Alex PoV

My hands... my feet...

I was itching to put this baby in full throttle but I needed to get out of the station and have all the systems in check.

"Gravity generator check, thrusters... check left wing thrusters check..." I did the flight check completely as I should so I didn't have to worry about any problems later on and could enjoy my several hours of flight.

I make sure to activate the inertia Dampeners. They worked in hand with the ship's shields to keep everyone from being tossed around. This is a god sent for a dog fight pilot cause I can go as wild as possible and only the poor sap sitting next to me will know what is going on.

While I was doing the check, I made sure to have Xeno connect to the ship's mainframe and jump aboard. He was a techy fellow and loved the coding so I sent him over to "check out" all the ships system coding and store a copy for when we start programming our shuttle.

As I was finishing the check up a large hologram of Xeno’s eye appeared. When I am near others he never completely appears. He looks to Roktar and poofs away and writes a message at an angle he wouldn’t see.

Ship system is sealed tighter than your panties

I frown when he said that.

“Shut up Xeno!” I complained.

“Something wrong?” Roktar asked me.

“No, just my AI saying something irritating.” I rely.

Systems have safety codes I can’t crack at the moment. Would take a lot of upgrades or you uploading me directly into the main frame of the ship but by than the station would be alerted.

I click my tongue at the fact that I won't be getting deep into the system.

Was able to secure system codes for...

Life support

Gravity generator

Inertia Dampeners

Water heating and cooling system

I nod gently, happy enough to be able to access basic systems or the entire coding problem would be even worse later on.

I turn back to checking all the systems and after finally getting everything checked and made sure it was working before I pulled the handle for the thrusters back. The cockpit had two handles on both sides of the seat, both pilot and co-pilot had it. The left handle was the main thruster. Pulling it back will cause small thrusters aimed to push the ship back to activate. Pushing it will make the main thrusters activate and will accelerate the ship.

The right handle was for the direction. Pulling it back will cause the nose of the ship to go “up” and pushing it forward will make it dip. This one can also turn to both sides. Turning it to either side will make the ship tilt. In that manner to turn the ship I tilt the ship before pulling or pushing it.

I make the ship rise until it was at the center of the hangar and making sure the inertia Dampeners and gravity generator was working I quickly pull the right handle making the ship flip 180 in the air and aim towards energy gate.

Roktar was shocked by the sudden movement and held his seat a bit scared.

“Hey! Be careful!” He shouted.

Just letting the words go through one ear and out the other I push the throttle to the max making the ship spring to life and launching out of the station into space at a fast rate.

“He… hehehehehe! Finally! I’m piloting a quality ship! Let’s see what this baby can do!” I said and quickly began to cause the ship to spin and then counter the inertia and align it again before aiming at the planet and pushing the throttle back to max.

“Blast it! Stop doing useless things like that!” Roktar said while acting like a cat and holding on to whatever he could grab after being frightened, thankfully it was the pilot chair armrest.

“Just relax “sir”, it’s not like you will feel the inertia~!” I said playfully.

“It’s not the inertia what I am afraid of! It’s the blasted way you’re driving!” He said pissed off.

“If you don’t feel well watching me then go back inside and relax yourself. I’m an experienced pilot who has played through every known flight simulator both physical planes and VR simulators and not only that the tutorial had spaceship simulator which I dominated and probably almost broke the skill restriction because of my amazing skills.” I said gloating.

“Erg… Fine drive by yourself, I’ll form a fear of space travel before we land if I watch you fly anymore.” He said and unstrapped himself and walked out.

I watch him leave and only after about a minute after he left and closed the door did I sigh.

The next moment the full hologram of my Xeno appeared.

Unlike the normal human AI you see, he appeared as a kind of bug creature. His body was somewhat human with two arms and legs but he had wings and almost full body natural armor like a bug. His eyes were human like. His hands and feet were bug like with three long fingers and a thumb all of which looked like claws and the feet had two toes on the front and one behind the heel.

Finally I can relax, being so different is a pain.

“Can’t you change your look?” I asked.

Can you change your own look?

“No?” I relied

Then you have your answer. AI have specific look built in when we develop our personality after a degree. We mostly take forms of beings in this game so I look like a random one.

I’m still more curious about you though with that neutral sex look of yours.

“Shut up Xeno!!” I shouted.

Is it my fault you look like you do? You even barely changed your own natural look even after given the option to. I don’t get why you didn’t make your real genders main features more apparent?

I growl in anger. I have been mistaken even in real life and in most games. It’s rather sensitive subject and yes I did change my looks but my tastes of aesthetics led me to, for some reason, keep my neutral sex look even when I wanted to make myself more of my true gender.

“Just shut up and enjoy yourself on the system, it’s getting annoying.” I told him.

Wish I could but the other AI have also logged in and are enjoying their own chit chat which is why I couldn’t explore much more than I did. If they weren’t around I might have been able to get thruster and engine coding.

“Can’t they help you with that?” I asked.

The ones from the crew yes but not from the scientists. Everyone has an AI companion so those are always watching.

I click my tongue at the inconvenience.

“Leave it be then. We can try and get more when they are off the ship during the mission.” I reply.

Sure, can’t wait to fiddle a bit more with this ship.

He vanishes and I was left controlling the ship.

Since it was a form of stress relief I do lots of different maneuvers and have fun dodging the asteroids and racing through them or going “above” it and watch the ocean that was the Kelha asteroid ring.

Space sure is mysterious and I sure like the quiet of this place.

Noah PoV

For unlocking the all the Psionic Tech Nerves on the Right hand of the Dwarf Basic Training Robot you gained 12 stat points for Mentality and Willpower

I grin from ear to ear as I see the message. After a few hours after the ship’s repairs I have finally finished unlocking the first arm of the robot.

My face was completely drenched in sweat from the mental force I had been putting into opening these.

Though the actual pain was less than push flooding the gates. The mental strength I had to put into doing this was much higher than the other times without a doubt.

I could open 2 gates at one time while doing it like this but that was my limit due to the mental stress on my mind.

I unlock myself from the robot and climb down before sitting down on the leg of the robot and wipe the sweat off my forehead.

“Hard isn’t it?” Colonel asked.

“Finally got the right arm unlocked.” I said and took a few breaths of air.

“Oh, not bad. You should take a rest, go makes some android parts and let your head relax some.” Colonel said.

I took his advice since it was much simpler than messing with Psionic technology.

I go to the boxes of components and get an empty one before I grab some pieces with my psi and sit down.

I move then around in the air relatively easy, though not many component since I do have a weight limit on my ability.

After the main part was connected and surpassed 100 grams I held it on my hand and simple kept adding components unlike I made the part.

It felt much easier than it used to feel. Maybe it’s all the training in inner control that gave me the countless boosts of Mentality that improved my control.

When I finished the part I put it in the box and just sighed.

You have learned new skills.Exterior Psi ManipulationRarity1.5Level 1A skill to efficiently control Psi outside the body. Makes it easier to manipulate Psi and to make it do what you want while it’s outside the body

Increases control of Psi outside the body by 1%

Lost of Psi while doing tasks has decreased by 5%Parts ConstructionRarity1Level 1A mechanic’s skill for construction of parts. The quality and speed that it is made is determined by your knowledge and skill of parts making.

Quality of Parts increase by 1%

Speed at building parts increase by 1%

I just look at the parts. I kind of wondered why I hadn’t gotten the parts making skill earlier but there is probably some kind of knowledge and skill requirement I wouldn’t understand.

Still I wonder what the exterior Psi Manipulation alters. It says that I lose less psi which I notice happens when I do even the simplest tasks because I can’t control the psi correctly. I wonder if this will help with that.

I try to make a new part and notice a great difference. First off the Psi doesn’t feel so rigid now and I can control it with more fluidity and control. I try to pick up the small part I made that is the size of my fist but weighs at least 500 grams and find that I can levitate it for a few seconds about 5 cm off the ground.

This meant that the max weight I could lift had risen as well with that appearance of this skill.

To be sure I grab enough parts to make me fight to keep it up and when I reach that I take the parts to a scale and the weight I get is 200 grams. It rose by 2 times the weight I got which is rather nice.

Meant that in total I could move a 40 kilo box with all my gates released.

Feeling rather satisfied with the new skills.

As I get up I suddenly hear a call.

“All newbies come over here!” Colonel suddenly called us.

Since I was still on break I didn’t really delay and went over.

“Alright, now that every last one of you newbies have unlocked at least one of the limbs of the training bots we will be going to the training room you were show on the first day you came here. In there we, the veterans, will be teaching all of you to make your own personal Dwarf Fighter Robot. You will be the ones building but with our guidance and you will be owners of this. We will be aiding you only but you all will be building the robot's yourself. From there you will graduate from newbies into Beginner class Dwarf fighters and will be assigned to train with the regular guards. The models you will be making is a step above the training models and are actually combat worthy. Besides combat, the robot's can be adapted for space and can be adapted to mining so it’s up to you where you take it once you have your own. Now let’s go!” Colonel says.

We were all shocked. We never thought we would get a robot so soon. Not to mention that besides building it we will undergo the hell of unlocking an even more advanced model robot which somewhat filled me with dread since the training models were already hard enough.

I really regret unlocking my psi gates so early.

After going all the way to the training area in the other Ring of the station we find the place drastically changed.

First off the tables had lots of tools and extended on each and every one of them was the skeleton of the arm for the robot's.

In the open area in the back the place was turned into a deposit for components.

“Alright, grab any table, once you do you will see a small cube on the table. It contains the data for the parts you need to build, how to build, where it goes and all that. In about 3 hours the trade ship, Nomad Voyager, will be arriving. When they come our traders will go over and secure a shipment of Psionic Tech Nerves that were ordered in bulk. Let me tell you, each set of nerves is enough for one robot and several weapons or tools that attach to its body. You will also need Psionic Tech Nerves for several of the important systems like the Psi Capacity which will hold the psi for the robot.” Colonel said.

“So in simplest terms, we choose one weapon and some tools and be happy with it?” I asked.

“Aye! Of course!” Colonel said with a smile. “Now get working, we need something built to hold the psionic nerves. Start with the limb you all unlocked first. When you finish the prototype we can unlock the nerves then while we are at it.” Colonel finished.

I simply sigh and walk up to a random table and find the cube and started to upload the parts.

YES!! Finally something fun to mess with!! And look at this, just the basic model is this freaking complex! I love it! Maybe if some psionic nerves remain you can make a small utility robot that I can inhabit. That way I will get a body and you get a useful worker drone.

As I read that I actually think about it. Before making it I would need to check with colonel and Gunner about something like that.

“I’ll think about it. Before that start showing me the PROPER construction method step by step and bring up the parts I need to start out with.” I told her.

YES!! You finally consider it!! (note to self: Change Noah status from stingy prick to just stingy)

Alright sir here it is!

A vein nearly popped reading what she wrote but the plans appear soon after. First it was of the complete robot then the right arm broke off and the main body was pushed off and the arm expanded. Then it plates were removed followed by all the parts step by step until only the skeleton and several dozen parts and the psionic nerves were left.

Besides the Psionic nerves that will be placed around here these are the basic parts you need to build. You can’t build more without the nerves since they need to come from the center.

I look at the table that had the several skeleton parts. I grab the one that represented the right arm and put it on the table before going to the component boxes and begin on my rigorous parts building frenzy. Let’s put those skills I got to good use.

Several hours later

Within the armed shuttle, that was entering the horribly thin atmosphere that didn't even offer resistance or turbulence that you normally feel when entering the atmosphere, was the crew Star Comet. After a several hours the pilot, Alex, had warned everyone that they were arriving near the surface of the planet.

From then on, the relaxed team that had been napping or just passing the time changed.

Jessica who had been examining the weapons of the ship moved to the only empty turret chamber.

Turrets on a ship remained within the ship but within a room separated by an air lock. Turret, needing to enter space to be used, was always left in a vacuum unless under maintenance. This empty chamber was also different because it offered snipers a safe location to shoot from.

In the corner of the room was a familiar large military weapon crate. There wasn't just one but actually two. One was much smaller than the one she had encountered.

This was the weapon she had been training with and gained Sniper Rifle Master

Opening the large crate she found several dozen "shelves" with up to four copies of the same part.

This was the crate for the railgun but over the few days before the mission right now Gunner customized the box so Jessica could carry spare parts. Having learned to build the railgun she starts construction of it building the gun completely.

The railgun was 1.25 meters long but the main body was only 50 cm while the 75 cm long part was the two side shafts that made the electric field and the barrel at the center. The railgun worked only with two things. One was a power pack which gave it the electricity and then the bullet.

Both appeared in Jessica's hand after she finished building the gun. She made sure to check it several times to make sure it was built correctly before installing the power pack and bullet.

She set the railgun to the side before turning to the second crate.

This one opened up to a simpler crate that held parts only for one gun.

This was the gun she trained sniping with. 1 meter long and colored black was a high caliber military sniper rifle. The reason she was able to commission this was because she needed a single shot with heavy recoil sniper. This way she would be able to get used to a heavy weapon like the railgun.

She was also only able to borrow the gun for some weeks and only with Gunners recommendations. In addition, she doesn't actually own it. The true price for something like this would we around 5-8k credits and this was the weakest model they would spare for her.

She built it up and finally put the scope one and began adjusting it with the help of her AI.

"Ahh~! Who knew being a long range gunner was such a hassle." Jessica said.

Hey big sis, won't using the big gun damage you a lot?

"Sadly yes, the recoil is huge but at least Gunner showed me what I should built to hold it back." Jessica replied to her AI Vivi.

She pulls out some metal supports from the large crate which was stored on the lid of the crate. She built it and made a large support made specifically to attach to the turret entrance and use the ship to a degree to hold down the rail gun. It could also be used for the normal sniper.

In another part of the ship, Roktar was checking his equipment making sure he had everything.

As they would soon reach the caves soon he was getting read and near him we was giving some tips to deflect attacks. This would help keep her from getting so damaged and trying to block attacks when deflecting was easier.

Taking a break to let Hilda get final repairs Roktar calls his son up at the station.

Roktar: Noah can you talk?Noah: About what?Roktar: Just wondering what it’s like up there at the moment?Noah: Trade ship just came into the system and docked a bit away from the station. Us dwarf fighters gained Psionic nerves and we are currently building our own personal ones. It’s been… 8 hours already since we started and 5 since we got the nerves and are building the robot now. Soon I’ll be allowed to join in missions.Roktar: Nice, having a real tank to take my spot would be refreshing for once.Noah: Don’t push it or I will grab you and use you as a meat shield.Roktar: Tch, ungrateful son. Anyway we are just about to reach the volcano we needed to erupt, just wanted to warn you.Noah: okay, good luck and try not to die. No one did yet so we don’t really know how “death” is handled in game or explained for that matter.Roktar: I heard it will be announced when the first player dies. Anyway see you.

He closes the chat and goes to rest up before the battle to clear the caves begins.

Noah PoV

Closing the chat with my dad I look back at my table. On it was very large skeleton of the robot I am making. The right arm was on the table while the skeleton was behind the table. The right arm was still in construction but I was nearly finished so I get back to putting the parts that lacked.

Putting the last few parts and do a one over of the arm to make sure the parts were connected properly and finished.

Congrats on making the arm, you should unlock it before it gets any harder.

“Yeah, I know.” I said and going to where the handle where I stick my hand in and put it inside. The gates were obviously closed and pulling a chair to sit I began the long and tedious task of opening all the gates but maybe because I was used to this type of opening I was able to open half of them after 5 hours before we needed to go to bed after a long day.