Ready Player One : The Sixth Player

Arcadia

"Are we there yet?" Soren heard the voice for dozens of time now. He groaned tiredly and slumped down on the cockpit. Suddenly feeling exhausted. The flight in Oasis took somewhat of a real time if you can't afford long distance teleportation. And it took around half an hour for them to reach the Arcadia. Soren had done a lot of businesses with the black flag guild and had done this flight hundreds of times before. Wether it's for jobs or simply social calls. But his new travel companion had been doing the most annoying thing one can do during travel.

"Are we there yet?" Erelin asked again while playing with the buttons and levers on her side of the seat. Thankfully they're just there for cosmetic reasons, otherwise she might cause them to plummet down and crash in her boredom.

"What are you? Ten?!" Soren asked with an annoyed tone. It had been only 20 minutes and she already drove him insane with her complains.

"No! I'm just bored!" She retorted while leaning back against her seat. Huffing with an annoyed expression while spinning the seat around. Soren could only shook her head with an exasperated sigh and hoped that they soon reached their destination.

"How do you happen to know such a high ranking player anyway..." She finally started a conversation. Now sitting upside down on her seat while swinging her legs around. Prompting her travel companion to glance at her and rolled his eyes.

"We go way back." Soren replied curtly while leaning his head on his hand with a bored expression.

"How far back. Come on, man... Details. It's like you don't wanna talk to me." She replied with an annoyed tone. Finally sitting upright once again.

"I kinda don't want to though." He replied with the same bored expression. Earning him a puffed cheeks and a pout from his friend. Soren only glanced at her with a raised eyebrow at first. But slowly feeling unnerved by the stare.

"Fine... He's an old classmate of mine. I helped him a couple of times in the past. He contacted me when he was still building the clan and gave me some gigs inside the oasis." He finally complied after she keeps puffing he cheeks for a few minutes straight.

"Classmate? Like an online class?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Gaining a little more interest in the conversation.

"No. I actually attended an actual school. With real buildings, and real people." He said while giving her a pointed look.

"Hey! Online classes are real too! Do you know that it's illegal to NOT show up with your real physical appearance?!" She huffed with an annoyed expression. Soren chuckled and about to continue the conversation before the radar beeped a couple of times. Several red dots appeared and closing in their location with incredible speed.

"Boogie? I thought we are in a safe area!" Erelin said as she saw the radar.

"We left the safe area a few minutes ago. Must've been an event quest." Soren replied before the ship was shaken by an explosion. The unknown objects had opened fire at the Razor Crest and caused the ship to shook violently

"Displaying the third person camera!" Soren opened his display menu and revealed several airships hot on their tails. Two tie fighters and three UFO saucers surrounded their ship and fired their energy blasters towards them.

"Players..." Soren grumbled and pushed a lever. Boosting his ship forward. Causing Erelin to tumble in her seat and scream in surprise. The ship swerved left and right to dodge the incoming fires.

"Where's the Turret control?!" Erelin shouted while grabbing her seat with both hands. Soren pushed some buttons and revealed a control panel from the wall. Erelin's seat moved towards the panel and she quickly grabbed the control stick. Aiming the auto cannon on top of the ship to fire at the enemies.

"Eat Dirt!" Erelin shouted as she fired the Autocannon. The Tie fighters quickly move out of the formation as one of the UFOs exploded into smithereens.
"One down!" Erelin whooped before firing towards the other ships. The rest of the UFOs frantically swerved around to dodge the incoming fire. Two of them crashed onto each other in confusion while the remaining one fired an Energy blast towards the Razor.

Soren pulled the lever back and caused the Razor to stopped mid space. Shifting the position so the Razor now positioned behind the UFO with the TIE fighters still on it's side. He fired the front blasters and took out the UFO before quickly swerving down to dodge the TIE fighters attacks.

"THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF..." Erelin sang loudly as she fired the Autocannon. Spinning the turrets around while firing frantically. Sending the TIE fighters away from their current position and allowing Soren to spot an opening. He fired some missiles towards of the fighters and created an explosion that's big enough to blow the fighter's engine. Sending in crashing onto an asteroid.

"Ease up with the gunfire! Those bullets doesn't come cheap!" Soren shouted with an annoyed expression. The girl doesn't stop and simply glance at him.

"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUNDS OF GUNFIRE!" She shouted while still shooting the Autocannon. The remaining TIE fighter seemingly realized that it was overwhelmed and decided to flee. It's energy signature slowly getting away from the radar.

"It's getting away! AFTER HIM!" Erelin shouted after she finally let go of the control stick. She's now standing behind Soren's seat and bounced around while hitting behind his head rest.

"No need. I don't want to waste anymore fuels and bullets." He sighed tiredly before promoting the ship onto a more stable speed.

"Aww...." Erelin pouted before slumping back onto her seat. The skirmish at least provided them with a little bit of gold and exp. And an entertainment for a certain overenthusiastic girl.

The rest of the trip proved to be a little less eventful. Much to Soren's relief, and before long they were greeted by a rather ominous sight. The Arcadia stood proudly before them. An exact 1/1 replica of a famous space pirate ship. It's dark green colour scheme and a giant jolly rogers that adorned it's bow gave the ship a rather menacing look. Dozens of smaller ships followed closely behind it while countless numbers of fighter ships patrolled around it.

"This is it. The Arcadia." Soren said while Erelin could only look ahead with a gaping mouth and sparkle in her eyes. For once, she was rendered speechless.