On the bridge, Scarlett sat at the controls while hyperspace swirled around the windows outside. "So here's the deal. We're approaching Aegis but we're not alone. I'm picking up a mercenary frigate patrolling the planet."

Byron narrowed his eyes, thinking how hard this game made everything. "That sounds bad."

"It sure as fuck is. They're broadcasting this message on all channels." Scarlett tapped some keys.

The communications screen lit up with a face that looked like it had been carved out of rock, smashed into pieces, and then badly reassembled. The chunky gray blocks moved and rumbled as they spoke. "Once again, this is Captain Zrolik of the Deadly Gaze. We have been contracted by the Necralia Empire to recover a missing shipment of slaves. All ships will be boarded and searched without exception. Resist and you will be destroyed. Once again, this--"

Chetaara cut off the broadcast and looked at Byron. "What shall we do, Master?"

As if he hadn't already figured it out, the game text popped up:

OBJECTIVE: GET PAST MERCENARIES

He looked out at the hyperspace howling outside. He tried to think like a gamer. First, figure out the odds. "Uh, well, that depends. How tough a merc ship are we talking about?"

At that moment, the Icarus dropped out of hyperspace to face a small red planet below. A space station floated in orbit around the planet, along with a huge blocky starship beside it.

Scarlett looked down at her instruments. "Class twelve frigate. Fifteen guns. Three missile tubes. And a shitload of armor."

He sighed. He had a class two freighter and the mercenaries had a class twelve. He was supposed to be the Outsider who could beat anyone but he didn't feel like pushing it. "Okay, so let's say we can't beat the ship in a straight fight. What if we try to outrun them?"

Her metal hands waved in the air. "Even if they didn't just blow our asses out of the sky right away, that ship is fast as fuck. Way faster than us."

"Okay. What if we let them board us?"

Scarlett's eyes glowed brighter as she looked up at him. "Are you shitting me right now? Why don't we just put their fucking guns to our heads and blow our own brains out? Save them the trouble?"

Chetaara wrapped her arms around his neck and shot Scarlett a defiant look. "I have faith in the Outsider."

He held up his hands. "It's not about faith. If they board us and we can get through it, we don't have to fight at all."

Scarlett pointed at the door behind them. "Yeah, great plan, except for the forty fucking escaped slaves we got in that hold. How the fuck do you plan to let them search us without finding them?"

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "The Icarus. It's still in the freighter's hangar bay, right? We can hide them in that."

"So why would they search the whole fucking freighter and not the Icarus?"

Byron grinned as his plan took shape. "Because we give them a really good reason not to."

***

As they watched the mercenary ship approaching the freighter's airlock, Scarlett murmured, "I sure hope you know what the fuck you're doing. Because I don't."

Byron had his arms folded, watching as the ship slowed in its approach. "Trust me, it'll work."

She raised her metal eyebrows at him. "Oh, I trust you. I just don't trust this shitty game."

His hands brushed down the jumpsuit he had changed into with the freighter's insignia on it. He glanced over at the docking bay behind them where the Icarus waited. The ship was quiet, of course. Even if the Nikora women hidden inside had been doing a clog dance, the ship's hull would have shielded most of the sound. Still, according to Scarlett, even the slightest noise could be picked up by scanners. He found himself staring at the ship, imagining he could see the women huddled inside the control room with Chetaara, waiting in fear.

"It'll work," he said, more to himself than Scarlett.

When the pirate ship connected with the freighter, there was a loud boom and rumble that faded away. The airlock hissed, and Scarlett punched the keypad to allow the door to open.

The rocky face he had seen on the communications screen matched an equally gray rocky body that walked into the freighter. It towered over him as a pile of boulders in human shape, wearing bandoliers of dozens of clips of ammunition and grenades while his arms carried a heavy assault rifle.

Just as Byron tried to get over the shock of the rock man, four more came in behind it. All of them were just as big and heavily armed. His weapons definitely wouldn't have much use on them.

The first rock creature looked around the ship with its hollow eyes. "I'm Captain Zrolik. These are some of my men. You know what we're looking for?"

Byron made a wincing face. "Uh, can't say I do. We just heard the message and wanted to get this over with."

Zrolik held out his right hand with a small wand in it. A hologram popped into the air over the wand, showing faces of Nikora women scrolling by, one after the other. "Someone was stupid enough to steal a shipment of slaves from Lady Necralia. Forty Nikora females. We're here to get them back."

Byron made himself look as wide-eyed and innocent as possible. "Wow. And you think they're here?"

Zrolik lowered his hand and the hologram disappeared. "The Empire intercepted a message that the Republic of Beriza had offered the slaves asylum."

Byron glanced at Scarlett who gave him a slight raise of her shoulders in a shrug. It seemed like her communication with the Republic hadn't been as secure as they hoped.

The hollow pits of Zrolik's eyes began roaming the ship again. "We've got men and women at every Beriza outpost within a hyper-hour of the lost freighter. Just to be sure."

Byron launched into the cover story he and Scarlett had prepared. "Sure. Well, you can look around. We're actually empty right now. On our way to Aegis to refuel and pick up a cargo of infusion rods."

Zrolik made a circling gesture with his free hand, and his men began walking off into the hallways around them. They all carried small tablets which beeped. Byron guessed they were scanning for the Nikora.

The captain remained glaring at Byron. "Are you the only crew on board?"

Byron shrugged. "Yeah, just me and my first mate."

The hollow pits Zrolik used for eyes turned towards Scarlett. "A robot first mate?"

Scarlett planted her hands on her hips. "Best fucking first mate you'll ever see, baby."

Byron held out his hand. He didn't need her talking them into trouble. "Yeah, she's been great so far. You should try it."

The captain looked up at the ceiling. "Kind of a large freighter for a two-man crew, isn't it? A ship this size would need at least five."

Byron took a deep breath. They hadn't expected this. He'd have to improvise, throw a little humor to distract the captain. "Well, we lost some crew members on the last delivery. Managed to limp back here. Probably hire some new men. You got any you could spare?"

Zrolik just glared at him before speaking again. "Why didn't you take on some water?"

It took a moment before he could find his voice again. "What?"

Zrolik looked around the hangar. "No freighter would go through hyperspace with an empty cargo hold. Too expensive, all that wasted fuel. You could have found a planet with some water to haul and loaded her up. Sell it anywhere for at least the cost of fuel to break even."

Wow, Byron thought, this guy is good.

He said, "We had some technical problems. Seemed best to cut our losses."

The other mercenaries came back into the hangar bay. One called out, "Nothing, sir."

Zrolik turned his gaze over to the Icarus. "One place left to search, Krok."

The mercenary looked down at his scanner. "We're not getting a good reading in there."

"Why not?"

Byron grinned. "Yeah, uh, that's part of that technical problem I was telling you about. We use that frigate for scouting runs, but it got damaged going through an asteroid belt. Whole thing is flooded with radiation. Would kill you just setting foot in there."

Zrolik looked at his mercenary Krok who nodded.

"It's true," Krok said. "I'm picking up massive amounts of radiation in there."

Byron looked at Scarlett who winked, no doubt patting herself on the back for the job she and Chetaara had done breaking the ship's hyperdrive to cause the radiation leak. At that moment, he imagined the Nikora inside the starship, locked inside the engine room with all the radiation shielding they could scrape together mounted on the walls. It would keep them safe for a few more minutes before the radiation seeped through, enough to wait out the mercenaries.

Zrolik turned back to glare at Byron. "Krok, Grazok. Search it."

Byron held out his hands to stop the mercenaries. "Hey, hey, hey. You scanned it yourself. That thing is lethal."

Zrolik broke into a humorless smile. "Lethal to humans. We're Voloxx. We can handle a little radiation."

Byron's heart sank as two of the mercenaries began to walk towards the Icarus. He looked at Scarlett who gave him another shrug. It never occurred to him (or Scarlett, apparently) that the mercenaries would be strong enough to resist the radiation. The whole plan had fallen apart in a matter of seconds.

He tried to think of what he could do. The three mercenaries outside the Icarus all had their weapons trained on him and Scarlett. The other two mercenaries tapped the airlock and opened it to step inside the Icarus. He wanted to run after them, but he really wouldn't survive inside his ship for long with the radiation leak.

Zrolik glared down at Byron. Somehow, his eyeless face seemed to look even grimmer. "Sir, I think you're lying. I think the slaves we're looking for are in that frigate."

Byron forced himself to look the mercenary directly in the eyeholes and say the toughest thing he could think of. "Well, that's your opinion."

Okay, he thought, that wasn't so tough.

He reached down and tried to slowly and discreetly unclip his pistol.

Zrolik swung his assault rifle around to point at Byron. "Touch that weapon and I'll blow your head off."

Byron dropped his hand but clenched his fists as rage flooded through him. He was trying to save a group of women from a horrible life of slavery, and these thugs were dedicated to putting the women back into chains. They weren't just mercenaries. They were evil.

Zrolik looked up. "What's taking them so long? Could've swept the whole frigate by now."

The Icarus erupted in a bang. Then another and another. Gunshots.

Zrolik tightened his grip on his rifle as he glared at the Icarus. "What do you--"

The two mercenaries came flying out of the Icarus' airlock.

Chetaara, Pratorra, and Ionla came out after them, letting out a fierce roar that echoed through the hangar.

While Zrolik looked at the Nikora women bursting out of the Icarus, Byron seized his chance. He grabbed the muzzle of the rock-man's assault rifle and knocked it upwards with one hand while yanking out his pistol with the other. He fired into Zrolik's chest.

The laser bolt hit point-blank, but Zrolik's health bar just flickered a little. Byron's guns were useless against these creatures. Once again, he would have to find a way to hurt them another way.

It did make Zrolik swing his arm and knock Byron to the floor. He let out a cry of rage as he pointed his rifle at Byron's head.

Chetaara roared as she leaped onto Zrolik. Her hands slammed onto Zrolik's head. Lightning bolts came out of her fingers to shock his head. He jerked twice and collapsed.

The fight was on.

All the Nikora women kept pouring out of the Icarus, snarling and charging at the mercenaries. The rock-men fired off rounds with their assault rifles, and some of the women screamed and fell as the gunfire cut them down. The rest of the women just kept going and tackled the rock-men. The mercenaries found themselves outnumbered.

Scarlett had drawn her guns and backed away, firing shots at the other mercenaries. "Yeah, rock and roll, bitches!"

Zrolik swept his arm to knock Chetaara off of himself and threw himself at Byron. Byron tried to move out of the way, but the rock-man moved faster than he expected. Byron was slammed onto his back with Zrolik on top of him.

Zrolik threw a punch that felt like a jackhammer hitting Byron in the jaw. Byron heard and felt his face crack.

-10 HP

HP: 90/100

Zrolik grabbed him by the shirt and hurled him against a nearby wall. Byron slammed against the wall and slid to the floor, back and ribs screaming in pain.

-15 HP

HP 75/100

Zrolik picked up his rifle and aimed it at Byron. "Fleshy slime."

Byron struggled to speak with his broken jaw. "Fuck you."

He held up the rings in his hands.

Zrolik's eyeholes widened. He looked down at the grenades on his bandolier, all missing their rings.

He exploded in a fireball that knocked Byron back and threw the mercenaries and the Nikora all over the hangar.

When the fireball faded, only a pile of rubble remained on the floor of the hangar. Clouds of smoke choked him as they faded away, leaving the smell of burning gunpowder. He saw the others yelling but only heard a high pitched ringing sound.

OBJECTIVE COMPLETED

+50 XP

+450 CREDITS

The last of Byron's strength left him and he collapsed.

He woke up, lying on the floor while hands surrounded him. Sound returned to his ears as he could make out Chetaara calling out, "Master! Master!"

Scarlett called, "I'll get the medkits!"

Chetaara knelt beside him and kissed him. "You will survive, Outsider. You must survive. It's the will of the gods that you be free."

He looked at her. "What're you talking about?"

Chetaara smiled. "I believe you are the one the gods said would come. You are the Outsider."

He shook his head. "What's the Outsider?"

A dreamy look came into Chetaara's green eyes. "For thousands of years, it's been said that one would come from beyond the universe itself, from another world outside our own. He would be stronger than he seemed and would destroy the greatest evil. He would free all the slaves, and bring peace to the Galaxy."

He looked at Scarlett, who shrugged and said, "It's true. Even some players believe the story of the Outsider. They think he'll be able to shut down the game and free all the players trapped inside it."

"But I'm just a guy."

Scarlett crossed her arms and shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not much for prophecies and shit, either. But I gotta admit, you fit the bill better than any other shithead I've seen in this place so far."

"Yeah." Byron sighed. "I guess so."