Wanderers Chapter 1&2 (2021 Preview)

Morning everyone! Here is the first of a few projects I have been thinking about for 2021. Whether it makes it I'm still not sure. Either way, everyone's feedback is greatly appreciated!

This is geared to be a sci-fi RPGlit. 

Chapter 01

This was not how the day was supposed to go. Let us go back a few hours. I’d just gotten a new mission from my Company’s dispatcher. It should have been four hours of busywork before the servers closed for the upcoming patch. Then every thing that could go wrong went wrong.

“Captain Wolf. How goes preparations?”

I looked up to see Rear Admiral Archer standing at the door to the briefing room. Walking in, he handed me a cup of coffee.

“Sir,” I said saluting him. He motioned for me to stand down. “It is a pretty straight forward escort mission. I plan on bringing Captains; Ollie, Leo, Rose, and Mia with me.” I grinned taking a sip of the coffee. “We should be back by supper.” They were the best Captains and we all like working together. I wouldn’t lie, there had been talks behind closed doors about striking out on our own but that required a massive amount of funds that we didn’t currently have.

“Good to hear. If this goes well, we’ll see if we can finally move you to rear admiral. Last I checked you’d finished all the pre-requisite missions correct?”

“Yes, Sir. I thought all the position were filled at the moment.”

“They are but Vice Admiral plans to starts a new Company, on good terms of course. We’ll be freeing up a lot of positions when she pulls her starting forces.”

“That’s amazing news. Titan Regiment will finally have a sub-company.” This would open so many options going forward. We could finally start working towards dominion battles.

“Yes. There is a lot that can go wrong with these sorts of things. Plus, the newest patch is swouddered in mystery. Who knows what that’s going to throw at us?” Rear admiral said with knitted brows. I guess there was more going on behind the scenes than I thought.

I nodded. Of the rear admirals, the ones I was on best terms with were Archer and Claire. Archer, who was in command of the task force I was part of it. And Claire, our sister task force. Thinking about it, with Vice Admiral leaving, that left a spot the four rear admirals will be fighting over.

“Don’t worry sir! I’ll make sure this mission is a success!” I declared pounding my fist on my chest.

“You have the best track records of almost the entire fleet. I have no worries. Speaking of, when was the last time you logged off?”

I had to think about it. “About a month. I’m using a sleeper service, and have booked four months. I’d planned to log out today and get a few errands done while stretching my legs.”

“That’s dedication. I’ll make sure to include that in my report. God speed Captain,” he said then left the briefing room.

I stared after him for a few moments before I put my nose back to my console. I had a lot to work for. This was the steppingstone I needed for my friends and myself.

An hour later I was standing on the bridge of my Dreadnaught class battleship, the Sovereign, with my crew. Coming in at eleven hundred meters, the Sovereign was huge. Armed to the teeth and heavily armored it was my pride and joy, that I’ve spend years working for. If Solar Bound didn’t offer credit to cash transactions, I would have had to quit a long time ago.

The Sovereign possessed four heavy railguns, ten heavy laser turrets, twenty-six turrets of lighter class weaponry, and forty close range defense laser turrets. Not to mention the fighter bays, and its retro-fitted hanger that allowed us to create replacements to the fighter fleet on the go. The ship had a flat plane that allowed for its upper and lower turrets to fire in a three hundred and sixty degree arc.

The ship had a large back that tapered off to two arms as you moved towards the front. The hanger bays were located in the arms, and allowed ships the ability to leave within the safety of the dreadnaught’s shields and armor. The worst damage I’d ever taken while commanding this vessel was one of the frontal arms being blown off.

I’d spent the year since I’ve gotten it upgrading every system to the max. If I wanted it to be better, I would have to go get a new ship. I’ve been in hundreds of battles with it and it had yet to fail me. I planned on commanding this vessel until it fell apart to dust.

A fleet of ten other ships circled around us. Ships of all shapes and sizes interweaved between us. The four that really stuck out were the two battlecruisers commanded by Ollie and Leo. They liked to live on the dangerous side and had ships with barely any armor. I would have reprimanded them but they got results, and in Solar Bound, results speak louder then Meta-play. 

Coming up the rear were Rose and Mia, in their cruisers. They could deploy drones or feed energy to ships in emergencies. Many a battle were won thanks to their teamwork and daredevil piloting. Mia had shown me Cruiser maneuvers I would have never thought of. Going into battle with these four let me know we would hurt the enemy hard.

“Laura. Is everything ready?”

“Captain Wolf, we’re on the bridge. Please call me first officer,” Laura replied.

“My apologies, then First Officer Laura?” I said with a smile. Laura was my girlfriend, both in real life and the game. It was hard sometimes to stick to protocol when around her. If I didn’t have better control, I would probably be drooling while looking at her. 

A tight-fitting uniform that gave you a good idea of the goods available. She sported the Titan Regiment colors of gray and black. She played a race in the game that were basically elves. Her long black hair was in a ponytail, showing off her long ears.

“Everyone is reporting green. All crew ready and accounted for. Ready on your signal.”

“The client?”

“Awaiting in sector D34.” 

“Very good!” I stepped forward so that I was at the center of the bridge. “All ships set course for the warp gate.” 

The frigates with us shot off, plasma trails behind them. The battlecruisers and cruisers followed next. The Sovereign hummed as its engine came alive. The gravity adjusted to account for the acceleration. No matter how many times I experienced it, I was always amazed by Solar Bound.

In a matter of minutes, we came upon the Warp Gate. A manmade construction the size of a moon. In the center an artificial wormhole led to the next sector over. Most in the game were player constructed and owned. This one belonged to Titan Regiment and I only recently found out the cost and resources that go into constructing one of these. Just the credit number alone had so many zeros, I wasn’t sure the correct word to use. 

The were worth it though. If you had access to one, you could go to anywhere on the network. Though it might take you a few minutes. These wild gates only did direct access, meaning you had to travel through several to reach your destination. As long as you have the password these manmade ones would allow you to access anywhere. That is one code that is held close to the chest. Only the commanding officer of the force would be trusted with it and it changed every two days. 

Without the Warp Gates, you’re stuck flying with FTL engines, but even going faster than light it took hours if not days to reach your destination. The only ones that really did are those that have no choice, or Explorers. I only did it for the first two months of my time in Solar Bound. It was quite boring after the first hour, staring at the stars flickering by. 

“Warp Gate accessed. Coordinates set. Captain whenever you’re ready,” Isabelle said from the control station.

I nodded and pulled up my console. I entered the thirty-eight-digit code with practiced ease then hit the submit button. The massive structure floating in front of us started to move. From the pinpoint center of the circle a swirling black formed. It grew until it was as large as the Gate. It sat there a second then turned a purplish blue. 

I tapped the comms button. “Full ahead. Let’s get this done,” I said to all the ships in my fleet.

The ships all began entering the event horizon with us coming in second to last. Mia always held back with her cruiser to be last in case there was a pirate ambush on the other side. It’d saved more than a few ships in the past. We hit the event horizon then with a blink, we were in a new sector. The computer quickly matched the star maps to make sure our position was correct.

Tactics magnified an image and a convoy of ships appeared. Another escort fleet surrounded them. It was a lot smaller than ours. That led me to believe the convoy had found something of great value. If I remember correctly, it was a convoy from a private mining sector. 

“Begin handshake,” I ordered.

A moment later, a man appeared on the main screen. “CrippledOne, correct?” I asked.

“Yes. And this is Captain Wolf?”

“Yes. Sir. We’re here to get you to your home sector in one piece.” I noticed that there were more ships than the report stated. Given his reaction, he likely wanted to save on the commission fee. More ships meant more money. I didn’t even bother bring it up to him. He would just say they were tagging along and don’t require protection. This wasn’t the first time a merchant had tried this tactic on me. 

“That would be appreciated,” CippledOne said wiping his brow.

“I want a tight formation. Bring us close to the main ship. Everyone else pick a target and stick close to it. Stay alert.” I handed out the orders as we moved into position next to CrippledOne. Once the formation was set, we headed for the warp gate. According to the briefing, we would have to go through five systems before we would reach our destination.

I walked over to Tactics. “What do you think?”

“Playing with fire,” Shintani answered pulling up a 3D display of the area. He moved it two systems over. “This large asteroid belt will be prime ambush placement.”

Looking it over, I nodded in agreement. “Let us hope the new patch has all the pirates in their lairs for the night,” I said patting his shoulder. I walked back over to the captain’s chair and took a seat.

The Gate activated and we were in the next system. It was a large empty system that most people called gaps. Basically, empty space that the game forced us to fly through. Their other name was Battlefields, large company sized engagements happened in these types of systems.

“Eerie. No traffic at all,” Laura commented. 

I nodded. “I think I would feel more comfortable with a few independents making their way through,” I said with a laugh.

“The great Captain Wolf, nervous?” Laura asked with a snicker.

“You can take me to court. You have no evidence,” I replied with a chuckle.

An hour later we were at the fourth system. The asteroid belt had turned out to be empty. While it might have been a waste of fuel to send scouts out, I would rather be safe than sorry. After this fifth system we would reach an allied controlled system and they would allow us to us their gate to get these miners to their home gate.

“Entering the Gate!” Helm said as we passed through the wormhole. I noticed that they main ship of the convoy stopped before entering the gate. I narrowed my eyes.

“Shields up as soon as we’re through! Evasive maneuvers!” I shouted standing up right as we passed through. Railgun fire ripped through part of the starboard side before the shields could activate. Wreckage from the convoy and our own fleet pinged off us as we kept moving. “Respond! Is anyone left from the forward fleet!? Return fire on any identified enemy ship!”

The main battery of Heavy Laser fired, the hum traveling throughout the ship. A large ship and a dozen smaller ones melted from the fully upgraded weapons fire. Not many ships can hold up against the Sovereign’s weapons. 

“Ollie here! They tried but missed everything critical.” 

“Rose here, shields at maximum but taking sustained fire. Can’t hold out for long!” Her communication was fuzzy from the enemy fire and her shields being at maximum.

“Leo reporting! I’m dead in the water! Luckily, the wreckage of the Thunder is covering my signature. I don’t know how long that will last though.”

“Find the Watcher! Move us to cover him,” I ordered.

“Rose here. No damage. Your fat ass covered me,” Mia called in.

“And you’re welcome. Stay behind us. This is a setup, watch the gate for the ones we left behind,” I said. “Anyone else, please respond!”

“Sir, all other Titan Regiment signals are silent,” Zima on the science console reported.

“Damn it!” I slammed my fist into the arm of the chair. Then glared at the force surrounding us. “We can’t use this gate. We’re going to cut through until we reach the C34 gate. If this isn’t a setup by the Dragon Corp, then at least we’ll have allies on the other side.”

“Tactics.”

“Yes. Sir!” 

“Give them hell. Full weapons unlock. Authorization GF12FR.” 

“YES! SIR!” Shintani replied with a grin that nearly split his face.

“Relay my orders to the others. Once the Watcher is able to move, we’ll show them what we’re made of!”

Chapter 02

I’d never seen the Sovereign deliver a full salvo until this moment. We served as a shield for the others as we burned through the enemy fleet. The heavy lasers and railguns were a force to be reckoned with. In only five minutes they managed to destroy over twenty percent of the enemy fleet. Shintani was firing the weapons so fast I was amazed he was able to keep up with the target locks.

“Shields at sixty-four percent. Ten percent of weapon’s systems down due to overheat!” Ryuk called from the engineering section.

“Understood. Operations, how much father until the gate?” I demanded.

“Sir. Ten minutes.”

“We have multiple contacts through the C46 gate. They have a carrier!” Alice on communication and radar during battles shouted urgently.

“The day just keeps getting better,” I said with a growl.

“Who did you piss off?” Laura asked quietly.

“I’m actually worried this is a coordinated assault on all Titan Regiment forces,” I replied, biting my nail.

“What? Seriously?”

“This would be the best time to take out a Company. Right before a patch when most people will be offline. All you would have to deal with are automated defenses. How long until the patch?” 

“Two hours and twenty-two minutes.”

I leaned back as I considered the situation. Not many Companies could afford to send a carrier. I was Titan Regiments number one Dreadnaught Captain. I was a prime target that would need to be eliminated. With enough support, the Sovereign was almost unstoppable. Still to know where I would be spoke about an intelligence leak in the ranks. Though, it didn’t have to be very high. There was nothing secret about this mission after all.

I examined the map of the sector. A lightly populated system, there was only a single star and a few rocky planets without life. The fourth planet did have several moons and a few rings. That would be the best place to make a stand. I tapped the open comms button.

“Attention. I have reason to believe that this is not just an attack by some pirates, but a coordinated attack on our company. This being the case, we can not allow them to send the carrier to Titan. There is almost no one left online, and the automated systems would be hard pressed to defend against it. If we can hold them here until the patch, Titan might just survive.”

“Tell us what to do Wolf. You’re the commander. Besides, I trust your judgement,” Leo said through the comms.

“Agreed.” The other captains sent.

“Very well. Set course for the fourth planet. Get ready to play some cat and mouse,” I said with a grin.

Changing our heading caught the enemy off guard. They were most concentrated around the gates, leaving the rest of the system wide open. We easily broke away heading for the location. Shintani didn’t let them rest though. This game was based on true physics. That meant a bullet fired would continue traveling until it hit something. He took advantage of this fact by sniping the enemy fleet with the railguns.

“Comms. Have you been able to get a message out?” I asked walking over to Alice.

“No. As you can expect, they’re jamming us.”

“Any information from the chatter?” I asked hopeful.

“Not sure if its them, but I have managed to catch Sin Empire.”

“Those upstarts that took the entire F sector last week. They can’t be claiming more already. Their fleet suffered quite a bit of damage in that,” I said shaking my head.

“Maybe this is a response to that. They might have suffered damages but once they recovered it will be hard to contend with them.”

“Good point,” I said. “Keep trying to figure out what is going on.”

“Yes. Sir.”

“Sir. They’ve regrouped and are coming around,” Tactics reported.

“Good they’ve taken the bait. Shintani, let’s try to add a carrier to our kill record today,” I said moving next to him at the Tactics control.

It didn’t take long for their smaller ships to catch up with us. They were like flies hovering around the Sovereign. They weren’t doing any damage, but they were draining the energy. The larger ships were taking their sweet time coming after all. 

“If that’s how they want to play, fine. Launch fighters!” I ordered. The scene around us quickly turned into one of dogfights and careful maneuvering. I knew they were NPCs, but they still gave it their all. I made sure to pay my crew well, and that extended to the NPCs as well. I was pleased when I saw the results. They usually outperformed even player fighter pilots. 

Sure enough, they eliminated over half of the fighters around us in a matter of minutes. The large ships quickly accelerated when they saw their fighters being decimated. By this point, we’d already reached the rings. It would be even harder for them to get a hit on us hiding among the debris. 

“Sir. Handshake incoming,” Alice said.

“From who?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Enemy carrier,” she replied.

“Accept it,” I said turning to the main screen.

“Captain Wolf. A pleasure to meet you.”

A woman appeared on the screen that was very… robust. She was neither pretty nor ugly. It was like she just hit random on the character creation screen. I did however see the insignia on her chest.

“And what does the Blue Dawn want with me?”

“Ah, you know of us. Its your lucky day. I wanted to offer you employment.”

“Employment. Sorry, I don’t follow.” 

“Titan Regiment is finished. Your Vice Admiral Anna has already lost her capital ship. Its only a matter of time before we capture Titan and take full control of this sector.”

“Bold words. As long as my ship remains, I won’t let it go your way,” I said with a growl. 

“I do like a man that has a temper. Maybe you should just come serve on my ship. I’ll treat you nicely.” She purred as she licked her lips.

“No thanks. I rather like being the captain of my own ship.” I turned to Alice and motioned for her to cut the handshake.

I turned to Laura. “What do you think?”

“It’s a lie. Anna’s capital ship could never fall this fast. She’s trying to bait us out.”

“That’s my thought as well. Situation reports around the gate?”

“Roughly half their forces have left to join the following force. The carrier is sitting in the middle of the system. I count… nearly forty frigates surrounding it. A battleship is approaching but our earlier salvo has caused significant damage to her.”

We had an hour and a half until the patch. It would be close. We needed to cross the sector quickly. 

“Science, engineering. Is it possible for us to engage FTL engines for just a few seconds?”

“Its possible, though highly dangerous. Its never been attempted with a ship this size before,” Ryuk replied.

“Shintani. How does the FTL affect the Heavy Lasers and railguns?” 

“It doesn’t, it’s the shields that go a bit wonky.”

“What are you thinking, Wolf?” Laura asked grabbing my hand.

“Listen up. I want us to engage the FTL then drop out right next to the carrier. From there we will deliver enough heat to rip it in half. The cruisers are to engage FTL and drop out on the other side of the gate. Once past the enemy force, they are to go through the gate to hopefully allied space.”

“Sounds crazy enough it might just work,” Laura said with a crazy grin.

“Recall all fighters!”

Preparations took a good hour. I realized after forty minutes that they were content letting us sit here. FTL was meant for long term use not split seconds. We could use to escape, but we’d be stuff in space flight for hours. By then Titan would be lost. Ryuk and Zima gave the go ahead. The cruisers waited as we were going to be their distraction.

Literally less than a second passed as Isabelle used the FTL. Shintani wasted no time as we dropped out in the middle of the enemy fleet. Every weapon on the Sovereign opened fire. Frigates popped like balloons around us as the close and mid-range weapons turned them into swish cheese. 

The Heavy weapons all fired on a single point on the carrier’s shields. I counted slowly in my head and right at ten seconds, the shields failed. The Railguns ripped a hole through the center of the ship managing to hit its power core. This was a stroke of luck that I wished we could have avoided.

“Brace!” An explosion ripped the carrier to shreds but given we were only a few kilometers from it we took the brunt of the force. Our shields held but we dropped to ten percent. “Status report!”

“Propulsion down. We’re drifting!” Isabelle shouted.

“All cruisers accounted for. They’re taking fire at the gate but holding,” Shintani reported.

“Engineering. Get our engines back!”

“Ten minutes. Realignment is required,” Ryuk replied accessing the repaired systems. He manually took control of a drone and went to work.

“Ten minutes until we hit the gate!” Daisy shouted suddenly.

“What?! We’re not that close to the gate!” I shouted whipping my head around.

“Some of the enemy ships activated the gate. The gravity is pulling us in.”

“Fuck! Could this day get any worse?” I asked throwing my hands up.

“Sir.” Isabelle said pointing at the viewscreen. I watched as the other four ships exploded one by one, destroyed by a battleship that’d just emerged from the gate. It was as massive as mine and looked to pack as much of a punch as well.

“Well guys. Its been fun,” I said falling back into my seat.

“I have an idea though we’ll probably still die,” Zima said walking over to me.

“Shot.”

“We detonate Bob behind us.”

I jerked my head up sharply. “Are… are you mad?” 

“If we put our shields full in the back, we can take the blast. We ride the wave so to speak to the gate. The radioactive signature should hide us for long enough. Either way those guns will be able to kill us in a matter of minutes anyway.”

I thought it over and frankly, if we could just get through the gate, we would at least have a chance. “Do it!”

The enemy battleship was quickly gaining on us as we were drifting towards it but that mattered little at the moment. A few seconds before we entered their range of accurate fire, Shintani launched Bob. We shifted all our shields to the aft section right before a massive explosion of plasma washed over them. Thankfully, the shields barely held but died after the explosion passed.

The enemy battleship’s shields held with only some minor buffering. The sovereign was propelled forward, shooting past the enemy ship and quite literally slamming into the gate. I was thrown from my chair and everything went black.