multicolored rectangles, circles and stripes so fast that the human eye would have had a hard time keeping track.

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-seven!

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred forty-nine!

I understood Miyelonian well though and had an easy time reading the symbols she was writing. Still, it was a very difficult method of conveying information for me to perceive and understand. That reminded me... I was only one skill point short of my second Astrolinguistics specialization. I didn’t wait and spent one of my six free points, bringing up my Astrolinguistics skill to one hundred fifty and choosing “Enhanced Comprehension of Visual Messages and Gestures.” I placed the five remaining skill points into Psionic, bringing the skill up to two hundred forty-four. Yes, I needed to keep my main weapon up to snuff and constantly hone it.

While I kept busy developing my character, Gerd Dmitry Zheltov the Starship Pilot came up to the tactical map, saw the Composite’s attack vector on it and commented:

“That was exactly what the Composite did during the invasion of the Meleyephatian Throne World in the Kharsssh-O star system. In the first minute of the invasion, they attacked and demolished the star fortress, orbital cannons and all the largest Meleyephatian ships, using a huge number of kamikaze ships travelling at near light speeds. But after that, the Composite armada only had to face the Meleyephatian Horde’s disorganized Third Fleet, which had lost all fire support and commanders. And if the Miyelonians do not take any countermeasures, the very same one-sided game will be repeated here in Urmi...”

“The Miyelonians will not allow us to place space mines next to their ships and defensive structures,” Gerd Jarg theorized, or rather stated the obvious.

Yes, that was true. The masters of the star system would surely not allow us to place gravity or thermonuclear bombs too close to their star citadel and the ships of their unified fleet. But then how to head off the Composite attack?

The black Alpha Iseyek chirred out something and Gerd Ayni immediately translated the Swarm Grand Admiral’s words:

“Such orbital fortifications are typically mobile. The star fortress could be towed away from the blast to a safe distance and anchored back down elsewhere. Remove the vulnerable fleet from the attack vector and scatter its starships along the line of arriving ships. Aim the starship and space fortress cannons at the incoming fleet. Place mines. And destroy the whole arriving group of starships in one fell swoop! It’s exactly what Georg the First did in his war with the Sector Nine Fleet and his war with the Blue House.”

It sounded very sensible and logical. It really would have allowed us to smash the first Composite group practically without a single loss. But I was still realistic and realized that the Miyelonians would not agree to radically alter their already approved capital defense plan and break the formation of their ships for some totally unconfirmed warning from the Kung of Earth. Nevertheless, I gave the command to Gerd Ayni to tell the defenders of the Urmi system our theory and ask for permission to place mines along the expected arrival vectors of the enemy ships.

While we awaited an answer from Kung Keetsie Myau’s auxiliary commanders, I asked Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh to assume command of the twenty stealth bombers and prepare them for an attack on the arriving small enemy ships. Whether the Miyelonians would heed our warning or not, I was not going to waste a chance to deal significant damage to the enemy as soon as their small ships made it to the battlefield. To do otherwise would have been a crime against all the natives of our galaxy!

“The second ship group,” Leng Florianna’s voice rang out in my head and at the same time, the stylus jumped off the table and drew another line on the tactical grid. “Fifty-three thousand starships. Some large. Up to battleships.”

This time, I couldn’t sense anything at all, and the loss of Magic Points was totally insignificant. Obviously, the bulk of the mana expenditure had been made by Leng Valeri-Urla and Leng Soia-Tan, because both of my companions had turned green and were covered in perspiration. And before I could even look at the line the Truth Seeker had drawn, Florianna continued.

“Third ship group. Will arrive seventeen minutes after the first two. Small. Just sixteen starships. But all large, class higher than battleship. Headed by the Titan-class Star Extinguisher. It is the Composite flagship, and their main combat unit. The enemy Krong is also aboard.”

That time, the stylus drew not a line, but a tiny, barely visible dot somewhere near the seventh planet of the Urmi star system. After that, Leng Florianna ton Unatari groaned out quietly, hung her head down, drained, and lost consciousness. And no one paid any attention to the fallen stylus.

* * *

WE HAD TO BRING LENG Florianna back to Georg the First even though I was initially expecting help from the very powerful and experienced magess in the grand space battle. Nevertheless, I got a firsthand glimpse of the Truth Seeker class’s very serious limitation, which left Florianna totally helpless. She... could not restore Magic Points if she was too far away from her master the emperor.

Yes! That was it! So, all Truth Seekers without exception gained energy for their incredible abilities from the adoration constantly surrounding powerful and successful leaders. Some players like Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo the Great Priestess or Kung Keetsie Myau the Strategist had a huge number of followers and believers of their own and could serve as their own energy supplies for Truth Seeker abilities. But other Truth Seekers, particularly those with that as their game class, could only live as satellites orbiting powerful rulers. It was a kind of symbiosis: Truth Seekers could use their abilities to help their masters reach the heights of power, then the leader’s millions of followers would provide the Truth Seeker with plenty of adoration, boosting their power significantly. That then allowed the Truth Seeker to bring their master even further up the rungs of power and receive an even greater flow of adoration and energy for new feats.

Florianna had spent a lot of energy on her prediction and was now exhausted and practically totally drained. She hardly had the strength to stay awake or sit up in her chair, so I couldn’t count on her for anything in battle. I tried offering the Truth Seeker my trusty old method of restoring Magic Points: Miyelonian alcoholic cocktails made with medicinal herbs. In response, Florianna just chuckled bitterly:

“Kung Gnat, if only it was so easy... The sole alternative method of restoring the power of Truth Seekers, which has been known in the Empire for centuries, is taking narcotic crystals. After you take them, you dream for two or three days and experience extreme hallucinations. Crystals also have a bunch of unpleasant side effects, but after you wake up from a ‘crystal dream,’ your Magic Points bar is full again. Although... it couldn’t hurt to try one of the Miyelonian cocktails. What if it works?”

Well, we tried. And instead of a drowsy head of the Imperial Mystics faction, we got a piss drunk one in a deep slumber. Unaccustomed to alcohol, one drink took her out, and it wasn’t even very strong. Oh well, we still were getting ready to make a null jump back to the Empire for the escort ships left behind there, and the second group of space mines, so I brought Florianna home on the way...

* * *

AND NOW, WITH THE TWENTY support ships which I did not allow to go join other units, my Di-Pal-Yu 781 command cruiser got into her assigned position at 43-12-78 in the Reserve Fleet. In fact, the numbers were not mysterious, and just meant tier (in Miyelonian fleets, combat ships were arranged into tiers starting with one, closest to the enemy), tactical group number, and movement vector. There had been very few changes while we were gone. The first eighty space mines my stealth bombers had successfully deployed but they were placed in the expected arrival band of the second part of the Composite armada because, as expected, we were not allowed to place powerful charges right next to the citadel and main Miyelonian fleet.

The defenders of the Miyelonian capital also did not remove the space citadel from the line of attack, and for the most part simply ignored all our warnings and recommendations. All they did was make slight changes to the formation of the mixed Miyelonian and Meleyephatian fleet, removing the motherships and heavy battleships behind the lines of their small class ships (to higher “tiers” of their fleet) and turned their frontal shields to face the expected arrival vector.

Nevertheless, our cloaked bombers were detected by the Miyelonian scout ships while examining the arrival zone of the larger Composite fleet. That must have meant the Miyelonian admirals heard my warnings even though they did nothing against the second and third Composite arrival groups until almost zero hour.

And only twenty-six minutes before the enemy’s estimated arrival to the Urmi system did we get a relocation order. The Trillian Royal Fleet got sent out to greet the enemy large ships and immobilize them with stasis webs and warp disruptors so the most dangerous Composite ships would be unable to come to the aid of the armada’s first and second parts. The Trillians were also tasked with at least studying the tactical and technical characteristics of the enemy flagship the Star Extinguisher and to try and feel out its weak points, or at most to destroy it. Against those sixteen Composite ships, even though they were very large and powerful, Miyelonian command had directed an allied fleet of twelve thousand (!!!) starships, so I had no doubt in the Trillians’ success.

However, as for our Reserve Fleet, I not only didn’t believe in it, on the contrary, I had no doubts that the Composite would make mincemeat out of us. The Miyelonian admirals sent the Reserve Fleet toward the presumed arrival location of the main Composite armada and tasked us with holding up the enemy ships long enough for the other hostile ship groups to be wiped out. Miyelonian command even promised to help us as soon as the other allied fleets completed their missions. But I doubt even Miyelonian headquarters believed in those promises. There they could see the balance of forces and understood perfectly well that no one would be left to save soon after the beginning of the battle.

After receiving that order, a ringing silence took hold on the Reserve Fleet channel. No one dared make an inappropriate joke or bravado-laden comment. All Reserve Fleet captains understood perfectly well that we were being used to plug up a hole in their defenses and would simply be slaughtered. Twelve thousand hurriedly assembled starships from all over the galaxy of every make and model, only five of which were normal cruisers and one mining barge refit to launch a drone swarm, up against fifty-five thousand enemy ships including hundreds of cruisers and dozens of battleships... It wasn’t even funny.

Dmitry Zheltov let loose a couple choice expressions about our chances, and I had a hard time disagreeing with him. Clearly, all the other captains thought the same. But on the tactical screen, I saw a dozen Reserve Fleet starships leaving formation of their own accord and fanning out into warp jumps out to neighboring star systems. And they were followed by another five or six ships. If measures weren’t taken quickly, the desertion of individual captains threatened to snowball into a panicked retreat from the battlefield. And meanwhile, I was not the only one to realize that.

“Kung Gnat, incoming call from Reserve Fleet flagship, heavy cruiser Lumi-Akh-Di (‘Made for Great Deeds’ in Miyelonian),” the orange Miyelonian Gerd Ayni turned to me expecting me to accept the call. I nodded in silence.

On screen appeared an unfamiliar emaciated middle-aged Miyelonian of a light gray color. I looked deeper into his character description and bowed respectfully because he was one of the twenty-three rulers of the Union of Miyelonian Prides, Leng Wa-U Miaoo, a celebrated fleet commander who previously had command over the Miyelonian Third Star Fleet.

“Greetings, Kung Gnat! I’m very glad to have such a celebrated Free Captain on my team. But let me get straight to business. We have been assigned a mission which can leave no doubts. The ships of the Reserve Fleet will not be leaving this battle in one piece. All captains understand that perfectly well and many of them unfortunately are not prepared to sacrifice their ships. Well, Kung Gnat, I’ve heard you are a powerful psionic. And I ask you to make an inspiring speech to raise their spirits, so the fleet won’t crumble before the battle even gets started. Oh... A good sign!”

The last thing the admiral said was about the fact that a Composite cloaked frigate had just been suddenly uncovered and destroyed after terrorizing the Reserve Fleet with its quadrupolar destabilizers from invisibility. However, this time the Composite ship chose the wrong target.

I also took the destruction of the enemy spy ship, which was playing on everyone’s nerves, as a good sign. And same for the fact that the quadrupolar destabilizer had not done any damage to my cruiser, but the flash of it jumping back knocked the cloaker out of invisibility.

“Yes, Admiral Leng Wa-U Miaoo, I will make a speech to the fleet! Put me through to all twelve thousand ships.”

* * *

I ONLY SPOKE FOR A few minutes, but it was very emotional and backed up by a generous portion of Magic Points, both my own and those of Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez and Leng Valeri. For starters, I said that not every battle can be won, and not every battle can be survived. But not all deaths are the same! If they stood strong and did not waver, they could go down in history for generations as paragons of bravery for their fearlessness in the face of a far superior enemy force. I even brought up the example of a battle eight hundred tongs before at Thermopylae where three hundred Spartans held back an army of a quarter million for eleven ummi and all fell in battle. But they gave their allies time to prepare and, in the end, win the war. Thousands of years had passed, but humans still remembered the names of those heroes and praised their immortal deed.

Furthermore, this was a videogame, and we would respawn if we died. So what did we have to fear?! On the contrary, I considered us very lucky! Fate had given all of us a unique chance to go down as heroes! They would be honored and praised, while new cities, planets and starships would be named after them. In their old age, they could spoil their grandchildren and tell them how they stood to the death in the Urmi system and saved Star City and the whole Miyelonian race from destruction! And their little tailed tykes would sit on their knees and, with mouths agape in astonishment, listen to their celebrated ancestors and gawk at the Defense of Urmi medals on their chests.

Psionic skill increased to level two hundred forty-five!

Diplomacy skill increased to level sixty-eight!

Diplomacy skill increased to level sixty-nine!

Athletics skill increased to level twelve!

Would you like to take the skill Orator?

The broadcast to the whole fleet continued, but I had run out of mana, and switched to Endurance Points. Both of my companions were also sitting drained and exhausted. I took out a bottle of Miyelonian alcoholic cocktail and... stopped short, considering the purely technical moment to be a decent aspect to play up.

I showed the open bottle to the camera and told all the captains and crew members of the twelve thousand starships in the audience that I planned to celebrate this historic moment.

“On Earth, we have an age-old tradition of going into deadly battles like celebrations. Some mark the occasion by putting on brightly colored body paint. Others put on clean underwear and their best clothing. And many take a little drink for good cheer and courage, because there’s no other way for true warriors to meet death. And if Admiral Leng Wa-U Miaoo has no objections, I say we all raise a glass to the Miyelonian race while we’re still alive and in formation.”

Authority increased to 166!

The screen split in two, and the Miyelonian Union ruler Leng Wa-U Miaoo appeared with a glass of something fizzy in his clawed paw.

“I have no objections, Kung of Earth. Furthermore, the Miyelonians have a similar tradition. And so, heroes of the Reserve Fleet, this is an order from your admiral! Raise a toast! May our deaths contribute to the overall victory! And no matter how powerful our enemy may be, may we laugh in their faces and fight to the end! Hold formation!”

“Hold formation!!!” a deafening shout from thousands and thousands rang out over the public channel.

The screen split again, and on the new third appeared Kung Keetsie Myau holding a glass in the metal glove of her armored spacesuit. With a black patch over her injured eye, the Miyelonian ruler looked like Field Marshal Kutuzov or Admiral Nelson.

“To you, heroes! Hold formation!” the Miyelonian ruler drained her glass in two big swigs and turned it over, demonstrating that she’d drunk it all to the last drop. “Hold out for eighteen minutes, and Star City will be saved!”

Chapter 18. The Urmi Massacre

“IT HAS BEGUN!” was all I could say before my mouth fell open because space lit up with a blindingly bright flash five hundred miles long.

The one hundred sixty particularly powerful gravity and thermonuclear mines placed in a chain at three-mile intervals all went off at once when the Composite starships arrived in the Urmi system. It was impactful, and more amazing than any pyrotechnics show! And the glow did not fade. More and more flashes kept lighting up inside the band of light, meaning enemy starship reactors were still blowing up or perhaps that heavy ship munitions were going off in their holds.

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred thirty-eight!

Scanning skill increased to level one hundred seventeen!

My Devourer’s progress bar was shooting ahead, completely filling up three times in ten seconds. Three level-ups in a row! I hit level one hundred sixty-four!! Nine skill points all at once!!! And I after all had only gotten crumbs of the overall experience shared between dozens of players involved in setting the space mines and blowing up the second and largest part of the Composite armada.

“Now that’s what I call fireworks! Uline Tar, you recording this for posterity?”

“Yes, Captain Gnat,” my furry assistant rumbled back in satisfaction. “I am recording and already editing a video to send to Shiharsa central news. My journalist friends asked me to send them news from the Urmi Miyelonian capital system.”

And meanwhile, the brightness of the light started to slowly fade, and the happy smile crept off my face. I couldn’t even hold back a gasp of disappointment because, for the most part, the enemy ships had survived that fiery hell. At the very least, the largest and most dangerous Composite starships were still in play. One hundred sixteen battleships. Over four hundred cruisers. And based on tactical computer data, over thirty-four thousand small ships had somehow managed to survive as well. So our attack had not dealt catastrophic damage to the enemy even though it had caught them successfully on arrival to the system and destroyed over twenty thousand small ships.

My experience bar again started filling up suddenly. I levelled up again and hit one hundred sixty-eight. I assumed that was my stealth bombers blowing the first part of the Composite armada, primarily made up of small ships, after they reached Urmi’s citadel. The twenty cloakers were supposed to drop their charges into the very thick of the enemy fleet, then cloak and retreat from their exposed position. Unfortunately, Imperial technology lagged behind the Composite in that field, so the cloakers were unable to get off attacks without exposing themselves. Any material object that happened to be nearby like a bomb dropped on a target would break the invisibility field and reveal the stealth bombers, leaving them very vulnerable. From there, whether the ship would manage to make it to safety in a hyperspace jump or be destroyed depended on the skilled actions of the crew.

And meanwhile, the Reserve Fleet was already getting to work against the Composite ships, which had not yet totally returned to their senses after the surprise attack. The five-strong ship groups placed by Admiral Leng Wa-U Miaoo and his assistants were making coordinated attacks on the immobile and obviously damaged small and medium enemy ships, ignoring the larger targets. I had also gotten to work, using Targeting to mark ships for my cruiser’s Gunners and our whole fleet. We needed to shoot down as many “winged” ships as we could before they got moving and joined the fight.

Targeting skill increased to level one hundred and four!

Electronics skill increased to level one hundred twenty-eight!

Sharpshooter skill increased to level sixty-eight!

Would you like to take the skill Reaper’s Scythe?

Targeting skill increased to level one hundred and five!

Targeting skill increased to level one hundred and six!

Electronics skill increased to level one hundred twenty-nine!

Yes! That’s the way! Again! And again!!! It was like a shooting gallery, and I was only pulled from the state of bloodthirsty madness when our Engineer Orun Va-Mart piped up sounding alarmed.

“Captain, our shields are dropping precipitously. We have only forty-five percent remaining. Forty. Thirty-two...”

What??? We’re being shot down?! I immediately lost interest in targeting and called up the control panel. Yes, ships were firing on my cruiser, and the shots were growing more frequent with every second. However, the records only said our energy and temporal shields were taking the hits, not that we were taking damage.

Zero points damage... Zero points damage... Zero points damage... Zero points damage...

But nevertheless, our shields were falling fast. Beyond that, I got a message that our energy levels were plummeting, and our batteries were down to a critically low state. Then, another set of data came in saying four of my frigates from the cruiser escort group had been shot down and two stealth bombers had perished, unable to escape after their attack. Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh reported that the Reserve Fleet had less than three thousand starships remaining and, apparently, in a minute or two, even those ships would be gone. The Composite battleships were reaping a devastating harvest, each shot taking down one of my allied ships. And the Composite ships had only made it to the Urmi system three minutes ago...

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred ninety-one!

Damn! That was the last thing I needed... What was threatening us now? I was not fast enough to respond to the cascade of notifications, much less properly react to the quickly worsening situation. Straining to overcome the urge to tell cruiser AI Paa Um-Um Paa to retreat, I chose a different solution.

Time Stoppage skill increased to level eight!

It was just a few seconds, but I needed them desperately to comprehend what was going on! First of all with the cruiser shield. The enemy ships weren’t able to damage us, but still our very high-capacity shield with millions of defense points was down to crumbs, which would run out any second. What was going on? And on top of that, for some reason, our energy was running out fast...

When I put those two pieces of information together, I facepalmed. I’m such a moron!!! No, the enemy was not getting through our high-tech shield, but they were getting through those of the Reserve Fleet’s other ships, and now our flagship cruiser was being used not only to hand out bonuses, but also to absorb some of the damage taken by our allies. Before the battle, I had selected the Reserve Fleet’s fifty most combat capable ships, mostly cruisers and the drone barge, and gave them support for the battle. Sorry, Miyelonian allies, but I have to think about my own hide!

Electronics skill increased to level one hundred thirty!

Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred sixty!

I changed the settings of the Di-Pal-Yu 781 cruiser’s energy unit to no longer take damage from allied starships. I didn’t turn off the bonuses for allied ships just yet, opting to first see if my energy started refilling. On that note... I had just noticed that out of the cruiser’s twenty combat drones, only six were still in formation. The large Relict guard drone was holding its own. Both of the Precursor satellites were also still in the fight, but I couldn’t really say how they were doing. The combat drones we’d purchased on Tailax, though, were dropping like flies...

The time stoppage came to an end, and I again found myself in a torrent of information, but now I was ready. First of all, how was the shield? Thank God, my cruiser’s shield had started refilling! The batteries also started gradually recharging.

“I am assuming command of the fleet!” Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu translated the huge Alpha Iseyek’s chirring for our allies.

Authority increased to 167!

And indeed, the Reserve Fleet’s flagship, the cruiser Lumi-Akh-Di had just been transformed into a cloud of red-hot space dust and the fleet (or rather, what was left of it by the end of minute four of the battle) had lost command. The Grand Admiral told the surviving ships to regroup into units of five and fire simultaneously on easily reachable targets and, failing that, to try to finish off the Composite battleship which had lost its forcefield. The one thing I couldn’t understand was why I had gotten an authority boost, even though the Alpha Iseyek admiral had assumed control of the fleet, but I didn’t let that bother me too much. I had bigger concerns. We were being methodically and constantly picked off.

* * *

THE MINING BARGE WAS blasted to atoms along with the ten small Miyelonian ships boosting her shields. A second before the explosion, a desperate cry rang out on the fleet channel from her captain:

“Hold formation!”

And I was the only one to respond. Out of twelve thousand starships, the Reserve Fleet had been reduced to no more than one or two hundred, and they were busy trying desperately to stay alive, maneuvering and trying to escape the Composite frigates on their tail. The five Flycatcher-class destroyers from my escort, which had all survived, were ordered by Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh to get under the cruiser’s shield and conduct fire from inside. We also gave cover to the two surviving Pyro frigates of an initial nine. We had just one heavy Warhawk frigate remaining, and she was too far away from the cruiser trying to escape the Composite ships tailing her. We had no way of helping her.

“The Miyelonian citadel has been destroyed,” Gerd Ayukh the Navigator contested with a sigh, noting the disappearance of the capital star fortress marker.

“It held out for seven minutes. Longer than we thought...” Gerd Zheltov responded distantly to the furry Geckho when, suddenly, he tensed up, grabbed the microphone and gave a full-throated shout. “Slow down, you idiot!!!”

That was addressed to Gerd Tamara Vujek, captain of our last remaining Warhawk frigate, who was pushing her ship to unbelievable speeds and, having amassed a tail of fifty enemy interceptors, was now flying straight at my cruiser. At first, I thought the celebrated warrior had decided to kill herself in an impactful way to avoid being shot down by Composite ships, but the experienced woman had learned her lesson from the disastrous training session and suddenly slowed down before making contact with the cruiser’s shield. Her pursuers meanwhile were not as quick. At least a dozen interceptors and frigates turned into fireballs, and another two that managed to dodge got mowed down by our Flycatchers.

Warhawk-1 went flying through the safe zone around the Di-Pal-Yu 781, but then turned and took cover beneath our shield. Even the fearless warrior Gerd Tamara Vujek realized that continuing to fight was pointless, and her frigate would not be able to damage any of the remaining enemy ships.

“Captain, permission to enter repair bay!” came my second Engineer San-Sano, sounding surprised. I meanwhile had already seen the unusual message.

Our symbiote, dubbed Muninn, had decided to take me up on the offer to use the cruiser’s drone repair hangar. That’s what I’m talking about! The automatic Precursor hunter, which always avoided close contact with me and my team now wanted to enter our hangar for repair? Either it had started trusting us better, or it had taken serious damage in battle and had no other option.

“Granted! Orun Va-Mart, go greet our rare visitor and provide her everything she needs.”

And meanwhile, our second symbiote Huginn followed her sister’s example, entering the Relict cruiser’s temporal and energy shield and coming into the neighboring drone hangar. That was simply a miracle!

“Kung of Earth, requesting cover for two allied ships,” Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh placed markers on two ships, which had practically been reduced to scrap, a Yomi IV Meleyephatian support ship and a Tiopeo-Myhh II Miyelonian interceptor, both coming to us for protection.

I gave the two ships permission to enter our forcefield. After that, the Large Relict Guard drone came inside as well after blasting a cruiser and small Composite ship group to smithereens practically all by itself. That was it. With the exception of the ten allied ships under our shield, my flagship Di-Pal-Yu 781 was alone on the debris-strewn battlefield against a dense formation of enemy starships.

The shield was flickering from laser and rocket strikes. I saw a lot of bright energy neutralizer beams stretching our way from the heavy Composite ships, but our foes were powerless against us. As Paa Um-Um Paa had explained, beam weaponry, including quadrupolar destabilizers, could not focus on us and deal any damage because our ship was technically not in the same moment of time as our enemies. That was the same reason the bombs and rockets weren’t reaching us, constantly being sent back in time, and why enemy combat electronics were useless against us.

“Eight minutes twelve seconds...” Gerd Jarg the Analyst said in the ringing silence. “We have complied with the Miyelonian ruler’s order. Now it’s up to Kung Keetsie Myau to take down the rest of the enemies.”

“Keetsie won’t be able to,” Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu responded with her ears pressed down on her head in distress and fear. “The Great One is dead. One minute ago, her flagship battleship Miyelonian Right was destroyed in battle in orbit around Urmi II. The united fleet is now under the command of Kung Poosh-Sheer, and as far as I can tell by the fleet channel, things are going very poorly. The orbital batteries and citadel have been destroyed. The united fleet has lost all its carriers and seven battleships. They have less than two thousand ships left in formation and many of them are badly damaged. The mood in the fleet is close to panic, and voices calling for retreat are multiplying. I don’t know where Kung Keetsie Myau had her respawn point, but if she does not respawn on Urmi and take the situation under control, the united fleet will retreat...”

Is it over? Is the battle lost? It was a longshot for the Trillians to take down the Composite’s remaining forces, which surpassed them in number by an order of magnitude. And that meant the Miyelonian capital was going to fall, and the Urmi star system’s billions of inhabitants would die. Star City would be annihilated along with its museum of invaluable artifacts from the age of ancient races. My mood had fallen through the floor, and I was morally prepared to admit defeat and give a command to leave battle. And the oppressive atmosphere was lost on none of my subordinates.

I looked away from the tactical screen to see a message on the neighboring monitor. A message from the Miyelonian interceptor we had just saved.

“Thank you, Kung Gnat. I never thought you’d remember me. I am eternally in your debt!”

Hmm... Was I supposed to remember him? Had I met him before? I brought up the interceptor captain’s data in front of me. Rikki Pan-Miis. A normal player, not even a Gerd or Leng. Criminal status. Pride of the Bushy Shadow. Hold up... Wasn’t this the young pirate captain from Medu-Ro IV who brought me to Earth with a shipment of weapons for the Human-3 Faction and the dormant Morphian the Wise Vaa in the same container? So even pirates had sent their starships to Urmi to defend the Miyelonian capital. Too bad it all ended so tragically.

Or had it? The Trillians had yet to even join the fight, and the united fleet was still holding out even though it had lost over ninety percent of its ships. My cruiser was distracting the bulk of the Composite armada, and over thirty thousand enemy starships were busy making fruitless attempts to do anything to the indomitable ship. What if the Trillians took advantage of that and destroyed the third Composite group? And the fact that Miyelonian Admiral Poosh-Sheer didn’t have to take on the thirty-three thousand enemy ships meant there was still some chance for survival. We would have to make sure they stayed distracted then.

“Grand Admiral, have the Imperial stealth bombers regrouped?”

The black Alpha Iseyek turned his head my way, and I saw myself reflected hundreds of times in the huge insect’s faceted eyes. Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu translated the intelligent praying mantis’ chirring.

“Yes, Kung of Earth. Eighteen stealth bombers are back in attack position and ready to bomb small Composite ships.”

“Pause the attack! Have them come over here to terrorize the enemy ships surrounding our cruiser. They have my permission to drop bombs directly on our starship. There is a nice cluster of juicy stealth bomber targets around us. Have the Flycatchers keep up constant fire, and our Gunners stay sharp, too. I then will try to draw in some new allies.”

With those words, I took off my headphones, stood up from my workstation and headed to the drone hangar.

Chapter 19. The Biggest Betrayal

I COULD OF COURSE have conversed remotely with the symbiotes from the bridge, but I figured it was only right for me to pay the hunters a personal visit now that they trusted me enough to come in for repair. I went into Huginn’s hangar and, I must say, what I saw was striking. The satellite was not in its bright plasma cocoon as usual. On the floor of the hangar was a five-foot-diameter sphere of apparently quite light construction made of thin metal bands running top to bottom from the poles like longitude lines on a globe. Inside the sphere was a large and seemingly very high-capacity battery, with cables leading to a box containing the command unit for a high-speed three-hundred-sixty-degree plasma turret and a shield generator. Also inside the sphere, mounted on a light beryllium frame was the satellite’s thruster and some kind of complicated instrument that looked like a locator or mass scanner, perhaps even a neutron scanner. I didn’t have enough skills to identify the device. It also had another implement shown on my mini map as:

Automatic Repair System (inactive)

And that was basically all. I couldn’t see anything else inside the satellite. It was an autonomous probe weighing seventy or eighty pounds with stunning combat capabilities, but nothing more. The probe did not possess any sort of higher-level intelligence, at the very least not alone. Maybe a swarm of these autonomous hunters could act intelligently and use complicated tactics, but most likely they had to be coordinated from some remote command center.

Electronics skill increased to level one hundred thirty-one!

Scanning skill increased to level one hundred eighteen!

Training skill increased to level one hundred!

I noted that the useful Training skill had finally hit level one hundred, meaning I could choose a specialization, but I didn’t waste any time on that just yet. Instead, I walked over and placed my armored glove on the flexible metal bands that made up the satellite’s hull. They couldn’t possibly serve as armor; they were just too thin and flimsy. More likely, the spheres were intended to act as a screen for the fragile and vulnerable electronics inside the probe, protecting them from electromagnetic damage during interdimensional travel, or battle. The autonomous hunters’ true defense system was the plasma shield constantly surrounding them in space.

The two Kirsan repair bots slithered fearlessly into our spherical visitor and, using their many arms and legs, measured charge in the symbiote’s contacts and checked all connection points for damage. San-Sano was also studying the Precursor hunter’s state, crouching down and pushing aside some hull bands to connect her diagnostic tablet to the ports on the satellite’s sealed command unit.

“Is it online?” I asked San Sano, and she confirmed.

“Yes, captain. The battery is nearly empty, it has just four percent charge. The metal shell has stopped turning. Normally it spins very quickly and flattens from the poles. But here, one of the axes has slipped. It’ll only take a couple minutes to fix. The Kirsans are already on it. What will be harder is the autorepair system, which has gone offline for an unknown reason... I’m trying to get to the bottom of it now... I see an error code on the combat drone diagnostic panel,” San-Sano pointed to an angular orange squiggle on a tiny display, “but what does it mean? It would be nice to find a table of error codes for Precursor tech, preferably in a modern language...”

“That’s not quite what I meant. In its current state, can the Symbiote communicate with me and send messages to other hunters?”

“Who knows...?” the ash-gray woman shook her head unconfidently. “If it could before, it probably still can now. The drone only has its defensive field offline, everything else is in perfect working order.”

Excellent! That was all I needed to know. I walked a circle around the satellite and watched its locator follow me. So, Huginn could see me and was tracking me. Just what I wanted!

“To repair you, we’re going to need an error code table for my technicians,” I told the combat drone in Relict, trying at the same time to communicate that with Psionics. “Send one to my Devourer Armor Suit’s helmet display, along with detailed assembly and technical service instructions. If possible, it would be a lot easier to have them in Relict. I sort of understand Precursor, but I still need translation sometimes,” I pointed to the scurrying Mechanoid repair bots.

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred fifty-one!

Successful Authority check!

A second later, a code table appeared before my eyes. I found the symbol almost at once and it meant: “Component damaged, replacement required.” Seemingly, after its many long years of service, the probe’s autonomous repair system was out of order, and no longer capable of maintaining the other components. I told that to San-Sano and both Kirsans, and got a response from the white repair bot:

“This whole thing is crumbling into dust. And some of the computer chips are melted. It can be fixed. But it will take a long time.”

I hurried to tell the hunter that we weren’t going to throw it on the scrap heap just yet, and it would serve another thousand years, maybe more. After that, I got to the most important part of the conversation.

“I’m surprised there were only two of you in battle. I was expecting more automatic hunters to come. At least two orders of magnitude more.”

Five seconds later, I got a response. On the inner surface of my helmet faceplate, a set of symbols flittered by.

“Hierarch Gnat, your complaints are unfounded! In accordance with the peace treaty, you were provided with two autonomous hunters. And they both supported you in battle. There was no mention of more. Our end of the bargain has been upheld!”

Huginn was now clearly speaking in the name of all Precursors rather than itself in particular. So, I was not wrong, and the hunters really could communicate either with each other or some central command. That’s a good thing. Otherwise, this would have been like discussing global warming on my home planet with a robot vacuum cleaner; that was the comparison that came to mind. So, I was communicating with the whole network of automated hunters, or even their command. I had to keep pushing.

“I’m not talking about the treaty we agreed to before the destruction of Object D-11. And not even the conclusion of the protracted war between ancient races. Yes, I am the Relict Hierarch, and can speak for the whole Pyramid. But that is not all! You admitted it yourselves on first contact. I descend from the Precursor race, and the automatic probes were created to defend and protect us. I also have Kung status and occupy one of the highest positions in the hierarchy of your creators’ descendants. Beyond that, my companions and allies represent another few branches of the human race, the descendants of the Precursors! I do not know anyone who has more right to speak in the name of your creators and masters than me. I figured you would be duty-bound to protect me at all costs. Am I missing something? My ships and my allies have been attacked by a superior enemy force. My life is at risk, and only two hunters have come to my aid! How am I to understand that???”

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy!

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-one!

Successful Authority check.

Successful Fame check.

Failed Legitimacy check.

The final pop-up brought me down. Whatever the Precursors’ algorithms were discussing, my candidacy for master was clearly in major doubt. And the response I got shortly after confirmed that.

“At present, there are a minimum of four Human players with greater Legitimacy and more right to speak in the name of our creators. Kung Pirro Vatushi the Ninth. Kung Belli Omo. Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle. Kung Yoji Umoro. Furthermore, the conflict between the Relict and the Vahe-Gukko race, which they created, has been going on for ages. We see no reason to intervene. Also, we have not detected a single weapon in the fleet opposing you capable of harming a Vatu-Mocho Relict cruiser, so Kung Gnat’s safety is not at risk. Furthermore, the Vahe-Gukko fleet is already on the retreat.”

What?! A lot of what Huginn said was very valuable and important, but the last part caught my interest most of all. Has the second part of the Composite armada started fleeing from my cruiser? If so, where to?

Right after that, I got a message from my Navigator Gerd Ayukh.

“Captain, the Composite starships have stopped firing on us and are warping out. They may have been spooked by the success of our stealth bomber attack, which thinned their small ship ranks considerably. But most likely, it was our Gunners testing out the Mechanoid Spatial Cutter. One third of the nearest battleship simply vanished. It was very striking and even gruesome. Apparently, captain, the Composite ships are fleeing to the seventh planet in the Urmi system.”

The seventh planet? Woah... I looked at the timer. The final Composite starship group was supposed to reach the Urmi star system any minute, headed by the gargantuan Star Extinguisher, their flagship. Unfortunately, the sixty large starships were now going to be up against thirty or so thousand enemy starships.

“I hope the Trillians can handle it...” I stated, although I didn’t much believe they could.

“Kung Gnat, there won’t be a battle between the Composite and the Trillians,” Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Listener joined in, and the sheer panic in her voice was like nothing I’d ever heard. “I just so happened to be watching an address to the Miyelonians by Hugo the First from the Un-Ri Trill capital system. In his speech, the Trillian ruler talked about the historic alliance between the Trillians and the Vahe-Gukko and announced the creation of a Vahe-Gukko-Trillian coalition. And the coalition’s top priority will be to exterminate all intelligent life in our galaxy except for the Trillians themselves! Krong Hugo the First then plans to begin his savage genocide with the Miyelonians, who he has been nursing a grudge against for his long prison sentence. Gerd Hugo has also accused Kung Keetsie Myau and you, Kung of Earth, of attempting to stand in the way of his plans and interfere with negotiations between the Trillians and the Composite in the Un-Ri Trill system. He has promised to find you no matter where you hide and subject you to the cruelest forms of torture his perverse imagination can come up with!”

And in confirmation of my orange friend’s words, a series of alarming bright red game messages came before my eyes:

ATTENTION!!! Free Captain Kung Gnat has been declared an archnemesis of the Trillian race!

ATTENTION!!! The Trillian Kingdom has announced a galaxy-wide manhunt for Free Captain Kung Gnat.

ATTENTION!!! A reward for Free Captain Kung Gnat’s capture has been set at one billion Geckho crystals.

Fame increased to 165.

Fame increased to 166.

The terrible news made my heart freeze. The embodiment of Absolute Evil, who I had foolishly helped escape from space prison had now decided not to deviate from his murderous plot and joined forces with the all-powerful intergalactic invaders. Bad! Very bad!!! Still, the sick-minded sadist’s threats directed at me personally, and the massive reward for my capture didn’t scare me in the least because pinning down Kung Gnat the Devourer in this videogame would be a herculean undertaking. And soon, in the real world, my body would also be far from anywhere Trillian agents could get me.

But the next message made me shudder and forget all my recent bravado. Because although I was safe and sound, my friends and allies were in a rather more vulnerable position.

WAR!!! The Kingdom of the Trillians declares war on the Union of Miyelonian Prides!

WAR!!! The Kingdom of the Trillians declares war on planet Earth!

WAR!!! The Kingdom of the Trillians declares war on planet Tailax!

Chapter 20. Gnat Bites Back

IF KING HUGO PAR-POREH was hoping to scare me with his threats and the manhunt, he was severely mistaken. I was pretty far from afraid. I wasn’t even bothered or experiencing the slightest doubt. Instead, inside me was a seething, burning HATRED that threatened to turn everything around me to ashes! That six-legged crocodile dared threaten my home planet!!! The cowardly bastard, who had recently been kneeling at my crew’s feet begging for mercy, had dared challenge me, the very Devourer and Hierarch of the Relict Pyramid!!! Well, in that case, I will make King Hugo the First regret the fact that he didn’t die in that space prison!!!

I had already drained my Frenzy bar three times, but I just couldn’t settle down.

Frenzy skill increased to level fourteen!

I again had to drain the bar to avoid entering “death machine” mode. And although my Frenzy Points were slowing down, they were still far from stopping. But then through the all-encompassing mist of blood, a timid woman’s voice got through to me.

“Archmage Gnat La-Fin, are you okay?”

I steadied out my breathing and slowly turned over. San-Sano the Engineer was pressed up in fear against the drone hangar wall, squeezing a diagnostic tablet and bundle of wires to her chest and staring at me with eyes wide in fear.

“Yes, San-Sano, I’m fine. Is something wrong?”

“Your eyes, Captain Gnat... They changed color to red. But now they’re back to blue. You were also growling like a wild animal...”

Woah... I was not aware my inner state was reflected like that.

“Sorry if I scared you. My outrage was not directed at you. You can get back to work. And call Gerd Imran over. I’m going to need him soon.”

Yes, I had already calmed down completely and was busy thinking through ways to counter the Trillians’ betrayal. First of all, I needed to figure out if the Trillians had declared war on all humanity or limited themselves to Earth and Tailax. I was also surprised that Earth’s Geckho suzerains had not joined the war. Or the Meleyephatian Horde for that matter, which controlled Tailax. Sure, Tailax may not have had vassal status, being merely an occupied planet the Meleyephatians were not required to defend. But Earth was an official vassal and was entitled to protection from its suzerains!

“Ayni are you on the bridge? Ask the grand admiral whether the Swarm has joined the war with the Trillians.”

A few seconds later, I received a negative response. Furthermore, Leng Masss Azhzh clarified that a decision as important as joining a war could only be made by Georg the First as ruler of the huge Empire, which encompassed the Swarm. Or his daughter Swarm Duchess Crown Princess Deianna, who was currently in control of all Iseyek space.

I see... So Hugo the First’s advisors told their king that the Meleyephatian Horde and Geckho, weakened by their ongoing wars, would stay on the sidelines if the Trillian Kingdom wanted to wipe out the Miyelonians or attack Tailax and Earth. The Empire wasn’t supposed to get involved either, because they had no great interest in something happening so far from their borders, and Georg the First would limit his aid to a small frigate group. Bad news!

And sure, perhaps the tong of safety would prevent the villainous Hugo the First from capturing my home planet, along with the fact our worlds had not yet synchronized and events in the game had only a slight impact on the real world. But Tailax was in grave danger, and the Miyelonians would essentially be done for after the annihilation of their fleet and the now inevitable fall of their capital.

Well, I’d have to use every tool at my disposal to show just how badly my six-legged foe had botched his political calculations. I called up the Relict Faction management panel and switched to the tab for other controlled entities. I clicked through to the Tenth Directory of the magocratic Earth, all its subdivisions of the La-Un dynasty, and vassal houses under their control, which I ruled as regent of the Tenth Directory until Crown Princess Deianna came of age.

After messing with a few settings, all Tenth Directory factions had officially joined Earth’s defensive war against the Trillian Kingdom. And almost right after that, I got a game message saying Kung Gnat’s actions as regent had received the support of the underage Crown Princess Leng Deianna royl Georg ton Mesfelle, and the emperor’s daughter wanted to bring in another faction she headed, the Imperial Swarm, and had even sent a request to that effect to her father. It was all going exactly the way I expected.

But now, I was interested in whether her doting father the emperor would stay on the sidelines with an almighty and dangerous foe attacking his underage daughter’s territory. Were I in Georg the First’s place, I’d certainly have defended my child.

The response came in from Gerd Ayni the Listener just fifteen seconds later.

“Captain Gnat, the situation has changed. Grand Admiral Masss Azhzh says the Swarm has just joined the war against the Trillians. The entire Empire has joined the war against the Trillian Kingdom. Furthermore, the Elvinians have also joined the war as allies of the Empire.”

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-two!

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-three!

You have reached level one hundred sixty-nine!

You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: fifteen)

Just what I was hoping for! I felt very proud of myself. Because it was one thing for the Trillian traitors to crush defenseless Miyelonian systems and go to war with two individual planets, which didn’t even have their own space fleets. But it was another matter entirely to have a war against the whole almighty Empire, which could field a minimum of seventy thousand combat starships and a never-ending supply of landing troops! Not to mention the Elvinians, who were supporting the humans, and were also not to be messed with, having conducted a successful war against the Empire for eight years and gained Georg the First’s respect.

WAR!!! The Geckho State declares war on the Trillian Kingdom!

Oh, looks like Earth’s suzerains have remembered their obligation to defend their vassals after all! I must admit, I was expecting to see that right after war was declared on Earth. I actually assumed it would happen automatically, given the Geckho had officially declared Earth a protectorate, and levied a thirty-percent tax on it for their trouble. The Geckho had clearly taken a beating in their most recent wars given how long Krong Daveyesh-Pir had spent hesitating, seemingly even agreeing to let go of a loyal vassal just to avoid going to war with the almighty Trillians. But now, Earth had some powerful allies, which changed the Krong’s mind, and the Geckho remembered their obligations.

I waited around a minute, but the Meleyephatian Horde nevertheless stayed out of it, not having the courage to go to war against the Composite and their new Trillian friends at the same time.

* * *

ALRIGHT, THAT TAKES care of the diplomatic part. Now time to see what I can do against the Trillian and Composite ships already in the Urmi system. I definitely will not be able to handle this without support. I turned again to the symbiote, which was still tracking me.

“So, the Trillians declared war on Humanity and are planning to wipe out every last human in the galaxy. Do you still not see sufficient reason to come to your creators’ aid?”

I had to wait thirty seconds for a response, and it was again negative.

“Technically, not all humanity would be wiped out. The Precursors have descendants scattered throughout the Universe, including several other galaxies. Furthermore, Kung Pirro Vatushi the Ninth — the Human leader with the highest Legitimacy in the present day rules a part of space entirely outside the potential combat zone, and none of his planets are at risk.”

I spotted a flaw in the symbiote’s words, and gave a ravening smile, baring my teeth.

“Hold up, bucket of bolts. Are you saying I have to MURDER Kung Pirro Vatushi the Ninth to secure your aid?! Don’t get me wrong, I have at my fingertips the means to find the popular Human leader no matter where in the Universe he may be, enter his holdings and murder him. But I thought your job was to defend the most prominent leaders of your creators and not do away with them...”

“That’s faulty logic... No... That isn’t it at all... Think... The remaining hunters do not have sufficient combat capabilities to take on all the ships gathered in this star system. What help could you want from us in this conflict, Kung Gnat?”

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-four!

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-five!

Should have asked that right away! They had finally agreed to help. I had a hard time hiding the smile wanting to creep onto my face because it proved surprisingly simple to ‘fake out’ the computer algorithms and get what I wanted. So then, what did I want? Let me think... The Symbiotes had admitted that all the currently existent automatic hunters together would not be able to win this battle. But still, it was possible to make an enemy retreat without killing them all...

“You were able to catch this same Vatu-Mocho class Relict cruiser in an isolated ‘spatial pocket,’ and kept it there successfully for many tongs. Do you still have that technology? Could you possibly repeat that trick with your present forces, even just one time?”

When I asked that question, I crossed my fingers mentally for luck.

“All automated hunters can perform spatial operations. A large group of hunters could ‘fold’ a large enough area to encompass an entire fleet. And escaping isolated pockets like that is not possible by hyperspace jump, or null transport unless you have the proper solution to the fifteen-variable space-time equation. And that is precisely how we caught the Di-Pal-Yu 781 in a trap. And although the ship’s computers were working overdrive to solve the space-time folding equation, it could have taken millions of tongs to find the correct solution. So Kung Pin-Ish-Ish-Pin the Devourer, who had set his respawn point on his own impenetrable cruiser, landed himself in a trap and was forced to take shelter in a temporal capsule.”

“So you could pull the same time-space folding trick again? Excellent! That is exactly what I, a descendant of your creators, want the symbiotes to do then. Not to fight the enemy ships, but to isolate them so they cannot pose a threat to Humanity. Next question. Or rather two. How large an area of space can you cut out? And how much time will it take?”

Successful Authority check!

“A sphere with a diameter of twenty-nine thousand miles. It would take four minutes and a great deal of energy.”

“Energy I can provide. The satellites can use all my cruiser’s drone hangars and Tailax’s repair docks from this point forward! For repair, maintenance, recharging, modernization, and software updates. Also, the hunters will again have a reason to exist, which was somewhat lost after the end of the ancient war. Because decaying in space and crumbling to dust is not the task you were made for. You will have new missions, new tasks. With time, I even promise to start producing new satellites to restore your former numbers.”

Authority increased to 168!

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred fifty-two!

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-six!

“Kung Gnat, your offer has been accepted! A sufficient quantity of hunters is already on its way to this star system. Three hundred and six of them. All that remain. There are two more on your ship, which could also be brought into the operation. Requesting mission details.”

“On my mark, prepare to cut a sphere out of space with my cruiser at the center. Just don’t forget to send the exit code to my Devourer Armor’s helmet display. I wouldn’t want to meet the same fate as this ship’s last captain...”

* * *

AN ATMOSPHERE OF DESPAIR still reigned on the bridge, making for a sharp contrast with my mood. The crew didn’t know about my talks with the satellites, so they couldn’t understand why I was so upbeat and looked at me in surprise and even with a certain degree of reproach. But that didn’t matter, let it come as a surprise. I turned on the loudspeaker.

“Crew, attention! We have a new mission! We make for the seventh planet, deep behind enemy backlines, where we will try to distract the Trillian and Composite ships. We only need to stall for four minutes so our friends will have time to prepare for an attack. Time to jump — thirty seconds...”

I froze midsentence, because the Analyst fell out of his seat next to me onto his back flailing his feet as if trying to attract my attention. I switched off the loudspeaker and asked the spiny “armadillo” what was going on.

“High chance of betray. Gunner. Ukh-Meemeesh. Trillian race. Acting. Strangely calm. Not typical. Must check.”

Overall, I trusted Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh. The experienced veteran was certainly not a bloodthirsty Hugo the First fanatic. But still, I had to account for the Gunner’s race because the Trillian could easily refuse to fire on his own kind. I also had to account for the influence of his young wife Amati-Kuis Ursssh the Chef-Assassin, who was absolutely a worshipper of the new Trillian king and prepared to die for him. Furthermore, my Analyst had never miscalculated before, so his precautions were worth heeding.

Run a little test on my crew members? I sent instructions to Gerd Ayukh the Navigator and Gerd Imran the Arbiter, then turned the loudspeaker back on.

“Crew, attention! Disregard previous commands! Prepare for a boarding operation! Gerd T’yu-Pan, raise the Iseyek! Our secret agent in Hugo the First’s inner circle has just come online and sent coordinates. We cannot miss our chance! The landing team’s mission will be to board the starship I mark right after a null transport to a Trillian system. We have to get inside the ship ASAP and take down the whole crew and Hugo the First’s security, then capture the Trillian king alive and bring him to our cruiser.”

I looked inquisitively at our Navigator. The furry Geckho turned away from his screen and rumbled back:

“Signal acquired. A message of some kind was just sent from our cruiser.”

And a response came back ten seconds later. My Dagestani friend reported that Hugo the First had exited into the real world. That could not be a mere coincidence. I already knew that the cowardly king would not risk bringing his own ships to the Urmi system and had entrusted today’s encounter with the Composite to an admiral. Meanwhile, although the broadcast of Hugo the First’s speech had been made from the Un-Ri Trill capital system, the king himself was in another star system entirely, which Imran could tell by the distance to his marker not lining up with the distance of the Un-Ri Trill system. The blood-crazed king was seriously concerned for his life and seemed to be on some unassuming starship travelling the expansive space of the Trillian Kingdom.

Sad as it may have been, Gerd Jarg the Analyst was again not mistaken. Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh or his wife Amati-Kuis were working for the Trillians and sending them secret information.

Frenzy skill increased to level fifteen!

“Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh, proceed to your bunk. Amati-Kuis Ursssh, same for you. We have a battle with the Composite, and perhaps the Trillians ahead of us. I don’t want you entangled. Paa Um-Um Paa, take over as Gunner.”

I would have a talk with my Trillian crewmembers later, but now I was too worked up and unbridled for a serious in-depth conversation. And I had bigger fish to fry. I was getting ready to kill.

* * *

“I HAVE THE TRILLIAN admiral on the line!” Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu told me and walked away so she wouldn’t block the big screen where the space “crocodile’s” big toothy snout appeared staring back at me.

Leng Khoor-Mamakh Virsh. Trillian. Gray Trillian subrace. Clan Hugo the First’s Royal Fleet. Level-199 Navigator.

“Was there something you wanted to tell me, Human?” the admiral had a decent command of Geckho, so I didn’t even need a translator. “Let me warn you, I will not accept capitulation, nor will my king. The war will continue until the Human and Miyelonian races are completely exterminated.”

I just ignored his threats.

“I have just one question for you, admiral. And if you answer honestly, I’ll even allow your flagship the Kibo-Poro-Toysh to fire a volley on my cruiser and I will not attempt evasive maneuvers. Otherwise, I wouldn’t give your fleet a single chance of damaging my starship. And let me warn you first, if you try to deceive me, I will simply drop you where you stand. The sincerity of your answer will be tested by an experienced Truth Seeker.”

I split the screen in two, bringing the white Miyelonian Kung Keetsie Myau into the conversation. Having just respawned a few minutes before, she had no clue what was going on, but also looked very majestic and proud, like the true embodiment of a Miyelonian ruler.

Keetsie had respawned in the Urmi system on a cloaked frigate with a crew loyal to her and gotten straight in touch with me. The Great One told me that the united Star Fleet had taken down the first part of the Composite armada but sustained heavy losses. Just eight hundred ships were left in formation — battered and disorganized, they were prepared to retreat at a moment’s notice if the Trillian and Composite fleet made for the second planet. As soon as Keetsie began, I got the feeling the commander of the ravaged fleet was panicking and preparing to fall to her knees and beg me for something. Maybe to let her tiny little ship come beneath the cruiser’s shield and evacuate it far from the doomed system, perhaps even to hide the now deposed ruler in Human territory.

But the experienced Truth Seeker only needed a few seconds talking with me to rethink and I never heard her desperate plea for help. Instead of that, Kung Keetsie Myau asked about my plans, and eagerly agreed to take part in a talk with the enemy commanders.

Meanwhile, Admiral Leng Khoor-Mamakh Virsh started responding at a leisurely pace.

“I have heard all about your ability to kill, Human. I am none too keen to experience your Devourer skill firsthand...”

“Glad to hear it, admiral, you may answer at your own pace,” I truly had no reason to rush and in fact wanted to stall for time until the Precursor hunters showed up and got to work. “But then could you perhaps show us your Composite counterpart? We know he’s on the call. I have yet to personally acquaint myself with their Krong. I have only heard tell of our intergalactic enemy and his devastating Star Extinguisher. I promise not to kill him during the conversation, you have my word as Kung of Earth!”

Successful Authority check!

Successful Fame check!

Diplomacy skill increased to level seventy-seven!

The screen then split, and I saw a huge mollusk in a malachite spiral helix shell, staring back at me with mobile eyes on the end of long stalks. Wires and tubes of all kinds were hooked into the ruler’s shell, rendering him immobile and making it look like he had permanently fused with his massive starship.

Krong Bubi-O-O-Yula. Vahe-Gukko Composite. First Flotilla. Level-534 Artist-Parasite.

Artist?! Now that was an unexpected game class. And this creep was level five hundred thirty-four!!! Powerful, very powerful. How many hitpoints must he have had considering that my whole crew put together was barely able to outdo a basic level one hundred thirty-four Vahe-Gukko player? Such a high-level monster with maximum possible status could most likely not be killed with Life Suppression at my skill level, so the promise not to use my abilities was pointless. They wouldn’t have been much good anyway.

The Composite ruler didn’t say anything, just stared into the camera. Nevertheless, the Trillian admiral told us:

“Our high-level guest says he pictured his ancient enemy quite differently.”

“Well, if they are mistaken and are attacking the wrong people, will the Composite recall its starships?”

Leng Khoor-Mamakh Virsh broke down laughing. It looked like the Trillian was choking and trying to cough up a piece of food stuck in his throat.

“Good joke, Human. Our guest liked it, too, and wants to say, ‘our enemy has always been clever, but they cannot fool the Vahe-Gukko. Our sacred campaign has begun, and now it cannot be stopped. Furthermore, our esteemed guest can sense the threat emanating from the Devourer, his Danger Sense is giving him the shivers and Krong Bubi-O-O-Yula is not prepared to make peace with the existence of a dastardly fiend like you in the Universe. Alright, Human, let’s put an end to this pointless conversation. You needn’t ask your question. Krong Bubi has already told us that none of the weapons on our ships can penetrate the Relict flagship’s temporal shield, but his race is aware of one way to do it, and next time will be better prepared for a meeting with their ancient nemesis. But... what is that?”

The stars disappeared. All that remained on the viewing monitor were the many enemy ships surrounding my cruiser. Kung Keetsie Myau also disappeared, and we suddenly lost contact with the Miyelonian ruler.

Columns of symbols appeared on my armor suit faceplate, and I hurried to save the key to freedom. After that, I turned to my disarrayed opponents, who had no idea what was going on.

“Krong Bubi is right. His enemy always was clever, and the Vahe-Gukko will never be a match for their creators. I will leave you here. The Trillians may use their ships’ self-destruct sequences to return home. But as far as I am aware, the Composite pilots are fused with their ships and thus doomed to die here. Their ruler, as far as I can see, is also linked inexorably with the Star Extinguisher, and is thus out of the picture. I may return for a chat with Krong Bubi about the history of the creation of his race and the long-ago war and to marvel at the highly talented Artist’s works. But from now on, the Composite shall have another leader, and they will be the one I work with to find a way to put an end to your sacred campaign.”

* * *

THE CRUISER’S NAVIGATION system accepted the jump coordinates and warped out to the Urmi system not far from the seventh planet. The once huge Composite armada and the Trillian fleet that had flipped to their side were nowhere to be seen. A comms request came in from Kung Keetsie Myau almost at once.

“Gnat, what the heck was that? Where are our enemies?”

I sat back in my seat with a weary smile.

“Let’s just say they’ll be out of the picture for the next few million tongs. You can tell your subjects some nice little story about Miyelonian engineers creating a trap portal under strict secrecy here next to the seventh planet, which transported the enemy fleet somewhere so far away they can never return. And tell them I made only a modest contribution — irritating nearby enemy ships to prevent them from leaving before the Miyelonian trap was sprung.”

The Great One spent a long time in silence before speaking, clearly herself in disbelief at the sudden stroke of luck.

“So... we won? And though it came at a great cost to my people, still we won! I have spent the last few days doing nothing but preparing for this grand battle. I was even prepared to die today. But I survived and prevailed. And it was all thanks to you, my friend! And although we have a lot of work ahead of us, I am planning to get drunk and go on the biggest bender of my life. You with me?”

Chapter 21. Eight Ummi Locked Away

THE SEVENTEEN STEALTH BOMBERS that survived the grand battle I returned to the Tesse system in Imperial space as promised. Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh also disembarked at the space station, taciturn and deep in thought about everything he’d seen. Along with the Alpha Iseyek, I sent Georg the first the promised recordings of the battle in the Miyelonian capital system, though I had no doubt all the Imperial ships had also been recording, and the emperor would have plenty of footage from various angles and distances. But I wasn’t feeling like talking to Georg the First and hearing how unhappy he was to have the Empire dragged into a distant war, much less his acrid comments on the talentless Miyelonian admirals or my own errors.

Furthermore, I couldn’t shake the suspicion that Kung Georg hadn’t been totally upfront with me, and his Truth Seeker Leng Florianna was aware of the Trillians’ betrayal in advance and simply didn’t want to share the critically important information with me and the other defenders of the Urmi system. Of course, I didn’t have any real proof, just tangential evidence based on Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh’s strange lack of surprise when he saw the Trillians switch sides. It was as if he already knew the betrayal might happen. Unfortunately, I was unable to verify my suspicions and read the truth from the Alpha Iseyek’s thoughts. Right after the departure of Leng Florianna ton Unatari, who was blocking the praying mantis’ mind, a pair of spiny bracelets appeared on the admirals “small arms,” which had identical properties to the diadem the emperor had gifted my tailed assistant Gerd Ayni. And that also gave me food for thought. Kung Georg clearly did not want me digging around in his trusted admiral’s head and finding out any information.

I was also upset that the Empire was trying to spy on me through the android. Almost the second the Di-Pal-Yu 781 arrived in the Tesse system, Gerd Luana told me that a request had come in from the android service center to transmit expanded technical data about her condition. And it wasn’t so much a request as an ultimatum, sent via base-level commands, which she complied with automatically without even thinking, much less engaging her main thought and logic crystals. But because Gerd Luana didn’t belong to any Imperial faction and was bound by instructions I gave her to keep secrets, the service center ran into a simple lack of privileges, alerting the synthetic beauty to the request.

It might of course have been a routine check. After all, this specific android servant had been outside the service center’s field of view for a long time, and her sudden return may have triggered the technical status request all on its own. But when I asked her what exactly this “expanded technical data” entailed, my lack of concern went up in smoke. The request was for all system logs, conversation records, and video from the last forty-three days, all the android’s graphical and text memory files, movement data with precise coordinates, and even financial transactions, if any existed, for the entire time she had been with me.

To my eye, that information went far beyond the bounds of what was required to get an idea of the robot’s technical status and seemed more like espionage against me and my inner circle. And considering the top-secret data the blonde AI had access to about the ancient cruiser and Relict Pyramid, a leak could end in disaster not only for me but for my Relict Faction and even the Earth as a whole. And so, I ordered Gerd Luana to automatically switch off whenever in Empire space, or when making contact with other Imperial androids. I then instructed my Engineers to take a look at Gerd Luana’s settings and force her to stop sending data packets to service centers.

I was also upset by my talk with the Trillians from my crew. Both of their loyalty had taken a big tumble after I was declared an enemy of the Trillian race, and the Gunner was seriously considering leaving. He had even suggested to his young bride that the two of them break their contracts at the same time, but the Chef-Assassin refused. Most worrying of all though was that neither Ukh-Meemeesh, nor Amati-Kuis Ursssh had been spying on me or sending out any messages to Trillian Kingdom intelligence services or the Hive of Tintara mafia. I was completely certain of that because I had scoured both of their minds. And that meant someone else on my ship was spying for the Trillians. But who?

Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh and Amati-Kuis Ursssh I ordered to exit into the real world at the Relict Faction base in Novosibirsk and take three day’s leave to think through all the ethical issues. After that, I wanted a clear answer from the couple on whether they would remain part of Team Gnat or leave my ship. Gerd Uline Tar my business partner, who I had invited to take part in the talk with the Trillians had doubled all payouts to the pair as bonuses for their impeccable service, and they had even been paid in full for the battle of Urmi. But meanwhile, in a one-on-one talk with the Geckho Trader, I asked her to start quietly searching for a new Gunner and Chef.

I sent Gerd T’yu-Pan’s boarding team on leave after their eight hours of fruitless waiting, along with all hundred Alpha Iseyek troopers. The Universal Evil we were preparing to capture had yet to return to the game, still sitting out in the real world. The King of the Trillians was in hiding and hadn’t even mentioned to his subjects the battle in the Urmi system where half the Royal Fleet had vanished. But the cautious and even cowardly Trillian King had clearly considered the possibility his ship would be attacked and taken precautions, so we had seemingly missed the chance to catch Hugo the First unawares, and I was not planning to risk my boarding team until we had uncovered the traitor in our ranks.

All crew from my ship and the support ships had been paid bonuses and battle payouts, were brimming with enthusiasm, and impatiently bursting to celebrate the huge victory, which had significantly curtailed the threat to Planet Earth. I had no objections. Furthermore, I made an address to the crew with a fiery speech about how they were all heroes, I was proud of them, their victory was stunning, and for the next four ummi the large earth city was all theirs. I was hoping greatly that this time, earth’s authorities would be unable to hide the mass visit of aliens to a Russian city and the dam blocking all information about the game that bends reality would start to crumble. I sent out Gerd Uline Tar my First Mate to make sure everyone behaved themselves but instructed her to also let her hair down.

* * *

NOW, WE HAD THE CHANCE to set our troubles aside, let our collective hair down and celebrate the victory. The perfidious Trillians had taken heavy losses and were licking their wounds. The Composite meanwhile was tied up with grueling battles in other invasion vectors, meaning neither the Miyelonians, Earth, or Tailax had anything to worry about for the next thirty days at least. Furthermore, Meleyephatian border service ships had arrived in the Urmi star system to reinforce the battered united Star Fleet, amounting to four hundred units even including a battleship. The united fleet was also reinforced by fifty Crystallid ships — Union of Miyelonian Pride vassals who hadn’t arrived in time for the big fight.

On top of that, a month of peace was quite a lot of time for a great spacefaring race. It would be long enough for the Miyelonians’ space docks to replace half the downed light ships and put another couple dozen cruisers into formation. Beyond that, two out of the six battleships lost were repairable, and in just over a month the two giants could also return to formation along with a new battleship, which was nearly complete. Krong Keetsie Myau herself announced that in her first speech to the Miyelonian nation as its sole ruler, having assumed responsibility for all important decisions, and leading the Union of Miyelonian Prides to peace and prosperity.

Krong Keetsie made the speech wearing a black mask of mourning over her face and covering her injured eye. As far as I could tell, the official bereavement was not for the heavy losses (the majority of the battle took part in the game that bends reality, meaning all those who perished had respawned), but the tragic death of an Incarnation of the Great First Female much loved by Krong Keetsie and the whole Miyelonian race. She had perished in the chaos in the real world in an attempt to reach her personal yacht from Star City without warning the dispatchers and was shot down by the planet’s defensive systems.

The Great One also announced that Miyelonian intelligence chief Kung Wauu-Miaoo had been given a stern send-up and even been stripped of his seat on the Council of Rulers because his subordinates’ negligence had allowed heavy Composite ships to get within jump radius of the Miyelonian capital and failed to uncover the Trillian king’s dastardly plot. The Great One said that another such intelligence failure would mean beheading, and she did not make such threats lightly. Krong Keetsie Myau reassured the citizens and guaranteed that all Composite and Trillian fleets were now being tracked and they would be unable to make any further unforeseen moves.

The Great One mentioned me only tangentially in her speech, referring to the seventeen Reserve Fleet captains that managed to survive the slaughter and thus deserved particular honor and recognition. Krong Keetsie credited the victory to a spatial trap she had set earlier without going into too much detail, saying it was top secret. Not a word was said about Kung Gnat’s role in the disappearance of the enemy armada, which I was unspeakably happy about — the last thing I wanted right then was attention. Her fairy tale about a “Miyelonian spatial trap” was perfectly fine by me, especially given the fact that Krong Keetsie Myau and I were the only two people in the galaxy who knew the true reason the huge enemy fleet had disappeared. Even the Trillians and Composite were in the dark.

When Krong Keetsie Myau’s speech to the nation was over, I got an invitation to attend an “informal gathering for close friends,” saying I could bring two guests. The Great One wanted to see me, Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu, and my traveling wife Leng Valeri, and promised to send a shuttle after us in a quarter ummi. And whereas my orange tailed assistant was excited to attend the party but afraid I wouldn’t allow it over concerns that she might reveal top-secret information, my wayedda refused point blank.

“My husband, I do not trust that two-faced kitty! What does she want to see me for? Her and I hardly know each other. Sure, we saw each other once in passing on Tamara the Paladin, and were once in a mental link together, but she shamelessly dug around in my thoughts. She knows perfectly well that I don’t like her. So why invite me? Does she want to use me to figure out our plans for Tailax and the Quarantine Planet? No, I’m not going even if you cut me to pieces!”

I didn’t talk her into it, because I could sense it was pointless. But Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu was the polar opposite. She was a close friend of the Miyelonian ruler, and neither of them were the least bit bothered by the huge difference in their positions or status. But should I still take Ayni along? It would have been unfair and nasty to refuse her after she sacrificed her life to save mine. Take her but insist she keep the spiky diadem on her head the whole time? That would put the ruler on guard and serve as a symbol of mistrust, and such a skilled Truth Seeker would simply take the information she couldn’t get from my head. So my orange companion I took along, without even using any mind control defense methods. Hopefully, the Great One appreciates the gesture of trust and friendship.

* * *

THE SHUTTLE SMOOTHLY glided down through the desert planet’s atmosphere and, escorted by six surface-near-space-class fighters, made for a large island in the middle of the only sea on that hemisphere of the globe. I looked out the window and shuddered. In fact, the entire surface of the planet with the exception of the sea and a few sections of rocky wasteland was covered in residential areas. Star City, the ancient capital of the Miyelonians and birthplace of their civilization, had sprawled over the millenia and come to occupy all inhabitable land. Forty-five billion inhabitants. One out of seven Miyelonians in the galaxy lived on this planet. Urmi II was the largest industrial and scientific center of the Union of Miyelonian Prides, the distillation of Miyelonian culture, and the storage vault for their invaluable information about outer space.

And all of that might have perished if not for my intervention! The fate of the planet had been hanging by a hair, and it was a true miracle its billions of lives and the historic Miyelonian homeland were still around. Krong Keetsie was aware of that.

When the shuttle came in for a landing on the top of a white stone skyscraper spire directly in the center of a perfect square formation of First Pride troopers, the ruler herself came out to greet us. Wearing a light, short blue dress and the same black mourning mask, she looked absolutely tiny compared to the huge grenadiers in their heavy white armor. No sooner had I come out of the shuttle, squinting in the bright light of the midday sun, than Keetsie walked up to the gangway and, much to the astonishment of everyone watching, fell to her knees before me.

“The Miyelonians will never be able to repay you, Kung Gnat! There are few I can call a true friend but you, Human, have earned that right. And as long as I shall rule the Union of Miyelonian prides, know that you will be provided with whatever support and aid we can give you!”

Fame increased to 167.

Authority increased to 169!

Authority increased to 170!

The Great One’s assistant walked over and placed around my neck a purple ribbon adorned with a large amethyst carved into the shape of a claw.

“This is an ancient medal, which has only been awarded four times before in history. Its bearer is considered a Miyelonian in spirit and has the right to enter our shrines.”

Keetsie stood and pointed a clawed paw at the tower on the roof.

“The elevator will take us there. It’s already set up for a party.”

Once in the high-speed elevator, which just the three of us entered without the Great One’s bodyguards, the ruler took off the black mask and cast it carelessly on the floor.

“We won’t be needing that anymore. To be honest, I was never a fan of Leng Ayvi U-Mawoo. I always thought she was an idiot and never got what others saw in her other than her cute face and white fur.”

Gerd Ayni gave a timid smile, but I could tell she was shocked by the ruler’s confession. As far as I knew, all Miyelonians regarded the three incarnations of the Great First Female as an unattainable ideal, the very embodiment of absolute perfection in all matters. I meanwhile looked at Keetsie without her mask and only then noticed that both of her eyes were fine. Then it hit me that the commander of the united fleet had died and respawned, meaning all her injuries were healed. I also noticed the Great One had again died the dark fur on her snout. That must have been important to her.

Meanwhile, the elevator jumped past all the above ground floors and raced further beneath the ground. Seeing my confusion, the Great One explained:

“Yes, we will be celebrating our victory in an underground shrine where no one can bother us. It has no comms link with the outside world, no electronic devices work there. A few skills and game menu options are even unavailable, such as mini-map and timer. It’s used for top secret talks between rulers, and my mentor the Great Priestess Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo sometimes meditates and runs experiments on her mind’s capabilities there. But normally, my mentor spends her time in the real shrine of the Great First Female rather than its virtual copy, so Leng Amiru won’t get in the way.”

The doors slid open, and we went down a long straight corridor that ended in a brightly lit room. There was a big square table set with innumerable Miyelonian delicacies surrounded by large soft armchairs. On one of the walls was a big case full of every type of beverage imaginable. I plopped down in the nearest seat and, as if by magic, just ten seconds later found a glass of sparkling white wine in my hand.

“Four bedrooms,” Keetsie pointed with the wineglass at a corridor running into the darkness, “you’ll find the lavatories that way, as well. Down here, we have alcohol, food, music, smokes, and every form of gambling available in the galaxy. Basically, everything a person could ever want for privacy, fun, and relaxation. And now, the biggest rule: this is a place to let loose where nothing is off limits, but everything said or done here remains within these walls. I am after all the ruler of a great race and cannot afford to spoil my reputation.”

“Are you planning on doing things down here that could?” Gerd Ayni asked with a cheeky smirk, eagerly accepting a lit stick of narcotic smoking mix from the ruler.

“Without a doubt, my friend!” Krong Keetsie also took a hit and, her eyes rolling back in bliss, blew a stream of green and orange smoke up at the ceiling. “I really enjoyed that time when we let loose on Kasti-Utsh III. Even though our friend Gnat was too cautious and polite, and got drunk too fast. I hope he’ll be more unrestrained here. Plus, we have much more time. By the way, speaking of time...”

The white Miyelonian jumped up from her seat and walked over to a wall panel.

“How long do we need to relax? Will five ummi be enough? Doesn’t sound like much, I guess...”

“Put six,” Gerd Ayni suggested, already finishing her wine and pouring brandy into her glass.

“Then eight, why be stingy?” Krong Keetsie traced a vertical rectangle on the panel with her clawed fingers.

A big heavy door came down with a metallic clang, blocking the entry to the elevator. The door didn’t have a keyhole or a code panel. The wall panel meanwhile sank into the wall and closed off with a thick metal cap. We had no way out. At the same time, my mini map turned off and the Exit the Game menu option turned gray.

“Okay, now, no one can get out of here for eight ummi! And no news from outside!” Kung Keetsie Myau told us, returning to the table, sitting down next to Ayni, and taking the smoking stick from her friend’s paw.

It just felt too much like a trap: the invaluable cruiser left in orbit, most of its crew missing, isolated from the outside world with no way to contact anyone or exit the game. Of course, I instructed the cruiser’s AI Paa Um-Um Paa on what to do, and had the seven combat drones defending the starship, but still...

“Afraid? Remembering your cruiser and thinking about whether you left enough guards?” Krong Keetsie looked at me and laughed flagrantly. “For the record, it’s weird you’re thinking about your starship and not your life. I mean, one little prick of poison and you could find yourself waking up on a torture rack in front of the blood-crazed King of the Trillians. And a billion crystals... even for the ruler of a great spacefaring race, it’s tempting.”

I shuddered. Krong Keetsie was talking too seriously about what was for me a ghastly prospect. Watching my reaction closely, the white Miyelonian gave a cheery smile, showing a set of sharp little teeth.

“That is the very reason I chose this location, Human. We have to learn to trust one another.”

Trust her? After everything she said about possibly betraying me and the “flexibility” of her race’s politics? The answer came in mentally and proved that she was not only watching me but reading my thoughts as well.

“Yes. Trust. Because there is a billion-crystal reward on my head, too, and I have a couple more potential enemies than you do, Human. I also have to learn to trust someone in this life, because otherwise I’m going to lose my mind. Let me tell you a big secret, Human. My respawn point is set in this very hall, and my life is essentially entirely at your power. As yours is mine. So relax, nothing will happen to your ship. We’re going to celebrate and... learn to trust one another.”

Two days with a couple stoned Miyelonians giggling like schoolgirls, whose metabolisms could process alcohol very quickly? And one of them could easily read my mind, while the other wasn’t even hiding the fact that she wanted to drag me into bed... I breathed a heavy sigh and looked around at the delicacies on the table. At the very least, I couldn’t resist a snack.

Chapter 22. Sole and Infallible

“AREN’T YOUR SUBJECTS going to miss you?” I asked Keetsie when the first worrying emotions slipped out while I dined calmly with the two pretty Miyelonian women. “You don’t think it’ll cause turmoil? Well, it wasn’t all that long ago the highly important battle ended. The whole galaxy is aflutter discussing the consequences and the newly minted ruler has now disappeared who knows where for a whole eight ummi.”

“On the contrary, Human, my subjects would be greatly displeased if I didn’t come here,” the pure white Miyelonian responded, saluting with her wine glass and, setting an example for her guests, draining it.

I was totally unable to understand Keetsie, and my bafflement and strained thoughts must have been reflected on my face because both of the tailed women were tittering away.

“Well, Kung of Earth, where are we right now?” Keetsie pointed with her ringed paw at the gloomy granite walls around us. “This is the ancient temple of the Great First Female, the main shrine of the Miyelonian race, or rather a virtual projection of it. By ancient tradition, Miyelonian Krongs are supposed to come here to spend time in contemplation and meditation right after attaining the highest rank to try and make sense of the burden of responsibility for their people and figure out what to do next. I meanwhile am worried about something else... might eight ummi not have been enough? If I come out of here that early, might my subjects think their ruler isn’t serious enough and even being negligent?”

Unexpected. I hadn’t looked at our voluntary imprisonment from the perspective of the new Miyelonian ruler at all really. And meanwhile, Gerd Ayni was already done with her third glass of wine and, after a second hesitating between me and the Krong of her nation, went to sit next to Keetsie. The Great One flagrantly blew out a thick stream of acrid smoke right into my companion’s snout, which made Gerd Ayni sneeze, after which both Miyelonians started giggling foolishly and sat down in an embrace like best friends.

“Say, Keetsie, are me and Ayni not getting in the way of such an important undertaking?” I asked dubiously. “I mean, you have a crucial event here. You have to make sense of your new role, and think through your grand plans for the future, meditate and all that...”

“On the contrary, you are helping me greatly. You’ve given me so much food for thought. Georg the First’s protection offer, which looks more like blackmail and an ultimatum. The indestructible Relict flagship and rebirth of the power of the Precursor satellites. The construction of fleets for Earth and Tailax. A war on the horizon between the various branches of the human race and a shift in the balance of power. The armada has been caught in a spatial trap, and Hugo the First would stop at nothing to get the exit code, including peace with the Union of Miyelonian Prides.”

The white Miyelonian gave a sonorous laugh, watching my sullen face, then cautiously freed herself from Ayni’s embrace, stood up, walked over to me and, surprisingly, sat on my lap. Then, looking me right in the eyes, she said:

“Oh, I’m just kidding. I remember your ability to kill, Devourer. And I have no idea how to use the code. But the idea of capturing Universal Evil... Now that I’m a huge fan of. You can count on my troopers for that operation, Human! I also have one request to make of you...”

“Hug me!” the request came in mentally, and I didn’t even believe at first that she was finished talking.

Nevertheless, I did as requested, delicately embracing the fluffy ruler and squeezing her tight in my left arm. I even took some liberties, stroking the Miyelonian’s furry ears with my right hand. My companion Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu was always a huge fan of that, and it calmed her down instantly, even sometimes putting her to sleep in my arms. Still, I wasn’t at all certain the almighty ruler of a great spacefaring race would have a positive outlook on such affection. But it looked like I was doing the right thing, because Krong Keetsie gave a satisfied purr, closing her eyes and placing her head on my shoulder.

“Kung Gnat, you have a strong air of power and serenity. That attracts women. There’s no hiding it. What a shame you refused my offer to make you Miyelonian! I’d have put you straight into my inner circle of admirers. And who knows, maybe with time I’d have even called you my husband. None of my subjects have as much strength, tranquility, and confidence as you. Ah, Human, just don’t touch my tail! That’s too intimate...”

I instantly pulled away my overly mischievous hand, but still she opened her eyes and said with reproach.

“Do you think, Human, that I might behave too irresponsibly for the ruler of a great spacefaring race? Or perhaps that I am unworthy?”

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred ninety-two!

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred seventy-eight!

A trick question. No, I did not at all believe Krong Keetsie Myau’s behavior was unworthy. Irresponsible, yes, maybe. But I thought it more likely the cunning Miyelonian was testing me and provoking me slightly on purpose.

“That may be so,” Keetsie said with a cunning smile, reading my thoughts without the slightest effort. “But who knows how the rulers that came before me spent their time in the temple after reaching Krong status. The last Krong, Purr Mau lived long ago, over seventy tongs before the present. As far as I’ve read in the archives, after the official ceremony, he spent twelve ummi confined to the Temple of the Great First Female along with twenty-six of his favorites, selected from among the prettiest First Pride guards. And who knows what they got up to. But I doubt it was all meditation. The ruler’s political opponents counted up thirty-three offspring born after a standard gestation period.”

“Now that’s what I call a man!” I laughed, but Krong Keetsie gestured for seriousness.

“All that is rumors, with no official confirmation. But I have one big advantage on all the other rulers, and rumors like that do not threaten me. Because I, after all, am not merely Krong but also an incarnation of the Great First Female! Leng Amiru U-Mayaoo is telling all Miyelonians that right now in her great sermon to all star systems. I know, because my Authority is skyrocketing, while my Legitimacy is getting very close to one hundred. So I am infallible and technically a saint. Anything I do for the prospering of Miyelonian kind will be approved of by my subjects no matter what. And if I sit here embracing you, Human, it must be the will of the cosmos and the great ancestors, and so it’s for the good of all Miyelonian kind!”

Gerd Ayni, who was sitting relaxed in a chair opposite before that, suddenly changed facial expression, threw down her glass and fell to her knees before her ruler, pressing her forehead into Krong Keetsie Myau’s bare feet. I must admit, I was somewhat taken aback by that. Did it really make such a big difference? But, based on how drastically my companion’s behavior shifted, as far as Ayni and any other Miyelonians were concerned, it did make a difference, and a very big one at that.

“On your feet, child!” Krong Keetsie told Ayni to stand with a majestic sweep of her white paw.

But that only made matters worse. Gerd Ayni’s paws were shivering slightly, while her eyes glimmered with a fanatical glow, as if she were seeing a god in person.

“Only one Miyelonian ruler in history has possessed both of our highest titles at the same time before! The Great First Female! You have returned to your children in such a frightening hour!”

Things were getting scary. I didn’t have the slightest doubt that if Krong Keetsie Myau ordered Gerd Ayni to, let’s say, commit suicide, she would have done it without the least bit of hesitation even being an NPC that would never again respawn. And by the looks of things, this blind obedience had not entered into the Great One’s plans. Krong Keetsie breathed a heavy sigh and turned to me.

“You are tired, Kung of Earth. You still haven’t gotten to rest properly since the battle. Go get some sleep. But now I need to get Gerd Ayni back into her usual cheery mood...”

“How can I sleep here?” I laughed. “I keep learning so much!”

But then, icy cold sparkles appeared in the blue eyes of the sole ruler of the Miyelonian race.

Failed Intelligence check!

Failed magic resistance check!

ATTENTION!!! Effect received: Deep Sleep. Duration: 9 hours 24 minutes.

* * *

I AWOKE SUDDENLY, AS if a tub of ice water had been poured on my head. For some reason, I found myself in a bedroom wearing nothing but my underwear. My Archmage outfit, which I’d worn to the ceremony, was hanging up in a half-open dresser next to the bed. I also discovered Gerd Ayni on the bed next to me. Wearing a short nightgown, she was asleep on my arm, pressed up against me and smiling. My companion reeked of herbal cocktails, wine, and that mind-numbing smoke. I spent some time watching the sleeping Miyelonian, then stroked her furry ears tenderly, which made Ayni mutter something indistinct and squeeze up tighter against me.

“She loves you, Human.”

The voice sounded out right next to me and I turned. Krong Keetsie Myau, sitting cross-legged on a soft cushion near the door, had a snifter of dark brandy in her paw. Even from ten feet away, the Great One stank of an endless number of cocktails and other forms of alcohol. And by the looks of things, Krong Keetsie still had yet to go to bed.

“Have you slept?”

“No, human. I had too much to contemplate. Too many lines of the future to check so I could be sure I made the right decision.”

She was no longer the careless Miyelonian who had danced yesterday and gotten wasted on booze and narcotic smoke. Now, Krong Keetsie was in her true form as the indubitably wise ruler of a great race, whose subjects worshipped her, and neighbors in space respected her.

“Any conclusions to share?” I asked, but Keetsie just shook her head.

“It’s very tough, and I haven’t found a good solution yet. The Trillians are powerful and angry at my kind. The Composite will soon recover from the blow, send more starships from their galaxy, and continue their expansion. Meanwhile, Emperor Georg the First isn’t even hiding his designs on my territory. But the Meleyephatians are worst of all...”

“Wait... But why? You signed a long-term peace treaty!”

“They’re planning some kind of large-scale provocation to break the ceasefire. Krong Laa is a great master at such things. And right now, the Meleyephatian Horde has the dominant military force in this area of space, and the Horde ruler will not let that chance go to waste. I am not powerful enough to understand the details, but something terrible is in the works.”

Gerd Ayni muttered out something indistinct again in her sleep and stuck her snout into my hair. Krong Keetsie didn’t let that go unmentioned.

“The whole galaxy knows about your relationship and is talking trash. And I think that’s wrong, because Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu’s Authority is suffering due to those rumors. But did you know, Kung Gnat, that your loyal friend has a Fame score over one hundred, and an Authority which is, albeit higher than when she was accused of murdering the Great Priestess, still deep in the negative? With a bit more Authority, Ayni could become a Leng. And you do have the power to help her.”

“How?” My drowsy mind was still having a hard time thinking, but the topic was very relevant to me because I really did sincerely want to help my loyal friend.

“The first path is cruel and evil, but you must know about it. You could let Gerd Ayni go. Say a lot of rude things to her, that she’s gotten on your nerves with her constant presence and blind adoration.”

“What?!” I couldn’t even believe my ears and justly objected, but the Great One asked not to be interrupted and for me to hear her out.

“It would come as a cruel blow, but Ayni would survive and even grow stronger after shedding her illusions and learning the harsh life lesson. Very soon, Ayni would find herself a Miyelonian husband and come to lead her own faction. With time she might even count herself a member of the Council of Rulers.”

Keetsie finished the brandy and fell into a contemplative silence. I was in no rush to comment that time, allowing her to finish. Because if Ayni was better off without me, the Great One would have said so explicitly. But clearly it wasn’t all smooth sailing. And she did in fact have more to say.

“I have traced that line of the probable future. There are too many variables to look through them all and give a clear answer. Some are tragic and, without your protection, Ayni falls into the clutches of the Hive of Tintara and ends her life in Hugo the First’s torture chamber. There are other lines where Ayni does great, hides on the outskirts of known space, has eleven beautiful healthy children, and spends the rest of her life relaxed and happy. But as a rule, those lines are also lines where the Miyelonian race is driven to extinction by the Vahe-Gukko-Trillian coalition or the Meleyephatian Horde. And that I cannot understand. Clearly, your orange friend has contrived her way into Georg the First’s good graces, and the emperor favors her. But if Ayni does not remain in your circle, the united humanity does not come to the Miyelonians’ aid and my race is doomed.”

I had no response, too shocked by what I’d heard. And the Great One was not expecting me to respond.

“Let’s start from the premise that the orange Miyelonian is dear to you, and you do not part. There is another path. We are in the temple of the Great First Female,” Krong Keetsie reminded me, pointing to the ancient walls. “Miyelonian couples come here for marriage ceremonies, after which they are considered official partners. I know that you have an official wife, and even two, so Ayni will not be your wife. But after the ceremony, no Miyelonian would have the right to voice even the slightest reproach seeing you together.”

I got the sense Gerd Ayni was stirring and had perked up her ears. I turned and saw that she was no longer asleep and listening closely.

“And... what would that entail? The ceremony itself.”

“Aw, nothing too complicated. You’d have to recite an oath in the statue hall guided by a priestess of the temple. There aren’t any priestesses here now, but a ruler would also do fine for the ceremony. So if you agree, follow me back to the table.”

After saying that, Krong Keetsie Myau set her empty glass down, stood up and, on slightly wobbly legs, walked out of the bedroom. Ayni and I exchanged glances. Not a single word was spoken, but we both realized that this was the logical conclusion to something we’d both long been thinking.

A few minutes later, we were standing before the Great One, who managed to still look very dignified and even majestic in her informal and slightly rumpled blue dress. First we held hands. Then recited a very long text. First me. Then Gerd Ayni repeated after Krong Keetsie word for word. That was it. The ceremony lasted three minutes at most.

“And now to the table to continue the celebration,” the Miyelonian ruler suggested. “I was just waiting around for the two of you to wake up. Getting drunk alone is not for me. It’s beneath my status!”

* * *

THE NEXT DAY (OR HOWEVER much time had passed, clocks weren’t working so I had a hard time sensing how long it had been) was a blur. We spoke a lot about politics. We drank. We ate. We discussed the unsuccessful attempt to trace the money back to whoever hired the assassins that attacked me on Poko-Poko. The wallet the payment came from belonged to a Miyelonian trader of stolen yachts and shuttles. The trader himself had disappeared without a trace even though his clothes were found torn to shreds in the real world in a hangar on Poko-Poko station. It looked a lot like a Morphian attack, and there had indeed been a string of similar killings on the station. If so, that thread ended there.

We drank more. Danced to light, soft music. Played Na-Tikh-U. I won, which resulted in Krong Keetsie Myau being very annoyed and, in her thirst for revenge, challenging me to a psionic sparring match. It ended up being completely one-sided, because the Great One’s Intelligence and psionic abilities far surpassed mine.

In the end, the Truth Seeker was upset and said she wanted stiffer competition, at least a hint of a fight. And so, Krong Keetsie Myau took off a golden ring with an emerald and handed it to me. It gave +5(!!!) Intelligence. I thanked her for the gift and immediately traded out the +3 Intelligence Precursor ring, bringing my score there up to forty-eight. I then gave my old ring to Gerd Ayni the Listener.

After that, owing to the fact Krong Keetsie Myau didn’t replace her ring, things got interesting. I mean, the Great One was still dominant in the magic fights, which we had over forty of, but I was no longer surrendering so easily. Time Stoppage. Teleportation. Disorientation. Telekinesis. I even had Frenzy flip on sometimes, which instantly improved my combat abilities.

At times, I put my rival in quite severe predicaments, particularly considering the fact that I could use Telekinesis to throw the fairly lightweight Miyelonian into neighboring rooms or ceiling lights. I also used Time Stoppage purely for my amusement, disappearing in front of punches and even sometimes ripping her clothes away and leaving my rival completely naked. Yes, I came close to a foul, but I was drunk and jolly, and I couldn’t find other ways of taking down my lightning fast and very agile opponent because dodging her Fast Movement was often beyond even Teleportation. Kung Keetsie Myau’s Mana Drain was particularly hard on me as well. It was essentially a “Win” button because it stole all my Magic Points in a matter of seconds, then my Endurance Points, and then I simply fell over in exhaustion. I would take breaks and drink liters of alcoholic cocktail, which there was thankfully a rich assortment of here, after which I would face off with the Great One again and... again lose after a pitched fight.

But then, I finally scored a win!!! I saw my opportunity and took it, using Time Stoppage (just five seconds, but it was enough for me) to take the belt off Keetsie’s dress and use it to tie her legs up tight, then poured a flask of the strongest nuclear swill I could find in the bar into her open mouth while she tried desperately to resist. Krong Keetsie gulped despite herself... and three seconds later, admitted defeat because even with her super-fast metabolism and high Constitution, her body wasn’t obeying her, and she kept going cross-eyed.

I carefully picked up the Miyelonian and set her in an armchair because Krong Keetsie Myau was unable to stand on her own and all she could do was sit on a cold stone floor, turning her head on occasion as if trying to shake off the intoxication. I got the drunken Great One seated comfortably and put pillows under her, then poured some berry juice from a pitcher and placed the glass in her clawed white paw. Keetsie drank it down greedily and asked for more.

“It’s been a long time since someone beat me in a sparring match...” Krong Keetsie Myau said ten minutes later, after she’d slightly come to her senses. “The last time was two tongs ago, and it was my mentor Leng Amiru. Back then, I was too young and self-confident, talked back to my elders, and didn’t recognize authority, so my mentor did it to teach me a lesson. But you’re good, Human! And you did it while holding back so you wouldn’t hurt me.”

That wasn’t exactly true. I was giving it my all, though perhaps being over cautious with Telekinesis so I wouldn’t accidentally cripple my rival by hurling her into a wall. I also didn’t use Life Suppression for obvious reasons. Over the many-hour training session with a very strong sparring partner, I brought up my skills a lot, and even levelled up twice. So I wasn’t exactly holding back!

“Nevertheless, you were restraining yourself, and overall aren’t in optimal form. Without your Devourer armor to improve skills. And without the bonuses from the Temple of the Dawn of Life. But you were giving me a run for my money! I haven’t gone that hard or had that much fun in a long time!”

* * *

MY WHOLE BODY WAS SORE, every muscle and bone reminding me of its existence. But my head was feeling much worse. I drank far too much and, unlike the Miyelonians, could not process the alcohol fast enough to avoid aftereffects. I opened my eyes to again find myself on a bed in the bedroom, which I did not remember getting into. Most likely, my tailed friends had brought me here.

And actually... Both of the Miyelonians were sleeping next to me. And although Gerd Ayni didn’t surprise me much, finding Krong Keetsie Myau sleeping while embracing me with her snout nuzzled into my armpit and leg over my stomach came as a big surprise. As did her complete lack of clothing. That level of intimacy with the great ruler really freaked me out, to put it lightly, and I tried feverishly to recall whether we had gone too far last night and would both have to feel shame today.

“Thank you, of course, for seeing me as an attractive woman, but I am not up for such ‘experiments’ just yet. I merely got lonely in my empty dark bedroom, so I came to join you.”

That didn’t explain her lack of clothes, but I didn’t nitpick. On top of that, I got the sense the Great One was in a serious mood and seemingly trying to ask me something.

“Yes, I have come with a request. Or rather two. Have a talk with the ruler of the Meleyephatian Horde, Human, and convince Krong Laa not to do anything aggressive against my kind. For some reason, I get the feeling you’ll be able to pull it off. And my other request. Take me with you to the Temple of the Dawn of Life. Incognito, of course, because the teachings of the Great First Female contradict Meleyephatian religion, and the guards won’t let me in. But that ice temple is the only place where I can find answers to the extremely important questions, which will dictate whether or not the Miyelonian race is to survive.”

“Alright, I’ll do it,” I promised, which caught the high-profile Miyelonian by surprise.

“Really, it was that easy? You aren’t even going to ask for payment?”

“Keetsie, I consider you a friend, and helping friends is the nice thing to do.”

“Nevertheless, Gnat my friend, I will repay you handsomely. One billion three hundred million crystals for a talk with Krong Laa. That will be enough to buy out your home planet from its Geckho suzerains. And for an illegal Precursor artifact so you can access the Hall of Fear on Un-Tau. Unfortunately, I do not yet know the color of the stones. My agents found it at a Trillian antiquities dealer, it is currently being brought to Miyelonian space through a chain of intermediaries.”

The Great One’s message was cut off by a metallic clang coming from the big hall. The exit door had opened. Was it over? Had it really been eight ummi already?!

“Yes!” Krong Keetsie cursed out angrily, hopped out of bed and got dressed in the space of a second. “A temple functionary will be coming any second, so get ready. Ah, we should have set the timer for ten or better yet twelve ummi! I had so many more important things for us to discuss, Human! We might have even gone so far as to ‘experiment.’ After all, I also essentially recited the marriage oath, and you and I have already performed a marriage dance...”

Chapter 23. Refuge and Invar

AS SOON AS THE HIGH-SPEED ELEVATOR had brought Ayni and I back to the roof of the Council of Rulers tower, a stream of messages came crashing down on me from the whole two days of voluntary confinement. My communicator beeped constantly for several minutes, and I skimmed the recent news once in the shuttle on the way into orbit.

My Chief Advisor said he had arranged a meeting with the heads of all Earth factions in the residence of the viceroy of Earth Gerd Kosta Dykhsh. It was scheduled in four days at noon Earth spaceport time, and Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi asked if I could attend personally, promising otherwise to provide a direct video link with the faction heads of both worlds. In my Chief Advisor’s second message, he said the Ruler of the First Directory Gerd Minn-O La-Fin’s health was worsening, and they had put her back in the perinatal center on Pa-lin-thu for monitoring. But this time, the Mage Diviner reassured me quickly that there was no particular cause for alarm because the pregnancy was predicted to go this way, and she was being provided with absolute top-of-the-line professional care.

Gerd Valentin Ustinov, chief scientist of my Relict Faction had sent a report about a successful test launch of the first of twelve planetary shield generators, which was located on the rocky island in Naiad Bay. The field it created was strong and, in testing, could stand up against three strafing frigates even though just one generator was clearly underpowered to defend the entire planet. They had also tested the planet’s anti-space defense system, and laser cannon installations in the small continent’s Centaur Plateau, Phyliragrad, Poppy Fields, and Canadian Lumberjack nodes had successfully shot down all the targets placed in geostationary orbit. They were less successful with moving targets (in fact, they hadn’t hit once), but in any case, it was just a first test, which gave food for thought and ideas for improving the anti-space defense systems.

The Relict Faction’s main Constructor Gerd Alex Bobl had requested blueprints for the Imperial frigates’ cloaking systems, as well as a functioning Surprise-class stealth bomber for examination. My faction’s science labs had come to a standstill in terms of new inventions, and the cloaked gravity mine I had given them to study didn’t help much in comprehending the technology for concealing objects from scanning systems and visual detection. Meanwhile, the ability to equip earth corvettes with cloaking systems would have provided a huge boost in the fight to keep Earth safe. Setting space mines also would allow us to defend the repair bays and docks currently under construction in Earth orbit.

I had to admit, I didn’t totally understand what was holding my faction’s Scientists and Engineers up, because cloaking suits and even heavy armor suit cloaking systems were things the Relict Faction had been putting out in large numbers for a long time. I had also given them the gravity mine I took on my first visit to the Empire in the Aysar Cluster, and even before that they had gotten equipment from the Miyelonian cloaked frigate that went down in Naiad Bay. But that technology, for whatever reason, was not fit for space, and none of the loot we’d given them was quite enough. I decided not to shelve the issue and take care of it right away.

I had an already disassembled cloaking system, which I had removed hurriedly from the Relict mobile laboratory. It was not functioning, and perhaps beyond repair. The obvious solution was to hand the boxes containing the system’s parts to my scientists. But the Relict cloaking system’s technologies were millenia ahead of Earth science and I suspected they would be several orders of magnitude harder to comprehend than those of Empire stealth bombers, or those of other great spacefaring races. And so, it was most likely easier to simply purchase a cloaked frigate from the Empire or perhaps the Geckho or Miyelonians and give it to my science laboratories to study and copy. I couldn’t say when we’d get back to the Empire, because I still didn’t want to meet with Georg the First, so we decided to get by with the other races’ stealth bombers. The value of the Geckho-produced starship was eighteen to twenty million Geckho crystals, which was not an extremely large amount for the chance to propel Earth science into the space age. I wrote a message to Gerd Uline Tar, and immediately transferred my furry friend the money.

A message came in from faction Diplomat Leng Thomas Mueller saying that six Geckho clans and two Miyelonian prides now wanted to join the Relict Faction. My Diplomat had approved the two clans straight away, and seven hundred Geckho players had already made it to the virtual Earth. All the rest were told to await the Relict Faction’s decision. I acquainted myself with information about the refugees and approved them all because the Geckho and Miyelonians could bring unambiguous good to Earth and my faction. Meanwhile, I never forgot for a second that the Geckho considered Earth in their exclusive sphere of influence, and thus might be upset to see Miyelonian players in large numbers their vassal faction’s nodes. But I was hoping to settle that issue with Kung Waid Shishish or the Geckho leader Krong Daveyesh-Pir. I knew perfectly well about the present military and political situation in space, and so I was confident that humanity’s suzerains wouldn’t get too belligerent, much less try to make a show of force.

Gerd Alexander Antipov the Inquisitor said that his subordinates had uncovered a Miyelonian spy cell on Poko-Poko station. Seven Union of Miyelonian Prides agents had been arrested, while another three managed to flee the station. The Inquisitor proposed interrogating all spies with Psionics and torture implements, then to give them a show hanging. I showed that message to Ayni Uri-Miayuu, who was sitting in the seat next to me, and asked her advice.

“It’s cruel, but it’s common practice in the galaxy, and I wouldn’t ask for an exception to be made for my kind. Earth Humans must show all other races that they do not tolerate espionage. Otherwise, Earth’s possessions and stations will be like an open house, and you’ll have to forget about secret operations.”

Okay then... Not exactly what I was expecting to hear from my usually soft and kind-hearted companion. Still, I was in no rush to accept my assistant’s advice and hurried to send a message to faction Diplomat Leng Thomas Mueller to get in contact with the Miyelonians. After Krong Keetsie Myau’s eloquent speeches on trust, friendship and cooperation, I wanted an official guarantee from the Union of Miyelonian Prides to cease clandestine operations against Earth. If I could secure such a guarantee, I would release the failed spies. But if not... I would have to follow “common practice in the galaxy,” even though that would slightly damage my relationship with the Miyelonians.

And speaking of Miyelonians, or rather their leader Krong Keetsie Myau’s request to intervene before a planned provocation against them could be enacted, I had told my Diplomat to reach out to the Meleyephatian Horde leader’s secretariate to arrange a meeting with Krong Laa. And although my last request for a meeting had been turned down without explanation, I was still hoping for a positive response. A lot had happened in the galaxy since my previous conversation with the Horde leader, and we had many new topics to discuss.

Other than messages from my ministers and advisors, a large number of communications had also come in from players I did not know. Some were to congratulate the Kung of Earth on his victory in the Urmi system, others were looking for comments or information about the Trillian and Composite ships which had disappeared. I ignored those requests, much like the many letters from galactic news networks requesting a lengthy interview from one of the few Reserve Fleet captains to survive the battle in the Urmi system.

I got around fifty messages from traders, including clandestine ones who for some reason believed the Kung of Earth would be interested in their “unique” merchandise. There were a few hundred messages requesting loans of money, or help resettling far from the war. I also got five hundred letters from players of all kinds of races wishing to join my cruiser crew or, much more frequently, the Relict Faction. I ignored those messages because the Diplomat, Mage Diviner and I had agreed not to take on any clanless loners — it was too much drudgery to check them all and not allow undesirables through.

I even got a confession of love and marriage offer from a young lady from a tiny free Human colony called Yuro-Prio, which was located on the edge of known space. The thirteen-year-old girl wrote that her people’s tradition forbid women from showing their faces to anyone but their future husband, but she was so certain I would like her that she was sending me pictures. I didn’t even open the attached photos or videos (as if I didn’t have enough people accusing me of corrupting the youth), but I did take down the name of the Human colony and its location. Independent settlements as a rule did not last long and sooner or later came under vassalage of one of the great spacefaring races or were simply conquered. I would have to have my diplomat get in touch with the leadership of that space colony. The people would be better off with Earth and my faction protecting them than becoming slaves to the Meleyephatians or whoever else.

But overall there were not that many useful messages, and they got lost in a sea of worthless spam. And so, tired of sifting through trash, I decided to let Gerd Luana work as my secretary and filter through the stream of letters, sending me only the truly interesting ones so I wouldn’t waste any more of my precious time. That was exactly what I was thinking while I skimmed through the messages, deleting most of them straight away. I just about missed one message from a player with an unfamiliar name, but it was actually important.

“Kung Gnat, this is to inform you of the tragic demise of the Wise Vaa. My old friend was in charge of searching for Krong Maa on Poko-Poko station, and seemingly tracked him down. Killing a Morphian, especially one so cautious and experienced as the Wise Vaa is a very difficult task, but it was done both professionally and knowledgably. The murderer’s tracks lead back to Earth. Seemingly, the traitor Morphian embarked for the Army of Earth training camp with a large group of Human troopers. I am going with them. Find me there. I told the rest of my friends to go into hiding. There simply are not enough Morphians left to risk our very last survivors.”

* * *

MY CONCERNS ABOUT THE ancient cruiser proved unfounded. She was being guarded by five Flycatchers, a Warhawk, and two Pyros, along with a whole swarm of symbiotes swirling around in space. I counted up at least thirty of the plasma clusters. A local security service shuttle, circling three miles away from my starship was also chasing off curious onlookers who flew up on shuttles and yachts for a firsthand glimpse of the Kung of Earth’s unusual black starship.

Nearly my whole crew was waiting to meet me in the shuttle hangar. The boarding team, including all hundred Alpha Iseyek were even standing at attention in tight formation. And while I stood there trying to figure out why they were giving their captain such a lavish welcome, Gerd T’yu-Pan the boarding team leader stepped out in front. With a hand over his heart, he gave a crisp military-style report:

“Kung Gnat, the crew is assembled. There were no incidents on the ship during your absence.”

Something wasn’t adding up... My return to the ship was never met with such pomp before. I looked around for Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez, who I could hardly see behind the troops, and mentally asked her what the point of all this officious treatment was. In response, the little sorceress started smiling and responded mentally.

“The crew is trying to make up for the fact they got arrested in Novosibirsk. They got too wild celebrating the victory at Urmi. They were throwing money around, bought out all the booze at some shop and treated anyone who was interested, threw a dance party on the riverbank, then took a swim. And that was when the police intervened. They had to bring in thirty-busloads of cops. That was of course a whole scene. Especially when they tried to classify the Trillians, Geckho, and Iseyek and check their documents. But better have them tell you.”

I turned to look at the huge Shocktroop, who shrank noticeably under my gaze, realizing I was already aware of the crew’s earthbound adventures.

“Glad to hear there were no incidents on the ship. But would you mind telling me what went down on Earth?”

“Ah... that...” the magocratic world native turned to his comrades in search of support, and Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest stepped forward.

“Captain, we were just following your order to ‘go wild for the next four ummi!’ We were having a lot of fun and...” the former army chaplain stumbled, trying to find the right words, “got a bit carried away. I think the people of Novosibirsk enjoyed it. Seven thousand of them came out to join us. They took pictures with the aliens and had fun. Children even rode around on the praying mantises’ backs. Our good times ended, though, in a police lockup. They charged us with disturbing the peace and holding an unauthorized gathering.”

I frowned. The last thing I wanted was a conflict with the authorities and the risk of losing the faction base in Novosibirsk. However, based on Ivan Svyatodukh’s retelling, it wasn’t all that bad.

“The cops let the aliens go almost right away, but Uline Tar stayed with us and tried to fight for our rights even though she doesn’t speak a word of Russian and could hardly stay on her feet. The Trillians didn’t even get taken in, because at the first sign of trouble, they jumped off a big bridge and swam down the river back to base. But the Humans got interrogated for a long time. And the only ones with proper documents were me, Sveta Vereshchagina, Dmitry Zheltov, and Eduard Boyko. Kisly got held for a long time because he didn’t have any ID, but in the end, they let him go, too. But the Imperials, Germans, and magocratic world natives were fined for illegally crossing the border without a visa and threatened with deportation.”

There I couldn’t hold back my laughter because it painted a very vivid picture of Novosibirsk cops trying to find a starship headed for Tesse or the Throne World.

“So, how’d it end?” I asked once I’d finished laughing.

“The mayor drove up all in a lather... or maybe governor, I wasn’t totally sure,” the Priest shrugged. “The real world is after all not the game, and we couldn’t see any character data. But he’s definitely a player, captain. He even greeted Uline Tar in Geckho, called her by name and kissed her outstretched paw. Along with him came some military bigwigs. They spent ten minutes lecturing the police brass, and we were let go immediately. They even apologized and promised to issue documents to all faction members legalizing their stays in Russia. Honestly though, they asked us to avoid attracting that kind of attention again.”

Oh well. All’s well that ends well. I gave them the “at ease,” and they went back to their bunks, adding that I had no problem with their little party. But still, like the Novosibirsk police, I asked them not to turn their next outing into town into a big event for thousands of city dwellers.

A minute later, I was left with only Gerd Ayni, Gerd Imran (who had not taken part in the merrymaking in Novosibirsk because his real-world exit point was in Pa-lin-thu, in the First Directory), the two Trillians Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh and Amati-Kuis Ursssh, as well as Gerd Eda-No Edeyya the Cleopian.

First to speak was Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh.

“Captain, do not think of us Trillians as cowards. Amati-Kuis and I did not flee when we saw the people with shields and clubs. We went underwater and observed. We were ready to help if things turned nasty. But nobody resisted, and they let themselves be taken, so we swam away. Earth is at war with the Trillians, so my wife and I did not want to be captured.”

“Captured?” I chuckled unhappily.

“As I’m sure you’ve realized, most Earth Humans have no idea aliens even exist. Those cops had never seen a Trillian before, much less heard about Earth’s war with your kingdom. They would have let you go with the rest.”

“Maybe so. Still, there was no harm in taking precautions. But that wasn’t what I wanted to say. Amati-Kuis Ursssh and I have given it careful thought and come to a joint decision. You are an excellent captain, Kung Gnat! Lucky and brave, and most importantly you treat your underlings well and take care of them. There isn’t a better employer in the galaxy. We want to stay on Team Gnat, and will continue to serve you faithfully, captain!”

Both Trillians bowed their huge toothy heads in respect. Well, I was glad to hear their kind words and decision — it must have been very hard with their captain an enemy of the Trillian race, but that made it seem more conscious and genuine. The thoughts of both Trillians also confirmed that. I didn’t have to worry about betrayal from them. At the very least as long as I didn’t launch a campaign against their kind.

I dismissed the Trillians and turned to Gerd Imran. The Arbiter didn’t say anything out loud but looked me straight in the eyes to offer a mental conversation.

“Captain, Trillian King Hugo the First was back in the game for a while. The Navigator and I tried to determine his location. Apparently, Hugo the First is on a starship and constantly travelling between the Trillian Kingdom’s central systems, not staying anywhere for long. And as soon as you sent a message saying you were on a shuttle flying to your cruiser, Hugo the First exited the game. It might just be a coincidence, though.”

And though it might have been a coincidence, it looked a lot like the cautious ruler of the Trillian race was watching when I was in the game and knew I was able to triangulate his coordinates, and that my cruiser could travel instantly to anywhere. I thanked Gerd Imran for the information and turned to the Cleopian Historian who was waiting patiently for a chance to chat. Gerd Eda-No Edeyya said nothing, pointing her branch arms significantly at the Listener and Gladiator.

“It’s fine, Gerd Eda-No Edeyya. I trust Imran and Ayni completely, so you can speak openly.”

“If you say so, Captain Gnat. I came to say I’ve completed your mission. I visited the Syam Tro VII refuge, scouted things out and came back in one piece.”

Great news! I was about to pepper the Cleopian Historian with questions such as the atmospheric composition in the ancient refuge, temperature, lighting, and other things, but first of all if there were any of the dangerous invar near the virt pod columns. But... I asked another question, because I noticed a very important change in the Cleopian’s description.

“You switched faction?”

It was odd to see a member of my crew in the Light Green Faction instead of Relict, having a neutral gray marker on the mini map instead of a blue or green one for a factionmate or ally.

“Yes, captain. There have been big changes on my homeworld of Serpea. We’ve lost another ‘king for an ummi,’ the third in the last twenty days and the Cleopian throne is now vacant. There are many claimants, but they’re all keeping a low profile. In an age of chaos and change, taking the throne is the easy part. Holding onto it is where things get complicated. But I think I can do it! I had a talk with supporters of my late father, and they all assured me they would have my back. The time has come to take back my rightful throne of Serpea and its inhabited rings! And so, I changed faction to the initial Light Green, and in a few ummi, after things are settled with other high-profile players, I will become Leng of a faction containing two million player subjects.”

Settled? As far as I knew about Cleopian political conflict, that meant physical annihilation. I wonder what Gerd Eda-No Edeyya had to offer his father’s old friends to make them all so eager to help her get rid of the other high-profile Light Green Faction players and their claims to the throne. And meanwhile, the Historian made her offer to her potential allies right after returning from the ancient Relict refuge, probably packed full of artifacts and invaluable technologies...

It didn’t take an Einstein or Gerd Jarg’s Analyst abilities to add this up to the right answer. Gerd Eda-No Edeyya was offering the treasures of the Syam Tro VII refuge for aid in the political struggle, and perhaps the chance for her supporters to personally move to the ancient refuge! And meanwhile, she’d done it all behind my back, clearly not considering who had sent her to the ancient structure as a mere scout!

Nevertheless, I didn’t get indignant or show that I had guessed at my underling’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering. Instead, I asked the Cleopian to tell me what she saw in the Syam Tro VII refuge.

Based on Gerd Eda-No Edeyya’s enthusiasm, I could tell right away it had made a big impression, and that she couldn’t wait to share what she’d seen. Eda-No’s retelling started with her virt pod, which was in a shadowy hall on one of the innumerable columns, fairly high above the water, and thus she could exit freely without the risk of drowning. And that, by the way, was a key aspect for me. I hadn’t told her, but the virt pod I gave her was right next to mine, or at least their numbers were in sequence. And that meant I could go relatively safely.

The air composition was suitable for breathing. She had spotted predatory invar, but only from afar, swimming in dark water far below and not presenting a threat. The spiral staircase was old and slippery, and the lighting in the virt pod room was faint, but enough to get around. And up on higher levels there was a well-lit corridor leading to a room with offline electronic systems of unclear purpose. Unfortunately, that was as far as she could go. The doors were locked, and a forcefield stopped her from reaching a glowing terminal visible in the distance. She had to go back to the column hall even though it had lots of ruined stairways and bridges, and she had to poke around for a bit in passages and corridors that ended in dead ends or locked doors. A huge three-dimensional labyrinth...

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred ninety-five!

The message jumped in when I expressed a desire to visit it myself after I’d been listening to the Cleopian’s tale for a while. I tensed up instantly even though I again tried not to reveal how upset I was. Seemingly, the Historian did not want to share the treasures of the ancient Relict base with her captain and was planning to obstruct me in all kinds of ways. In essence, I had let the fox into the henhouse. Or you might say I let a Historian into a treasure trove of ancient knowledge and artifacts. Now, Gerd Eda-No Edeyya was plotting against the refuge’s legal owner, and all the treasures within. She was maybe even thinking how to quietly get rid of me over there.

And meanwhile, Gerd Eda-No Edeyya just kept going, making sketches of what she’d seen on the screen of a large tablet including a corridor diagram, and even the mouth of an invar. And all the while, the Historian kept saying that I needed to be patient and give her a little time. Because she only needed seven or eight ummi to check everything before giving her final conclusion on whether a Human could safely visit the ancient refuge.

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred eighty-five!

Even without the popup message, I understood perfectly well she was trying to deceive me. But for some reason, Gerd Eda-No Edeyya needed a two-day head start. Why? Now that I did not understand, and I couldn’t read it from the Historian’s thoughts either — Cleopians were hard to use psionics on in general, which was the reason the Meleyephatians were unable to find the Cleopian Krong’s treasure and used harsh torture methods to extract the information.

But now that the dastardly Gerd Eda-No Edeyya was trying to convince me to wait seven or eight ummi, I absolutely could not afford to wait! I had to exit my virt pod in the Syam Tro VII refuge right away to see the situation with my own eyes. I thanked the Historian for the interesting tale, asked her to bring back more information about the virt pod hall and neighboring rooms after her next visit, then headed into my captain’s bunk.

Chapter 24. Unarmed Man

MY STARSHIP WAS IN SPACE. Everything around was a red zone, meaning my character would not disappear in the game. I had no idea how long I’d be spending in the real world, but all that time my unmoving body would be vulnerable in the game that bends reality. Uncontrolled characters in red zones could be robbed, crippled, murdered, or even kidnapped. What if I reentered the game to find myself at my rez point, or even worse on the Universal Evil’s torture rack. Not a sunny prospect, especially considering I had yet to find the traitor in my ranks, or what kind of information they were sending. I always had to remember to stay safe, even on board my very own starship and in my very own bunk.

Only me, Gerd Uline Tar, Leng Valeri, and Gerd Ayni had the keys to the captain’s bunk. I trusted all three of them implicitly and didn’t block their keycards even though I couldn’t imagine what they might want in my bunk while my game avatar was inactive. Nevertheless, to put my mind at ease, I had the five Small Relict Guard Drones active, protecting my body with an instruction to kill anyone (other than the three aforementioned crew members) that might try to enter my cabin. Beyond that, I ordered Gerd T’yu-Pan to have two boarding team troopers posted at my door along with a pair of Alpha Iseyek. How’s that for paranoia? The boarding team leader looked at me very strangely when he got that order and even asked if we were expecting an attack or attempted capture of the cruiser.

But no, I was not expecting an attack even though deep down I was anxious. Still, my troubled state was caused less by the game than the need to leave it to a dangerous location, which had been forgotten and abandoned for many millenia. To be wearing nothing but a thin track suit, and not have my impenetrable ancient Devourer armor to protect me from danger and even stop time. And empty-handed, without my trusty old Annihilator. Nevertheless, I made up my mind and was not planning to back down. I laid down in bed in my bunk and selected “Exit Game” in the menu.

* * *

WITH A SOFT CLICK, the ancient virt pod unlocked and the top slowly slid aside. I was expecting the dim light Gerd Eda-No Edeyya described, but it was actually completely adequate, though a bit shadowy. Cleopians must have needed brighter light to navigate clearly. For Humans or Relicts, this was fine. Furthermore, my character in the game had high Perception, which gave me sharp vision in the real world as well.

I stood up, looked around, and even sniffed the air. I was breathing freely. There was enough oxygen despite the fact I could clearly smell swampy stagnant water below. Gravity was noticeably lower in the refuge as well, which I would estimate at 0.7 to 0.8 Gs. The temperature was between fifty-five and sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Cool, especially if standing still, but there was no need to worry about freezing to death either.

As far as the eye could see, all around were rows of identical tall dark columns with thousands and thousands of virt pods attached. Not all of them were intact, I also saw a lot of broken ones. And seemingly, they had not been ravaged by time. Someone had smashed them and broken them off their fixtures. The walls of the columns also bore traces that looked very much like laser beam marks, or Annihilator shots. But no matter what happened here, it happened a very, very long time ago and as evidence of that there was a thick layer of rust on all the railings and column walls, as well as a metal floor also covered in a layer of rust that had turned to dust and crumbled underfoot. The black plastic of my virt pod, polished to a mirror shine on more recently produced units, had gone dim with time and was covered in a web of cracks.

The air was humid. Distant objects were very hazy due to the perspiration coming up from below, while the walls got completely lost in the billowing haze. The swampy smell grew more and more distinct, the sulfur even made my head spin. I walked carefully over to the railing and looked down. The water wasn’t all that far below my virt pod, just fifty feet or so. Dark, inky, with lots of bubbles appearing and popping on its surface, and a huge number of mucky clods drifting around. They must have been dark green algae, or some other kind of plant life. And seemingly, that decaying plant life was the source of the unpleasant boggy aroma.

There was no way to make it closer to the water — the metal spiral staircase down was collapsed, with only traces of fixtures on the column wall remaining. Still, I could easily climb higher. And another thing... while going around the thick column, I noticed large, six-toed footprints on the floor. There were particularly many of them next to the neighboring virt pod. Gerd Eda-No Edeyya must have stepped into some mud and left tracks everywhere. So, that was her virt pod.

A thought flickered by to smash the dastardly Cleopian’s pod so she couldn’t return to the Syam Tro VII refuge in order to avoid a possible conflict with the dangerous alien creature. But I restrained myself. First of all, my concerns about Gerd Eda-No were still unfounded suspicions, not confirmed by any real facts. Secondly, I simply had no way of breaking through the hard plastic. No tools, not even a sharp rock or piece of railing. And so, I left the Cleopian’s virt pod alone and went up the spiral staircase, at times squealing underfoot as if about to collapse.

“Sector Six. Level 334. Residential zone. Board. To Sector Five.”

The half-eroded words were written in a green and yellow luminescent ink on a darkened wall, while the arrow below the messages pointed to a metal bridge leading to a neighboring column. Unfortunately, it was collapsed, so there was no way over. But I didn’t let that get me down, because I had already seen the brightly lit passage described by the Historian several levels higher.

Crap... I slipped on something on the stairs and practically broke my leg. So, this was what Gerd Eda-No Edeyya had stepped in! The liquid was sticky, covered in oily blotches and looking like old motor oil. Where did that come from? Had it leaked out of some decaying basin, and not evaporated or thickened over the millenia? Or was this what Cleopian feces looked like? No, this had to be some kind of mechanical liquid leaking down through a hole in the wall. From a fresh opening made in the inch-thick metal with a sharp spear or more likely body spike. That was where the leak looked to be coming from. Which I became all the more certain of when I discovered more “feces” a few levels higher and cautiously stepped over it.

* * *

I SPENT TWO HOURS, maybe more, in the round room with nonfunctioning instruments the Historian had told me about. I looked at the words and equipment on the walls, trying to figure out the purpose of the whole complicated ancient technology, pulling on levers and pushing keys. I spent a long time pacing next to the locked door. And then, I solved the riddle, fired up the equipment and unlocked the door! It wasn’t easy, and without knowing Relict or understanding their data transfer structures, I’d never have managed, but all that mattered was that I’d achieved my goal!

The offline screens switched on, though they weren’t much good because my Human eyes couldn’t perceive data at such a high framerate with several image layers interposed on top of one another. I did something else. I mentally called up the control program, which was managing the Syam Tro VII Refuge in the absence of players. Yes, this was the real world, and my game skills didn’t always work properly, but I was able to establish two-way communication.

“I am Kung Gnat the Devourer, Hierarch of the Relict Pyramid. You summoned me and transferred the Syam Tro VII refuge’s virt pods to my faction so my subjects could come here. I sent a few players in, but then decided to come to your aid myself.”

“You have my gratitude, Kung Gnat the Hierarch for heeding my call! I have been awaiting this glorious day for thousands of tongs. Now the rebirth of the Syam Tro VII refuge may begin! All data I have access to, all passwords and locks, all equipment in the refuge is at your complete disposal, Devourer!”

“I’d be more comfortable with you controlling all the instruments and technology. I will simply tell you what needs doing.”

“I defer to your will and wisdom, Devourer, and thank you for putting your trust in me! How would you like to begin restoring the Syam Tro VII refuge? Pump out the water? Turn on air filtration? Turn on main reactor? Activate defensive systems? Open Pyramid Contact Hall? Take down camouflage field?”

Could I really do all that? I was practically jumping for joy but got myself together and responded sternly.

“For starters, tell me what the player named Gerd Eda-No Edeyya did here a few ummi ago. Did you communicate with her?”

“Yes, Devourer. The player activated the command terminal on level 389, entered codes and confirmed their authority as a representative of the Pyramid Hierarch. A representative of yours, Devourer. The player requested a diagram of the entire refuge, and coordinates for the armory rooms. They donned an antigravity belt and flew around the hall, then went up to floor five hundred at the very top. In the armory, they took an Annihilator, along with twelve extra batteries for the weapon and belt. They returned to the terminal, activated the refuge’s virt pod command menu and transferred three hundred functioning Sector Six virt pods from operational reserve mode to personal control. Then returned to their virt pod. Fired the Annihilator at the invar in the water. After that, they laid down in their virt pod and left.”

Well, well! Gerd Eda-No Edeyya had hidden a lot from me, not mentioning her interaction with the command program, nor the things she had found. The Cleopian had become very mobile, armed herself, and taken over three hundred of the refuge’s virt pods. A whole Cleopian landing party would be here any minute now! I made it just in time. Another seven or eight ummi and I would have had three hundred deadly Cleopian troopers waiting for me, who even in the game were considered highly dangerous and practically unkillable, and here in the real world, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

“I sent the Cleopian here to scout. But I see now that she has ceased to obey the Relict Pyramid and may have even become an enemy. Override virt pod transfer order.”

No response followed. By all appearances, the control program was having trouble with that command.

“If that is impossible for some reason, just turn the virt pods off. Activate main reactor and after checking all systems, put it to full power. Activate pumps and drain water from the virt pod hall. Activate defensive systems... actually, no, disregard previous order. I’ll go have a talk with my ‘representative’ myself.”

* * *

THE WATER TOOK A VERY long time to drain. Over the next three hours, it only went down by twelve feet revealing the previously flooded level 327 with its virt pods, which were mostly smashed or opened and filled with muck. By my very approximate calculations, at this rate, it would take around two months to drain the huge hall completely. And probably even longer, because we would also have to think up a way to seal the holes the water seeped through in the first place, which were located far beneath the current water level.

Nevertheless, the volume of leaked water, and particularly its depth were of course impressive. Level one was almost a mile down! With such incredible pressure, even considering the weaker gravitation, the lowest virt pods had certainly been crushed to the point of unusability. Hundreds of thousands of virt pods were destroyed, and their Relict users were dead unless they had spent all that time in temporal capsules in the game.

I had already learned from the refuge’s control program that the flooding happened around seven thousand years ago. The layer of ice covering the artificial planetoid had slowly melted due to its proximity to the local star. And with every tong, there was more water. By now, the whole surface of the planetoid was a sea, while the hull of the ancient shelter had become like a diving bell located at great depth. And they still had air, even though a few inevitable leaks had happened. The invar had also played a part in the flooding of the refuge, having burrowed through the walls and outer dome in a few places, destroying the defensive structures and ancient equipment.

And there was a huge number of invar. Their lithe dark bodies raced through the water, though sometimes the predatory creatures stopped to stick their toothy snouts out of the water and stare at their Human visitor. With their many teeth and big, long heads, the invar looked like the monsters from the movie Alien, but the rest of their bodies were a letdown. They were small with short legs and the vertically flat tails of aquatic creatures. The invar were adapted for aquatic environments, and their agility on dry land was far from that of Lieutenant Ellen Ripley’s classic foe.

Now, dozens of not hundreds of invar had climbed up out of the water and were scrambling clumsily up the metal columns and spiral staircases to try and jump to the hexagonal antigravity platform hovering just thirty feet over the black surface. Having me so close was clearly driving the invar crazy, and they were trying actively to snatch their unwelcome intruder. Going down, then flying up high over the surface, or trying to jump onto the flying platform with metal elements sticking down over the water. So far, they had failed to sample human meat. But when one of them slammed into a tall metal stair and smashed its head, the other creatures didn’t hesitate to tear it to shreds in a matter of seconds. Cannibalism was seemingly business as usual to them.

The invar meanwhile seemed to communicate with one another and definitely tried to coordinate their actions at times. For example, they would form a raft with their bodies and have another invar jump off their backs or try and form pyramids to reach the antigravitational platform. It didn’t always work, but they definitely had the seeds of intelligence. And another thing... I could sense cautious attention on me, and even mental probing. Seemingly, deep in the dark dangerous waters there lived something other than invar, and whatever it was, it was watching me intently without revealing itself.

I meanwhile noticed something more interesting than the rampaging predators and the bubbles popping on the water’s surface. A spot broke away from a far column and came my way through the air, quickly growing larger and acquiring the shape of the Cleopian woman. Gerd Eda-No Edeyya was already quite skilled with the antigravity belt on her waist and was hovering fifteen feet away from me. Her body was covered in spines, which was clearly a combat transformation. In the upper right limb was an Annihilator ready to fire, and the Cleopian even had enough “fingers” to fit into the handle of the ancient weapon. Had she grown extra fingers on each hand for ease of firing? Praiseworthy precaution. A strange lens covered her lone large yellow eye. And the flat backpack on her back I knew well — the Tachyon Bender attached to the Listener and Devourer armor suits looked similar and created a time delay field.

Gerd Eda-No Edeyya spent a few seconds staring at me curiously, then said without hiding her disappointment.

“Is this it??? All you were able to find in this rich ancient refuge was a keyring and antigravity platform? And here I thought we’d have to fight and call up a support squad. You are a celebrated Free Captain after all! This isn’t even going to be fun...”

The Cleopian flew up a few feet closer and slowly raised the Annihilator in her wooden branch-like “arm,” aiming it straight at my forehead.

“Sorry, Kung Gnat, it’s nothing personal. I actually liked you as a captain...”

“Wait, just one question,” I said in a steady voice without the slightest fear staring straight into the Annihilator. “Were you the Trillian spy in my crew?”

“What?” my question seemed to catch the Cleopian off guard. “Of course not! Why would I spy for the Trillians? I of course hope to work with the Trillians when I become ruler of my race, but I have no ties to them now. Beyond that, I am hoping to shake them down for a billion crystals after I get rid of you.”

“So, it’s all a money issue? So cliche...” I shook my head in disappointment.

“That was your second question, Human. You said one! Anyway, I’ll tell you. No, it isn’t money, but no one would turn down a billion. It’s about the unlimited potential of this ancient refuge!” Gerd Eda-No Edeyya pointed around at the columns of the ancient hall with her gun arm. “These walls guarantee survival for my clan, my race. No matter what cataclysms may be rampaging on the outside, my loyal players and I will always be able to survive and respawn here in safety. And beyond that, this place has ancient knowledge, unsurpassed technology and weapons. The whole galaxy will have to reckon with my clan now! And so, I’d rather not have competition, which could get in the way of my grand plans!”

After that melodramatic outburst, Gerd Eda-No Edeyya pulled down on the trigger. Then she looked down at the Annihilator in her “hand” with surprise, checked the safety and tried to fire again. But she was just as unsuccessful.

“What, not working?” I asked with mock sympathy in my voice. “Shall I explain? It’s merely that your weapon is smarter than you. This ‘keychain’ as you put it not only opens all doors and turns on Syam Tro VII refuge equipment. It’s also the symbol of the Pyramid Hierarch, rightful ruler of these ancient halls and corridors. Oh... Nice try, but no!”

I looked curiously at the dozen four-inch-long sharp spikes hovering eighteen inches in front of my face.

“I saw the tracks from when you were training and stuck your spikes into the inch-thick steel sheets. And so I was ready for this attack. And I don’t even need a Tachyon Bender to stop objects flying at me. Your Psionics defense isn’t a particular barrier to me, either.”

The Cleopian Historian winced in pain when the Annihilator suddenly came to life, squeezing and snapping the fingers holding it, then broke out of her hand and flew to me. The Tachyon Bender was too valuable to lose, so I took it off and sent it after the gun. I also figured I could use her lens. And finally, the antigravity belt unclipped itself, bringing with it the ammo bag of nuclear batteries, then came in for a landing on my platform. The only thing stopping my would-be murderer from falling now was the power of my Telekinesis. Gerd Eda-No Edeyya was aware of that, so she was standing perfectly still staring at the invar gnashing their teeth below, afraid to make one wrong move.

“Captain Gnat, I beg you, please don’t! I can be of use! Remember, my father spoke of ancient bases in the torture chamber. I can share their coordinates with you!”

But I just shook my head no.

“That information already got you a new lease on life once, when I helped you escape the chamber of the dead. You’ve had more than enough time since then, and if you really were planning to share your knowledge, you would have done so long ago. And that ship has sailed. I now have access to the Pyramid’s knowledge base, which contains data on all ancient colonies, bases and outposts. So your information is useless to me...”

“But I... I...”

“I was kind to you, Gerd Eda-No Edeyya, but you were deceiving me the whole time and plotting behind my back. Today, you attempted to murder me, so you have no excuses now. On top of that,” I froze for a second recalling the Cleopian’s own words, “I’d rather not have competition, which could get in the way of my grand plans for the Syam Tro VII refuge.”

Gerd Eda-No Edeyya’s short scream ended in a splash, after which only foamy waves and quickly flickering black invar in the water served to mark the location of the traitor’s demise. Yes, the invar instantly devoured anything that fell into the water. And that could end up being a serious problem. Many stairways and passages between the columns were dilapidated, which was enough of a risk of accidents, and if anyone fell into the water, they would die. And so before sending any repair brigades to the Syam Tro VII refuge, I had to solve the invar problem.

After familiarizing myself with what I had available, the refuge command program told me the complex had all kinds of decontamination and cleaning systems, including a total organic life annihilation system in case of dangerous biological infection in any of the sectors. After a harsh dose of radiation to destroy peptide and hydrocarbon bonds, it would be completely sterile, not leaving even microbes or viruses alive. Still, here in the large hall, the water would absorb various kinds of radiation, reducing the effectiveness somewhat. But we could start with the other rooms, which were already dry, then deal with the flooded halls later...

“I beg you, don’t kill us! My kind will serve you faithfully, Sire, just don’t kill us!”

What?! I Practically screamed in surprise and looked around in search of the creature that sent me that mental message. There it is! An odd-looking invar was staring at me, half sticking out of the water. And it was noticeably smaller and lighter than the rest.

Chapter 25. Expanded Horde Council

A SIREN WAS BLASTING OUT on the ship. That was the first thing I noticed upon returning to the game. I instantly called up the cruiser’s control program to figure out what had happened during my absence. A second later, Paa Um-Um Paa the glowing Relict hologram appeared in my bunk.

“Devourer, the automatic hunters accompanying the Di-Pal-Yu 781 engaged a group of Composite cloakers which were trying to sneak up on us. There were a lot of them, and they were not scout ships. They were attempting to destroy the starship. So based on the algorithms dictating what to do in case of a credible threat of destruction, we left the Urmi system immediately and brought the cruiser to a random point in the Universe. Over the next four minutes, we performed another twenty-eight null transports to guarantee they were off our trail.”

“Wise decision, thank you. And where are we now?”

“An uninhabited system in the spiraliform galaxy GO-78912. Six hundred seventy-two million light years away from the Urmi system. We have been unable to detect any signs of intelligent life in the star system or any neighboring ones. The hunters also lost us.”

“We went pretty far away... Gerd Ayukh the Navigator is probably losing his mind trying to figure out where we warped to. I’ll reassure him. And I reckon we can turn off the siren.”

Finally, the discordant wailing sound faded out, bringing the bliss of silence. I turned on the loudspeaker, told the crew their captain was back, and called off the combat alert. I unlocked the bunk doors, walked out into the corridor and greeted Gerd Imran, Gerd Eduard Boyko, and the four Alpha Iseyek troopers guarding my bunk. I wanted to proceed to the bridge, but I found Gerd Jarg the Analyst hurrying my way on his stumpy little legs.

“Greetings, Captain Gnat, I wanted to remind you...” the six-legged armadillo suddenly fell silent midsentence, and a few seconds later changed topic. “Two exited the game. One returned. Well, it was fully expected. May I move into Gerd Eda-No Edeyya’s bunk, which is now empty?”

Gerd Eduard Boyko the Space Commando was first to digest what the space armadillo said, whistled and made a passing reference to someone’s mother. Then, all the other guards looked inquisitively at their captain, awaiting confirmation of what the Analyst said.

“You may take the bunk. Actually, wait a second. So you knew the Cleopian Historian would attack me and try to murder me?”

“After Gerd Eda-No Edeyya changed faction, I considered a conflict inevitable. The value of the ancient Relict refuge, apparently, was very high, and the Cleopian Historian had her own political ambitions. It’s also worth keeping in mind the one billion Geckho crystal bounty on your head. All that money clouded her mind.”

“And you didn’t warn your captain about the danger?!”

“My captain, you left the game too quickly and I simply was not able to reach you from the aft hangar for a personal conversation. And I didn’t think it right to broadcast my suspicions over the loudspeaker, because that might have provoked the Historian to exit even quicker, meaning you wouldn’t have had time to prepare. And meanwhile, attacking the Relict Hierarch on his own home turf when he’s ready for a fight is little different from suicide. I estimated the probability of you prevailing to be ninety-nine point three percent. Good chances. So I wasn’t worried.”

I thought about what he said and concluded that he was right, and I had nothing to really tell Gerd Jarg off for.

“Good. I’m calling an assembly in twenty minutes. I want all crew and escort ship captains in the central hall. I will tell them what I saw in the Syam Tro VII refuge myself, and about Gerd Eda-No Edeyya’s death in the spirit of full disclosure to avoid idle gossip.”

“One more thing, captain,” the Analyst stopped me. “I was rushing here for another reason. I wanted to remind you that the rulers of the Jargs have invited you to important negotiations a few times now. The invitation remains in force. But the situation in space is changing too quickly, so I was asked to tell you myself what the rulers of the Jargs wanted to say. In thirty-three ummi, an official announcement will go out to the entire galaxy that, in connection with the critical situation in the war with the Composite, Geckho State leader Krong Daveyesh-Pir is requesting military aid from Meleyephatian Horde leader Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz. And twelve ummi after that, an announcement will be made that the Geckho agree to become vassals of the Horde. And that will mean giving up a third of their territory to their Meleyephatian suzerains and other Horde members. The Geckho’s vassals then will also have new suzerains. And that means Earth and the Jargs will have new masters. In eleven Earth days, your current viceroy Gerd Kosta Dykhsh will give up his post to a representative of the Meleyephatian Horde.”

* * *

NOW THAT WAS SOME NEWS... It even overshadowed my story about what I saw in the ancient refuge and the Cleopian Historian’s perfidious attack. And that actually cheered me up, because I myself wasn’t yet totally clear on what happened in the Syam Tro VII refuge. The invar, which had been raised by the Relicts as food for millenia, had gained intelligence. Not all of them. On average, just one out of every twelve was capable of intelligent thought, and their level of development was only slightly beyond that of cavemen. The invar hadn’t invented writing, their mathematics hadn’t gone beyond adding and subtracting numbers lower than ten, they had no calendar, or concept of the passage of time. But still, the intelligent race had now learned to use the waterlogged virt pods to go to the “blessed, food-rich seas.” The invar had also learned to use primitive tools like sharpeners made out of the metal railings and make traps out of wire to catch aquatic life forms. They had developed language, and a few were even able to converse mentally. It was easy enough for me to rethink my plans to fully annihilate them from the refuge, but as for what to do with the intelligent aquatic race, I was still not sure.

Fortunately, no one in the crew had asked me the details of my talks with the invar. The situation with the Geckho and the shift in the historic balance of power was now of much greater interest, and that was exactly what the crew and escort ship captains were discussing. Gerd Uline Tar was furious, and the other Geckho in the crew supported her indignant outburst. Nevertheless, the initial “impossibles” quickly gave way to other words and emotions.

The Geckho really were losing the war with the Composite and denying that would be stupid. The First and Second Fleets were now nothing but memories. The Third Strike Fleet was still in fighting shape but had yet to reinforce with new ships after the end of the war between the Geckho and Meleyephatians. Under the command of Admiral Kung Waid Shishish there remained no more than fifteen hundred starships, many of which were in need of repair. The Fourth Fleet meanwhile had been withdrawn all the way to the Shiharsa system and been tasked with defending the capital at all costs and safeguarding the site of the first Geckho civilizations and their historic homeworld. And although Geckho politicians were competing to make the most valiant speeches, promises of thousands of new combat starships, and even some kind of “superweapon” which was supposedly already in the final testing stages and would quickly change the course of the war, I had a hard time believing any of it. Honestly, as far as I had seen, other than a battered Third Strike Fleet, a couple small vassal flotillas, Free Captains, mercenaries and private flotillas belonging to large clans, there was no one defending the Geckho star systems, and the Composite was essentially swallowing them up unopposed.

Furthermore, according to Gerd Jarg, what he told me was not just bare abstract calculation, unsupported by real facts. An agreement between the rulers of the Geckho and Meleyephatians had ALREADY been signed under top-secret circumstances, and the parties were now only waiting for Horde fleets to be stationed in Geckho space. Not only to protect Geckho star systems from the Composite or Trillians, but also to suppress rumblings in the population, or even open rebellion.

I didn’t ask the Jarg for his sources, because I remembered the agent who had once secured top-secret data about the Meleyephatian Horde’s condition for the Geckho. That source may still have been active and leaked this information. Still, many Jargs were employed as Analysts by the Geckho, so that could have been how the intel came down to me, as well. In any case, I had no cause to doubt what he said.

But what should I, Kung of Earth, do about it? Simply accept as a given Humanity’s new suzerains, and Earth’s new viceroy, who would be steering my home world’s politics and giving me orders? Or buck the decision and show everyone that Earth was completely independent and no longer needed caretaking and protection? The only problem then, I feared, was that everything had already been agreed upon in the upper echelons, and the great leaders wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about what us Humans thought. That was the most obvious option, and also explained the fact Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz had again refused me an audience. And the refusal came with no explanation, or timeframe for when the Horde leader would be willing to talk again.

“What will become of the Miyelonians then?” Gerd Ayni spoke up timidly after the long and stormy discussion, sounding forlorn and pitiful.

I turned to my tailed companion but said nothing. Couldn’t she see for herself? As soon as the Horde had gotten a handle on their new Geckho vassals and suppressed all hotbeds of resistance, the Miyelonians would be next in line. And the fate Horde leader Krong Laa had in store for them, whether as vassals, or as a violently enslaved race (Keetsie had good reason to talk about the grand-scale provocation that would break the ceasefire between the Miyelonians and Meleyephatians), I of course could not know. But I had no doubt that Horde leader Krong Laa would be powerful enough to enact his scheme. The Meleyephatians occupied a dominant position in this part of the galaxy, while the Miyelonian fleet made for a pitiful sight after the grueling battle of Urmi. The Meleyephatians meanwhile didn’t even have to finish off the remaining Miyelonian ships. It was enough to simply withdraw the Horde’s ships, and the Trillians and Composite would do the rest.

Everyone understood that perfectly. It pained me to even look at Gerd Ayni. My normally lively companion was just so down. But I didn’t console her, instead asking the Listener to come with me to the Pyramid Contact Hall, while Orun Va-Mart the Engineer setup a possible broadcast to the Expanded Horde Council. Having been appointed by Krong Laa himself as Viceroy of Tailax, I was a member of the “Expanded Council,” consisting of one hundred eighty-seven Meleyephatian vassals and territories. And seemingly, now was the time to give my first speech in that capacity.

* * *

CALLING IN WAS NO PROBLEM, and my right to attend, and even speak at the big meeting were confirmed by the organizers. Gerd Ayni was a bit harder — Tailax was only supposed to send one representative, Kung Gnat the Human. But I explained the Human throat was anatomically ill suited to pronounce Meleyephatian due to its many high-frequency sounds, so I needed her as translator. My pride as ruler of Earth and Kung status prevented me from making a fool of myself by trying to squeeze out such sounds. And so, my trusty assistant Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Miyelonian would translate, herself an expert speaker of Meleyephatian. The argument was accepted, and we were authorized, receiving access to the schedule of speeches, the ability to comment to other orators and express approval or refusal of any laws or initiatives proposed by the Horde.

I fairly quickly figured out the function set and made a request to speak. I gathered my courage and thoughts, ran a hand through my hair and my companion’s orange bangs, then ran back through the main theses of my big speech. However... a minute passed, then another. Then five, and still I wasn’t given the floor. Either something was wrong, or I had missed something. I had to dig into the additional tabs and hints.

Are you kidding me? I didn’t know enough swearwords to express my frustration when I found out that I was number three thousand six hundred forty-seven in a long line of speech requests. And although the Expanded Horde Council was held every day, one session typically comprised three or four speeches, five at most, so I would have to wait four Earth years for my turn, possibly even longer.

While I cooled off and digested my diplomatic failure, I looked around at the Expanded Horde Council. Other than me, there were practically no real leaders, with their seats instead occupied by appointed representatives, as a rule with the classes of Diplomat or Orator. Psionics were seemingly not welcome. But the kaleidoscope of races was dizzying! Slimeballs and winged creatures, aquatic aliens with lots of legs, gas-filled glowing spheres, balls of darkness, and transparent things I could barely make out. There were also Humans, and the Gilvar Syndicate representative, a woman, was entitled to eight votes, even though Tailax had just one. As an aside, eight votes was nowhere near the record. The Merchant Federation had eleven. The Industrial Union, which comprised a large number of inhabited planets, had a whole twenty-five votes!

What was even discussed at the big meeting, what kinds of topics were of interest to Horde vassals? I skimmed through the list of upcoming speeches. Changing delivery quotas for mining equipment. Working out a standardized system for quantum communications. A dispute over the ownership of rare organic quasicrystal nodes. The ruler of a remote planet issuing a complaint about a Merchant Federation blockade. Hm... I’d never heard of that before. It would still be half a tong before the young ruler would have a chance to say their fill though, and by local standards, that was very quick.

In any case, there was no hope for a speedy resolution to urgent problems here at the Expanded Horde Council. Seemingly, this deeply bureaucratized structure was just a safety valve, allowing Horde vassals to blow off steam and settle conflicts among themselves. Truly important decisions were made by Meleyephatians at the Small Horde Council, where other races were not allowed.

Was this a pointless waste of time then? Honestly, there was still the option of making a speech in video conference mode, where I could invite the deputies to a separate virtual “discussion room.” After that, I could post the recordings for public perusal in hopes that someone at least would notice it. Just then, eleven Horde representatives did just that but, as far as I could see, it wasn’t a method of information dispersal that garnered much interest, and most were lucky to have an audience of two or three.

But still, it was a tool I had to try and make use of. Most important was to draw attention, and there I really gave it some effort.

“‘Krong Laa Walking into a Trap. Meleyephatian Horde Risks Downfall.’ Kung Gnat, is that really what you want to call your speech?” a large lemon-yellow Meleyephatian, clearly a moderator or civil servant appointed to maintain the peace, looked perplexed and even frightened.

“That’s exactly right. It’s a very real risk, and I would hate to feel responsible for not warning everyone while looking on the ruins of cities and planets scorched to ashes.”

Successful Authority check!

Successful Authority check!

Successful Fame check!

“Okay, Kung Gnat. A virtual discussion room for Horde representatives has been created. The Expanded Council has been informed of the topic. You may begin your speech.”

* * *

I MADE MY SPEECH IN Russian with Ayni translating. I started in the traditional way, so I wouldn’t go against regulation. I thanked Krong Laa for being appointed viceroy of Tailax, and the Expanded Horde Council for the chance to make a speech. I congratulated the Horde on its recent brilliant victories over the Composite in the Urmi, Delle, and GH-894 systems. And then I got to the main part.

I expressed admiration for the brilliant Strategist Krong Laa achieving such a dominant position for the Horde in the regions of the galaxy nearest my homeworld of Earth and expressed confidence that the Meleyephatian leader would go further than simply selflessly providing aid to great spacefaring races that had fallen on hard times. Now was the time to bring the Geckho and Miyelonians into the Horde’s sphere of influence. And there I pointed out the risk which may have slipped past the attention of even such a sophisticated and experienced Strategist as Krong Laa Ush-Vayzzz. The Miyelonians, without broadcasting it too widely, had gotten firm guarantees of military support from Emperor Georg the First, who had also sent Krong Keetsie Myau a note with his terms. I even quoted the emperor and asked my companion to confirm:

“Of course I will help your kind. Not because I like you, though that did have an impact on my decision, but for entirely concrete political reasons.”

Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu raised her paw and swore that she was personally present at the conversation, and the words really had come from the mouth of Human Emperor Kung Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle.

I looked on with satisfaction as the audience of my speech grew quickly. Eight. Seventeen. Twenty-nine. Forty-five... And I told everyone to think together. Why was it decided to keep the agreements between the Human Empire and Miyelonians a secret? Why had the Empire amassed a space fleet numbering over seventy thousand, including five superheavy ships, and why were they holding training sessions? Why had Georg the First sent his greatest fleet commanders to study the situation personally? And among the observers were Leng Nicole ton Savoia — chief of the Empire’s Headquarters, having fought the Horde three times and won in the very definition of a shutout. And Grand Admiral Leng Masss Azhzh had also been watching the battle in the Urmi system, and he was commander of the whole Swarm space force, and a loyal Imperial vassal. Meanwhile, the cloaked ships controlled by the grand admiral had been tracking not only the Trillians and Composite, but also the Meleyephatian Horde.

I saw only one answer to all those questions. The Empire was looking for a “casus belli,” as they said on my homeworld. A formal reason to declare war and violate the ceasefire already inked with the Meleyephatian Horde. Again, I quoted Georg the First:

“We need war! But despite all our aggression, Humans are honest and noble in their treatment of loyal allies and help them advance and grow stronger, even sacrificing their own lives to defend friends.”

Gerd Ayni again swore an oath and assured the audience, which was now at over one hundred, that I had quoted him faithfully word for word. I was very happy with the effect. Because, after all, I wanted everyone to think that the “friends” here were the Miyelonians. And let the Horde digest this new information.

“I would like to ask a question, Kung Gnat,” a huge bright red jellyfish floating in a water tank asked through a Universal Translator, the first response to my speech. He was the Diplomat of the Ooq-Mee race, as I read in his character sheet. “The Empire’s star systems are located quite far away. Three tongs’ journey from the Horde’s central systems, as far as I’m aware. Can we really take seriously a safety guarantee given by the Empire? By the time their starships get here, any military action will long have been over.”

“It would be a grave and very dangerous error to think the emperor’s starships would need much time to get here,” I objected, ready for that question in advance. “I spent a long time conversing with the former Imperial officers who joined my faction. And so, I know that during a war with the Blue House before he became emperor, Georg the First demonstrated an ability to move his fleet quickly even with enemy warp beacons offline. Georg’s armada also showed up at the Imperial Throne World suddenly after travelling one hundred times farther than thought possible in a single jump using hyperspace.”

I took a pause for the audience to catch up, then continued.

“I do not know the details of the technology, but it is somehow connected with scientific advancements of the ancient Mechanoid race. God of War, Georg the First’s gargantuan flagship is actually a living Mechanoid starship. And I can assure everyone here that Georg the First’s fleet could appear very quickly in any system Empire military ships have visited before. Meanwhile, let me remind you that an Imperial flotilla has already travelled via warp beacon into Meleyephatian Horde space, then within its borders almost to the very Earth. They made it just one hyperspace jump from the finish line, i.e., my home planet. Imperial combat ships have also visited the Union of Miyelonian Prides’ capital system of Urmi. You can also check the galactic atlas and find that for some reason the Empire has put in a request for the unremarkable GF-111K star system on the border of Geckho and Meleyephatian Horde space and was awarded the uninhabitable system. Georg the First has no doubt that he can reach it some way we do not comprehend. Consider that!”

“But if the Empire is so eager to start a war, why make a peace treaty with the Horde?”

The question came from the Gilvar Syndicate’s representative. When she shifted to sit more comfortably in front of the screen, I saw a set of opulent white wings behind her back. And they weren’t props, her wings really could move and were somehow attached to her spine around shoulder-blade level. A cybernetic modification? Or the result of genetic experiments on the Human body? I didn’t know, but they looked cool. I thanked the glamorous diplomat for her interesting question and tried to give a detailed answer.

“Emperor Georg the First is a genius Strategist, who has spent his entire life waging war and weaving intrigues. One hundred fifty space battles and not a single defeat. He went from an ordinary crown prince, over fiftieth in line to the Imperial throne, and climbed to the very heights of power. The man is an experienced player, who calculates his position on the political map many moves in advance. I think everyone will agree with that.”

One hundred eighty-six viewers. Apparently, all members of the Expanded Horde Council were now watching me. Even the man who was supposed to be making a speech at the council had come into my “room” after all the others. And no one was saying a thing or expressing doubt about Georg the First’s talents.

“And think for yourself. Why would he declare war on the Horde with a powerful fleet on the other side of the border headed by Krong Laa the most experienced Meleyephatian Horde fleet commander? And so we have peace, and our biggest enemy removed their ships, got pulled into the war with the Composite, and can no longer return to the Empire’s borders so quickly. And if even one of the warp beacons in the long chain goes offline, all the Meleyephatian Horde’s distant territories will be left undefended. All we can do is set a trap using a tasty morsel of Miyelonian space and wait to see if Krong La Ush-Vayzzz takes the bait. And if anyone wants to point to your peace treaty and doubts that the Empire would use the Horde’s aggression against the Union of Miyelonian Prides as an excuse to ignore that treaty, I have one statistic for you. The Empire has gone to war with fifty-two of fifty-six known intelligent species in space, and completely exterminated twenty of them. Never forget those frightening figures, and do not give Georg the First an excuse to wipe your species off the political map.”

Chapter 26. A Call for Mutiny

THE EMOTIONAL SPEECH in the Expanded Horde Council wiped me out as if I’d been nonstop swinging a heavy pickaxe for two days. I had almost zero Endurance Points left, and I was seriously worried by the fact they were taking longer than normal to come back. I needed to get good rest. But I couldn’t go to sleep just then, because responses to my speech were still coming in, and it had caused quite the stir on the news. Various influential players were commenting on whether it would be possible for war to break out between the Meleyephatian Horde and the Empire. Whole governments made official statements assuring Krong Laa of their support. I was called a messenger, a savior, a provocateur, but still no one doubted me. I was even expecting a long-distance call from the Horde leader to clear up a few details, but Krong Laa was still unavailable and refused to meet with me. At any rate, I had already finished the main part: my warning about the Horde being in for serious trouble if they attacked the Miyelonians was being discussed throughout the galaxy, and it had clearly already been brought to Krong Laa’s attention.

And so, I was lying in a massage chair in the gym where Geckho-sized Priest Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh was massaging my back and legs with his strong hands. All around were the clang of metal, and war cries. That was the boarding team under Svetlana Vereshchagina’s close supervision pumping iron, doing strength training, and sparring two-on-two. Svetlana herself, to her massive disappointment, was not taking part because her leg had been badly injured. It was a shin fracture, and even Gerd Mau-La’s healing nanites were unable to fix it, meaning five days’ rest, and definitely no more sparring in the ring. The Assassin, mad as a fury and wearing a cast on her right leg, was sitting on a bench and watching intently to make sure nobody was goofing off.

Gerd Luana came to give a report after observing the training process and my massage for a while. After that, it was announced that she also wanted to take part in the exercises.

“And what would be the point?” Svetlana Vereshchagina was in a very bad mood and not hiding it. “You are a robot and can’t improve your characteristics. You can’t fight, either. You’ll just be distracting the men from exercising with your curves and provocative clothing, which will rip as soon as you lean or sit down. So no.”

Luana was indeed wearing a paper-thin form-fitting black bodysuit, which revealed even the slightest curves on her flawless feminine body. But she also was not planning on backing down after just one refusal.

“I have living flesh on a carbon-fiber frame. And real muscles like everyone else in this room. Yes, due to my hardcoded limitations, I will not be able to hit back, but I could still withstand blows and feel pain. My physical capabilities are really little different from those of living Humans. And I promise to make sure my clothes stay in one piece. Come on, Captain Gnat, tell her!”

“Luana is just as much a crew member as everyone else. Let her train,” I finally stood up from the couch, threw a robe on my overheated body and thanked the Priest for the massage. It put me into a more relaxed frame of mind, and my weariness abated. “What did you want to say, Luana?”

The android leaned over and said with a smile.

“Captain, I wanted to remind you that the battleship Bride of Chaos will be arriving to Earth in nine hours with the escort ships. Perhaps as Kung of Earth, you would like to personally welcome your ships after the long voyage. Also, I found a message in your inbox I was unable to classify on my own. It may be nothing, but it might be important. It’s just one sentence: ‘From temple to temple,’ followed by a series of digits. They look like a date, time, and coordinates in Miyelonian numerals. And I checked. The player who supposedly sent the message does not exist.”

I took the tablet from my secretary’s hands and looked at the odd message myself. Someone had scheduled a meeting in space with me in six ummi. From temple to temple? A hint that we’d met in a temple. The Temple of the Great First Female? I seemed to know precisely who had written the mysterious letter.

“Any idea about the coordinates?” I looked up and she nodded.

“An empty star system, Y-129 on the border between the Meleyephatian Horde and Miyelonian Space. Uninhabited. No planets, just a big asteroid belt. The coordinates point somewhere inside the asteroid field.”

I see. Looks like Krong Keetsie Myau wanted to remind me of my promise to take her to the Temple of the Dawn of Life and was rushing me to fulfill it. What else? Gerd Luana for some reason hadn’t gone anywhere, and with the tablet in her hands looked to be expecting something out of me. I tracked where the synthetic blonde’s finger was pointing and read the message. Woah... My robot secretary had not said it out loud in front of the rest of the crew but, ten minutes ago, a one billion three hundred million Geckho crystal deposit had come into my wallet. And I knew just what that was, as well.

* * *

ONE BILLION THREE HUNDRED million! And that was without considering the nearly two hundred million I got a few days before from taxes from Tailax. I had never had such an incredible amount of money before, and it would have been enough to buy out my home planet from the Geckho. How could I sleep now, with the history of the galaxy being written? I needed to get to action so Humanity wouldn’t miss its historic chance. But before going to the next set of highly important long-distance negotiations, I had to prepare.

How are my Gnat’s stats doing? I opened my character sheet.

Kung Gnat. Human. Relict Faction.

Level-172 Devourer

Statistics:

Strength

14

Agility

18

Intelligence

39 + 9

Perception

35

Constitution

19

Luck modifier

+3

Controlled drones

5 of 5

Parameters:

Hitpoints

5532 of 5532

Endurance points

705 of 4022

Magic points

9015 of 15752

Carrying capacity

62 lbs. + 26 lbs.

Fame

172

Authority

174

Skills:

Electronics

132 * ability to see weak points and errors in electronic systems

Scanning

126 * Find hiding spots, traps and anomalies

Cartography

125 * See rare items

Astrolinguistics

155 * Understand written language faster, Comprehend visual messages

Rifles

81

Medium Armor

124 * +10% armor suit forcefield capacity, +10% shield restore speed

Eagle Eye

144 * +20% visual range.

Sharpshooter

72

Targeting

109 * Lock on to targets quicker

Danger Sense

196 * Reduce enemy skill effectiveness, earlier danger warnings

Psionic

250 * +30% psionic attack power, ability to form link with other mages, mana expenditure halved against weaker opponents

Mental Fortitude

199 * Control several targets at once, increased psionic attack defense

Machine Control

170 * +1 controlled drone, +3% hack chance

Mysticism

165 * +20% magic points, +20% restore speed

Telekinesis

100 * ATTENTION!!! You may take your first specialization

Training

105 * ATTENTION!!! You may take your first specialization

Disorientation

78

Tenacity

41

Athletics

39

Diplomacy

87

Teleportation

20

Frenzy

21 (36)

Time Stoppage

18 (33)

Life Suppression

4 (19)

Attention!!! You have chosen 24 of 25 available skills at level 172

Attention!!! You have 14 unspent skill points

Since my voluntary imprisonment in the Temple of the Great First Female, I had brought up a few skills quite a lot, particularly Diplomacy. And the same skill I had brought up during the speech before the Expanded Horde Council, as well as my Authority and Fame figures. Beyond that, while actively training with Keetsie Myau, I was forced to invest five points each in Telekinesis and Mental Fortitude. Now, I had to admit, I felt bad I was in such a rush, because with a cooler head I might have spent the valuable skill points another way. But what was done was done.

Two skills — Training and Telekinesis — had hit level one hundred or higher, and now I could choose their first specializations. With Training, everything was extremely simple. Making my character gain skill levels faster looked like the most useful option to me. But Telekinesis gave me pause. What would be better? To increase range by 50%, increase maximum moveable mass by 33%, or reduce mana expenditure by 20%? They all sounded useful. After a minute of hesitation, I chose range.

I had another few skills I could bring up high enough to pick specializations using the fourteen free points I had saved up. Eagle Eye. Danger Sense. Mental Fortitude. And without a doubt, they were all necessary skills. But I did something else. Diplomacy!!! Thirteen of fourteen free points I placed there, because I needed badly to reach an agreement with a very difficult and hot-headed negotiation partner. So, level one hundred Diplomacy brought five possible specializations:

- Domination. +50% chance of forcing lower-level and/or -status players to submit or comply with player demands.

- Intimidation +30% chance of concluding treaties with factions/clans/governments if you have military superiority.

- Cooperation. +15% chance of reaching agreements with equal- or higher-status players.

- Loyalty. +10% chance of reaching an agreement amenable to your side with factions/clans/governments with military superiority over you.

- Unity. Doubles chance of reaching agreements with members of your own species.

I chose Cooperation. Recently, I was talking more and more with very powerful players, including the leaders of great spacefaring races, so that was definitely a bonus I could use.

After hesitating between Diplomacy and Mental Fortitude, I put my last free skill point into the latter, bringing it to two hundred. And as a nice little bonus, I took its third specialization “Immunity to Induced States.” From then on, no one could put any sort of Panic, Sleep, Exhaustion, Lust, Hunger, or Frenzy on my Gnat, or anything else like them. Had I gotten that specialization a bit earlier, Krong Keetsie Myau would not have been able to force me to sleep like she did in the Temple of the Great First Female.

And finally, I considered my very last twenty-fifth skill. Because time was passing, my character was levelling up over and over, but the free slot just remained unused and empty. I tried again to settle my long-term problem, again flipping through the skills available to me, of which there were two hundred and... again took nothing. There was just nothing of any real use to my Gnat! And it would have been stupid to fill it with something like Swimming, Farming, Quantum Physics, or Stealth. I could sense that none of those were for me, and the skill I truly needed would soon become available after I met some conditions.

Okay, I was ready. And as scared as I was to have this conversation, I couldn’t put it off any longer. I instructed senior Engineer Orun Va-Mart to put me through to the commander of the Geckho Third Strike Fleet, Kung Waid Shishish, and proceeded into the Pyramid Contact Hall.

* * *

HE ANSWERED MY CALL, which was a good sign all on its own. After all, it took a certain courage to speak one-on-one with someone who could kill IRL in the game, and not all high-profile players were up for the risk. However, Kung Waid Shishish was in a very tired and peevish state, which I immediately noticed. The fleet commander’s exoskeleton armor was covered in dents from shrapnel, but still Kung Waid Shishish had not taken it off for our long-distance talks. That bore eloquent witness to the difficult situation the Geckho ships now found themselves in. The Composite was pushing hard, there were constant space battles, and the battered Third Strike Fleet had been forced to retreat.

“Gnat, if you’ve come to intercede on behalf of your deadbeat subordinate, your efforts are in vain. Your Human expressed disrespect to his suzerains. The punishment is just, I will not grant a pardon.”

“What?” it took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. “Ah, the former head of the Human-23 Faction and his foolish arrogance. No, Vinogradov the Academic has already been replaced by someone more intelligent, and the fine the Geckho imposed, as far as I know, has already been paid by the Earth faction. I consider the incident settled. I came to discuss more important events relating more to the Geckho than us.”

“Then get on with it. Because I have another battle with the Composite coming up, and the Meleyephatians keep sneaking into my fleet’s zone of responsibility, violating our borders and ignoring all messages from my ships.”

Woah... Looks like the commander of the Third Strike Fleet was not made aware of the political arrangement between the Geckho and the Meleyephatian Horde. That was both good and bad. The bad part was that the proud and hot-headed commander would react violently to the shocking news, which was not hard to predict. And as the messenger of that bad news, I was going to have to bear the brunt of the almighty master of Earth’s rage. On the other hand, that made it possible for me to have a talk with Kung Waid Shishish as frankly as possible, without excessive pledges of loyalty or looking back at the Geckho ruler.

“Commander, I just so happen to have intel about why Meleyephatian Horde ships have come to Geckho space.”

I didn’t dance around it and told him directly about the secret deal between the rulers of the great spacefaring races. Loss of independence, vassalage. Giving up a third of their territory. And all vassal races. I was expecting an outburst of emotions, furious shouting, or even threats to destroy me along with my home planet for so discrediting the great Krong Daveyesh-Pir. But the storm never came. Instead, Kung Waid Shishish arched a brow and demanded I name my source. I didn’t give up my Analyst and his race, instead claiming to have access to that information as a member of the Expanded Horde Council.

“Oh yeah, you went and befriended the Meleyephatians, that’s right,” flickers of simmering rage lit up in his eyes. “You serve the Miyelonians as well. Tell me just one thing, Human. Why are your starships defending the Miyelonian capital rather than serving in the fleets of your race’s legal suzerains?”

Danger Sense skill increased to level one hundred ninety-seven!

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level two hundred one!

With every word, Kung Waid Shishish’s voice got louder, and by the end the outraged Geckho’s roar was deafening, making me feel compelled to bow. But I stood strong and even winced. My response, though daring, was completely frank:

“Maybe because Krong Keetsie Myau was a more skilled diplomat than Krong Daveyesh-Pir and was able to make a deal with a neighboring ruler for aid.”

I looked the enraged Geckho directly in the eyes and stared him down. I didn’t care if he took it as inappropriate behavior, or even a challenge, but I felt I had done nothing wrong, nor had the people of Earth. We had always done our duty to our suzerains faithfully. We paid our tribute, gave the Geckho their nodes, took part in joint military operations, pulled tens of thousands of Humans away from their jobs and sent them far away into the cosmos. Earth people had died on Un-Tau for our suzerains without once complaining that it was unfair.

Psionic skill increased to level two hundred fifty-one!

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred one!

The almighty Geckho broke eye contact first and shrank, all his warlike verve evaporated. Kung Waid Shishish spent ten seconds in silence, then said with a heavy sigh.

“You are correct, Human. You have performed your duty as vassals and served your suzerains faithfully. Humanity shares none of the blame for what has happened. Krong Daveyesh-Pir just got too haughty from past victories, overestimated our forces, and lost contact with reality. The Geckho have no more allies in space, and that is also a mistake on our ruler’s part. And now, our Krong has made a shameful agreement with our enemies. Perhaps Krong Daveyesh-Pir had no other choice, but it still pains me to admit that the pride of the Geckho race has been trampled. Although, that may be a way of avoiding another war with the Horde.”

It was odd to hear him say that. It made him sound more like a ruler than an impulsive fleet commander accustomed to relying on raw power. I could have agreed with what Kung Waid Shishish said, and he then would have made peace with the inevitable. But I decided to remain honest, not hiding the bitter truth as I had seen it.

“The Geckho are not likely to avoid conflict with the Horde. Winston Churchill, a Human ruler from the past once said: ‘The government had to choose between war and shame. They chose shame. They will get war too.’ Because it’s obvious that the Meleyephatian Horde won’t stop there, not least of all because the Geckho will remain too powerful and obstinate to be regular obedient vassals even after ceding so much. They will have enough votes in the Expanded Horde Council to dominate it and will thus have a controlling say over Horde policies, which the Meleyephatians will surely not allow. And so you will have to cede more territory and give in to ever more ultimatums. And so on and so on. Until the huge Geckho State is reduced to a few mere planets, which can no longer present a danger to the Horde.”

The mighty Geckho’s fearsome roar again cut into my ears, but that time his outrage was not directed at me.

“And what do you suggest, Human? After all, you must have started this difficult conversation for some reason.” Kung Waid Shishish was listening carefully, and I considered the time ripe to tell him not only my plans to buy out planet Earth, but also an idea I had just a minute before for how we could use the Third Strike Fleet and its commander to Earth’s advantage. It was a very dangerous and risky idea, which Geckho ruler Krong Daveyesh-Pir would never forgive me for, but it had every chance of working.

“There was once a similar situation on my home planet. A large and very proud government was forced to capitulate to the superior military of a neighboring country. But one general refused to submit, and his army continued resisting from remote areas. In his homeland, the general was declared a madman and a traitor — no one put any stock into his hopeless cause. But eventually, his enemy got bogged down in another war and was unable to commit enough forces to defeat the rebels. The troops sent to put down the uprising then refused to fight against their own countrymen and joined forces with the rebel general. Because despite all the propaganda, the common soldiers saw the rebel leader as a hero fighting for the independence of their shared homeland and wished him success. Then when the political situation changed, and the main enemy grew weak, the rebel general and his army took back control over the larger government and its capital. And he became their ruler, greeted jubilantly by his people.”

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred two!

“That is a dangerous tale, Human. And as a commander loyal to his ruler, I have no choice but to report it to my Krong. But I will not. You were always a friend to the Geckho and helped maintain our sense of pride unlike my ruler, who seems to have forgotten the very concept of honor. But still, I say we wrap this up before it goes too far.”

However, Kung Waid Shishish didn’t hang up. And spent a long time in silence, nearly a minute. Then, suddenly, he said that resisting would take resources. Docks to repair and build new starships. New recruits. Control, at least partial, over mass media. Material, ammunition, and weaponry. And just cash for necessary purchases. He had none of that now, and no hope for it to come in the future.

So, he was in no rush to flat out refuse to lead the resistance in Geckho space and had started giving the possibility serious consideration. Well, I tried to push him a bit further in the right direction.

“As a matter of fact, resources won’t be a problem. Planet Earth has been valued at one billion three hundred million Geckho crystals, and I as Kung of Earth am prepared to buy it out before the Horde appoints new masters.”

“Just one billion three hundred million?” the master of Earth straightened up, indignant. “My financial analyst has estimated the value of an inhabited and developed planet to be at least triple that!”

I could tell that was a lie. He had never before considered selling Earth and had no idea how much such an unusual asset would be worth. He was just trying to negotiate more favorable conditions.

“One billion three hundred million. It was the official price named by representatives of Krong Daveyesh-Pir. I am basing my price on that professional valuation,” I said with a calm voice, not giving in to the provocation or allowing myself to be drawn into bargaining. “And bear in mind, commander, that in just thirty ummi, your rights to my homeworld will be annulled, and I will be discussing a buyout with a representative of the Horde.”

In response, I got a roar of dismay, but Kung Waid Shishish did not try any more haggling.

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred three!

You have reached level one hundred seventy-three!

You have received three skill points!

I noted the pop-up game messages and continued convincing the stubborn, hard-headed man.

“It’s a huge amount, which could be used to buy a lot of things to repair your battered fleet. Four battleships. Or forty top-of-the-line cruisers. Or one hundred fifty combat frigates at cost. Then, the prideful Geckho won’t have to stay on the sidelines. They will support their defenders, so you will have funds to maintain the fleet. On top of that, Earth at least officially will not take a side, so we can always take in rebel ships for repair and deliver whatever you need regardless of possible blockades or embargoes.”

“Human, I need to think...” I saw his dead eyes light back up with enthusiasm. “Such difficult decisions require careful preparation and a clear plan of action. Negotiations with possible allies, viceroys, generals and admirals, too.”

“I understand the massive weight of responsibility this will require, so I will not insist on an immediate response. But proud Kung Waid Shishish, if you decide to fight for the honor of your species, send me a message with the subject line ‘Charles de Gaulle.’ That was the name of the disobedient general I told you about. And the same day, I will transfer the entire payment to buy out Earth to your representative. And remember, you have just thirty ummi to make a decision!”

After that, I signed off, leaving him to consider my offer.

Chapter 27. Earth’s Burgeoning Strength

I WAS IN EARTH ORBIT with my Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi waiting for the battleship Bride of Chaos to reach the Solar System along with thirty support ships. And in the meantime, we were inspecting the construction of the unfinished space station. Although it was not massive like Kasti-Utsh III or Poko-Poko, which were intended for hundreds of thousands or even millions of players to live on full time, and just a mobile space dock with several residential modules attached, the orbital construction was still a significant step on Earth’s path to expanding into space.

Some might laugh skeptically and say that Earth had space stations circling it even in the real world, and in a video game with alien races, advanced technology and starships, Humanity simply should have built something grander. And that may have been so. However, what it could provide was worth a lot — facilities to repair and service starships, a place for small ship crews to relax after patrols without having to land on their home planet, and a fifteen-to-twenty-minute improvement in how quickly Earth ships could get into combat positions if invaders came to the Solar System.

The repair dock itself, along with the equipment for it and the incredible number of cargo containers of materials anchored directly in space had been purchased by me on Tailax with personal funds and brought to Earth by transport ships belonging to my faction. For battleship-class ships, these docks were unsuitable, but cruisers and smaller class ships could easily repair and perform maintenance work here. So far, only the quarter-mile long frame of the repair docks was complete, but the senior brigadier of the construction workers — a wizened gray-haired Geckho with cybernetic prostheses in place of his left eye and left arm — swore it would be finished within eleven days. The recreation and residential sectors meanwhile were already assembled, pressurized and accepting visitors. The crews of starships in Earth orbit, including that of my Di-Pal-Yu 781 cruiser had already sampled the orbital restaurant Queen of the Sun, which offered tantalizing dishes and an excellent view of the virtual Earth below.

Two hundred miles away from the repair docks, there was another grand structure being built. A large orbital cargo terminal where goods brought in from throughout the galaxy would be automatically sorted, stored, and reloaded onto shuttles and automatic surface-near-space-class cargo antigravs. With time, an orbital elevator was also planned to go up to it and take over the majority of cargo transfers. But orbital elevators are very difficult and expensive to construct, so now we had Shiamirus shuttling goods back and forth from the planet, for which the terrestrial spaceport had already amassed a fleet numbering over twenty ships.

After a consultation with military and construction experts, we scrapped one planned space facility, deciding instead to hide it away deep underground in a cave system in the Harpy Cliffs node in Relict Faction territory. The experts said it was best to keep the production facility, which was going to fabricate Pyro and Warhawk frigates, away from prying eyes. I had bought licenses, blueprints and technology for the plants from Georg the First’s Empire, and Relict Faction industrialists had already confirmed that we could begin assembling starships one month after above-ground factories had started producing components.

Yes, all components of the combat frigates were being produced on Earth by the Relict Faction, even the hyperspace drives and forcefields. The only issue was that we lacked rare tantalum alloys, which were traditionally used to build all kinds of Imperial starships. We hadn’t yet found any tantalum deposits worth exploiting on Relict Faction territory and, as far as we could tell from watching trading positions, no terrestrial factions were bringing significant quantities of tantalum to the market.

Chief Constructor Gerd Alex Bobl even suggested we replace the hard-to-find tantalum alloys with cheaper and more available titanium, which wouldn’t have a critical impact on the frigates’ combat qualities. The only significant downsides would be lower speed in hyperspace jumps and a reduced maximum jump distance. The Chief Constructor meanwhile made reference to the corvettes our faction produced, which were unable to leave the Solar System, but had proven excellent in combat — no worse than Imperial frigates and, most importantly, were much cheaper to produce and did not require rare materials.

But I refused. Starships, in the sense of ships capable of travelling between the stars, were something Earth had very little of, and thus we had to strive for high quality in every unit, not try to save money on their combat or space travel capabilities. We could cover the lack of tantalum by purchasing it from our neighbors in space. If we wanted to build over two hundred of the modern frigates by the time the tong of safety had elapsed, Earth had to pay thirty million crystals. I considered that a very good price to secure fully-fledged home-grown combat starships for my planet, and I set aside some personal funds for the purpose. Gerd Uline Tar promised to settle the delivery problem herself and, if everything went smoothly, modern Pyro and Warhawk frigates would start joining Earth’s fleet very soon.

I also mentioned the health of my wife Gerd Minn-O La-Fin to my Chief Advisor. The Mage Diviner assured me that the crisis had passed, Princess Minn-O had already been released from the hospital and was in her palace on Pa-lin-thu. I was happy to hear that. But when I suggested inviting my wife to a big meeting of all terrestrial faction heads as ruler of the magocratic world’s First Directory, Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi’s face shifted, and he started making up a bunch of excuses. And although he may have been a highly talented Mage Diviner, he made a lousy actor. And thus his stubbornness not only put me on guard, it outraged me.

“What the heck?! I haven’t been allowed to see my legal wife for over two months now! I’m sick of hearing these constant lame excuses! And so, either Gerd Minn-O La-Fin attends the faction head meeting in three days, or she will be reduced in status to wayedda, and Leng Valeri-Urla will be made main wife. You got that, advisor? Tell that to Minn-O and make sure personally that my wife finally makes an appearance in public! If you cannot cope with such an elementary task, I swear I will find myself an advisor who can!”

Gerd Mac-Peu wanted to object as usual, but he locked eyes with me and saw for certain that this time the Kung of Earth was in an extremely serious mood and would not forgive disobedience. And so, the Mage Diviner made a respectful bow and promised that the ruler of the First Directory would attend the faction head assembly, and he would personally see to it.

What the heck is going on with Minn-O? I could sense something was being hidden from me. However, I was also reading his thoughts, so I saw clearly that he was absolutely loyal to me and the La-Fin Dynasty with me at its head. All his thoughts were directed at making the Relict Faction flourish alongside the ancient dynasty of mage rulers, and Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi would sooner die than betray me by working for some other ruler. He also wasn’t concealing any information about my wife’s health, and was giving me the full reports, so it was most likely the Princess that was not wanting to meet with me. And so I didn’t subject him to a harsh interrogation and, after reminding him again that Princess Minn-O had to appear at the big assembly of terrestrial faction heads, I moved on to the next important topic I wanted to discuss with my Chief Advisor.

I suggested in addition to the traditional rocket installations and laser turrets to reinforce Earth’s space defense facilities with a combat drone command center. It was to be a “miniature aircraft carrier” in stationary orbit with a forcefield capable of instantly releasing dozens if not hundreds of combat drones into outer space. I had taken the idea from the Miyelonians, who had used a mining barge in the battle of Urmi, refit as a drone-carrying starship. And despite its slapdash construction, it had proved itself very effective in battle against the Composite, having downed over ten small ships and holding out longer than many cruisers.

And if it was equipped with faster and deadlier drones? I was suggesting we build a Precursor hunter base in Earth orbit. Three hundred deadly satellites would be a serious counterweight to any potential aggression and make anyone think thrice about even coming near my home planet. And though the drone base couldn’t stop a truly powerful enemy such as the Trillian Royal Fleet or Composite Armada, it would certainly keep all kinds of riffraff and pirate raiders at bay.

My advisor was in complete agreement with me there, though he did note the danger of placing a large number of valuable satellites in one place. Destroying the drone command center with stealth bombers, or a sudden kamikaze frigate attack by the Composite would immediately mean Earth losing the unique and invaluable Precursor hunters. And so, the Mage Diviner suggested we keep the fact I now had three hundred symbiotes at my control a secret. And to not only put the best possible forcefield on the drone base, but also a camouflage field. Ideally, we could use the one taken off the Relict laboratory, if of course we could get it back in working order. Or in the worst case, we could use a cloaking system from a cruiser-class ship thanks to the drone base’s relatively small size.

My communicator gave a beep for an incoming message, then another a few seconds later. I had Gerd Luana filtering out spam, so any incoming messages had to be coming from someone I knew and be truly important. I switched on the screen.

“Gnat, I was not wrong. The Morphian traitor really is on Earth! My main body in the Army of Earth camp and double in the spaceport hotel were just taken out by a simultaneous attack. Only my reserve copy survived, which was hidden in a safe location. And I was not only unable to figure out how I was discovered, but in both cases I didn’t even notice the attackers. Kung Maa is cautious and very powerful. More powerful than me. So I’m going to need your help. Fox.”

“We must not kill the Morphian traitor no matter what! First, we have to interrogate him. He is the key to the secret location where two hundred young Morphians lie dormant in suspended animation — the last hope for the rebirth of my kind. Fox.”

The dangerous killer Morphian was on Earth?! There was a problem I would have preferred to avoid... There were over one hundred forty thousand troops training in the Army of Earth camp, and soon they would number over two hundred fifty thousand. Exposing the traitor Morphian in a group of that size would be a serious undertaking, particularly given that he could easily shapeshift and would have nothing to make him stand out from the crowd and demonstrate his true inhuman physical abilities. The only surefire way of exposing Morphians was a good Prospector Scanner, which required supplies, but the Morphian probably also knew that and would not agree to come near any metal tripods stuck into the ground. Then, even if we could expose him with scanning, he would quickly shapeshift again. Capturing such a dastardly creature would require unorthodox methods...

“The spaceport dispatcher tower is reporting that the ships have reached the Solar System!” The Chief Advisor’s exclamation pulled me away from thinking about the Morphian. I looked out into the inky blackness of space but couldn’t see the battleship or any other ships for that matter. They were most likely too far away, or behind Earth. Nevertheless, I breathed a sigh of relief. The fifty-day journey across half the galaxy was over, and the Fleet of Earth could receive its new ships. And most importantly, we now had a new flagship — the fearsome battleship Bride of Chaos!

A battleship is not merely a two-mile-long starship with powerful cannons, thick armor, and a forcefield with enormous capacity. It is an entirely different level of power. Cruisers couldn’t even hope to compare, much less frigates. Taking on a fleet containing a battleship was a task suited only for a larger fleet with a battleship or something heavier in its ranks. Only the great spacefaring races had fearsome indestructible battleships, and that meant that from now on, Earth had moved up to the category of serious player on the interstellar gameboard and could impose its will on weaker neighbors. For the record, the Gilvar Syndicate did not have any battleships in its fleet, though it did have a whole nine cruisers, and its fleet overall was three times larger than ours.

Chapter 28. The Hierarch’s Final Battle

“I’M PICKING UP A SIGNAL!” Gerd Ayukh the Navigator placed a marker inside the asteroid belt, dangerously close to the stones hurtling through space.

But I still couldn’t see any starships on the screen in that area, and the ancient cruiser’s scanning systems showed only rocks drifting through space ranging in size from a grain of sand to nearly half a mile across. The differential mass scanner, which detected objects of drastically different densities, also didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but these were far from ideal conditions for that. No signs of elevated radioactivity. Infrared background was standard. The neutron scanner couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary either.

“Seems to be a cloaked frigate,” I suggested and ordered a shuttle sent out to the origin point of the signal, which Copilot San-Doon Taki-Bu volunteered to pilot through the hazardous conditions.

It all felt a lot like a trap. I was not totally sure the meeting location coordinates had in fact come from Krong Keetsie Myau and not one of my many foes. And so I was on guard, and my alarm transferred onto those around me. A tense silence had taken hold on the bridge. However, no one in my crew knew why we were here, or why Kung Gnat suddenly left the event celebrating the Empire ships making it to Earth and headed for the unremarkable Y-129 star system. Yes, I was keeping this entire mission a secret even from my closest companions because I hadn’t forgotten for a single second that I had an unexposed Trillian spy in my crew. And now, I was tensely watching the big viewing screen along with the rest of the players on the bridge as a little dot travelled away from the cruiser toward a huge irregular rocky asteroid.

And then the shuttle reached the coordinates where something was still giving off radio pulses every five seconds. But we saw nothing. Not a single object.

“Captain, this is just a radio beacon,” I heard San-Doon’s voice in my headphones.

Was it a trap after all? But just then, on the dark surface of an asteroid drifting seven miles away from the beacon, a bright white flash lit up space. I zoomed in. A flare? Yes, that’s it. The tiny anthropomorphic figure wearing a light space suit was holding a pyrotechnic flare in her hand. And the figure was all alone, I couldn’t see any security at Krong Keetsie Myau’s side. And although there was most likely a cloaked Miyelonian frigate somewhere nearby keeping tabs on things, the fact she hadn’t brought her First Pride bodyguards demonstrated the highest level of trust on her part.

“San-Doon, pick up the passenger and maintain radio silence.”

The shuttle went into motion, made a tight turn and headed toward the glowing dot. Three minutes later, the tiny figure threw away the flare and climbed fearlessly into the shuttle that landed next to her. I went out to personally welcome our visitor and even made sure no one from the crew was hanging around in the shuttle bay. The incognito visit by the leader of a great race was not only a massive honor for us, but also a huge responsibility. If anything were to happen to her, especially now that she was the Great First Female, the Miyelonians would never forgive me.

Then, the doors into the airlock chamber slid aside and the small shuttle came in for a landing on a specially marked platform next to Tamara the Paladin, which was also in the hangar. I ordered San-Doon to stay where he was, then put down the shuttle’s gangway and opened the doors myself. The short figure wearing a light human spacesuit eagerly accepted my outstretched hand and came down the gangway. A mirrored helmet obscured her face, and I couldn’t see her character info either — the Great One must have been wearing a Null Ring or something else like it.

I even got a sneaking suspicion and ran a scan using the skill just to be sure. Nope, all fine. Inside the spacesuit really was my Miyelonian friend, even though any outside observer would see the captain’s visitor as just a Human woman. Scanning also exposed a powerful explosive charge attached to her belt. Not an excessive precaution, considering our dangerous times and the one-billion-Geckho-crystal bounty on her head. Krong Keetsie was ready to self-destruct at any moment and respawn somewhere safe.

She looked around, glanced with interest at the nearby Tamara the Paladin, which had its wings folded, then walked over to the cockpit of the shuttle and saw the pilot inside. San-Doon suddenly removed his helmet, took a big yawn and... fell asleep, slumping over in the pilot’s chair.

“He’s too curious. He kept trying to get me to say who I was the whole flight. So, he’s better off taking a two ummi nap, after which he won’t remember anything he saw. I’ll leave it up to you to come up with an explanation for your underling’s amnesia. I don’t like that surveillance camera on the ceiling, either. Turn it off, Human, and erase the footage of me!”

Krong Keetsie Myau was very jittery. I could sense it. And so I didn’t argue, and just switched the camera off. After that, I made a suggestion to the high profile Miyelonian.

“Everyone in the crew will know you as Gerd Annetta, a Theologian from the distant human colony of Yuro-Prio going on a pilgrimage to the Temple of the Dawn of Life. It won’t arouse suspicion, or any questions from the crew. And now, I say we go into the bunk where only Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu is now so you can feel completely safe and have a chat with your pal...”

“Gnat, I get along well with Ayni, but she’s too emotional. She cannot behave naturally around others and would expose me that way. Better just put me in an empty bunk if you have any on your ship. If not, I could just wait here in the hangar. The trip will be instant if I understand correctly.”

“The actual travel is instant, yes. In fact, I already gave the Navigator an order, and we are already outside the Un-Tau ice comet. But now I’ll need a bit of time to come to an agreement with the security of the Temple of the Dawn of Life for a group of pilgrims to visit the shrine. So let’s go to my bunk. You can wait there.”

I switched on the loudspeaker and announced that we had a passenger. A Theologian from the far-flung Yuro-Prio colony by the name of Annetta. It was important for Earth to establish diplomatic ties with every branch of the human race, so I asked everyone to be polite to our visitor and not pester her. I also warned them that Yuro-Prio followed a custom which forbid women from showing their faces to strangers. I asked the crew to be understanding and not make the same mistake as San-Doon, who kept prying and thus got stunned by our visitor.

As expected, the crew wasn’t particularly interested. Their famous captain was highly esteemed throughout the galaxy and was probably just conducting some intricate diplomatic game they didn’t understand and didn’t care to. No one even came out to look at the mysterious Theologian, and Krong Keetsie Myau and I proceeded to my bunk.

“I have goosebumps!” the Miyelonian stepped back in fear and even shouted when she saw the picture of Little Sister with burning eyes on my wall.

That just made me laugh.

“Oh Keetsie, you don’t understand the first thing about human art! But I don’t either. It has a unique story, it’s simply invaluable. It was painted by Leng Astra herself, the White Queen, as the emperor’s wife is known to their subjects. She had assistance painting it from my wayedda Leng Valeri-Urla, one of the sixteen prelates of Tailax, and it depicts her beloved pet Little Sister the Shadow Panther. I once asked my business partner Gerd Uline Tar, purely out of curiosity, how much the masterpiece was worth and, after a lot of researching, she answered that the picture was worth more to art collectors than the whole of planet Earth!”

“Wow...” the Great One sat down along the opposite wall, and even took off her helmet in order to get a better look at the terror-inducing image. And sat motionless like that for fifteen minutes while I made an agreement with temple complex security, her blue eyes glued to the picture and seemingly not even blinking.

And when I was done talking, I told her we had been granted permission to visit the Temple of the Dawn of Life and the Miyelonian ruler shuddered as if she had been hypnotized or awoken from a deep sleep. After that, she suddenly announced:

“Kung of Earth, I NEED that picture BADLY! Name your price! Money, ships, a planet suitable for Human habitation. I would even let you take my tail as a trophy because finally, after so many days of searching, I have seen a line of the probable future with a favorable outcome for the Miyelonians. If I can get this picture and personally meet the White Queen, the Miyelonian race has a chance of surviving. I need to study the lines more closely, but the picture and meeting Leng Astra are nonnegotiable.”

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level two hundred two!

Seemingly, Krong Keetsie had added some mental support to her emotional speech, but she didn’t get through to me. Nevertheless, I was plainly taken aback by her intensity and unexpected admission, having laid her cards out on the table and essentially backed herself into a corner. But I quickly came to my senses and didn’t make any demands. Instead, I just walked over to the wall, took down the painting and offered it to my guest as a gift. A second later, the big picture had disappeared into the small Miyelonian’s inventory. It looked odd, but the game allowed it.

“Thank you, Gnat, my friend! I owe you one. I’ll grant you one wish. Anything. I swear it!”

I nodded in silence, confirming I had heard the Great One’s oath, and taken it into consideration. After that, I asked Krong Keetsie to hurry up because our group of pilgrims had been given just one ummi to visit the Temple of the Dawn of Life, which was very little considering we still had to land, then walk the many mile passages between the halls of the ice temple.

* * *

I HAD MET THE UN-TAU garrison commander before, a Meleyephatian named Ovaz Ussh. But almost straight away, I was told that he had flown off seven days prior with all the starships protecting the shrine on Krong Laa’s orders. But as for who was now in charge of the temple garrison and sub-ice settlement, I had to admit I was unable to figure that out. Nevertheless, the Meleyephatians acted polite and confirmed that I was still allowed by arrangement to visit the Temple of the Dawn of Life with my companions.

But this time, we were not given an escort, though that was not a problem — the path down the corridors carved through ice was already marked out on my map, and I was not afraid to get lost in the labyrinth of dark tunnels. But an old problem of a different nature again cropped up. My entire crew with very rare exceptions was, to put it lightly, not exactly raring to visit Un-Tau even to get the skill bonuses. It sounded absurd and I could not understand, but on our last visit, I noticed that psionics were drawn like a magnet into the icy halls of the ancient temple, but players without psionic abilities found the atmosphere extremely oppressive, causing senseless fear and even at times clouding their minds.

The Meleyephatian that accompanied us, Leng Ovaz Ussh, said that pilgrims often lost their minds in the depths of the ice comet, experiencing a strange psionic pressure and feeling like invisible immortal spirits were watching them, as well as hearing demanding voices but not understanding a word of what was said. And so, despite the unique chance to improve skills, I didn’t insist that everyone visit the temple, and took only volunteers. With one lone exception: I needed Orun Va-Mart the Engineer in the temple so I could see if it was possible to restore the ancient retransmitter to working order, and so I had to convince the Miyelonian while he trembled in unfounded fear, promising a generous bonus payout, and even threatening serious trouble if he refused.

We came in for a landing on the comet in two shuttles right next to the entrance to the ice shrine. In the first shuttle were me, my bodyguard Gerd Imran the Arbiter, my personal assistant Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu the Listener, Orun Va-Mart the Engineer and the “captain’s mysterious quiet guest.” Surprisingly, neither Imran nor Ayni had magic abilities, but felt no fear and did not refuse a second visit to the Temple of the Dawn of Life.

The second shuttle contained Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest, brimming with enthusiasm, and our two little magesses: Leng Valeri the Beast Master and Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez the Investigator. Little Soia-Tan had visited the temple before, but this would be my wife’s first time. Along with that group went Gerd Tini Wi-Gnat the Secret Master, as well as Gerd Luana the android Translator, who expressed an unexpected desire to visit the ancient shrine. I had to admit, I first took the robot’s surprising request for a joke and even laughed. But the synthetic woman was completely serious, and we didn’t find anyone else who wanted to take her seat in the shuttle anyhow. Furthermore, I had a way to find an answer to a question posed seventy years ago by American fantasy writer Isaac Asimov: do robots dream? After all, the visions that came to pilgrims in the Temple of the Dawn of Life resembled dreams most of all. Vivid, memorable, but ending with a sudden reemergence from the semiconscious state.

All the downed Army of Earth tech had already been cleaned up, and there were essentially no reminders of the bloody battles that had taken place here two months ago. Our group made it down the dark icy corridors without incident into a huge cave which legend had it was the location of the dawn of life in the Universe.

Inside we found a group of twelve armed Meleyephatians in identical green spacesuits, but they all looked to be praying or in a trance and paid no attention to us. We stood somewhere a bit away from the temple guards so we wouldn’t interrupt their prayers and took a look around.

It was bright in the cave, even more so than last time, so we all turned off our flashlights. And that didn’t make it any darker. There were mushrooms phosphorescing and pulsating, colonies of yellow and pink mold glowing on the walls, and the whole surface of the deep lake was also covered in a layer of glowing yellow spores. A huge waterfall came gushing down from the ice ceiling, sending up multicolored spray on the rocks below and flowing into the lake in infinite little rivulets.

“That is just amazing!” “Gerd Annetta” said out loud in Miyelonian, unable to restrain herself. But seemingly no one noticed Krong Keetsie Myau’s slip-up because everyone was so enraptured with the beauty of it all, even those visiting the doubtlessly unusual place for the second time.

I was unable to see what happened on the shore of the lake after that because a vision came over me. The world flickered and went dark and, instead of the ice cave, I saw the metal walls of a large hall filled with bizarre machinery.

Over one hundred seventy ummi have passed since the attack began. The Pyramid has yet to send aid, but the enemies just keep coming. There seemed to be no end of them. I was hardly able to move my inhuman arms and legs, much less hold up my head. I also got the odd sense I was a female. All my children, my entire guard team, and all my trusty aids were dead. They had given me their lifeforce voluntarily. It was their duty to the Pyramid Hierarch, and they upheld it with honor. I drained the life out of them one after the next to restore the strength I needed to stand up against the invaders. The last one I killed was five ummi ago, my eldest daughter Le-a-a-Le, my favorite and a surprisingly talented girl. But she was not destined to be hierarch or join the list of Pyramid rulers.

And the enemies just kept coming. Precursor combat robots, ghastly monsters created by enemy geneticists, and barely intelligent but armed and dangerous creatures with no fear of death. The enemy kept throwing more forces into the assault with no regard for losses. Up on the surface, the fighting had already been over for sixty ummi. All the temple’s defenders were dead, as were the city dwellers. The enemy had captured the entire temple complex, and now was racing through the teleportation gateway to make it here into the underground base where only I remained — Kung Mogi-No-No-Mogi the Reality Administrator. The last defender, I was insanely tired and mad with grief after murdering five of my own children. But I was not going to surrender! Or allow the enemy to enter the Pyramid’s holiest of holies — the Realities Control Center. The place where my race had dictated its will to the Universe for thousands of tongs — where the Relicts created the lines of the future we used to rule the Universe!

And today, I would create my final handiwork. And it would be epic, worthy of mention in the Pyramid chronicles. The unstable star Lubaru would splash out all its power in a fiery prominence intensified by my rage and urge to kill! And in that flame, everything would die. All the Precursor starships and land forces would burn to ash. After such a firestorm, planet Lubaru II, which was already dry and hot, would become entirely uninhabitable. It would serve as a monument to me and my children. Because even at such a great depth, I would not be able to survive. I also could no longer flee into the real world, the Sio-Tro Ni III refuge had been destroyed by the enemy, and the change virt pod function was blocked. On top of that, I had no desire to remain alive after everything that had happened. Okay, no more wasting time. The enemy has captured the gateway hall. The time has come. I do not fear death. My only regret is that no one will ever know how I spent the last few moments of my life...

“Gnat, wake up! What is going on?” the voice was muted and faint, but still I could hear it.

I opened my eyes to find myself kneeling at the edge of the lake. My terrified wife Leng Valeri-Urla was standing over me shaking me by the shoulders. Oh... It felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. I just couldn’t escape the ghastly vision. Because I recognized the planet and location in my revelation. I had even seen the Realities Control Center in detail on the screen of my scanner! The teleportation gateway had been destroyed, so getting into the subterranean complex would be no easy feat. But the complex equipment located there had survived down the millenia and was in working order, because the Realities Control Center’s command program was still functioning. And that meant I had a new goal!

I reassured the Tailaxian and stood up. I even refused the extended hand. And though I was slightly shaken, the momentary weakness would soon pass.

Blessing of an unknown nature received. Power of all psionic abilities increased by seven percent. Will last either 10 tongs or until your first character death.

Attention!!! Your character’s Intelligence is not high enough to understand what is happening.

But the vision wasn’t the only reason to visit the ancient temple, the skill boosts were also nice. And I felt stronger than ever before! I was now overflowing with energy, my weakness had passed, and I felt like laughing and dancing for joy. But not everyone in my crew was feeling so nice.

Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest was next to me rambling incoherently and clutching his helmet with both hands. Imran, Orun Va-Mart, and Luana were trying to keep the giant man from falling into the water and bring him back to his senses. Gerd Ayni meanwhile was busy reassuring the “Theologian from the far-flung Yuro-Prio colony,” while the words she said to “Gerd Annetta” left no doubts that the Listener was perfectly aware of who she was really dealing with. I mentally ordered the Miyelonian to watch what she said, and the Listener confirmed that she understood.

“Shall we continue?” little Soia-Tan La-Varrez walked up to me boldly, puffing out her lips. Gerd Tini was with her, and also upset. Seemingly, this time the little Investigator and tailed Secret Master had not received revelations from the Temple of the Dawn of Life, which bothered them.

I looked at my companions. Ivan Svyatodukh had already come to and, his eyes bulging and red face soaked in sweat inside his transparent helmet, was nervously crossing himself. I had no idea what kinds of knowledge and visions might have visited the normally calm Priest, but Ivan Svyatodukh looked terrified. Keetsie had also come back around and was even hurrying me and the others along into the next hall of the icy Temple of the Dawn of Life. Because, as the Great One told me mentally: “I would happily have given up my tail for such knowledge!!!”

But I also got a worrying message from Gerd Ayukh the Navigator. The experienced Geckho sent an encrypted transmission to me saying he had detected the same uncanny pulse signal from the ice comet that we had connected with the Trillian spy in my crew. And that meant the traitor was one of the people who had come with me to the Temple of the Dawn of Life, and now the hostile Trillians were aware of the location of their target. And even though the enemy ships would need time to reach the Un-Tau star system, we could not afford to dawdle, so I ordered everyone to go deeper into the ice comet.

Chapter 29. New Fears

WE WENT DEEPER and deeper down the icy hallways. I didn’t feel any unpleasant sensations, and neither did most of the rest of the group. “Gerd Annetta” meanwhile was brimming with enthusiasm and bursting out ahead. I even had to ask her to wait up. But the Priest complained of a weight in his chest while his legs were still shaky, holding us all up. He said that every cell in his body could feel the billions of tons of black space ice overhead and they were squeezing him under their weight, trying to kill him. Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh was also bothered by a flickering light which made him have to cover his helmet with a hand and even walk with his eyes closed. I meanwhile had no idea what flickering light he was referring to. Everything around was dark, and the only illumination was from our flashlights. Was it maybe reflections off the icy walls and columns? But the Priest was offended by that suggestion.

“What, you don’t think I’ve seen ice before? No captain, this is something else. This location is rejecting me. It’s pushing me away and trying to kill me. It remembers that I came to Un-Tau as part of the Army of Earth and stormed the icy labyrinths. And so the vision was part of its attempt to shake my faith and weaken me...”

And finally we reached the tenth underground floor, which was where the Hall of Visions was located with the ancient Relict retransmitter column in the very center of a huge ice cave. I had grand plans for this hall, however... there was a religious ceremony being held there when we arrived. With their limbs folded under their abdomens and heads hung low, around seven hundred Meleyephatian pilgrims wearing baroque spacesuits were sitting directly on the ice and listening to a well-known Theologian from a renegade nest make a speech. We showed up in the middle of his sermon, so I couldn’t catch the thread of his speech about dancing stars, but my tailed companion Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu yet again shined with her erudition and told her ignorant captain what it was about.

“It is the eighth poem from Kung Rou Usssh’s Revelation, the fifteenth of seventeen holy scriptures for Meleyephatian renegades. Not all renegade nests recognize Kung Rou as a prophet, but here on Un-Tau, she is held in high esteem even now, sixty tongs after her life. There is a depiction of her on the wall,” Gerd Ayni pointed a glove at a huge bas relief carved into the ice.

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred forty-five!

Hey, I recognize that suit! The arachnid Priestess was wearing an ancient Relict armor suit refit for a Meleyephatian. And apparently, the Energy Armor Suit even had two modifications: a Tachyon Bender, and a Small Control Bracelet. I couldn’t totally comprehend how she was able to get permission to install modifications in the smart armor suit without contacting the Pyramid. Either the ancient armor suit’s software had been hacked by skilled Horde hackers or, which seemed more likely to me, the armor suit had been reduced to just that — armor — and its digital “stuffing” had simply been removed so the suit could be resized and upgraded.

Meanwhile, Krong Keetsie Myau, my wayedda Leng Valeri-Urla, and even the little sorceress Leng Soia-Tan had already received their blessings. Gerd Ayni, who had been speaking with me just thirty seconds before, fell to the floor where she was sitting with her eyes fixated and bulging. For some reason, the cosmos declined to give me its gift this time... What a pity. Still, on the other hand, before this I had gotten four blessings in a row, which was a huge amount, so I had to have some decency.

Along with Orun Va-Mart the Engineer, I walked up to the metal column in the middle of the hall. The Meleyephatian priest giving a speech, standing just ten feet away from the monument shot us an unhappy look, but didn’t stop us. The Miyelonian and I then walked a circle around the silvery column, and I pointed my glove at its pointy tip:

“See the deep dent up there? I scanned the chrono-particle stream retransmitter last time, and this time I did again. Most likely, the Meleyephatians were very sloppy when they were building the ice temple and thus damaged the fragile Relict technology. The leucosapphire lens is broken, and the two crystal chips located nearest the dent broke. What do you think, can it be fixed? Gerd Ayni has a clear picture of all the damage in her scanner, you can study it.”

Scanning skill increased to level one hundred twenty-seven!

Electronics skill increased to level one hundred thirty-four!

The Engineer stood there in contemplation, his whiskered head looking up at the column, then gave a somewhat off-color response.

“Ham-fisted savages! I mean whoever built this hall and bored the corridors so many tongs ago. Seriously, how hard did they hit the invaluable artifact to put such a dent in a thick layer of metal, and break the super-hard leucosapphire? Anyway, captain, pictures won’t be enough here. We’ll have to go up and look.”

The Miyelonian pounced up to the top of the thirty-foot monument (made possible by the 0.18 Gs of gravitation on the comet), ran a metal cable around the column and clipped on with a carabiner. He took out an electric screwdriver, changed the tip, then in a matter of seconds... removed the pyramidal silver cap from the column and threw it to me, then stuck the top half of his body inside the column, leaving just his magnetic-soled boots sticking out.

That was too much for the eight-legged priest, who stopped his speech and demanded an explanation in rather harsh terms, asking what we were doing to the ancient monument and why we were acting so brashly in a holy place.

Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred fifty-six!

I could easily understand what he said, and the call to immediately stop the madness and leave the holy temple. Now I just had to respond... I turned. My companion Gerd Ayni was still sitting stunned on the floor with bulging eyes, and so I summoned Gerd Luana to translate.

“Tell him I have been given permission by Leng Ovaz Ussh to visit the Temple of the Dawn of Life. He also asked me personally to take a look at the main holy relic in the Hall of Visions to see if we can fix it. On my last visit to the temple, I took measurements and scanned it, then studied the materials on similar devices in the galaxy. And this time I have brought a knowledgeable Engineer along to help. Orun Va-Mart is examining the damage to the invaluable relic and trying to see what he can do to repair it.”

Successful Fame check!

Successful Authority check!

The priest listened carefully to the translation, then took on a kindlier demeanor.

“Kung Gnat, I was not aware of your understandings with Leng Ovaz Ussh. However... is your assistant a Miyelonian? The Miyelonians have their own religion, quite a primitive faith in a mother with many children or something like that. The Miyelonian religion is based in primitive instinct and is abhorrent, repugnant to this holy place and is incompatible with it!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the incarnation of the Great First Female straighten up and clench her fists. Nevertheless, Krong Keetsie Myau had the good sense and caution not to get into a religious argument in a foreign nation’s temple, especially given that she was pretending to be a Human woman, so it would be strange if she waded into a theological argument on behalf of an alien race.

“Orun Va-Mart did not come here for sermons, or to advance any ideas which are foreign to this place. He is a talented Engineer, who has done a lot of work on Relict technology and has a better understanding of it than anyone else in the galaxy. I hope he will find a way to fix and activate your shrine, the true treasure of the Hall of Visions. But the job is going to be difficult, so I would ask you not to get in his way.”

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred four!

The eight-legged priest looked back at the Miyelonian Engineer with much greater respect, wished him luck, and got back to his sermon. We then waited for everyone who had received the Hall of Visions’ blessing to regain consciousness, had a quick talk, and decided to split up.

Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh stayed with the Engineer — the giant asked to stay behind, because his feet refused to carry him any deeper into the perplexing labyrinth of icy tunnels. Gerd Ayni stayed, too. First of all, if needed, she could translate for my companions. And second... my tailed friend hadn’t said so out loud, but she was looking so expressively at me that I figured it out on my own. The next room was the Hall of Fear, which had left Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu with deeply unpleasant memories last time. In fact, for a while after, she refused to sleep alone and kept waking up screaming, making me have to calm her down.

Oh well. If even her desire to accompany the ruler couldn’t overcome her superstitious terror of the Hall of Fear, I wasn’t going to torture Ayni by dragging her into the fearsome and unpleasant hall.

* * *

“UP AHEAD IS THE HALL of Fear,” I warned Gerd Annetta and everyone else. “It’s a very insidious place and has an unpredictable effect on the mind. Nasty things can happen in there. So take out all the grenades and explosives from your inventory and lay them here on the floor. Melee weapons, too. Take the batteries out of your laser pistols and Annihilators. Annetta, you should have a safety line clipped to either Gerd Imran in his heavy armored spacesuit, or to me. Otherwise, we won’t be able to catch you in the never-ending icy corridors if you lose your cool, and no one is immune to that here.”

I didn’t mention the fact that a psionic as powerful as her would take us all down in a matter of seconds if she truly lost control, but I had already invited Leng Valeri and Leng Soia-Tan to form a mind link just in case.

Successful Authority check!

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred five!

I was expecting Krong Keetsie to complain and possibly even refuse, because from the point of view of the ruler of the Union of Miyelonian Prides, disarming and tying her up, then having three psionics join forces against her looked a lot like a trap or an attempt to take her captive. But the Miyelonian agreed with surprising ease, set down all her weapons, and let us tie a cord to her belt and clip it onto Gerd Imran’s armored spacesuit. And then, she turned off her helmet light as I suggested, and headed into the darkness toward the tiny red spot flickering in the distance.

The Great One took eight or nine steps before I felt an unbearably painful premonition of disaster in my heart. So before things took a turn for the dangerous, I teleported over to Krong Keetsie and tried to grab her in my arms to hold her in place and keep her from doing something stupid.

Danger Sense skill increased to level two hundred four!

Eagle Eye skill increased to level one hundred forty-six!

Teleportation. skill increased to level twenty-one!

I was just a bit too late. My hands grabbed onto thin air. Just one second before, Keetsie made an instant burst toward her items at the entrance and was now holding a pair of razor-sharp blades glimmering with the magic overflowing from them. A second later, the safety line was cut, my ward Tini, who was closest of all was decapitated and the now mad Keetsie darted back into the darkness of the hall.

“Stay right there, you stupid bitch!!!” I shouted out, forgetting all her fancy titles. But in response, all I got was a bright blue triple lightning bolt, which struck me, Gerd Imran and Gerd Luana the android.

Medium Armor skill increased to level one hundred twenty-eight!

I stumbled, hardly able to stay on my feet, then looked with concern at my armor suit’s figures. The Devourer armor’s forcefield was down forty thousand points. One blow from the off-the-rails ruler had taken two thirds of my shield! Imran’s icon went fully gray, indicating that my faithful companion had died. Luana meanwhile somehow amazingly survived, though she was now writhing on the icy floor with electric shocks convulsing through her body.

But that was not all. Time suddenly stopped, and I saw a glimmering blade in midair a few inches away from my chest. I took one step to the side, let the blade sail past, then gave myself a five-second head start.

Time Stoppage skill increased to level nineteen!

Disorientation skill increased to level seventy-nine!

Frenzy skill increased to level twenty-three!

No, I did not kill our dangerous guest, and drain my now full Frenzy bar. Instead of landing the lethal blow, I used Telekinesis and tied up Krong Keetsie’s arms and legs with a seventy-foot length of steel cable with the few seconds I had left. And I just barely pulled it off.

Successful magic resistance check!

Mental Fortitude skill increased to level two hundred three!

Even wrapped up tight like a spool of thread, the Miyelonian didn’t stop attacking, but all her attempts to put me to sleep or hit me with negative effects ended in failure. As did the subsequent attempt to drain my Magic Points — yes, ten thousand mana was gone in five seconds, but my mental link instantly refilled my mana. I then couldn’t resist a heart-felt punch to the Great One’s helmet, knocking her out cold. After that, I picked up the Miyelonian’s limp body and laid it carefully out on the ice floor. Whew, that was a close call!

* * *

BY THAT POINT, IT WOULD have been stupid to try and keep hiding the fact that the captain’s secret guest was a Miyelonian. Leng Valeri-Urla and Leng Soia-Tan had read it in my thoughts already. Gerd Luana the android had guessed by the Miyelonian weaponry and telltale conduct in the fight, as well as the unusually powerful psionic abilities of the woman in the mirrored helmet, who required three linked psionics to take down, including a Kung and two Lengs. And even still we had trouble.

Stunned and tied up tight, Krong Keetsie Myau was lying at the exit. Gerd Imran and Gerd Tini’s bodies I set a bit further away — here in a yellow zone, they would disappear without a trace soon. No loot dropped from the Arbiter, and all that dropped from the Secret Master was the funny little pendant flowing with all colors of the rainbow, which he got from his childhood friend after reaching out to her. I picked up the bauble. And that led to the question of who else wanted to test out the Hall of Fear.

“I’m not going in there!” my wife Leng Valeri-Urla had a sudden change of heart after Krong Keetsie Myau’s episode, and no longer wanted to tempt fate.

Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez took the same position. After all, it was one thing when she was preparing for a duel with Georg the First’s Truth Seeker and whether she survived or not depended on the bonuses from the Temple of the Dawn of Life. But it was something else completely to meet her biggest fear face-to-face for no good reason, only to wake up in cold sweats for a long time after.

I was not opposed in principle to venturing out toward the red light, but the two women talked me out of it. What finally did it was them saying even the two of them together would not be able to subdue me, and what if I used my Devourer ability to kill them IRL?

“On top of that, captain, if you lose your mind and kill us, the ruler of the Union of Miyelonian Prides will be left here alone helpless, then might end up being captured by her foes.” That argument came from Gerd Luana, who then finished her speech in a surprising way. “And so, I’ll be going! Androids have hardcoded behavioral restrictions. For example, our bodies must be kept safe from harm. But we also have no fears! And so, experiencing an authentic human emotion such as fear would be highly instructive!”

Gerd Luana stepped cautiously toward the distant light. And made it to the center of the hall without incident. She stood there for five seconds, then turned toward us, and waved encouragingly. And then she... fell!

Did she go offline? Our Meleyephatian escort Leng Ovaz Ussh told us last time that robots sometimes switched off and went out of order in the Hall of Death for incomprehensible reasons. But that was the ghastly Hall of Death, the very last room, where we were never planning to visit, not the Hall of Fear! I waited for a minute, but the android didn’t stir. I tried to flip the switch on her right temple with Telekinesis to reset her operating system. No use. The switch worked, changing position, but she just never activated. And pulling her back with Telekinesis also didn’t work. Gerd Luana’s spacesuit seemed to have caught on something, so all my attempts to move her body were in vain. Should I pull her back with a rope?

But somewhere deep down, I already knew that no tricks were going to work, and I would have to go on my own. The Hall of Fear was calling out to me, inviting me to an encounter with my very worst fear. And it would have been rude to refuse the invitation. So, I took a decisive step forward.

Chapter 30. To Reverse the Inevitable

“MY HUSBAND, STOP!” my frightened wayedda tried to talk sense into me, but I had already made up my mind and was not planning to back down.

Seven steps. Ten. Fifteen. I made it to within three steps of Luana’s body. And that was when it happened. The dark hall disappeared, and my eyes were seared blind.

Where am I? Is this the magocratic world? Yes, there can be no doubts. The architecture gave it away. There was also the unmistakable skyline of Pa-lin-thu, capital of the First Directory, which I had seen before in pictures and during a speech I gave to my subjects. And now I was looking down on Pa-lin-thu from the window of a tall tower. I don’t know why I put my game exit point on the alternate version of Earth, or why I came here, but I must have had a good reason. And seemingly, it was something sad, because I saw La-Fin dynasty flags flying at half-mast on every building in the huge city.

Then, I heard a door open behind me and turned around slowly. Eight large men clad in dark robes carried into the room and placed in the middle on a special pedestal a heavy crystal coffin. And inside, I saw my wife Princess Minn-O La-Fin with her eyes closed. The directory ruler’s diadem was sparkling in her short white hair, her ashen gray skin looking lighter, a shade more similar to that of her hair. Minn-O was dressed in a pearlescent ceremonial gown. At first, I even thought it was the dress I bought her in the far-off Empire. But no. The cut was similar, but the material was different. And there was no way of bringing objects from the virtual game into the real world. In her dead hands, Minn-O held a modest little bouquet of blue forget-me-nots.

“Ruler, Minn-O’s body is ready for burial...” Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi said with a quiet sorrowful voice, which pulled me out of the state of shock and let loose a stream of fury. I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air without the slightest effort. I was prepared to strangle the bastard or break his neck with my fingers.

“How did Minn-O end up dead? You’re a Mage Diviner, you could see all the lines of the future!!!”

He rasped and choked, then I loosened my grip to let him answer.

“Archmage Gnat La-Fin, that’s the thing. I could see all lines of the future. Her birth was going to be complicated, and only one could survive — either the mother or the child. And both I and other mages checked that fork of the lines of the probable future many times. There were no variants where both of them survived. And because your firstborn is necessary to Earth, the healers did everything they could to make sure he would live.”

My roar of fury echoed off the walls. At that moment, I practically snapped Mac-Peu Un-Roi’s spine.

“And how long have you known?”

“Four months, maybe more. We told Princess Minn-O about it two months ago. And she responded that she would do her duty and save the La-Fin dynasty, even if it cost her her life. That was why your wife refused to talk to you, sovereign. Princess Minn-O loved you deeply, but she was afraid that a psionic as experienced as you might read the terrible secret in her thoughts and do something foolish out of emotion.”

Yes, I never would have stood on the sidelines and waited patiently for my beautiful wife to die. I would have done everything in my power to change it. Not at the cost of my son’s life though, of course.

“How is the child?”

“Your son was born prematurely and is currently in an oxygen chamber under round-the-clock surveillance by the best doctors in the First Directory. The prognosis is favorable. The child will survive and be healthy.”

“What is his name?”

“His mother wanted him to be called Victor, which I believe translates to ‘Winner.’ Being a name from an alternate reality, it sounds exotic to people from the magocratic world. Minn-O also lacked the magical gift, so she had no right to give a name to a true mage. According to La-Fin dynasty law, the child must be named by the dynasty’s mightiest sorcerer. So the choice is yours, Archmage Gnat La-Fin.”

I gave no response, just turned my head and looked at the crystal coffin. Minn-O, why didn’t you say anything??? Why didn’t you tell me the truth two months ago??? I had enough time to find a way to fix it and save you, my love.

“Do not wallow in grief, sovereign. I have composed a list of eligible brides from among the most powerful magical dynasties of all sixteen Directories. Any of these beautiful women would be delighted to become your wife. Furthermore, I have found an interesting line of the probable future, where you take as a wife Emperor Georg the First’s eldest daughter, Crown Princess Likanna royl Georg ton Mesfelle. Likanna does not have the magical gift, but the emperor will give you a whole region of the Empire as dowry! Ah Minn-O... She was just a nobody with no abilities, essentially nothing but an incubator to birth a dynastic heir. You can always name your next starship after her...”

He never should have said that! Piece of shit!!! I clenched my fingers until they cracked, snapping the cynical Chief Advisor’s neck, then threw his lifeless body out of the one-hundred-seventieth floor window...

And found myself again kneeling in the dark Hall of Fear. My fingers were still clenching feverishly, snapping an invisible person’s neck. My heart was about to beat out of my ribcage, while the unbearable weight of the sorrow that fell upon me made me press my head to the ground.

Blessing of an unknown nature received. Power of all psionic abilities increased by fourteen percent. Will last either 10 tongs or until your first character death.

Attention!!! Your character’s Intelligence is not high enough to understand what is happening.

To hell with blessings and bonuses. I don’t care. My wife Minn-O died! My gorgeous and powerful one-time rival from the Dark Faction, who I had faced off against often, then fallen in love with and become as close as family. Minn-O had followed me into distant outer space and entrusted me with her life. I meanwhile repaid the gorgeous princess by abandoning her in her darkest hour surrounded by enemies and villains, who saw her as nothing more than a walking incubator and neglected to save her life. I will never forgive myself!

Although... wait! I shook my head hard to banish the heavy vision. It was just a warning, like the nightmare of the level-999 Devourer. Just a hint, showing me one possible future. But still, I had time to set things right!

* * *

I WALKED DOWN THE ICY corridor, carrying the still unconscious Miyelonian ruler on my shoulder. I didn’t tell anyone about my vision, but my two magically endowed companions could sense my mood perfectly well, so they couldn’t make up their minds to say anything to me, afraid to fall to a fit of rage. Gerd Luana then came back online as soon as I carried her body out of the Hall of Fear, and could read peoples’ emotions, so she didn’t break the silence either. However, someone did — Gerd Ayukh the Navigator sent me a private message.

“Captain, I’ve detected the signal again. This time, I was prepared and placed probes to triangulate the coordinates. It’s coming from Un-Tau. Uh... somewhere in a five-step radius from you.”

“Copy. I’ve determined the source. Thank you, Ayukh!”

And I had in fact determined who or rather what was spying on me. Tini’s pendant. I had checked the little medallion with Scanning twice and discovered some electronics concealed inside. But they were very basic, and all they could do was control the color and allow my ward to hear a recording of his friend’s voice. But it concealed a much darker reality. The simple-looking electronic circuit I had quickly deemed safe contained a hidden microscopic device which was much more intricate. I didn’t switch it off. The safest enemy is one who thinks they’ve got you where they want you.

“Smart. You can use this espionage device to send disinformation to Trillian intelligence.”

I carelessly tossed the metal-cable-tied body off my shoulder and said unhappily.

“Stop reading my thoughts, Keetsie! And now that you’re back to your senses, would you please walk on your own two and not ride on my back. And another thing, white kitty...” I thoughtlessly called the leader of the great spacefaring race a Human pet and got afraid that I might have seriously offended her. However, I still didn’t apologize. “You promised to grant me one wish. Now is the time. You know what I need.”

“I do. Well, Kung of Earth, I’ll take a look into the lines of the future. I also have to beg forgiveness for the incident in the Hall of Fear. I don’t remember what I did. I only read it from your companions’ thoughts. You’re lucky I didn’t kill you, Human. You’ve got good armor. You don’t have to give me back my blades. Let them serve as compensation for what I did to your Miyelonian ward. I apologize to your bodyguard and will pay a million crypto. I doubt he’ll remain offended. But, Human, how much longer am I gonna have to lay around like this? Untie me!”

My companions dashed over to untie the Miyelonian, but I stopped them.

“You’re acting a bit too compliant, Krong Keetsie Myau. You don’t seem like yourself. I’m not sure you really have come back to your senses. You sure you won’t attack us again as soon as we set you free? So for the sake of everyone’s nerves, I’m gonna keep you tied up a little while longer.”

I crouched down, tossed her back over my shoulder and kept going down the hallway. My companions exchanged surprised glances but hurried to catch up with me.

“What the heck?! How dare you, Human?!” the ruler continued indignantly, but I was uninterested and pressed on.

“Keetsie, please, don’t move and focus on your work. Because I have seen you reading the lines of the future before. You have to go into a trance, sitting motionless and dropping out of reality. You can’t do it while walking, so I’m basically helping you.”

“Gnat, are you... serious?” my living cargo asked in surprise, even somewhat afraid. “I promised of course, and the word of a Krong is inviolable, but... Are you seriously suggesting I check the lines of the future right now on your shoulder?”

“Of course. We have precious little time before a tragic outcome. Every ummi counts. And so, cut the chitchat and get to work, white kitty! By the way, it’s in your best interest to help me. Because I cannot protect the Miyelonians if all my thoughts are occupied by personal problems!”

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred six!

Diplomacy skill increased to level one hundred seven!

Authority increased to 175!

That must have been the Cooperation specialization to the Diplomacy skill, making it easier to get equal- or higher-level players to agree. Krong Keetsie Myau breathed a heavy sigh and fell silent, immersing herself into the Truth Seeker work.

* * *

WE DIDN’T SPEND MUCH time in the Hall of Visions even though I noticed that my Miyelonian Engineer had hit Gerd status and was carrying a big metal frame with a huge amount of computer chips and whole clusters of large multifaceted crystals along with Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest. Gerd Orun Va-Mart must have removed the damaged wiring from the chrono-particle stream retransmitter to repair on our ship. And seemingly, it was very heavy because even with such low gravity, one fifth of that on earth, my friends were having an obviously hard time with it.

I then was still carrying the ruler of the Union of Miyelonian Prides, who was out of it, so I couldn’t help. But I sent Gerd Luana and Leng Valeri while little Soia-Tan agreed to help without being asked. The three dainty women were of course a far cry from the twin brothers Vasha and Basha Tushihh, both of whom could carry half a ton, but still their support was very handy. The Meleyephatians then not only didn’t impede our taking the valuable equipment out of the Hall of Visions, they even bowed respectfully to the little Miyelonian Engineer wheezing with exertion, and wished him luck.

“Okay, I’m done,” twenty minutes after our group left the Hall of Visions, I got a mental message from Krong Keetsie Myau. “It is a stable, unalterable fork in probabilities. It has only two possible outcomes. Only the woman or her child can survive. There is no other option.”

“What the heck, Keetsie? You are a highly powerful Truth Seeker with massive experience and the highest possible status, and you still can’t see any more than a simple Gerd-rank Mage Diviner.”

“Don’t denigrate your Chief Advisor Gerd Mac-Peu Un-Roi’s abilities. He is highly talented and is easily among the top fifty players in the game in terms of his ability to read the lines of the probable future. By the way, seeing how you’re planning on killing him anyhow, could you maybe give him to me? Any ruler would be happy to have such a capable Mage Diviner.”

“Screw you, white kitty, you haven’t earned such a big gift. You’ll have to do without. But tell me, Keetsie, is there really no way of raising Minn-O’s survival chances by increasing her Constitution? Like putting on a ring in the game to improve it. Could you maybe quickly ratchet up her Authority and Fame so she can be a Leng and get the eight extra stat points that go with that? What do you say?”

“You haven’t understood the problem, Kung Gnat. Her stats are not the issue. If you increase Minn-O’s Constitution and chances of surviving the birth, by the same token you’d also be lowering the infant’s chance of being born alive. It’s either her or him, there are no other lines of the future there.”

“So, we’ll have to create one!” I barked out so loudly that even in the comet’s thin atmosphere, the echo rolled down the corridors. But then I got myself together and kept up the unheard mental conversation. “What do you know about the Reality Administrator skill, Keetsie? Because it just so happens to be able to create new lines of the probable future.”

She kept silent for a few seconds, clearly calling up a game hint about that skill and reading the information.

“My Human friend, don’t be foolish. The requirements for the skill are completely unattainable. Let’s say you can find players with Intelligence of fifty or higher. They exist in the galaxy, though there aren’t likely to be more than fifty. But the skill is useless without the corresponding reality alteration technology. The player must also come from one of the ancient races and have the highest possible status in the Relict Pyramid, or hierarchies of the Precursors and Mechanoids...” Krong Keetsie stopped midsentence, suddenly horrified by what she’d just realized. “Wait, Kung Gnat. Are you saying you have a free skill slot, know where to find Reality Administrator technology and meet the requirements, with the exception of the fifty Intelligence?”

“Yes, Humans are direct descendants of the Precursors, so my race is an ancient one. I also know where to find functioning Reality Administrator equipment. My character’s Intelligence ‘pure’ is thirty-nine, and with all my rings it is effectively forty-eight. I’m just two points short, but I don’t know how to get them. Because even if I can find another exceedingly rare +5 Intelligence ring and put it in the place of my +4 one, I’ll still be a point short. All that’s left is to get Krong of humanity status, but that is totally impossible considering the huge number of Human colonies in the Universe and how scattered they are.”

Keetsie laughed nervously.

“Ever since we first met, you have never ceased to surprise me, Human. Let’s say I can get you a +5 Intelligence ring, and I have one available. Not forever, honestly, just as a temporary loan from me as ruler and incarnation of the Great First Female. But there is just no way for you to get that last point of Intelligence. It’s an unfeasible demand. Still, for a moment you scared me, Human. I saw such power and unlimited possibilities behind you that all I could do was fall at your feet and humbly beg for you to take me and my race under your protection. But there’s no such thing as miracles...”

I did not respond and kept walking down the icy corridor. As an aside, I could now take Keetsie down from my shoulder and untie her. But we were very close to the surface already, and she wasn’t asking to be let go, so I just kept carrying her. And she meanwhile kept teaching me a lesson.

“Make peace with it, Human. You can’t change fate. Your wife cannot be saved. By the way, I have seen an interesting line of the probable future for you — marriage to the emperor’s daughter...”

“Cram it! Why do you all keep trying to force me into your vision of the proper future?! The Emperor, my Chief Advisor, and now you, too! Listen, at the end of the day, I chose my wife not because of her dowry, but for love. And I have no plans of trading Minn-O for some make-up plastered emperor’s daughter! Anyway, there’s the exit. You owe me an illegal Precursor artifact. And if I’m lucky and it’s a black one, I can trade a point of Agility or Strength to bring up my Intelligence to fifty and create new lines of the future.”

“If you can overcome the inevitable and change reality, I swear the Miyelonians will become vassals of Humanity, because it would grant you enough power to keep my people safe. But I already asked the delivery men. The stone is gray.”

“No big deal!” I said, not the least bit upset. “I’ll be needing to rejuvenate myself in fifteen or twenty tongs. But Georg the First needs it more! Now is not the time for such a skilled Strategist to leave the scene because he’s too old and ailing, and he’ll be sure to appreciate a gift like that. And as long as the emperor is friendly to us, neither Earth nor Urmi will be at risk of destruction. But I think we’re overcomplicating things and neglecting a simpler option.”

I finally set Krong Keetsie Myau on the ground and untied her. After that, I returned to my lagging companions, who were taking a little break from carrying the heavy cargo. I wanted to talk to Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh the Priest.

“Ivan, I seem to remember you saying you’re constantly improving your abilities, and with time you’ll be able to give blessings for more than just Strength and Agility. Isn’t that right? Have you gotten far enough along to have an Intelligence blessing yet?”

“What makes you ask? Of course I have,” the churchman looked offended, his face red with exertion and transparent helmet faceplate covered in sweat despite the ventilation system and all the wipers. “It isn’t much, though. Just two or three Intelligence for half an hour. But with time, I bet I can give out an even more powerful effect to whole groups.”

“That will be plenty,” I turned to the Miyelonian standing behind me who did not understand Russian, but was reading information from our minds, and sent the ruler a mental message and reminder of the promise she had given me just two minutes before.

“I will not forget that, and the word of a Krong is inviolable. But first, show me a miracle, Human!”

“Oh, you’ll get your miracle, white kitty. Light your thurible, Priest! Engineer, the atmosphere is oxygen poor, so think up a way to provide sufficient oxygen flow. Today, we make history!”

End of Book Nine

Addendum. Crew list of the assault cruiser Di-Pal-Yu 781

Players:

1. Kung Gnat. Human. Devourer. Captain.

1. Leng Soia-Tan La-Varrez. Human. Investigator. Ward of the captain.

1. Leng Valeri-Urla. Human. Beast Master. Captain’s wayedda.

1. Gerd Ayukh. Geckho. Navigator. Senior Officer.

1. Gerd Dmitry Zheltov. Human. Starship Pilot. Main pilot.

1. Gerd Destroying Angel. Human. Gunfighter.

1. Gerd Eduard Boyko. Human. Space Commando.

1. Gerd Imran. Human. Arbiter. Captain’s personal bodyguard.

1. Gerd Ivan Svyatodukh. Human. Priest.

1. Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa. Miyelonian. Medic.

1. Gerd Orun Va-Mart. Miyelonian. Engineer. Main ship engineer.

1. Gerd Tini Wi-Gnat. Miyelonian. Secret Master. Ward of the captain.

1. Gerd T’yu-Pan. Human. Shocktroop. Landing team leader.

1. Gerd Uii-Oyeye-Argh-Eeyayo. Jarg. Analyst.

1. Gerd Ukh-Meemeesh. Trillian. Gunner.

1. Gerd Uline Tar. Geckho. Trader. Captain’s business partner.

1. Gerd Vasha Tushihh Geckho. Heavy Robot Operator.

1. Amati-Kuis Ursssh. Trillian. Chef-Assassin.

1. Avan Toi. Geckho. The Supercargo.

1. Basha Tushihh Geckho. Heavy Robot Operator.

1. Grim Reaper. Human. Sniper.

1. Kisly. Human. Machinegunner. Husband to Nefertiti the Dryad.

1. San-Doon Taki-Bu Human. Pilot. Copilot.

1. San-Sano. Human. Engineer.

1. Svetlana Vereshchagina. Human. Assassin. Physical Education Instructor.

1. Taik Rekh. Geckho. Gunner.

1. Timka-Vu. Human. Machinegunner.

Non players:

1. Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu. NPC Miyelonian Female. Listener. Captain’s authorized representative.

1. Gerd Luana. Android Translator. Exact copy of the Queen of the Androids.

1. Kirsan (3x). Mechanoid repair bot. Differentiated by color.

1. Little Sister. Shadow Panther. Animal. Valeri’s Pet.

1. Nefertiti. NPC Dryad. Jeweler.

1. Paa Um-Um Paa. Cruiser artificial intelligence.

1. The Alpha Iseyek of the boarding team (100 individuals capable of entering the real world).

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About the Author

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MICHAEL ATAMANOV WAS born in 1975 in Grozny, Chechnia. He excelled at school, winning numerous national science and writing competitions. Having graduated with honors, he began to study material engineering. Soon, however, his family had to flee their house which was destroyed during the first Chechen campaign.

Michael was forced to accept whatever work was available. He moonlighted in chemical labs, loaded trucks, translated technical articles, worked as a software installer and scene shifter for local artists and events. At the same time he never stopped writing, even when squatting in seedy hostels. Writing became an urgent need for Michael. He submitted articles to science publications, penned news fillers for a variety of web sites and completed a plethora of technical and copywriting gigs.

Then one day unexpectedly for himself he started writing fairy tales and science fiction novels. For several years, his audience consisted of only one person: Michael's elder son. Then, at the end of 2014 he decided to upload one of his manuscripts to a free online writers resource. Readers liked it and demanded a sequel. Michael uploaded another book, and yet another, his audience growing as did his list. It was his readers who helped Michael hone his writing style. He finally had the breakthrough he deserved when a publishing house offered him a contract for his first and consequent books.

Michael is now the author of several bestselling LitRPG series which are already considered the classics of LitRPG.

[1] A very popular song by late-Soviet rock band Kino, fronted by Viktor Tsoi.

[2] Translator’s note: literally meaning “peasant,” in modern colloquial Russian, this word is roughly equivalent to “guy.”