"Mercenary Creed and Faith do not mix."
-Vas ‘Loco’ Motive
----------------------------------------
I awoke from my brief nap to see a fellow friend attempting to pull a prank on me.
“Raiden. May I ask what the hell are you going at this time?”
I gave her a good solid stare and she in return gave me a poker face.
“Ahahaha. Um. Nothing. But I got a report from the frontlines.”
She dropped a moderately sized anvil on the ground that has the word ‘40 Pounds’ engraved on the side. A loud bang echoed throughout the room and immediately the door to my private quarter were blown to smithereens. The security force rushed in without waiting the smokes to be cleared.
“Aw fuck. Here we go AGAIN…… And bloody hell I JUST FIXED THAT DOOR TOO!”
I got up from my bed and furiously faced the security team. The team realized they fucked up bad stood at attention and prepared themselves for a huge scolding.
“Guys. Look. I know you lot like to ‘breach and clear’ at moment notice but for the love of god refrain from both kicking and exploding the door. It’s a bit of an overkill.”
I looked at the security team leader and let out a quick sigh.
“CarterAce. I do apologize that you and your squad have defense duty this time around. If other guildmates were available for today’s ‘Conquest’ event I would’ve picked them in your place. But as you can see our guildmates from the Japanese server are all busy with their exams so they couldn’t make it.”
CarterAce chuckled
“You don’t have to apologize at all. Defense duty isn’t what me and the boys are used to yet. On the OTHER hand, Raiden almost dropped that anvil of hers on your crouch.” [CarterAce]
I quickly threw a curious glare at Raiden and I saw her returning my glare with a mischievous grin.
“Raiden. I know you love dropping anvils on sleeping guildmates to give them a rude and painful awakening. I also know this is a full dive online game but is there like another subtle way to play your pranks? That, like, I don't know. Doesn't require the need for anvils?”
Raiden remained silent on my comment.
“Right. Giving me the silent treatment huh.”
I placed my right hand on my head and shook it sideways.
“Anyways. Raiden, you said there were reports from the frontlines. How are we faring?”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Raiden quickly change out from her casual outfit into the customized guild outfit. The guild outfit for her consist of a navy crop top that is covered by a navy tactical crop vest. The crop top has the words ‘Eagle Federation’ inscribed on it. On the left shoulder of the vest bears the guild insignia below the American flag that represent our server. She wore a navy combat pants that came with a tactical belt and black combat boots. The navy color really compliments the avatar she made with long black hair and brown eyes.
“Right! Reports from ‘First Wave’. They’ve managed to secure Hong Kong and is pushing straight into Chengdu. They will be connecting with the ‘Orbital Drop Forces’ in Xian, Zhengzhou and Jinan. They will establish a defensive line while giving the ‘Renegades’ time to reach the ‘Forbidden City’ in Beijing...” [Raiden]
Raiden paused from reading her reports.
“Alpha. ‘Renegades’ squad leader is asking whether to capture or terminate the target.” [Raiden]
I gave it some thought and gave Raiden my answer.
“Terminate target.”
“Understood.” [Raiden]
Raiden nodded her head and left my mess of a private quarters. I directed my attention to CarterAce and his crew. I am honestly amazed how they can stand there like statues not making a sound. And yet when they ‘Break and Clear’, all hell breaks loose.
“Alright. I want this room nice and clean when I get back from the mess hall. You got it?”
“Rodger!” [CarterAce and Co.]
“About the door.” [CarterAce]
“Don’t mind it. I’ll fix it myself and this time it will more heavy duty.”
I left my private quarter and entered a sci-fi looking hallway with androids walking about. I made my way to the mess hall however as I set my right foot halfway through the door, I heard a loud explosion that violently rocked my command ship. All the lights faded to red that indicate the ship was critically hit.
[Alert!
All ships personnel please evacuate.
Ships core critical.
Repeat.
All ships personnel please evacuate.]
The automated message repeated itself multiple times while the alarms blared throughout the ship. Everyone, including the androids ran towards the nearest escape pods. As I began to wonder who would strike the decisive blow to my ship that is hovering in outer space at that distance, I heard a message ping and opened it.
[From: Raiden
Soviet Empire and First Order has intruded.]
Panic started to set in. I had thought of every possible scenario that would happen in the middle of our 'Conquest'. However, the unified intrusion by the 'Soviet Empire' and the 'First Order' from the North took both the Celestial Empire and Us off guard. The 'First Order' managed to land a clean hit to my command ship. Currently I am rushing toward the nearest escape pod to personally take command of my troops that are struggling fending off the onslaught from both forces. If we lose our foothold in the 'Celestial Empire', we risk losing it all. And that is a gamble I am not willing to take. As I entered the escape pod, I inputted the landing coordinates and hit the ‘Launch’ button/
“Ah hell...."
My escape pod launched moments prior to the ship detonation however right before me lies a Black Hole, an instant death event. Unfortunately, I am unable to steer clear in time as the suction force is strong and it is pulling my pod straight into it. Yet somehow this scene seems strangely familiar like I had seen from a dream.
With no other options I braced for impact since the respawn timer is set for 5 seconds upon first death. As my vision soon engulfed by blackness, I waited for the respawn menu. Five minutes passed, nothing. I began to ponder whether if I am lagging or did a bug screw up my game menu. Feeling a bit frustrated I tried pulling up everything from ‘Exit Menu’ to ‘Command Console’. The blackness made it hard for me to clearly see if any of the menu actually pulled up like I intended.
All of a sudden, I start to feel tired which I find it very strange. I know for sure I had four Grande sized espresso followed with two 7.5 oz energy drinks prior to logging into the game, ‘New Frontier’. I decided to close my eyes and rest myself for a few minutes.