Hunkered down beside a barricade just five metres into the main entrance of the rebel's shipyard main building, Gulliver and his team were pinned under heavy suppressive fire. The rebels had set up three heavy laser repeaters arranged in a concave that covered the huge sliding door of the main entrance.

"I should have fucking blew a hole in the wall. I told you cap! Main entrance is a big death trap'' Bravo 3 cussed into the coms.

"You knew that I agreed with you. Stupid hunters wanted to take HQ intact!'' Captain Thyrion's voice rang out across the backdrop of the loud whine of the fans cooling off the laser guns. Occasional explosions and bullets can be heard pinging off the metal interior. The stalemate of both parties gave Gulliver ample time to examine his surroundings. As he watched stray bullets bouncing off walls, a lightbulb lit up in Gulliver's head. He angled his rifle so that it faces the wall and pulled the trigger. A sound of discharged air followed by the now familiar jerk of the recoil, he tracked the bullet as it left the gun barrel and ricocheted off the wall thus changing the bullet's trajectory.

"Guys," he grinned, "I have an idea."

***

Thalor Tak Su was the rebel commander in charge of the shipyard's security. He was fuming at the situation. The posting should be a short and peaceful deployment before he got back to fighting the authoritative Planetary Government. He stood at the central laser turret and looked over the killing zone they had set up and smiled in satisfaction. Relishing at the immense firepower raining down on the dogs of the Planetary Government.

The players were grumbling at his side over the relatively boring final defence but he wouldn't care. He was perfectly content hiding behind barricades and only popping out to shoot when needed. The base need only be held for an hour more. This type of battle was the one that he loved. Winning without effort. As long as he's successful in his defence, he'll be promoted and be further away from the frontlines. Closer to getting into a position of power once this revolution has ended. Casualties on his side were irrelevant, all it mattered was the cause and his personal gain.

As Thalor pulled his focus back to the battlefield, he noticed the player beside him stopped grumbling. Wondering what he was up to now. The players were always demanding to be allowed to rush the attackers, sometimes going as far as to disobey orders and charged the enemy.

Idiots were what he thought of most of the recent recruits. That idiot was now lying dead next to him.

Alarmed, Thalor wondered to himself, 'Did he get sniped? I was sure he was hiding behind cover' as he attempted to identify how the player died. Looking around, he noticed more players and his own men started dropping like flies.

He felt his panic rising as he scrambled to figure out what was happening. 'Something's wrong. How are they hitting us behind cover?'

"Someone find out how they are hitting us behind barriers. I need reinforcements at the central turret" he shouted. To his dismay, nobody was paying him any attention. As if insulting him, the men and women around him started to die faster. He looked back to the kill zone and rainbow smokes started popping out like mushrooms obscuring his view. Chill ran down his spine as he had a bad premonition.

Cursing the ineptness of his defenders for dying so quickly, he shouted out his orders trying to restore some semblance of order while constantly taking worried peeks at the colourful smokes that littered the kill zone, slowly creeping closer to their line of defence. The rainbow smokes were actually so effective at stealing their attention, none of the rebel defenders noticed the shots were ricocheting off the roof.

***

Helix was leading the charge in the smoke towards the first embankment followed closely by Captain Thyrion and Gulliver. Captain Thyrion still had a disbelieving look plastered on his face that the ridiculous solution of Gulliver was actually working.

The enemy fire had significantly been reduced, allowing Helix to push forward with relative safety. Their main target was the heavy duty plasma cannon at the centre. Its heavy firepower was the reason they were stuck in this stalemate.

Pushing past the halfway mark, the enemy's rate of fire started getting weaker. Thyrion inwardly sneered at the ineptness of the enemy commanding officer. Checking his distance counter displayed on his HUD and confirmed they were in grenade range, he gleefully lobed his grenades to the enemies. Letting the absurdity and joy of the situation to take over as he chuckled like a deranged retired middle-aged man.

Helix left the smoke and charged into a row of disorganised defenders while savouring the look of horror and disbelief plastered on the faces of the defenders. The glittering rainbow smoke bombs were starting to grow on him. He presence was noticed a little too late by the other rebels that were further away as he reached the barricade the rebels were hiding behind. A few grenades from his launcher and a few shots here and there and they captured the plasma cannon.

"A bit anticlimactic. Was hoping for a more heroic entry'' he muttered.

"Be happy the enemy commander is bad at command and forgot to request for reinforcements. And I don't think charging out of a glittering rainbow smoke is heroic or anything'' the captain replied. Grinning, "let's secure this position and turn the cannons on the other two rebel positions. I suspect we have this in the bag.''

The capture of the heavy plasma cannon was the turning point of the battle. The rebels were not ready when the central cannon suddenly turned on them and started laying it thick. Disorganised and leaderless, the rebel defence fell within the next half an hour and the facility was fully under Hunter control in another 10 minutes.

Quest "Taking the rebel shipyard" complete.

Contribution points obtained: 8,795 points

Rewards:

Mounted Heavy Plasma Cannon (Tier 2) x1

2,000 individual contribution points

5,000 SC

+1,000 fame

"Wooots, the plasma cannon was a surprise. Helix think you could extract its blueprint with this?'' Gulliver asked after checking the notification on his holowatch. "I assume our army friends would love to have one as well'' he directed the sentence to Captain Thyrion.

"It's navy Gulliver, we're not that dumb. And yes, I think of many ways to use a cannon like that, if Helix could pass us a schematic of it, that would be nice'' Captain Thyrion said while he was running his hand over the exterior of the cannon and examining it.

"I just got a message from Phoenix, she's done with her mission and is waiting for us at Bruno's Shack'' Horn announced while looking through his mail. "Captain, you folks wanna join us at the bar? Celebrate this victory? None of us bit the dust this time. Our first perfect clear"

"Sure why not!'' Captain Thyrion said to the cheer of his teammates. "First round's on you though'' he grinned unashamedly.

"We have nowhere to store this big ass cannon?" Helix scratched his head.

"You can store it in the Hunter's warehouses for the meantime. It doesn't cost much'' Bravo 2 offered.

"I can do that,'' Helix replied, giving a forlorn look towards the cannon. He can't wait to explore the secrets of this bad boy. Dreaming about how much further he can develop his weapons and exosuit with this cannon.

***

Jupiter was curious about the friends of Phoenix that she said was going to join them. She carried around a carefree attitude that was hard to find in new MMOs these days and hoped that her friends were the same. Granted most of the hardcore players that spent cash for credits to speed up their progression had already left the planet, exploring the vast expanse of space in its glory and dangers and trying to reach the centre. The only ones left were the ‘casuals’ which was often heard from the mouths of hardcore players often associated with the mock tone of disgusted and superiority.

She lamented over her encounters with those self-entitled players and their mega guilds. Always thinking that they were above the masses just because they were playing the game full time. A small scuffle that broke out behind her just proved her point. Another fight just because another player was critical about the LOA guild.

“Another bunch of idiots” muttered Phoenix as she took a glance at the fight that broke out. Not soon after, the guards of the restaurant walked in and blacklisted the players involved from the premise.

'At least we won’t be seeing them here anymore. That’s one of the best things about this game' Jupiter thought with a smile. 'It’s good that taking over something isn’t as easy other games. Makes for a much better experience.'

Phoenix waved to a group of players that just entered the premise. The group was looking around and a smile bloomed on their faces when they saw Phoenix’s wave. Making their way over, the boy with the blond curvy hair said with a grin as they arrived “Phoenix, it worked. I got everything recorded. Here” he pulled up his holo wristwatch and flicked his finger towards Phoenix, transferring a file to her.

A video started playing on Phoenix’s holowatch. In it was a clip of the assault on the rebel shipyard. The boys were fighting in a trench when suddenly, pink smoke erupted at the front with another cursing in the background. The cursing got worse as another smoke of rainbow colour filled the screens after.

“Ha-ha. Very funny guys. Way to go exploiting one of your best friend’s childhood trauma” Horn said in a very monotonous and unenthusiastic voice only to get a pat of support on his shoulder. Looking behind, he smiled “Thanks Janet, appreciate it”.

Smiling towards the sweet boy, the woman who sported a scar across her cheek replied to him, “Don’t worry bout it boy, we all have our demons”. However, Jupiter was certain that the scary looking lady was mocking him inwardly as well.

Figuring it was an inside joke among the group of friends, Jupiter decided not to ask since it seemed to be a sensitive subject for the guy called Horn. Extending her hand to the new arrivals, she introduced herself. Getting a bunch of names in return.

“So Phoenix told us that you’re a lifestyle player?” the dark skinned boy asked her.

Squinting her eyes at the boy trying to remember his name, “Gulliver! Right?” Feeling proud of herself for not forgetting his name. “My friend and I are trying to establish a small company in the old industrial district. We’re taking the researcher's route in the game. Trying the life of an entrepreneur.”

“You remember my name! At least you’re better than me at names” he laughed at himself. “The old industrial district? Hmm” he curled his non-existent moustache above his mouth. “I remembered the place while exploring Palladium on my first day here. It has a nice charm to it with its old antiqued red-brick warehouses. A standout in this futuristic setting”

“Yup! That's the one. We rented a large area with plenty of warehouses. It does have a nice charm to it. One of the few places that still had plenty of green throughout. Though, I'm a little worried about its security. Being an old area, it’s not as heavily patrolled compared to its newer variant. Given how the battle with the rebels is escalating, I’m worried about the area being targeted as retaliation”. Gulliver looked guilty at her last statement.

“Yeah, bout that. Sometimes I really forget how realistic this game is. Like every action undertaken has consequences.” he said with regret. “But I might be able to help you with that.”

“Really?” she perked up. “That’ll be great! And trust me, I tend to get lost in this game as well. It’s the small details that really sucked you in isn't it? The class 5 AI does wonders as far as realism goes”

Gulliver nodded his head, he looked over to the middle-aged group, “Hey Captain! A moment please? Phoenix’s friend could use your help” he called out.

“How can I help?” the imposing man asked as he walked over.

“Jupiter and I have been talking, and I just realised the hunters’ quests we took against the rebels might have escalating consequences. She pointed out that her warehouse in the old industrial district might be targeted as retaliation for our capture of the shipyard.” Gulliver explained to the man. “Since you and your team have experience protecting these assets, I thought you could have suggestions?”

“Oohh…” Captain Thyrion said as he pulled an eyebrow upward “I can do better”.