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  Achievement earned: Unparalleled power! Cruiser Alexandria has reached level 100. Your ship’s class has grown. Current class: Legendary. All ship parameters have increased by 20%. Durability and Energy have been fully restored.

  “Scramble all interceptors to Shylak’s atmosphere! Your objectives are to suppress any resistance and gather whatever loot you can!” the girl commanded over the staccato of her pulse. “First assault team—move against the capital and assist on the ground. Second assault team, stay with the harvesters. Constantine,” Marina said to her head of recruiting, “I need more manpower. We’ll need three hundred. Prioritize those who have harvesters or interceptors. You have ten minutes. Attention everyone—acceleration 300, turn at 240, bearing 30 degrees. Lisp—reroute shields to starboard!”

  “Done!”

  “Ready, Vanya?”

  “You bet! A broadside really is something to behold. Did you know we’d get that much experience?”

  “I had a hunch! Attack in 5, 4, 3, 2…Fire!”

  New level reached: Legendary Cruiser Alexandria has reached level 101. Durability, weapons and energy have been restored by 30%.

  “How much longer, Ivan?”

  “Ten minutes to reload!”

  “The orbital will hit us in two, then seven,” Lisp immediately injected. “We might not survive the second salvo.”

  “We still have two harvesters in our hangers!” added Anton. “Shall we send them planetside?”

  “No!” Marina snatched onto the unexpected windfall. “Send them to the wreckage of the first and second orbital station. Let them pick up the pieces!”

  “Done. They’re on their way! What are we going to do about the interceptors? One hundred are inbound with an ETA of five minutes.”

  “Get down there and storm Shylak! We have to take that depot!”

  “Roger! You’re a monster Marina! How did you find out about the orbitals’ weakness?”

  “No time to explain now. I’ll tell you after the raid. What do the scouts say?”

  “The capital already knows that we’ve taken out two orbital stations! The Emperor has declared you a nemesis of the Empire. The Qualians have declared a temporary truce with the Precians and sent their entire fleet in our direction. They’ve even sent the Judge from their home world's defense garrison! Two hours until it arrives! No one’s sent an armada like this against a single ship before, Marina. We’ve entered the pages of game lore for sure!”

  “Five seconds until next orbital salvo!”

  “Shields to bow, rotate thirty seconds, turn 90 degrees. What’s up with the harvesters?”

  “Five percent of the first station have been collected. The cruiser can be instantly repaired by 2%. It’s not enough, Marina. I told you we needed to upgrade the repair system!”

  “Of course, Gregory, of course! If we get out of here, I’ll do more than upgrade it—I’ll replace the whole thing! There’ll be room now for it! But for now, wring everything you can from it. I need the ship to survive the first hit!”

  “We’ve been hit!” declared Lisp as the cruiser shuddered. “Durability down to half. We may not survive a second hit!”

  “I know! Anton, what’s the situation on the ground?”

  “Harvesters are operating at 100%. We’ve gathered forty tons of resources so far. There’s no Raq in sight. The first city sector has been destroyed. The marines are picking up the loot. The depot is holding out. Their defenses are too strong. We’ve lost 42 interceptors. We’ve already gathered the wreckage and are transporting it back at the moment. And there’s something else you should know…” Anton added awkwardly.

  “What else?”

  “One of the ships trying to flee the planet was carrying some members of the Precian race. The Precians have declared war on us too. That’s two empires hunting the Alexandria. My congratulations!”

  “Goddamn…” the girl swore under her breath, but the entire crew heard her and froze. The Iron Lady had never cursed before. Something wasn’t going according to plan. “What’s going on with you, Vanya?”

  “Five minutes! I can’t make it any earlier!”

  “Lisp?”

  “Durability’s down to 45% We won’t be able to take out the third station with a single volley! It’ll take two at least! We were lucky with the first and second—but now there’s no fourth station to finish off the remaining one! Our reload time is ten minutes. The orbital’s is five. We won’t survive three hits!”

  “Vanya, when you’re ready, you let me know,” Marina said wearily, reclining back in her captain’s chair. That was it. Nothing hinged on her anymore—she had done everything she could. From here on out, it all depended on the players themselves.

  “We’re hit!” the vessel shuddered again. “Durability at ten percent…We have five minutes left to live…”

  “We’ve taken the depot!” Anton announced happily, monitoring the battle down on Shylak. “We’re plundering it now! We estimate that it holds several tons of Raq. Can you imagine? Several tons! Thirty percent of the city has been destroyed. The marines are still working.”

  “I’m ready, Cap,” Ivan reported immediately. “We can afford a salvo. Let them do the repairs later!”

  “All interceptors and harvesters abandon ship! You have three minutes. How much can we repair in that time?”

  “We can have her back up to thirty percent,” Lisp quickly tallied up the data. “What’s the point though, Marina?”

  “Any player who doesn’t wish to respawn must leave the ship within the next three minutes!” the girl announced into the general comm. “Thank you everyone for helping with the raid. Our loot should cover all our losses! The countdown begins now.”

  “I assume,” said Ivan wryly, “that you will request that I stay on board?”

  “Lisp, I’ll need you too!”

  “What would you do without me? But why don’t you tell me what you have in mind?”

  “What I have in mind? Nothing special. Anton, what’s with the Qualians?”

  “I’m staying too. The Qualian fleet will reach the central planet in an hour and reach us in another. So two hours…We don’t have that time though unless you know something we don’t. Well, Marina, do you?”

  “I do! Ninety seconds remaining! Anyone who wants to save his equipment, abandon ship immediately!” the girl reiterated again, concealing her satisfaction. Not a single person had budged in the ninety seconds that had elapsed since her first announcement. Everyone knew that if they left her now, they’d never go on another raid with her again.

  “It’s time! Vanya, wait for my mark! Acceleration 2400, rotation at 20, bearing 0 degrees. Let’s go!”

  “No, Marina!” Anton blurted out, but his voice was lost in the deafening grating.

  A dull blow shook the cruiser’s hull, knocking everyone onto the floor.

  “Durability at one percent,” the ship’s onboard computer informed the crew in its calm, steely tone. “Vessel self-destruct activating in 5, 4, 3…”

  “Vanya—mark!”

  “Roger that! Firing!”

  New level reached: Legendary Cruiser Alexandria has reached level 102. Durability, weapons and energy have been restored by 30%.

  Silence.

  “The city has been 50% destroyed. The harvesters have finished scavenging the first station and are moving on to the next,” Anton reported in a whisper for some reason.

  “Ship Durability is at 30%. Active repairs are underway,” Lisp echoed in a whisper too.

  “Marina, my mom is calling me to dinner. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, okay?” said Ivan, utterly ignoring what was going on. The fact that the cruiser had just rammed an orbital station and blown it up from within did not seem to concern him one bit. Big deal—a cruiser used as a battering ram! With a commander like this, this kind of miracle is a daily occurrence.

  “Okay. Attention all ship personnel—you have 90 minutes of personal time!” said the girl, shutting her eyes. “Anyone who wis
hes may sign out to reality or go down to Shylak and try to snatch something before the marines get their paws on it. Please mind the time. After the 90 minutes is up, the cruiser will be heading home…”

  “The Qualians are rerouting everything they have in our direction,” Anton reported thirty minutes later. “According to the forum chatter, they’re forming a sphere around us. The Emperor has ordered them to keep us from slipping away…Marina—if we want to keep the Alexandria in one piece, we need to go this instant.”

  “I gave our men 90 minutes,” replied the girl and glanced at her watch. “No one can say that I’ve ever gone back on my word. If we’re surrounded, we’ll find a weak point and break through! They’ll be spread out and we’ll have an easier time of it. Lisp—when will the cruiser be at full Durability?”

  “We’re picking up the remnants of the third station now. I estimate that we’ll be able to reach 94% Durability. We don’t have the materials to repair it any more than that. We can start up the Raq refineries, but we’ll only manage to process 3–4% in an hour, no more. Should I start them?”

  “Don’t bother. Leave it as is. Anton—what’s going on with the city?”

  “All the defense systems have been destroyed. Some pockets of resistance remain here and there. The overall level of the interceptors has gone up by three points. The marines have gained seven. There were forty tons of Raq in the depot. No more than ten percent remain now. We’re making good progress in our marauding activities. This is the first time we’ve ever captured a planet like this and, I’m not even kidding: We’ve sent four million players to respawn in a mere half hour. We’ve never seen lucre like this!”

  “New info incoming, Marina! Vrakas has decided to assist the Qualians. They have sent ten orbital stations and four Judges to complete their sphere…There’ll be Grand Arbiters all around the perimeter now…It really was a good raid…”

  “Cruiser Alexandria! You have attacked trade planet Shylak XIV of the Qualian Empire!” Forty five minutes later, the admiral in charge of the armada announced on the open channel. “We demand you surrender and pay restitution to the Empire. Otherwise, you will be destroyed and added to the Empire’s blacklist. You have ten minutes to reach your decision!”

  “Anton, you promised me two hours,” the girl shot a teasing glance at her pale deputy. “It’s only been 90 minutes and they’re already here.”

  “Three Judges have locked on to us,” Lisp reported for some reason. “What are your orders, Captain?”

  “Go on with the pillaging!” smirked Marina and addressed the open channel: “This is the captain of the Cruiser Alexandria! Who has been authorized to accept my surrender?”

  “The Imperial Counselor, currently aboard the orbital station Nair. Send a shuttle with no more than five people on board!”

  “You may expect us in five minutes,” the girl replied to the astonishment of her crew as well as the enemy admiral. The Qualian players, who had been urgently assembled from all corners of the empire to respond to the raid, couldn’t believe their ears: The Iron Lady was about to surrender.

  “You sure like to take risks!” Anton grinned once again. “What if it doesn’t work?”

  “Oh Anton,” smiled the girl. “We’ve been together god knows how long and you still doubt me…Wait here. I’ll be right back…”

  THE GIRL SAW a bright flash and watched the lid of the gaming capsule slowly lift up and open. Five minutes…She had only five minutes to make the phone call.

  “Hi, it’s me! Everything is going according to plan. The armada with the Counselor has been drawn in to Shylak…Yes, everyone…Absolutely correct… Five minutes…Okay, I’ll be waiting in two minutes…”

  “WHAT’D I MISS?” As soon as Marina signed back into the game, Ivan’s voice came over the comm. “Double damn! Where’d they dig up so many Grand Arbiters? Marina—should I reload the guns?”

  “Attention raiding party,” said Marina, pressing the all-comm button. “Thank you for such an entertaining seven hours! I congratulate all of you only your newly acquired loot! I am planning on conducting another raid in several months. Keep an eye on my site for further information. Those of you in interceptors, you’ll have to get back on your own. Marines—I’ll be waiting for you on the ship in three hours.”

  “Marina, I don’t understand!” came Lisp’s voice, while suddenly, every single player in Galactogon saw one and the same, game-wide notification:

  The Qualian home world has been destroyed! Respawn duration: 24 hours! During this time, orbital stations and Grand Arbiters have been disabled! All Qualians: Hurry back to defend your home world from the marauders!

  “You did it!” whispered Anton in awe when the Qualian Grand Arbiters froze in place as though paralyzed.

  “Lisp—send out the harvesters. With this amount of loot, we’ll definitely enter the pages of history!

  Pressing the all-comm button, the girl added:

  “Attention all Qualian players in the vicinity! This is the captain of the Cruiser Alexandria! I suggest you leave this solar system before I open fire on you. You have five minutes to decide. The countdown begins now!”

  The raid had been a success…

  Two minutes before the notification:

  “IS EVERYTHING ready?”

  “Yeah. There are twenty warheads on the ship. It’ll blow the capital to smithereens. Are you sure that the Judges are all gone?”

  “Hold on. I have a call. It’ll take a second…Okay, everything’s ready. The fleet is at Shylak. We should be able to slip past the orbitals. Launch the shuttle.”

  “Let’s do it!”

  “Now let’s get out of here and enjoy the fireworks!”

  Six months earlier:

  “MARINA, are you feeling all right? What do you mean, let’s just destroy the Imperial Admiralty? It’s not possible. There isn’t a fleet in the galaxy that could even get close! A hundred orbital stations, five hundred Judges, cruisers and players with interceptors. It’s unthinkable!”

  “What if the capital is surrounded by nothing but orbitals? And the shuttle is stuffed chockfull of shield generators so that it can withstand several salvos from the orbitals? Would it be possible then?”

  “If you cram twenty warheads into the shuttle—and by the way you still need to actually buy those—and throw in four, no, better ten shield generators and an accelerator…and if by some miracle you manage to squeeze through to their home world…then I think that yes, it might. That’s if there won’t be a Grand Arbiter in the way. They reload faster than orbitals and do much more damage too. But how are you going to manage all this?”

  “Leave that to me. Your job is to find a shuttle, warheads, generators, accelerators and everything else we need. Other than that, just be within two minutes of the planet in six months. Can you do it?”

  “I can. But you’re insane.”

  Many years earlier:

  “RECRUIT MARINA reporting from the Training Planet,” announced the girl. “I have completed training with 100 out of 100 in all subjects. I am ready to enlist in the fleet. I wish to serve the Qualian Empire!”

  “The Empire isn’t interested in eager beavers who have nothing to offer,” replied the fat NPC clerk without bothering to stifle his yawn. “Either purchase a starter kit or there’s the door, kiddo. The Qualian navy doesn’t take riffraff.”

  “You didn’t even look me in the eyes!” objected the girl barely concealing her outrage. A month earlier, having decided to open a Galactogon account, she decided that she would play for the Qualians, since that Empire had the most advanced technology. However, Marina set one strict condition for herself: She would never expend a single real world penny in the game. She needed to prove that one could succeed in Galactogon with nothing but one’s wits. Graduating in the top of her training class, she was within her right to expect some respect, and yet…If you don’t have real cash, there’s the door.

  “Guards! Guards!” squeaked the NPC. “Toss this gar
bage in the street where it belongs! The Qualian Empire isn’t a charity organization!”

  “Jerks…” whispered the girl. Glaring at the receding guards, she wiped the dust from her face. “We’ll see which one of us is garbage!”

  Translated from Russian by Boris Smirnov

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