“This jump will take about twenty minutes so get comfy.” Shikra says from behind me.
“Shikra.” I say. “How does this FTL work? When I jumped earlier in the shuttle it only took a few moments. Why is this trip taking twenty minutes?”
“Oh man, you are a newbie, aren’t you?” She says with a sigh.
“FTL jump drives vary, so depending on the quality of drive the faster or slower you can move. The ships size and mass have nothing to do with it, nor does your speed entering FTL. You just need your engine power up to max, be aligned to your destination and hit the button. Just remember, the speed you enter FTL will be the same speed you exit it at. That’s really the basics of it, there are some exotic jump drives out there, but they are insanely expensive. This ships drive is also very expensive, it’s probably one of the quickest in the game.” As if an afterthought she says. “No one outruns me or the Blood Hawk.” I can almost hear her Cheshire smile spreading across her face.
“So, I hit level two and have attributes and skills to spend, what should I be putting them into?” I ask. If she is as good as she thinks she is, then maybe I can get some decent direction with these things. Only a fool does not listen to those who have more experience than them. Just the same be careful not everyone will lead you in the right direction. I figure listen and assess whatever she has to say and make my choices with all the information I can gather.
“I don’t really know what you want from the game nub-nub, there are many ways to go with this game. You’re a “Starship Pilot” Yeah?” She says from behind me. “Yea, that’s what I thought might fit me best, but I did not spend a lot of time looking at other classes either though so not sure what else there is. I love to fly, explore, I’m not much for fighting it seemed to fit.” I said, listening to myself perhaps I had been hasty picking my class.
“Well, there are a few ways you can go I guess; you can start specializing into personal type ships, multi-crewed ships, or line ships.” I was about to open my mouth to ask what the difference was when she kept on going. “Before you ask, those are not really recognized types but the way I look at them. Personal ships are ones you fly all by yourself and are usually fairly small, multi-crew are like this one I guess, or ones that need 2-3 people to operate, line ships are the big boys that have a proper bridge and shit.”
Considering I had not originally even thought of playing with others, I guess I had already thought of getting my own personal ship and going solo. Now that the obvious is brought to light, having help is nice too and not having to multi-task everything that goes along with flying. Then again having to be dependent on others has never really been my thing.
“I think flying on my own would be preferable, not having to rely on someone else, and if something does go wrong, I have no one to blame but myself.” I tell her.
“Well, you need to get yourself into something like that and start flying. This game adapts your future classes based on what you do. Your skills will merge and change to reflect your class as it changes. So, if you just want to fly then you should put your points into Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, and some into Constitution. Don’t be like a lot of pilots who forget that Constitution will help you pull more G’s in space combat.”
“I guess that makes sense, but I only have two points for attributes and the two class ones into Intelligence. So, like one into Constitution and Intelligence and alternate next levels stats into Wisdom and Dexterity?” I ask her thinking about how to get the most benefit without sacrificing stats that I could need.
“Sure.” She says. “But don’t ignore Strength a few points into that will let you carry more; some armors and weapons have minimum strength requirements. You may not intend to get into gun fights, but they do happen.”
Damn, while I had hopped never to need big armor or whatever, I guess even if I just wanted to explore strength would be nice to carry out loot or treasures, move obstacles. I’ll have to figure out times to drop points into Strength.
I think “Character sheet”.
My view is suddenly obscured by a diagram of my stats on one side and a representation of me on the other in my flight suit.
Stat name
Max
Current
Temporary boost
Gear Mods
Level
EXP
XP TNL
HP
110
110
2
2500
3000
AP
110
110
Speed
5
5
Run Speed
x 3
15
G Limit
6
6
Defense
11
11
Str
10
10
Dex
11
11
Con
10
10
Wis
11
11
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Int
10
10
12(Class boost/per lvl)
Cha
10
10
I’m guessing since I’m only level two these stats are awful. Following Shikra’s advice and my only judgment I place one point into Constitution and Intelligence.
You have gained 1 Constitution bringing your total to 11!
You have gained .1 G resistance and +1 HP
You have gained 1 Intelligence bringing your total to 11!
You have gained 2 AP!
I feel a tingle go through my body as it becomes marginally tougher, my brain does not tingle though I don’t know if Intelligence really changes how smart I am.
“Okay done with my Attributes, what about skills? I have five skill points and two class skills.” I asked her.
‘Well, my young Padawan, skills will level up with use, so you can either dump your points into skills rarely used to keep them up or drop them into your favorite skills to accelerate their growth. Your call.” Really I should have figured that out on my own, but it’s good to hear it from someone else. I prefer a more balanced style of being, I hate having unbalanced everything really. Kind of like non- symmetrical objects drive me nuts! Why do people think designing things like that are okay? I hope there is a special level in hell just for them.
“Skill sheet” I think to myself, my attributes are replaced with my skill sheet.
Skills
Level
Pilot Starship Novice
1
Ship maneuvers Novice
1
Astro-Nav Basic
9
FTL Jump Basic
9
Computer Systems Basic
5
Starship Weapon Systems Novice
1
Starship Defense Systems Novice
1
G Tolerance Novice
1
Small Arms basic
3
Light Body Armor Basic
3
Survival Basic
3
From what I can tell flying ships and flying them against stronger or higher level opponent’s levels skills faster. So those will probably level up fairly quick. I need to look at those that might progress slower on their own. Those should be the ones I add points into. I may not need those skills now, but there may come a time when they become vital. I’m also tempted to add a few points in to roll over some to higher quality skills. So, let’s do this One point into Astro-Navigation and FTL jump to being them up to ten. Hopefully rolling them over to Novice.
You have gained 1 point into Astro-Navigation Basic; your skill is now Astro-Navigation Basic 10!
You have gained 1 point into FTL Jump Basic, your skill is now FTL Jump Basic 10!
The sheet updates but they are still basic tens, looks like getting it to Novice one needs that 11nth point. I go ahead and spend two more points, and sure enough they become Novice 1s.
You have gained 1 point into Astro-Navigation Basic; your skill is now Astro-Navigation Novice 1!
You have gained 1 point into FTL Jump Basic, your skill is now FTL Jump Novice 1!
Before I could continue with my skills, the blackness and light display of FTL dissolves in a mind dazzling display of color and chaos. Real space comes flooding into the flight deck darkness and stars fill our viewport. But there was something else, there was a red tinge to everything with streaks of what looked like red lightning.
“God damnit!” Shikra swore. “Some prick lit off an interdiction sphere!” She said with a seething growl. “Hold on to your lunch Alex, this is going to get feisty.”
With nothing more she threw the ship into a hard burn. I thought the ship was fast earlier when she hit 5-Gs in no time flat leaving the planet before. I saw the G counter sky rocket up to 10-Gs acceleration. I was being squished into my seat and the world started to darken almost instantly.
A HUD popped up in my view, though I could only see the middle of it as the blackness of unconsciousness crept up on me. It looked like a targeting reticle and the rest I don’t know.
Shikra has activated ship buff “Inertia Dampener” G-Resistance increased by 15!
The world snapped back into focus; I quickly scanned the flight deck around me. I see the sensor orb is showing three ships directly in front of us. Since the controls are locked for me I just watch as Shikra angles the ship between the three ships.
I notice the G counter has risen up to 15Gs. Whatever buff she used is keeping my awake thankfully. The HUD in-front of me starts cycling between the targets, and I see weapons getting selected and targeting the enemy ships. Icons start swirling around and splattering all over space. How is she understanding all this it’s utter madness.
“Well Alex, it looks like we have us two, one-man Fighters, and a Destroyer. The Destroyer is a line ship with a decent sized crew. They are good at popping little ships like ours. It’s also the source of this Interdiction Sphere.”
“Can you beat them?” I ask with a bit of fear rising in my stomach. I know this is a game, but holy crap does this feel real.
“These poor souls have no idea.” Is all she says in a giddy blood hungry whisper.
The Comms crackle in my ear. “Unidentified fighter, you are outnumbered and outgunned. Surrender your ship and we will let you live, shut down engines and weapons, prepare to dock and be boarded.”
From deep in our hull, I hear thumps as missiles launch from tubes and streak up and over us in reply. I count at least twenty missile plumes; they head straight and true for a few seconds then scatter like dandelions to the wind. I’m guessing Shikra has no interest in surrendering anything.
From above and below I see flashes of light as the turrets open fire in quick succession. Seconds later eruptions like fireworks sprinkle the space, Shikra jerks the ship in seemingly random directions. Checking the Orb, I see what look like vector lines pointing at our ship. Enemy missiles? Lines of fire from the enemy ships mounted weaponry? That’s very impressive she’s keeping them all off of us. The lines are lagging behind her movements by seconds, enough for them to miss us entirely.
Only a few heartbeats later we blast through their formation.
Enemy Lotus Fighter Piloted by HangryMan1 Destroyed by Shikra
Enemy Lotus Fighter Piloted by PoppMaster Destroyed by Shikra
On either side of us I see rings of fire and destruction as two of the ships turn into space dust.
Shikra slams on reverse thrust slowing our forward momentum just before rolling the ship to the side. My vision instantly darkens, and I lose awareness for a few seconds. I come to and we are facing back towards what I’m assuming is the Destroyer.
I hear Shikra laughing manically behind me.
“Yess Die! I am the Blood Hawk! You dare threaten ME!” She screams into the Comms at the Destroyer. “Flee now or I will shred your pathetic ship into scrap metal, you have until I destroy you to run! Hahahaha!”
Oh, shit who is this woman? Ever hear the adage, never fly with someone braver than yourself? Maybe there should be a new one, never fly with crazy women.
“Shit it’s her! We are sorry, we are preparing the jump to FTL we don’t want any trouble from you please!” They beg over the Comms.
Shikra pays them no mind; she has already hammered in the speed and is accelerating towards them at 20gs!
The HUD is flashing and cycling through targets, Shikra is setting targets on the enemy Destroyer’s hull. It’s insane how quickly she is flicking through them assigning railgun rounds, and missiles to everything.
The last target she selects stays on the HUD. Twin beams of multispectral light flash into existence under our nose. They hit the Destroyer instantly, a blue shield stops them for a few seconds, and then it flashes red and pops like a balloon.
She cuts the engine power and slides the ship to the side and down. The ship hits lateral Gs entering into an orbit around the Destroyer, she keeps the nose of the ship directly pointed at it. As we orbit missiles and railguns start firing off sporadically. I’m guessing they are firing off as their selected targets come into view. Vector lines from the Destroyer come hunting our little ship. I see flashes from the Destroyer as weapons are released towards us. But they find only empty space as she twirls the little ship around it like a Hawk circling its prey.
A round must have found us because I see our shields flare blue for a moment then dissipate back into clear.
I can see hull and armor from the Destroyer flying off into space as Shikra’s weapons tear into the enemy’s ship. She is having to dodge them as she circles around in her orbit of death.
I think back to my encounter with her on the training planet. I thought what I did was impressive, my little stunt to shoot at her. Now I know for sure she was indeed testing me, or more likely toying with me. There is no way she could have been caught off guard by the junker that I had been flying. She is an artist and this ship is her brush, but it only carries one color, the blood of her enemies.
“Oh” she says out of nowhere. She spins us in a quick kick of roll, and points us parallel to the Destroyer. I am slammed again into my seat as she kicks on the primary engines.
Enemy Tarantula Destroyer Piloted by GrimyJoe Destroyed by Shikra.
I can feel a buffeting as the explosion from the ship reaches us. Fire and debris hurtle past us in a spectacular display of chaos. The shields flare up blue every so often as random junk bounces off us.
She did it she blew them all up, I relaxed back into my seat. I hadn’t even realized how tensed I had become from the start of this encounter. “Shikra.” I say letting out the breath I had been holding. “Remind me never to fight you. That was just insane, is there anyone who can do what you just did?” She laughs “Hah of course not, I am the best of the best just check the PvP leaderboards sometime. You will see my name at the top.”
If it’s everything else in this game, I’m guessing if I…
“PvP Leaderboards”
I think to myself, and like I thought up pops the PvP leaderboard.
Place
Player name
Points this Week
Points this Month
1st
Shikra
126
812
2nd
Angel Fire
108
715
3rd
This Guy Bob
92
652
4th
Denjin
91
672
5th
LunchBoxUppercut
87
522
6th
Salt Cube
65
481
7th
Samurai Jack
45
404
8th
Fortuna Erata
42
380
9th
Gilgamesh
38
560
10th
Tsukihama
22
720
Holy crap, she was not kidding, she’s number one on the board. “So, how does this board work then? If I’m looking at this right it goes off of the current weeks kills? Because some of the monthly and total kills are out of order.”
“More or less, it’s not exactly a point per ship. Each ship is assigned a value based on the pilot’s level and ship type. So that Destroyer I just blew up for example was worth.” She pauses for a moment; I’m guessing she’s checking her log. “Ten points, nice! So, he was probably lower level than me, but the Destroyer alone was probably worth nine points. Most small ships like those fighters were one point for the ship and pilot.”
This is the second day of this week if you did not know, and the third week of the month. That’s why the weekly points are kinda low.”
The interdiction sphere dissipates, and space goes back to its cheery black self.
“Enough of that, we can get into leaderboards another time. Now it’s time to loot!” She says with a clap of her hands. “I have suits and salvage tools in the back. Come let’s go.” I unstrap from the harness and go to stand up, instead I shoot up out of the seat and hit my head on the canopy. Right no gravity in space.
“Hahaha, it’s always funny watching newbies forget about gravity.” She giggles from the back. “Use the hand holds around the ship to push yourself around. You will get used to it eventually.” Finding the hand holds strewn about, I slowly float myself behind Shikra heading towards the small cargo area.
She slaps open a panel, revealing a space suit.
“You can use this one, it’s a low-level spare I keep for this exact reason. It’s a slight upgrade from yours, with requirements any nub can meet so nothing fancy.”
I don’t know, I thought to myself, it looks pretty cool! It has a black body suit with hardened armor pieces on the chest, arms, legs, and a helmet with an open faceplate that offers very little in the way of protection.
I use identify on the suit.
EVA suit:
Tier 1, grade A
A suit used for the vacuum of space. Offers light protection from rips and tears, perfect for the beginner pilot! Has light maneuvering thrusters for simple space mobility.
Defense: +2
Durability: 15/15
Special: Provides air for 12 hours, protects against solar radiation, and extreme cold.
Requirements: Light Body Armor Basic 1
Rarity: Common
I touch the suit with my hand and receive a prompt.
Equip Eva Suit YES/NO
I think “Yes.”. Almost instantly the armor appears on my body, and the one from the tutorial is unequipped and is placed where the Eva suit was. Neat, looks like I don’t have to try and put on armor. Can’t imagine how complex putting something like this would be. Not to mention the awkwardness of changing in front of Shikra.
Eva suit equipped
Tutorial suit unequipped
I also notice the suit has a little HUD. Displayed around the peripherals is the status of the suit; air remaining, outside temperature, durability, and radiation.
“You done gawking at your new toy? We have loot to acquire!” she says while tapping a holo panel. The back end of the ship opens revealing the cold hard void of space.
Shikra takes a little step out the hatch, small thrusters all over her suit fire in bursts controlling her flight into nothing.
I float out to the edge of the cargo area looking out into space. The hairs on my body rise sending a shiver down my body. I figured a space game might eventually have me out in the black but being faced with the cold stark reality of actually doing it. Even in a game, is terrifying I really should stop thinking about this as a game, this is my reality.
With a deep exhale I push out into the universe.