Chapter 31: The Big Red Button, Morgan POV (Patreon)

Chapter 31

The Big Red Button.

Morgan POV

The Kilocksin had definitely told the other factions that there was a kraken in my transit junction. The Octorin hadn’t finished rebuilding the drone swarm they’d sent against me, but every drone within two days of travel was now waiting near the transit ring. The Uon preferred to use space stations for defence this early in the season, so they didn’t have many warships either. However, those they did have were waiting to invade beside tens of thousands of transport vessels that carried their highest-level players. The Clack were the only ones besides the Kilocksin with an actual combat fleet, and it was also nearly ready to attack. The only faction that hadn’t sent anything was the Horde, and that was because they didn’t have anything to send.

The rules of the vassal contest didn’t protect the other factions' fleets, but it would have given away my station's capabilities if Tee had taken control of them before they entered our transit junction, so I’d decided against disabling them. Instead, Tee had wormed his way into their systems so we could monitor everything they did.

The other reason we didn’t disable them was that we needed the experience they would offer. The kraken had come close to finding the station several times this Cycle, and the extra research from my lab technicians wasn’t going to be enough to save us any time soon.

I planned to use the battle as a way to lure the kraken to the thousands of gunships I’d loaded full of megalodon missiles. I’d be using shield drones and the Uon fleet as bait to make it swallow them. Their combined explosion would destroy the kraken and secure our victory.

Alternatively, we could level a few times and do more damage with the particle cannon, but I wasn’t as confident with that plan. The particle cannon could do solid damage, but I didn’t think a few extra levels would be enough to turn it into a one-shot weapon.

“Your dad is calling,” Tee said. “Do you want me to take a message?”

The light in my command room had been red for over an hour despite nothing taking place, so I let myself look away from the screens. “Has something changed in Sector 13?”

“Nothing as far as I can tell. Everything seems to be developing to plan.”

That was concerning. Dad knew not to call me while I was in the Game. “Put him through. It’s probably an emergency.”

“I allowed him to override our communication system for emergencies.”

“Then this is probably an emergency that isn’t time-sensitive to the second.”

Dad appeared on the main view screen. He was standing in the middle of a construction site. Melody had him managing the remodelling of the space station she’d bought as Mars’s permitting building. He didn’t like the job, but he was getting a free bar and restaurant for only a few Cycles of stress.

Dad sighed. “I’m sorry to bother you while you’re at work, but there is something you need to know. Over the past three days, Melody spent five months in her old, simulated world. She’s distraught and trying to hide it, but she’s not very good at doing so. I think she had to do something she didn’t want to do and is struggling with it.”

I began massaging the back of my neck, not wanting to get involved. Not right before a battle. “We don’t really have that sort of relationship.”

Dad frowned and somehow conveyed that he was disappointed with me. “She’s a good person who doesn’t have anyone else to rely on. You’re too old for me to tell you what to do, Morgan Bartholomew Winchester, but I’m asking you to call her.”

I sighed. “I’ll call her.”

“After you hang up?”

“After I hang up.”

“You’re a good son.”

Dad ended the call.

“He’s really good at the whole soft guilt thing, isn’t he,” Tee said.

“Too good. Call Melody for me.”

“Already done. She’s not picking up.”

His answer let me relax. “She must be in a meeting. Leave a message telling her I want to chat when she’s free.”

I went back to watching the display and noticed several changes. “Why can’t I see the Kilocksin fleet anymore?”

“They powered down all their communication systems and scanners in the local system while you were talking. We’re effectively blind.”

“Smart. Anything we can do to compensate?”

“Nothing practical. Our scanners are designed to work only within our transit area. The best we can do is send a gunship to the transit ring and use its scanners to see through, but that will attract the kraken and break the rules of the challenge.”

Tee raised an interesting question with his statement. “Can our lab research scanner upgrades to let us see beyond the transit rings?”

“Not quickly. Their levels are too low. You screwed them when you asked the moderator to upgrade everything to level 10. And screwed them again when you didn’t let them work on the random pieces of technology you got from clearing missions. They’re so under-leveled that it’s like you’re using a bunch of high school students to solve a quantum physics problem.”

“I thought we compensated for that by making them work on smaller projects within the larger projects.”

“You helped them by doing that. You didn’t fix the problem.” The view screen changed to the Kilocksin transit ring and Tee started talking much faster. “The first Kilocksin vessel has passed through their transit ring. R2D2s are firing stealth rounds. Poseidons are firing Predator missiles.”

“What type of vessel?”

I had to work out what their strategy would be and work it out fast.

“The vessel is a giant cargo hauler. The second vessel is also a giant cargo hauler. Wait. Twenty smaller cargo vessels have just passed through. They’re all launching escape pods and firing thrusters. We’ve got thousands of Kilocksin commandos launching themselves from the ships’ hulls with jetpacks.”

I grinned, suddenly excited, and started giving orders, even though I hadn’t worked out their strategy. “Detonate rounds as they approach the commandos. Try to take them out with the explosion so they can’t dodge. Can you get into their computers to see where the rest of their fleet is?”

“Not possible. They’ve gone completely analogue, and I can’t see anything on the other side of the transit ring with their system shut down.”

“Damn, they’re fun. Fire Predator missiles at all transit rings until we gain the krakens attention, then switch to Hammerheads and Goblins. The Kilocksin are probably about to send a second wave through. Make sure we hit them before the commandos can get away.”

Before I finished speaking, a wall of nearly fifty cargo hauliers charged through the transit ring led by a group of frigates firings in a spiral pattern that announced their presence to everything in the transit junction. The haulers' cargo bays were open, and they were dropping escape pods and commandos by the thousands.

Something that looked like mines started to drop from every cargo bay.

“Tee, what are those balls they're dropping?”

Shields appeared around them as Tee zoomed in.

“Those are corvette generators strapped to corvette shield emitters. The shield coverage is a fraction of the normal size, so it will take dozens of Predator missiles and R2D2 rounds to get through. They’ve got a dozen commandos strapped to each one.”

Commandos and vessels disappeared from the display as the R2D2s began to clear the field. The Kraken, sensing prey, started to move, turning toward the transit ring. A two-minute timer appeared above it, displaying how long it would take to reach the transit ring.

The Octorin surged through their transit ring straight into the swarm of Predator missiles waiting for them. The Clack and Uon ran into the same problem, but both had much heavier vessels that could survive more than a single Predator missile.

Another wave of vessels came through the Kilocksin transit ring, copying the others before it. It wasn’t a winning strategy, but it was their best chance. The station’s fire quickly ramped up, and more and more of their vessels and personnel vanished.

“Tee, do the Kilocksin stand a chance?”

“No. We clear them in thirty seconds. Do you want me to ease up on the attack? We’re getting a lot of experience from this.”

“No. They’re aware of what we are capable of. They’ll have another surprise.”

“That’s not like you. You usually take more risk than this.”

“We’re not being underestimated anymore. They have a lot more skill than I do regarding warfare. Our only major advantage is overwhelming strength. They know I’ve pulled attacks in the past to farm ships and experience, so they will have a plan for taking advantage of that opening.”

“Won’t they also have plans for dealing with overwhelming strength?”

“Yes, but overwhelming strength limits their options. So, weakening our attack just gives them more options. Have you launched the gunships loaded with the megalodons?”

“They’re on their way to the Uon’s transit ring. They should arrive in time to be eaten.”

Nothing I saw changed, but the Kilocksin attack suddenly made sense. Their initial attack was a bluff to make it look like they had a long-term plan. They were using the thirty-minute timer as a diversion. They planned to try to win this in the first few minutes, not drag it out.

“Fire all our megalodon missiles at the Kilocksin’s transit ring. Have them arrive two seconds ahead of the kraken. The Kilocksin are going to try to make a push. I want us to clear the field before the kraken reaches them and encourage it to feed on the Uon.”

“How do I do that?”

“Begin the attack on the kraken the moment before it reaches the Kilocksin transit ring. Focus on the section of its limbs that it hates us shooting. We’re going to make it associate that transit ring with pain.”

“Launching shield drones to act as bait,” Tee said. “Melody’s calling.”

“Put her through.”

Melody appeared on the display screen, smiling ear to ear. “Did you miss me?”

“Not as much as you missed me, I imagine. How was your holiday?”

Her smile withered. “Complicated.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

She paused and then sighed. “I’m sure you’re busy.”

“I’m not too busy to listen.”

“Ah, Morgan, the Kilocksin just sent their entire fleet through in a turtle formation. It’s surrounded by those shield mines, and the kraken is twenty seconds out. Nothing we fire now will reach them in time. Scanners show the fleet is protecting a cargo hauler filled to the brim with their highest-level players. Computer shows an 80% chance of it surviving.”

Melody tried to cut the call, but I was holding down a button that made that impossible. She glanced at me, frowning. The frown became a little irritated. “You don’t have time for this? You’re in the middle of a battle.”

“It’s a minor battle. Tee target the cargo hauler with the particle cannon. Fire if it survives the megalodon missiles and gets inside the kraken. I want to hit both.” I turned back to Melody. “See, a minor thing. I’m all yours.”

As the Hammerhead and Goblin missiles continued to tear apart the Kilocksin fleet, reducing its number, I listened to Melody explain what had happened to her, doing my best to give her most of my attention.

The megalodons landed a few seconds before the kraken reached the Kilocksin fleet, but the Kilocksin managed to intercept enough of them so that the cargo hauler and several other vessels survived. The kraken darted forward, opening its giant mouth and swallowed the surviving ships whole.

The cargo hauler got halfway down its throat before passing in front of one of the kraken's hearts. Tee shot it with the particle cannon, vaporising the kraken’s heart and shredding the hauler with fleshy shrapnel. The reactor overloaded, adding to the damage, and causing indigestion.

Smaller cargo haulers continued to try to come through the transit ring to feed it but ran into the side of the kraken and exploded. Tee didn’t let up, shooting the kraken in every tender spot we knew, prodding it away from the Kilocksin and towards the Uon.

Shield drones lined its path, giving it a light snack and encouraging it to go where we wanted. A minute later, the heavily wounded but not defeated kraken approached the Uon’s transit ring. Taking out one of its hearts had been incredibly effective, but it wasn’t enough to kill it. That was why we had the gunships.

The kraken opened its mouth and began swallowing thousands of gunships loaded with megalodon missiles. They went down its throat and into its stomach before reaching the Uon ships.

A big red button rose on a pedestal beside me. I was probably never going to get to blow up a space kraken again, so I wanted to enjoy the moment.

I pressed the button.

The kraken exploded.

I stopped paying attention to the battle at that point, completely focusing on Melody and what had happened to her.

A few days ago, the moderator had come to her with a proposition. They were monitoring Nicolas and his mental state and didn’t like what they were seeing. They knew he wanted children and were willing to give him what he wanted through his pantheon to improve his mental health, but they felt the best outcome for everyone would come from the children growing up on Mars as she had. However, they didn’t want to do that unless she was there for them.

Melody had been conditioned to survive the trauma of leaving Mars, but they wouldn’t be. The moderator felt the children needed a connection that was outside the world she had grown up in so they could relate to their new environment. Melody was that connection. In return, Melody would gain the benefit of knowing other Martians.

I turned off the display as the challenge came to an end. “You agreed to the Peacekeeper's offer because you were lonely, right?”

Melody burst into tears. “Yes.”

“And when you agreed, the kids were just a possibility. Now they’re flesh and blood, and you love them. You love them, and you know the decision you made to feel less lonely is going to hurt them. You know what they will go through when they reach the outside world because you’re going through it right now, and you’re regretting what you did and hating yourself for your weakness. But you also know that them growing up on Mars was the best thing that could have happened to them, even if it hurts them.”

Melody blew her nose. “Was that advice?”

“No. You hurt someone you love, and it hurts. You don’t need to rationalise it to me or yourself. You’re going to feel pain, and then you’ll get over it.”

Melody had more people skills than I did, but she’d never been in a situation where she truly cared about someone. She’d never loved anyone and seen that person in pain, so this was all new to her, and it showed.

“How do you know?”

“Because that’s life. Sometimes we hurt the people we love, and sometimes it’s not our fault. When my mum was dying, the pain meds didn’t work. The pain got so bad sometimes that all she could do was cry. She tried to hide it from us by sending us out of the room to get something, but we always knew. Watching her be in that much pain hurt me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hide that pain from her. She was my mum, and I was an open book to her. The sad truth is that the pain she was causing me, from making me watch her die, felt worse to her than the pain the cancer was giving her. She was miserable, thinking she was the cause of my suffering. So, the pain I felt from losing her and watching her suffer ended up hurting her more than she was already hurting. It wasn’t something I wanted to do to her, but it was something I did.”

“That’s not the same.”

“You hurt them by giving them a wonderful childhood home only to take that home away so they could live a better life. You hurt them by letting them love something as much as you do, and you hurt them because it would make you feel less lonely. You’re not perfect. You’re human. All you can do is try to be better than you were before.”

Melody took a deep breath. “Thank you for listening.”

“Do you want to tell me about them?”

“I’m sure you’re too busy. I should go.”

I kept my finger on the button, stopping her from ending the call. “I’m not too busy to hear about the people you love.”