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Chapter 1, Intro

“Move, Everett! Move!” I yelled.

I sprinted around the bend of a corridor that led from my quarters to the cockpit. Trim lights flickered red in warning, and sirens blared almost deafeningly. It was not the main exit from the crew quarters but an emergency passage straight to the pilot's seat. I had been rudely awoken and now was running behind a figure in similar gear. A giant head of what looked like a pinecone of shards penetrated through a wall to the side of me, almost stopping me in my tracks. We continued past it as we heard the ship's hull stretch open behind us.

Enemy shardenpods, hijacking ships of the same technology, were piercing their heads through our hull and hacking our defensives, using the force of our ship's shield to form an airtight seal that allowed infantry to safely breach rather than the pods be dislodged. Three laser shots from behind us barely missed, and a tight laser beam seared across the corridor. It just missed us as we took the last of the bend through the round holodoor of the cockpit. As soon as I made it through, I hit a button to the side, turning it into a sealed blast door.

I felt my right back-pupil dilate as my Cryptic eye powered on. My internal operating system turned on through quantum computers embedded within my modified eye. A mostly transparent, celeste blue HUD faded into existence. My internal Artificial Intellect, Japie came to life within my subconscious. I felt my head warm up as he shuffled through the recent events of what had just happened.

“Japie, connect to Network 307.8.112.987,” I said through our internal dialog. 

The network address I instructed Japie to connect to was the comms network assigned to the ship. As I looked at Everett, I saw he was in thought, subconsciously speaking with his AI, asking her to connect him to the same network. Once connected, our AIs and ourselves would be able to communicate psychically. Their conscious voices patched in, and we had a whole conversation with no words spoken physically.

“How did they find us?” Everett asked.

“That's not important. I pinged Rodrick,” his AI responded.

“We can't hold out?” I asked, knowing if we were pinging Donny, aka Rodrick, we were in the worst situation.

“The current chance of losing the Reaper is 69.7%. With Donny, we have a 41.2% chance, Vike. That's if he doesn't undock any drones or deploy mechs,” Japie informed me between muffled blasts in the background.

Donny doesn't choose sides; he's a space pirate. Everett met him on the lower levels of a deep space spaceport about a decade ago. Ev was not a pirate but chose to spend his creds freely and hustled for money. He dealt with pirates for connections, and now we needed one. This was precisely why I needed him. Donny, I had known for about eight years at this point. One thing was sure: he had a network of connections and equipment at his disposal for a price.

Over the holographic bridge controls and through a wide pane of curved smart glass, we saw Donny get pushed through a warp rip far in the distance. Our AIs were assigned access to the interface of the ship's main computer. Unsure of who was controlling it now, we saw the smart glass zoom into Donny's starship. We saw lights on his ship flicker, and his ship pick up speed as he approached us. 

He was in an Amalgafied frigate, which could hold at least three dropships, while we were in a starfighter not much different in size. His frigate, however, had been fully refitted and was more robust in power than our own. It was loaded head to toe in cannons, railguns, and bays for drones and mechs. It was not a lightweight ship. However, its owner wasn't concerned about the fuel expense because most of it was stolen.

“Network 307.8.112.987 merge request incoming from-,” the ship's announcement was cut short as an AI approved the connection.

“What have you two gotten yourselves into this time?” A semi-distant voice patched in, translated from his ship's comms into our head.

Besides being a pirate, Donny was also an Amalgafied. He wasn't a biologically modified human like us; he was biologically engineered. His consciousness was transferred into a bioengineered morphed hybrid clone. He was a humanoid, hyena-like Roughbeast. Ev and I were Crypts who had a bounty.

“The Crypts found us, Donny. They're after our contraband.”

The contraband Everett referred to was a very sought-after and illegal type of micro-biotech. Once injected within a CryptSight, it disables remote control protocol, allowing a Crypt to engage in acts of piracy or steer clear of the Cryptic Government's control. The homebrewed injection canisters were sourced from an undisclosed quadrant of deep space but sold to pirates to disperse. They were sold cheaply but were among the most expensive items in the galaxy. 

Some of the galaxy's wealthiest members were pirates who benefited from this process. They would rather kill or die than disclose this precious source of income. This group benefited from the pirates because most worked solo. The pirates didn't even trust each other. I personally started this mission because I sought freedom for all Crypts. I wanted to believe Ev was on this mission for the same reason, but he mentioned the creds more often than not. 

“Then we split it,” Donny offered.

“No way. You'll make more on it than we do. 35%,” Ev negotiated.

We heard loud, deep thuds coming from the blast door. Our opposition resorted to a ramming device. The door wouldn't budge for a few minutes, but it would eventually. The Crypts wanted to hijack us and steal the Reaper rather than blow it to pieces. They couldn't afford the damage in contraband, which they needed to study to help evolve their tech.

“How about 60%, or I'll send some bots out to help them, and they'll throw me some creds for the cause.”

“Donny, come on, bro. It's Vike. I know deals don't always go smoothly with this guy, but I'm here, Donny. You know why I'm on this mission. I don't go to the gallows, man,” I explained, referring to the lower levels of the spaceport where he and Ev met.

“I know you don't, Vike,” he sighed. “But I gotta make a living, and you reached out to me. 60%,” he demanded between far more pressing thuds.

“Deal,” Ev's AI agreed without consent.

“Wait, no-” Ev went to intervene.

“Yup, here we go. Sit back and enjoy the show.”

Then, we saw sealed doors on Donny's ship bays slide open, revealing massive holodoors which held in the bays’ atmosphere and gravity. From topside bays, sets of assault and scout drones were launched. From the mech bays, since the mechs can't easily cover space, groups of packleeches shot forward for hijacking. These were not of the same tech; they were Amalgafied hijacking ships, which made it harder for them to diagnose the exact tech of our ship immediately, but I knew Donny had his ways. Then, railguns pivoted in their place and started firing towards us, hitting targets near the side of our ship that we couldn't see.

“Yes! Donny, thank you! Yes-” I started to exclaim as the thudding grew louder. 

I turned around and saw the blast door was now heavily dented inwards, ready to burst. I looked at Ev, who was now facing the door, and we nodded, approving the course of action. The Crypts would get in before Donny could save us, and we would have to fight our way out. I grabbed my rifle off the clip of my chest belt and positioned it. The bottom right of my HUD, which showed stowed gun silhouettes, lit up a gun profile - the one I was equipping. After hitting a switch on its topside, a holographic sight appeared above the rifle. But then, suddenly, blackness…

To be continued…

What's My Adventure?

You explore the universe through the eyes of Vykren Caustis. The story starts during a time when an ancient alien temple in void space cracks wormholes open in our solar system to connect us with other sentient beings throughout our universe. The temple did this because we unlocked answers we shouldn't have yet since we merged AI OS with our minds and became extremely intelligent. The goal is to expand our knowledge with the other races and unlock the temple's answers. However, the other races want war.