Chapter 6

A barrage of missiles blasted every argon that came to confront Kim and her team of gunners. Julian, for his part, got a few killing blows in, but as Julian figured out; the fastest trigger fingers were given the credit for most of those. Julian noted that he got two million credits for that mission. That’s great, but what are these points and how does he know how much he has?

He kicked himself and scrolled through his computer menus to find that he had 20 points. That would mean he could do asteroid Hauling, litter cleanup, or go on a solo-difficulty combat mission. He didn’t feel like buying the supplies for Asteroid Hauling. He decided he would buy a fighter and try solo combat.

He entered the starship store to find that he indeed had enough credits, and the points necessary for a solo fighter combat ship. A triple million credits to the GCN (Galactic Network) saw Julian walking out to the landing pad with his very own fighter he christened, “The Alamo.”

“Kim, I read in our help information that we get missions from Golgard in sector 25. How do we undertake them?”

Private Communication [Kim] Use the jump-gate also located in the same sector.”

“I get it. I am Trying my first mission.”

{Private Communication [Kim] “Be careful, Julian. Do not be surprised if you lose this first one. Combat can be hard on a novice, but I will not discourage you.”

“That is some encouragement. Thank you.”

Private Communication [Kim] “Your welcome. If you learn to fight well, joining the GDF or Galbadia Defense Forces, is always an option open on the table. You may also want to think about choosing an alliance.”

“I’ll consider my options. Right now, I’m off to fight some Argies.”

Private Communication [Kim] “Good luck to you.”

Julian soon occupied the Control Room of his single room combat ship. Just like in the cargo ships, the solo fighters had everything available on one console, unlike Kim’s team purpose battleship with command decks, weapon chambers, and other amenities for leading groups of people. Julian would love to lead someday. For now, though, he launched his ship and headed for Golgard.

Golgard, unlike his only previous planet he’d been on, was a bustling city. Julian looked in awe at the interior of shops, homes, and even eateries. Julian thought about possibly renting a home here so he didn’t have to sleep in his cramped ships. When he learned that homes can only be bought in Golgard, not rented, he was disappointed. He was even more dismayed to find out that they were for “Perm residents of Galbadia Prime Online” only. He found what he was looking for. The “Mission Center” located just inside the Spaceport Entrance. There are several places that Julian could venture around in here, but Julian went for the “easy” difficulty mission. The mission data suggested it wouldn’t be too hard. With only two ships he would have to worry about, Julian felt reasonably confident that he could pull it off. [If not, he would live and learn.]

Julian selected the mission for his ship. He launched and was about to head for the jump-gate now visible on the Star-map.

Private Communication [Kim] “Julian, did you get some ammo for your weapons at Mission Center? Without it, you’ll be crushed, even if it is only two standard Argon fighters.”

“I didn’t think of that. How should I supply them? I thought that these fighters came with weapons.”

Private Communication [Kim] They do, but no ammo to use them.”

“I see. Thank you for the warning; I would go commit ship suicide.”

Private Communication [Kim] “It is no problem. Again, I say to you, good luck.”

Julian bought as many ammo boxes as he could afford of each weapon that was loaded into the weapon bay. Right now, he had it pretty simple. He hoarded every ammo box from the mission services store. He bought Missiles and Torpedoes ammo hopefully for some weeks to come.

Back to the task at hand, Julian launched the fighter with a renewed sense of purpose, instructing autopilot to navigate him to “Golgard mission Jump-Gate.”

The jump was both uneventful and successful. Julian scanned the current sector to see where the closest ship was. Satisfied that he was far out of range, he decided to instruct autopilot to take him to the edge of the sector. While he still wasn’t in range of any of the two ships, the closest one was gaining on him faster than if he had just stayed at the other edge of the sector after jumping. Suddenly, the argon had a lock on Julian. He quickly switched to manual pilot, moved one unit away, locked and fired a torpedo on it. The hit was successful, but Julian noted that almost no damage had been dealt because of the Argon ship’s armor blocking most of the blow. He needed to get at the ship’s systems, particularly scanning and weapons for greater effect. Before he had known it, Julian was boxed in by both ships. Scanning the second ship, Julian saw that this ship had a Photon Cannon. It also was packing more armor than its brother, making it all the more dangerous.

Julian’s ship didn’t have armor, and the little armor it did have was pathetic. Julian didn’t notice the Photon Cannon shot until it was too late to move out of the way and took the full force of the blast, right on the ship’s hull. The ship’s integrity went from 100 percent to 30 percent in an eye blink! Julian moved the ship three units east. The effort was useless because he can’t fire on a ship less than one unit away. He started repairs on the hull of the ship. The nanite drones took their time repairing the hull, telling Julian that it would take two minutes, max. Julian started creeping to ship number one, which he had only hit with an insufficient torpedo. This time, he would fire on the bastard with a missile and see whether that would bring the ship down a few notches. If Julian could get through its one layer of armor, destroying it won’t be much of an issue. It was big brother over their behind him, which would be a serious problem if he cannot stay away from that Photon Cannon.

Julian was one unit away from the smaller ship. He reloaded his missiles and noted what a terrible mistake that was. Locked and loaded, it would fire on him when Julian quickly moved south one unit while the missile reloading cool-down took place. Reinvigorated, Julian moved north, locked and fired a missile. Now that was the proper move. The missile struck the ship dead center, burning through a good portion of the ship armor in the process. [Stupid five second cool down!] Julian waited and fired again. This time after he fired, he moved one-unit east. Big brother was only two units south of him. If Julian moved south, Julian would be in the path of that Photon Cannon.

Now, he was in the same boat he was in earlier when the mission began. Little brother and Big Brother were one unit away from each other. They sat there, like the NPCs they were, waiting for Julian to fall for their rather simple trap. The trap was that right now, if he went head to head with them, he would have to go through big brother first. Julian thought he had a sensible strategy. Big Brother didn’t sit in one spot for long; the ships do come after the player if they wait too long. Julian decided that no matter what, he needed to face Big Brother alone. Big Brother had powerful weapons, but had the disadvantage over his little brother. It was slower, which was to Julian’s advantage now. He decided he would move 15 units east. In doing so, both ships will follow him as they always will, but he’ll be able to get Little Brother far enough from Big Brother where he may have an advantage at destroying the sucker. Then, he’ll deal with Photon Cannon like a boss, he hoped.