Chapter 5

Ethan let his body wake him up whenever it wanted; he wasn’t very pleased when he had to force himself awake for one reason or another. Looking over at his bedside clock, it was 7 AM. The earlier he ate a good breakfast, the faster he could play Galbadia Prime Online. It would be his first whole day in the game, and he planned to spend all of it soaking up the world and its gameplay like a sponge.

His goal today was to ultimately decide if the game was for him and whether he wanted to live there. Though the real world shunned him in every possible manor, he still questioned whether throwing his real life down the toilet and putting a new one in the hands of a corporation was just as equally foolish. He sat down at his gaming rig, got comfortable and tapped the view-screen.

Julian faded into view, right where he was when he slept for the night. He was in his very small, very cramped shuttle control room that only had the size to fit one person. Sure, another person could tag along, but there’s no point in doing so at all. Julian simply powered on his new toy by pressing power on the console. A low rumbling could be heard from the bowels of the ship as it powered on, and Julian got the distinct impression that mostly everything was automatic. The ship computer told him that everything was online and fully functional. After that, he didn’t need any help to know that the “launch sequence” button was to initiate takeoff. He pressed it and the ship obeyed without question. It was when he got into space itself when his sight got completely overloaded with stars, what he assumed were other planets in the distance, and countless pieces of space debris.

Julian read the help information on starship movement, the activities listed, and lastly, salvaging. It was referred to by trash collecting by most players because it is a bit of a grind to get the points needed for the next resource activity, Asteroid Hauling. Salvaging was quite simple really. Scan the current sector of space, tell your ship to move to the debris, and press salvage. The ship uses salvaging lines to tow the item into the cargo hold. Rinse and repeat until the cargo hold is full. Shuttles unfortunately had only 25 units by default, making it a piece of cake for Julian to salvage 25 small pieces of debris.

Consulting help again, Julian read that he has to land at a spaceport to transfer the debris to get his reward for the activity. The closest planet was, Galbadia Prime. He instructed autopilot to take him back there. In the distance, Julian saw a ship he couldn’t quite make out and something just in front of where ships to stop to land on Galbadia Prime. It looked like this ship was looking for a fight, simply because whoever this person was had blocked ships coming in for a landing. Julian guest it was that he wanted to fight. Julian knew this ship was incapable of any fight. Looking at his weapon status readout, he had only a short range laser that didn’t output much, if any damage at all. Against a ship with even the poorest armor available would probably be able to best him.

Regardless, Julian needed to land. He had cargo to transfer, and he needs the credits. He instructed autopilot to bring him to Galbadia Prime, and suspected nothing would get transferred on this day.

As suspected, his ship didn’t crash into this ... barrier, but it had stopped one damn inch from where autopilot deemed safe to land. A ship, a standard basic fighter was blocking incoming ships from landing on the capital planet. Julian waited, but the ship didn’t respond. Via his ship console, he sent out a sector wide communication.

“Why are you blocking ships from landing here? I need to transfer cargo.”

Sector Communication [Fighter Prime] “Oh, nobody told you? Let me be the one to inform you that you need a salvaging license for that. I can easily issue you one, provided you hand over 1,000,000 credits immediately.”

Julian encountered his first scam. Scammers still exist in space huh? There’s no law here?

“Oh, you’re just one of those thorns in my side. Care to tell me your name instead of hiding behind the mask of your ship?”

Sector Communication [Fighter Prime] “I could, but I could also lye to your face. Look, this matter could be resolved by just doing what I say and business can continue here uninterrupted. Otherwise, I’ll have to shoot you down, in accordance with a Galbadia Prime law.”

“What law? There doesn’t appear to be any law here of any kind. I suspect a fleet of patrol ships here, but nothing.”

Sector Communication [Fighter Prime] “That makes my job a whole lot easier ... Salvaging licenses is a good thing. They restrict people from just being able to salvage anywhere.”

“It doesn’t say that in my help information that ships are restricted from salvaging. The Galactic Administration encourages it because it cleans space.”

Sector Communication [Fighter Prime] “They just informed me that it changed, and now all new residents to Galbadia Prime require a salvage license. I can supply you with one, as I’ve said repeatedly now.”

Julian could see that a cluster of ships was gathering behind him now, probably wondering what was going on and curious what the holdup was. Unfortunately, none of these ships were the fighting type. Two shuttles probably coming back from salvaging, an Asteroid Hauler going next door to Galbadia Alpha to haul a huge rock in, and a frater, which was a shuttle with more cargo space and salvage lines.