I sighed with relief as Soren led the corporate executives away from the elevator with Koal following them. The way they held themselves was starting to put me on edge, reminding me far too much of my own parents for me to be relaxed around them. It had been a rather awkward and uncomfortable ride with them down to the actual mining outpost on the docking station's long lift system.

Lea placed her hand on my shoulder, looking down at me. “You gonna be okay Kae?”

I nodded in reply, “Yeah. Those guys give me the creeps.”

“No kidding,” Lea snorted, “They wouldn’t be out of place at one of my family’s parties or banquets.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I rolled my eyes, taking in a deep breath.

Alex stepped up next to me, a nervous smile on his face. “Should we get going, Miss Kaela?”

I blinked in surprise. We’d exchanged a few words, but it was the first time he’d said my name, and hearing it from a stranger felt far different and more impactful. Losing words as my mind turned over itself, I just nodded.

“Take good care of this one.” Lea said, shooting a grin to the blonde man.

“Don’t worry Miss Lea, I promise I will.” Alex smiled back at her, nodding slightly. He gestured slightly, then began to walk into the station depths. I followed after him, giving a brief wave bye back at Lea and Autumn. He was following the map on his tablet towards the landing pad zones, where the miners came and went from the shuttles that took them into the asteroid field.

The dome hung over us, casting odd shadows from the long triangular lattice holding it all together. The people we could see around us were mostly NPCs wearing the jumpsuits for Elite, but I spotted a few players here and there. They were easy to pick out given the ‘protagonist effect’, none showing that same bland appearance as the corporate managers we had dealt with earlier. Both NPC and players alike watched us warily as we walked past.

“They probably aren’t used to visitors out here.” Alex said quietly as we walked, noticing the nervous look that was growing on my face.

I nodded softly. “Not used to being stared at…” I replied to him, my fluffy tail giving a soft flick to punctuate my discomfort. “Normally I have an armoured space suit to hide in. I feel… exposed.”

Alex nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. “This isn’t your first character then?”

“No, it’s not. I ah… Used to be a solo pilot for private jobs.” I said, deliberately being vague. Fighter pilots had a reputation within Stellara Nova. One that was often inspired by, or compared directly to a movie from the last century featuring a pilot named Maverick. Not that the reputation wasn’t well earned - most solo fighter pilots often ended up having grating personalities, and more importantly were dangerous to anyone working with them. Often acting alone with little to no warning, it ended up with dead friends even if they succeeded at their stunts. Regardless, it wouldn’t likely inspire much confidence in me from my new crewmate if I told him that, and I didn’t feel like dealing with that conversation.

“Ah, I see.” Alex nodded slowly, before gesturing ahead. “Looks like some of them have decided to come say hello. If I recall, you have at least one point into ground combat, Miss Kaela?”

I nodded, shifting my hand over the holster on my hip. I undid the strap that held the pistol in it, before pulling my long jacket over it more. Looking where Alex was gesturing, I noticed a trio of security guards were walking over towards us. “I do, though I’m a bit rusty.”

“That’s fine, Miss Kaela. I’ll do all the talking, okay?” Alex smiled gently at me, and it put me at ease a little. My ears relaxed from where they pushed themselves back against my head. It was hard to notice when the silly things were moving on their own, how they moved had quickly become like second nature at this point.

The guards were players, which wasn’t hard to pick out. They had custom gear, though none of it was the expensive kit I’d seen on some of the higher level players. They were wearing nicer uniforms than the average worker NPCs we’d seen, with each carrying a different pistol on their oversized utility belts. As they got close, I focused on them and their info cards popped up.

[Player: ??? | Level: 5 | Status: Healthy | Affiliation: Elite Hardworks Security]

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

[Player: ??? | Level: 3 | Status: Healthy | Affiliation: Elite Hardworks Security]

[Player: ??? | Level: 3 | Status: Healthy | Affiliation: Elite Hardworks Security]

“Who’re you two? What are you doing over on this side of the station?” The lead guy said. He had a pretty typical ‘action hero’ look to him, with a carefully sculpted jawline that I was certain he had spent far too long to make in character creation. He had short buzzed hair, which was partially hidden by the army field cap he wore. The other two, the level threes, were both pretty plain looking guys. They had basic ball caps instead of the army looking one the guy in lead wore. These guys were new players, likely ones offered a job and a way to make money bossing around NPCs out here on the fringe of travelled space.

“Good day, sir.” Alex said, giving a small bow to the guy as he started. “I am Chief Science Officer Alex Castleton. This is Chief Pilot Kaela Wolffe. We are from the ISS Vagabond, which docked not long ago.” He replied as he smiled wide at the guards. I gave him a raised eyebrow. I hadn’t picked out a last name for this character, and that one was a bit on the nose.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Security guy replied, placing his hand on his pistol holster. The two other guys followed suit. I figured they knew what levels we were at this point. I still sat at level one, tantalisingly close to levelling up, while Alex was three levels above me at four.

“Ah, perhaps I was unclear then.” Alex replied, his voice still polite but turning icy cold as he continued. “We are from the ISS Vagabond, the ship sent to investigate and audit your station’s operations. I see that security here is… Prudent, if overbearing. Something to report, Miss Kaela?”

“Oh absolutely.” I replied, forcing myself to keep my voice steady. I reminded myself this was like talking to clients over the comms when I was running solo, but talking face to face was always harder.

“I… Need to verify that.” Security guy said, his voice rapidly becoming much more unsure as he pulled out an oversized radio that was probably included just to try and be intimidating.

“Of course, my good sir. May I have your names to note for our report?” Alex asked, his voice now more sweet again as he continued to lead the conversation. I was thankful for that. I knew I didn’t have my real life faux confidence to back up dealing with these thugs in the game right now. My emotions were knotting even tighter with just that small confrontation. I kept my hand hovering next to my holster though, since their hands had yet to leave theirs.

It turned out that the lead guy was named Kevin, while his lackeys were Ulric and Joss. I kept the latter two in mind as I watched them confirm who we were. After a few half-hearted apologies which Alex gracefully accepted, we moved on. They were still shadowing us at a distance, but Alex and I pretended not to notice them.

“This is where your skills will come in, Miss Kaela.” Alex said to me as we approached the airlocks out to the landing pads. There was a flattened section of asteroid which the shuttles landed on. There was a ship-sized elevator landing pad off to the side of the makeshift spaceport that acted as a maintenance bay leading into hangers below the surface for service and the like. That’d be where Lea and Autumn were heading after they finished checking the personal equipment.

Meanwhile, I had pilots to talk to. Soren figured that I’d be able to get more information from them as a pilot myself, and I’d have the benefit of knowing if they were bullshitting me or not. There was a gaggle of said pilots near one of the airlocks, who were occasionally glancing over at Alex and I. I steeled myself with a deep breath as I nodded in reply, “I know. Just… Stay close, please? I don’t do well with strangers.”

“Of course Miss Kaela.” Alex agreed, staying just a step behind me as I walked over towards the group.

“Excuse me, do you have a minute to talk?” I asked once I was close enough and saw their conversation dying with our approach. There were five of them there, all wearing the same kind of undersuit I had on.

“Depends on what.” The closest spoke up. She was a tall brunette, and the stiffness of one arm likely indicated a prosthetic of some kind. Her face was also etched with scars, all of which were pretty prominent.

“I’m Kaela,” I replied, swallowing down my nervousness. “I’m the pilot of that large ship that just came in. We’re looking into the mining incidents, and I was hoping to talk to you about what you know.”

“So a corporate spy then? Not very subtle.” One of the others, the largest guy said. He was beefy and tall, built like a linebacker.

“Trev, shut the fuck up.” The previous woman snipped at him, shooting a glare that would’ve killed if it could. She turned her attention back to me with a sigh. “He’s got a point though. How do we know you aren’t just gonna try and pin shit on one of us?”

“Well, uh… I wouldn’t?” I said meekly, withering slightly under her intense stare. I was supposed to be the one asking questions, so why did it feel like I was suddenly being interrogated?!

“What Miss Kaela is saying,” Alex stepped in to my rescue, “Is that we are not working for Elite Hardworks. We are an independent contractor, with the understanding we would get answers even if your bosses dislike those answers.”

The group shared a look between them, before the woman shrugged. “Sure, we can talk. Just me and the dog girl though, and completely off the record.”

“I believe that is acceptable?” Alex said, looking at me. I wanted to protest, my tail curling between my legs slightly at the suggestion. I nodded stiffly, not wanting to risk my voice cracking as I looked back at the woman.

“Let's go then, doggy. I know somewhere private we can talk.” The woman said, starting to lead me off.

“I… Uhhh??” I felt my cheeks heating up more as I followed. What the hell did I just agree to? A slight ding went off in my head, and a small text box popped into my vision.

[Mission Progress - Problems with the Elite: Security Shitheads - Success.]

[Mission Progress - Problems with the Elite: Getting Answers - In progress]

[Congratulations, Kaela. You are now Level 2]

[Skill Points Gained: 1 | Stat Increases: 0]