Adventures of Eira

chapter 6

I rush over to the communications room, descending down a flight of stairs into the belly of the ship. I kinda wish I had equipped the ship with elevators for the crew quarters but wanted to save space.

Upon landing on deck four, I'm greeted by gray painted corridors with a red line painted across the walls. I glance at a sign to see what direction the communications room was, as I don't often come down here.

I make my way to my destination, but along the way I notice the many crew members in civilian clothing with Eisesland Imperium identity bands strapped to their shoulders. It's fitting enough for a 'uniform', but I really wish that we could have gotten something a little more formal.

I can't help but wonder why Han wants to talk to me. Maybe he just wants an update for what I've been doing? No, he could have just read the weekly reports to find that out, and if he wanted more detail we could have hopped into a call. What is so important that he needs to step away from his rally to talk to me? Also why does he want me to be alone?Ignoring those previous thoughts, I find the door to the comms room and step inside.

"Prince, Han Friedrich has requested for me to call him," I say, taking note of all the people with headsets sitting in front of glowing screens. "Please set up the private chamber and disable the recorder till I'm done."

"Yes, your Ladyship," a man calls out as he gets up from his chair to give me a slight bow before giving out a few orders. "May I ask why you came all the way down here to make the call?"

"His highness wishes for me to be alone, but the reason is none of your concern," I respond while looking around at the screens . A few comm link requests are flying with others being manually approved.

"Yes, I understand," the man replies, nodding his head in understanding before gesturing toward a private chamber in the corner of the room. "It's all set up for you, Your Ladyship."

I nod my thanks and step into the chamber, feeling a sense of isolation as the door closes behind me, muffling the sounds of the bustling communications room. Sitting down at the communication console, I activate the encrypted line and dial Prince Han's private line.

After a few moments of waiting, the call connects, and Han's face appears on the screen in front of me. His pale blue eyes are filled with fear and his clothing is just thrown on with little care for his appearance.

"Eira," he says, his voice showing a little relief. "Am I happy to see you, I've been trying to get into contact with the other nobles but they are unreachable."

"Bell is on as Frieda," I say a little confused as I lean back into my chair. "Assuming she hasn't logged off yet, she'll be too busy trying to revive some cryo pods we've found. I don't think anyone else is on."

"You are way too relaxed given what's going on!"

"What do you mean? Everything is as it's been since I started the colonization effort, except for how far out we are," I say, "If it's the state of unrest aboard the stations I can't do much about that. What did you log in to talk about anyway?"

"I didn't log in, I went to sleep at the hotel and woke up in my residence on the Leipzig research station!" he says with a straight face, followed by slamming his fist on the table in front of him. "Do you really not know what's happening?!"

"If you're trying to trick me into believing that we've been sucked into the game, you'll have to try harder than that," I say with a chuckle. Does he really think that he can convince me to believe something so absurd? "Did you get on just for that, or actually have something to discuss with me?"

Han's expression shifts from frustration to disbelief. "Eira, I'm telling you the truth. I woke up in the game. I'm not the only one; my security guards, wife, and children have also been pulled into the world as well, even friends who no longer play. I don't know how you haven't noticed anything wrong!"

"I'm not enjoying this joke Han," I sigh. Han's jokes have never been funny, and this adds another one to the pile.

"Just try to log out!!" he screams as rage starts to trickle into his voice.

"I still don't believe yo..," I stop in my tracks as I repeatedly try to pull up the game menu, which refuses to come up. What the hell is going on, some kind of glitch? No I've been on for a few hours now, and the devs would have shut down the servers already. "Han, I... I can't log out," I manage to say, my voice slowly filling with panic.

"See? I don't know how this happened or even why but I need to know the state of everything before we die out here," Han says as I reconsider his previous statements.

"Well..." I swallow the lump forming in my throat before continuing. "I can have a report put together and sent to you. However you might need to ask the others to get reports compiled."

"What do you suggest we do to keep players from going insane?" Han asks.

"Why are you asking me that?" I ask. He doesn't give me an answer as he's probably expecting to get my opinion, not explain himself. I take a few deep breaths as I try to think through things logically. "Well the last thing we need is the former players and whoever got sucked in with them to cause a riot once they realize what's going on."

He continues to stare me down as he waits for some kind of direction that he can run with.

My mind races through several unsatisfactory proposals before I eventually say, "Make a call for all players to report to some gathering point and discuss the situation."

Out of all the things I could have given him, it had to be the most basic generic thing possible, the bare minimum. I might as well have told him to figure it out himself.

Han's expression softens slightly at my facade of competence. "That might be our best course of action for now. Thank you, Eira. I'll get that organized right away. But we need to figure out how this happened..."

"We should assume that we have been pulled into another reality. I wouldn't be surprised if some things don't work like in the game so we sould proceed with caution," I interject before he finishes. "If needed, lie to the players and whoever else got pulled in that we're looking for a way back."

"I don't like to lie but I'll do what I have to to keep everyone safe." Han lets out a sigh as he looks down at the floor, before saying, "Thank you for your input, it's helped me out alot."

"You're supposed to be the politician, I'm surprised you haven't come up with all this yourself."

"I'm still worn out from my rally and haven't read enough manga to fully understand what's happening." He takes in an over dramatic breath before saying, "Nor do I have experience with being brought to another world."

"I thought you did this hundreds of times," I say, rolling my eyes. "Also you should get yourself crowned and the other nobles their titles with the excuse that it's taken so long to find a new home that the need has come up to skirt traditions a little."

"I'll have to get used to the idea of being an emperor," Han says, his expression softening as he considers my suggestion. "I'll have to find a way to get the coronation under way. I'll make sure to gather everyone and address them as soon as possible."

"Remember to not abuse your power to do whatever you want," I warn as Han starts to disconnect. "The players and npcs are not going to act the same way as the game. Everything you do is going to be under scrutiny."

"You just do your thing with the navy and I'll make sure everything doesn't fall apart behind you," he says waving his hand.

"Thank you, now all I have to do is herd sheep," I say sarcastically, "By the way when you do the player meeting, tell them I'm invoking article 253. I will be commandeering all combat capable ships if their owner refuses to join the fleet escort."

"You'll have to do the paperwork on your own but I'll relay it," Han sighs as he ends the call. What a helpful friend I have here.

I take a deep breath and lean back in the chair, my mind racing with the implications of what just transpired. At best we now live as if we were born into the world of the game and at worst we have been thrown in over our heads with concrete bricks for shoes.