Vivid Stars Online

The next morning, I enjoyed the sunshine in the clearing while investigating hiring options in Elendes. After a bit of poking around on the city’s network, I found that the Mercenary Guild had a database of members looking for work.

Unfortunately, the prices for most of them were well out of my league. Some of the highest were even charging ten to twenty thousand credits per day. Maybe I should have been a mercenary, after all, I mused with a sigh.

I scrolled through the listings, looking for something more in my price range. A name near the end of the list jumped out at me. It was the same person who had posted on the Altheias forum board, Linnea Ansell,

Working with another player would be nice, it would certainly be easier to explain why I had to take a ‘nap’ during lunch. Best of all, her prices were among the cheapest on the listings.

Sure, that was probably because she only had a few levels so far, however, I was willing to put up with that to save a bit of money. Decision made, I began posting the details of what I needed.

The clearing I was in was just over fifty-one miles to the edge of the lake. I figured that would be about three days’ travel in good circumstances or four otherwise. I also had to stake out the lake location for two days to determine how safe it was.

That meant another six-day trip with combat almost guaranteed. I also shared the Beasts I’d encountered so far, along with my suspicion that the danger would continue increasing as we moved further north.

Posting complete, I settled in to enjoy being out in the woods for the next few hours. While it had been difficult and dangerous getting here, I couldn’t help but admit it was very pleasant to be out in the wilderness.

You couldn’t see anything like this on Earth anymore and I was glad to experience it, even if it was virtual. With a sigh, I lay back and waited for Brian to arrive.

The aircraft landed with a soft thump in the middle of the clearing, only a dozen feet from where I was standing. A ramp slid to the ground in front of me and I walked up it before sliding into the co-pilot seat.

“Good to see you again, Brian,“ I addressed the man at the controls with a grin.

“Hah, good to see you as well, laddie,“ he responded, already prepping the VTOL for takeoff. “Wasn’t too sure I’d be seeing you again after you walked out into the wilderness. Can’t say I’m sad to be wrong, though.”

The ramp slid closed behind me, the door following. By the time I’d clipped myself into the seat, we were already taking off. We shot into the air before taking a loop back around to the city.

“So what’s up with the mountains anyway,“ I asked the question that had been bugging me since yesterday. “You said something about birds?”

“Aye,“ Brian responded with a frown. “Most of the mountains on the continent are home to Grand Avian Beasts. Some of them get big enough to tear my baby here,“ he tapped the dashboard as he spoke, “into pieces to get at the tasty human morsels inside.”

“That’s terrifying,“ I said, shuddering at the very thought. I was also rather worried about my plans to skirt the base of the mountains. “Is it safe in the foothills, or should I be changing my plans?”

“Definitely not safe,“ Brain said with a snort, “but you don’t need to be too worried about the birds. Mostly they hunt up in the high mountains. Aircraft are most at risk, they get mighty territorial about their airspace.”

At least I wouldn’t need to worry about being grabbed up off the ground like some worm. “That explains your ten-mile rule then. I'll keep that in mind.” I would have to make sure that whatever spot I selected on the lake was further than that from the mountain.

With my immediate question out of the way, I considered logging out for the ride again, however, I realized it might be a good chance to get more information on the local situation. Brian seemed to enjoy chatting, so he might be willing to tell me more about the blockade.

“So Brian,“ I started a little awkwardly. “Can you tell me anything about the pirates that are causing the shortages? I only got here a few days ago and I’ve been wondering about the situation.”

He turned to stare at me for several long moments before he responded. “Well, you're doing your best to help. People don’t like to think about it much, but I guess you deserve to know.”

He let out a deep sigh as he turned back to face the viewscreen. “I’m sure you know that we’re right out on the edge here, one of the furthest colonized worlds. There are only a few charted paths you can take to get here, if they get cut off, then we get cut off.”

“A few months ago that happened, right as we started ordering massive shipments of food and medical supplies to get us through winter.” He shook his head sadly as he continued. “What really worries people, though, is the idea that it might not just be ordinary pirates.”

He glanced over at me, taking in my blank stare. “Right, not from around here. So there are two other planets just a little closer in towards the core: Denatros and Ridell. Both are single-world polities like ours and we pretty much all hate each other.”

He laughed as he continued. “There isn’t a lot to draw migrants this far out and all of us need more citizens. While they’ve both got better industrial bases than us, we have something they don’t. We have Psi energy and ancient ruins in abundance and they’ve always been jealous of that.”

“But there’s been nothing they can do about it before, they might both have bigger fleets than us but our army is unparalleled. Invading would be impossible, even if they teamed up in some kind of unholy union.”

“Ah,“ I replied as it came together. “So people are worried that these are what, privateers from either Denatros or Ridell? Come to cause you issues in your time of need?”

“Exactly,“ he said with a snort. “Most of us figure normal pirates wouldn’t have known we were shipping so much stuff. That’s the kind of thing spies pay attention to, though, foreign spies who might send info back to their governments.”

I sat back as the conversation trailed off. That sounded serious. While I wasn’t about to take hearsay as confirmation, it certainly bared consideration at least. State-funded pirates would certainly explain how they were giving an entire planet this much trouble.

“Thanks, Brian,“ I finally said. “While I can’t say I feel better now that I know what might be happening, I would always prefer to know rather than stay in the dark.”

He simply nodded in reply, and we both stayed silent until we landed back at Elendes.

Upon returning to the city, I had several tasks to prepare for my next expedition. Beyond hiring some help, which I was cautiously optimistic would be handled soon, I needed to resupply pretty much everything. There were also several things I wanted to get that I sorely needed while out there.

First up was replacing my clothes. My current set was tattered, bloodstained, and dirty from my week out in the wilderness. Luckily, fabric did not appear to be something that was currently in shortage, they must produce it locally.

I ended up getting four sets of clothing, one to wear now, and three spare sets to take with me. While it would take up more room in my pack, I’d be thankful for it when my current set was invariably ruined.

At two hundred credits a set, that set me back eight hundred credits. That reminded me I had a set of Beast cores to sell and I moved on to the shop that was buying those. My two big cores, the Great Bear and Great Tiger, got me three and a half thousand credits between them.

The rest of my set netted me another three thousand two hundred credits for a total of six thousand seven hundred from my expedition. I couldn’t help but grin as I ran the numbers.

That put me in actual profit for the trip if I didn’t include the gear that would last over multiple trips. The scanner and my pistol to be specific. While they still put me fairly far in the red, I was hoping that over multiple trips I might actually come out profitable overall.

Of course, I had more to buy today that would push that time further back, however, it was nice to dream.

Next, I moved on to the gun store where I needed to re-supply my ammo packs. I’d ended my trip with only five shots left and this time I wasn’t about to leave it up to chance. I shelled out for the next level up in ammo packs, each allowing forty shots before running dry.

I purchased ten of those for a crazy five thousand credits, giving me four hundred shots. I hated to spend almost everything I’d just made, however, I knew I wouldn’t be able to make any more without being able to fire my gun.

Got to spend money to make it, I thought again with a sigh.

Next on the list were food and medical supplies. I refilled my medical kit and purchased another week of rations for five hundred credits. Given that my pack was nearly full of gear by this point, I also bought a case designed to hold Beast cores. It could be strapped to the back of my pack to ensure I had room to bring back my loot.

Last, I got a proper butchering knife designed to double as a weapon if needed. I strapped that to my leg with a sheath so I could grab it easily.

With all of that, I felt much more prepared for my next trip out. With nothing else to do, I returned to the Explorers' guild and used one of their meeting rooms to log out for a few hours while waiting for Linnea's response.

When I returned to the game, a couple of hours later, I had gotten a response. Linnea confirmed her availability for a six-day expedition and agreed to meet up in person to discuss the details.

After a bit of back and forth, we agreed to use one of the meeting rooms in the Explorers Guild to meet first thing in the morning. The Guild had rooms to rent for three hundred credits a night, including dinner, so I grabbed one of those rather than looking for a hotel.

I logged off that day with a grin, it felt like everything was coming together.