Start the Game (Galactogon: Book #1) by Vasily Mahanenko

would’ve been a goner. Had the lieutenant asked anything at all, I would’ve been a goner…However, the grizzled warrior had only seen a reasonable guy dressed in the same suit as his soldiers, which naturally led him to feel some sympathy towards me. This was precisely what I had tried to bet on, making a show of my clumsiness. Improbable, but it worked!
    “Frigate Dratistan , you are cleared for launch through door number two,” said the by now familiar voice when we got back into our seats. Instantly, a giant door in the ceiling above the ship began to slide open.
    “Roger that,” Lestran said happily, getting ready to do his magic over the control panel.
    I, however, felt like pushing out luck some more. Understanding perfectly well that I was risking everything that we had achieved up until that moment, I pressed the call button and said into the open channel, “I have a question—who’s the wise guy who decided to disarm the frigate? For optimal testing conditions, we need a full loadout, including torpedoes and a full cargo hold. We’re as light as a feather right now and feathers don’t do well in combat! I’m not prepared to sign off on our tests under these conditions!”
    Lestran had showed me how to work the shields and armaments, and I had been shocked to discover that our frigate was as toothless as a babe—the beam cannons had no energy cells, the torpedoes had been unloaded, the hold was empty. I should have probably kept my mouth shut, but…
    “Pursuant to Directive 7742.33, all space vessels stored in the hangar must…” the voice began surprised, but I went on risking it. It’s not like anyone was closing the hangar door, after all…
    “We submitted a request for comprehensive tests! With a complete battle loadout! Please get in touch with General Trank—he will confirm that I personally asked for his signature! Goddamn it, how much more crap can you put us through! If you don’t immediately load the frigate’s holds with Raq, return the energy cells and torpedoes—you’ll have to repair this frigate yourselves! I’m sick of this! I tell you, my entire division will quit and go to Shylak XIV—they need good engineers over there! Then, you can explain everything to the general yourself. The lieutenant already told us about the renegade recruit—but what do we have to do with that? We’ve already been checked over so thoroughly, that…”
    “Raq?” There was so much astonishment in the dispatcher’s voice that I even smiled. If this were real life, I basically would have just asked him to fill the ship’s cargo holds with gold.
    “Obviously,” I answered without hesitating. From what I had read in solitary, Raq was one of the heaviest and at the same time most valuable resources in the game. “We need to check the ship at maximum capacity. If I could stuff a neutron star in here, I’d do it without a second thought!”
    “I don’t see your request anywhere,” the voice replied, faltering.
    “Excuse me, who am I speaking to?”
    “Junior Comms Center Dispatcher Gartil.”
    “Ah, I see…Pass me up to someone a bit more senior then, Junior Dispatcher Gartil.”
    “I am unable to do that, sir.” (Oh look—I had been knighted!) “All our manpower has been channeled into finding the AWOL recruit…”
    “How long have you been working here?” Ignoring Lestran’s imprecations to end the conversation and get off this planet as soon as possible, I put a finger to my helmet, indicating that I wanted to be left alone.
    “One month already, sir!”
    “I see…Okay sonny, forgive me but I have no choice. I’m terminating the testing procedure.”
    “Please wait!” A hint of determination appeared in Gartil’s voice. “I’ll find that request later—I’m ordering a full load out now! Sir?”
    “Roger that! Thank you, Gartil. If everything works out for us, I’ll buy you a drink! And I’ll make sure to recommend you to the general. He likes decisive and