Aces High (Reality Benders Book #6) LitRPG Series Read online

  Psionic skill increased to level one hundred eleven!

  Telekinesis skill increased to level six!

  Telekinesis skill increased to level seven!

  Training skill increased to level four!

  You have reached level one hundred one!

  You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: six).

  Level one hundred and one! Not bad, not bad! All six free points I immediately invested into Medium Armor, bringing it up to 93, all the while tracking my previously chosen course to see if I could use the Tachyon Bender. Then I walked up to the hunched up and painfully shivering Relict. With the fingers of my left armored glove, I grabbed my vanquished opponent by the lower jaw and raised his head so I could look into his eyes. And I was using my right hand to hold my Annihilator to the Relict’s head all the while:

  “Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh, I’ve had enough of your stubborn foolishness! This is the last time I’ll be explaining and if you don’t learn your lesson this time — it’s on you! The war between the Relicts and Precursors ended a very long time ago. All that’s left of the once mighty Precursor race are scattered pockets on remote planets throughout the galaxy, and our technological level has universally been set back by millennia. Civilization on my planet reverted to a fully primitive state and not even the slightest memories of our former greatness remained. Your race meanwhile, was thought to be extinct right up until my ship discovered this hidden dormant laboratory. A member of my crew sacrificed his own life to save yours because you are perhaps the last Relict in the Universe. And my gratitude for my Gunner is the only thing keeping me from killing you now, even though I generally cannot stand this kind of guile and villainy. Got it?”

  Based on the fragmentary thoughts that slipped through, I could sense that the Relict had finally started to consider it and was even allowing for the possibility that a ton of time really may have passed. Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh covered both of his eyes with cloudy film, then opened them again. That must have meant “yes.” Okay, let’s keep talking.

  “It just so happens that we can help one another. Without your laboratory, my damaged starship will never be able to return home. I meanwhile know where the ship of the Relict Hierarch is located. I believe that there are more living members of your race on it in stasis as well. And so I offer you a choice. You can be completely open and help a Listener and your senior in the Pyramid hierarchy. In that case, I will help you bring your race back from the brink. Or I could act alone without your help. Yes, it would take much longer, but I have enough Intelligence and knowledge to figure out all the equipment here on the station. So, the choice is yours!”

  Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh’s response came instantly:

  “Listener, I recognize your authority from now until we meet the Hierarch of my race, who will have the authority to overrule your orders! I won’t cause any more trouble, I swear by the Pyramid!”

  There it is! I lowered the Annihilator wearily. My arms were shaking. I was out of Magic Points. Over the last few seconds, I had practically spent up my Endurance Points as well. Eduard Boyko had to hold me up because my vision was getting blurry in exhaustion. I just about fell over. But that was a small matter. The main thing was that I had achieved my objective! I knew that from now on Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh would obey me implicitly no matter what. And it would remain that way right up until we met the Relict Hierarch. And after that (this I also read in the ancient Technician’s thoughts), Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh would advise the Hierarch to kill me because I knew too many of the Relict race’s secrets, and thus was dangerous. He would even help the Hierarch to do so. Alarming information, but still it was for the distant future. I didn’t have to worry about the member of the ancient race doing anything rash for the time being.

  Psionic skill increased to level one hundred twelve!

  Authority increased to 88!

  I stashed my Annihilator, turned on my radio and called the Medic and both Engineers over from the frigate. One of the Relict’s four upper appendages was hanging limp, so the Technician clearly needed a doctor. My Medic Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa would also just find it interesting and beneficial for his skills to examine a member of a previously unknown race. It would similarly aid the professional development of Orun Va-Mart and San-Sano to familiarize themselves with the ancient laboratory’s systems. And considering my Mechanics had been guaranteed a few levels from working with ancient artifacts, this functioning Relict station promised a colossal boost to my Engineers’ skills and levels!

  After that I took a nuclear battery from my inventory and extended it to the Technician:

  “Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh, go turn on the subatomic reactor and camouflage screen! And immediately after that, transfer complete control over all laboratory systems to me. Including the security program — the last thing I need is another incident with the artificial intelligence! After that, together with my Pilots, Navigator and Engineers we’ll bring the laboratory closer to the local star given it would be dangerous to spend too long at these coordinates. Once we’ve finished those priority tasks, we’ll fly together to my frigate. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew and give you a berth to sleep in. I suppose communicating with members of other races will help you not feel alone and quickly adapt to this new world, which has changed so much in the thousands of tongs since you were last around. And when you do adapt and consider yourself ready for a serious conversation, along with the Navigators and other officers, we can think up the best way to use this ‘ace up my sleeve,’ which can move through the Universe instantly.”

  Chapter Five. Failed to Leave

  I ELECTED not to leave Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh on the station even though he had his own comfortable berth to stay in already. There were many reasons for that, but first of all I didn’t like my new team member’s depressed psychological state. Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh was simply slain by the news that his race had died out and just couldn’t make peace with it. I could sense it right away, but it was especially reinforced in the Pyramid Contact Hall, where the Technician headed after medical treatment, cramming himself into a suit of armor like mine and turning on the subatomic reactor while my team watched.

  Urgeh Pu also explained to me and the two Engineers that, at the first stage, this type of reactor created a tiny zone where heavy isotopes of lead, gold and neptunium were split into lighter elements. At the second stage, the energy unleashed by that nuclear decay activated a fission zone for light atoms to be split into quarks and boson streams, while the third and final stage took place in the main zone of the reactor, where quarks and top quarks were annihilated using antiquarks.

  Electronics skill increased to level ninety-six!

  Astrolinguistics skill increased to level one hundred one!

  As a reward for the prolonged and difficult work interpreting, I was given two skill-ups at once. Though I must admit, I practically didn’t understand one bit of the Relict’s confusing explanations and it was easily possible I had mistranslated the processes in the reactor for my Engineers. But Orun Va-Mart and San-Sano were impressed by what they heard and nodded, looking with clear respect at the ancient device as it came to life and very slowly got to work. As Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh explained, it would take around ten ummi, or two days for the subatomic reactor to start working at full capacity. Until that point, no long-distance null transports would be possible even in theory, and we could only change the laboratory’s coordinates within the bounds of this star system.

  And we did so as soon as the distortion field turned back on, going into orbit around the first planet — a scorching hot and lifeless black ball with rivers of molten magma flowing on its surface. I looked at the video from one of my drones and, I must admit, I was impressed. In the light of the small neutron star, which mostly produced radiation outside of the spectrum visible to humans, the planet looked ghastly, like an offshoot of hell itself. And although, in Ayukh’s words, the ship’s scanning systems detected a significant concentration of gold in the molten flows, and even whole
rock formations made entirely of crystalized gold, the extreme radiation and surface temperature, fifteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit, would obliterate any protein-based lifeform in a matter of seconds. Even my amazing Listener Energy Armor Suit couldn’t help me survive down there.

  Cartography skill increased to level eighty-seven!

  Leaving the two Engineers at the reactor, I followed the Technician to the Pyramid Contact Hall. There I had to spend roughly two hours watching the Relict make desperate attempts to contact any of his own kind. Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh tried all kinds of different codes and settings, fiddled with the encoding, activated service commands for emergency contact, and time and again ran down the callsign list for other laboratories, military bases and stations. All to no avail. Frankly, it pained me to look at the Relict. I could sense such unbearable despair and loneliness in his behavior. By the end of the second hour, the Technician knew perfectly well that his attempts to get in touch with his own kind were doomed to failure but regardless he kept trying, looking increasingly disturbed all the while.

  I didn’t just spend those two hours slacking off though. Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh had transferred control over all the station’s systems to me, technically making me director of the ancient laboratory. And I was inundated by the surplus of new information. It would take me weeks if not months to get a thorough grasp of all the settings — from team member access to various rooms, to artificial food cultivation standards and security system reaction algorithms for this or that internal or external event. But first things first: I set myself as administrator for the artificial intelligence and made sure all my crewmembers were completely untouchable. I also laid claim to one of the Large Guard Drones still in the hangar — I needed to compensate my loss after the recent battle! The security system agreed with my conclusions and disbursed the drone, but no more than one — my current level on the Pyramid wouldn’t allow more. That was a pity. It would have been cool to watch three Small Guard Drones racing down the station corridors. And I wouldn’t mind the other large one — severely battered, with two armor panels ripped off its hull and missing one of its cannons. Despite the damage, this drone was daringly spinning loops around the station and trying to catch up with my two nimble Small Guard Drones, as if playing a game of tag.

  The Large Guard Drone I got though was a flattened ellipsoid sixteen feet in diameter. Silver, metal, polished to a mirror shine and... inactive. When I summoned the white Kirsan repair bot to examine my new prize, it first climbed inside the flying saucer very deftly, clearly having done this before. Then it explained that the Large Guard Drone had no power and required a replacement nuclear battery. Beyond that, a large number of its signal bridges had come unstuck after its prolonged inactivity, while a few of the electronic chips and memory crystals had fallen into disrepair and required at least fixing, and often complete replacement. As immediately became clear, there were no replacement parts for drones on the station, so bringing my Large Guard Drone back to life had to be set aside indefinitely. In its present condition, the drone was nothing but a two-ton hunk of scrap metal.

  I must admit, I was upset and even outraged. I asked a fair question: “why is so much junk stored in the laboratory instead of workable drones?” But the artificial intelligence replied that the three Large Guard Drones had come from the warzone after fighting Precursors, and no orders had ever come in from the Pyramid about how they would be used next. The most workable of its original Large Guard Drones had been issued to me, even though it had no forcefield generator and, of the three thrusters it was meant to have, only one was still in working condition. But because that drone had been destroyed, I was given one of the two remaining drones as a replacement, again the one in the most serviceable condition.

  If this lifeless hunk of scrap was considered “most serviceable,” the other albeit functioning large drone must have been in even worse shape. But at least it could fly on its own... By the way, there was the explanation for why the Meleyephatian fleet was able to damage the Large Relict Guard Drone so easily — it was moving slower than it was supposed to be and didn’t have a forcefield. In full working condition, the laboratory’s artificial intelligence assured me, the Large Guard Drone could hold its own against two automatic Precursor hunters. Of course, I wanted that kind of firepower for myself. I tried to push for the idea of disassembling one of the Large Guard Drones for parts, then assembling one passable drone from the two faulty ones but I found no understanding from the station’s security system nor Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh. The second drone didn’t belong to me, so I didn’t have the right to do with it as I pleased, much less its components.

  Given Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh’s stay in the Pyramid Contact Hall was clearly going to last a while, at a certain point I decided to check the Technician’s thoughts and emotions just in case. And what I read shocked me. Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh was having flickers of suicidal ideation, and extremely radical ideas such as “blow the reactor and destroy the station.” The only things holding the Relict back were the oath he swore to me and a timid hope he might see members of his own race again one day after making contact with the Hierarch’s starship I told him about earlier. But whether those reasons would hold for long, I did not know.

  The same way I didn’t know how long the Technician may have stayed vegetating in the Pyramid Contact Hall if left to his own devices. But the screen of my Listener Energy Armor’s faceplate suddenly showed a bright red pulsating warning message: “COMBAT ALERT!!!” Based on the way Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh shuddered, the Relict had gotten a similar message in his suit.

  “Captain, starships of unknown allegiance have entered the system!” the voice of main pilot Dmitry Zheltov rang out in my ears. “Distance sixteen and a half million miles. A cluster of targets.”

  “Six small ships,” the Navigator’s clarification followed just then. “Their signatures do not appear to be in the starship database. But they warped in right where we were just stationed!”

  “We got out of there just in the nick of time!” I said, unable to contain my joy. “The Precursors only needed the Relict laboratory’s camouflage shield to be down for half an hour to detect it in a different galaxy, determine its coordinates and send out their hunters.”

  I heard happy cries from the other team members — none of them wanted to have an encounter with the automated Precursor hunters. But here the Technician stated his point of view (at the same time confirming that he was eavesdropping on my crewmembers’ thoughts). I could not imagine how the Relict could see what was happening outside this laboratory — I myself had yet to figure out all the station’s apparatuses and how to configure them to send data to my Listener suit, but Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh made a confident declaration:

  “Those are not Precursor ships! It’s some kind of local flotilla. They detected us when the distortion shield was down, determined our coordinates and warped here from a neighboring system to eliminate the trespassers. And another thing, human, you and your team should cease communication on primitive and easily detectible channels at once because these ships are scanning space. They have already detected your signals near the first planet and will be nearby shortly. We must change coordinates immediately!”

  I thanked the Relict for the warning, then mentally ordered Dmitry Zheltov to convey a captain’s order via the frigate loudspeaker: “Cease radio communication! Maintain silence on the airwaves!” I said the same out loud to the crewmembers near me on the station. After that I hurried to the shuttle — I needed to get back on my frigate at once. I couldn’t use the Relict laboratory’s apparatuses yet and, for a captain, being blind in such a critical situation was unacceptable lack of vigilance.

  I piloted the shuttle myself and, if I may say without a hint of modesty, I was no worse a pilot than my Meleyephatian Gunner! Every second was dear, so I didn’t even touch the yoke and, at times using my Machine Control skill and others acting directly with Telekinesis, shot the shuttle out of the dock like a bullet and overcame the two hundred feet between th
e laboratory and my starship, then left the vehicle in the hangar of Tamara the Paladin. Around four seconds after I climbed into the shuttle, it was again parked and held down with magnetic anchors.

  Telekinesis skill increased to level eight!

  Mental Fortitude skill increased to level one hundred fourteen!

  Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred seven!

  Having watched my impactful arrival, Vasily Filippov just froze with his jaw hanging open in surprise, while Copilot San-Doon Taki-Bu even said with respect in his voice:

  “Coruler Gnat La-Fin, such a daring pilot! You should try your hand at racing!”

  Yes, I had to agree. It looked impressive, but under calmer circumstances I never would have taken such risks. Straining to hide the satisfied smirk trying to crawl onto my face, I hurried to the captain’s bridge. And I barely made it. The first things I saw when entering the room were bewildered faces on my human and alien crewmembers. Then I turned my gaze to the large screen broadcasting a feed from the external cameras and saw a sickle-shaped flat starship just a mile away from my frigate!

  Dero. Gukko-Vahe Composite small interceptor.

  Another five of the same kind of interceptor were also relatively nearby as well — ranging from forty to sixty miles from my frigate. They had determined our coordinates so quickly and accurately, even though the laboratory was in a cloaking field and had not been hit with scanning systems! I didn’t know who exactly the Gukko-Vahe were, or why they called themselves something so bizarre as a “Composite.” But at any rate, the nearest nimble interceptor took a few sharp curves at massive speed, snapped into position and flew unfailingly right at us! That thing is just about to slam into my frigate!

  Danger Sense skill increased to level ninety-three!