So the ship was already loaded onto the cargo ship? There was nothing we could do about it's current state, not without the help of a mechanic or engineer. Preferably an engineer as those guys work well with both the electrical and mechanical stuffs.
I could learn to fix the ship myself, but without prior knowledge or a schematic to work from, it would take me a long ass time. which is why Darke and Mack were standing beside me at the docking bay, waiting for Jack and Zack who I had sent looking for someone who would fix the ship.
But our waiting was not exactly comfortable, seeing as we were being stared at by a couple hundred shifty looking pirate dudes. It was unsettling, and the fact that none of the could hide the greed and murderous tendencies in their eyes, totally unsettled me. I was a battle maniac, but fighting hundreds of pirates was nothing but suicide.
As if on cue, Jack and Zack made their way through the crowd, a d they were dragging a fourteen year old girl behind themselves...….wait a minute, that's no fourteen year old! She looks at least 30. But she was so short, barely reaching five feet, and she had on this massive bag pack.
"Master Aaren, if we hope to keep our lives, I believe we should get the hell of this trash heap!" Jack said to me as he drew closer.
"Hunh! Why? What's wrong?"
"No time for questions bird boy, let's get out of here now, or our corpse would become dinner to the outland scavengers!"
The short girl...err woman said to me as we all rushed up the ramp and into the cargo ship, coming up to the cargo hold where the black pearl was currently lying.
"Sweet mother of elven tits, you won the ship! How?"
Mack screamed as it Impressive but still very damaged form of the legendary ship loomed over his figure.
We all ignored him, and got into the cockpit, everybody finding a seat and strapping themselves in. The short woman who threw her incredibly large bag over a seat and strapped it in too. The she sat opposite me, and watched as with a worried look on her face as Darke initiated the take off procedures.
It was then I got to take a closer look at her. She had fiery red hair, white horns that curved to her back like crescent moons, slitted pink eyes, fair skin that was smudges with grease and dirt, and tipped ears like an elf, only a bit shorter and broader.
She had on a mechanics jumpsuit, and over her head, an aviator goggle was hanging precariously. But even with her small size, and the fact that she was wearing a rather baggy jumpsuit, her curves and incredible bust size could not be hidden. She was a bit on the plump side, but my if she wasn't voluptuous. And that chest! How could she move with those?
"Hey! Keep your eye's straight you pervert!"
To say I felt embarrassed was an understatement, at the moment all I could was thank all the gods that I knew for my darker skin. If not, I'm sure I would probably be blushing from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head. Guess my flirting/charismatic mode was currently deactivated.
Thankfully the cargo ship began to move, dragging our attention away from the somewhat awkward atmosphere. We've only begun to move for about ten minutes, when the cargo ship came to a jarring stop. This was the reason why seat belts were invented.
"Incoming hail from a pirate ship Jack." Mack said from his position beside Darke.
"Patch it through." Jack said as we all turned our attention to the massive ship almost ten times the size of ours flying opposite ours in the air.
(Hohoho! Greetings elflings. My name is captain Tobias Clint, the pirate king of this here Quadrant 1. Nice to meet you.)
"What can we do for you Captain Tobias Clint?" Jack asked
(Oh! It's nothing much, or troublesome. It's just that you guys visited, and didn't stay long enough to properly enjoy the hospitality of our fine city, not to mention you're leaving with a very important historical relic of great city. Now that's not so nice, so in regards to our well know hospitality: which we're so eager to show you, why don't you land your cargo ship and join me for a cup of tea.)
The voice of captain Tobias Clint was edgy and deep. However there was a crazy like cackle to it, sort of like the Joker. I couldn't help but shudder. Darke noticed something and put the communication on hold for a moment, before turning to us.
"We're being surrounded by pirate ships! And the ship in front of us has us stuck in a tractor beam. But it's charge is not strong enough, so we can break free from it. However I don't think we can escape the planet with this much pirates around us. We might have no other choice but to land."
That was the most I've ever heard him speak, of course I'm sure the situation calls for it, but now how the hell were we supposed to get the hell out of here. Jack ran his hand through his yellow blond elven hair, as he turned to reply the captain.
"Captain Tobias, I'm afraid, we can't land this ship as we're on an urgent mission for the elven diplomatic minister. This cargo ship is registered under her name, and I'm afraid your actions would cause a lot diplomatic problems." Jack explained.
"Okay look here elf boy, I don't give a shit which bitch! Owns the bloody cargo ship. This trash heap of a planet is mine! And no elven whore has the power to come make trouble for me, not if she doesn't want to be shot out of the sky. Now I'm done asking, take your bloody ass down to the ground, and hand the black pearl to me, and maybe then I can consider killing you slowly. But by all means, please resist, it would make shooting you out of the sky all the more pleasant."
I guess there was no talking our way out of this. Since this was a cargo ship, I doubted it was strong enough to withstand damage from the dozens of custom made and enhanced pirate space ships caving us. And not just defense, I doubt it's weapons system could dish out enough damage to threaten them.
"Master Aaren I'm afraid we have no choice but to land. As we are right now, I'm afraid we can't fight them." Jack said to me as he turned around.
"Like hell you will, jump into hyper space now! They hyper engine should be charged enough to get you clear of the planet. From there you should have enough chances to get away!" the short red haired new addition to our ship shouted at Jack.
"Are you crazy or something?" Zack asked with his eyebrow raised
"First it's almost guaranteed that jumping into hyper space within a planet's atmosphere would cause severe damage to it's ecosystem, or at least within the area where the jump was initiated. And this close to the city, I'm afraid we're going to be leveling at least a quarter of it, if not half. And then the danger of jumping out of a planet since the start charts don't function well under a planet's gravitational pull. We have to be in orbit to plot a course and navigate! If we jump now, we'll be jumping blind, and could very well end up in the middle of a star, a solar storm, through an asteroid or the gods forbid, a black hole!" Zack said with a panicked look on his face.
"What other choice do you have?" She asked back with her hands folded in challenge.
Zack couldn't say anything, because without a doubt she was right. If we stay here and land, there's a 100% chance we're all going to be killed and the ship taken away by this bloody pirate.
But if we initiate the hyper space jump, there's a 99.99999% that we'll survive. Really small odds, but I'll take it either way. Of course if we should all go burn in a star, I'll survive, and so would Sky. But the others and the ship wouldn't make it, but this was a risk we had to take.
"Do it! Make the jump!" I said to them with a hard voice.
"But master Aaren!...."
"I said do it! Now!" I shouted cutting off Zack.
Darke turned around and pushed a lever forward, slowly powering up the ship as we prepared to jump into hyper space.
(What are you doing? Stop! I command you to stop now! Shit!....fire the EMP cannon, fire it!........what do you mean firing it will knock all of the other fleets out!....fuck you Monty! Fire the cannon now! Now! Now! Or we're all going to die, you should do as I say I'm the captain.....)
VOOOOOOM!
Space, stars, moons and an asteroid belt in the distance. But my stomach was terribly upset and I felt like puking my guts out. What the hell! I'm never getting on a space ship again, never! Not in the game, and definitely not in the real world.
[Your orders have taken the life of 4679 pirates, and 8483 inhabitants of the Quadrant 1 city. 1000 of which are children below the age of twelve. For your actions in destroying a criminal city, you've been given 3000 fame, and 3000 infamy. You've received the title Bronze Blood Commander, Mass Murderer/ all exp are deferred until trial of revelations is over. / you've been given +15 to all stats and +15 skill points. You've received blueprints for (Ion Pulse Cannon) (Dragon Star Engine) / You've received passive skills, Navigator, and Command/ You've received three Skill combining Gem.]
So we're alive, very good. But why do I feel a pit in my stomach, why did I feel like it would have been better to be dead rather than alive. And I don't feel like hearing all this crap about this being a game, I'm not sure I can that lecture to myself right now.
With every second that I've spent in here, this was becoming more and more like a real world rather than a simple game. I didn't feel like the so called NPCs were only lines of codes and programming, I've felt connected to some of them, I could relate. Jack and his brothers were an example, they all felt so alive, and now I've murdered thousands with just a word. And children to boot, what have I done?
"Log out!"