"Goddamn finally! Did you two get lost in the ship or something?! And what's wrong with your comms?! All I heard was garbled nonsense when I tried to contact you!" The pirate growled as the door opened.

Two pairs of footsteps passed through the docking hatch, stopping in front of two figures hunched over the console panel.

The two newcomers went closer towards the two unresponsive comrades.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Did you go deaf or something?!"

The one leading the way tugged on the shoulder of one of the slumped over pirates, causing the corpse to tumble down onto the ground.

While the two of them were still trying to register the fact that their comrade was dead, I popped out from the shadows behind them and fired my blaster at one of the pirates.

The energy bullet flew true, hitting my target in the head and blowing his head apart.

"What the?!" The final pirate cried out, jumping at the sight of his other friend falling over onto the ground.

I shifted my aim to the last pirate, pulling the trigger again.

Instead of blasting his head open like the others, however, a pale translucent blue wall seemed to appear around his head and absorbed the bullet from my gun, rendering it harmless.

He turned and our eyes met, his face switching from surprise to rage in a single second.

"You bitch!!!" He roared, his hand reaching down to his waist where his own blaster laid.

Unfortunately for him, it was strapped onto his belt with a clasp over it which he was currently fumbling with to unclasp it.

I dropped the energy blaster in my hand and picked up the stolen rifle I had taken from one of the pirates from before, my muscle memory helping me line up the barrel of the rifle to the pirate's chest before I squeezed the trigger.

Several flashes of light illuminated the room as I emptied the magazine on the pirate.

The pale blue screen materialised in front of him again, blocking several of the bullets before it suddenly shattered with an electronic 'ping'.

The bullets that came after that sound penetrated his flesh and he didn't even get a chance to let out a scream before he fell on his back, the pistol he just managed to pull out of his holster clattering on the ground beside his body.

I tried to get my breathing back under control.

Ok, ok… I'm fine… I'm fine…

The smell of burnt flesh reached me.

Ugh…

I got up and dry heaved in a corner of the room, making sure that I was not looking at the dead bodies and continued to breathe through my mouth.

This is real… This is real… Blugh…

It took me a while before I got my breathing back under control and I straightened myself once again.

I had to do what I did, or it would be me that was on the ground instead of them…

Yes… That's right…

This was real… And I suppose I should get used to it sooner rather than later…

I dropped the spent rifle and checked the energy levels on my blaster, seeing that there was still enough for at least three more shots.

Keeping my blaster in my hand, I went towards the two pirates I recently killed to check if they were truly dead.

Seeing that they were, I checked to see if there was any useful equipment I could find while trying not to throw up.

My search turned out to be pretty much the same as the first two pirates I killed. That meant two more ballistic assault rifles and a pair of magazines each.

I then tried to figure out what the blue screen on the last guy was and my sight was drawn to a rectangular box that was strapped to the belt on his waist, the only thing he had equipped on him that the other three did not possess.

Pulling it off his corpse, I lifted it up to inspect it but I saw no noticeable features aside from a light screen that was blinking the same pale blue colour as the screen I saw.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Was this like a thing that gives you a shield or something? The game didn't have something like this.

I strapped it to my waist but nothing happened. There weren't even any buttons that I could press either… Was it out of energy or something?

Whatever, I could figure it out later.

The only reason why I was doing all this was because I knew I wasn't safe yet. The pirate ship tethered to me might still have some pirates inside and until I clear it, I was still in danger.

I then looked towards the hatch that connected my ship with the pirate's and tiptoed my way towards it.

I took along one of their assault rifles and two spare magazines just in case I got into another firefight and needed more firepower.

Trying my best to keep to the shadows, I snuck on board the pirate's ship with my blaster at the ready. The corridors were a little narrow so it was easier to check the corners with the blaster than the rifle for now.

The first room I entered seemed to be their armoury which was empty aside for a few more spare magazines for the ballistic assault rifles. Beyond that was a long corridor with several doorways on each side before leading out to an open area beyond.

I crept through the corridor while checking each doorway for any more pirates.

I realised that those doorways were the pirates' living quarters and honestly, they were a mess. Well… I guess… As expected from pirates?

Each of the rooms were empty of life so I quickly moved past them to what appears to be the dining room judging by the table, chairs and what I guessed to be space food strewn about, stepping inside it with my blaster drawn.

"Did you guys forget something?" Someone called out.

I pointed my blaster in the direction of the voice, only to see a surprised young woman with crimson red hair that was tied up in a ponytail standing there. She had an eyepatch with an exclamation mark symbol sewn on it and she was currently staring at me with her one good eye.

"Fuck! Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!" She cried out, her hands raised in the air.

I kept my gun pointed at her, "Who else is on board?"

"Tch… Assuming you already killed the four guys who went to your ship… There's only me left… Behind me is the cockpit so you can check if you want."

I narrowed my eyes at her, "You don't seem upset I killed your friends."

"Friends? Bah. Acquaintances, more like. Not even my first crew I rolled with. Definitely the worst though, bunch of slobs."

"You're not going to attack me after I lower my gun, are you?"

She seemed surprised by my question, "Wait… You're not going to kill me?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Would you rather I did?"

"Well, fuck no. But just so you know, I don't have a bounty ok? I don't want you getting mad at me later if you intend to cash in on bringing me back alive."

"You really don't have a problem with being caught? I thought pirates would rather die than get caught."

Honestly… Not that I'd know but the pirates in the game would always fight to the death. Only in very specific missions would you be granted the choice of bringing pirates in alive and the bounties are automatically added to your character once you kill them anyway.

But I guess since this is real life now, anything would beat dying pathetically in the void of space where no one can hear you scream.

Or at least I think that's the case here?

She rolled her eye, "Those must be really stupid pirates you have met then… Fuck, you're a bounty hunter aren't you? Setting up that trap for us and all…"

I lowered my blaster a little and chose not to answer her question, "You're the first pirate that I've seen surrender willingly."

Not exactly a lie.

She scoffed, "You must have really met the crazy ones, the really stupid ones or the really bad ones. Ugh… Just my luck to run into an experienced Merc on the first run…"

"What, I thought you said this isn't your first pirate group?"

"Oh, first pirate group, but not the first bunch of outlaws. I was part of a smuggler crew before this. Entire crew got caught and thrown in the slammer, I got lucky since I wasn't on the ship. So ya know… Even if you turn me in, I might get at most three, five years max before I'm out. Never killed anyone either."

Huh… No wonder she's fine with just being captured I guess.

I lowered my blaster the rest of the way, "Alright… So I'll trust you for now."

At that moment, her hand suddenly moved and something flew towards my face, only to be stopped by a pale blue screen that appeared in front of my face, similar to what happened with the last pirate I killed.

I realised that she had pulled out a blaster of her own from behind her and shot me with it, aiming to kill.

She cursed when she realised she had failed and I responded by shooting my blaster from the hip, firing all three remaining rounds at her.

The pirate tried to dive out of the way, avoiding the first shot that sailed past her side. Unfortunately, the next two shots hit her in the abdomen and brought her crashing down on the floor. Her blaster had also slid out of her hands to disappear under a chair.

She groaned painfully, not yet dead but definitely dying.

I holstered my blaster and switched to the rifle, advancing on her with the barrel pointed towards the pirate.

She held up a hand, "Wai--"

I squeezed the trigger twice, double tapping her in the head.

I breathed again and lowered my rifle, ignoring the shaking in my hands.

Fuck! Almost died! Fuck!!

At least I know the shield is working…

Reloading my blaster, I stepped over the dead pirate to check the rest of the ship but found no one else, so I guess she had been honest about that part.

I returned to my ship and sat back down on the pilot seat, once again relying on my memory of the game as I flipped the switches that brought the main generators online.

The console lit up and I manoeuvred the screen to open up the map.

Three words flashed on the screen which highlighted my worst fear.

"No Map Data"

Even in the game, you would at least have the map data of the beginner area… But you would normally spawn on a planet instead of in space in the first place anyway.

Ok, that means the likelihood of this being a completely new universe is really high. No problem, I can deal with this.

The pirate ship should have some map data I can download so I just need to get it from their ship, then I can make my plans from that.

Ah… I guess that brings about another problem… How am I supposed to download it from their ship?

Oh wait…

If the ship was brought over from the game… Then maybe some of the items have also been brought over as well?

In that case, I know all players should also be given a Spacer Codex, or more commonly known as SC or just Codex, which serves as our menu screen and also our interface with anything digital in the game. You can use it to hack enemies, browse the game's market and even use it as a phone to talk to NPCs.

It's basically an indispensable tool for players!

Now the question is… Did it also come over to this universe with me? And where is it?