Looking at the final thing of interest, Logan moved to the locker in the corner. When he poked it, a small red window popped out with a closed padlock icon showing in the middle. Locked. He saw the keyhole, but didn’t see key anywhere in the items he had already looked through, so he sat back down and started trying to think of what he could do.

He didn’t see anything he could use to pick the lock, and the tools in his repair kit were too small and delicate to try, fearing what would happen if they broke. He closed his eyes again for a little while, deciding to place his attribute points. After looking at what each attribute did, he decided he didn’t want to get hit, so instead of vitality, he’d put points into agility. He wanted to be able to deal extra damage, to try to keep up with the creatures around him, so he put points into dexterity as well. Logan pulled up his character sheet to take stock of what he had so far.

Name: Logan

Level: 4

Class: None

Subclass: None

Species: Human

Strength: 10 Health: 230/230 Health Regen: 1 /sec

Vitality: 10 Armor: 0

Dexterity: 13 Stamina: 290/290 Stamina Regen: 1.6 /sec

Agility: 16 Endurance: 1

Intellect: 10 Psi Focus: 200/200 Psi Focus Regen: 1 /sec

Willpower: 10 Shield: 0

Skills:

Tinkerer - Level MAX

Allows the user to access alternate functions for items and abilities.

Astro Pilot - Level 1

Increases speed and maneuverability of star ships by 1%.

Pistoleer - Level 1

Increases damage by 2%.

Logan noticed that his health went up when he leveled, but he didn’t put any points into his vitality. He guessed that it must be an automatic thing, to give players a better survivability even when you’re not actively trying for that kind of a build. Of course, it wasn’t very fair that he didn’t even get to think of what kind of character build he wanted, since he was just trying to survive in a place he wasn’t even supposed to be in yet.

---

Since Logan couldn’t pick the lock, and he couldn’t find the key in the outpost, he decided to leave and try to get more resources to repair his ship. As he stood, though, the radio crackled to life.

“Hey, you in the outpost building. I saw what you did, and I approve. We’re tired of living under these dictators, so we’ve been trying to find a way to fight back. You’re welcome to join us if you want, we’re waiting outside directly to the East.” The voice sounded younger, and the girl it came from sounded genuine, although Logan wasn’t always the best judge of character, so he might need to take some time to figure out the end goal before committing.

Walking over to the radio, he held the button down. “Be right out.” Short and sweet, he tried to keep his distrust out of his voice. Releasing the button, he opened the door and used the compass on his visor’s user interface to look to the East. Three figures stood up, dirt cascading off of them. He wouldn’t have noticed them if they hadn’t moved, they were covered enough that they just looked like more uneven lumps among the landscape.

The smaller figure in the middle motioned for him to move closer to them, so he started the walk. They turned around and started back into the treeline, so Logan sped up to catch up to them. By the time he did, they couldn’t see the outpost anymore, and they all stopped and turned back to him. The middle figure put her hand out to shake, while keeping her survival pistol in her other one.

“I’m Meghan, frontline scout for the Free States rebellion. What’s your name, new guy?” Logan took her hand and shook it, making sure to keep his hands away from his own weapon once they were done. The person on the left was a little taller than Meghan, while the person on the right was even larger still. He couldn’t guess anything about what they looked like through their suits, so he’d just have to wait.

“I’m Logan. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that there’s a rebellion against these guys, with the warm welcome I received a few hours ago. Is that normal here?” The person on the left attempted to snap their fingers and pointed at him before speaking.

“You’re the guy? Jackson and his crew sent out a call for the militia to keep an eye out for your ship because you gave them the slip before they could press you into service. What happened?” She sounded mildly impressed. The other person scoffed and folded their arms.

“We don’t have time for this. Meghan, Pat, if you’re determined to add this guy to our group, we should head back to introduce him to our director.” He didn’t seem to enjoy the idea of trusting someone new, but was deferring to the choice the others had made. Meghan’s subtle annoyance showed through her body language, and Logan could almost feel her eyes rolling. She turned towards the unnamed man.

“Jones, calm down. We’re all around level ten, so it won’t be too bad if we get jumped by something. We can take a few moments to chat before we head back, and if you’re worried about the militia, we’ll hear them coming long before they get to us. Those stupid trucks they use are so loud I’m surprised they don’t get jumped and eaten by the devourers more often.”

So they were all around level ten? Logan shouldn’t have been too surprised, but he figured that it made sense for the amount of experience he gained for killing the player. He didn’t want to tell them that he was just a little shy of that number, since he didn’t know if they would change their minds if they knew how weak he was at the moment. Logan chose to try to diffuse the situation before it got too far, though.

“Hey, I would love to keep killing these militia guys, but I also need to fix my ship. I’d like to get off this planet and get stronger somewhere else so I can be more effective against them, if possible.” Logan’s words caused them all to turn back to him. Jones threw his hands up and turned around, walking away. Pat followed him, calling out to try to get him to stop. Meghan hung her head before slowly lifting it.

“You’re really new, aren’t you? There aren’t any other planets in this sector they don’t control, so you’d just run into them in larger groups. Which wouldn’t be good for your health or sanity.” She shook her head. “I guess we can’t be picky about people who want to take the fight to them, though, so we’ll take you anyway. If you’re still willing, of course.”

It was Logan’s turn to shake his head. He didn’t realize that things were this dire if they had completely taken over the sector for new players. It seems he could try to fight them alone, hoping to get lucky like last time, or he could join a larger group.

“I don’t fancy trying to be a one man army here, so safety in numbers it is.”