The skimmer moved as we let the looters go through our last bounties, and they sent us an update that we had killed at least ten known terrorists, and I sighed in relief. I had no idea if this was a tutorial difficulty drop, but I realized I had been stressing out more than I thought about the fact of whether they were terrorists or not. It would be extremely bad for me if I intercepted a civilian convoy, a paramilitary convoy, or something other than the terrorists.
True, I could blame the Bounty Hunter Office for providing bad details, but it was also on me to verify, and I did not have the time. I went in like it was true without asking around or doing any follow-up research. I was not like a bounty hunter who lived on a planet with contacts and time to receive the information and look into it. I was a blind offworlder who had no contacts on planets and would have to trust that information.
The more I thought about it as we made our way toward the cave with the rest of the terrorists on this planet, the more serious this problem became. I honestly couldn't care less if they were terrorists or not. I was already morally grey in this universe, and I was not about to start imposing morality on my actions in the game world. The worst consequence in this universe I could have had was losing my character and dying, which would have hurt me in real life.
I very purposefully tried not to think about Ura and losing her and what that would mean.
Instead, I focused on the fact that I needed something I had never thought about in the main universe. An intelligence gathering network. People who would go around, network, and gather information for me so that I could bounty hunt and make more credits., They would be able to pinpoint more profitable bounties, and if there was better information related to them. They would also be able to sniff out more criminal enterprises if they were looking for deliveries.
A robust network of people networking would also be able to pick up suspicion related to our Sleepy Corporation, and in the future, potentially the ability to capture large pirate ships of a cargoship of our own. I was not about to pull Pirating off the table if it could get me a big score like a frigate or a freighter. A cargo freighter would be a massive score that would assist in a massive expansion.
Then again, that was a pipe dream for now. First, I had to focus on the intelligence network, and my supply of delivery ships would be an amazing array to begin with. Then I thought about the fact that I would have a huge head start. I could also put out false information to fuck with competition with my vast network and sabotage player corporations.
I shook my head, got myself back into the game, and checked my assault rifle. I looked at the explosive rounds, and I changed magazines. We did not know what we were going into, so I thought it better of the explosive and changed to Electric rounds. I turned to Nyahdia, who had a smile on her face, "thanks for bringing me along to this one," She said, "I was hoping for a ship soon, but you were right, I would have gone crazy waiting for more bounty hunters to join me," She said, "There is nothing like the thrill of a firefight."
The Skimmer finally brought us to our location, and Emma brought us to a place at least half a kilometer away before landing by a tree, and we all got out. Emma got her light machine gun out and double checked the drum magazines she was using, and I readied myself. Meemee pulled out the duffle bag and started to launch her drones. Things flew up into the air and started to move toward our destination as Nyahdia got her grenade backpack on and launcher ready. She grinned massively, and I grinned with her. I turned on my passive camouflage and I moved forward.
There was no reason to talk at this point. The scouts were Meemee and I, and we were moving forward to scout out. We had decided this while waiting for the looters and taking pictures. We were going into the unknown, and the information on defenses was almost non-existent. The one bit of information was that this was their headquarters and where they kept their best fighters.
The thing is, we already killed a bunch of their soldiers, and so this could be a cakewalk or a fight to get inside. Either way, if there was too much resistance, I was backing out. If this place were fortified, I was not about to blindly attack a fortified position. That would be fucking stupid.
Moving forward quietly and slowly so I did not stand out too much, I was almost at the cave entrance after a fifteen-minute walk. It was quiet, and I found the cave. It was a cut into the ground that went straight into the root of the tree. The route was covered in roots, and I had detached the scope of my sniper rifle to use now. I brought it up, and I looked through it to see if I could see anyone, and my eyes narrowed. There was something there-
It wasn't there?
I felt like I saw something through the scope, but then it was gone, and I frowned. "I see nothing so far," Meemee said. "Establishing a perimeter and having drones out a kilometer. No movement," she reported dutifully, and I frowned at that.
I moved to a better position slowly till I could look into the cave a bit more, and I saw nothing but the cave curving to the side. This was clearly a natural opening, but the deeper part was unnatural. Someone started with a natural cave, cut into the tree that went through it, and went in deeper to make a more secure entrance. I frowned, though, that there was no sentry. I would have left something, at least, even if I were doing a major operation. There was no guarantee of success, and you needed a place to retreat to unless you were planning on dying.
There was nothing in their modes of operation that said they would do that, though. So, what was happening here? My suspicion grew, and my feeling went back to that thought that I might have seen something. Then I froze. Maybe they had someone like me watching out?
They had armor—a lot of armor. There was no scout armor, though, but I was told this armor was rare—something uncommon and maybe not easily sold. So what if they only had a couple of armor suits? I would use them for important scouting missions or guarding the home, one of the two, or both.
"I think there might be someone camouflaged," I reported over the comms, and silence was met. No one acknowledged it for a moment.
Then Nyahdia spoke up, "Why do you think that?" She asked.
"No one is here at the front door, Nothing, and that makes no sense unless they are deeper." I added quickly, "But when I first came up, I felt like I spotted something, and now, nothing. I see nothing, and I continue to see nothing," I said, my voice hard, "I don't think I missed something, I think I saw a small movement of the sentry that is watching out," I finished.
Silence once more, and Meemee and Emma both acknowledged my messages.
"Then I think we should go in loud," Nyahdia said bluntly.
"What?" I asked.
"I think we move like this," Nyahdia began to lay out the break-in plan, and while I could not say I liked it, it was not a bad plan. "It is only a breach plan, and it gives us a setup in case you are wrong. What do you think?" Nyahdia finished.
"I cannot think of a better one that does not include waiting, and we don't want them to figure out their assault force is dead," I replied, and Emma and Meemee signaled the acknowledgment again. So we are going with your plan. Move up and get us started."
Nyahdia acknowledged that, and she moved up while I got ready with my assault rifle. I was prepared for this to go south, and Nyahdia took a couple of minutes to get into place. She then had to move around from the far side to the opposite side, which I estimated to be the spot where I thought I had seen the person previously.
"In position," Nyahdia reported, and Emma did the same.
"In position," She reported dutifully as the back guard. She was watching out for us in case Meemee missed something.
"Ready," Meemee said, her voice flat.
"Let's start," Nyahdia said, happiness in her voice. She moved out into position five steps out so she had the angle, and she started to shoot proximity sensor grenades all around the entrance of the cave. The thud of her grenade launcher was clear in my ears this time, and then something happened as the grenade seemed to start floating in the air for some reason, in all defiance of the laws of physics. It could have been a glitch, but Nyahdia had already reacted and shot a sticky grenade.
BANG~! BANG~!
Both grenades went off, and the armor shattered, and the person never stood a chance the moment that proximity grenade hit him. Move, and he was dead, or we killed him with that second follow-up grenade.
"Move forward," I snapped, and we moved forward as Nyahdia finished making the cave entrance a grenade trap. We moved forward as a group, with Emma looking back and Meemee's drones moving forward into the cave. Then I heard it, "The alarm has been sounded," I noted, and acknowledgments went through the comms.
"Find a good position to set up a kill zone," Nyahdia said.
"Meemee, scout ahead, Emma, cover our backs, join if you think we need help," I ordered. I moved forward to a root sticking out of the ground a little and dove behind it, letting my camouflage do the rest. Nyahdia did the same with a thick root, and Emma stayed a distance back.
People moved forward and entered my sight. Drones picked them up on the HUD, and they were highlighted as I aimed at them. I tracked them a little before I stroked the trigger. The sound of my assault rifle smashing into their armor sounded, and the electrical bullets paralyzed the first person's armor. Nyahdia moved, and three thuds sounded as the enemies scattered. Three explosions then came up and took out three of them.
I turned to the next, and Nyahdia shot more grenades. Smoke rose, and they started to shoot. Nyahdia was shooting from cover, and it was almost impossible to see. The smoke made that even harder, and so they would have to track my bullets back to me. They needed a moment before they could do that, and sensors lit them up on my HUD. I got up and moved as they got behind roots for cover, and I swapped my magazines as I finished getting into position.
No reason for electrical ammo, it was time for armor piercing.
A moment later, five more armored figures were dead on the ground, and I moved into the smoke. "Damn it!" I heard one of them snap, "We need fucking reinforcements, they are well armed! They have a fucking grenade launcher and higher end Sensor grenades!" They should have obviously gone into a communication system, and I moved into position, and he was alone. He was busier communicating than paying attention to what was happening, and that was stupid.
I quickly decided something and moved behind him, and I almost tripped over a root for a moment before I got behind him. I pushed the gun against his head, hoping no one saw me almost tripping as I pressed the gun even harder against his helmet. "Drop the weapon and take off the armor," I ordered as the guy was getting back into fighting mode over crying for help mode.
The guy dropped his weapon and cursed, "Fuck! Help me out over here," he said, then pulled off the helmet, and I pulled out a capture collar, and I snapped it around his neck a moment later, and he cursed, "Fuck!"
"Lie down on the ground, do not move a muscle, do not talk, and you will not aim your weapon at anyone or pick up a weapon." The order was clear, and he lay down on the ground. I finished, "Move your hands behind your back and leave them there." He followed the last order but did not move, so I turned, and Nyahdia moved up.
"We need to move forward," Nyahdia said.
"There are no reinforcements yet," Meemee said dutifully, sending her drones scouting forward. "My best guess is that it takes a minute for armor to be equipped and for people to arm themselves. We just found the first responders."
"Likely, let's move," I replied, and we moved.
The Cave was a dirt cave with roots growing out of the walls. The only change from that was when the walls turned to wood, where someone had cut through the roots to continue digging this cave. The roots did not grow in the wood sections, and the cave was deeper than I had expected, but alloy walls soon blocked our path, and Meemee snapped into the comms, "STOP, Do not go forward to the doors!"
We all stopped before the turn, and she followed up, "Auto turrets," she reported, and I noticed three dead drones before us.
"Get into secure positions," I snapped. "They should be coming out for us soon, or are waiting for us inside," I told them. Meemee, get me the positions of those auto-turrets. Nyahdia, when she finds one, find a way to get a grenade under it," I ordered.
Two acknowledgements went through the comms, and five drones went flying in, and two auto turrets appeared on our HUD. Then Nyahdia moved a bit, and then the sounds of thuds echoed. "FUCK!" I heard someone curse, and suddenly, the sounds of explosions sounded, and I frowned.
"Why did the auto turrets react to the drones but not the grenades?" I asked, and no one answered.
"Sending another drone," Meemee reported. We saw a drone move forward, and a person was aiming their gun as they ran. The sound of gunfire sounded, but the drone was not destroyed instantly, so we moved as a group. I found the person as the door opened, and I emptied the last of my magazine into them. Their armor did not stand up, and I learned something as I did this.
Armor was a subtle protection. It did not save you when the person was prepared for you to shoot at them. The only person I noticed surviving gunfire because of their armor was Nyahdia, and she was wearing heavy armor. That spoke volumes to me.
Tanks in this universe were not going to be like RPGs of the old. These people would need to be much more heavily armoured and need different armors for different situations. Even then, they could not take direct fire for too long. They would have to take minimal fire and use that time for something, like Nyahdia did. Something where someone had to step out and change the situation.
Tanks were no longer front liners; they were support.
The front liners were the scouts who gathered information or were in vehicles that could take fire, and all it took for someone to destroy them was a larger gun. There were probably more that I was missing, like Mages in this universe. I had not encountered many of them, but the one I had was terrifying.
Maybe Mages were the tanks in this world, but for now, Tanks were the Tanks and not people in armor. Infantry was mobile damage output, scouting, and support. There was no more tanking damage because each time I shot armor-piercing ammo into a suit of armor, they died if I shot them enough.
Sure, it wasn't like they didn't have armor. Those bullets tore massive holes into them and left them bleeding out, if not dead. Armor changed this so that they could take a couple of shots and not instantly die. It would also stop the bullets from just straight up ripping a massive hole through them and mitigating some of the damage. But that did not change the fact that I had been looking at armor this entire time, completely incorrectly.
The more I noticed this, the more I realized that the tutorial was probably going easy on us—very easy on us. This was almost unrealistic, how easy this tutorial was compared to what was waiting in the main universe, and a Chill went down my spine. This must be what the tutorial was trying to teach: how out of depth and lacking in experience we all were, and I looked at the dead body for too long, lost in thought.
"Everything is clear," Meemee reported, bringing me back to the game world. My eyes were focused, and I shook my head. I had avoided the worst, and this was the last bounty mission I was taking. Not until I learned how to keep my character alive after death in the main universe, because I was sure there was going to be something spicy that no one was talking about.
The alloy door had two broken wrecks of auto turrets, and I still wondered why they did not target the grenades. But I moved forward, and we went to the front door. The wall looked like pure steel blocking off the cave from the main interior, which had been dug out, and there was a single door. Nothing to give us cover in case someone came out right now. There were no air vents either, which was an interesting choice. They had to get their air from somewhere; it was either a system inside, or there was another hole inside leading to the outside. With starships, though, there was something to recycle the air, and so Emma took a position covering our backs, and Meemee brought a drone into her hand.
The broken mess of drones made me frown as I realized the credits I lost with that, but losing credits was better than losing life. We looked at the door, and Nyahdia tried to open it. Nothing happened, and the door remained shut. Then Meemee left the dead body and grabbed something off his body after looking it over, and it was a card. She moved over to the card reader, and we all nodded.
It was time to enter the main terrorist facility.
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Hey Everyone,
Sorry for the Slow release of chapters. I recently have found a bit of writer's block on writing chapters and wish to keep the quality up. So releases will be slower until I get over this hump. I will return to weekly updates when I get over this writers block. As a reader of other books, I hate when this happens but I would rather keep quality over quantity.
Thank you for your understanding.