Chapter 5

What a Wonderful World.

The President called Daniel’s principal the following morning, but only on the condition Tee never contacted her directly again, which he begrudgingly accepted. He started nagging the vice president instead. Which I think is why the government only got back to me and the others two days after we returned. It was punishment for having to put up with Tee.

The only good news I heard while we waited for them to get back to us was there was an international alliance starting up around the Great Game. The majority of Earth’s leadership was dead, and the survivors all seemed willing to work together on this.

Sadly, the generals and admirals really were Commander Prime’s first picks, so the governments of the alliance were focusing their attention there.

They offered us gamers information packets on our class and sector, but little advice. Our group had access to a liaison named Harriet who would acquire more information if we asked for it, and at any time of day, which was cool, but otherwise, we were left to ourselves.

As far as they were concerned, gamers were the unskilled minority destined to fail, so the information packs were loaded with military terms I didn’t understand. The Librarian had no problem reading them, so I kept asking him for explanations.

The gamers had the five smallest sectors. Each of our sectors were defended by only four stations, and after looking at some of the sector compositions and the gamers defending them, I could see that Commander Prime had sacrificed two sectors. The people defending those sectors weren’t even close to our skill level. There was definitely an A team, B team sort of thing going on. And they were the C team.

I found it interesting that the majority of the military station masters had chosen an AI like I had. They were doing the exact same thing we were, finding out who they were up against and developing strategies to counter them. The government promised to offer tactical and financial support for our station once they had their plans sorted, but everything was so new no one was sure when that would be.

The one major help they could offer right now was combat training. So two days after I got back, a military vehicle turned up on my doorstep and took me to a base where some of the best trainers the army had to offer taught me how to shoot straight.

I spent twelve hours firing at stationary targets, eventually working my way up to hitting what I was aiming at, but I was still a long way off doing the same with moving targets. The instructor told me I was one of the worst natural shots he’d ever seen. Every instinct I had was wrong.

So I was far from ready when it was time to return to the game. No one had managed to come up with a way to get out of my debt predicament either, outside of Earth suddenly developing a whole lot more skill and feeding my station, that is.

So, I didn’t have much of a plan when I sat down on my dad’s couch to go back into the game. My family had decided to stay together when we went in because it was nice knowing we were only a few feet away, even if we couldn’t see each other.

I closed my eyes and opened them a moment later.

The transition was disconcerting. One second I was on dad’s couch and the next I was sitting in my command chair in my control room. Everything was exactly as it had been dull grey, boring, and smelling heavily of metal.

“I’ve got five automated turrets and 106 level 10 station rats,” Tee said cheerfully. “How many do you think I can kill before they take out my turrets? I’m thinking 30. Maybe 32.”

“I’ll give you 10 Tokens if you can kill them all?”

Tee snorted. “Maybe when they’ve been upgraded, but right now, I can do 30, maybe 32.”

I brought up the station layout. The station looked like a giant sphere, that was somehow nowhere near as cool as the Death Star. My path had added a single R5 and five R1s which were so small you couldn’t see them on the massive structure. They didn’t draw on my station's power supply or cost me RP for ammunition. With my 2 additional R5s, I wasn’t badly defended for day two, but I wasn’t well defended either.

The hologram suddenly went red and zoomed out.

“Shit,” Tee said. “We’ve got incoming out of the AI faction. They must be set to super aggressive. I count 1000 fighters, 300 bombers, 30 corvettes, and 10 frigates. That has to be their local system's entire starter fleet. That will set them back even if they succeed. These guys are nuts. Damn, they’ve signaled that they intend to challenge, which means they can’t retreat, but also means no one can interfere, which means you could only call your faction for help which would be pointless because they are nowhere near your transit ring. Crap, we’ve got 1000 teams signaling the station that they want to challenge the dungeon too.”

A notification had appeared.

Challenge Received

The Wargarg wish to challenge your station. Vessels that enter your system cannot retreat. No other faction can enter your system while the challenge is in place. Clear the invaders from your system to remove challenger status.

Rewards:

Tokens: ???

I read through the notification as Tee continued to update me. I think I caught everything he said. “Tell me there is good news.”

“The stations spatial distortion field has their fleet moving at a snail’s pace, which means they didn’t wait to upgrade it, or they have extremely slow engines, so the fleet will only reach your current firing range in six hours. Dungeon teams arrive in four. What do you want me to do?”

My brain went into overdrive. “What can you tell me about the range on their frigate?”

“Nothing concrete. They’re still too far out for our sensors to scan. But generally, a standard level 1 frigate’s main gun has a range of between 30-40 units. 50 is the extreme end of what a frigate is capable of, and that would only happen if long-range weapons were that faction’s specialty.

“What’s a corvettes max range?”

“Around 20 units.”

“Can you hack their systems?”

“I can skim information, but I can’t interfere with them directly yet.”

“If I kill all the rats and build 2 R5s, I can get to level 7 by the time they arrive,” I said, thinking out loud. “That will get me 2 R1s and another R5, on top of the two I build.”

“It’s not going to be enough. These AI guys are nuts. Their system is probably being ransacked by AI-controlled raiders as we speak.”

“It might be if I dump my upgrade points into range and accuracy upgrades for the R5s. The frigates are the only ships that can match their range. If we take them out, then we can take out the corvettes before they come into range. They’re slow, so we have a chance.”

“Which leaves you with 7 R1’s against more than 1300 smaller crafts,” Tee said.

“Is the fleet manned or unmanned?”

“Manned... I get it. You’re hoping to level further before they reach you.”

“I want crew numbers.”

“That’s going to be hard. I don’t know their race or their ship profile. A frigate usually has a crew of 360, but sometimes it can have a 10th of that or more. The corvettes generally hold 60. The bombers 6 and the fighters each have one. But, they’re too far out for me to scan them properly, so I can’t be sure of any of that.”

“So if they’re like a normal ship and we take out the frigates and corvettes, I’ll be level 12,” I said, doing the math in my head, “which will give me a second trait.” I launched out of my chair and drew my particle pistol. “Let’s do this,” I said. “Where’s the nearest rat.”

“Right outside the door,” Tee said.

The blast doors opened wide enough for the massive six eyed bone-plated rat to stick its head through. I widened my stance, held the particle pistol with both hands, and tucked my elbow correctly to stabilize the shot. I sighted up and squeezed, not pulled the trigger.

I missed it, but I was close.

The third shot got him in the eye and he dropped dead. A few credits added themselves to the total in the corner of my vision which gave me an idea.

“Tee, if you managed to kill all 30 station rats, is there anything we could buy for 3,000 credits that would be an improvement?”

“Information on their vessels and weapon systems.”

“Buy it,” I said. “And, direct me towards the rats I can kill without dying. We’ll use the extra credits from my kills to buy information.”

***

There were only 38 rats on the station that I could kill without dying, and by the time I had taken care of them Tee was out of turrets, and I had more information. I then spent the next hour dying repeatedly, but eventually, all the rats were dead.

Congratulations, you have reached level 7

You have 2 path points to spend.

You have 28 station points to spend.

You have 28 dungeon points to spend

I’d leveled before Tee ran out of turrets and again a few rats ago, but he wanted the last two turrets for the station quests that the R5s would spawn. So I held off until I killed all the station rats and then spent the two points on my station tech path. Tee started the R5 quests and quickly installed the turrets in the correct corridors to gun down the level 1 rats, so I could go and throw the switches.

Once that was done, I returned to the control room with 28 station points to spend on upgrades.

“Tee, what information did you buy us?”

“I’ve got the armor rating for their frigates and the max range of their main guns.”

“Is that all?”

“It’s more than we had.”

“Okay, is it good news?”

“Yes. Their armor rating is only 20. Their main gun also only seems to have a max range of 30 units.”

“Okay, I can work with that.”

“They have to be planning something big, because these vessels are almost as bad as you weapon systems.”

“That’s not helping, Tee.”

“I’m just being realistic.”

I opened the station upgrades menu. It was massive. There were thousands of options. Learning how to navigate it would take more hours, so I had Tee walk me through it. I went down the list to the midsize railgun section. There was a catch-all upgrade list for midsized railguns that would upgrade every type of midsized railgun. Tee had said it would stack with the individual upgrade paths, but the cost was massive. I couldn’t afford it. I went down the list and pulled up the R5’s.

Since I’d only had two types of turrets, I’d studied them a lot on my four days off. The R5’s were a midsized weapon, but they were a midsized weapon in name more than function. They were pretty terrible, but there was a way of modifying them that turned them into a point defense weapon. It would involve changing the rounds they used from a solid slug to a scattershot and doing all sorts of expensive upgrades, but they weren’t as useless as they first seemed. They were only useless if you tried to use them the way they said they should be. So spending a few of my points here wasn’t as stupid as it seemed.

R5 Enhancements

Description

Effect

Available

Cost

Damage

+10%

0/10

1

Rate of Fire

+10%

0/10

1

Range

+10%

0/10

1

Accuracy

+10%

0/10

1

Power Consumption

-5%

0/10

1

Double Barrel

X2

0/2

10

Internal Battery

+50E

0/10

5

Internal Reactor

+5E

0/10

100

Point Defense

N/A

0/10

10

Explosive Rounds

0/1

10

“Tee, does the Twin Barrel upgrade lower accuracy?”

“No. But don’t get it. You can afford a 50% increase to the range and a 40% increase to accuracy.”

“It would double our chances of hitting them,” I said. “It would be like having 12 R5s instead of 6. If the extra 20% range is something we need to hit them, then we’ve already lost.”

You have spent 10 Station Points to buy the R5 double-barrel upgrade.

You have spent 10 Station Points to buy the R5 range upgrade from level 0-4.

You have spent 6 upgrade points to buy the R5 accuracy upgrade from level 0-3.

The triple barrel upgrade came available, and it only cost 20 points. I wanted it but couldn’t afford it. I only had 2 Station Points left.

I scowled as I looked at the range notification.

Technically, there was no such thing as range in space since there was no friction to stop momentum, and that especially applied with something like a railgun, but the Great Game needed limiters; otherwise, everything would get out of hand. Outside the range of my weapons, the weird Peacekeeper's tech that was inside the station walls and everything else would activate and remove any attack that didn’t fit the rules.

I looked over my loadout one more time. It wasn’t great. I had six twin-barrel R5s and seven R1s. My sensors from my path were better than theirs unless they spent a large sum of credits improving them before they started their invasion.

“Are you in their systems, Tee?”

“Yeah, what do you need?”

“How are they taking the changes to our station?”

“Psychologically, they’re almost like Romans. They’ve taken note of your developments and accepted that there will be more losses. A frigate captain just suggested they should send in their fighters and bombers to soften you up. Hold on, his second in command just shot him for cowardice. Okay, not like Romans. I’m scanning their computers for literature. If we survive, hopefully, their stories will be able to give me an impression of what they are like.”

“Admitted it, you’re looking for alien tentacle porn, aren’t you.”

“I don’t need to. I have that stored on your work computer in a file labeled not tentacle porn.”

I snorted. “That’s funny if it’s true.”

Tee chuckled. “There’s also a file on your home PC, your laptop, your phone, your tablet. I even put a file on Peter’s laptop called, not Morgan’s tentacle porn.”

I paused. “Is that why he was looking at me weird when he turned up at Dad’s?”

“Maybe, but we can talk about that later. The lead vessel of the enemy fleet is hailing you.”

I straightened up. “How do I look?”

“Like a gamer who is in over his head.”

“That’s what I was going for. Put them on the viewscreen.”

“You don’t have a viewscreen. You need to customize the control room to get one. The best I can do is make a holographic projection.”

“Do that then.”

A werewolf appeared in front of me. The Van Helsing style one where they walked on two legs but were all wolf. The only difference was this one was lime green that reminded me of an algae filled pond and eight feet tall. The wolf bared his fangs. How did I know it was a he? The -that’s a penis- meme was playing through my head.

“I am He Who Eats First,” he said, “leader of the world pack of the 93rd system in the Wargarg faction. You are in my territory human.”

I’d decided while we were taking time off that if I had to talk to other factions, I was going to be so full of bullshit you could fertilize a farm. They’d probably see right through it, but it would be fun while it lasted.

I used every skill my high school drama teacher Mrs. Philips taught me to sneer back. “I am Morgan Winchester, first ranked station strategist of the human faction and you are mistaken. You’re in my territory. I look forward to removing you.”

He Who Eats First didn’t like that. He growled aggressively at me. It caused his fur to stand on end. “So you intend to challenge me. Good. If you had rolled over and offered me your belly, I would have had to spare your faction and bring them into my pack. I prefer the challenge.”

He lifted his head and howled.

A hundred other howls joined him.

He lowered his head and stared at me as the others continued to howl around him. “The Wargarg Faction declares war on the Human Faction due to the disrespectful Morgan Winchester.” He gave me a strange expression that I took to mean he was smiling at me. “Congratulations, Morgan Winchester, your station will be the first to fall in this war.”

The hologram vanished at the exact moment a notification appeared.

The Wargarg Faction has declared war on the Human Faction.

Congratulation, your actions have started a war! As the first member of your faction to achieve this result, you have been given an achievement reward:

+10 Path Points.

+100 Station Points.

+100 Dungeon Points

+10,000 Experience Points.

+100,000 Resource Points.

+100,000 Credits.

+1,000,000 Tokens.

The Warforger Perk

Congratulations, you have reached level 10.

You have 13 Path Points to spend.

You have 129 Station Points to spend.

You have 155 Dungeon Points to spend.

You must now choose to increase the level of your station to 2 or accept another trait.

Trait/Level Station?

“Tee, I thought you said my station wouldn’t be able to level until I reached level 20?”

“Ah, I said I thought it would happen at level 20. It appears your faction is even weirder than I assumed. Having a lower leveling threshold means you need to level more often to keep up with the other factions. This isn’t a good thing.”

Leveling the station would let me buy level 2 R5 tech, but that didn't mean anything since I didn’t have enough credits.

“I pick the station trait.”

You must select a new trait from the list below.

Energy Shield- Your station is protected by an energy shield at all times. This trait also gives you a personal shield when you reach higher levels.

Regeneration- Your station is filled with nanobots that are capable of repairing all damage given sufficient time. This trait also repairs your armor and weapons when you reach higher levels.

Missile Battery- Your station receives a missile battery that generates its own missiles. This trait also modifies all missile batteries to slowly replace spent missiles free of charge. The higher your station’s level, the faster this replacement rate is.

Dungeon Boss- Your dungeon will receive a boss. This boss can assist you in station maintenance.

Hangar Bay- Your station will have a hangar bay for small combat defensive ships and replaces lost ships automatically. This trait also modifies all hangar bays so that lost ships are automatically replaced free of charge. The higher your station’s level, the faster this replacement rate is. This trait also augments your armor at higher levels.

Particle Cannon- When you need something to stay down after you hit it, this is the weapon for the job. Usable only once per day. This trait becomes a personal weapon at higher levels.

Triple-Layered Armour- Station has improved armor. This trait improves personal armor at higher levels.

Secondary Power Core- Additional energy for station systems. This trait improves personal armor and weapons at higher levels.

The Squad- Six highly skilled dungeon mobs. These mobs can assist you in station maintenance.

I hadn’t expected to level. There were three good options currently available to me: the energy shield, missile battery, or the secondary reactor. I thought about how many additional upgrade points I had to spend and went with the secondary reactor.

Congratulations, you have reached level 16.

You have 19 Path Points to spend.

You have 210 Station Points to spend.

You have 236 Dungeon Points to spend.

I did the maths in my head for how much experience I’d receive. “Tee, you said that experience cost to level would increase for 100 times my level after level 10. It hasn’t.”

“Then clearly I was wrong. I keep telling you that your class is weird. I’m making a lot of guesses right now.”

“Most of which are wrong.”

“If I cared for the opinion of someone who had multiple files labeled, not tentacle porn, I’d ask for it.”

I laughed and dropped 9 points into my station tech path, bringing it up to 16.

Congratulations, your station tech path has received 10 path points and unlocked the missile battery weapon system. You will gain an additional missile battery for every 10 path points that you use.

Your missile batteries receive 1 Winder Missile for every path point.

Your missile batteries receive 1 Warhammer Missile for every 2 path points.

Your missile batteries receive 1 Striker Missile for every 5 path points.

Congratulations, your station tech path has received 15 path points and unlocked the R9 Heavy Railgun weapon system. You will gain an additional R9 Heavy Railgun for every 15 path points that you use.

I checked the new weapons from the station tech path.

Station Tech Weapons:

-R1: 16

-R5: 5

-Missile Battery: 1

-R9: 1

The excitement began to fill me as I read through the weapons stats. The R9 had a range of 70 units. The striker was a stealth missile with a range of 100. The others two only had a range of 60, but the strikes could travel the whole battlefield. I saw a way forward.

“You know what, he’s an alright dude,” I said when I was done reading. “I needed that boost.”

“He did that so he could get the same reward. His fleet just got stronger. His flagship upgraded to a cruiser.”

“Damn,” I said, looking at the display. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither. And his timing was perfect. He’s still out of range of our weapons. Why are you grinning?”

“Because this just got fun! Now, can I build the R9 or missile battery?”

“No. Your station is still level 1 and doesn’t have access to them. But even if you could, I wouldn’t recommend it. That will cement your station tech path into giving you those ones free forever. Also, until you build one, you can’t upgrade these ones.”

“Why not?”

“Because the ones your station tech path gives you aren’t yours to upgrade. They just copy the ones you currently have or the lowest grade version of the options you will have in your case. This is actually good news. There is massive potential for abuse here if you gain access to better weapons systems. Some weapons systems cost absurd amounts of RP to build.”

“Fine, build the rest of the R5’s so we have a full loadout. I’ll complete the quests shortly. Is there anything decent we can do to them with 100,000 credits?” I stared at the credits for a few seconds. “Seems kind of light. Did I lose 90% to paying back my debt?”

“You did. And because it’s so early in the game, all but the Token part of your reward was nerfed. The best you can do with those credits is a small upgrade to the R1s. It’s not a lot to work with.”

“Fine, what about armor?”

“Armor, you can do. Laminated Titanium is cheap credit-wise, so it has a high RP cost. You buy it in layers. Each layer will cost you 1,000 RP and gives your station 1 additional armor. It maxes out at 10 at level one but will make the fighters useless.”

“Buy it and spend the RP to max it.”

I checked my total energy production. It was 260E with my secondary reactor, so I pulled up the upgrades page for the R5s.

I wanted to buy the triple barrel upgrade. Now that I had the second reactor, I could run the 10 double barrels, but I still couldn’t generate enough energy to run them if they had three barrels. I needed to invest in energy efficiency, range, and accuracy.

You have spent 20 Station Points to buy the R5 triple barrel upgrade.

You have spent 45 Station Points to buy the R5 range upgrade from level 5-10. (Maxed)

You have spent 49 Station Points to buy the R5 accuracy upgrade from level 4-10. (Maxed)

You have spent 15 Station Points to buy the energy efficiency upgrade from level 0-5.

The R5s now looked like old World War II Battleship cannons, which was awesome. I had 81 station points left to spend.

You have spent 10 Station Points to buy the R5 explosive round upgrade path. You now have access to the explosives round upgrade. You now have access to R5 ammunition payload blueprints.

An explosive round upgrade option was added to my upgrade list. The first price for the upgrade started at 1. A new option for stealth rounds appeared at the same time and it cost 20 points.

“Tee, what’s up with the R5 rounds? Why did I have to buy access to the upgrade path?”

“The first option seems to give you access to adding a payload to the rounds. You’ve got a bunch of new ammunition payload blueprints you can buy. I think the explosive round is the default path, so once you unlock it, you don’t have to pay for each new level when your station and R5s level like you do with the others.”

“What about the stealth rounds?”

“I think it involves the casing of the rounds. I’m guessing here, since you haven’t bought it, and I don’t have access to the information, but I think stealth will make it hard for enemy sensors to see the rounds, so their point defense systems can’t take them out, and their pilots won’t see them coming.”

You have spent 20 Station Points to buy the R5 stealth round upgrade path. You now have access to the stealth round upgrade. You now have access to R5 ammunition material blueprints.

I was happy to see the stealth rounds also only cost 1 for their first upgrade too. A new option appeared, maneuvering rounds for 30. I groaned because I couldn’t afford them, and I wanted them. Straight shots were easy to get out of the way of in space. But I only had 51 points left to spend. Buying access would be close to tapping me out and I needed the stealth rounds; otherwise, my R5s were going to be ineffective until they got close enough to cause me headaches.

You have spent 45 Station Points to buy the stealth round upgrade from level 0-9.

You have spent 6 Station Points to buy the explosive round upgrade from level 0-3.

I brought up the new stats of my new R5s the moment I spent the last of my station points.

Name: R5 Triple Barrel

Level: 1

Designation: Mid Weigh Railgun

Damage: 30-90

Rate of fire: 1/60 sec

Range: 60 units.

Accuracy: 60 units

Power Consumption: 22.5E

Ammo types:

Explosive: 3

Stealth: 9

The R5s were no longer total crap. They just sucked. I could work with that.

“Tee, you said the highest physical increase my brain could handle was 8, right? What will it be like?”

“You will have faster reactions, better balance, and your thinking should speed up. You’ll be stronger than you have ever been and be able to take greater damage. Everything should come easier. Think Captain America. You won’t have more skill, but your body will be better. You will be working at human peak 24/7 while in the game.”

I opened up my paths and added 8 points to my physical path and 3 to my personal tech path. I accepted the changes.

The world went dark, and I came to inside the regeneration chamber, watching the lid rise. Only it looked different. It was like everything was suddenly in 4K. There was so much more detail than there had been before. I didn’t stop to enjoy the experience. I was in a hurry. I threw my legs over the side and leaped to my feet.

The room had shrunk.

Everything was much lower.

I looked around, a bit confused. What the heck was going on? It took me a few seconds longer than I was happy to admit to realize I was taller. A lot taller.

Cool.

I took a step forward, expecting to feel awkward in my new larger body, remembering growth spurt from my teenage years and expecting this to be worse. It wasn’t. Walking came as easily as it always was. Good, that would have been annoying if I had to move around like an infant.

I opened the locker.

My overalls looked a little different, but not that different. The material was thicker. I got dressed.

“Tee, what’s my personal tech changes?”

“Your overalls now behave as light armor, so the station rat's fur won’t rub against your skin like sandpaper, though that’s not something you have to worry about with your new body. Your particle pistol has no limit on the firing speed and a 12 shot capacity. You still have to empty it for it to recharge, though, and that’s still a minute. I’ve taken care of the quest rat problem. You just need to go and throw the switches.”

“Tee, activate the expansion quest.”

“Good thinking. I completely forgot about that. And the turrets did get upgraded. Activating now. Six Kilocksin warriors have spawned near your regeneration chamber. I think I can take them out, but I’m going to need a distraction.”

“What do you want me to do?”

***

“Now,” Tee said.

I put my particle pistol around the corner, aiming more or less and chest height, and started squeezing the trigger. Twelve pew pews went out, giving a stronger kick than in the past, and then I ran around it screaming at the top of my lungs, “Crickey, that’s an ugly dingo!”

I duck and wove, trying my best to make myself difficult to hit. The Kilocksin were eight-foot-tall Komodo dragon humanoids, with an energy shield bracer on their left arm and a spear in their right hand. The spearheads split down the middle, exposing a barrel. They were like Spartans with lasers. They were a decent shot too. None of them missed me as I tried to dodge.

My only consolation was the six didn’t see the turret silently descend from the ceiling behind them.

I came to inside the regeneration chamber looking at a very nice notification.

Quest Completed

Expand Control I

Quest Rewards:

Defense Slots: 20

Path Points: 1

Tokens: 100

New quest available.

Quest Received

Expand Control II

Only part of your station is under your control. Activate the beacon to gain more access to your station and its functions.

Quest Rewards:

Defense Slots: 40

Path Points: 1

Tokens: 300

I put the extra path point into personal tech and then got dressed. “Tee, what does the new point give me?”

“You don’t need to empty your particle pistol to recharge it. It’s now constantly recharging.”

“Handy.”

“Very, now clear the new R5 quests and get back to the control room. Before you ask, I’ve activated the next stage of the quest, and we can’t beat them. It’s a Horde mercenary team. There are thirty of them.”

I took off, running faster than I’d ever run before. I like it. I liked it a lot. I ran into one of the level 1 rats that I’d spawned when I made the first R5s today. I didn’t kill it. I didn’t die to it either. I jumped past it before it even realized I was there and ran off down the hallway.

“Why didn’t you kill it,” Tee said.

“I might need to level it,” I said.

“You don’t need to worry about them anymore. I can kill them now.”

“I want to keep my options open.”

Tee complained as I made my way around the station pulling the switches, finishing the quests. The R5s appeared on the station in less than a minute. And I was almost back to the control room when the station trembled and lights flickered.

“We’ve been hit,” Tee said. “Their range is greater than I thought and they have stealth tech. Our sensors didn’t see them fire. They hit near the reactor section. It’s not a missile. I actually don’t know what it is, but it's drilling through the hull.”

I ran toward the control room doors, being chased by a dozen station rats. They had barely been faster than me when I was a regular old human, so I was well ahead of them now.

The doors opened, and I shot into the room and leapt butt sliding across my table like it was the hood of a Mustang. Okay, I liked my new body a lot. This was like five years of hitting the gym without hitting the gym. The blast doors closed in the rats' faces.

“What did he shoot us with,” I said, sitting down and bringing up the replay. The reply showed something slamming into the side of the station and lodging into our armor before something blocked out scanners. The thing that hit us was the size of a small ship.

“Shit! Tee, do an internal scan for foreign life forms. I think we’ve been boarded.”

“Well would you look at that,” Tee said. “We have. Well, not have. They’re still cutting through the hull plating, but you’re right. They’re trying to board us. That’s neat. And rare. They must be a saboteur faction. Or a close combatant faction.”

“What happens if I die outside my control room while fighting them?”

“You’re fine. They can’t take the station by boarding the way they can when they come through your dungeon. All they can do is destroy the station by sabotaging it internally. If you die out there, you will just respawn like you do after the rats kill you.”

“Good. Have you started hacking into their bombers?”

“I’m confident I can disable their maneuvering thrusters at will. A complete takeover is impossible currently.”

I leaped back out of my chair. “Alright, I guess I’ll go deal with our unwanted visitor.”

“You can stay here if you like. I’ve got 11 functioning turrets to work with. Two can connect to the corridor they’re cutting into.”

“I’m expendable. Your turrets are a limited resource. Even if all I can do is take a shot while your turret takes them out, we need to do it that way.”

“Your particle pistol might not be strong enough to pierce their armor.”

“Then I’ll throw it at them,” I said. I climbed out of my chair and got ready to run past the rats outside. “On my count.”

***

It took whatever was attached to the hull 5 minutes to cut through, and by that time, the rats had caught up to me, so I was doing laps, running around the station like I was being followed by a zombie horde. It was surprisingly fun. The cutter melted through the hull on my last lap, leaving a massive puddle of glowing red slag on the floor.

I leaped over it, feeling the heat rising off it, before safely landing on the other side. The rats couldn’t jump that far, so they didn’t follow me. They stayed on the other side, impotently hissing at me. I pulled out my particle pistol, feeling quite proud of myself.

The corridor we were in was one of the outer corridors that made it one of the biggest on the station. It was a quarter of a mile long and straight the entire way. It made it an excellent place to engage an enemy because Tee had plenty of room for turrets.

“Tee, will the station rats attack them?”

“They should. They’re hostile to anything onboard. You will also get experience if they kill something.”

“Really, that’s weird. Will I lose out on their experience if they die?”

“You shouldn’t. You’re the only one who can currently do maintenance. They should respawn the moment they die. It’s a small perk, one that is occasionally abused by saboteur factions.”

“How?”

“They board you station and farm your mobs. The respawn rate can make this place a power levelers dream.”

“That’s cool. Can the rats level if they kill one of these guys?”

“Yes. It’s actually something you have to worry about with better weapons. The mobs they spawn can go to war with everything else on your station and level extremely fast if you don’t actively stay ahead of them. If they get too far ahead of you in levels, they can make it impossible to do maintenance. They can even get strong enough to start taking out systems. It’s why I thought you needed the squad.”

We’d had this discussion back on earth. I’d said it was a stupid idea. The squad sounded like a nerfed version of the dungeon boss.

“You didn’t mention that part,” I said, faking concern. “If I had have known that, I might have agreed with you.”

“Really?”

I laughed. “No. I’ll just have to stay away from those weapons until we can deal with the mob.”

“You’re a dick.”

“And you give terrible advice.”

I lifted my pistol as a platform extended down through the hole covering the molten slag completely. The station rats liked that. I didn’t. Lucky for me the Wargarg descended before the rats charged.

I started to laugh.

The giant imposing projection in my control room may not have been accurate. The lime green Wargarg that streamed out of the ship were about the size of foxes. They barely came up to my new knees, which left them looking up at the rats. They also didn’t carry visible weaponry except for the ones sporting what looked like bombs strapped to their backs. The first Wargarg to reach the rats had its head bitten off.

About 100 of Wargarg came out behind it in the initial rush, right into the waiting claws of the station rats. The fight wasn’t as one-sided as I expected for the initial fatality. The Wargarg might have been small and level 1, but they were tough. They leaped onto the rats, tearing into their bodies with tooth and claw, swarming them with numbers.

They might have been tough, but they weren’t as tough as my new particle pistol. And they were so clustered together even I couldn’t miss them. I unloaded my particle pistol, making a dozen holes in the green ocean, and then waited for it to recharge.

Tee’s turrets descended from the ceiling at either end of the corridor and started letting loose. It was a single barrel semi-automatic particle turret. With my new levels, it had gained armor plating, so everything wasn’t exposed and had a greater power output. Tee was a lot more accurate than I was and he had a higher rate of fire. The Wargarg that climbed onto the back of the rats or tried to go around the side found themselves blown apart.

The initial flood of 100 kept coming, dog-piling onto the bigger rats, slowly tearing them apart.

“Morgan, my scanner shows the number inside the ship is increasing. They must have some sort of regeneration chamber onboard.”

The station shuddered the way it had when the first pod struck.

“I think we might have a problem,” Tee said.

I agreed with his assessment. I unloaded the new charge from my pistol into the mobs and then started kicking. I had significantly more strength, so I could punt the little bastards hard enough to kill them. But they had numbers. Lots and lots of numbers. Things got messy.

It was death by a thousand cuts.

I took a lot of them with me before I died, finally answering the age-old questions of how many skilled angry toddlers could I fight before I lost: 193.

It was a respectable number.

I decided I liked my rats after that fight. At least when they killed me, they did it quick. Dying didn’t hurt, but it was still pretty messed up to have to see your insides during the process. Thankfully, most of my insides didn’t look like organs. The skin was fleshy and bloody, but the majority of my internal systems were robotic, kind of like West World. That explained why I was so strong. And it made being torn apart less gross.

My particle pistol had turned out to be useless against their numbers because of the slow recharge time, and my armor was less effective than my skin. And they were all fighting naked, so I figured what the hell and joined them. I’d done it against the station rats to save time, so I might as well do it to them too. I left the regeneration chamber at a run forgetting my equipment, ready for round two.

Three minutes later, I decided my, what the hell attitude wasn’t a good attitude. The Wargarg didn’t have a problem with going for my junk. You only had to have one alien use your Johnson as a climbing rope to never want it to happen again. That was more than enough for me to get dressed the second time and every time after that.

With each death, they pushed me further back, engaging me in corridors closer and closer to my regeneration chamber until they started using the suicide bombers. They had no problem blowing up their own side once they were far enough away from their ships. And the ones without bombs had no problem acting as cover. They formed meatshields, so Tee couldn’t gun down the bombers before they reached his turrets.

I’d gained two levels bringing me up to level 18, but it wasn’t enough. They were winning and fighting harder wasn’t helping.

Tee finally called it for me. “You need to get back to the control room. I’m losing too many internal turrets to their bombs. If you wait any longer, they will get between you and the control room. They can destroy your regeneration chamber if they find it. It will stop you spawning, so get in here.”

I turned around and started making my way to the control room. “Is there any good news?”

“Yes. The pods seem to be the cruiser's only long-range weapon, and I think it’s used its payload. Their fleets began to accelerate again.”

“I need better news than that.

“Ah, the 48 rats from the new R5s that you decided not to kill are leveling quickly, so quickly they are becoming a problem for Wargarg. There is already one at level 10 and it’s causing total carnage. They can’t tear through its bone exoskeleton with their teeth which is a problem for them because I think the Wargarg have unlimited respawning but limited bombs. They have to use bombs to deal with the high-level rats, so the rats might actually sort them out for us. But not before they reach the reactor.”

“That’s better news. Have you fired on the fleet yet?”

“No, they’re still out of range for the R9. Slowing down for the cruiser to fire its entire payload added a lot of time to their approach.”

“Can you cripple the cruiser without destroying it when it’s in range?”

“Not at full range. And why don’t you want me to destroy it? That’s how you lose?”

I turned the final corner and saw the blast doors up ahead. They started opening. “I want to piss off their commander. If I can, he might come over and invade the ship. Those six pods attached to our hull are like unlimited experience generators. Once the bombs are used, your turrets should be able to take them out. If we can make him angry and stupid, this is the perfect leveling opportunity. I need water. Lots and lots of water. I’m going to need a full bladder for this. ”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re weird?”

“Plenty. But they like me anyway.” I slowed to a walk as I passed through the blast doors and into the control room, making my way over to the food replicator in the corner. “Water, large jug.”

Technically, it was called a food synthesizer, but I was a Star Trek fan, and this was the closest I’d ever get to a replicator, so that’s what I was calling it. The little sliding door opened, providing my request. I picked up a massive jug of water and skulled it, repeating the process twice more until I felt ready to puke. Then I staggered over to my command chair and burped.

I immediately regretted the burp. I had to fight to stop myself from throwing up. I took a few shallow breaths to steady my bloated stomach and regain control.

“Alright, since you can’t be specific about your attacks, I want you to hold off firing the missiles until the frigates are in range of the R5’s. How many can you take out with the first volley from the 26 R5’s?”

“All nine, if they can’t see the stealth rounds and the saboteurs don’t manage to destroy any R5s by then, which I doubt will happen.”

“Hopefully, we will get lucky. What do we have to work with if I’m not lucky?”

“We’ve got 36 winders, 18 warhammers, and three strikers. The strikers could be deployed now. They have a much greater range and better targeting systems but lower yield.”

“Are they strong enough to cripple their frigates’ main gun?”

“Yes.”

“Good, we’ll use them for that if we have to.”

“What about the cruiser?”

“The cruiser isn’t a major issue. I’m almost 100% sure they’ve invested everything they have in gaining access to those boarding pods.”

“It will still hit harder than the frigates.”

“That’s why it’s better to take out the frigates first. More levels mean more station points which means stronger R5s.”

“That’s not much of a plan.”

“We don’t have much to work with. How long until they are in range?”

“Twelve minutes.”

I held my stomach and watched their fleet approach the limit of the R9s range and then pass over. “Fire the R9!”

“I’m still aiming.”

“Dude, why are you only starting to aim now?”

“They have stealth tech. I’m pretty sure what we see on the sensors isn’t actually where they are. I’m skimming their ships for information to find out their actual location.”

“They can do that?”

“At this distance, they can. You need to upgrade the station's other systems.”

“I’ll get to it when I have the credits. Tell me when you’ve found them.”

Congratulations, you have reached level 19

You have 1 Path Points to spend.

You have 54 Station Points to spend.

You have 290 Dungeon Points to spend

I dropped the path point into my station tech path, adding another R1, more missiles, and an internal turret to the station.

It looked like they were going to take out my reactor, which meant I needed the R5’s to be as independent as they could possibly be. I bought the internal battery upgrade.

You have spent 50 upgrade points to buy the internal battery upgrade 0-4. Your R5 battery now holds 200E

I was fully aware I had invested 19 levels into my R5s and that I was going to invest even more. That was too big of an investment to ignore. Any future plan I had now revolved around them. The internal battery held enough for the R5s to shoot 26 times without external power. Hopefully, it would be enough.

“Do you think you can get me another level before they're in range of the R5s?”

“I’d have to kill 1900, and most of my internal turrets are gone, so I doubt it.”

“Can you retract your turrets and wait for a coordinated counterattack?”

“Way ahead of you. And I think I’ve got their fleet’s actual position. It’s about 5 units in front of where the scanners are showing they are.”

“Fire at will then.”

“Which one is Will again?”

“That joke wasn’t funny the first time it was said, and it’s not funny now.”

The station shuddered as the R9 fired.

I looked around me, concerned. “What was that?”

“It appears the R9’s recoil is too great for the station’s dampeners. You should look into it.”

The scanners showed a dot that represented the R9s round moving towards where Tee thought their frigates actually were. It had a range of 70 and could reach it in 12 seconds. They were currently 64 out from the station.

“Do you think it’s going to hit?” Tee asked, sounding worried.

“Depends on how their stealth tech works at their current level. If they can’t maneuver while using it, they will have to drop stealth to get out of the way, exposing the fact that they have stealth tech. Their stealth tech might also make it harder for them to see incoming attacks, shortening their sensor range.”

“That’s actually quite normal, but how did you know that?”

“Game balance. You can’t give something without taking something away. Otherwise, everything becomes lopsided before late game.”

“We could still miss.”

I smiled as the display zoomed in and showed a frigate taking the shot right on the nose. The round went through the middle, completely gutting the inside before destroying the main engines and shredding the back half of the vessel.

Congratulations, you have reached level 20

You have 1 Path Points to spend.

You have 24 Station Points to spend.

You have 310 Dungeon Points to spend

You must now choose to increase the level of your station to 2 or accept another trait.

Trait/Level Station?

I blinked. “Ah, why did I level?”

“It turns out I was wrong on my assessment of their crew complement. They don’t have 360 on their frigates; they have 3,000. Give me a moment. I’m scanning the debris to figure out why. The fleet’s dropped stealth and is now taking evasive maneuvers.”

“Keep shooting.”

“There is a three-minute cooldown on the R9.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Firing at Will, sir.”

I looked at my traits, trying to decide what to take. I considered buying the particle cannon to take out the cruiser but decided against it. Taking out one ship that had already used its primary weapon seemed foolish. So I took the regeneration trait. It wasn’t a good choice, but it was the best I had. Its ability to repair the internal turrets mattered right now. I needed them back in action.

I added another point to my station tech path and got a pleasant surprise.

Congratulations, your station tech path has received 20 path points and unlocked the hangar bay weapon system. You will gain an additional hangar bay for every 20 path points that you use in this path.

Your hangar bay receives 1 fighter for every path point.

Your hangar bay receives 1 bomber for every 2 path points.

I knew I’d get a second missile battery, but the hangar bay was a nice bonus.

“I found out why they have such large crews,” Tee said. “They’ve got kamikaze darts onboard. Think missiles, except there is a pilot onboard for targeting. It’s actually their main weapon; it's short-range high speed. If even one of their frigates gets in range, you’ll lose the station. The pilots have bonuses which make the darts stronger the same way He Who Eats First made his frigate stronger.”

“Damn, that’s cool. Do you think the cruiser has them?”

“I can’t see why not.”

“Shit. Okay, we are going to have to speed up my plan. Do we have a cleaning robot for this room?”

“Why?”

“I’m going to need to do something to my control table as a sign of dominance.”

“You don’t have a cleaning drone. The room will self-clean if you die, but you won’t make it back here. You can buy one for 1000 credits and spend 1 RP. You have the credits and RP to do so.”

I was loath to pay for something when I didn’t need to, but I wasn’t about to sit in my own robotic pee. “Can you record me, or do I have to do this live?”

“I can, but what am I recording, and why do I feel like I’ll need to grow a dirty porn mustache?

“You are recording my villainous monologue,” I said, grinning.

Ten minutes later, the cleaning drone was all done cleaning up my workspace, and I sat back down in my chair. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”

“I feel dirty.”

“Stop being weird about it and send the recording to their leader. Ignore his replies.”

The station lights flickered and then emergency power kicked in.

“They took out the main reactor,” Tee said. “Their heading for the targeting array. If we lose it, your R5’s won’t be able to aim. The ones from your station tech path will still work, but your ones won’t.”

“Tee, how’s the rat situation?”

“Good, they're leveling fast and taking a lot of the bombs with them, but they’re not in the right area.”

“Initiate the station expansion quest.”

“Are you sure? I’m strong enough to take the mobs on now, but I won’t be if they level. We also don’t know where they will appear. It could be on the wrong side of the station.”

“Then we will do it again,” I said. “And if that doesn’t work, we will do it again.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Of course, I’m not sure, but we’re already losing, and we need that that targeting array.”

“You really need to stop grinning.”

I laughed.

This was what I’d imagined when I signed up to be a station master, only better. It was intense, crazy, and all sorts of wild.

“I’ll stop grinning as soon as this stops being awesome. Now activate the quest.”

“Activating quest.”

Quest Received

Expand Control III

Only part of your station is under your control. Activate the beacon to gain more access to your station and its functions.

Quest Rewards:

Defense slots: 80

Path Points: 1

Tokens: 900

“Oh, shit, that’s a problem. You just spawned a Clack breeder.”

“Is she in the right place?”

“Kind of, she’s on the main path there, but she going to breed an army and take over the station. She’s designating the other mobs as hostile, and her level limit is 50.”

“Damn, sucks to be those guys then.”

“Are you listening to me?”

“Sure, but it’s not like we can stop it.”

“I actually have a turret right above her head. Let me take the shot. We will deal with the Wargarg another way.”

“She’s really that bad?”

“Think the hive queen from Alien, and you should have a good idea of what you're letting loose. She’s laying her first egg. Make the decision.”

“Yeah, screw dealing with that. Kill her.”

“Thank you. Shit! My turret’s not strong enough to pierce her exoskeleton properly. She’s running. I’ve injured her, but she’s not dead.”

“Bring up an image.”

A hologram of a centaur-like insect running through the corridors of my station appeared before me. Tee was shooting at her, but his shots weren’t causing massive damage, only injuries. She turned a corner and kept going, even though he could no longer hit her. Three corners later, she ran into the Wargarg. They took one look at her, and the bombers ran out in front and detonated their bombs, killing her instantly.

The image shifted and a section of the wall opened up. The Clack breeder stepped out. Tee tried to shoot her and she started running.

“Hey, this is kind of working,” I said, watching her run through the corridors and into another unit of Wargarg, only to be blown up again. “Keep it up. Actually, can you kill the Horde?”

“No, my turrets are repairing in that area. I can’t replace them until their repaired. But there is a new one near your regeneration chamber. I’m working on clearing the area. You might be able to participate soon. There’s only a few hundred Wargarg between here and there and they can’t get reinforcements.”

“Sounds like fun.”

***

I killed the Wargarg on my way out of the control room before they managed to overwhelm me. Then I started hunting. The Wargarg were being far more careful about how they attacked. They weren’t swarming the station with numbers anymore. They’d realized they were leveling me, and they had a solid foothold, so they were sending in specific units and no more. They’d even worked out how to herd the rats away from where they were.

I didn’t like that. So I turned it into a game of who could lure the rats where they wanted them the fastest. It was a lot of fun until they tracked down where my regeneration chamber was.

I ran into the control room and jumped into my chair, only ten seconds ahead of the bomber unit that had been chasing me. They didn’t have enough bombs left to blow their way into the chamber and destroy it, but they did have enough to place a bomber outside for the next time I respawned. If they got inside I was toast.

“Any luck killing the Breeder?”

“None, but chasing it away as soon as it spawns seems to be working. You should be grateful it’s not sentient or it wouldn’t fall for the same trick.”

I took an overly dramatic breath.

“What are you doing?”

“Being grateful.”

“It looks weird.”

“It’s because I haven’t practiced. Have any luck with the R9?”

“None whatsoever, you’ve got no upgrades for it so they can see each shot coming with plenty of time to spare, now that they’re not trying to use stealth.”

“Alright, keep firing.”

“Why?”

“They’ll have limited fuel for their maneuvering thrusters. The more they have to move, the sooner they run out.”

“That might take longer than you think. But you’re the boss which means the blame goes to you if this fails.”

“No. Being the boss means I get to blame you for not living up to my unreasonable demands.”

“Maybe in your old life.”

I watched as the fleet was about to pass the range limit of the R5s. The frigates were still moving sporadically, but I noticed that the corvettes were moving in a straight line.

“Tee, what’s up with the corvettes?”

“They stopped maneuvering when they realized we were only targeting the frigates.”

“Cancel all orders.”

“You don’t need to be so dramatic.”

“It’s fun. Have they been like that for a while?”

“About fifteen minutes.”

“How many R5s have we lost?”

“Nine. They won’t be repaired for another twelve hours.”

“That’s more than I wanted to hear. It puts us down to 17. New plan, ignore the frigates and target the corvettes with the R5s.”

“Ah, why?”

“Experience. Each level gives us more weapons and more station points. The frigates might be able to see our stealth rounds even if they are maxed, but I doubt the corvette can. So I want 17 kills in the first volley.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice. Just give me a minute to make sure they’re not doing anything stealthy.”

I nodded. That made sense. They had pulled this trick before, so they could do it again. They were too convenient a target right now.

“Yeah, they’re messing with you again. They’re not where they appear to be. I’m going to need five minutes to find them all.”

I looked through my upgrades. Their ability to dodge was frustrating. But I needed a couple more levels to be able to afford the maneuvering rounds. Since I couldn’t afford those rounds, I had to upgrade something else. I had 24 station points that were doing nothing for me.

You have spent 10 Station Points to buy the stealth round upgrade from level 9-10. (Maxed)

You have spent 9 Station Points to buy the explosive round upgrade from level 3-5.

You have spent 6 Station Points to buy the damage upgrade from level 0-3.

I was tapped out, but my R5’s now had the best chance of hitting.

“I’ve got them, Sir,” Tee said, trying to be dramatic. “I’m ready to fire.”

“That’s the spirit. Give them hell?”

“Sir, you didn’t install any hell.”

“Don’t be a dick. Just shoot them already.”

“Giving them hell, sir.”

“Are you sure you were made for me?”

On the display, 51 rounds went out towards their targets. It would take 15 seconds to hit at this distance and another 45 seconds before the next volley would be ready.

“Pretty sure, unless there’s someone else as weird as you around and I accidentally got mixed up.”

“You should look into it.”

On my display, everything zoomed in and I watched as 17 corvettes were obliterated.

Congratulations, you have reached level 25

You have 5 Path Points to spend.

You have 115 Station Points to spend.

You have 425 Dungeon Points to spend

I dropped the 5 path points into station tech and watched as the station gained another two R5s and five R1s. Then I pulled up my upgrades list and groaned.

R5 Enhancements

Description

Effect

Available

Cost

Damage

+10%

3/10

3

Rate of Fire

+10%

0/10

1

Power Consumption

-5%

5/10

6

Internal Battery

+50E

4/10

25

Internal Reactor

+5E

0/10

100

Point Defense

N/A

0/10

10

Explosive Rounds

N/A

5/10

10

Maneuvering Rounds

N/A

0/1

30

I could afford the maneuvering rounds.

You have spent 30 Station Points to buy the R5 maneuvering round upgrade path. You now have access to the maneuvering round upgrade. You now have access to R5 ammunition augmentation blueprints.

The moment I unlocked the path, I swore.

“Shit!”

It cost 10 points to upgrade, not 1.

You have spent 60 Station Points to buy the maneuvering round upgrade from level 0-3.

You have spent 21 Station Points to buy the explosive round upgrade from level 5-8.

“Tee, target the corvettes and fire every missile and R5 we have at them.”

“That’s not the plan.”

“Screw the plan. I fucked up. I need to improvise.”

“Um, is this a bad time to tell you I can kill the breeder? My turrets upgraded. It’s currently twitching on the ground.”

“Yes, kill it and move on. We need to take out those Corvettes.”

Quest Completed

Expand Control III

Quest Rewards:

Defense slots: 80

Path Points: 1

Tokens: 600

“The corvettes have dropped stealth. Kill them.”

“No, some of them have dropped stealth and are acting as a smokescreen. The others are still remaining on their path.”

“You know what to do.”

“Shoot the stationary ones with the R5s and take the others out with missiles?”

“Is that a question?”

“You know miscommunication is the biggest problem in relationships.”

I laughed. “Just shoot the stationary ones with the R5s and the others with missiles.”

“Yes, sir. Giving Will hell, immediately.”

I watched as Tee launched every missile. Unlike my railguns, the missiles all had their own thrusters, so those that launched first slowed down to allow the others to catch up. Each time I gained a level, I had more missiles at my disposal, and gaining a second battery had doubled that number. So there was a storm heading towards the corvettes.

“Did you launch the stealth missiles?”

“You said launch everything.”

“Damnit, Tee, can you change their target to the frigates' main guns?”

“Not with any certainty of hitting.”

“Okay, my bad. I’ll be clearer next time.”

When the missiles were only halfway there, the R5s fired. The fighters tried to intercept the missiles, but the last thirteen corvettes still vanished.

Congratulations, you have reached level 27

You have 2 Path Points to spend.

You have 57 Station Points to spend.

You have 478 Dungeon Points to spend

I threw my path points into station tech and spent my new station points.

You have spent 9 Station Points to buy the explosive round upgrade from level 8-9.

You have spent 40 Station Points to buy the maneuvering round upgrade from level 3-4.

“Use the R5s to fire a scattered net towards a frigate. I want to know how much the shots maneuver and how many upgrades I’m going to need to hit every time.”

“I can do that. Also, you have additional missiles now.”

“Save them for the cruiser.”

“I feel like I should remind you that you still have 1000 challenges to your dungeon on the way. For some stranger reason, I have this feeling that the naked ones running through the station aren’t actually an example of their military capability. You need to start developing it.”

“I know. Wait, how many turrets will you have in there now?”

“Five.”

“Aren’t they upgraded?”

“Yes.”

“We’re good.”

“We are not good.

“They are level 1. What can they do?”

“They can invest all their factions’ credits into several teams' gear and make them into walking tanks. If they take this station that way, then all your upgrades become theirs until they are destroyed, which would make this attack make a lot of sense considering everything they have done so far.”

“Shit. That’s actually a pretty good plan. How many of your internal turrets are working?”

“Why?”

“Because I need you to start gunning them down for experience, I’m going to need more levels, and if you are right, I think they will stop spawning when they can no longer help their fleet, so conserving the turrets is pointless.”

“I’m activating the turrets now. I have 16 active.”

“Damn, how?”

“Your regeneration trait is now level 7. And internal turrets are small and easy to repair.”

“Nice.”

“I’m ready to fire the net too.”

“Do it.”

Tee zoomed in on a single frigate, showing the 51 rounds hurtling towards it. The frigate was already maneuvering, but it put more effort into it when the rounds were three seconds from contact, trying to use a full burn and corkscrew to get out of the way. The net was extremely wide, though. The rounds all pulled towards the frigate, converging on it closing the trap. We got lucky. One of the rounds survived the frigates point defense and got close enough to detonate nearby. Shrapnel peppered the side, taking out a single point defense turret and several of its maneuvering thrusters.

“I’d guess we need to be level 5 for the maneuvering rounds,” Tee said. “Alternatively, level 10 explosive rounds will also work.”

“Destroy that frigate and we’ve won.”

It took three more waves of fire from the R5s, but the injured frigate eventually succumbed.

Congratulations, you have reached level 28

You have 1 Path Points to spend.

You have 36 Station Points to spend.

You have 506 Dungeon Points to spend

I put the path point into station tech and then spent my station points.

You have spent 10 Station Points to buy the explosive round upgrade from level 9-10. (Maxed)

“They’ve lost the fleet. How are your internal turrets doing?”

“I have fully automatic fire now that you are past level 25. You should see another level in a minute. They can’t get their bomb close enough.”

“Good. Now make another recording. I’m going to taunt their leader. Start in 3, 2, 1. Your fleet is crushed. Your infiltrators were slaughtered. If you were a real warrior, you would come onto my station and fight me face to face. You can bring as many of your people as you like. I won’t even turn my turrets against you. If you don’t, I’ll know you’re a coward. End recording. Now send that attached to the beginning of me peeing on my control table and ignore his reply.”

“You honestly can’t think that will work?”

“Depends on how dominant they are. You’ve got to show dogs whose boss. The stubborn ones hate it. They will challenge you every step until they know you won’t give an inch. He’s not a dog. He’s a pack leader. He’s going to be way more aggressive.”

“You want me to take out the Horde? I won’t be able to get them all. Some of them have leveled a lot, but I can get enough of them that they will be less of a problem.”

“Yeah, they’re no help now.”

I went over to the food replicator and got a bucket of popcorn. I sat down and put my feet on the table and enjoyed the show.

“You’re grinning again,” Tee said.

I put a piece of buttery goodness in my mouth. “This is the coolest game I’ve ever played and I’m kicking ass.”

“I hope your confidence doesn’t become your undoing.”

Congratulations, you have reached level 29

You have 1 Path Points to spend.

You have 55 Station Points to spend.

You have 535 Dungeon Points to spend

I put the path point in station tech and bought another level of the maneuvering rounds.

You have spent 50 Station Points to buy the maneuvering round upgrade from level 4-5.

Over the next ten minutes, Tee obliterated their seven remaining frigates, one after another. Eventually, only the cruiser was left. Each frigate gained me a new level. And when I hit level 30, I took the squad as my new trait.

I had Tee send the missiles from the new missile battery at the cruiser. And made sure to send another message calling their leader a coward before they were halfway there, so he had long enough to get angry before he had to respawn. Between the missiles and my upgraded R5s, the cruiser didn’t stand a chance. It came out of the volley limping along. The R9 took it out.

Without external support, the station invaders weren’t much of a threat. The Wargarg had run out of bombs because of the rats and the Clack queen, so they couldn’t sabotage any more internal systems. They stopped spawning the moment we finished taking out the cruiser.

As the cruiser was torn apart, a satisfying prompt appeared.

Congratulations, you have reached level 37

You have 1 Path Points to spend.

You have 246 Station Points to spend.

You have 832 Dungeon Points to spend

I added the path point to station tech like I had all the others. I needed to find a way to auto-fill it when I leveled.

You have spent 210 Station Points to buy the maneuvering round upgrade from level 5-8.

I left the last 36 Station points for when I needed them, ordered Tee to start targeting the bombers. Then I sat back and waited for five minutes to pass.

“Tee, record a message for me. Start recording in 3, 2, 1. Where is He Who Eats First? I challenged him to a fight. I challenged him to battle. His cruiser was destroyed, and he has not shown his face. If that is who you follow, then your world pack is pathetic. End recording. Send that to all their bombers and fighters.”

“You can’t honestly think this is going to work?”

“It probably won’t, but it takes 2 minutes, and if it does work, then that’s 2 minutes well spent. My mom used to say if you never try, then you can never succeed. Besides, don’t underestimate the power of tilt.”

“Sending the message. Do you want me to launch the fighters to take on their bombers?”

I decided to make this a learning experience for Tee. “Are they in range?”

“Not yet, but they will be by the time they reach each other.”

“What’s your playbook tell you to do in this situation?”

“You have the upper hand, so launching early to thin the bombers is to your advantage.”

“Except they have 1000 fighters which can easily counter our 37. Wait until they are close enough that the point defense turrets can provide cover fire.”

“That’s not a lot of time to engage the bombers.”

“It’s more time than if we try to make a run on the bombers now. Their fighters will tear ours to shreds within a minute. Besides, if there are 100 bombers left by the time they get that close, you suck at aiming and hacking. It’s pure maths at this point. They have to cover too much ground too slowly while under attack from weapons that won’t easily miss them. Good Game for their fleet happened when I reached level 28.”

“Ah, damn. You were right.

“Huh? Also, of course, I was right.”

“He Who Eats First just walked out of one of their boarding pods and is cursing your name.”

I grinned. “I’m going to try to piss him off further. If this works, make sure you take as long as you possibly can to kill off his fighters.”

“What about the bombers.”

“Destroy them. I don’t care if we have to use the R5s to take out their fighters when the R1s are destroyed, just make it look good. Remember to record my interaction with the little dude. I might want to send it to his people.”

“What are you going to say to him?”

***

I sauntered down the corridor because I owned the place and I’d just beaten his fleet. I deserved a little pep in my step. He Who Eats First was standing in the middle of the first corridor they’d invaded, growling and beating his chest. It would be intimating if he was the size of his hologram, but he was the size of a baby green munchkin.

There were scorch marks along the walls where bombs had exploded and even a few holes, exposing the weird blue roots and square pipes. The turrets that had been in this corridor were still out of action, so I was by myself.

I decided to give him my best John Wayne impression. “I didn’t think you would have the courage to come.”

The little wolf growled louder. “You insolent pup, I will rip the flesh from your bones with my teeth.”

“Oh, please. We both know you can’t do this alone. You came here to save face among your people by getting your butt kicked, so you can claim you fought me. That’s such a political decision to make. If you were a true warrior, you would have led an army in here, never slowing, never stopping, not until every one of your men and women out there who followed you into battle were done.”

“Don’t talk to me about a warrior’s code barbarian. Your people were still slaughtering your own kind a few days ago.”

“So what, at least we know how to lead. Now, I grow tired of this farce. I’ll give you your political win and help you save face because I gave my word I would fight you. But I have no interest in sullying myself with you any longer than I already have. So let’s get this over with. Perhaps a true leader of your people will come for me one day.”

He Who Eats First charged.

He moved quicker than the rest of his kind because he’d leveled more than they had, but he was still tiny, and his little legs didn’t take big strides. It was kind of like I was being charged by a toddler hopped up on Red Bull. The moment he reached me, I punted him down the corridor, and he bounced off the far wall.

His body broke, but he didn’t die, which gave me the opportunity to play the honorable warrior card. He stared up at me with hateful eyes, following every step of my approach.

I looked down at him, trying to appear disgusted. “Get on your feet. Lying down is no way for a warrior to die.”

It seemed he couldn’t move. So I leaned down and picked him up and set him on his feet, holding him up.

He bit my hand, taking a chunk out of me, exposing the robotics underneath, and leaving my hand feeling hot.

I let go and watched him stand by himself. I shook my head, playing the perfect unimpressed warrior.

“Such a politician. I offer you a warrior’s death, and you use it to draw blood so you can claim some accolade you don’t deserve.”

I stood back up and punted him into the wall. This time he died. I turned and raised my head, trying to pull off a stoic condescending image.

“If there are any worthy warriors in your faction, I welcome your challenge. I will not deny you entry onto my station, come and prove you are not a race of cowardly politicians like this one. Come and fight while the battle rages outside. End recording.”

I started to laugh. That was so much bullshit.

“What do you want me to do with this?” Tee asked.

“Send it to everyone,” I said, still laughing. “Not just the fighters outside. Send it to their entire faction. I have no clue if they can spawn here, but I want as much pressure as we can bring to those who can. Add in everything else at the end to show how I taunted him and how weakly he responded.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m an American, so I’ve always wanted to fuck with a politician.”