Melbourne struggled to get his bearings after being startled by the alarms.
[New Mission Received: Pirate Attack
*Your expedition is under attack by a gang of space pirates. Help the security team fight the pirates off and save the crew from extermination by the vile thieves.
*Pirates Defeated (0/25)
*Crewmates Remaining (40/40)
*Your Contribution (0/25)
*Reward: Relative to "Your Contribution" to the defense of The Seeker.
*Failure: Death or Captivity]
"Not a drill, huh?" thought Melbourne groggily as he pulled himself from his previous thoughts of going to sleep soon. He already knew the Aclito had hacked into the system with automated subroutines to gather as much information about the environment as possible. This is how the System knew the number of pirates. "We're actually under attack?"
A map appeared that Melbourne could see in his mind at will that showed the locations of all targets as red dots. Melbourne's crew mates showed up as blue dots.
Melbourne was now accustomed to navigating efficiently through the zero gravity environment of the ship and propelled himself through corridor after corridor towards the ship's security armory.
"I apologize, sir, but only security officers are authorized to access the armory." said George Scott, the chief security officer of the expedition.
"But I need a way to defend myself if I get attacked." protested Melbourne anxiously.
"Sorry, sir, no exceptions." said George unwaveringly.
A scream cut Melbourne off before he could retort with a gripe and surrender. A security officer was sent flying from around a corner into the wall. His head released blobs of red blood from his head to float disturbingly through the tight space.
[Crewmates Remaining: 39/40]
"That's right, bitch, you corporate wannabes can never beat the Lunarian Reapers!" yelled a loud voice that sounded like a man who had recently gotten high on a very dangerous combination of drugs. "Who's next?"
The thug came around the corner, his neon red mohawk and spiked leather outfit making him brutally intimidating.
Melbourne reacted with his ZG Fu training and launched into the thug. He twisted the pirate's knife arm and appropriated the weapon for himself.
[Equipment:
Knife: +1 Melee Damage
*Note: Damage bonus from melee weapons is relative to your Knife skill.]
Knife: 20]
Melbourne proceeded to slice through the attacker's neck without mercy, hardened from his previous experience with basic criminals at the crash site of the artifact back in Lambdanville.
[*Pirates Defeated: 3/25
*Your Contribution: 1/25
*Reward: +2 XP
*XP: 82/100
Skills:
*Knife + 1
*Knife: 21
Equipment:
*Knife: +2 Melee Damage]
Two other pirates had been killed by security guards by this point, but the system tallied Melbourne's contribution.
"Whoah!" exclaimed George. "That guy almost killed me! I didn't think they'd get this far into the ship this soon. Poor Gunther." George sobbed for a few seconds before his eyes hardened, recognizing that he had to finish the fight before he could mourn his fallen subordinates. "Looks like I underestimated you, kid! Look, I still can't let you into the armory, but I don't think you or I would get in trouble if you took the dead corporal's vest and weapon. The vest is a standard Riot Vest made of kevlar. It will help you survive a few hits to the torso from conventional firearms like 9mm rounds. Corporate security guards like us are equipped with 9mm Zlocks, a pun on old Glocks. You can take his Zlock as well."
Melbourne donned the vest and grabbed the alien looking gun. A new menu suddenly appeared on his Aclito screen.
[Equipment
*Knife: +2 Melee Damage
*Zlock (9mm): +5 Ranged Damage
*Riot Vest: +2 End
End: 10]
"Do you have any experience with firearms?" asked George in sudden concern as Melbourne was about to float off. "The ability to fight with fists doesn't say much about someone's capabilities in a gun fight."
Melbourne looked at his skill sheet and sighed internally.
[Skills:
*Guns: 12
"I shot my Dad's pistol a few times on a shooting range out near the Isidis Sea many times." said Melbourne, overstating it in an effort to maintain the security officer's confidence. In truth he had shot his Dad's gun but it was one time and he was twelve years old.
"These guns aren't exactly like terrestrial weapons. The firing mechanism is similar but it'll take some getting used to. I wish I had a chance to train you or at least have you shoot a few targets, but you'll have to take your crash course with live targets I'm afraid. Happy hunting."
Melbourne nodded grimly and kicked himself swiftly around the corner where the thug had come from in the direction of more red marks on his System map.
As he approached the nearest one, there was a blue dot near the location. This made him unsurprised when he heard the sound of gunshots in a nearby office room.
Another two red dots were approaching the room from a corridor perpendicular to Melbourne's location.
With the drive to gain System XP, Melbourne opened the door and floated in, drawing his Zlock and shooting the pirate just before she could slice the neck of her foe.
[*Pirates Defeated: 6/25
*Your Contribution: 2/25
*+2 XP
*XP: 84/100
Skills:
*Guns: +3
*Guns: 13]
"Th-th-thank yo-" stuttered the battle-fatigued security guard before being cut off by more gunshots.
The other two pirates had entered the room and Melbourne promptly shot them both before they had an opportunity to react.
[*Pirates Defeated: 8/25
*Your Contribution: 4/25
*+4 XP
*XP: 88/100
Skills:
Guns: +2
Guns: 15]
The stress of combat caused the security guard to faint. Melbourne tried to wake him but it was no use. Apparently, the man hadn't had much combat experience.
"Wait, what am I saying to myself." thought Melbourne in sudden shock. "I've never been in combat like this myself. I did kill those three thugs back in Lambdanville, but that's it. Why, then, is this coming so easily to me. Every novel and every movie I've seen suggests that people new to combat don't kill and maintain this level of composure."
Upon a brief five seconds of introspection, Melbourne realized that he had been reacting to the system. It had offered a mission and reward for defeating enemies that had boarded the ship and Melbourne had begun executing the mission without so much as a second thought. What he felt wasn't the bitter desire to survive this horrible situation or some heroic feeling for the lives of his crew mates. What he felt was the same addictive feeling for the grind to level up that he had felt so many weekends during his childhood as he played RPG video games. Killing enemies and completing missions led to XP and potential reward. Melbourne felt just like he was playing a game for that reward. He remembered that the System had told him it was created with the intention of making training as addictive as video games. From what Melbourne was experiencing, it was doing its job quite well. Every pirate killed resulted in a dopamine trigger that made Melbourne feel extremely good. He didn't feel the pity that he intellectually thought he should for the lives he was taking. The emotion and shock just wasn't there.
Melbourne rushed through towards the next set of two red dots which were entering the mess hall.
As he entered the mess hall, he smirked as he heard a scream. The ship's cook was cornered to a wall by three pirates. The one in the middle, a man with a bald head and notably muscular build, was closest to him. A woman to his right had hair dyed in a checkerboard fashion. She was teasingly eating something the cook had just made. The final of the three was a slender man with a neon yellow ponytail.
"Please don't hurt me!" squealed James Kurkoniff. "I'll give you anything you want. I promise, my father is a rich business owner on Mars! I can offer you lots of compensation, promise!"
"Heh heh heh heh heh!" exclaimed a bald pirate heartily as he shoved a cold knife against James' neck. "Keep squealing, girl! I like it! It's the only reason I haven't already killed you! Entertain me, you little damsel! Dance, bitch, or I'll kill you faster!"
While Melbourne was tempted to enjoy the scene and likely would have let them have their way with him before, he didn't hate James quite that much anymore and figured that even that bully didn't deserve what the pirates were likely to do to him if left to their own devices.
Ponytail died first, Melbourne's bullet piercing his head.
The bald man didn't even have time to turn around in reaction before his female companion died. He then caught one glimpse of Melbourne before a third bullet pierced his own skull.
[*Pirates Defeated (15/25)
*Your Contribution (7/25)
*+6 XP
*XP: 94/100]
Melbourne smiled briefly as he noted that his XP was approaching the 100 mark he had been anxiously anticipating for over a month now. In one day he would accomplish what would have otherwise taken him another month to accomplish with a normal training regimen.
As he began to leave the diner to hunt more pirates, a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Hey, uh, Melly!" stuttered James in shock.
Melbourne turned and scowled at James. "What do you want?"
"Um, I don't know how to say this, but… Th-Thank you."
The words were clearly hard for James to get out of his throat through his ego.
"No problem." said Melbourne before kicking off to leave the diner. "We're not out of the woods yet. There are still pirates aboard."
[Mission Update:
*Save the Captain (0/1) (optional)
*Five pirates are approaching the bridge and the captain is in danger. All remaining security officers are a bit tied up in fights and you are the closest person to the bridge. Make your way there and defend the Captain.
*Bonus Reward: Unknown]
Melbourne picked up the pace, kicking off walls and anchor points like a gymnast to arrive at the bridge. When he arrived, the five red dots were not far away but they hadn't arrived.
As he walked in he saw a pirate that had already broken into the bridge floating lifelessly with blood flowing out of his neck from a knife wound.
Between Melbourne and the Captain's seat was the red haired figure of Kaitlyn Genee, her back towards him. Her right elbow moved right in a slicing pattern, revealing a knife in her hand. She turned and frowned as she saw Melbourne floating there in shock. The corpse of Captain Bryce Sterano floated up from the pilot's seat, blood flowing from his neck in the same way it was flowing from the pirate. Kaitlyn Genee had killed the captain.
[*Optional Objective Failed]