First Stop

I closed in on the Orbital Mining Station just as I heard the notification sound that indicated someone was hailing me.

I opened up my comms channel and a screen popped up in front of me showing a bearded and bespectacled old man with a stern look on his face.

"You there! If you're here to rob us, I'll just let you know that we have absolutely nothing here! We're just a mining colony for the gas giant below us and we have nothing valuable!!"

I waved my hand in greeting, "Umm… Hi? I'm not a pirate or here to rob you. In fact, I just dealt with some pirates and I noticed your station so I thought I might stop over to resupply?"

He blinked at me, "Damn... You're a Merc? What are you doing all the way out here? Are you lost or something?"

I grimaced, "I… May be a little lost actually. I encountered an anomaly and my ship lost my map data and… I guess yeah… I am indeed quite lost."

"Oh shit, that's some bad luck you got there. Well, come on then, we don't have much but we can at least help you with your map problem."

"That would help, thanks."

"Not a problem. Name's Marten by the way. I'm the station master for this mining station."

Ah… Oh shit… What should I tell him my name is? Somehow telling him my old name just didn't really sit right with me, especially since I was reminded that this was no longer my original body as well.

Wait! I can just use the name that I name my character with!

I nodded at him, "Nice to meet you, Marten. I'm Tera."

"Nice to meet you too. You can use any of the free berths, there's plenty to go around."

"Will do."

I shut off the communications channel before returning my attention to my ship controls, slowly directing my flight path towards the station's docking hanger.

The station itself looked like a tower that was floating in space but with an added circular construct at the very top with four 'arms' spreading out from it in the shape of a cross.

Those 'arms' were actually docking bays for larger sized ships that could not fit in the docking hangar of the station itself.

My ship was able to fly in directly so I made use of their docking hangar and flew through the translucent atmospheric barrier. The barrier served to protect the station from the vacuum of space but still allowed ships and other solid objects through, a staple in any space station.

I found an empty spot easily enough and I flew my ship towards it, landing it with the pirate ship still tethered to mine.

My body reacted instinctively with all the landing procedures of lowering the landing gears and powering down the engines before finally setting a lock on the cockpit.

The last action is very important in the online version of the game since if you forget to do it, other players may be able to board and steal your ship.

In case you were wondering, yes, I learnt that the hard way. Though I have to also admit that I have done this in turn to other players as well so I can't complain much.

As I stepped out of the cockpit after finishing the landing procedures, I strapped on a holster to my waist that contained my energy blaster just in case. I'm going into unfamiliar territory right now and I don't know if these people are who they claim they are after all.

While I was moving towards the ramp, I passed by a screen that reflected me on its surface and I stopped for a moment.

When I first woke up here, I only did a preliminary inspection of myself but now that I had the time to properly take a look… I have to say that there's nothing that I don't like from what I see.

Looking down, I could only see two funbags staring back at me instead of the floor, which I saw as a privilege instead of a problem. My instincts drove me to give them both a squeeze and so I did.

Hmm… I guess I might explore myself more intimately later.

I suppose the only thing that I wished was different was the fact that I have something missing in between my legs.

I wonder if there was a way for me to get that here?

Putting such thoughts aside for now, I went to the ramp and descended to the hangar bay, only to see Marten and several other people behind him watching me exit my ship.

"Hello there. Tera, I assume?" Marten asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right. And you're Marten, the station master?"

"That is correct," He confirmed before looking at the ramp I descended from. "Should we be expecting anyone else?"

I felt a little wary when he asked that question and I eyed the others behind him. All of them seemed to be trying to appear like they were nonchalant about my presence but I could see that they were clearly nervous or even apprehensive about me being here.

I shifted myself so that my body was tilted at an angle, "Mmm… I have a few others on board. Why?"

"I see… Then could I ask if you really are a Mercenary and not a pirate?"

"I am indeed a Mercenary. If I was a pirate, I don't think I'll fly in with a pirate ship tethered to mine and walk out here alone, would I?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly, "Then I suppose you will have no problems if I were to ask you to show us your Mercenary licence?"

"Licence?" I repeated.

That made him frown, "Do you not have a Mercenary licence?"

Oh, so I didn't hear wrong… He actually asked for my Mercenary licence.

Wait… You need a licence to be a Mercenary here? There was no such thing in the game obviously, so what even is that?

"No, I do not have a Mercenary licence," I told him honestly, using my body to hide the fact that my hand was resting on my blaster, ready to draw it out at the slightest sign of trouble.

Marten narrowed his eyes, "You call yourself a Merc with no licence? Are you even registered with the Mercenary Guild?"

Oh, there's even a Guild for Mercenaries here?

At this point, I could see that the others behind Marten were giving me unfriendly looks and I quickly realised that they were all suspecting me of being a pirate trying to sneak my way into the station.

I slowly raised my hands to show compliance, "Ok, I know how this sounds, but I am not registered with the Guild as a Merc due to some circumstances but I have been operating as one for some time. I encountered an anomaly that made me stuck in this sector with all my map data lost and the pirate ship you see there found me."

"You're telling me they boarded you and you killed them?"

I nodded, "My ship's power was out and I was in the midst of fixing it so they thought my ship was a derelict and boarded it not expecting me to be there. I managed to take them out and that's how I ended up here."

Marten's eyes narrowed a little more, "So which sector are you from?"

Ah… Erm… I guess I should just use Earth? Maybe it exists in this universe too?

"The Sol system," I answered.

That seemed to throw them all off as they were now looking at each other and whispering amongst themselves. Only Marten continued to stare at me though the look he was giving me was akin to me telling him I came from heaven or something.

"That anomaly… Did you fly through a wormhole and blacked out or something?" He asked.

That seems oddly specific… But I did black out while starting the game so I just nodded for now.

At this point, all of them relaxed and even Marten was giving me a pitying look.

"Ah… I apologise, lady… I don't know how to tell you this but I think your head's a little messed up… Do you even know where you are?"

I frowned, "No? That's why I'm here to get a map?"

"Mmm… You're not the first case and I'm quite a blunt person so I'll just tell you straight as it is… I think your memories have been messed up while you were going through the wormhole."

…

Err… What?

I was more surprised about the fact that something like that could happen than the possibility of that being my situation because I knew for a fact that it was not.

Still, my shock was quite evident on my face since Marten just nodded at me sadly, "Well, we know you're not a pirate at least. I apologise for the caution since there've been sightings of them around here recently… Why don't you and your crew come on in and I'll help you get up to speed or something? There's really not much here but if you still have Credits, we at least still have some supplies to sell."

I only nodded quietly and stepped off the ramp, wondering just what I have gotten myself into.