The four friends were happy with the decision of their first ship. After inputting their cumulative decisions, the owner told them the ship would be ready in a couple of hours. In the meantime, the friends decided to log off and catch up with the happenings in the real world.

As Prakash headed down the stairs into the morning kitchen, his father greeted him cheerily and asked him to join him on the dining table.

"So son, our project to explore the institutions of Astrum just got approved" he grinned.

Prakash took a moment before realising that his father was referring to their earlier conversation.

"Does this mean the university is paying for you and your collegues to play games?" Prakash asked in disbelief.

"Yes! Isn't that amazing? That's like a dream come true. Count me old, but your old man was quite the gamer when I was your age. That’s how I met your mother really, Tracy was a very hardcore gamer back then" reminiscing his youth.

"Yeah, nice try dad. Mom never striked me as the gamer type, always so serious” he whispered. “What about your existing seminars and other research project?" Prakash asked, not buying his dad’s story.

"Well, i'll be having only 2 seminars next semester. My team and I have only one paper pending approval so it's the perfect time to start a new one. Any tips on the game?" asked David as he looked towards his son.

Taking a moment to think,

"Well, you would be more interested in the GCB than the empire central bank. You could also focus on both. But given there is a civil war across most of the starter regions, i'm not sure how that will affect the wider system.

"As for regulatory bodies, I cant help you there. We've been focusing mostly on the combat aspect of the game. I can introduce to a few friends of mine who played the lifestyle aspect. Maybe they could help you better? I know a nerd girl who basically runs a very promising business in the game" Gulliver asked with a grimace as he recalled Jupiter’s unique personality.

Scratching his chin, Prakash's father replied, "maybe not now, but perhaps later if we stumbled into some deadends"

Putting some of the toast into his mouth,

"Well, it should be interesting since more companies are seriously considering investing into the game now. Many already touted the game as the fifth industrial revolution. Early projections are indicating the game to be evolving into a solid secondary marketplace, possibly bigger than Umazon and Sillybaba combined" David added.

"Happy for you dad" Prakash would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous of his dad getting paid to play games. Looking down towards his simple breakfast of toast with eggs, he began eating while checking the group chat with his friends.

Most of it were filled with random fantasies about how the ship would fare against some imaginary pirate or monsters. Scrolling through, Diana’s message about Tilly caught his attention. Apparently the old industrial district is under siege, and the situation was developing into a sudden, mandatory event.

Prakash remembered old Thyrion recently helped her upgrade her base security so it shouldn't be much of a problem. Just incase, he opened up the player forum to seek for any update on the situation. What he saw shocked him.

The damages were worse than he expected with a third of the district bombed to obvilion and the situation was escalating. Players running missions around the planet were claiming pirate attacks. Players from the rebel side were uncharacteristically quiet on the forum.

Prakash pulled up a small clip recorded by a player on his sleek holophone and watched the highlight. The clip was a first person perspective of the player in question, from what he could see, he was tied up in a rather dimmed warehouse with constant explosions and gunfire going off in the background.

"Why are you targeting us? We can't even fight nor are we interested to fight you" the player cried out.

"Why my dear. Why do you all always ask why? It is simple, to send a message" a woman's voice could be heard from behind the player. The sound of her boots hitting the floor as she walked around behind the player. The clip was jerky as the player struggled to turn around to get a look at the woman behind him.

"We target you freshies to spread the message." she continued. "You see, you little creatures seemed to be immortal, seemingly coming back from the dead.” She leaned close to the player from behind and whispered to his left ear “Perfect as little messengers don’t you think?”

More explosions went off in the background followed by the sound of an heavy object crashing into the ground causing the warehouse they were in to vibrate, chains clinking and dust falling.

Pulling herself away, “The message is simple. To show you naive fools that those in power are not who they want you to believe. You see, they are nothing more than tyrants, suppressing us, enslaving us, and denying us our basic rights. We're just people fighting for our freedom. We, are righteous” her voice filled with reverence.

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She walked around to the front of the player and looked at him with contempt. "And you people fought for them, protected them. All for the sake of credits and prestige. Disgusting." the woman spat.

"But you're just rebels who want power. That has nothing to do with me. I don't even condone violence" the poor player replied, absolutely lost to why this was happening to him.

The camera jerked heavily to the right. Prakash realised the poor sod just got slapped, by an NPC no less. The woman in black fatigued leaned in to stare him in the eye, but in this case onto the camera and the video. She said in a flat voice that carried an undertone of anger,

"We're not rebels. We. Are. Revolutionaries. And this,” she spread her hands out, “Is our revolution, remember that. Now spread the word." She pointed a gun at his forehead and the clip cut off.

Prakash blinked a couple of times at the video, undecided if the clip was awesome, scary or downright surreal.

"Holy shit that's intense" his father said from across him. "That's from the game? Damn, it needs an 18 rating"

"Language!" His mom shouted from the kitchen eliciting an eye roll from Prakash's father.

“I can see why players on the forums were all saying this is going to turn out to be a major event that all players will be participating” Prakash said.

“Yeah, I have to say. The quality of the story, dialogues and expression are simply amazing. It really is a whole level or two above its competitors. Can’t wait to jump into the game, but maybe after things are a little settled down.” David said. “You getting back into the game?”

“Yeah. I’m meeting up with Brandon and the others to bring our ship for our maiden flight. Then perhaps hitting the event with our shiny new ship if it is finally issued” Prakash grinned at his dad.

“Alright then. Have fun!” his dad wished him as he went back to his newspaper, the holographic projection with moving pictures floating at the side.

Logging in, Gulliver realised his friends were already waiting for him at the hanger. “You’re late” Horn said to him.

“Sorry. I was watching the video from the forums, the one at the old industrial district?”

“Oh yea, that was dark. But it gave the game so much flavour” Phoenix replied.

“Enough of that. We have a ship to explore” Helix said excitedly. As he head to the bulkhead of the ship and pressed his palm to the rectangle box next to the door. The door beeped and slid open, revealing a bright silver corridor which Helix walked into.

The team made their way to the bridge to set the ship up. As Phoenix started the auxiliary engines to boot up the computer systems, they were greeted by a feminine voice in a very posh English accent.

“Good greetings. I am the ship’s central assistant, currently unnamed. Please select a designation” the voice announced.

They have agreed beforehand about what to name the AI. Hence, Gulliver replied instantly, “Assign Glyph as your name. I am Gulliver, your captain of this ship.”

“Thank you. Glyph is now registered as the my name. Player Gulliver registered as the ship’s captain and granted Tier 1 access to the ship’s system” Glyph replied.

“Please grant the three players here with me, Helix, Horn, and Phoenix Tier 1 access as well” Gulliver added.

“Tier 1 access granted to players Helix, Horn, and Phoenix. They now have access to all the ship’s system, core and peripheries. I have detected that the ship still lacks a designation. Would you like to pick a designation for the ship? Do not the ship would not be able to fly without a registered designation” Glyph said.

“Yes. Designated the ship as Midnight.” Gulliver said as he grinned, another name they agreed beforehand.

“Ship is now registered as Midnight.”

That one sentence caused everyone in the room to celebrate. With the registration of the ship’s designation, the ship is officially theirs and ready to set sail.

“Phoenix, start up the engines and start pre-departure procedures. Horn, run a diagnostic of the ship’s system and Helix, double check our weapon system and ammunition inventories are stocked. Don’t wanna get skimped on our first purchase” Gulliver ordered, learning from his experience shadowing the various Hunter ships and discussions with his sister.

“Aye captain!” the three called out excitedly.

A red blink on his wirst caught his notification which indicated an urgent message was waiting for him on his holoband. Pulling it up showed him the notification that they were all waiting for.

Urgent Mandatory Quest

The Rebels have launched a full scale invasion of Planet Palladium and taken over more than 50% of the old industrial district. Similar attacks are happening on the planet with location of interest such as the space elevator, the new industrial district, Hunter’s Lodge, PDF Headquarters under siege. It was noted that the Rebels have alligned with pirates and are attacking the military shipyards on the moon and the Hunters’ Fleet, preventing them from providing support to the planetbound defenders.

Players not aligned with the rebels are now conscripted to aid in the defence of the planet.

You and your party has been conscripted to aid in the defense of the various military and Hunter installation on the moon.

Prevent (12/12) allied bases from falling into Rebel control.

“Alright guys, I got our first mission. It’s time for Midnight’s debut” Gulliver called out.