Vibrant is how I would describe it, maybe even fresh, moist, and a strong smoky undertone from the you know recent explosion. The air was incredibly humid and thick yet a comfortable cool with a gentle breeze. Ideal in my opinion, I hope more planets are like this. Hell, it might be worth finding some remote planet like this settle and just explore my own private planet.

I walked over to the edge of my landing pad, grass butted up directly to it as if it was trying to grow up over the pad and take the place over. The detail of this game is just astounding. How much time and effort went into getting this many details into the game. Taking my glove off I reach down into the grass, amazing! It feels just like I would expect. Every blade moves and flexes when I run my hand over it not some generic patchy garbage.

A high-pitched screech interrupts my pointless musings over the grass. A shadow passes over head, the wind from its passing stirs the grass into a frenzy. On the pad next to mine a busted fighter settles down. It looks like someone took a cheese grater to the ship. “Well, I’ll be damned” I say out loud, it’s the fighter that attacked me.

I rest my hand onto my sidearm, of which I have no knowledge of how to use or really what it is. But I feel a bit safer knowing I’m not completely helpless, just mostly.

The canopy on the fighter slides forward down the nose, a panel below the canopy slides open, and a ladder unfolds out of the gap. The pilot stands up, swings a leg over and slides down the ladder, not bothering to use the rungs.

They walk off the pad and cross the grass divider between our pads. The pilot gets over to my pad and stands only a few feet from me. They reach up and slide their helmet off. Crimson curls practically explode out from the helmet and cascade down to their waist. A woman, now that I’m looking, I should have noticed. Her body is slender and shapely, and her chest is more prominent, I guess the suit and its light armoring hid most of it unless you were looking for it.

Her face is striking, with sharp features, a Cheshire grin, green piercing eyes that see right through to your soul, a light sprinkle of freckles cross from one cheek over her nose to the other cheek. Intense and terrifying yet playful and mischievous. She only stands about 5’4’’ but her presence dominates the space making me feel like an ant.

“Are you done gawking or are you going to say something” she says with a light Scottish accent.

I fumble out an intelligent “Uhm what?”

She places her helmet under her arm, flips her hair back with the other then rests it on her hip.

“You must have some balls to shoot at me, I must say I am impressed you did as much damage to my pile of crap as you did with your pile of crap.” She says nodding at my shuttle.

“That thing is not exactly what I would call deadly, or nimble.” She says.

“Well, thanks I guess?” I say with some hesitation.

“I was not expecting to get shot at on a tutorial mission, lesson learned I guess.” I feel like I’m being baited by a shark, so I keep my hand near my sidearm. She notices because she glances down at my hand with a raised eyebrow.

“Worried I’m going to bite newbie? Do you even know how to use that thing?”

“Well, I’m not sure what to expect and I would rather be ready. After all you shot me first, maybe you’re trying to lower my guard to finish the job. Some kind of revenge maybe.” I say taking a slight step back.

She throws her head back and lets out a throaty laugh.

“Your brave aren’t you, thinking you could actually stop me.” She says. Her smile vanishes, she takes a very aggressive step forward staring into my eyes. My blood runs cold and for a moment I feel like a mouse in a field being stalked by a hawk.

“I’m just messing with you...? What’s your name anyway newbie?” She asks putting a big smile back on her face. “You can call me Shikra.” She says reaching out her hand.

After a few heartbeats I realize she’s not about to attack me. I reach out and shake her hand.

“I’m Alex, Is everyone in this game like you? Shoot first and great them later?” I ask her.

“No.” she says with a smirk. “Just me, besides I was just testing the new Epic. I had to see if you were worth anything.”

“New Epic?” I ask not understanding. “I’m fairly sure my class is Pilot, and my race is Human none of which said anything about “epic”.”

“Of course, you don’t know about Epics, very few do.” She leans close to my ear. “And do you want to know a secret.” She whispers. “You are one.” She pulls back grinning. “Mostly the Epics like to keep to themselves; a secret even amongst each other.”

“Okay, I’ll bite what’s an Epic and who cares?” I ask

“Well, that’s easy. Epics are people like you who are; one.” She sticks up her index finger. “Brains loaded into the game forever, and two have selected Unhinged as their game type.” She says sticking up the next finger.

I stood back a little surprised, how did she know my situation and so quickly. I could not have been in the game that long for word to get around. Hell, I didn’t even know I was one of these Epics until just now, what makes them so special? Guess I could ask duh.

“How did you know about me before even I knew I was one of these things? And what does it mean?”

“Well.” She starts. “First that’s a secret; second you can travel to any of the other games and collect items, gear, skills, and magic, everything is open to you. And then there is the other thing.” She says casually slipping behind me, trailing her fingers across my back.

“You can break the game” she says quietly. She comes full round to my front again.

While I guess her first point I kind of knew but did not really grasp the importance of. Being able to get skills and gear from other games to bring over could provide an advantage to wherever I am. But breaking the game, made no sense.

“What do you mean by break the game? Like I can be Neo and bullet time?”

“Kind of, but not that extreme. For the most part you have to follow the rules like everyone one else.” She says “But as an example I know an Epic who can read other people’s character sheets, I don’t know the exact details since they keep it secret. I can tell you though it provides a very distinct advantage knowing an enemy’s secrets.”

My eyes go wide in surprise.

That is one hell of a thing to know, just thinking about it I remember my own skill Identify.

I look at Shikra and think “Identify”.

Above her head red letters appear.

Name: Shikra Species: Human, Class: Unknown Level: Unknown

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I’m no pro but I’m guessing red means she out levels my by no small degree. No wonder she does not seem too worried about my little pistol. I wonder if the Epic she’s talking about has some sort of super Identify ability.

“You won’t learn much from that.” She says. “I’m far over your little level one. The only reason you see what you do is because I set that info to public. So, any level one newbie can see it.” I fidget standing there, I’m starting to feel even more like prey. She clearly has me in almost every way. Experience, level, and knowledge, I hope whatever she wants she gets quickly so she can leave me in peace.

“Look, I don’t know what you’re after but please get to the point. Clearly, I still have a lot to learn. So can we just get this over with, whatever it is?” I say with an impatient undertone.

“But of course.” She says performing a mock bow. “I am here to give you an opportunity. You have displayed an aptitude with your flying. I work for a man who employs people like you, being an Epic and all.”

“Is he an Epic too?” I ask. “Not that I know of, but like I said most Epics keep their identity a secret. Let’s them have the edge, and don’t worry I see the concern showing on your face. We won’t tell anyone else what you are either.” Says Shikra.

“So, what is this opportunity then?” I ask.

“Simple.” She says pointing at me.

“You come with me, and we go see him. Then you talk, and whatever you two talk about or do is not my concern. My job is to find you, test you, and bring you to him after that.” She shrugs. “That’s up to you.”

I’ve never been much for video games and having someone who apparently at least knows what this Epic thing is about could be helpful. Then again being collected like some sort of trophy is not exactly appealing to me either.

What if this is like some messed up way of indoctrinating new players and forcing them into working for some big evil guy. How many stories have that trope going, big rich and powerful dude trying to monopolize on new players and turn them into little more than a slave?

“What assurances do I have that this is not some sort of trick?” I ask.

“I am being nice about this after all and asking you to come along. I could bop you on the head and bring you in like a sack of potatoes.”

“Oh nice, like shooting at someone without a warning? Not exactly a mark in the asking nice department.” I say with some venom. “Whoa.” She says putting her hand up. “That was nice, I could have blasted your little shuttle into fine dust if I had wanted too. This bucket of a fighter has missiles loaded on it.” She says jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “I could have used them on you first and we would not be standing here having this conversation keep that in mind!”

“Well, when you put it so eloquently, why not; let’s go see this employer of yours.” I say. “Good choice Alex, let us go then. I think we have wasted enough time on this tutorial planet.” With that she drops her helmet into the pad, does a quick about face and walks off.

I stare at her a moment as she swishes away like a graceful lioness that just caught her prey. “You coming or what?” She asks without stopping. I scramble to catch up to her.

“Don’t I need to complete the tutorial first?” “No.” she says. “In fact, you should probably terminate it so it won’t get naggy when we leave. Before you ask, just think about your Mission Log, and it will pop up find the terminate option and select it.”

“Mission Log”

A Semitransparent screen snaps into place within reach of my face. Sure, enough I see a tab that says “Active Missions” and under it “Pilot Tutorial” I tap it with my hand and it expands out. Showing objectives and each step and line of dialog so far. In the top right corner, I see a button labeled “Terminate Mission” I tap it. A confirmation warning pops up and I select “Yes”.

System Message: Tutorial terminated.

The window snaps close and a bunch of notifications come cascading down my vision.

You have gained 200 Experience for completing objective “First flight”

You have gained 300 Experience for completing objective “First landing”

You have gained 500 Experience for completing objective “First FTL jump”

You have leveled up, Congratulations! You are now level 2!

You have gained 10 HP

You have gained 10 AP

You have 5 species skill points to spend

You have 2 class skill points to spend

You have 2 attributes to allocate

You have gained 1 intelligence for the purpose of piloting ships

You have gained 500 Experience for completing objective “Atmospheric Reentry”

You have gained 1000 Experience for fighting of a superior foe

Your skill “Pilot Starship Basic 5” has improved to “Pilot Starship Novice 1”

Your skill “Ship Maneuvers Basic 5” has improved to “Ship Maneuvers Novice 1”

Your skill “Astro-Navigation Basic 5” has improved to “Astro-Navigation Basic 9”

Your skill “FTL Jump Basic 5” has improved to “FTL Jump Basic 9”

Your skill “Starship Weapon Systems Basic 5” has improved to “Starship Weapons Novice 1”

Your skill “Starship Defense Systems Basic 5” has improved to “Starship Defense Systems Novice 1”

Your skill “G Tolerance Basic 5” has improved to “G Tolerance Novice 1”

Nice, it looks like my work paid off! Though I wonder what else I would have gained if I had completed the Tutorial. It seems the rewards were being held until after the tutorial mission was over. Must be a way to ensure that the mission is the same difficulty the entire way through. Leveling up or advancing skills mid mission could cause it to become too easy? I don’t know I’m just guessing at this point.

While I was distracted with my notifications Shikra had led us to another landing pad, but it was empty. She had also somehow changed her flight suit out. Now she wore something that looked more like heavy body armor like in a sci-fi movie. It has thick, smooth, hexagonal plates interlocking all over her body. Creating a flexing and almost seamless cocoon around her. And it was solid black, like the night sky without any stars. She had a new helmet on that covered her entire head, it interlinked with her body armor and was impossible to tell where one started and the other began. It had a very thin visor that was as polished obsidian, talk about intimidating.

“What” she said turning to look at me. “You think this is impressive? Wait until you see some of the heavy-duty armors, this is still classed as a flight suit.” She said, surprisingly even with her helmet on it sounded no different than if she were talking with nothing over her head.

I also noticed above her left breast was a red emblem. A circle with a Hawk in it carrying an arrow in its claws. It was flying up towards a star just above its beak.

We approached an empty pad, stopping a few steps before it. Shikra starts tapping at nothing in the air. I guess that’s what it looks like when someone accesses their menu. After a few quick pokes and swipes, a railing shoots up from the pad. Shortly after the pad sinks down into the ground and disappears, leaving a huge hole in the ground. A whirring mechanical noise comes from the hole and a new pad comes rushing up. Except it’s not empty anymore, on it is a magnificent machine that oozes malice and danger.

It has a narrow fuselage that thickens at the middle then thins out again it has slight slope up to the tail, like it’s leaning forward to bite you. From the thick middle part extend out a set of engine pods that are split in two and sweep straight back. The cockpit is recessed a bit into the hull providing some protection. On the underside of the chin is a wicked looking duel barreled rail gun. Between the two engine pods on top and below a turret is mounted, it looks like between the two of them it can cover every direction. The whole ship is covered in sleek armor plating and is a cobalt blue with red highlights. Painted on the side is the same symbol on her armor the red hawk.

It fits her perfectly, sleek elegant, deadly.

“Identify”

Red letters appear above the ship.

Name: Blood Hawk Ship Type: Unknown Tier: Unknown

“Impressive, isn’t she.” Shikra says stepping onto the pad.

“This is just a drop in the bucket, wait until you see what my employer has to offer. Let’s get off this rock, come.” She walks up to the back of the ship to a ramp that’s already open leading into the ship.

Inside is a bit cramped but looks like it has a small cargo area, then leads into an armory, a small sleeping area, and then into the cockpit itself. The cockpit has three seats, a gunner seat at the very front, then the pilot’s seat, and off to the side I can only guess is some sort of electronics or maybe navigation seat.

“Have a seat in the gunner’s seat, I have disabled the controls so you can’t accidently blow anything up.” She says matter of fact.

I sit down in the front and look around at the controls. This thing so far above the shuttle I was flying. I begin to think maybe I should have finished the tutorial, what have I gotten myself into?

“You ready down there Alex? Because I don’t fly like no granny so hold your shorts.”

The ships nose rises sharply and I am nearly squished flat into my seat. I have a small HUD in front of me displaying the ships flight data. According to the HUD we were accelerating at 5GS almost directly up into the sky. In almost no time flat we were in space, looking down at the planet.

“Shikra, just out of curiosity, did you get any sort of clearance or talk to the controllers before taking off?” I asked.

I heard a quick snort from behind me. “As if, these little piss-ant planets and areas don’t mean crap. The only real time you need to talk or listen to controllers is in busy space, carriers, and maybe space stations. But planets like this? Hardly worth the effort. Oh, and you should listen to player controllers for sure, since they usually are employed by big hot shot corporations or factions.”

Food for thought I guess, the more you know.

“You ready to meet your new employer? Cause here we go!”

Directly in-front of the ship turns deepest black, the stars on the sides form a ring around the ship and shift into the blue spectrum then streak into the red near the back until they vanish into blackness forming a sort of tube of shifting light.

We entered FTL.