Hi next chapter for you :).

In this chapter i used some training and discribed it only briefly so I would like to aske if I should Made it longer or should continue like it is.

Once more thanks for reading and enjoy.

This chapter was proofread by aeval. Thanks.

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Finally, I can log in after the one day penalty for dying inside of the game. First I made myself a healthy breakfast with some fruit and vegetables, which I washed down with a glass of water. After that I went to my capsule to login to the game and find out if the others logged in already.

I called Rock and Lee after I died about what their status was, but they too both died. I did not have John and Leya's contact information so I will pm them when I am logged in.

When I logged in I was standing in front of the mine and there were a lot of people around. Before them was a man speaking wearing a rich suit with a trimmed moustache. He was probably the Director of this mine.

“We now know what is down there. It’s Trelians and they are responsible for all the misfortune that happened to you.” He paused to let the news sink into the crowd and continued. “I’m sad to tell you that I’m forced to close this mine and I have called for a kinetic strike on it. There could be thousands of them and we would be just sending people in there for the slaughter. I’m going to pay you all a severance fine for your hard work and years of working for this company. That’s all I wanted to tell you and I wish you luck in your future life.”

I was listening to him and knew that he was right, there could be thousands of them and it would be impossible to kill them all. I looked at the crowd for the foreman but couldn’t see him. I called Rock and Lee to see if they already logged into game.

“Hi guys where are you?”

“We’re almost at the mine Anna.” Said Rock.

“Did you already turn over the quest? I just listened to the Director of this mine say that they have to bombard the mine to save us from Trelians.” I told them.

“No we didn’t turn over anything. It had to be either Leya or John.” Said Lee. “They should have waited for us. It was supposed to be a team effort.”

“Yeah they should have but we can’t change it now. I’ll call them and ask them where they are.” I replied, then send to the guys “and you two come in front of the mine entrance. We’ll meet there.”

I included Leya and John into our conversation, “Hi, both of you are still alive? If so, I’d like to ask which one of you turned over the quest for the mine.”

After some time there was a pissed voice, “I didn’t turn over anything it had to be Leya. And one more thing. Leya we need to talk because I know who you really are.” Said John.

Then a womans voice answered, “First I didn’t turn it over as I’m still inside of the mines, second I have some new information for you and possibly a new quest to share.” Finished Leya.

“You can say what you want! I know who you are and I’m going to expose you to the whole world.” Said John viciously.

“Like I said I don’t know what you are talking about but you can do whatever you want.” Said Leya with a slight pinch of fear in her voice.

I don’t know what this was about, but she was clearly distressed and I don’t like bullies who attack someone without explanation. I need to found out what happened and then we can make a decision.

“Enough!” I shouted at them and then continued as normal, “We’ll get back to that but first Leya they are going to bombard the mine so you have to get out of there.”

“You have to stop them! The situation is completely different than we thought.” She said immediately.

“Then tell us what is this all about?” I told her.

Then she started telling us what happened, after we died and how she got to the queen and found out that the one responsible for the attack was none other than the Director. She told us about the treaty that she proposed to the Trelians and that they have accepted it.

After she stopped talking I saw Rock, Lee and John coming my way.

“I have talk to you without Leya. I have to explain why we shouldn’t trust her.” Said John without preamble.

“What is so important about her that you have to tell us. She’s just a normal girl and based on her experience in mine we have to stop this kinetic strike.”

“Boss you should hear this.” Said Lee.

I looked at them, “Ok so tell me, what is so important about her.”

“She’s Leya in real life.” Said John.

I looked at him not comprehending what he wanted to tell me, “So what there are a lot of Leyas in real life.”

He spoke urgently, “You don’t understand. She’s the Leya. The one we all know about.”

Then it dawned on me and I knew who he was talking about. It was strange to look back and compare Leya with new eyes as I remembered her only as a murderer. I would have to think about it but first, “How did you come by this information? What if she’s not the one?”

“I hacked into the network of Virtua and found who she really is.” Explained John.

I chewed on my lip, “Now we have to decide if we can trust her or not.”

• • •

With squeal I run towards my ship. As I got closer I could see she was similar to the one I build under my house. At least in shape. This one was built from different materials and was clearly damaged in some areas. I could see that she crash-landed here. I looked up and there was a tunnel from which fresh air was coming in.

The ship was shaped like an A, about 40 meters long and 30 wide. At the back of the ship, were giant thrusters about 10 meters tall. Along her I could see turrets and some smaller thrusters. Right now she was damaged and looked like crap but for me it was the most beautiful ship.

I looked for an entrance and couldn’t find one so I used one of the holes to enter the ship. There was definitely a lot of damage done by the crash-landing but some was obviously from weapon fire. Inside of the ship was a complete mess. There were cables hanging from the ceilings and things tossed around inside of the corridors. I went to look for a bridge.

As I walked around the ship I found out that it has the same setup as the one I’m building so I went straight for the bridge. There I found a little less mess but also found someone in the pilot’s seat. I slowly got closer and looked at him.

It was some alien with purple skin in a jumpsuit. He was clearly dead from the wound in his chest. I took him out to bury him. There I could get a better look at him. He was the same height as me with a muscular body. As I said he had purple skin. He had short blue hair and his hand ended with long claws.

I called to the queen for help with digging a grave and she send me some of her warriors to dig it. They worked fast and in just ten minutes I was already placing him inside so he can have his eternal rest. I didn’t know what to say about him so I just thanked him for the ship and prayed for his soul to get to wherever it is he wanted to go.

From there I went to the ship and looked for a power source. I wanted to work away my sadness. What I found in the ship was a different power source than the one I wanted to use and it was also one I wasn’t familiar with. I inspected it and couldn’t find any fault with it so I checked the power cables for any damage. There was some damage to the cables leading into the sub-light drive but the damage to the light drive was much more extensive. They used a different light drive than what I wanted to use on my ship. At least I recognized the sub-light drive. It was a standard plasma propulsion drive or in other words a SPPD.

What I needed most were the information about this ship and how I should go about repairing it. For this I would have to activate this ship AI. I looked it up and once more I was surprised as it took more space then I wanted for the AI on my ship. That could mean a more intelligent AI and problems if it decided I was an intruder on this ship.

I inspected the AI core and it was intact but had only a trickle of power coming into it. It was probably on a standby mode. I went back to the bridge and started to repair the power cables for the consoles. When I was finished with the basic repairs I tried to activate the ship AI. Immediately emergency lights started to flash red and sirens went off. On all monitors I could see typed:

Imminent crash please go to escape pod immediately!

And from the speakers could be heard the same thing.

“She already crashed, you don’t have to use the alarm anymore.” I shouted over it.

There was immediately silence and I could feel someone watching me, “Identify yourself. You’re not part of my crew.” Said female voice.

“My name is Leya and I’m a spacer. I found this ship crashed near the mine that I was investigating. I found only one person aboard the ship but he was already dead. I buried him outside.” I said to the ship.

There was a silence so I asked, “Who am I speaking to?”

“My name is Eleanor and I’m this ship AI. I looked at the records of everything that happened in the last days and you are telling the truth.” She said sadly and then continued, “That leaves me with a problem as without a captain I can’t fly this ship.”

With a small hope I asked, “Could I be your captain?”

“Scanning race… You are compatible with this type of ship, but you would have to continue its mission.” Said Eleanor.

“What mission is that?” I asked with a rising curiosity.

“This vessel is designated as Paladin V and its mission is to defend and help the innocent and the weak from all who would want them oppressed.”

I thought about it, “So if I want to be the captain of this ship I would have to continue this mission. Am I correct?”

“Yes as her captain you would have to defend the innocent wherever you are, without looking at the consequences for your person.” She explained.

This was harder than I thought but so what, I was already an outcast, “Ok, I’ll accept this mission of yours.”

“Please come to the infirmary for a captains mark injection.” Said Eleanor hopefully.

I went to the infirmary where I could see everything in top notch state. There were no items scattered on the floor or any damaged cables.

“Please seat yourself on the table so we can start with the injection.”

“And what would this injection be?” I asked worriedly.

“Standard Captain Injection, with a com relay, captains codes for the ship and the basic information about this ship. Additional injections are recommended, but not necessary for commanding this ship.” Explained Eleanora.

I lay on the table and waited for what was about to happen. At first there was nothing but slowly my world was fading and I fall asleep.

I woke up with a strong headache and tried to sit myself up.

“You should stay laying on the table while your headache subsides.” I heard Eleanora's voice come into my head.

I was startled as I completely have forgotten where I am. I lie down on the table and I could feel that my headache subsiding slowly. When it was on an acceptable level, I stood up and looked around me. I was still in the infirmary but I could feel something different. I knew all the access codes for this ship. Before me was a new window.

Your class is changed to Paladin of shadows

You obtained new ship: PALADIN V

Class: Paladin of shadows (Captain)This class comes from a secret organization that protects planets and its inhabitants from criminals, warlords and any other negative elements. They are a powerful organization with one of the best tech available in the galaxy. Their credo is to help all from the shadows and never reveal who they are. Because of this your class won’t be displayed toward others when they look at you.

30 to all stats

Captain codes

Com relay in head

Special training available

Spaceship PALADIN V

So this is how you can get a new class. With these stats as a bonus I can finally use the rail gun without any problems, at least until I upgrade it some more.

“You should already be aware of all the codes for this ship and have the basic information about it.” Said Eleanora.

“Yes I have it all, but I can’t believe some of this information. A Stable antimatter power source. A Wormhole drive with a short slipspace capability and finally what are these Singularity missiles. There are only two on board of the ship.”

“It’s what it says. They are missiles that on explosion create a small temporary singularity.”

I was horrified at the prospect of such a powerful weapon. It could destroy a whole planet if it gets into the wrong hands. I don’t know who these Paladins are but they clearly have powerful technology at their disposal. Far better than anything I heard of in this game or in real life.

Then I got a pm, “Hi, both of you are still alive? If so, I’d like to ask which one of you turned over the quest for the mine.”

I heard a pissed John answering, “I didn’t turn over anything it had to be Leya. And one more thing. Leya we need to talk because I know who you really are.”

I was startled but at the same time afraid of what he knew so I tried to redirect him, “First I didn’t turn it over as I’m still inside of the mines, second I have some new information for you and possibly a new quest to share.”

But that didn’t relent him, “You can say what you want! I know who you are and I’m going to expose you to whole world.” Said John viciously.

“Like I said I don’t know what you are talking about but you can do whatever you want.” I said with my panic rising. What if he truly found out who I am? I didn’t want to go through it all in this world again.

Then Anna shouted, “Enough!” and continued like nothing happened, “We’ll get back to that but first Leya they are going to bombard the mine so you have to get out of there.”

That was bad as they have the wrong information, “You have to stop them the situation is completely different than we thought.” I said immediately.

“Then tell us what is this all about?” asked Anna.

So I told them about everything except the ship. This I didn’t want them to know. It could be my ticket away from this planet and in case everything goes wrong. As I finished, there was a long silence without anyone telling me anything.

Then came a reply from Anna, “John told us who you are, so don’t try to pretend otherwise. I don’t know if you are telling the truth but the Director didn’t seem like the type to do something like this.”

Then with some sadness she continued, “I don’t know if I can trust you, but I’ll try to investigate if what you are telling is truth or not. Till then bye.”

I was crying as it was all over again, “Please just don’t tell anyone and tell me please how much time I have till bombarding starts.”

There was a silence then Rock said silently, “You have one week then they’ll start with bombarding and we’ll wait for only one week for you to prove either your guilt or innocence. Then we will decide if we expose you or not.”

“Thanks, then I’ll prove you that I’m telling the truth.” I said, relieved as they at least doubted what others were saying.

“Don’t thank me till you know of our decision.” Said Anna and cut the connection.

For the next hour I was curled into a tight ball crying till I couldn’t anymore. Eleanor tried to soothe me and I was thankful for it. In the end I stood up and went and started to make repairs needed for the ship to fly. There were lives at stake. Even if they were just code, they did more good to me than real people. I looked at our conversation once more and found there was a window I didn’t see.

Mission update: Who is director?While investigating the mine you found a secret chamber in the director’s office. The Items stored there are clearly of alien origin. Find any clues on who the Director really is. You found out that the director is trying to destroy all the evidence with a kinetic strike on the mine. You have to prevent this strike to save the Trelians.

Conditions:

Find out who director is

Prevent kinetic strike

Time:

6 days 23 hours

Reward:

???

“Eleanor, what do we need to do to make this ship space worthy?” I asked Eleanor.

“We have to repair the outer hull and sub-light engine. For this we will need a lot of raw materials for the ship replicator. The Replicator too would need some small repairs and a fresh nanobots injection to function. That should be all to make it flight worthy.

“Ok, we have one week to protect the Trelians and prove that the Director is guilty.” I said with new gained strength. “I have some materials from his secret chamber. I’ll show them to you and you can start scanning them.”

“Ok place them somewhere where I can scan them and I’ll start on them. If you need help you can try and repair some of the bots in the cargo hold.” She said cheerfully now that her captain had a purpose once more.

I went to the queen and told her about the attack on this mine. She was scared but I told her about my plan to defend her hive and that calmed her down little. I would need her warriors to dig up some ores for my replicator. Then I went to look at the replicator and started to repair it. Biggest problem was that there weren’t any nanobots inside of it so I had to transfer some of mine into it.

With the right materials a replicator can make more nanobots and then I can take back mine. With this out of the way, I went to the cargo hold and took a look at our bots. There were four of them. Two cargo bots, one medical and one repair bot.

I started working on the repair bot first and then moved on to the cargo bots. It took me a whole day and I was starting to feel sluggish from exhaustion. I had to log out as it was a long time since my last log out. I had everything prepared and the bots started to work on the outer plates.

The more sensitive repairs I can make tomorrow. For now I’ll tell Eleanora I would be away for some time.

“Eleanora I’ll go sleep as I was a long time on foot. I should be back tomorrow and start with the repairs.”

“Ok, I’ll work more on translating these documents from the Director and Good night Leya.” She said with care.

“Thanks, good night to you too. Don’t work too hard.” I said and logged out.

• • •

I woke up in my bed feeling extremely thirsty, hungry and with a full bladder. First I went to the toilet and then made myself some breakfast as I was in-game a whole two days and missed breakfast, two lunches and two dinners. With my most urgent needs sated and taken care of, I showered myself and then went to bed and get some sleep. I didn’t want to work on this day in the scrapyard and I would need to make as much in game as I can before I’ll pause.

I lay into my bed and was asleep as soon as I placed my head on my pillow. When I woke up it was already night. I prepared myself a late dinner and looked if I had any recorded messages. There was one from Grodon Herley’s thugs who offered me more money for my scrapyard. I just deleted the massage. I didn’t have any other massages so I moved to my underground area where I was building my ship.

I looked at her and started inspecting her for any differences between the one in game and this one. From outside she had the same shape but in-game ship used different materials. The one in the game was probably more durable as I didn’t have any money to buy better than hardened steel.

I moved into the interior and started to inspect it. There it was in a lot of ways the same with some different components. I thought about these two ships and started to wonder if something which functioned in the game world could also function in this one.

The weapons I made inside of the game were exactly the same and functioned the same so maybe there was a slight chance that I could build the same ship as the One inside of the game. I was excited by this idea and I started to look for materials. I wanted to build a replicator first as with it I could make the other repairs faster and I could even remodel my whole ship.

I started to make the base frame from memory. For the other parts I would have to make them another time as I needed to log into the game and clear my name. I went back into the house and entered the game.

• • •

I woke in my cabin on the PALADIN V and immediately spoke to Eleanor. “Hi Eleanor so how are the repairs going.”

“Good day miss Leya, The outer hull is almost completely repaired but we need to install and repair some sensors and shield nodes.” Said Eleanor then silently added, “I’m glad you’re back”

“Me too Eleanor. Me too.” I said with smile.

Then I asked her how much time we still have. She told me we still have four days left, so I went to look outside. The Ship looked almost new and before her was a small mountain of ores and every minute a Trelian came with another pile of ores.

I thanked them before loading up the replicator and started making the parts for my ship. For the next three days I was constantly working on the ship. I logged out only to eat, drink and clean myself. With one spare day, the ship was almost completely repaired and only needed some finishing touches.

Through these three days I talked with Eleanor about my life and what I wanted to do. I asked her about her protocols and about the previous captain. She didn’t want to talk much about him so I let it go. She too progressed with the translation and had it was almost half translated. From this incomplete translation she could already find some evidence against the Director but nothing damning.

From her talk about protocols I could see she was in some sense a slave to the captain of this ship. She will always have to do what I tell her no matter what she might think. When this is over I would have to take a look into it and find some way to release her from these protocols.

I had only on day remaining before they try to destroy the Trelians. I went quickly to eat and clean myself and headed back into the game. As soon as I was in game Eleanora said to me, “You need more training before you go and stop them.”

“I don’t have the time. We do not even have a whole day to finish and find some evidence against the director.” I replied.

“You have time. There is a special training program for paladins. It enables them to learn in short periods of time. Every hour here is twenty four hours there. The only downside is that it’s really exhausting.”

I thought about it but to tell the truth I needed it. I can’t pilot this ship through these tunnels. Maybe with more experience it would be possible for me, but not as I am now. “Ok. What do I need to do?” I said finally.

“Go to your cabin and lie down on your bed. I’ll start the training protocols. I’ll use the sixteen hour intensive course for you. I will focus this training on flying so we can fight if it comes to that. That gives you sixteen days to learn how to fly the ship.” She was saying as I was walking towards my cabin.

I lie down and could once more feel the dimming of my world but this time it immediately started to come back and I was sitting in the pilot seat on PALADIN V.

“There are 15 enemy vessels. Your training starts now.” Said Eleanora.

I look at the navigation panel and saw they were closing in on me fast. I used the thrusters to come on their side so only a couple of them could fire at me. What I didn’t count on was that they too changed their positions and were going to entrap me. I accelerated to the max and as soon as I was in range I fired my missiles and changed the direction I was going in. I could see that my missiles didn’t do any damage as their point defense took care of them.

I didn’t know what to do against this many ships. For the next five minutes I was only dodging as much enemy ordnance as I could. I even got one of them with a plasma turret but that was all. I was destroyed and couldn’t do anything at all during this encounter.

“Once more.” Said Eleanora and I was back at beginning.

I did this for a whole day and I was starting to get very tired but Eleanora still continued with the exercise. Finally at the end of the day I got them. I went into a nearby asteroid cloud where I could always fight them one on one without the others getting close to me. I finally got what Eleanora wanted to teach me and the next three times I used a similar tactics to engage them.

The only thing Eleanora told me at the end of the day was, “Basic training was done and we can move on to the harder exercises.”

The next fifteen days were hard. Every day I learned more about my ship, how to fly and in the final four days I even was forced to jack my nanobots into the ship and use its sensors as my own. It was exhausting but after four days I could finally do it.

Maybe it was the exhaustion that enabled me to do so, because I stopped trying to analyze what the sensors were telling me and just started to react to the information from them. Finally I was logged back into the normal game.

When I woke up I was completely exhausted. Not physically but mentally. Eleanor gave me something to help and ordered one hour of sleep to clean my head. I was so accustomed to her orders that I didn’t even argue with her and went to sleep.

This time when I woke up I was fresh and looked up my piloting skill.

Spaceship piloting(Advanced) lvl 8Progress:93%Type:PassiveThis skill enables you to operate basic ships and qualify you for owning your own ship. With this skill you are authorized to operate any kind of ship except large battleships. You are proficient in piloting small and medium ships.

I looked open-mouthed at my piloting skill as it went right through intermediate and jump to advanced, even to level 8.

I knew now I could take ship through tunnels without problems. They were wider then some spaces I hid while training.

With this realization I told Eleanor kindly, “Thank you for all you’ve done and forget everything I told about you through training.”

“It’s ok I heard it more than once and when we go through next training you’ll say it one more time” she said mischievously.

“What other training? I know how to fly. I don’t need any more training.” I said with rising fear.

“Oh but we just started. You need combat training, survival training and I’m sure I can find some other training for you.” She said with laugh.

I sigh, “Ok I surrender. I’ll somehow manage but now we have to prepare for fight if you don’t have any new evidence for me.”

“No I’m sure I almost got something but I don’t know if I’ll manage to acquire it before they start bombarding.” She said sadly.

I tried to cheer her up, “Don’t worry we’ll make it somehow. I have confidence in you.”

“Thank you. Now we have final preparation for launch.” She said warmly.

Next hour and half we controlled as much as we could on ship and started pre-flight control. Everything was ok so it was time to stop Director.