Spring Mutiny: A LitRPG Sci-Fi Adventure (Space Seasons Book 2) Read online

  Jai saw me hesitate and pointed me over to the one on the right and almost directly below Rei.

  “Thanks,” I said and moved to sit.

  “Take a look around your systems. Get to know them. We’ll have two watches for now. I’ll take the first with Kyle. Then Tyto and Rei. Naylar can slot in the middle for both shifts till Denn is back up. Then we’ll switch to three.”

  The others nodded, and while they stayed on the ship for a while, it was nice for me to just turn my attention to what was before me.

  Tactical split into three sections: freighter, fighter, and mech command. Each of those then had subsets. This was a lot to take in, but wow. It made me excited. My adrenalin pumped through me, and I wanted to sit and absorb it all.

  I had expected lots of different things from studying the basic manuals of space back on Tolsa. This seemed much more complicated.

  I opened up the freighter and glanced through its subs. Air, hydroponics, waste, structure, weapons. The more I read, the more I would start to understand, I hoped. The air systems and the science behind them seemed simple enough. There were several scrubbers throughout the ship, which needed constant monitoring. That meant we really needed a team twice as big as this was to fully operate her properly. I glanced to Tyto as he left the deck with Naylar and Rei. He’d taken a hell of a chance bringing this out here on his own. It would have only taken one tiny thing to go wrong, and he would have perished.

  Something caught my eye.

  NANITE ENGINEERS X 140,291,922

  Wow, that number is phenomenal, Hiroto said.

  Xe, what are they like? Programmable?

  I would need access to their main commands and database, came her reply.

  I think I can do it. Maybe if you just send in some of yours rather than going in yourself this time… I thought to them all.

  Scared I’m not coming back? Why, thank you, Xe said.

  Xirob snorted. Man, you thought you had problems with just the two of us in here. You do realise she’s developing quite the personality.

  I had noticed. Is that possible? Hiroto?

  We’d always thought sentient AI were going to be a possibility at some point. I don’t think it’s against anything we’ve imagined either.

  Oh, I am no figment of anyone’s imagination.

  I knew that. I just wasn’t sure I could cope with all those voices. I’d literally thousands of them inside me working. If they were all sentient.

  Don’t worry, they’re not. In fact, she said, I do not know that I am. I am a result of my programming, and that’s even down to the sarcastic nature of my personality. However, I value that you think of me like that, and it will just make me work harder.

  Thank you, Xe. Now, if you would send in some of your best, let’s see what this freighter is really made of. I want it fully mapped from top to bottom.

  Yes, sir.

  I placed my arm to the panel and waited while the nites left my system and I was reduced from the number I had by almost the amount I just received. Why send out so many?

  I want to make sure every part of the system is maintained. Tyto gave us quite the boost with new numbers. I think I can afford them even with retraining and programming those which are left.

  MISSION FOR NITES - LOG AND CONTROL THE SHIPS AIR SCRUBBERS

  I agreed with them leaving and waited till I got the all-clear before returning my arm to rest on my knee.

  When I looked up, Jai was watching me intently.

  “Something wrong?” I asked.

  “You did that without even blinking.” He glanced to my arm. “Do you know how many people can actually single out and order nanites like that?”

  I shook my head. “Can’t everyone?”

  He laughed, and brought up on the big screen a whole 3D image of the vessel we were now in. This was a good shot, but now invading the ship were my thirty thousand tiny little red dots.

  “They’re invaders?” I asked, standing to watch them.

  “Yes, to the ship’s system at the moment, they’re hostile, but wait.”

  I sucked in a breath and did just that. I waited. Then the first few red dots started to turn green. It was then like a wave as the rest followed.

  71719 Freighter AI system is now at my command. Xe spoke clearly to me.

  That was fast!

  They’re pros. She laughed at me.

  It certainly seemed that way.

  Then something changed. The green dots turned red again, then started to blink out.

  Jai stood. “Fuck.”

  “Hold on, I’m not done for yet.” I sat back down at the station and started to work. I wasn’t sure of everything I was doing, re-routing them to other sections of the ship. But they needed time that was all. I had to get them that at least.

  I couldn’t read the code; it was too hard. I input command after command.

  The screen flashed before me.

  Kyle, they’re dying? Xe said. I don’t understand?

  The commands weren’t working.

  ACCESS DENIED.

  Loser! A voice said. You’re not the correct level!

  I had no idea who this was, or where it came from.

  That, Xe said, is the freighter’s AI.

  And the nites died in droves. Shit!

  I didn’t have much of a chance if I got this wrong now.

  But when I tried again, nothing. The next wave of nites inside the ship died off. I was down to 18,262.

  Xirob, anything you can offer me?

  We need the ship, Hiroto said.

  Use your Quick Point, Xirob said. It’s not greyed out like usual, I think you can. I don’t think you need to wait till you’re level 30!

  I looked to my character sheet, not really having the time to do this right now. But I quickly selected what I needed to see and I did exactly that. I dropped that Quick Point into Intelligence taking it up to Intelligence = 74.

  Then I saw it – Shuttle Operator wasn’t enough for me. There was a Freighter Training Manual. I clicked it.

  “Kyle?” Jai asked. “What did you do?”

  But I couldn’t answer him, however. Instead I focussed on the screen and watched as the language of the ship started to make some sense. Some, mind you. There was a lot I still couldn’t work out.

  My mind flooded with information. Fuck! Hiroto said. This is amazing. Kyle, give me control. I got this.

  But I didn’t let him. I wanted to do it.

  I didn’t think I could do anything else but hand over the reins of my whole body; my brain swam in fuzzy lights. Sounds were going off at me from all over the ship. Even if I could see much clearer, I couldn’t do anything else.

  Finally, I managed to answer Jai. “I did the one thing I could,” I stammered out. “Used my Quick Point, I then found and read the Freighter Training Manual.”

  “That Shade of yours is pretty neat. I can’t tell anything, unless you let me. Lucky us.”

  I nodded and watched as this time when I started to input the commands, the nites weren’t blinking out.

  “You’ve got it,” Jai said.

  I didn’t have the time to worry. It seemed my vision focussed on things, my fingers typing and moving as fast as I possibly could.

  The ship’s nites and systems were trying their best to counter me, much like a really good opponent in a game of chess. But that wasn’t stopping me.

  I looked a little further and noted the ship’s nites had a ranking for intelligence and overall stats, and that really helped me. I now knew I outranked them, and they would—in the end—give up.

  But the fight was tough. I had sustained losses, and any mistake was obvious. The main AI system’s sarcastic nature didn’t let up. Loser. Loser! It taunted.

  I wondered if it was the ship actually trying to aggro me. But the thought soon went when I started to key in commands that were accepted.

  A few moments later and my nites were all steadily green, and all the systems on the ship followed suit.

>   Jai patted me on the shoulder. “Nice job.”

  My eyes refocused on the bridge and the large display before me. I realised then I was actually shaking.

  “You need this,” Naylar said, holding out a drink for me.

  “What? Where did you come from?”

  “You’ve been in there for more than your shift, Kyle. I was assigned to monitor you, and pass some healing on when I could.”

  I swallowed some of the fluid, realising how thirsty I was. My health had fallen pretty low, but the liquid going in was helping with recovery already.

  “The ship’s fully under our control,” I said, looking up at Jai. “But there’s a few issues I already noted, especially in hydroponics.”

  “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of things to fix and work through. Now that we have a good crew, I think it’s possible, but we need to head to another planet to try and get some more parts. And we need to get out of this area.”

  “I agree. Can we get a list going of all the things we need?”

  Naylar smiled at me. “Drink, you need it. We’re working on lists for all systems. This freighter’s good. Tyto did well to upgrade and get this. But it’s probably in a worse state than his other ship was.”

  “Really? Even after all our team work?” I looked to Jai, but he shrugged.

  “Prices are different. He sold yours for a bigger ship so he could have a fighter and room for a mech team.”

  “How long was I gone for?” I asked. Something wasn’t adding up at all.

  Jai looked away. “You need to ask Tyto that. He’s asked us not to talk about it, and I respect that decision.”

  Now I was worried. I’d been gone for much, much longer than a few months. How? Why? What the hell had happened to me?

  I hadn’t seen it, but with the flick of a button Jai brought up the hanger bay where the fighter now sat. I could see it. Two fully functional but basic mech lock-ins. The other four bays were, well, in need of a lot of repairs. I grinned. We could still fix all of this with time and funds. It was thrilling.

  “This means we can…” I paused. I couldn’t tell them anything else. Could I?

  Jai cocked his head at me, raising an eyebrow. “I think it’s time you turned off that Shade brain of yours with us and let the people who are around you know what’s going on for real.”

  I looked around the bridge. They were all there, apart from Denn, Tyto and Rei sitting in their respective chairs while they typed in and checked through what I’d accomplished, no doubt.

  I brought up my character sheet and looked through to disable my Shade Brain.

  SWITCH OFF – Y/N

  YOU CONTROL WHO SEES WHAT. IF YOU REALLY WANT THEIR FRIENDSHIP YOU MAY MAKE THAT DECISION FOR YOUR PROSPECTIVE TEAM.

  My thoughts hovered over the decision for a few moments. You’re really going to let them know…everything?

  “I will turn it off and I’ll tell you everything. Under one condition,” I said clearly holding Jai’s gaze.

  “Oh? What’s that, then?”

  “When the time is right, no matter the levels between us, you let me take command.”

  I saw Jai visibly swallow, and Tyto’s eyes went wide. “I can’t do that, kid.”

  I placed a hand on the console and stood up.

  “General,” I said, my voice steady even though I was nervous as all hell. “I respect your experience. You’re a born leader. But you need to know if I choose to show you who I am. I’m putting every single life in this system at risk. I need something which will give me the security to do my job and not jeopardise everything.”

  NEGOTIATOR – RANK 5 ACHIEVED – YOU JUMPED RIGHT IN AT THE DEEP END WITH THE BIGGEST ONE OF ALL! WELL DONE!

  Jai shared a glance with Tyto. “Would you have any objections?”

  Tyto then looked at me. I knew I already had a hold on him, but he smiled back. “I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for Kyle. He’s got my full respect and my loyalty.”

  Chapter Two

  Jai’s words were terse, but I knew he meant it when he said. “You will have my full support when the time is right. I won’t argue or hold you back.”

  I held out my hand and we shook.

  CONTRACT EXCHANGED

  COMMAND WILL BE RELINQUISHED AT THE RIGHT TIME.

  BIT VAGUE, KYLE. LET’S HOPE IT DOESN’T BITE YOU IN THE ASS, RIGHT?

  I turned to my console, and, placing my hand to it with one thought, I opened up my interface and turned Shade Brain off.

  I heard Naylar gasp then. “Kyle?”

  I pulled it up onto the main screen for them to see in all its glory. Everything I was, I cringed seeing the memories I’d sold. Remembering why, and hoping they wouldn’t think badly of me. That would be something I never wanted to see again, even myself.

  I’ll hide it, Hiroto said. Don’t worry.

  Kyle Ranz - Contains –

  Name - Hiroto Toshiaki

  Level = 26

  Name - Xirob Veti

  Level = 111

  Name - Kyle Ranz

  Human/Denti

  Year of Death - 2629

  Class = Fighter/Sorcerer

  Age ??

  Level = 26

  Respawns = 2

  Memories = 94% Sold 2%

  Health = 88%

  Mana = 38

  Kenosi Activated

  Nanites x 65,763

  Body Type = Unknown

  Structural Integrity = Tungsten and Alumi

  Internal AI Chip = X Class

  Skin Strength = 36

  Blood Capacity = 28

  Healing Speed = 35

  Overall Personal Level = 181

  Strength = 23

  Dexterity = 18

  Constitution = 61

  Intelligence = 74

  Wisdom = 23

  Charisma = 9

  Luck = 8

  Quick Points = 0

  Mech Warrior Operational Level = 54

  Battle Mage - Rank 17

  Mech Pilot - Rank 15

  Nanite Engineer - Rank 22

  Human/Machine Interface - Rank 24

  Mech Merge - Rank 10

  Vrolsh Coding Learned

  CAD Tech - Rank 12

  Shuttle Operator - Rank 12

  Freighter Operator - Rank 5

  Foot Soldier - Rank 21

  Merc - Rank 14

  Sniper - Rank 18

  Gun Smith - Rank 13

  Shadow Awareness - Rank 12

  Negotiator - Rank 5

  Deception - Rank 14

  Expertise - Rank 14

  Muscle Healing - Rank 17

  Viral Fighting - Rank 13

  Poison Resistance - Rank 15

  Night Sight - Rank 1

  Sword Play - Rank 14

  Animal Handling - Rank 2

  Special Traits Awarded x 4 – Any extras here do not show on your Stat Sheet Totals.

  Healer = Internal AI Chip X Class – Crystalline and Silver metal chip with integrated healer nanites led by Xe Aria.

  Intelligence = Internal prototype AI Chip, inserted on 17th birthday, with consciousness of Hiroto.

  Knowledge = Direct from Xirob if he freely gives it. Extra skills and training available.

  Shade Brain – One in a million, you managed to not only keep your memories, but you can also hide them. Your character sheet is elusive to even the strongest of will. UPGRADED - No one can penetrate your Shade now!

  Space Sickness - Unknown Effects

  Spells - Active - Minor Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 2 and x 1 Mana per second.

  Spells - Active - Medium Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 7 and x 10 Mana per second.

  Spells - Active - Intensive Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 14 and x 100 Mana per second.

  Spell - Active - Lightning Fury – Cost: 10 mana per second – Damage increased by 30%

  It was really interesting, for the first time I could see Overall Personal Level = 179 and Mech Warrior Operational Level = 54
r />   Remind me how they are worked out again? I asked inside.

  Hiroto answered. Overall Personal Level is Strength, Constitution, Intelligence and Wisdom combined. Mech Operational Level is – Battle Mage, Mech Pilot and Nanite Engineer.

  That’s great! I now knew and could easily see which mechs I could operate and how far off I was actually being able to do so.

  Jai was the one who spoke again after they’d all been silent for a while. “So, the other two names are?”

  “Tyto knows some of this, he’s Eekan.” I looked to him, and he frowned but nodded. To the faces who weren’t sure what it was, I added. “That’s Denti Special Forces.” I waited while they took that in, and then told my full story. “I spawned on Tolsa with Hiroto inside my mind already, then I died at the hands of a prospective team member, and then once again by Tyto. It was that time when I respawned it was into a live denti hiding in a pod that wasn’t hooked up.”

  “Holy crap, a live one?” Rei said. “How’s that possible? And look at Xirob’s overall level! Shit, Jai!”

  Xirob, you never said—

  You never asked. Besides, what would it have accomplished, telling you my level? It doesn’t affect us, just helps me pass on my knowledge as is in your stat sheet.

  That was true. Nothing really. We couldn’t use it. At least it didn’t seem like we could. But then again, I thought back to the times he’d actually had control of parts of me. We were using your expertise on a lot of things though. I didn’t realise it.

  I read that part of my sheet again.

  Knowledge = Direct from Xirob if he freely gives it. Extra skills and training available.

  “So you have three people in your head?”

  “Technically four, with the lead nite, Xe. But yes, I have two very prominent voices in my head. It’s annoying as fuck, but I got used to them.” I added, “Mostly.” To the guys’ chuckles.