Being one of the first universities in VR development, and later becoming the first to offer degrees through VR classrooms, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, prided itself in being an institution at the cutting edge of science and technology, both in the lab and in the classroom. However, like most universities, it was a time capsule which retained several longstanding traditions and appearances. In contrast to the evolving Boston skyline across the Charles River, all of the university’s buildings retained their original images with architecture from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, providing the campus an atmosphere of scholasticism and formality.
Building 32, where Mark and Ivan's Physics I lecture took place, was an exception. Also known as the Stata Center, the building's oddly angled walls and columns, alongside a multitude of exterior materials produced a cacophony of color in stark dissonance with the ordered MIT campus. The atmosphere within the lecture hall paralleled the outward appearance of the structure, with dozens of independent conversations permeating the room.
“Did you see the top story on PGN?”
“The story about the Crimson Suns? It can't be real.”
“How much time does it take to become that good?”
“I have a friend in the Suns, he said it's true. They have a video record of it on their private site, and there's no sign of hacking at all.”
“BS. There's a reason neither side will provide any comment.”
“I heard the Temple Wraiths commander used some nonstandard tactics, and they also managed a few lucky shots.”
“Are you able to get the vid? I really want to see it now.”
Somehow, in a lecture hall with over a hundred students, most conversations gravitated towards a single topic.
Mark could only shake his head in disbelief. “Seriously? They're even discussing Elaris in here? I didn't even know half these people played Parallax.” He was seated towards the front of the lecture hall with Ivan to his right. To his chagrin, it was also a position where room acoustics directed all conversations to his ear, reminding him that his actions in game inadvertently spilled into his real world life.
“Its not that surprising,” Ivan said, “PG tends to attract those who are interested in astronomy and space in general. Considering this class is about forty percent AE majors like us, I think that most people here have at least tried it out. Well, most PG players don't wander out into lawless space like us.”
Zones of Parallax Gate were divided based on their varying levels of NPC law enforcement. Most casual players remained within the 'Confederacy space', where extensive NPC communications infrastructure and guard patrols heavily penalized 'criminal' or PvP actions with overly long prison time. As this meant criminal players were prevented from to playing the game, PvP did not exist within this lawful space. The opposite was true with 'lawless' space, where the most dedicated players made their fame, fortunes, and territorial conquests in an unrestrained free-for-all. Though 'affiliated' space served as a middle transition area, little player activity occurred there.
“Lawful or lawless doesn't matter. I just prefer that stuff in a game couldn't reach me in school, and I prefer to keep my online life segregated from my real life.”
“That's such old-fashioned thinking. The guys already know we're roommates and MIT students, and I think some of them know we're in AE.”
“You're the one that said all that. I wouldn't have said anything more than being a student.”
“Well, it's not like I plan to announce we both spend too much time in Parallax,” Ivan grinned. The two averaged of four hours per day in game. While less than the most dedicated PG player, it remained well beyond the time spent by the casual player.
“Don't even think about it.” The potential class reaction to Mark being the Wraith's fleet commander was too much to imagine.
“Why not? Might be your best chance for five minutes of fame.”
“In the end, everyone will just say the Suns' FC was incompetent,” Mark said. “There's no simpler explanation, Occam's razor and all. Besides, I'm just playing PG to pass time until coursework gets more interesting. If it gets in the way of schoolwork, I'll be dropping it pretty quickly.”
“Sure,” Ivan said, “Wraith's won't comment on the news anyways. We still need to keep under the radar after all. Oh, by the way, did you see the application form I asked Ice and Mayto to put together?”
Mark rested his head against his hand. “Is this the right time to ask? Class is starting two minutes ago.”
Ivan leaned back into his chair. “Hey, 'study hard, play harder' is my motto after all. You're right that professor Macklin is late as usual though.”
“You're not studying very hard yet Ivan. He's probably going to spring another pop quiz on us today.”
“Wasn't the last lecture on Newton's three laws of motion? He's not going to quiz us on that.”
“Well, here he comes.”
The pudgy professor walked in wearing a stereotypical tweed coat over his shirt and khaki pants. Without any hint of urgency, he strode to the lectern as the conversations died down. With the room reaching total silence, Dr. Macklin activated the room projector system and made his announcement. “Good morning everyone, we will be having a quiz today.”
“Told you,” Mark whispered.
“Crap, I didn't study.”
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Personality containers restored, the Wraiths leadership now gathered in their base meeting room. The base itself was a restored asteroid outpost previously abandoned by some Confederacy system. Four arcing steel tables formed a circle surrounding a large holographic display. Currently shown was a map of the Parallax galaxy, with all known systems, gates, and both the non-player Confederacy territories and multi-system player dominions.
“So, how do you want to start?” Aero asked. “Will we develop our own dominion or to conquer it from some other org?”
Both choices came with risks and benefits. Dominion development required a significant time and credit investment before any returns materialized. Conquest allowed a faster start, but demanded more upfront costs and military power, while instantly making enemies with other orgs and leading to repeated wars over the same systems. At this stage, the Wraiths lacked both the credits and fleet strength to act in either direction.
“I'd prefer immediate conquest,” Sinn said, “but we don't have the manpower, what do you guys think can happen first?”
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Naturally, the battle-crazed Temple Wraith leader would jump at the chance for conquest, Aero thought.
“How much manpower do we need?” Myles asked.
“For the smallest dominions, about eight frigates and something like twenty-four fighters and bombers to conquer,” Mayto said.
“I could probably manage with the forces we have if we get creative,” Aero said. “A dominion outpost takes a certain amount of force to take, but that force could come from having a large mass of units or intense acceleration of actions.”
Sinn leaned forward, eyebrow raised, and asked, “What do you mean by that?”
“Most small dominion defenses orbit the gates at predictable frequencies. You could start a surprise attack by sending an asteroid at high speed through the gate to quickly neutralize those at the start of any battle. Better defended systems are protected by fleets of ships, which are mobile and more expensive to maintain.”
“If the strategist says so, then why don't we try?” Ice asked. He sat with his legs kicked onto the table before him, as Sinn didn't care for formality.
“That would destroy about half the dominion's development in the process,” Stevie said. “You might as well spend the money to develop a system yourself and not make enemies.”
“Our treasurer is right,” Aero said. “I also don't think conquest is a sustainable way to start. We won't have enough people to defend it. If you act against another org while we're still small, there's no way you won't get an equal reaction in return. The best time to conquer other dominions is when your own is massive enough that their response doesn't disrupt your moves.”
“Umm… Aero?” Nova asked, “is there a reason you're talking kinda funny?”
“Not really,” Aero said, “anyways, I think starting with development is better in the long run. There would be fewer external factors to account for that way. We can really use the time to build up our member base and funding too.”
“Let's go with that then,” Sinn said.
“So we're back to manpower,” Ice said.
“How are those application procedures coming along?” Sinn asked. “You saw my comments right?”
“Of course. I think we're ready,” Mayto gave a thumbs up.
“Same,” Ice echoed.
“So the last question I think is how we'd get the credits,” Sinn said. “Myles, how are those jobs looking?”
“We have plenty of jobs lined up,” Myles said. “Escort missions, dominion war recruitment, exclusive bounties, and everything in between.”
Sinn jumped from his seat. “Let's do dominion wars whenever possible. No better time than the present to gain experience after all.”
“What is the pay like for those?” Stevie asked.
“About half the hull cost of participating ships,” Myles said, “but I can negotiate a bit more now since we've made a reputation. The other jobs are offering about fifty percent more than before too.”
“Okay, so how much longer until we have the credits to start a claim?” Sinn asked.
“Two or three weeks by those numbers,” Stevie said.
“Hmm, since won't have the credits for a few weeks, we might as well be picky in our location,” Aero said. “As long we don't act upon any of the current major dominions, we can assume that their movement won't change to account for us. I suggest we set up in an undiscovered system. That way, we could also keep our investments safe for a while and stay out of sight from the big orgs.”
With the overwhelming distance between stars, interstellar travel was not a matter of traveling through space. Rather, stable wormholes known as 'gates' linked the systems of Parallax Gate. Discovering new systems required successfully traversing gates in manually controlled ships to collect navigation data, while failure resulted in the instantaneous death of the explorers. Often collected at great cost, the navigation data could be transferred to friends and org members or sold on the market. To the annoyance of many explorers, the PG game system made nav data public three months following discovery, leaving only a tiny window to monopolize new findings before NPCs and rival players appeared.
“Ooh, can I lead the exploration team?” Nova asked.
Oh yes, she did mention that didn't she? Aero thought.
“Sure, where should we place our claim then?” Sinn asked.
“As I said earlier, someplace away from the big dominions and unknown to the general public.” Aero stood and input a series of commands into the display console, highlighting star at the edge of mapped space. The surrounding space had with two minor dominion claims. “I would suggest someplace a jump or two beyond Timaeus. There are some small org dominions in the region, but they're not real threats. That lets us grow until we can challenge the bigger orgs.”
“How often do they have dominion wars?” Ice asked.
“Typically, that only happens when there're shared borders,” Mayto said. “So it won't be often in that region.”
“That's pointless,” Sinn said, “pick someplace more crowded Aero.”
Oh, I forgot to consider that factor, Aero thought. He moved the map highlight, shifting it to a border system in a region with a rainbow of dominion claims. “If you're bringing PvP frequency into the equation, then how about two jumps beyond the Van Emil system? The region has frequent org battles, but its stable in the sense that no dominion gets too big before the others ally themselves against it. If we develop our own dominion just outside this region, we could become an external force that alters the movement of this region.”
Sinn's eye twitched. “Does anyone object?”
“Just one comment,” Stevie said, “as treasurer, I need to remind everyone that more frequent dominion wars will cost more credits. You can expand faster by conquering, but defensive battles will slow you down because of the lost development credits. I don't object though.”
Grinning, Sinn stood from his seat and pointed at the map. “Okay, we're all set then. We'll amass our credits and while we gather members and explore. After that we'll create our own dominion. Then, we'll overrun as many of our neighbors as we can absorb. Our quest for galactic conquest begins now!”
There's still a lot to do Sinn. Aren't you getting a little too excited? Aero thought.
“And, Aero, could you do me a favor?” Sinn asked.
“What's the favor?”
“I know you're doing it on purpose. Stop... referencing... Newton's laws of motion!”