"Um, thanks, I'm, uh, I'm an innocent bystander," Alan said, trying to get a better look at the girl’s face. She turned and stared at him. She had fierce brown eyes and a few scars on her face. Unlike almost every other girl Alan had ever known, it didn't look like she was wearing any makeup. Handsome leapt to his mind before pretty. And deadly.
She began raising her sword.
"Wait! Aren't you Kitana?" Alan said. "Icewolf told me you were in this batch of tutorial recruits, he showed me a picture of you, as you'd already entered the Game. Our capsules are like right next to each other in real life!"
Kitana paused, lowering her weapon, staring at Alan.
"You are Adampwnage?" Kitana asked.
"Huh? No! I mean yes, but call me Alan. Adampwnage was the stupid username I thought would be cool in high school, going by Adam instead of Alan because my mom didn't want me using my real name. Icewolf registered me under that name without asking me.”
"We should proceed to our respective ships."
"Um, right," Alan said. Kitana nodded at him, then began sprinting off in another direction. Sighing to himself, Alan watched her go. He continued along the path Eve set. He was nearing the hangar the Grasshopper was in when Eve suddenly commanded him to stop.
What? Alan asked.
The location of the Grasshopper seems to be a point of contention between the Legion of Man and United World Government. It is highly unlikely we will be able to enter unharmed.
Shit. Do you know what ship that girl was heading to?
Analyzing data… Kitana is designated for the Titan, a Haxlard ambassador ship. Its destination is Khersath, the capital planet of humanoids within the Game.
Huh, well—
The Titan’s AI detected my presence accessing its passenger list. It managed to hide its presence on the network somehow. It wishes to communicate with me, accept?
Uh, sure.
Alan waited a few seconds, wondering what this was about, then a new message popped up:
Transfer to Titan, Light Battleship Class, destination Khersath?
Alan thought for a second, then agreed. Kitana probably knew what the hell was going on, and the capital planet sounded better than Mars. Then again, Alan had no idea who she really was, and if she had anything to do with what was happening right now. He tried to recall what Icewolf had told him. Kitana was the daughter of an influential Japanese businessman, or something like that. One of Icewolf's colleagues had recruited her, a sword instructor. That was it.
The Titan AI is transferring directions now, through a route which will avoid the fighting, Eve sent.
All right.
Alan began jogging along the new path, away from the hangars towards the series of runways. The jets continued to rain laser fire down from above, causing havoc amongst the United World Government ground forces. Suddenly, two giant green lasers shot out from where Alan was running to, slamming into the jets, disintegrating them.
Uh, was that the Titan? Alan asked.
Uncertain.
Squinting his eyes, Alan could see a faint outline of a small ship landed in the middle of a runway in front of him. Eve classified it as a Haxlard dropship. It was fairly nondescript: a small grey aircraft that looked like a carrier helicopter but without the rotors, designed to carry goods and people to and from larger spaceships. Alan started running faster. He could make out a Haxlard mounted on some sort of assembled laser turret. Alongside him was a truck with Kitana and a group of seven other players, the knight and wizard he'd seen earlier among them.
As Alan approached, Kitana looked up at him, surprised. The Haxlard, wearing a green mask with a single white, vertical stripe, stepped forward. A few more Haxlards, wearing completely black masks stepped out of the aircraft and began disassembling the turret.
He is an Ultihaxlard not a Haxlard, Eve told Alan.
“Greetings Earthling! Blessings to you and yours. You must be Adampwnage, our new addition. I am Pharaoh, the captain of the Titan.”
“Uh, greetings Ultihaxlard sir, call me Alan,” Alan responded, really wishing Icewolf had used a different username.
“New addition?” A Hispanic guy in a white suit asked. His body language practically yelled that Alan shouldn’t be here.
“Yes. Alan here somehow managed to convince the Titan AI to allow him aboard and grant him passage. I'm curious, how did you manage to discern I was an Ultihaxlard?”
“Uh, my AI told me.”
“Well, I suppose that answers both questions then. Now that we’re all here, let’s get aboard this dropship so we can get to the Titan.”
The guy in the suit threw Alan a questioning glance, but followed Pharaoh as he walked up the ramp of the dropship without saying anything. Alan waited until everyone else was in front of him, following Kitana who was the last of the group to walk aboard. Alan noticed a splattering of blood on her robe. Everyone else seemed rather disheveled as well. The knight he had seen earlier was missing his helmet, and there were small tears he noticed in other people’s clothing.
Pharaoh led them into the loading zone, where five seats aligned each side of the ship, silver rectangular blocks that adjusted for each person that stood in front of them. In the middle there was space for other belongings and cargo, but nothing was there now.
Pharaoh paused before entering the room where Alan assumed the pilots sat.
Negative. Dropship most likely piloted by Titan AI, Eve sent.
“All right, you’ll all begin the Tutorial once aboard as agreed," Pharaoh said. "You will be joined by Alan. Rest assured we aren’t brainwashing your leaders or anything like that. The Three, blessed be their name, would never stand for it."
Pharaoh entered the cockpit as everyone sat down.
Once seated, Alan noticed a metallic seatbelt and strapped it over his waist as he looked up at everyone. Not sure what to say he looked up at the person in the white suit seated directly across from him, and said, “So uh, who are you guys?”
"I’m Thiago," he said. "I don’t know how you got yourself aboard, but as far as you're concerned we’re a group of arbitrary players that have arranged to be on the same ship to Khersath. I'm more interested in who you are."
"He's a business acquaintance," Kitana answered for Alan. "What happened after I left?"
“After the announcement of the bomb, a force field covering the stage and first few rows was activated while people evacuated," Thiago said. "The shield stopped most of the blast, but the people in the back rows weren’t so lucky. We were quickly extracted and found our way here. Where did you go? You disappeared the instant gunfire was heard.” Thiago glanced at the blood on Kitana.
"I went to find the fighting," Kitana said, calmly staring back at Thiago.
“Well, um, I’m glad to hear the announcement helped,” Alan said.
“That was you?” a short, brawny guy asked. He had dark brown hair and wore military fatigues, but carried no weapon. He had a faint Eastern European accent Alan couldn't place.
"Well it was Eve, my AI, that did it really,” Alan said.
“How?” he demanded.
“Uh, well, she was able to access the base’s network, and detect the bomb," Alan stammered, wanting to change the conversation away from his possibly illegal activity. "Now, wait, so everything the senator said was real, there’s this intergalactic federation or something, but all the territory and what not is determined by this game?”