Infected: A Frozen Apocalypse LitRPG

GlossaryThe Terran EmpireTreatment of citizens: Treats citizens relatively well.Politics: There are three branches of power forming the Triad. The military, ruled by the general; the economy, ruled by a council of CEOs; and the legislature, ruled by a council of governors.Nobility: Nobility exists, but they don’t have much power over the nation as most of that power has shifted to the council. However, nobility and the royal family do have a lot of power in the council, especially the economic branch of the Triad.They are the enemy of the Arctic Empire and the Republic of Veronia.Military ranks:PrivateCorporalSergeantWarrant OfficerSecond LieutenantFirst LieutenantCaptainMajorLieutenant ColonelColonelMajor GeneralLieutenant GeneralGeneralSymbionts:The symbionts allow their host to gradually grow stronger after many different requirements are met while also keeping the host from aging.The first requirement for each Tier of strength is for the host to have been bonded with the symbiont for a certain period of time.The second requirement for each Tier of strength is for the host to overcome a mental challenge.And the final requirement for each Tier of strength is for the host to overcome their physical limits and push past what their body should otherwise be capable of.Tier 1 Symbiont Hosts have an average of 1.5 in every stat. Tier 2 Symbiont Hosts have an average of 3 in every stat. Tier 3 Symbiont Hosts have an average of 10 in each stat. Tier 4 Symbiont Hosts have an average of 30 in each stat.Tier 5 Symbiont Hosts do not have an average stat as the limiter on the symbiont is removed with the advancement to Tier 5, making the user no longer needing to go through a breakthrough to grow in strength. Chapter 1-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-The Beginning of the End Alexander North“Three, two, one, open!” Robert Ashton’s voice echoes into my ears through the terminal implanted behind them right as the airlock opens in front of us, the private having been put in charge of our ship's terminal during the op.“Move out!” our captain shouts as he charges forward through the docking port towards the pirates’ spaceship with his sub machine gun in hand.I quickly follow behind him with the other five, leaving Robert to close the airlock behind us and open the pirates’ own airlock via hacking. And as soon as it’s open, several of the pirates – each outfitted in some rather outdated armor compared to our mid-end cybernetic armor – almost immediately begin firing at us. However, none of the bullets manage to penetrate our armor, leaving me furrowing my brows at the annoying pinging sounds of them bouncing off of my helmet.“Switch to stun rounds!” the captain – Andrew Hart – shouts while firing electrical stun shots at the closest pirate, knocking him out near instantly before the rest of us follow suit.“Damn it, close the fucking airlock!” one of the pirates shouts while turned slightly backwards to look at the other pirates, just for him to take a stun bullet to the side of the head from my gun. He quickly collapses to the ground, and I find myself stepping around his unconscious body to shoot at another one that I had seen hiding around the corner, taking him out as well.Several more shouts echo through the small ship that these pirates have been using to raid the lower-end companies on the planet down below, instantly making me jerk my gun towards them and fire.Out of the corner of my eye, I notice one of the pirates sticking their heads out from behind a terminal and signaling to the other pirates. So I shoot them square in the head, knocking them out.We continue going through their small ship until each and every pirate is taken care of. The captain then calls for Sergeants Michael and Michelle Thomas – a pair of twin brother and sister who happened to be assigned to the same unit – to make sure we got all of them, only to turn back to me and shout, “Second lieutenant, check their systems! See if there’s any more pirate scum working along with this group!”“Yes, captain!” I shout back while rushing over to the terminal, jumping into the seat in front of it, plugging in my own terminal implant, and hacking into it, just to not find any other pirates. I continue checking through the systems for a bit before unplugging my terminal from the system and turning my head back to the captain while shouting, “It looks like this is it, sir!”He nods back to me right as the twins finish checking the rest of the ship for more pirates and gathering up all of the stunned ones.“It looks like we got em all, sir!” Michael says from his place next to the tied up pirates.Out of the corner of my eye, I notice one of the pirates – the leader if I remember correctly from the briefing – slowly sawing away at the bindings on his wrists with some sort of knife.Huh. Still moving freely even after being hit with a stun round?“Captain, the leader’s cutting himself loose,” I point him out to the captain, making him quickly sprint over to the man fast enough that I can only just barely see him thanks to his symbiont’s enhancements before punching him in the skull and sending the pirate flying into a wall, likely giving the man a concussion in the process.The captain then glances over at the twins and says, “Next time make sure to search each of them more thoroughly before leaving their sides. Is that clear sergeants?”Both of them hurriedly nod their heads with a "Yes, sir!" in affirmation. “Sorry, sir!”Captain stares at them for a few seconds before walking back to the airlock while calling out, “Sergeant twins, Private Gabriel, and Warrant Officer Victoria, grab the pirates and bring them back to our ship. Second lieutenant, set the pirates’ ship to follow us on the way back to the base.”We all shout our affirmatives before getting to work.Although my eyebrow twitches slightly as I