Ah, my people.
With about two dozen or so ships floating next to me and Aaron, I punch in the coordinates for a greenish-looking speck in the distance, the planet popping up on my long-range scanners.
CLASS THREE PLANET [CONFIRMED]
Status: Uncharted, Undiscovered
Life Support Capability: Positive
Population: Small creatures, plant life, no sentient evidence available.
Detectable Resources: Timber, Water, Minerals
Would you like to claim and name this planet?
[YES] [NO]
Thanks to the upgrades, numerous other details about the planet appear on the screen, making the choice all the easier to go forth and discover. Tons of resources and some small creatures to photograph and catalog for extra experience and points? Yes, please, sign me up. And if we all go in as a group, extra points all around.
This is perfect.
“Alright, Armada, lock on to me. I’m picking up lots of resources and...well, it just looks great.” I grin into the webcam. “We deserve this one. I’m going to go ahead and turn the stream on and start recording in three...two...one...”
I hit Record, and the stream is live. I’m hoping against all hope that no one in the small bunch of ships is a troll in disguise.
“Let’s go!” I exclaim, pressing down on the jump. My ship and all the others rocket forward. After just a few seconds, the green planet comes into focus. It almost looks like a floating ball of moss. Bits of blue pop up among the green, but also some splashes of yellow.
“Weird,” I hear Aaron say in my headset.
“The fact that it’s almost all land, or those little yellow splotches?” I ask, flicking to a private chat.
“Both,” he says with a chuckle.
“If we encounter any trouble, do your best to escape,” I advise the Armada, going public again. “Save yourselves. We spend too much time on these ships to have them ruined.”
With that, I push the throttle forward and my ship speeds toward the surface. I squint at all the greenery, trying to find a safe landing spot, when it strikes me that all of it is likely safe. It’s a planet of moss, or at least, whatever alien moss this is. My landing gear comes down quickly with a soft click, and my ship sinks in a little as it touches the ground, like placing something on a large, soft blanket.
I pop open the cockpit and hop out, surveying my surroundings. The fields push out far, way past the horizon, but nearby, there is a bubbling lake of something yellow. I walk toward it, the sounds of the other Armada ships echoing around me—landing gear lowering, cockpits opening, feet hurrying along the soft, springy surface.
Aaron appears at my side. “What do you think that is?” he asks, gesturing at the yellow pool.
Just steps away now, I see that the yellow is a bit darker than I originally thought. I squint at the screen and load up one of the mineral analyzing tools. It takes up most of my view, but after a quick scan, it comes back with an answer that sends my heart racing.
“It’s a lake of gold,” I whisper.
I turn around, looking past Aaron and back toward the Armada that made the trip with me. Minerals and resources are a key part of Reclaim the Sun, and they’re randomly generated planet to planet. But lakes of molten gold? I haven’t heard of anyone finding anything like that in game yet.
I turn back to it, making sure I get some long, hard looks at the surface, walking around the edge of it all. I need this for the recording. Absolutely need it. Rebekah will lose it if I don’t capture every single moment, and it’s killing me that she’s not here for this.
“I can’t even fathom how many in-game credits all this is worth,” Aaron says, his voice far and distant. I look up and see he’s nearing the other side of the lake. “Do you think we can swim in it?”
“Um, no,” I reply. “You’ll probably die immediately and have to start over.”
“I gotta try,” he says, taking a step toward the lake.
“Aaron, come on, you did all this leveling up,” I protest. “Don’t waste it.”
He steps back again. “You’re right, you’re right,” he says and makes his way over toward me.
“Man, Rebekah is going to lose her—” I start.
A concussive blast nearly knocks me off my feet. In the distance, a ship bursts into flames as blaster fire erupts all over the ground, peppering the surface, leaving a trail of fire in the green moss wherever it hits. The channel lights up with screams and loud exclamations from the Armada, and their ships hover into view above where most us have landed.
I immediately recognize the logos on the sides of the ships.
The Vox Populi.
The damn trolls are here.
“Get back to your ship!” I shout at Aaron, who immediately takes off running. I sprint alongside him before breaking off toward my own vessel. The Vox Populi circle overhead in their ships all the while, occasionally taking out a member of the Armada, but for the most part, they wait silently.
And then it hits me.
They aren’t just here to fight.
They’re waiting for us to leave.
They couldn’t have tried taking the planet at the same time as us, so we could have dueled, the way Aaron and I almost did when we first met. No, instead, they sat waiting, following us, ready to attack. And now, instead of fighting fair, they’re straight-up camping here, ready to steal what we found.
I climb into the Cedere Nescio and take to the skies, the planet of green and gold flashing by beneath me, shimmering and bright.
Aaron thunders in over my headset as I turn my ship to face those of the Vox Populi. “What are you doing?!” he demands.
“We can’t let them take the planet!” I shout, broadcasting to the entire Armada.
“What?” he shouts back. “Why? Fuck this, no way, D1V. You and the Armada should—”
I cut him off. “Think about how much those gold lakes are worth in credits. They’ll be funded for life, Aaron. That’s why they’re just sitting there. They’ll never stop. This game will be ruined for everyone. Their ships will always be faster. Their upgrades will always be better.”
I feel a bloom of heat in my chest as the Populi ships come into firing range. While a handful of the Armada have fled like I told them to, a number have stuck behind, their vessels floating up behind me, flanking me, and a few hovering in front of me, all close together. They’re forming a shield, and the gesture is not lost on me.
The sounds of them chuckling and talking to one another erupt into my headset.
I grit my teeth.