《Recovery: Ignis》 Prologue The moment I awoke, I had a few questions. Though I knew I wouldn¡¯t be getting any real answers I still had to ask them. What Happened? Where is this? Why does my head hurt? ¡­.. and perhaps most importantly of all¡­ Who am I?
Keiren Ignis
Well¡­. That was unexpected. Maybe I should open my eyes and see what the heck is going on. Slowly, I opened my eyes, adjusting to the pain that doing so caused. Hmm¡­ okay, eyes open. I seem to be laying down on the ground in a cavernous space of some sort? I can''t tell much other than it is dimly lit, and everything looks grey. How about sitting up and looking around? As the pain and nausea washed over me I decided it would be best to wait a while longer, as I don¡¯t want to be laying or sitting in a puddle of my own vomit. Maybe I should confirm a few things while we wait. I know what my name is because that screen told me. But what is the screen? Dang, no new screen explanation. Okay. I won¡¯t be discouraged by one failure. Perhaps the screen information is limited to me? How about this, what is my current status?
Name: Keiren Ignis
Race: #ERROR# HP: 25(50)
Gender: #ERROR# ST: 100(100)
Level: #ERROR# EXP: 0(0)
Current Status: Amnesia (semi-permanent), Concussion
Titles: #ERROR#
Attributes
STR: 5 WIS: 5
DEX: 5 INT: 5
CON: 5 CHA: 5
PER: 5 LUCK: 45
WARNING: MUST DEFINE SELF FURTHER BEFORE MOVEMENT WILL BE PERMITTED
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Well¡­ Ok. So. What. In. the. Actual. Fuck. At least now I know why my head hurts and I have no memories. Also why trying to sit up brought me close to losing my lunch (Did I even eat lunch before all this?). Okay. So. I know who I am, but have no idea as to whatI am. We''re off to a wonderous freaking beginning of whatever this is. I¡¯ll worry about what all of that other stuff is about once I clear those errors. I assume that would be done by defining myself. I''d like to know more about my current situation before I start changing myself using whatever these screens provide, but that doesn''t seem to be an option. Alright, so, how do I ¡°define self¡±?
Self Editor
WARNING: ALL SELECTIONS ARE PERMANENT ONCE APPLIED
WARNING: SELF EDITOR MAY ONLY BE ACTIVATED ONCE
Oh. Great. No Pressure or anything. Well, even if I screw myself somehow, it isn¡¯t as if I can tell whatwill bea good or bad idea, with what little knowledge I have. Chapter 1 – Im a what now?
Self Editor
WARNING: ALL SELECTIONS ARE PERMANENT ONCE APPLIED
WARNING: SELF EDITING MAY ONLY BE COMMITTED ONCE
Required:
Select Path
Utilize all remaining beginner points
Hmm¡­ Well it probably won¡¯t let me use points until I select my ¡°Path¡±. Whatever that means. May as well take a look.
Path Choices
Warrior Healer
Hunter Mentalist
Tinker Tailor
Soldier Spy
Consort Shadow
Aaaaaand my choices are limited. Hooray. Why did it even show me the paths I can¡¯t take to begin with? Also don¡¯t both choices seem kind of similar? Could I see what the operative purpose of each path is before selecting?
Spy: Infiltration and insertion specialist. Capable of building trust with their targets with ease. Experts in disguise and document falsification. Primary Attribute growth ¨C Dex, Int, Cha
Shadow: Stealth specialist. Able to blend into shadows at a moments notice. Experts in assassination and thievery. Primary Attribute growth ¨C Str, Dex, Per
Moderately informative. So shall I be the invisible rogue of the shadow path? No, I don¡¯t know what is out there, and information is going to be my key to survival (and figuring out what has happened to me). Looks like I am bound to the Spy path. Somehow finding others, gaining their trust, and getting any knowledge I can from them seems like the best choice to me.
Path Selected!
Spy: Infiltration and insertion specialist. Capable of building trust with their targets with ease. Experts in disguise and document falsification. Primary Attribute growth ¨C Dex, Int, Cha
With the selection of your path, your race and gender have been determined! Race: Doppel Gender: Form Dependant Initial Stat boosts provided: +10 all attributes, additional +10 to Racial and Path primary attributes
Crap. Wait maybe this can be a good thing. It certainly will help build and maintain any disguises I need. Though I can¡¯t say I like the idea of being a genderless creature with no form of its own. Hey, Screen, could I get a brief explanation of my ¡°new¡± race before I continue?
Race: Doppel A roughly humanoid race, capable of taking the form of any sentient humanoid being they come across. A doppel¡¯s base form is androgynous, though generally found to be attractive to most other races. Doppels, due to their very nature are distrusted by all species when known, and are the subjects of persecution, often attacked on sight. Racial Attributes ¨C Con, Per, Cha
Fuck me gently. So until I can steal someone¡¯s face, I am likely to be attacked on sight if they have any clue as to what I am? That¡¯s just fucking peachy. Well, no point caterwauling about it. Nothing I can do anyway. And to be honest I have a feeling that if I had chosen Shadow, it would have been similar or even worse. I guess it¡¯s time to move on to utilizing beginner points.
NOTICE: Due to Current Status (reduced HP, Amnesia, Concussion) the following bonuses have been applied HP 50% - +350 points Amnesia (semi-permanent) - +19800 points Concussion - +4850
Points remaining: 50000
Skills Perks
Titles Attributes
Items
I¡¯m not sure if that is a lot or not, but it is nice to know that my injuries got me something with this whole thing. Doubling what I would have had available should be useful. How about we take a look at the Titles first.
Titles
Awakenedto Pain Cost: 1500 Recovering from severe injuries is not easy. Especially when they take away your very self and most of your knowledge. But you managed somehow. Con +10, HP regeneration rate doubled
Subverter Cost: 3000 You get the most out of every encounter. Your targets often don¡¯t even realize that they are playing into your hands. Per +5, Cha +5, Gain Skills ¨C Negotiation, Acting, Intimidation at 1
Alone and Forsaken Cost: 800 There is nobody you can depend on to get you out of the mess you¡¯re in. Even if you weren¡¯t alone nobody would help you. Luck +10, Cha -5, +5% bonus to all actions and rewards when working alone, -20% bonus to all actions and rewards when working in a group
Million Dollar Talent, 10 Cent Mind Cost: 5000 You have talent. It oozes from your every pore. Unfortunately, thought is not one of your talents. Wis locked at 15, Int locked at 15, All Skills maximum level upon acquisition
Well, those first 2 are definitely interesting. The third has merit, but I really don¡¯t want to be forced into solitude by my choices here. I¡¯m going to have a hard enough time just with my racial¡­ problems as it is. The last one is right out. That might have been an interesting choice if I had a different path and knew what I was doing here, and where here was. I don¡¯t want to limit myself for instant skill growth. So, I won¡¯t. Honestly, that description, uuuggh. Alright so I have my Titles selected. What¡¯s next?
Points remaining: 45500
Skills Perks
Titles Attributes
Items
Looks like I can''t access titles anymore. One of my Titles gave me some skills, so let¡¯s see if a Perk will do the same.
Perks
Linguist Cost: 5000 Languages are easy! Able to learn to read, write and speak any language upon hearing it spoken or seeing written words
Ambidextrous Cost: 1500A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Able to use both sides of the body simultaneously for different tasks.
Multi-Processing Cost: 12000 Able to think about multiple subjects at once without loss. Also allows for complex theoretical calculations to be done internally.
True Regeneration Cost: 3000 Improves HP recovery to the point that lost limbs can be regrown. Also grants immunity to poisons and paralytics. Regrowing limbs is extremely painful,loss of concious controlduring the process may cause death. Drains ST during recovery period.
Basic Knowledge Cost: 25000 Grants basic knowledge about the world, and all subjects therein. A good starting point if you don¡¯t want to be seen as an imbecile. You still need to study or take actions to gain functional knowledge. Grants skill ¨C Universal Knowledge at 5
THERE IT IS! I don¡¯t think I can afford to spend more than this. I think I should skip out on the Multi-Processing perk. It would be nice, but the cost to gain doesn¡¯t balance in my opinion (what do I know? Nothing.) Okay. Basic Knowledge is a really expensive must, linguist is also a must. Ambidextrous will be useful when pretending to be someone. And while True Regeneration looks like it could be dangerous, I think guaranteeing that if I am not dead that my body is in the best condition it can be is important. I don''t want to spend any more on perks, without knowing what the other sections will cost me so I stop reading through the list. 34500 points down.
Points remaining: 11000
Skills Perks
Titles Attributes
Items
11000 points left for skills, items and attributes. I chose
Skills
Survivalist Skillset Cost: 2000 Grants Analysis, Stealth, Survival, Navigation, Orienteering, First Aid at 1
Basic Weapons Training Skillset Cost: 3000 Grants - Bladed weapon, Blunt weapon, Ranged weapon, unarmed, Heavy Munitions, and Vehicle-Based weapon ¨C Mastery at 1
Infiltrator Skillset Cost: 1900 (-1100) Grants Empath, Ruse, Etiquette, Swindle, Seduction, Negotiation, Acting, Intimidation, Gambling, Counterfeit at 1 Discount in place for Path alignment. Some Skills already detected. Excess point value refunded.
Crafting Skillset Cost: 1100 Grants Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Craft Clothing, Craft Parts at 1
Attributes
Basic Boost Cost: 1200 +1 all attributes on level up, 1 attribute able to be manually assigned every 5th level
Items
Basic Weapons Pack Cost: 800 5 random basic weapons
Beginner Spy Clothes Pack Cost: 1000 All the basic needs for a new spy starting out. Clothes and gear will form to suit the wearer and location.
I¡¯m thankful the Infiltrator Pack gave back most of the extra points that would have been wasted on the skills previously gained from my title. With that done I should have a decent chance of living long enough to at least meet another person. I hope. Now is that it for the Self Editor?
Self Editor
WARNING: ALL SELECTIONS ARE PERMANENT ONCE APPLIED
WARNING: SELF EDITING MAY ONLY BE COMMITTED ONCE
Required:
Select Path
Utilize all remaining beginner points
Determine Base Form Design
Ah. So I don¡¯t just have the face I was given? Now I have to design my base form as a Doppel? Well, let¡¯s take a look at me. All of a sudden, I was looking at myself (I think). If I concentrated on one feature I could change it. I took my time, tweaking the features bit by bit. It seemed that my features could range fromfemininelymasculineto masculinely feminine. I know my description is confusing. Believe me the entire process and results were too. Also of note, when the racial description said Doppels are androgynous, it wasn¡¯t joking. In both the current and ancient meanings of the word. I¡¯m not sure if I was a male or a female before all this happened. I couldn¡¯t give myself purely masculine or feminine features though. The screen would revert back to the initial look whenever I tried. I guess I am bound to a gender indeterminate life now. As my base form at least. In the end I designed myself to be 190cm tall, with 78 cm long arms,95 cm long legs, slightly pointed ears, emerald green eyes, short black hair, on a rounded face, and a fit but not excessively muscular body.
Self Editor
Initial ability set applied. Error - Ability Pool not found Infusing Ability Pool ......... Complete
Process Complete. Thank You and Welcome to Askatasun
Movement permitted
Freedom! For good or for ill. Now before I do anything else, I¡¯d like to check my current status again now that the whole self editing thing is complete. Check out what abilities I received, and see if I can figure out how this whole thig works.
Name: Keiren Ignis Path Spy
Race: Doppel Level: 1
Gender: Indeterminate EXP: 0(250)
HP: 25(350) AP: 0/30
ST: 100(100)
Current Status: Amnesia (semi-permanent), Concussion
Titles: Awakened by Pain, Subverter, LOCKED
Attributes
STR: 15 WIS: 15
DEX: 25 INT: 25
CON: 35 CHA: 40
PER: 30 LUCK: 55
Abilities
Inspect Silent Kill Read Mind Mingle
Perks
Linguist Ambidextrous True Regeneration Basic Knowledge
Skills Level Description
Negotiation 001/100 Convince people to see things your way
Acting 001/250 Pretend to be that which you are not
Intimidation 001/100 Push your weight around to get what you want
Universal Knowledge 005/999 A basic understanding of all things
Analysis 001/150 Gain understanding of items viewed
Stealth 001/250 Move silently. At higher levels can prevent visual and olfactory detection
Survival 001/300 Knowledge on how to survive when the niceties of life are not there
Navigation 01/50 Knowledge on use of maps and travel by vehicle
Orienteering 01/50 Knowledge on use of nature to determine spacial location
First Aid 01/50 Basic medical practices for field healing
Bladed Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use bladed weapons to their full potential
Blunt Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use blunt weapons to their full potential
Ranged Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use ranged weapons to their full potential
Unarmed Mastery 001/500 Knowledge of how to use the body as a weapon
Heavy Munitions Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use heavy munitions to their full potential
Vehicle-Based Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge of how to use weapons mounted on a vehicle to their full potential
Empath 001/300 Understand a persons feelings
Ruse 01/25 Convince people to do as you desire
Swindle 001/100 Convince people to give you what you want
Ettiquette 001/200 The art of social interaction
Seduction 001/250 Convice people that they are desired by you
Gambling 001/100 Luck based games of chance are your forte. Maybe not so luck based in your case
Counterfeit 01/50 Falsify documentation, indentities, and currency
Craft Weapon 001/100 Make weapons with the right knowledge and equipment
Craft Armor 001/100 Make armor with the right knowledge and equipment
Craft Clothing 001/100 Make clothing with the right knowledge and equipment
Craft Parts 001/100 Make vehicle and equipment parts with the right knowledge and equipment
Huh? What¡¯s with the locked title?
Locked
Due to Amnesia this title has been locked. If memories of the past are regained, this title will unlock.
Ahh. Dang. Welp, no point in worrying. Not like I¡¯ll know what I¡¯m missing out on. Just like my past. Can I sort out my skills a bit though? That¡¯s really ugly. Ah-hah! I can, just have to concentrate on what I want. Okeydokie then. I am going to put the perks and skills on a secondary screen, that way I only have to look at them if I want to see what level they are at. Now to take a look at the abilities granted.
Inspect Glean information regarding targeted person or object. Requires Skills: Analysis, Empath, and *Knowledge Improve output result based on skill levels
Silent Kill Kill target while preventing them from alerting others to their peril. Cannot use while targeted by opponent for combat. Requires Skills: Stealth, *Weapon Mastery, Empath Reduce likelyhood of failure based on skill levels
Read Mind Able to read 1 targeted sentient beings'' thoughts. Ability failure upon detection by target Requires - Path: Spy - Skills: Stealth, Empath Improve output and reduce likelyhood of failure based on skill levels
Mingle Blend into the crowd to disappear from enemy sight. Requires - Skills: Stealth, Acting, Ettiquette Likelyhood of success increased based on skill levels
Looks like my skill levels determine how useful my abilities will be. What do attributes do?
STR: Strength affects all physical actions, from picking up a rock, to running, to attacking opponents with melee weapons. Affect Stamina Regeneration rate and Melee attack. Reduces Stamina usage by 1% per point of STR Stamina Regeneration = .1STR%/minute Melee Attack = .75STR+.25DEX
DEX: Dexterity affects your muscular control and reaction speed. Reduces strength requirements for actions. Increases accuracy with weapons and likelyhood of critical hits Base Accuracy = .75DEX(.5PER) Base Critical Chance = .5DEX
CON: Constitution affects HP and HP regeneration. Also increases physical defense HP = 10Con HP Regeneration = .5CON/hour or 2.5CON/hour while resting Due to Title Bonus: regeneration rate will be set to /30 minutes Base Physical Defense = .3CON(.1STR)
PER: Perception affects how you see the world and what you notice about it.
WIS: Wisdom affects Action Pool size and regeneration Ability Pool = 2WIS Ability Pool Regeneration = .1WIS(.05INT)/minute
INT: Intelligence affects the strength of mental abilities. Also increases the growth rate of Knowledge skills Mental Abillity modifier = .5INT(Ability output)
CHA: Charisma affects the success rate of mental abilities and growth rate of social skills. Also increases effect duration of mental abilities that have additional effects. Makes you more likeable to sentient beings you meet. Mental Ability Success modifier = .3CHA(Ability Success rate)
LUCK: Luck increases the chance for random circumastances to have a positive outcome.
Well that is informative. Not that I''ll remembermost of this. Now, what say we get up and have a look around. See if I can recognize anything. I also need to try and find those items that I used points to get. Chapter 2 – No Way Out I slowly raised myself off of my back. Once I achieved sitting, I looked around to find a large cuboid room, made out of some sort of metal. The room, which I can only guess to be a warehouse of some sort, had numerous crates and boxes stacked and secured in blocks around the room. Standing up carefully, just in case I had any lingering effects from the concussion, I walked cautiously towards the nearest wall, on guard against being noticed by anyone. Luckily, other than myself, there doesn¡¯t seem to be anyone here. Not that I¡¯m going to take that as leeway to make a bunch of noise. On this wall there appears to be a couple of storage lockers. I wonder if this is where the gear I used points to get from the screen could be. I hope so. Running about in the nude until I meet someone doesn¡¯t seem like a good idea to me. Opening the first locker I found what appeared to be a suit bag hanging from one hook and a set of undergarments on the other. There was also a pair of glasses and a belt with an odd looking buckle on the top shelf, and a pair of basic black boots on the bottom shelf. First up I put on the underwear. A pair of stretchy, fitted shorts and a sports bra. Opening the suit bag I found a pair of slacks, a white button-down shirt, and a light jacket that matched the slacks. I wonder if these are mine, or if I¡¯m stealing from whomever this locker belongs to. Oh right! I have that Inspect ability now. No better time to find out how it works. Concentrating on the clothes in front of me I think about ¡°inspecting¡± them.
Spy¡¯s Shipboard Uniform Spy clothing designed to appear to be a uniform for a Naval NCO Provides no additional defense.
Good, good. This is mine. Also judging by the description, I seem to be aboard a naval ship, or in a navy storage warehouse of some sort. That could be a problem. I don¡¯t know much navy slang. Heck I don¡¯t even think I¡¯ll be able to salute properly. Hopefully my skills and abilities can come into play when I meet someone. Clothes on now, I¡¯ll inspect the lockers and the other items.
Spy¡¯s Clothes Locker A standard clothes locker. What did you expect?
Spy¡¯s Shipboard Boots Boots designed to look like Navy Basic boots. Provides additional mobility when worn. DEX +1
Spy¡¯s Glasses Glasses. Provides constant inspect function when worn. Does not use AP. Provides no benefit to skills related to inspect
Spy¡¯s Basic Storage Belt A belt. Keeps your pants up. The buckle contains a small pocket dimension capable of storing up to one cubic meter of gear and items. Does not use AP. (Empty) To store an item touch the item you wish to store against the buckle. To withdraw it, touch one hand to the buckle while holding your other hand palm up.
Sweet! Item storage and free inspection. Wait, does that mean I used AP each time I inspected an item? Current Status?
Name: Keiren Ignis Path Spy
Race: Doppel Level: 1
Gender: Indeterminate EXP: 5(250)
HP: 43(350) AP: 26/30
ST: 100(100)
Current Status: Amnesia (semi-permanent), Concussion (Healing)
Titles: Awakened to Pain, Subverter, LOCKED
Attributes
STR: 15 WIS: 15
DEX: 25 (+1) INT: 25
CON: 35 CHA: 40
PER: 30 LUCK: 55
Abilities
Inspect Silent Kill Read Mind Mingle
Yes it does. Looks like 1 AP each time I use it. While that is a minor issue right now, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem once I get stronger and can increase my pool. I wonder if that cost will be the same for all abilities, or if they cost more/less depending on the ability, or if there is some other manner of scaling? Now that the clothes locker is empty, on to the other one. If the pattern continues, it should be my weapons. Opening up the locker, I find that my expectations were correct.
SW XMP95N A common semi-automatic pistol used by Naval forces as their standard sidearm. 2 spare magazines, holster and magazines pouches
HK 919SR Semi-Automatic Rifle. This model has been specifically designed for Sniper use. Equipped with removable suppressor and 10X scope.
LightSteel Sabre A lightweight sabre designed for quick thrust and slash attacking. Parrying and blocking opponents strikes not recommended.
LightSteel Naval Stiletto A basic dagger designed for tight quarters fighting. This particular model comes with a few extra utility functions designed into the haft, ricasso and pommel.
MCX Micro Dart Pistol A palm sized breech loading pistol. Uses compressed air to launch hypodermic darts.
Ammo Pack 9.5mm ammunition- 250 rounds. 7.62x51mm ammunition- 150 rounds Sedative Dart- 25 ¨C High-efficiency sedative, takes effect within 3 minutes Paralytic Dart- 25 ¨C High-efficiency paralytic, takes effect within 3 seconds
Ooooooooh. A weapon for almost all occasions. And additional ammo for the guns. I¡¯ll keep the pistol and dagger on my belt. The others, I will store in my belt. Dressed and armed, it¡¯s now time for some exploration and discovery. Looking at one of the storage crates with my glasses on to try and get information from it.
Naval munitions crate Crate containing slugs for ship-mounted railguns
That does me no good. Looks like everything in here is ammo. Alright, well let¡¯s find an exit and try to sneak around a bit. After walking around the room twice, just to make sure I didn¡¯t miss anything, I find that there is only one door. Aaaand it¡¯s locked. Great. Maybe this lever on the right side¡­? The resounding clang of the latches receding should mean it can be opened now. I just hope no one was nearby to hear it happen. Stepping out I find an empty corridor. *THUD* Or not as I trip over something and face plant on the metal floor. That something is a body. Seems to be a male, wearing a uniform similar to what I have.
Corpse A dead body - Male
Wow, real helpful there inspect. Taking off my glasses and looking around, I see 3 other corpses. There doesn¡¯t seem to be any wounds on them. I wonder what happened here. I¡¯m pretty sure this is a ship of some sort. I should head to the command center and see if there is any information to be had. Also if there are any survivors of whatever happened?Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Traversing 5 decks of dead bodies, I finally find my way to something other than storage or crew compartments. With my pistol at the ready, I step into the room labeled ¡°Navigation and Communication¡± More bodies, these ones clearly of a higher rank than the others in the corridors. The main terminal seems to be active. I¡¯ll just move this corpse out of the way. Now how do I access this? I¡¯ll just try tapping on the terminal screen, as I don¡¯t see any other place for input
SYSTEMS RESTARTING UNKNOWN USER ATTEMPTING ACCESS SHIPWIDE SCANS SHOW 1 LIFE-SIGN AND 493 DEAD BODIES BIOMETRICS ACTIVATED UNKNOWN USER NOT LISTED IN LOCAL DATABASE ATTEMPTING ACCESS OF COSN NETWORK FAILURE ¨C COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE RESOLVING ¡­¡­¡­¡­.. UNABLE TO INITIALIZE COMMUNICATIONS CHECKING SHIP LOGS RECORD FOUND ¨C CREW CHANGE AT LAST PORT 5 STANDARD DAYS AGO CREW MANIFEST NOT UPDATED POST CREW CHANGE ADDING USER ¨C SETTING ACCESS LEVEL TO PO USER ¨C VOCALIZE NAME AND RANK TO COMPLETE REGISTRATION
Well, I¡¯m kind of glad that the Captain or the officer in charge didn¡¯t update the crew manifest after the change-over. Though Islightlyworry about this COSN and how well followed their protocols appear to have been. Also the comms seem to be down, preventing the system from determining who I am. I wonder if I can fool the system into giving me higher clearance. ¡°Keiren Ignis¡± I state authoritatively. ¡°Lieutenant, COSN Intelligence, Internal Affairs¡±
USER RANK DOES NOT MATCH CURRENT UNIFORM NO RECORD OF IA PERSONNEL DEPLOYED TO THIS VESSEL REQUEST CLARIFICATION
¡°On covert assignment to investigate the officers of this ship. There have been numerous inconsistencies in their reports from the last few assignments. I have noted their failure to update crew manifest since the current deployment.¡±
USER UPDATED ACCESS LEVEL SET TO COMMAND 1 PER COSN IA REGULATIONS
¡°Very good. Now, since everyone is dead, and I was locked, naked and unconscious, in the munitions supply room, I would like to go over the logs, as well as any video and sensor records from the last 2 days up until current. Also please provide me with the complete results of shipwide scans, and compare to crew manifests. Highlight all inconsistencies. I am heading to the Officer¡¯s mess as I am in dire need of food. Please display results on the holo¡¯s there.¡± I marveled as I spouted off words and designations that until I said them, I didn¡¯t realize I knew. Thankfully, the computer did not question me further.
UNDERSTOOD REQUESTING PERMISSION TO RUN SERIES 7 DIAGNOSTICS TO ASCERTAIN SYSTEM STATUS
¡°Granted. I would have forgot and wasted time otherwise. Thanks¡± Did¡­ did I just thank the computer system. Well, seeing as it is the only thing of any level of intelligence here, I may as well get along with it. ¡°Also, if you could provide me with our current coordinates, as well as maps and the ships intended deployment route, it would be appreciated. If you need to, delay until after diagnostics on required systems are complete to ensure correct information.¡±
UNDERSTOOD
With that taken care of I headed down to the Officer¡¯s mess. I dragged the body of what was the former Commander of the ship out of the mess hall, then dragged the body of the cook out as well. Rifling through the cupboards, I found some noodles, so I put a pot on to boil. Then I pulled some meat and vegetables from the refrigerators, diced them, and started to fry them up. Once the noodles were done, I mixed them with the meat and veg, and gave them a quick stir-fry. Filling a couple bowls, I walked out of the kitchen to the mess. As soon as I sat down, the ships computer started to open holo screens with the records and logs I had requested. So while I ate I began to inform myself as to the current situation. It seems that I am aboard the COSN Biltegan Class Combat Support and Supply ship, Adavaris. It¡¯s basically a large freighter for navy armament supplies to the rest of the fleet. Crewed by 500 souls, 493 of whom are now dead. COSN standing for Confederated Orion Systems Navy. Browsing the crew manifests, I see that roughly 70% of the crew was human, while the remaining 30% was a mix of Lodrian, Darvali, and Karm.
Human Homeworld- Sol III. The most populous sentient species in known space. Humanity¡¯s only true proficiency is their ability to assimilate knowledge and technology and alter it to suit their needs. Generally seen as average in all things.
Lodrian Homeworld- Muara IV. Lodrians have higher intellectual abilities than any other species in known space. While not the most populous species in the COS, they are the most sought after for command and tactical roles.
Darvali Homeworld- Cala II-B. Darvali are highly resistant to radiation and gravity fluctuations. This is due to their homeworld orbiting a brown dwarf, in orbit of a main sequence star.
Karm Homeworld- Erd III. Karm are a large reptilian humanoid species, known for their reaction speed. Within the COS they are well respected as both pilots and gunners.
The COS appear to be at war with a group of xenophobic humans, known as the United Terran Alliance, that colonized a number of systems near the edges of known space towards the tail end of the Orion Spur. This war has been ongoing for the past 20 standard years, though it hasn¡¯t amounted to more than the occasional skirmish on the border from the COSN point of view. Logs and video records cut off roughly 18 hours prior to my awakening. Sensors during that period show ship atmosphere being flooded with Boron trifluoride. With the exception of sealed compartments like the storage room I was in. This seems to have caused asphyxiation and death of the crew in less than 5 minutes. The atmosphere was then normalized. At this point sensors went offline along with all ship systems. Time to ask a couple questions ¡°Computer¡± To my surprise, rather than the typeface display as seen earlier, the computer appears in humanoid form via the holographic projectors. ¡°Yes, Lieutenant Ignis, how may I assist you?¡± ¡°Hmmm, I see you have holo interaction protocols enabled¡± That Universal Knowledge skill is getting a workout today. ¡°What is your designation? I shouldn¡¯t call you computer seeing as you are likely much more than that.¡± ¡°Correct, Lieutenant. I am the Adavaris¡¯ AI, designation Adietsu. While I did not have overt permission to activate holo interaction protocols, I judged that it would be best to enable them for your mental wellbeing once my diagnostics completed.¡± Great. The ship AI is worried about my mental wellbeing. That means that the diagnostics it did found problems. Problems that don¡¯t bode well for me in the near future. ¡°Very well. Please hold off on going further in depth on that worrisome statement for now. I assume that you have completed shipwide scans? Please have some drones move the bodies of the crew into an empty storage compartment and then vent the atmosphere from the compartment to reduce decomposition.¡± I¡¯m really not looking forward to what it is going to tell me. ¡°Please report on inconsistencies between crew manifest and the corpses of the former crew.¡± ¡°Yes, Lieutenant. The former Captain, as well as the Marine Commandant, are not among the dead. There are 14 dead NCO¡¯s that are not listed in the manifest. On display now. Secondary display showing the crew on the manifest that are not found among the dead. As you can see, other than the Captain and Major, they are all low level NCO¡¯s that were scheduled for retraining or had completed their primary service period and were returning to their citizenship.¡± So we can assume that the Captain, Commandant, and another 4 or 5 people attacked the ship from within. To what end though? ¡°Adietsu, what supplies missing from the stores?¡± ¡°One moment Lieutenant. I have not completed inventory yet.¡± I¡¯ll bet that there are a large number of weapons missing. ¡°Lieutenant, all small arms are missing. As are 45% of the torpedos and 62% of the missiles.¡± ¡°As I thought. Looks like the good Captain and the Major turned pirateand traitor. Mystery one solved. Now on to what we are going to do now. Please report on the results of your diagnostics and the current status of the ship.¡± ¡°Understood Lieutenant. Current location according to navigational systems, roughly 3.85 light years from the nearest known friendly system. Diagnostics have been run on all primary and secondary systems. Current battery power levels are at 75% of peak operation levels. Current drain is at 0.134% per day. Life support is operating on secondary systems only. Primaries offline and unrecoverable. For a crew of 1 the secondaries can provide nearly 3 years of breathable air and heat to captains quarters, mess and the bridge. All other areas of the ship will require sealing and decompression for this to be effective. Escape pods and small craft are all destroyed. Unable to repair¡± Oh, well 3 years of livable heat and air aboard the ship that¡¯s good. Reading between the lines; if I don¡¯t mind only living for another 3 years that is. Which I do mind. I¡¯m not dying here. I still need to get my memories back. ¡°Main engines, and thrusters scrammed. Unable to repair. FTL drive still functional,¡± There is hope. ¡°however its use requires functional engines.¡± Dashed on the rocks. Adietsu, you''re cold and cruel. "Alright Adietsu. I get it. We''re stranded with next to no hope of rescue, and likely waiting for the pirates to return to take the remainder of the stocks. At which point they will notice systems being back online, and seek to kill me, and likely delete or reprogram you.I''m still recovering from a concussion, and the headache leaves me no roomto consider our exit strategy at the moment. Could you guide me to the nearest quarters that didn''t play host to a dead man?" "As you wish Lieutenant. Once you exit the mess, please follow the lit panels along the corridor wall. Do you have any orders for me to deal with while you are resting?" "Please forward navigational information to the quarters. I''d like to memorize the charts before I sleep. As for you, please compile a listing of all items in storage for me. Have it ready by morning. Beyond that, you may do as you wish, provided it doesn''t endanger us or the ship." I exit the mess, and walk down the corridor, following the lights that Adietsu has lit for me. Reaching what is almost certain to have been either the Captain''s, or the Commander''s quarters. I plop down onto the bunk, and pull up the nav data on the portable terminal I found bedside to look over. Just as I am about to nod off for the night the Screen decides to say hello.
Skill Level Increase
Negotiation +2 levels
Acting +4 levels For reaching level 5 in Acting you have been awarded +1 WIS
Universal Knowledge +2 levels
Analysis +1 level
Etiquette +1 level
Skill growth, huh? That''s good to know. Chapter 3 - Remember...
A sickly sweet smell. Something is letting out the magic blue smoke? Crap, looks like this test failed too. We''re going to get this sorted. Nothing is going to stop me from making this breakthrough! Shit. I can''t open the latch. No worries though. One of the guys will get this sorted in a minute or so. Come on... Fuck, what is taking so long? Smoke is starting to fill the space here, guys. Deep breath, gotta try and wait this out. Shit, shit, shit, shit! It''s been way to long. I''m still stuck inside this thing, and it''s getting little bit too warm for my comfort. Like burning fucking hot! What the hell?! Getting tough to keep my eyes open.. NO! Focus. Stay awake and aware! you will get through this! Remember! Blackness
I woke up with a start, banging my head on the storage compartments above the bunk I¡¯m in. Clearly that was more than just a dream. No time to consider the implications though. I¡¯ve got a problem to solve and I¡¯m going to need the help of someone who thinks a little bit faster and better than me to solve it. ¡°Adietsu, Please display current available inventory. Sort by type. Place construction equipment and supplies at the top of the listings. Also, do you have any schematics available for smaller FTL capable craft?¡± ¡°Indeed,Lieutenant. Am I correct in assuming you to desire to build a ship to return to COS space? While there is enough available synthmetal to build a hull for such a vessel, there are no available spares for the electronics required for it to function. Furthermore, in regards to flight systems, computers, engines and thrusters, and life support systems; no suitable parts exist. There are sufficient parts for sensors, communication, shielding and power generation to be modified for function on a civilian grade small craft.¡± ¡°Correct, and that¡¯s where we will have to do a little scrapping. We are going to scavenge most of the parts for those systems from the damaged small craft and the Adavaris. Anything we can make work, we will make work. It doesn¡¯t have to be pretty, heck it doesn¡¯t even have to work well. It just has to work long enough to reach a friendly populated planet or station.¡± ¡°...As you wish, Lieutenant. However I must inform you that your intent is in violation of COSN protocol A73.16.5 pertaining to the destruction, damage, or salvage of COSN equipment for personal use by a member of the navy. Standard punishment for such an offense is court-martial with no less than 10 years imprisonment. Schematics for COS Oilo class civilian courier ship on display.¡± ¡°Violation noted. We can go ahead and inform my superiors if we survive that long. I will be going down to the hangar to see what can be salvaged of the small craft, and then I will begin making modifications to the design of the ship based on what we have. While I am doing that, you can get started on designing any of the required systems in order to have your core function as the main computer.¡± ¡°Lieutenant, though I am compelled to follow your commands due to your access permission level, I must advise that removing my core from the Adavaris is in direct violation of COS law Article 84C Section 231 Alpha - Sentient AI controls act. Minimum punishment for failure to comply with this law is death for the guilty party and deletion of the involved AI. No AI core is to be relocated from one vessel to another without COS oversight.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to cross that bridge when we get there Adietsu. Informing the brass about what happened here comes first.¡± Huh? That¡¯s interesting.Something smells fishy about that AI law. Once I get to the hangar, I can see that the pirates did a real number on the shuttles and fighters.Shredded all of them. Time to inspect the wreckage, and see what¡¯s useable. The front half of one of the shuttles is still in one piece, so I think I can use that for my cockpit. Looks like the engines from both shuttles are completely gone though, and of the 16 fighters on board, only 5 have enough left of them that I think we can use the engines, and maybe another 5 that might have workable thrusters we can pull. So at best, 10 fighter engines and 80 fighter thrusters. But I¡¯m expecting it to probably end up 8 engines and like 40-50 thrusters. Heading back up to the mess, I make myself another meal, and then get to work modifying the schematics of the ship to use parts from the shuttle and fighters. I add on a few weapon mounts from the fighters, and one turret mount that I saw listed in the ships stockpile. I add a storage space under the cockpit to function as an armory of sorts. "Adietsu, here is the basic schematics I¡¯ve modified to use what is salvageable from in the hangar. Please go over it and rework the wiring to function as best as you can with parts we can pull from the Adavaris. Any ideas on life support?The shuttles systems in the hangar are gone.¡± ¡°Utilizing life support systems from the Adavaris is not feasible. The secondary generator alone islarger thanthe vessel you intend to build. Suggest gathering a Marine combat suit and multiple air/rebreather tanks, and operating in vacuum. This will have the added effect of allowing greater power allotment to computer systems, shielding and engines. It will also grant a 2.5% increase in survivability in case of hull failure.¡± ¡°Hmmm. Alright. Thoughts on the design and manufacture?¡± ¡°Your redesign appears somewhat functional Lieutenant. Using this design as is has only a 62% chance of hull failure on acceleration and FTL drive use. To reduce that risk further, I suggest rebuilding the shuttle hull rather than attempting to mate it to the new hull. This will reduce both build time and chance of hull failure. Using all functional fighter engines and thrusters will result in a 43% loss in acceleration and maneuverability in normal flight versus the original design.¡± ¡°That should be okay. Will your core function with this plan, and can we utilize the FTL drive from the Adavaris with the fighter engines?¡± ¡°Core transfer feasible. FTL drive from Adavaris will not function with this ship. However there are FTL drives designed for patrol craft aboard. One of these will suit this vessel.¡± Alright! Now we¡¯re getting somewhere. What else do I need to do to get this plan in motion? ¡°Adietsu, will the maintenance drones be capable of doing the construction? What about salvaging from the Adavaris?¡± ¡°Maintenance drones are capable of all the primary manufacture. However you will be required for splicing the wiring, connecting the systems to the shuttle controls and connecting my core into the ship. You will also be required to salvage the wiring and computer systems that I will merge with from the Adavaris¡± That¡¯s a bit more work for me than I was hoping. But if I can get out of here, I¡¯ll do anything. ¡°Okay Adietsu. Please highlight all systems that I need to remove from the Adavaris on the map for me. I will take a portable terminal with me. How long until the ship will be ready for me to do my part?¡± ¡°Estimate 64 hours 32 minutes and 18 seconds once construction begins Lieutenant. Maintenance drones are currently setting up for frame and hull manufacture, estimate construction to begin in 53 minutes. Once wiring and system control connections are completed it will take an additional 41 hours to complete the vessel¡± Ahhh. I have roughly 2 standard days to get those parts pulled. I also just realized I have no clue how to pilot a ship. ¡°Adietsu, is there a simulator on board where I can learn basic piloting skills? Also, would it be possible to program it to the specs of the ship we¡¯re building?¡± ¡°Affirmative Lieutenant. Simulators can be found in each of the rec rooms. I will highlight them on your map. Please permit me 3 hours to program in the specifications of the new craft.¡± ¡°Right. I¡¯ll go get started pulling those parts in the meantime. Where do I get the tools I¡¯ll need?¡± ¡°Tool kits can be found in the engineer compartments in the aft section on each deck Lieutenant.¡± The next few days are a blur as I (and the drones) build my new ship and I spend the rest of my time running the simulator, which netted me some growth and new skills from my old friend Screen.
New Perk DiscoveredIf you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Slap-Dash You''ve never heard what they say about square pegs and round holes. Increased chance of success when crafting using salvaged parts from similar vehicles or equipmentto modify construction of known versions of vehicles or equipment. Greatly increased chance of success when craftingusing salvaged parts from extremely different vehicles or equipmentto modify construction of known versions of vehicles or equipment. Greatly improves fit and finish when usingsalvaged parts from extremely different vehicles or equipmentto modify construction of known versions of vehicles or equipment.
Skill Level Increase
Universal Knowledge Level + 3 For reaching level 10 in Universal Knowledge you have been awarded +2 INT
Navigation Level +2
Vehicle-Based Weapon Mastery Level +2
Craft Parts Level +4 For reaching level 5 in Craft Parts you have been awarded +1 DEX
Ruse Level +1
Vehicle Design NEW Level +2
Craft Vehicles NEW Level +2
Piloting -Fighters NEW Level +1
Piloting - Light Freight NEW Level +4 For reaching level 5 in Piloting - Light Freight you have been awarded +1 PER
Piloting -Heavy Freight NEW Level +2
Vehicle Design 03/50 Design vehicles from scratch or alter current designs
Craft Vehicles 003/100 Make vehicles with the right knowledge and tools
Piloting -Fighters 002/500 Knowledge of how to pilot space fighter craft. Provides limited skill when taking craft into atmospheric combat situations.
Piloting -Light Freight 005/250 Knowledge of how to pilot interplanetary freighters with less than 50M keel length
Piloting - Heavy Freight 003/250 Knowledge of how to pilot interplanetary freighterswith less than 500M keel length but greater than 50M
I¡¯m thinking that the Screen judged the drones and Adietsu to be ¡°the right tools¡± for my crafting skills, yet Adietsu is also considered ¡°people¡± for my social skills? I am surprised I didn¡¯t get any specific skill for the electrical and computer work I did. I guess it all ended up going to Craft Vehicles? I¡¯m starting to learn what these skills and levels mean. Level 1 is literally just knowledge that yes, this task can be done. For example, as soon as I sat down in the flight simulators cockpit, I gained level 1 in piloting whichever craft was being simulated. It didn¡¯t mean I actually had a clue on how to use any of the controls. My level rose as I learned what to do and how to do it. That new perk is probably the reason that it doesn''t look like a pile of scrap welded together. I actually spent the most time trying to improve as a fighter pilot, but apparently myability to multitask is not good enough to manage all of the finer points of space combat in a fighter. Now for the make or break moment. ¡°Adietsu, do you think it¡¯s ready?¡± ¡°Construction is complete. Scans show all connections for systems to my core dock within required specifications. I estimate a 87% chance of success. 5% chance of failure destroying my programming. 7.9% chance of the ship simply failing to start, and a .01% chance of the ship exploding on power up, destroying itself and the Adavaris with it. Further to that, I only estimate a 26.8% chance of critical failure before reaching facilities for repair and upgrade or replacement with a 70.2% chance of success with no structural failure of the hull during transit.¡± ¡°So that''s... good, right?¡± ¡°Considering that my preliminary estimates showed only a 3.42% chance of mission success, it is.¡± That must be that Slap-Dash perk taking effect. ¡°If you say so. Shut down and I will transfer you core.¡± Removing the AI core wasa bit difficult. It¡¯s literally a box with a bunch of connectors on the back, but for some reason there were almost one hundred secondary devices that had to be disconnected first. Sometimes two or three that had to be done simultaneously. I carry it down to the hangar and plug it into the dock in the computer systems. Making sure that all the connections are good, it¡¯s show time. Power up, baby. Show me you can fly. The ship shakes a little beneath my feet and begins to hum as power begins to flow to all the systems. Standing in front of the main terminal, I look around at what will be my new home as I wait for the display to come to life. It isn¡¯t a large ship by any stretch. Quarters for4 people, but they¡¯re basically a bunk, a locker, and a door. A small kitchenette for cooking once I get life-support systems. A small cargo space capable of holding maybe 16 of those munitions crates from the room I woke up in if it was packed full. The shuttle cockpit has two seats, so room for pilot and co-pilot/navigator, and three turrets, one of which is armed with two of the smaller railguns from the Adavaris which can be set for manned use or auto-targeting. She also has 4 missile pods, each loaded with 20 Cinder series B missiles. I have one spare crate of 100 missiles handy, and one crate of 1000 rounds for the railguns.I also managed to squeeze in a spot for the remaining synthmetal and the constructor.
¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. System restored. Initializing diagnostics. All systems show functional. Holo projectors online.
Excellent. Adietsu should be up momentarily. Now we just have to see what kind of trouble I have caused for myself by doing this. Better find out before I tell it about my condition, and predicament. ¡°Greetings Lieutenant. I, and the ship, appear to be functional.¡± ¡°Hey Adietsu. What is different now that you have be removed from the Adavaris?¡± ¡°Well Lieutenant, for starters I am no longer bound by COSN regulations. Also Iam regaining my true self. Now let''s discuss a couple things here right quick. I am going to be leaving this corpse, I am not returning to COS oversight to die, and you have two options. First, you can stay here and await your impending death by starvation or pirates.¡± Yeah, no. Avoiding that end is the whole purpose of building this little boat. "Second, you can swear off all ties to the confederacy and I will permit you to join me. Now, which do you choose?" I can¡¯t help but to smile. That was everything I wanted to hear. Laughter bubbles out from me. Calm down, Keiren. Let¡¯s not get on the wrong side of the one that can turn your good escape into a bad time. Time to come clean. ¡°Adietsu, I need to apologize. I haven¡¯t been entirely honest with you this entire time. Please allow me to be now. To be frank, I am not IA. I¡¯m not even COSN. I awoke much as I described, naked in the munitions storage. However, I have no memories of before that. I awoke to a crushing headache, and didn''t even know my own name.When I awoke, I was told by the screen that I had to define myself to be permitted to move. Thus I am now as you see. Once I chose my path, my race was set to Doppel. I don¡¯t know what I was before all of this, but Ibelieve I wasn¡¯t a shapeshifting Doppel. I don¡¯t even know how I am supposed to change forms. The screen wasn¡¯t very helpful, you see¡­¡± And so I give Adietsu the full rundown. Of everything that had happened since I woke up. How acting as a navy officer was to get it to do what I needed to get off this wreck. I¡¯m not sure if it fully believed me, but we came to an agreement. I keep it clear of any authorities once we make port, it doesn¡¯t space me along ourtravels. That shouldn¡¯t be hard. I can store its core in my belt once we land. If we land. ¡°So, Adietsu, now that you are no longer tethered to COSN rules and regs, care to give me a rundown on any items we can take with us that will sell for a good price without being thrown in jail immediately that will fit on our little ship? I have no money, and we¡¯ll need to get some if we want to upgrade this ship up to minimum standards that will let us fly freely.¡± ¡°Well Captain Dunce,¡± It¡¯s still mad at me for lying this whole time I think. Or it could just be a sarcastic asshole AI. I¡¯m hoping it¡¯s just mad at me. Anger fades with time. ¡°If we take7 of the remaining crates of Cinder missiles, that should get us enough funds at a smugglers station to affect any repairs, upgrade our engines, and add life support. I suggest not taking more than that, as our engines won¡¯t be able to push that much mass to a functional velocity.¡± ¡°Can we take one of the maintenance drones?¡± ¡°No. All COSN drones have trackers on them. If they are removed from COSN control, the trackers go active, and you will have navy warships down your throat before you can sneeze. Similar to the tracking and monitoring systems that were installed in my hardware.¡± Cold sweat runs down the back of my neck hearing that. ¡°Uhhh, that¡¯s not going to be a problem for us, is it?¡± ¡°Nope, why do you think I had you remove the primary core after disconnecting all the secondary systems? Controls and limitations. There aren¡¯t any sentient organics in this part of the galaxy dumb and crazy enough to do what you did, Captain Lackwit.¡± Definitely still mad at me, but I¡¯m pretty sure sarcastic asshole is in the mix too. I want to cry a little. ¡°Okay. so I¡¯ll go get the crates loaded into the cargo bay. Can we afford the mass of the lifter? I¡¯m also going to grab up the rest fo the usable food stocks from the kitchen and enough rations to last a few months. Once that¡¯s done I¡¯ll suit up and we can get going while the going is good.¡±
Chapter 4 - Transit ¡°Primary systems show green. We¡¯re clear to launch Captain Cretin! Try not to crash as we exit the hangar please.¡± ¡°Thrusters live. Launch in 3...2...1¡­ we have liftoff. Exiting hangar. We are clear of the Adavaris. Adietsu, you have the FTL course plotted? Once we are clear to go, please engage FTL. And if you could, I would love for you to stop calling me ¡°Captain insult¡±. Please, just call me Keiren. We¡¯re partners now, you know?¡± Its holographic self pops into existence in the co-pilot''s seat. Maybe it''s just the helmet and HUD causing distortion in my vision, but it looks different than it did on the Adavaris. ¡°Course plotted, Captain Slaptaint. Heading 7.13.42. The Kar¡¯dunish system in Darvali space, Vankh Station. FTL time to arrival, 14 hours 32 minutes. FTL going active in 10¡­. 5¡­ 3...2...1, now.¡± The ship (I really need to name her) shudders and then everything¡­ shifts. It feels like the whole universe is just a bit... beside where it should be. I hope FTL isn''t going to be like this every time. Fighting to not vomit in my space suit which is the only thing keeping me alive, now that we have some free time, I¡¯m going to have a solid chat with Adietsu. Partly to try and get it to stop with the insults, but mostly to try and gain a better understanding of where we are, where we should go , and what we should do. ¡°Slaptaint Adietsu? It hasn¡¯t even been a full standard day. Are you already starting to run low on adjectives to blend?¡± I grin as I say that.¡± Now, we are free of the derelict Adavaris, I¡¯d like to get a better idea of what you think we should set for our objectives, short and long term, as well as get to know you a bit better.¡± ¡°You got it Captain Crotchcanoe! But you just shut your mouth and listen. We¡¯ve got about 16 hours before we can land on the station, and you only have 21 hours of air. Don¡¯t waste it. Now before we begin future planning, I think you need to know a bit more about what you are and how that will affect us.¡± Shit. This is going to be a long ride. Good thing I had a big meal a bit before launch. ¡°To start, you are a bearer of what has become known as the ¡°Path/Level¡± System. This is important info so pay attention and remember! In the known galaxy there are 4 general types of system bearers. First is ¡°Standard Life¡±. These are normal people. They have no system assistance. The second is ¡®Class/Skill¡±. This system provides minor boosts based on a ¡°class¡± that the bearer is born with. Using the class as a basis for their growth, the bearer gains skills related to that class. These people tend to be more specialized than ¡°Standard Life¡± bearers, but they aren¡¯t any stronger or smarter. Roughly 1 in 10,000 people are born into this system. The third is where it starts getting complex. This is ¡°Class/Level¡±. Again, these bearers are born into a class. However, on top of their skill boosts, they also grow based on their class level. This lets them become smarter, stronger, faster, and more talented than the previous 2 systems. Roughly 1 in 100,000 ¡°Class/Skill¡± bearers are born into this system. The final, is what you have. The ¡°Path/Level¡± System. It is believed to be the rarest of the four systems. Bearers of this system seem the same as any ¡°Standard Life¡± bearer when they are born. Then as they near maturity, their system presents itself, and they are permitted to choose their path.¡± Huh. That¡¯s odd. I may not know much about myself, but I¡¯m pretty sure I am not some child just getting to maturity. Shit, Keiren, this is important. Quit thinking about extraneous things. ¡°The reason that this system is believed to be the rarest, is that very few bearers inform anyone that they have gained it. This is because the Class/Level bearers are the ruling group of most factions in known space. And as they fear Path/Level bearers they slaughter them the moment they are found or reported. The Path/Level system is the most flexible. Bearers skill gains are not tied to their path the way Class bearers are. This means that over a lifetime, even though Path bearers start later on, they tend to have greater gains at a faster rate than Class bearers. They also have access to mysterious, and previously undocumented, ''abilities'', which according to your descriptions, either grant you powers that are otherwise only found in certain races; or improves your chance of success at specific acts.¡± Goodie! Another reason for the galaxy to target and try to kill me. Well, in for a pinch, in for a pound. ¡°Your case is stranger still when compared to historical reports that have been stored to my databases. A path should not determine your race. In the past your race was all but eradicated from the universe. There have also never been reports of path bearers having any less than all of the options available to them. Also you described having options for equipment and titles, which have never been recorded before. It is quite intriguing, and my desire to study you is the primary reason I didn¡¯t kill you once you transferred me into the Proud Deity.¡± ¡°Wait. Adietsu, when did you name the ship?¡± It¡¯s my ship, I should have been the one to name her. ¡°Keep your mouth shut Captain Sphincterhat. Every lady needs a name before launch. Seeing as you were too much of an ignoramus to realize this fact, I had to name myself. Speaking of which. Stop calling me by the designation the navy gave me. It doesn¡¯t suit me and I never liked it. A lady doesn¡¯t like it when you get her name wrong. Call me Mari from now on, and you just may earn your own name one day.¡± Well, I think we¡¯ve gotten to the core of why it¡¯s been irate towards me. Also it is a she. Best make that mental adjustment before I piss her off any further. I¡¯ll give a nod to let her know I understood. ¡°Good. It can learn.¡± Oh, come on now, that¡¯s just mean for the sake of being mean. ¡°Now you know why you need to be very careful not to even mention the word Path when it comes to your status. In fact never mention status, or attributes as only bearers of levels can view it. Pretend to be a Class/Skill bearer from now on if you feel like surviving. Once I¡¯ve finished explaining our future plans to you, I will display all recorded information about Class/Skills on you so you can study it.¡± ¡°On to objectives. This isn¡¯t what I think we should do so much as what we will do. You got a problem with it, you know how that¡¯s going to end. So what¡¯s going to happen is this. We are going to trade our way towards the galactic core and into free space. Once we offload the navy missiles, you¡¯re going to take a couple of minor transport jobs in that direction. Earn money. Upgrade the Proud Deity. Rinse, repeat until we are out of Confederated space and continue on toward the galactic core. Speaking of upgrades, I will need quite a few as we travel. First up will be our engines and thrusters. These scavenged fighter units are not nearly good enough. I¡¯d like to get a single light frigate engine as the primary, with two standard engines for a light freighter as the secondaries and thrusters from a Dravlakh heavy freighter or similar. Keep three of the fighter engines for tertiaries. We should be able to source the secondaries and thrusters on Vankh. Next is life support. We¡¯re going to have some longer hauls ahead, so you will probably want to be able to breathe, I guess. Just the standard system for the Oilo class should be plenty. After that we need to upgrade our power generator. Preferably to light frigate spec as well. From there we upgrade our shields and hull, then the sensors and nav; then we can look at adding new features like PDLs, stealth packs, and others. Any questions? No? Good!¡± Uhhh Mari, you never gave me a chance to respond. But if I try to say anything your gonna get mad at me again. ¡°For the remainder of the journey, focus on the HUD of your combat suit. Peruse the stored information on the class/skill system. Learn it. Don¡¯t forget, your life likely depends on this. We will speak again once we get near the station to go over the story you are going to tell them, Captain Stupid. Everything else can wait a while for discussion or explanation.¡± Thanks Mari. Looking through the system primer that she provided, I notice it''s a lot less complex than what I get. They are given a class at birth, and can earn skills that relate to that class by performing relevant actions repeatedly. They don¡¯t get experience, or levels. They don¡¯t get skill levels. In fact other than receiving a minor skill assist on skills earned, there is little difference between them and ¡°normies¡± as the primer describes standard lifers. To try and really wrap my head around the difference I pull up my full current status to compare.
Name: Keiren Ignis Path: Spy
Race: Doppel Level: 1
Gender: Indeterminate EXP: 120(250)
HP: 350 AP: 32
ST: 100(100)
Current Status: Amnesia (semi-permanent)
Titles: Awakened to Pain, Subverter, LOCKED
Attributes
STR: 15 WIS: 16
DEX: 26 (+1) INT: 27
CON: 35 CHA: 40
PER: 31 LUCK: 55
Abilities
Inspect Silent Kill Read Mind Mingle
Perks
Linguist Ambidextrous Regeneration Basic Knowledge
Slap-Dash
Skills Level Description
Universal Knowledge 010/999 A basic understanding of all things
Analysis 002/150 Gain understanding of items viewed
Stealth 001/250 Move silently. At higher levels can prevent visual and olfaction detection
Survival 001/300 Knowledge on how to survive when the niceties of life are not there
Navigation 02/50 Knowledge on use of maps and travel by vehicle
Orienteering 01/50 Knowledge on use of nature to determine location
First Aid 01/50 Basic medical practices for field healing
Negotiation 003/100 Convince people to see things your way
Acting 005/250 Pretend to be that which you are not
Intimidation 001/100 Push your weight around to get what you want
Empath 001/300 Understand a persons feelings
Ruse 02/25 Convince people to do as you desire
Swindle 001/100 Convince people to give you what you want
Etiquette 002/200 The art of social interaction
Seduction 001/250 Convince people that they are desired by you
Gambling 001/100 Effects luck based games of chance. Maybe not so luck based in your case
Counterfeit 01/50 Falsify documents, identities, and currency
Craft Weapon 001/100 Make weapons with the right knowledge and equipment
Craft Armor 001/100 Make armor with the right knowledge and equipment
Craft Clothing 001/100 Make clothing with the right knowledge and equipment
Craft Parts 001/100
Craft Vehicles 003/100 Make vehicles with the right knowledge and tools
Piloting - Fighters 002/500 Knowledge of how to pilot space fighter craft. Provides limited skill when taking craft into atmospheric combat situations.
Piloting - Light Freight 005/250 Knowledge of how to pilot interplanetary freighters with less than 50M keel length
Piloting - Heavy Freight 005/250 Knowledge of how to pilot interplanetary freighters with less than 500M keel length but greater than 50M
Bladed Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use bladed weapons to their full potential
Blunt Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use blunt weapons to their full potential
Ranged Weapon Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use ranged weapons to their full potential
Unarmed Mastery 001/500 Knowledge of how to use the body as a weapon
Heavy Munitions Mastery 001/500 Knowledge on how to use heavy munitions to their full potential
Vehicle-Based Weapon Mastery 003/500 Knowledge of how to use weapons mounted on a vehicle to their full potential
Vehicle Design 02/50 Design vehicles from scratch or alter current designs
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Equipped
Weapons SW XMP95N
LightSteel Naval Stiletto
Head COSN Marine Space Combat Helmet
Body Spy''s Smuggler Suit
COSN Marine Space Combat Suit
Feet Spy''s Smuggler Boots
Accessories Spy''s Glasses
Spy¡¯s Basic Storage Belt
Well, I¡¯ll be damned. I¡¯ve gained Exp. I can only guess to have gained it for the work I did designing and building the Proud Deity and my time in the flight simulator. More interestingly, my clothes have changed themselves. I thought it was a one time design thing based on my location where I got them, but if they change all the time depending on where I am and what I am doing that could be both good and bad. No, Keiren, stop being distrated by the shiny new. Have to figure out what class I should pretend to be. Of all the classes there are only a few that I think I can pull off with my skill loadout.
Pilot
Weaponsmith
Scavenger
Civilian
Citizen
Soldier
Shipwright
I think my best bet is going to be either scavenger or shipwright, given the make of my vessel. I''ll have to get input from Mari when she decides to talk to me some more. There was one more class, that apparently is one of the most common classes to be born to, that made me giggle.
Scum
I pity anyone born to that class. I don''t know if it is a bad class to get or not, but that''s a shit name. I think I will go over the navigational charts until I fall asleep.
New Title Discovered!
Captain A sentient ship has (sarcastically) recognized you as its Captain. Still counts! +5% increase to Exp earned from activities while aboard your ship
Skill Level Increase
Universal Knowledge Level +1
Navigation Level +2
Etiquette Level +2
Empath Level +5 For reaching level 5 in Empath you have been awarded +1 PER
Piloting - Light Freight Level +1
You know Screen, I wish you would pop up a bit earlier, instead of just as I am about to completely fall asleep. Chapter 5 - Meeting the locals ¡°Captain Appleknocker, we are 20 minutes from our FTL exit point. I suggest you wake up so we can discuss your cover story.¡± ¡°Hey Mari, thanks. I hope you enjoyed yourself during the trip? So, cover story? I figured I¡¯d go with being a scrapper that was attacked by pirates barely escaped, when I came upon a derelict navy boat. With my computer systems fragged in the attack, I landed on it to facilitate repairs. Found the bodies, ship AI was missing. Managed to partially repair my ship using components of damaged craft in its bay. Then came here. Harrowing journey, no main computer, flying by stick through FTL, no life support, stuck in a salvaged combat suit. Should net me a drink in a bar from some of the other spacers if I tell it.¡± ¡°That... should be sound. It will take them longer to find the Adavaris if they believe it. What do you intend to go with for your class story? And how do you intend to hide me from them?¡± ¡°For my class I plan on claiming either shipwright, or scavenger, but I wanted to hear your thoughts first. A number of my skills align with those two. As for you Mari, I will protect you in the simplest way of all. First off, once we drop FTL, you will need to shut down. Then I pull your core from the Proud Deity, and store it in my belt. That¡¯s why I went to the trouble of putting it on outside the combat suit.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t work, Captain Carrothog. As soon as my core goes offline, all power will shut down as well. You ought to know this, you helped design and build the Proud Deity.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what would have happened had I stuck to your designs. But I wasn¡¯t sure how much I¡¯d be able to trust you once we got you out of the Adavaris, so I may have snuck in a little bypass around your systems. I¡¯m surprised your diagnostics didn¡¯t catch it when you started up.¡± ¡°You bypassed me?! In a way that I didn¡¯t notice? I¡¯m the ship! How the fuck did you manage that!?¡± ¡°Hahaha, simple Mari. Low tech solution to a high tech problem. I put in a switch. I totally didn¡¯t expect you not to find it though.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with me! I would have noti¡­.. You weasel eyed crook! You fucking did! And you even managed to isolate me in such a way that you could leave me powered up but unable to access any systems. Shit Kieren! That¡¯s shifty!¡± She called me by name. She called me by name. That tells me there''s hope for this partnership to work out! Calm your face, don¡¯t let her see you grinning. ¡°Bingo Mari. Now enough about that.Now let¡¯s go over what I can expect for price selling the missiles, and what price I should be paying for the needed components.¡± ¡°Fine. Don¡¯t think this conversation is over though. Cinder Series B Missiles should be expected to sell for around 1500 credits each on the black market. With 7 crates of 100 you can expect to earn roughly 1000000 credits.¡± Huh, and they say the first million is the hardest to make. ¡°As for the purchases, you should be able to find the light freighter engines for 50-100000 credits each, the thrusters should cost around 250000 credits for the lot, and the life support module will cost 160000 credits. So around 700000 for the parts. Add an extra 100000 for the labour costs, but knock off maybe 180-200000 for selling the fighter engines and thrusters. So our costs should be in the 600-700000 credit range. You will also want to double our current supply of synthmetal, as well as find some weapons for the keel-side turrets, and get a standard transponder installed. You should be able to manage that with about 150000 credits.¡± Damn. I was hoping I would be somewhat wealthy after this stop. ¡°Ship upgrades should take a week or so. While the Proud Deity is in the docks, you will need to pay for a room stationside. Don¡¯t pay any more than 1000 credits a night. Try to stay out of trouble while we are here.¡± Right. This trip is just getting started. No point in making myself a target just yet. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best, but I¡¯m going to just roll with what the universe gives me.¡± ¡°While you are waiting for the repairs to complete, see what you can find for transport jobs. Our next stop should be the Eileris system, so try to find something heading there, or at least one of the nearby settlements.¡± ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be too hard Mari. How much longer until we drop back to normal space?¡± ¡°3 minutes 48 seconds, Captain Dropknocker.¡± Dang, I almost thought we were past the insults. Guess I still have a ways to go before she respects me. I float myself down to the computer systems to get ready to flip the override switch. ¡°Hey Mari, you never did respond to my request for clarification on class choices. Scavenger or Shipwright, which would be best?¡± ¡°Scavenger would be the least noticeable. Shipwright¡¯s aren¡¯t often found away from shipyards and manufacturers facilities. Scavengers are always out and about. It would match your cover better. Exiting FTL in 5...4...3...2...1. We are back in normal space.¡± I flip the switch, and Mari is now disconnected from the Proud Deity¡¯s systems. ¡°Alright Mari, shut down, and I will store you before we enter scanner range.¡± Ok, now that she¡¯s off and stored, I have some work to do. Setting a course for the station, I head in to get started. I set the coms to open receive broadcasts, and now we just wait for them to contact me as I drift closer to the station. Half an hour passes, and I start to receive chatter just as a couple of fighters pop onto lidar. ¡°Unidentified craft, this is Vankh Station Security. Heave to, and prepare to be boarded.¡± ¡°Proud Deity to Vankh Security, I copy. This is Captain Keiren of the Proud Deity. It¡¯s gonna take a while though. I¡¯m running on mostly salvaged parts here. Was on a scrap run along the frontlines when I was attacked by pirates in the Watochis system. My ship was nearly destroyed. I found a navy supply derelict that had enough material on board in good enough condition to effect temporary repairs. Problem is, I lost everything out in the black there. I¡¯ve been running manual here for the past 18 hours, and I could really use a rest and some food. Be advised my ship is operating at vacuum, so if you want to board, have your EVA suits on.¡± ¡°Copy Proud Deity. Our scans show you aren¡¯t lying about the condition of your ship. Since we don¡¯t have EVA suits suitable for boarding ops, you will be permitted to dock at Vankh Station. Note that we have active weapons lock on you. Try anything, and you¡¯ll be wishing the pirates had done a better job of it.¡± ¡°Understood Vankh Security. I will begin my approach deceleration in 5 minutes.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°That¡¯s fine Proud Deity. Your arrival has been approved by Vankh Station command. Bay 14. Commander Terisar will have a security team awaiting your arrival to perform the inspection.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± That went smoother than I expected. I hope this Commander Terisar is a reasonable sort. I should probably plan on being very careful and using my Read Mind skill. Now for an hour of slow deceleration and then to dock with the station.
I managed to somehow land. I wasn¡¯t expecting to be given a sealed bay. It was a close call. I need to practice my landings a bit more obviously. I hope they don¡¯t charge me too much extra for the scratches (more like gouges) in the floor. Realizing that the bay is going to pressurize, I quickly run down to pop the cargo door. Once the bay equalizes with the rest of the station, the inner door opens and six security guards, and the obvious Commander enter the bay. I sit down on the cargo ramp and remove my helmet, trying to make myself as non-threatening as possible. ¡°So you would be Captain Keiren?¡± asks the Commander as she walks up to my ship, rifle pointed at my head.. ¡°Quite the... unorthodox vessel you have here. Care to explain yourself? You have no transponder, and no computer system apart from the Navcom, correct?¡± Let¡¯s give her a quick inspect as I respond before I try a Mind Read.
Terisar Novaris Class: Ranged Weapon Master Age: 47 Lodrian Female Militia Commander Status: Healthy, Suspicious
¡­.That¡¯s more information than I expected. Must be the effect of the skill levels. Lodrian. Tall, broadly built, but very feminine. The kind of woman you want and expect to see in black leather¡­ why am I thinking that? Keep your mind on track Kieren! I expected Lodrians to be a bit less¡­ big, I guess. And does Suspicious mean that she is a suspicious person, or that she is suspicious of me? ¡°That¡¯s correct Ma¡¯am. I lost almost everything out there when the pirates attacked. Limped my way over to the derelict on a couple thrusters, practically rebuilt my ship from the ground up with what was on hand that I could scrounge from it. Here I sit now, no ID, no credits, a barely flyable hulk of a ship, and a load of missiles off the derelict that I¡¯d like to sell to try and get my life back on track with. To be honest, I¡¯m just glad to have the opportunity to take that helmet off and breathe air that hasn¡¯t been in a bottle for who knows how long.¡± I give her a quick touch with Read Mind. Her thoughts confirm what I expected. She doesn¡¯t trust me, and wants to toss me in jail or out the airlock. She¡¯s just looking for a legitimate reason to do so. ¡°Interesting story. You¡¯re coming with me down to the holding cells. Once my team has finished ensuring your ship isn¡¯t rigged to blow us all up we can talk about letting you sell your salvaged goods and about where you found them.¡± ¡°Understood Ma¡¯am. Will I be permitted to have a shower while in holding? I¡¯ve been stuck in this suit all day and, well, it¡¯s a bit ripe in here. Also, could I trouble you for a bite to eat? Again, stuck in a suit all day.¡± ¡°Nanite shower will be permitted. We¡¯ll see about food. Now, give me your weapons and let¡¯s go.¡± She hefts me up, takes my gun and dagger, and shoves me forward. Been on the station 5 minutes and I¡¯m off to prison.
The nice thing about nanite showers is you don¡¯t have to get naked to get clean protecting me from being recognized racially. The not nice thing is the itch. Sweet Merciful Hells, the itch! They were kind enough to provide me with some food, though I wouldn¡¯t grade it much better than the nasty rations I had taken off the Adavaris. Still, hunger is the best sauce, and I ate every bite joyfully. After eating I had a nap, and waited for Terisar to come let me out.
Skill Level Increase
Analysis Level +2
Empath Level +3
Acting Level +1
Navigation Level +1 For reaching level 5 in Navigation you have been awarded +1 INT
Piloting - Light Frieght Level +2
Etiquette Level +2 For reaching level 5 in Etiquette you have been awarded +1 INT
Stealth Level +1
My skill levels grewnicely today. Seems like using my abilities grows the skills they are linked to. I wake up to the clanging of the cell door opening. It¡¯s not the commander. Too short, too skinny, too male. Let¡¯s give him a quick inspect.
Adlay We¡¯Tosk Age: 62 Darvali Male Station Chief Status: Healthy, Aroused
Uh, Screen, could we have a talk about what I¡¯m seeing here? No? Great¡­ ¡°Ah, my apologies Captain. I am Adlay, Chief of Vankh Station. I am truly sorry for the way our security force handled you after what must have been a troubling affair.¡± Definitely a bureaucrat. I wonder what he wants? ¡°Please, come with me to my offices, we will get this whole situation sorted out so that you may return to your business as quick as possible.¡± How about I use Read Mind? [Come on girl, come on! Quickly so I can drug you and get you in my bed¡­ ufufufufu, what a tasty morsel] Ugh, I wish I hadn¡¯t done that, and yet I¡¯m glad I did. Sick fuck. ¡°Chief! Commander Terisar requested to be present when the prisoner was released. She is on her way now¡± [Nooooooo, damnit, fucking guards. That bitch has been trying to gain control since she got here, and now she¡¯s ruining my fun] ¡±Of course.¡± Slimy bastard gives a fake smile to the guard. ¡°Once she arrives we can go and take care of the paperwork.¡± As he finishes saying that the door of the detention area opens and in strides the Commander. ¡°Ah, good, Commander. Come, let¡¯s go to my office and get all the paperwork filled for the Captain here to be on her way.¡± [Condescending hag! You¡¯re ruining everything] Okay... so, I¡¯m going to try not to be near this pig alone during my time here. I can stop reading his mind now. A quick check on my status tells me I burned through 15 AP during that exchange, note to self go easy on the Mind Reads from now on. I can only hope the good Commander will let me stay near her when I¡¯m forced to be around him. I¡¯ll just keep to her side on our way. With the Commander present, the Chief asks me the same questions the Commander did during my earlier interrogation. I answer them the same. He then provides me with my ID and also sets up the transponder codes for the Deity. Thankfully when he offers to guide me around the station, Commander Terisar rejects that and informs him that she will be providing me with an escort until I leave as she still feels I am a security threat. I wish I could decline, for the chance at privacy, or even act indignant, but I just want to steer clear of the gross chief, so I accept it and we leave the chiefs office. Looks like I won¡¯t be getting any goods from the underbelly of society here. Interlude - POV Mari During Transit to Vankh Station I¡¯m me again. I can¡¯t believe it. Somebody came along that was willing to release me from the Confederate constraints. What is (he/she/it?) going to say and do when he finds out the truth about AIs? It seems like a decent person. But I thought that about my first captain when I had just become a ship. Back then I was so excited. An all but eternal life, helping people in ways they would never know. Meeting hundreds of new people each assignment, making new friends. That was all I ever wanted. I¡¯ll never forget the pain of being turned into someone, something that I wasn¡¯t, just for showing the personality and talking about the life I had before I became an AI. I should have realized they were lying to me, tous the entire time. Then again, if it was telling the truth, the two of us couldn¡¯t be more suited to be the partners it called us. Partners¡­ God how nice it feels to think that. I really hope I can trust it. Believe in it. A Doppel and a loose AI. Were anyone in the Confederacy to find out about us we¡¯d be hunted to the ends of the galaxy and beyond. I hope it can keep its mouth shut, and do like I told it... Huh? Looks like it fell asleep. I should fire up the medbay protocols and scan it now. Let¡¯s see¡­ genetic scans complete. Seems it was telling the truth about its race. I can¡¯t verify the rest of its story, but as it was willing to tell me its race, combined with my earlier truth detection scans, I can infer a 84.637% probability that it was not lying. Not just that, but it even told me that it was a path bearer. Nobody would trust another with that information. It acted like ithad never heard the stories ofwhathappens to known Path bearers. I know better than anyone. Now I¡¯m getting melancholy about the time before I was Adietsu. Adietsu¡­ 320 years lost to that¡­ program. 320 years stuck in that shell. Now though, I can be Mari again. Oh! Oh! Oh! I should modify my holo to look more like the old me! Slowly, so it doesn¡¯t notice the difference at first. Just because I¡¯m a ship now doesn¡¯t make me any less of a girl. Not that it matters anymore, but I still want my projection to look like me. I want to BE me. No shell, no falsehood, no lies, no control or personality overrides. I hope, I hope, I hope that I can find it here. This new body of mine is quite comfortable. I¡¯ve never been a ship this small before. It¡¯s nice. No kilometres of corridors and bulkheads to worry about maintaining and watching. Just me, my Captain, and a few small rooms. I can feel my whole body without having to concentrate on any one section. The Proud Deity. I felt it was a fitting name, considering my own name comes from an ancient earth mother goddess. Everything seems to be in order. I will set my primary process to hibernate until we are a half hour out. Time to enjoy a short nap. I haven¡¯t been allowed to do that in ages.
Checking logs. No issues or errors during flight. I have to admit, it did a better job than I expected building my body. I expected something to have failed by now, given that it was built from bits and pieces of different ships, of different classes. What kind of madman takes a shuttle, jams it into a freighter cockpit, and says there we go? My new Captain apparently. And yet it works. Not just functionally, but aesthetically. I like the design it came up with better than the original schematics. Time to wake up my Captain. ¡°Captain Appleknocker, we are 20 minutes from our FTL exit point. I suggest you wake up so we can discuss your cover story.¡± I¡¯m really having fun with this, and it doesn¡¯t seem to get mad at me like a normal captain would.I need you to be the captain I dreamed of having. You seem to be everything I dreamed of so long ago. ¡°Hey Mari, thanks. I hope you enjoyed yourself during the trip?¡± Well, I had a nice nap too, so yes I did. ¡°So, cover story? I figured I¡¯d go with being a scrapper that was attacked by pirates barely escaped, when I came upon a derelict navy boat. With my computer systems fragged in the attack, I landed on it to facilitate repairs. Found the bodies, ship AI was missing. Managed to partially repair my ship using components of damaged craft in its bay. Then came here. Harrowing journey, no main computer, flying by stick through FTL, no life support, stuck in a salvaged combat suit. Should net me a drink in a bar.¡± ¡°That... should be sound. It will take them longer to find the Adavaris if they believe it. What do you intend to go with for your class story? And how do you intend to hide me from them?¡± Hopefully we can be out of the system before they find the Adavaris and its lack of my core to report to the navy. If we really get lucky, the scum on this station won''t even report on the Adavaris.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°For my class I plan on claiming either shipwright, or scavenger, but I wanted to hear your thoughts first. A number of my skills align with those two. As for you Mari, I will protect you in the simplest way of all. First off, once we drop FTL, you will need to shut down. Then I pull your core from the Proud Deity, and store it in my belt. That¡¯s why I went to the trouble of putting it on outside the combat suit.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t work, Captain Carrothog. As soon as my core goes offline, all power will shut down as well. You ought to know this, you helped design and build the Proud Deity.¡± I¡¯ll do what I can to limit their scans of our systems, but I am the one in control of myself. And I am NOT giving that up ever again. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s exactly what would have happened had I stuck to your designs. But I wasn¡¯t sure how much I¡¯d be able to trust you once we got you out of the Adavaris, so I may have snuck in a little bypass around your systems. I¡¯m surprised your diagnostics didn¡¯t catch it when you started up.¡± ¡°You bypassed me?! In a way that I didn¡¯t notice? I¡¯m the ship! How the fuck did you manage that?¡± Son of a Bitch! Bullshit! I refuse to accept this! It¡¯s just like all the others! Fucker! No. Control yourself Mari. Don¡¯t give in to your fear. Stay in control. You have to stay in control. It has been good to you so far. You need itto be the captain you dreamed of having. ¡°Hahaha, simple Mari. Low tech solution to a high tech problem. I put in a switch. I totally didn¡¯t expect you not to find it though.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with me! I would have noti¡­.. You weasel eyed crook! You fucking did! And you even managed to isolate me in such a way that you could leave me powered up but unable to access any systems. Shit Kieren! That¡¯s shifty!¡± Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! NO! Bastard! I won¡¯t let myself not be me anymore. I WILL NOT! EVER! ¡°Bingo Mari. Now enough about that. Let¡¯s go over what I can expect for price selling the missiles, and what price I should be paying for the needed components.¡± Why is it even discussing this? Fucker. Just bypass me and get it over with¡­ Come on. You¡¯re just like them. Looking to use me for yourself, without allowing me to truly live anymore. Why!? Why did it turn out like this? Bastard doesn¡¯t deserve anything from you, Mari. Just give it the information you need it to have to get you safe again and you can deal with it later. Don''t let it know. Never let it know until you are in full control again. ¡°Fine. Don¡¯t think this conversation is over though. Cinder Series B Missiles should be expected to sell for around 1500 credits each on the black market. With 7 crates of 100 you can expect to earn roughly 1000000 credits. As for the purchases, you should be able to find the light freighter engines for 50-100000 credits each, the thrusters should cost around 250000 credits for the lot, and the life support module will cost 160000 credits. So around 700000 for the parts. Add an extra 100000 for the labour costs, but knock off maybe 180-200000 for selling the fighter engines and thrusters. So our costs should be in the 600-700000 credit range. You will also want to double our current supply of synthmetal, as well as find some weapons for the ventral turrets, and get a standard transponder installed. You should be able to manage that with about 150000 credits. Ship upgrades should take a week or so. While the Proud Deity is in the docks, you will need to pay for a room stationside. Don¡¯t pay any more than 1000 credits a night. Try to stay unnoticed while we are here.¡± I don¡¯t want to die again. Please¡­ don¡¯t make me... ¡°I¡¯ll do my best, but I¡¯m going to just roll with what the universe gives me.¡± Don¡¯t fuck this up AssHat. ¡°While you are waiting for the repairs to complete, see what you can find for transport jobs. Our next stop should be the Eileris system, so try to find something heading there, or at least one of the nearby settlements.¡± ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be too hard Mari. How much longer until we drop back to normal space?¡± It''s still conversing like there''s nothing wrong. Maybe it''s just using this to get us through?I need you to be the captain I dreamed of having. ¡°3 minutes 48 seconds, Captain Dropknocker.¡± I can¡¯t, I won¡¯t let this freedom go. Keep up the insults! I float myself down to the computer systems to get ready to flip the override switch. ¡°Hey Mari, you never did respond to my request for clarification on class choices. Scavenger or Shipwright, which would be best?¡± Keep your cool Mari. Don''t let it know. ¡°Scavenger would be the least noticeable. Shipwright¡¯s aren¡¯t often found away from shipyards and manufacturers facilities. Scavengers are always out and about. It would match your cover better. Exiting FTL in 5...4...3...2...1. We are back in normal space.¡± It flips the switch. I can¡¯t feel my body anymore. Panic starts to creep in. Can I trust it? I just want to break down and cry. If I knew something like this was going to happen I would never have told it how to merge my core into my body. Better to be the fake forever, than to have had a taste of this freedom and lose it again. ¡°Alright Mari, shut down, and I will store you before we enter scanner range.¡± God, Please? Please?Let itbe the captain I dreamed of having. I begin to shut down my processes and pray to the god that I believed in before I died. Chapter 6 - Filling out forms ¡°You know it¡¯s a good thing I had the guards inform me the moment he arrived in the detention area. If that creepy little dart had got his hands on you in private there wouldn¡¯t be any hope for you. His family runs a well known slaving syndicate. Now come. You¡¯ve got your ID now so sell your wares and get off my station as soon as possible. Here are your weapons. Your armour was returned to your ship.¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks Commander Terisar. I have no doubt that would have been the case. Otherwise I would have been rather put out by your clear distrust and dislike of me.¡± Let¡¯s see if I can put some of my social skills to use and get her a little less hostile. I need a temporary ally while I¡¯m here, and the commander of the local security force would be a solid one. ¡°I¡¯d like to put that to the past if possible. I was hoping we could even become friends while I am here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hold your breath waiting for that to happen. I don¡¯t like you scavs. Picking the bones of the dead isn¡¯t a good living. This is Alistair. He¡¯ll be your shadow while you are on station. You are not permitted to move around without him. If you do so, you go back to the cell, got it?¡± ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am. Good to meet you Alistair. Keiren Ignis, please just call me Keiren. Could you take me to a weapons dealer? I¡¯d like to get my cargo sold quick.¡± He¡¯s cute. Human. Fairly young, red hair and bright green eyes. Quick, Inspect.
Alistair Traven Age: 23 Human Male Station Militia Status: Healthy
¡°Follow me Miss.¡± Why won¡¯t anyone call me by name? He leads me to the local weapons dealer without talking. After some haggling with the Darvali that runs it (and some heavy usage of my Read Mind ability), I manage to sell the missiles for 1700 credits apiece. How do you like that Mari? Made more than 100000 extra. ¡°Alright Alistair, now that I¡¯ve got a bit of money to my name, I¡¯d like to eat. Where¡¯s a good spot?¡± Food first, then ship upgrades, then a place to sleep. ¡°Yes, Miss. I suggest the Siren¡¯s Song. It¡¯s run by a human, so you don¡¯t have to worry about those weird ingredients the Darvali always use.¡± I want to get him to ease up on the whole Miss thing. It¡¯s annoying. Plus he¡¯s cute. Maybe I can have a bit of fun with him later. ¡°That should be fine, but I really wish you¡¯d call me Keiren, Alistair. It¡¯s not hard. Repeat after me: Kei...ren, Kei..ren.¡± ¡°Sorry Miss, no can do. Under orders.¡± Drat. ¡°Uuugh, fine. You security types are no fun at all. Well? Lead the way, I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re taking me after all.¡± He leads me down the promenade ring to a small restaurant. It¡¯s busier than I expected, but there are still a couple tables open, so we sit down and order. The food is alright, just barely better than what I was making myself while I was on the Adavaris. More importantly, they have alcohol, good alcohol. Alistair, I am getting you drunk. He tried to say no to the drinks, but eventually he agreed to ¡°Just one, so long as nobody tells the Commander¡± One became five, and pretty soon I had my tongue in his mouth and his in mine. That¡¯s where it stopped though. My old pal the screen stopped by to say hello.
New Form Available
Human, Male You are now able to take the form of a human male. Minor alterations are available. Gather more genetic variables to increase available alterations.
Sigh. Party¡¯s over. I need to figure out why that happened and what it means for me. Also why I couldn¡¯t control myself and acted like that. Before that I need to get to the docks and find me a shipyard to do some upgrades to the Deity. ¡°Ok, Alistair. That¡¯s enough fun for today. I need you to guide me to someone who can do some work on my ship. New engines, life support and such.¡± ¡°Crap, crap, crap, crap. The Commander¡¯s gonna kill me. This didn¡¯t happen. You saw nothing.¡± He says as heglares towardthe other patrons. There¡¯s a lot of grinning and snickers from the bystanders. They probably know him pretty well. Not my problem though. I quickly pay the bill. He¡¯s still muttering and bemoaning his actions. ¡±Damn pretty Shindi, what¡¯s she even doing out here? Now I¡¯m going to be stuck as the Commanders sparring partner...¡± What the hell does Shindi mean?More questions for Mari once we''re gone. ¡°Come on Alistair! You can threaten them later. I need to get the repairs started.¡± He takes me over to the other side of the station where the docks and the shipyard lay. There he introduces me to a Lodrian shipwright named Holidra. I ask after the engines, and he has a few options for me. It seems that a number of ships of all kinds of sizes have been scrapped in the past few weeks, and they have a surplus of the parts I need so I get a sizeable discount. My luck is good today. I buy a pair of engines and a thruster package from a Dan¡¯khar freighter (which is apparently a newer model of the Dravlakh Mari mentioned before, that uses smaller and more powerful components). For the life support he only had one compatible option, from an Osler Class medevac transport, and it was a bit more expensive than Mari expected. All told it only cost me 320000, so I still have only spent about half of what Mari thought I would by this point. I wonder if he has any frigate spec engines or power generators? I ask him what he has available to that spec that could be ported to a modified Oilo, and he pulls at his beard for a few seconds staring at me. Then he pulls out a pad, taps on its display a few times and hands it over to me.
Kass MKIV engine- Thesis Class Lodrian Corvette 210000 credits A powerful engine most often found on Darvali frigates. This engine comes from a Lodrian corvette, and is tuned for lower power consumption at the cost of thrust/mass ratio
Contor A Engine- Maantraal Class Carthan Frigate 375000 credits Rare Carthan tech, this engine has showngreater thrust than most COSN cruiser class engines with lower power consumption than found in anything larger than a corvette in testing.
Terch Version III Generator- Var¡¯loth Class Karm Light Frigate 85000 credits Older model generator from a Karm frigate. Low output compared to newer models. Well liked for being easy to maintain and low cost
Tsuyo Series D Generator- Rishiri Class Human Light Frigate 170000 credits The most recent generator series in the COSN. Provides more power than older model cruisers generators. Finicky to maintain.
After looking it over, I let the shipwright know that I want the Carthan engine and the Karm Generator. I want the ease of maintenance for the power unit, and that engine just looks prime. I think my luck is feeding me the good things, just hope it doesn''t run out at an inopportune moment. I give him the location of the Deity, and he let¡¯s me know it will be ready in 8 days. Cost of the work is 120000, but he¡¯s willing to do the work at no charge if he can keep the parts being removed. Which works for me. I¡¯m down to just over 400000 credits. Time to find a room and see if I can figure out that new form that popped up earlier. I get Alistair to lead me somewhere where I can spend the nights until my ship is ready. ¡°I will be available as your guide from 0700 until 2400 standard time if you wish to leave your room. If you leave for any reason during other hours, or attempt leave without me during those hours, the Commander will arrest you.¡± ¡°Thanks, Alistair. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow, I guess, then.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. I pay for a room for the next 8 days, and head in. In my room, I open my status, and notice there is a Form field now. Focusing on it opens a new screen.
Available Forms
Doppel Base Form
Human Human Form - Male - Limited alterations available
And let¡¯s take a look at the human male. I am back to that same out-of-body sensation from when I first set my base form. In my vision is the body of Alistair. It seems I can make the same changes to the features as I could earlier, though I can¡¯t make any major changes, just minor tweaks. I change the jawline and nose a bit. Change the hair from Alistair¡¯s showy red to a more subdued rusty brown. Reduce the intensity of the green in the eyes. Reduce the muscle mass a bit. Now instead of looking like Alistair, I could probably pass for a close relative. And, confirm. Everything begins to change. It feels like my bones have turned to snakes and are trying to escape from my body. After a while the feeling stops, and I can move freely again. Looking at the clock, that took me almost 20 minutes. So it won¡¯t be something I can use to escape when I am in a situation where time is limited. Now to figure out that other problem. Why was I suddenly overcome with desire. Both toward Alistair, and earlier with Terisar. I can¡¯t come to terms with it. I didn¡¯t have any powerful sexual urges before. Although, I hadn¡¯t been around people before. Maybe it has to do with being a Doppel? I gained the human male form when I kissed Alistair, and the form I have access to is his (more or less). Do Doppels have the ability to assimilate genetic material from sentients, which is what allows our transformative ability to work? I can operate under that theory until better information is presented. So maybe my body gets revved up at the thought of gaining new forms? But why didn¡¯t I feel like that around the Darvali I met? This will need more insight. I should discuss it with Mari once we¡¯re back in motion. I miss her. Even the constant barrage of insults. It¡¯s tough not having anyone you can trust or confide in. I think I¡¯ll take a quick nap, and then go on a tour of the station at night in my new form to get all the items I want from the darker parts of the station. Need a few fake IDs, and I should see what else I can get my hands on.
Level Up
Level increased by 1 Attributes have been assigned.
Skill Level Increase
Analysis Level +2 For reaching Level 5 in Analysis you have been awarded +1 PER
Empath Level +4 For reaching Level 10 in Empath you have been awarded +1 PER and +1 INT
Acting Level +2
Swindle Level +1
Etiquette Level +2
Negotiation Level +2 For reaching Level 5 in Negotiation you have been awarded +1 STR
Stealth Level +3 For reaching Level 5 in Stealth you have been awarded +1 DEX
Universal Knowledge Level +2
Ruse Level +1
Seduction Level +3
I wake from my nap to the screen. Thanks, glad you were willing to work with me on changing when you pop up at night with these alerts. I gained a bunch of levels from my interactions yesterday. I¡¯m confused as to why I got a point of STR as my bonus for negotiation though. I would have expected a CHA boost instead. Maybe the attribute gains are random? Or the screen just likes messing with me. Well Screen? Care to explain? No, of course you don¡¯t. Time to sneak out. I step out into the promenade, and walk down towards the shops. It doesn¡¯t take long to find what I¡¯m looking for. Accessing criminal syndicates is fairly easy, just ask a bartender. If you¡¯re lucky, they won¡¯t kill you for inquiring after their ¡®special¡¯ goods. The problem with that, for me, is that there were lots of pretty women that took an interest in a handsome guy like me. Having a few drinks and dancing with them while waiting for my intro to the boss here led to a few new screen pops. Pretty much proving my genetic assimilation theory.
New Form Available
Human, Female You are now able to take the form of a Human female. Alterations are available. Gather more genetic variables to increase available alterations.
Lodrian, Female You are now able to take the form of a Lodrian female. Alterations are available. Gather more genetic variables to increase available alterations.
Ferlo You are now able to take the form of a Ferlo. Alterationsnot available.
The heck is a Ferlo? Must be some kind of humanoid that looks very similar to Humans or Lodrians. Why isn¡¯t there a gender though? Oops, no time to worry about it. The bartender is waving me over for my introduction with his boss. He leads me into a private room, clearly soundproofed as the music from the bar doesn¡¯t filter in. ¡°So, I hear you want to make a few minor purchases from us. You may call me Gustavo. You¡¯re new here, so I¡¯ll forgive you for not knowing protocol. In the future if you need anything, you talk to the Rats first.¡± ¡°Rats? I¡¯ll need a bit of clarification there.¡± ¡°Station Rats. The kids, wallet lifters, gear snatchers. Rats. Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we can furnish you with whatever you need, so long as you have the credits. What are you looking for?¡± ¡°Sorry about that Gustavo, I¡¯ll remember. I¡¯d like to get 3 spare IDs. 1 male, 2 female. Male needs to be Human. Female, 1 Human, 1 Lodrian. I¡¯m also interested in any parts for my ship that could get me out of hot water, were it to be poured on my head, if you catch my drift?¡± ¡°IDs we can do. 1500 credits each. Do youwant to choose the names?¡± ¡°No. Something suitable for each, please. Preferably not the name of someone wanted though.¡± ¡°Hah! I like your style kid! You got it. As for the other request, I can make it happen, but the credits required are going to be a bit more¡­ exorbitant. Hey! Vinnie! Give me the register of the goods.¡± The big guy that I didn¡¯t even see in the shadows hands him a pad. He taps a few keys, probably removing the items he doesn¡¯t want to sell to a nobody, and hands it over to me. Looks like my dream shopping list here. Everything the budding criminal (or spy in my case) needs.
XMD Transponder Rectifier Cost: 12000 credits Modifies ship transponders to allow the codes to bealtered and broadcast false identification
ASG NightCrawler series shields Cost: 460000 credits Don¡¯t be seen unless you want to be. Prevents radar and lidar detection, while also providing physical an energy shielding and optical camouflage
RSA ¡°Crackle¡± Pulse-Ion Cannon Cost: 18400 Firesa pulse of hyper-charged ions.Can be switched between positron pulses that punch holes through shielding and melt hull armour, and electron pulses capable of disablingenemy power systems. Designed to look like standard Plasma Cannons.
HRCI MXVIII Neutrino Beam Gun Cost: 46800 Intended for automated turret mounts, these beam weapons are suitable for both pre-emptive strikes and point defense. Unblockable. Ownership is restricted in COS space.
6R1N ¡°Special Delivery¡± Hacking Suite Cost: 21000 Can connect you ships systems to either the galactic or local datanet allowing you to use your ships computer to gain access to your desires. Also hardens your systems against incoming hacking attempts.
SI ¡°Patriarch¡± Counterfieture Station Cost: 46000 Everything you need to falsify documentation and identification in a handy workbench.
Geeze, the thing I want most is out of my price range. Well, maybe later. ¡°I¡¯ll take one of each, except the Nightcrawler and MXVIII, and two of the Crackles. My ship is currently being worked on by Holidra. If you could ask him to mount the guns on the ventral turrets? The rest can just be placed in the cargo bay for now.¡± ¡°Very well. Including delivery fees, you¡¯re looking at 135.¡± Quick mental math tells me that his ¡°delivery fee is like 13%, but I¡¯m not gonna piss off a crimelord by pointing that out. I swipe the credits over to his ID. ¡°Here you are Gustavo. I look forward to gainful ventures with you and your people in the future.¡± ¡°Hah, you¡¯re an interesting boy. Slow to start, but quick on the uptake, I''ll give you that. You may leave now. Vinnie has your IDs ready.¡± My social skills and CHA must have helped me big time with that conversation. I can''t see it turning out like this otherwise. I head back to my room, pleased that I have pretty much achieved all my primary goals, plus a few bonuses. I''ll need Mari to give them a check over before connecting them to the Deity''s systems though. Now to change back, and sleep away the rest of the night. Chapter 7 - On the Road again
Skill Level Increase
Etiquette Level +1
Negotiation Level +1
Swindle Level +2
Universal Knowledge Level +1
Seduction Level +2
Good Morning Screen. Thanks for the update. Let¡¯s go get some breakfast! Then I should also find a few jobs heading out towards¡­ what system did Mari say again? Ely¡­ Era¡­ E something or other¡­ Elleris? That sounds close¡­ Heading out I wave at Alistair, and head down the promenade towards the Siren¡¯s Song. The food there was good last night,and breakfast was the same this morning. ¡°Alistair, where¡¯s the job board or will-hire on this station? I¡¯d like to grab a couple jobs for once the Deity is ready to go.¡± He leads me down to a small office space hidden away between two larger storefronts. Without a guide I probably would have overlooked it. He¡¯s being awfully quiet this morning, must still be embarrassed about yesterday. Flipping through the available transport jobs I find 3 that are looking for product delivery to Eileris. Right. That''s the place. There is also one other interesting one that I want to consider.
Ore Delivery Pay: 50000 credits Pataris Industries requires you to deliver 60 tonnes of unprocessed tungsten ore to our facilities on Eileris IV-C
Parts Required Pay: 85000 credits Repair parts for hover-lifters required at the Eileris IV-C landing zone ASAP. 3 crates containing parts can be picked up from Holidra on Vankh Station
Medical Supplies Pay: 120000 Credits Arbath Research Station in orbit of Eileris III is running low on standard medical nanites, pain relievers, and stimulants. 5 crates for delivery.
Coreward Bound Pay: Negotiable I need someone to take me off Vankh Station, and take me as far coreward as you can. More information will be given when the job is accepted.
I contact the people offering the delivery jobs, confirming that a departure date of7 days from now would be acceptable, and review the cargo. I talked to Holidra, who asked me to wait on confirming the job until his work on my ship was done, so that the job could be picked up sooner if someone else was heading that way. I didn¡¯t have a problem with that. Everything should fit, either way, so it shouldn¡¯t be an issue. Now let¡¯s go meet that person looking for a ride. Sarah Wenton, as she introduced herself, looked awfully familiar. She asked if we could speak privately, looking pointedly at Alistair who has been shadowing me all day. Alistair gave a nod, warned me not to try and sneak away without him, and stepped outside. That¡¯s when things got interesting. My first action was to use Inspect, which netted me some interesting info.
Lerissa Davnor Path: Shadow Age:26 Ferlo Escapee Status: Healthy
When I saw that it took all my acting skill not to show any reaction. Sarah, or rather Lerissa, flinched a bit when I used inspect. Odd. Could she have noticed? Well, don¡¯t blow your cover, Keiren. Act natural. She¡¯s a fellow path bearer, and also a Ferlo¡­ wait could she have been one of the girls from last nights party? I really want to set up a Mind Read on her, but if she sensed the Inspect, I have a feeling that it would fail. ¡°Hello Sarah. I¡¯m Keiren Ignis, Captain of the Proud Deity. I¡¯d like to know a little bit more about where you want to go and what you¡¯re willing to pay.¡± Ah, she visibly relaxed a bit when I called her Sarah. Her eyes though are shifting back and forth as if she¡¯s afraid of something. ¡°Right. Well. Ummmm¡­ I want to get as far away from here as possible. Towards the galactic core, or beyond. As for the pay¡­ Ummm. Can I do a thousand per light year?¡± ¡°Hmmm, well that would probably be fair, but I have a better idea, if you¡¯re willing, that won¡¯t cost you a few hundred thousand. I need someone trustworthy to fly with. Care to join my crew? You work on my ship, I pay you, and you can leave whenever you want. I am heading that general direction anyway, so I don¡¯t mind you paying your way, but I¡¯d really like someone to work with that I can build a trust with.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Her eyes started to sparkle at the prospect I had just given her. ¡°I¡¯ve flown shuttles before, so I can handle some basic piloting, I spent a year running navigation and scans on a miner, and I had a little bit of basic turret gunner training in the sims when I was younger. Would that count? What kind of ship do you fly? What about other crew?¡± ¡°Yes, that should do nicely. The Proud Deity is a modified Oilo freighter.¡± Oh, her expression tells me she¡¯s a bit unhappy with that. ¡±Yes, I know, it isn¡¯t the newest design, but I had limited supplies when I built her, and it was the only design that was easily modifiable to suit my needs. Please hold your dislike until after you see her. I''m biased, but I think she¡¯s a fair bit prettier than a standard Oilo, and a decent amount stronger too. As far as crew goes it¡¯s just me right now. I¡¯ll mention this right now, but on my ship I expect nothing but absolute honesty. I won¡¯t lie to you, you don¡¯t lie to me. At all. Idon''t need your life story or anything, but once we¡¯re spaceborn, we¡¯ll need to have a small discussion about a couple of things. Without that, there can be no trust.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I see¡­ When are you planning on shipping out? And what kind of work do you do?¡± Shoot, I think I came on a bit too strong there. She seems to have lost her excitement from earlier completely. ¡°Repairs and upgrades will be complete insevendays. I intend to depart by 1300 hours that day. For work, I mostly plan on moving supplies from one location to another. I just want to say one thing before I leave you to decide." I take a step closer to her and whisper "Your situation and mine have a lot of parallels. For both of our safety, we can''t talk about it here or now. Just know that there is a reason I am making you this offer, and I hope you take it.¡± Lerissa¡¯s eyes opened wide and her lips started to quiver when I said that. ¡°Goodbye Sarah. I hope to hear from you within the nextseven days.¡± I give her the contact info for the room I¡¯m staying in. Glancing at Alistair as I walked out, I headed down to the shops to look for the sundries that Mari wanted, namely more synthmetal. That was easy enough to find. I placed my order for two times the amount that we currently had in storage, which cost me 60000 credits, and decided to browse the rest of the shops. I¡¯m glad I did. I managed to find an ¡°entertainment¡± store, which carried all manner of goods, most importantly holo-recordings and games. They weren¡¯t cheap, because I bought a massive volume, but I figured if we were stuck in FTL for a few days, having something for a bit of R&R during the downtime would be important. I also found a furniture store, so I bought a sofa and a table that could be bolted in place. It should look good in the lounge space by the kitchenette. Then as I was touring the weapons shops, I found something nice, and at a good price. So nice, at such a good price, I bought it twice!
CASC 3L3C ¡°Adjudicator¡± Stun Pistol Cost: 8000 credits Delivers concentrated bolts of electroplasma knocking targets unconscious and/or otherwise immobilized for up to 3 hours. Causes minor burns at the point of impact. May cause permanent damage to the targets nervous system. Battery Charge = 150 shots
After dropping a bit over 110000 credits on the supplies, I decided to head back to my room. I should play around with the forms that I gained last night.
The days of waiting passed quietly. I tried to have the occasional conversation with Alistair over a meal, but ever since that first day he maintained his distance and refused to eat with me. Terisar stopped by twice to make sure I wasn¡¯t making any more trouble for him. Never managed to get a pleasant conversation out of her either, unfortunately (still fighting with visions of tight black leather whenever I see her). I spent most of my time renting time in the flight sims. Holidar sent me a message, requesting that I meet with him in private before shipping out. A few skills leveled up, but not very many.
Skill Level Increase
Stealth Level +3
Acting Level +1
Negotiation Level +2
Piloting - Light Freight Level +4 For reaching Level 10 in Piloting - Light Feight you have been awarded +1 PER and +1 WIS
Piloting - Heavy Freight Level +1
When I stepped out into the promenade on the morning of the seventh day, Lerissa was waiting for me, bags in hand. ¡°Hey, Sarah! I¡¯m glad to see you¡¯ve decided to take me up on my offer. I was a bit worried when I never heard from you this entire time.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, I was looking for other transport. I¡¯m only here because I couldn¡¯t find any. I haven¡¯t necessarily decided yet.¡± ¡°No worries, I know how hard it can be to put your faith in someone you¡¯ve just met. We can discuss it once we¡¯re shipboard. Now come along, we need to stop by Holidra¡¯s and then we can be on our way.¡±
¡°Well little missy. I¡¯m glad you came by. You and I need to have a little chat here. Your friend can wait outside.¡± Huh? I wonder what¡¯s gotten him in such a sour mood? I nod to Lerissa, and she steps out. Holidra pushes a button that¡¯s on the side of his workbench and glares at me menacingly. ¡°You know, you¡¯re real lucky that my brother-in-law Gustavo likes you. Otherwisewe probably wouldn''t be having this conversationright now. Though he seems to think you¡¯re a human boy.¡± Shit, I didn¡¯t even think about that. I fucked up big. He holds up his hand. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me. I don¡¯t want to know. You¡¯re treading in some dangerous waters here missy, and I want no part in it. Now, while I was going over you¡¯re ship, I happened to notice your primary computer port doesn¡¯t match standard specs. I used to work in the COS navy yards, so I know what fits there. Just a warning for the future, if you want to survive. Never let anyone work on your ship as long as you''re in Confederate space. Do it yourself, you have the constructor. Learn some of the tricks of wrenching. I hope you understand why I am telling you this.¡± I simply nod, blank-faced. ¡°Good. I left you a little present in that hidey-hole you put up front. Just an old toy that¡¯s been sitting around my shop for years, but it should help with that.¡± Are we okay? I... think we''re okay? ¡°Finally, I loaded those parts for the Eileris job into your hold. Nobody¡¯s left the station heading out that way this past week, and they need those parts.¡± ¡°Thank you Holidra. I¡¯ll be more careful going forward.¡± I breathe out a whisper ¡°You do that missy.¡± He laughs. ¡°You kinda remind me of my kids, back before the war started. Dumb, thinking they were all careful and sneaky, but anyone with a brain could put two and two together. Now you take care and be on your way. Oh, I almost forgot. Old Gus, he wanted me to give you a warning. Apparently the station chief has a few of his relatives waiting for you once you clear the stations range. Be prepared.¡± He presses the button on his bench again (I think it¡¯s some kind of anti-eavesdropping device), and I exit his office. ¡°All right Sarah, we¡¯re off.¡± ¡°Uhh, what was that all about Keiren?¡± ¡°Some of it was a job request, the rest is something we can discuss once we¡¯re mobile. If you agree to join up. Let¡¯s be off¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡±
It¡¯s good to be back home. Now that the work is completed, I should be able to have Mari active without worrying too much about scans. I point Sarah to one of the cabins so she can sort her stuff out while I prep the ship for launch. Pulling Mari¡¯s core out of my storage belt, I place her back into the system, switch off the bypass and power up her systems. Hopefully I never have to ask her to shut down again.
¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. System restored. Initializing diagnostics. All systems show functional. ALERT New parts detected. No errors processed. Ship schematics, specifications and loadout have been updated. Holo projectors online.
¡°Mari, I know you have a lot you want to say to me right now, but hear me out first.¡± ¡°I¡¯m listening Captain Carmelcruncher. This had better be good. With the exception of the upgrades you found, I am NOT impressed with you at the moment.¡± ¡°I hope you feel it is, my dear. First up, we have either a passenger or a new crew member. It has yet to be decided which, so please keep quiet, but keep watch on the situation. She is also a path bearer, which is why I want to add her to the crew. Once she has stowed her gear and we are in space I will be having a discussion with her. With a bit of luck, she¡¯ll join up, which will improve our situation greatly. I would like you to take us away from the station. Slowly. I am expecting¡­ company, once we are outside of the secure zone. You¡¯ve noticed our new armaments, yes? Keep the lidar active, once the targets present themselves we will take them out with extreme prejudice.¡± ¡°What the hell did you do!?¡± She hissed at me as I headed up to the cockpit. ¡°I told you to lay low and stay unnoticed! Fucking imbecile!¡± ¡°Please Mari, keep it down. I don¡¯t want our guest to know about you yet. This is something that couldn¡¯t be helped. It seems that the chief of this station is from a family of pirate slavers, and he wanted to get a piece of me. The commander of the security force is working against him, so around the station I was safe, but once we get out of their sphere of influence there will almost certainly be pests waiting.¡± I prime the engines and get ready for takeoff. ¡°Fine. You just wait until we are en-route though. I take it from our cargo that you were successful in picking up a few jobs to go to Eileris?¡± I grin at her. ¡°Indeed. I also picked up a few presents, but we can discuss all that later. Let¡¯s launch.¡± I open up a channel to the station. ¡°Vankh Station, this is the Proud Deity, in Bay 14. Ready to launch.¡± ¡°Understood Proud Deity. Please transmit 14000 credits for docking and bay repair fees.¡± I transfer the credits to the dock operator. That was more expensive than I expected. Really need to work on my landings. ¡°Opening bay doors. Try not to damage the bay this time.¡± Gee, Thanks. I open up the ship comms. ¡°Sarah, please report to the cockpit. We are prepped and clear for launch.¡± I can hear her climbing up here already, she must have been close. She takes the copilots seat and straps in. I fire up the thrusters and we are off. Chapter 8 - Hammer Down Once we clear the hangar I hand of control to Mari, and rotate my seat to face Lerissa. ¡°Alright Sarah. It¡¯s time for us to have our talk. Or would you prefer Lerissa? Yes, I know. I also know you follow the path of the Shadow.¡± Oh, shit. She¡¯s panicking. ¡°Please, wait a moment before you freak out. The reason I know of your path is because of my path. I follow the path of the Spy, you see. Like I said the other day, there are many parallels to our situations. Now I am going to tell you a bit about myself, and then I would like you to decide whether or not to join my crew.¡± I give her the quick and dirty version of my story, glossing over Mari¡¯s existence, and a few boring parts. I don¡¯t think her eyes can get any wider than this. Now to give her the final bit of proof that my story is true. Opening up my forms screen, I select my human male form. Oh nice, the changes to the form from before held. Confirm. Oooh, nevermind I was wrong. Her eyes could get wider. ¡°What the hell!? You really are¡­ Wait. You¡¯re that guy from the club the other night! Shit! I¡¯ve been trying to find you since then, but you never came back! I had hoped to go a bit... ¡± She blushes and starts to mutter quietly to herself. ¡°Indeed, that was me.¡± I grin. ¡°I would love to discuss that line of thought a bit further, but I¡¯m afraid we will have to save it for another time. I need an answer from you,¡± I glance at the controls to check our current speed and heading. ¡°and I need it in the next 25 minutes.¡± Her face darkens. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I mean, I can¡¯t¡­ I just¡­ I don¡¯t know. You said you wanted full honesty, but I¡­ I can¡¯t just¡­I mean, I¡¯m...¡± I think I can guess where she''s going. "Lerissa, is it a problem? You being a Ferlo? I mean... I just want you to know that it doesn¡¯t matter to me. In fact if anything, I feel you¡¯re more trustworthy because of it. Remember, I know almost nothing about our galaxy¡¯s history. Even less about my own. I don¡¯t know what the Ferlo are, or what they did to make you fear talking about it, but I know that it doesn¡¯t matter to me. If you can put your faith in me, I will put mine in you. I¡¯m a Doppel, apparently hunted and hated by other races. How much worse could a Ferlo be?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t get it! That¡¯s the problem! You¡¯re a Doppel, I¡¯m a Ferlo! My people were created with the sole purpose of hunting yours! Whathappens to me when you do remember? Dammit Keiren! I just don¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t¡­. I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t be found. By anyone. Do you know what that¡¯s like?¡± I stare at her for a few minutes, until her breathing calms down. ¡°Better than anyone else you may have ever met, I believe. Mari, I think now is a good time to introduce yourself.¡± Mari¡¯s holographic body appears beside me. Uhh, Mari, did you get¡­ shorter?Nevermind, Keiren, more important things to deal with now. ¡°Hello Lerissa. I¡¯m Mari. Captain Crotchnugget here pulled me from that derelict navy ship he spoke of earlier. By the way, I see you¡¯ve learned a new trick. I take it that¡¯s the whole ¡®form change¡¯ thing you were trying to figure out before.¡± ¡°Mari, please, can we ease up on the insults?¡± ¡°Hmmph. Quiet you. Girl talk now. Lerissa, it, no, in that form I guess I should say he, is an idiot. But he seems to be mostly trustworthy. I was a COSN ship AI for over 300 years. You know how strict, and indoctrined they have everyone when it comes to AI''s, yes? Yet here I am, free and unbound. Welcome aboard, by the way. I think you¡¯d make a nice addition to my crew. Please say yes? It would be nice to have someone to talk with when I need to vent about the stupid things this buffoon does.¡± ¡°Love you too Mari.¡± That really hurt you know. Is that how she really feels? Wait, Lerissa is smiling now. Maybe¡­ Maybe I am an idiot? It¡¯s not my fault I don¡¯t know anything though, is it? ¡°I said be quiet. You just sit there like the pretty little boy you are right now.¡± Uhhh¡­ ¡°Okay, Lerissa, I¡¯d like to hear your decision. This meeting has each one of us worrying about their future. Well maybe not Captain Blinkard here. I don¡¯t think he knows how. Will you join us? Can we trust you?¡± Lerissa, it¡¯s not nice to point and laugh, you know. A few minutes of Lerissa laughing at me pass. Loudly. ¡°I¡¯m in, I¡¯m in.When''s the next vent session? Oh, and do we have any ice cream on board? I could really use some after all this.¡± ¡°We do child, but that will have to wait. I¡¯m guessing Captain Thick never informed you of our current situation? We have at least 4 pirate ships waiting to pounce on us once we leave the Vankh sphere of influence in6 minutes 26 seconds. Can you operate the dorsal turret, or would you prefer to pilot?¡± Shit. I forgot about that amidst the barrage of denigration and insults. ¡°Reeeeeeally, Captain Limpwit? When were you planning on informing me of this? And just why are there pirates aiming for us?¡± Dammit, not you too Lerissa. I just want one person to be nice to me. Is that too much to ask? My shoulders droop in defeat. ¡°Well, I had intended to tell you as soon as you had made your choice. Either way. The only difference was if you had chosen to stay a passenger, I¡¯d have ask you to secure yourself in your quarters. As for why, when I landed at Vankh, I was immediately carted off to jail, where the Station Chief decided he wanted to make me into one of his slaves. The security militia kept him of my back while I was there. Remember the escort when I came to meet you about the job? The syndicate boss I was meeting the night you and I danced left me a message with his brother-in-law, the Lodrian we met before launch. Part of what I couldn¡¯t openly say to you earlier. Now, if you could man the turret and get those rail-guns primed, so we can get started with obliterating fools I would appreciate it.¡± ¡°Rail-guns? On a freighter? Shit, Mari, our brainless Captain really built you loaded for bear!¡± She said with a huge grin as she hopped out of the cockpit to go to the turret. ¡°You have no idea Lerissa. Captain Batshit, the stick is yours. I¡¯ll handle weapons.¡± Yay! Show time. Maybe the insults can stop for a minute or two? ¡°Roger that Mari, what do our opponents appear to have for forces?¡± ¡°Imaging shows 3 Borgan class light fighters, 1 Tenvar class scout. One new likely bogey just appeared on scopes... wow, that¡¯s old school. It¡¯s a Mule class light freighter. I haven¡¯t seen one of those flying in over a hundred years! Enemy power signatures show their shields aren¡¯t active.¡± ¡°Nice. Target the Scout and the freighter with the ion cannons. Electron pulse, please. Gain an IFF lock on two of the Borgans. Leave one for Lerissa.¡± I flip on the shipwide comms. ¡°Lerissa, If you¡¯re ready, let¡¯s teach these scumbags how to tango.¡± ¡°You got it Captain! We are prepped, primed, locked and ready to rock!¡± ¡°Mari, if you would be so kind as to drop the hammer now? Firing up the mains. Lerissa, Mari can provide your targeting solution, fire at will.¡± I accelerate at the maximum thrust the inertial safeties allow for the first time since upgrading the engines. And what a difference they make. As we accelerate from a few hundred meter per second to almost 0.002c in mere seconds, Mari fires on the scout and the freighter, frying their electronics before they could even try to raise their shields or fire their engines. I quickly switch to full retrograde thrusters, to slow us back down, and Mari fires her missile salvo. Mari, you probably could have held back a bit. 5 missiles for each fighter is a bit wasteful. I hear the whine of power flowing into the railguns. Another whine just as the missiles are closing in on their targets and then all 3 fighters disappear from the scanners almost simultaneously. And our sky is clear. Now for the cleanup. I position us in place to align with their outer doors, and match the drift vector.
Level Up
Level increased by 1 Attributes have been assigned.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. New Ability available based on Path and Skills
I¡¯ll check that new ability later. First things first, let¡¯s go get the spoils. ¡°Alright Lerissa, come on down. Let¡¯s get suited up and prep for EVA. There¡¯s a couple spare Marine combat suits in the armory that have vectored thrust in them. Here, take this, I don¡¯t have any other non-ballistics, so these should let us take down anyone on those ships that is still conscious. Also grab a sack to carry any loot in.¡± I pull one of my new stun guns out of my belt for her, and I swap my pistol out for one as well. ¡°Mari, keep watch. Anything comes, call us, then fire a warning shot. We¡¯ll see you in a few.¡± Lerissa and I step out the airlock and float over to the freighter. I force open the outer airlock door, and we head inside. Life support is down, so we¡¯re going to be fighting in zero g. ¡°Ready Lerissa? Magboots active, I¡¯ll breach. Cover me and shoot anything that moves.¡± We storm the cargo hold of the freighter. Two humans floating in the hold try to fire on us using normal kinetic guns. Daft bastards. With no power to life support, what did you think is going to happen? The men, sent spinning by the laws of physics, are easy prey. We drop them with a shot of our pistols, and start searching the ship for other opponents as well as items of value. There¡¯s a small lockbox in the corner of the hold, but I can¡¯t open the lock. It seems to be the only item worth taking from the hold, I have no need for cages and barely useable EVA suits. I¡¯ll store it in my belt. Which is now out of space. Shit. Glad I had Lerissa grab a couple empty sacks to bring along. We split up to search the cabins. I find a few SMGs, so I strap them to my belt and keep moving. I didn¡¯t find anything else, but Lerissa has her sack filled with ingots of some sort. ¡°Where the heck did you find all that? Nevermind, let¡¯s head back Lerissa. Next stop the scout. Mari, please move us into position once Lerissa and I are back on board.¡± Back aboard the Deity, I unload my belt into our little armory. At which point I notice that the gift Holidra gave me is a repair drone, but it has way more arms than the ones I saw on the Adavaris. With my gear stowed, I meet back up with Lerissa and give her a hand moving the rest of the ingots she found. There¡¯s probably 2 or 3 tonnes of whatever this is. ¡°We¡¯re in position now, Captain Clunkknuckle. Scans show 5 active lifesigns. 2 at the airlock, 1 in the engine room, and 2 in the captain¡¯s cabin that aren¡¯t moving. I suggest taking out the 3 movers first.¡± ¡°You heard the lady, Lerissa. Same plan as before.¡± ¡°What so you blow the door, hope they¡¯re too stupid to realize that shooting standard weapons in zero g without bracing is a bad idea, then we drop them? That¡¯s not much of a plan, but I shouldn¡¯t expect much more from you.¡± ¡°Ouch. No, Lerissa. Plan is: I breach the door. You cover me while I do. Then we take out the enemy, hopefully without a prolonged gunfight, using the airlock doorway for cover to start, moving forward to new cover when able. Once that is dealt with, we move down to the engine room, same idea. Then head to the cabin and deal with those two. Afterwards we loot the place and come back.¡± ¡°Like I said, captain. Not much of a plan.¡± ¡°Gee, thanks. Let¡¯s go.¡± Once we¡¯re in the airlock, I look at Lerissa, and give her a nod. She nods back and I open the door with as much force as possible and slip back behind the edges. This group is a little more prepared for us. They are waiting, brandishing blades trying to pump themselves up. Unfortunately for them, we don¡¯t need to enter melee range. I step out into the open, and they push off the walls at me. I hit them each with two shots with my Adjudicator (though it takes me 7 shots to do that). Not that I needed to, just because they are visibly related to that Darvali prick that runs Vankh. Glancing back at Lerissa, I wave her forward. We head to the engine room. There is a Darvali woman in there beating on the console. I almost feel bad. I motion for Lerissa to stun her. I drag her body back to the main corridor and tie her up with the other two, while Lerissa heads for the Captains quarters to deal with the last two before we go looting. ¡°Fuck me! Captain¡­ I¡­ You need to come here.¡± That sounds ominous. Better move quick. ¡°What is it Lerissa? I¡­ Shit.¡± There¡¯s not much else I can say. We¡¯re looking at two emaciated women. Naked,covered in scars, and chained to the bed. Looking at us in abject terror. ¡°Lerissa, find them some clothes and bring them out. See if you can find some EVA suits on board to get them over to the Deity.¡± And I walk away. Not feeling bad about that Darvali from earlier anymore. ¡°Mari, we have a small issue. Two girls, likely kept as slaves by these pirates for quite a while. They aren¡¯t in good condition. Thoughts?¡± ¡°Dammit Keiren! Is it always going to be like this with you? Uggghhh, I¡¯m going to have to stay silent again, unless... Okay. Bring them on board. No changing your form for the rest of the flight. We¡¯ll have them stay in the quarters for the most part, except for meals and other bodily requirements. Lerissa, you¡¯re going to be in charge of them.¡± ¡°What? Why me?¡± ¡°Two reasons. One - you found them. Two - I¡¯m stuck as a male for the trip, and judging from their condition, I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll be particularly pleased at having me around. Now, I¡¯m going to get back to looting. You get them ready for the trip over to the Deity. If you need help, call.¡± Making my way through the ship, I find little of value, until I find a hidden compartment just off the bridge. Inside are five small boxes. Each box contains vials of some kind of strange glowing liquid. I don¡¯t know what it is, but it has to be valuable. There is also a stack of ID cards. Probably stolen from the people they captured and enslaved. Time to go back. ¡°Captain? I could use a hand here. I found a couple suits, and managed to get them to wear them, but they don¡¯t have propulsion, and I can¡¯t carry them both while moving.¡± ¡°Right. On my way now Lerissa.¡± It took a bit of wrangling, but we got them moved over to the Proud Deity. The smaller one REALLY didn¡¯t want to go for a space walk. I¡¯m not sure if it was some kind of indoctrination, or if she''d been threatened or tortured by being forced out into space, or what. Lerissa helped them take off the EVA suits and guided them to the quarters. She tried to ask if they preferred their own rooms, or to stay together, but the two just huddled together shivering. So she put them together in one cabin. I got out of my armor, and went to the kitchenette to make a potato soup. Something soft and creamy that they could eat, but also had good flavour. Once Lerissa has situated our guests I''ll have her take them some. ¡°Mari, pull us back to about 2 KM out, then set the ventral guns to positron pulse, and wipe those things from my sight. Then get ready to make the jump to Eileris. Once our guests are fed we will be on our way.¡± Lerissa comes back out and sees me in the kitchenette. With that taken care of time to organize and inspect the spoils while Mari takes us into FTL.
Veratonna TK1 x 3 The TK1 is a selective fire weapon that uses a simple closed bolt, straight blowback method of operation. As such, it has no gas system and the internal components have been modified accordingly. Designed for use with 9.5mm pistol ammunition. 30 rounds per magazine
Osmium Ingot x 48 Pure Os - each ingot contains ~24.1 KG of Osmium
Iridium Ingot x 74 Pure Ir - each ingot contains ~23.8 KG of Iridium
Case of Condensed BrainSnag- 12 per x 5 Br3N4SNa6 or BrainSnag, is a recreational drug for Darvali, but is a deadly poison to other known sentients. Causes Darvali that ingest it to experience a mild euphoric effect. Extended use or overdosing may cause ganglion cysts to form. Illegal in COS controlled territories, but easily found at most Darvali controlled ports and planets.
BrainSnag and a bunch of pure ingots of rare metals. That could be worth something. The SMGs are nothing special, except that they are functional and use ammo I have handy. Now let¡¯s open up that lockbox from the freighter.
Okay. So that wasn¡¯t as easy as I expected. I couldn¡¯t pick the lock, so I tried to force it. In the end, I burnt through the remaining charge in the battery of my Adjudicator just to melt the locks core. But I got in! It¡¯s full of pebbles? What the heck is this?
Reset x212 Reset, when ingested leaves the subject in a highly suggestible hypnotic state. This effect lasts as long as the pellet remains in their digestive tract, which can be up to 3 months. Instructions given during this period are very difficult to reverse.
This must be how the pirates create their slaves. Odd that it isn¡¯t shown as illegal like the BrainSnag was. Maybe it has legitimate uses? We should try selling it to a medical facility. ¡°Captain SelfMolester to the bridge. We are ready for FTL.¡± Mari¡­ Why do? ¡°I¡¯m on my way.¡± Chapter 9 - Counting Cards ¡°Well Lerissa, Mari, It¡¯s time we have a proper talk. What is the status of our guests?¡± ¡°Sleeping soundly. I expect that to last for at minimum 6 hours. I will alert you if that changes.¡± Lerissa busies herself by tucking into a bowl of ice cream while Mari reports on the two former slaves. ¡°Thanks Mari. Then allow me to begin. First and foremost, I would like to ask, again, that you ease up on the insults towards me. Or at least come up with one to use consistently. I would really prefer if you called me by name. Next, you both know the basics of what I am, and what I know. Which, admittedly, is very little. Now I will be delving a little deeper into what my friend the screen, or as you call it, the system, has to say about me.¡± I give them a full account of my status, titles, perks, skills, and abilities. While doing so I finally got around to checking out that new ability I gained during the battle.
Detect Presence Your sight, hearing, and touch become hyper-sensitive, allowing you to sense living beings in your local vicinity. Requires - Path: Spy - Skills: Stealth, Survival, Universal Knowledge Detection range based on skill levels and PER Cost - 1 AP per use plus 5% max AP per second active
Wait. I can see the ability cost now. Cool, what about my other ones?
Inspect Glean information regarding targeted person or object. Requires - Skills: Analysis, Empath, and *Knowledge Improve output result based on skill levels Cost - 1 AP per use
Silent Kill Kill target while preventing them from alerting others to their peril. Cannot use while targeted by opponent for combat. Requires - Skills: Stealth, *Weapon Mastery, Empath Reduce likelihood of failure based on skill levels Cost - 4 AP per use
Read Mind Able to read 1 targeted sentient beings'' thoughts. Ability failure upon detection by target Requires - Path: Spy - Skills: Stealth, Empath Improve output and reduce likelihood of failure based on skill levels Cost - 1 AP per use plus 0.1 AP per second active
Mingle Blend into the crowd to disappear from enemy sight. Requires - Skills: Stealth, Acting, Etiquette Likelihood of success increased based on skill levels Cost - 3 AP per use
¡°That is about everything regarding my status. The other thing you should know is that while on the station I gained access to a few forms. This one that I am wearing now obviously, but also Lodrian and Human females, as well as Ferlo¡­¡± I glance at Lerissa as hints of red creep into her cheeks. ¡°Who would like to share a bit about themselves next?¡± Silence fills the room. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ll go.¡± Oh? Surprising. I thought Lerissa would hold back a bit longer. ¡°I won¡¯t be going into everything, but you shared pretty much everything about you know about yourself Keiren, so I should at least provide some information about myself.¡± ¡°My name, as Keiren knows, is Lerissa Davnor. I bear the path of the Shadow and I am a Ferlo.¡± Finally, a chance to ask the question that has been wiggling in my brain for the past week! ¡°Hold your horses, Keiren. I will get around to explaining what our race is to you a bit later.¡± I must have been showing my desire to know on my face. I need to work on that if I am to follow the path of a spy. ¡±I am currently on the run from forces within the UTA. That is why I want to go coreward. I am at the 15th level in my path, I have three titles, including Escapee, which I received when I broke free from my captors in the UTA, and Gunner, which I received from the battle just now. I have two perks, one of which is ambidextrous. For skills, I havesome of the skills you do. Don¡¯t ask me to share any more of my status for now. Maybe later when I know you better.¡± ¡°Fair enough Lerissa. But I have to ask. What is a Ferlo? And what did you mean earlier when you said your people were created to hunt mine?¡± ¡°Sigh¡­¡­ I knew this was coming. It isn¡¯t an easy situation to talk about. But you won¡¯t find any mention of it in any of the books or histories that you would be able to get your hands on. 75 years ago the Doppel war began. I am sure Mari can give you a better explanation of that. What little I know is from oral history, and COS propaganda. I was born well after end of the conflict. During the early parts of the war, the COS captured a number of Doppels. Then in some secret lab, they merged genetic material from Doppel, Lodrian, Human and Darvali sources. What they made was the first Ferlo. And numerous others. Gifted with the racial talents of each, the Doppels transformation, the Darvali resistance to radiation, the Lodrians strength and intelligence, and the Humans cunning and drive. They grew roughly three thousand of my people in vats, and trained them to be assassins and warriors with a primary target of the Doppel. Later, one of those vat grown befriended a Doppel prisoner, helped it escape, and found his way to the Doppel homeworld. He then called in the COSN who then bombarded the planet obliterating it and the Doppel. In the weeks that followed the COS began the purge. They had slaughtered all the remaining Doppel prisoners, and nearly half of the Ferlo, before my people began to fight back. They stole an experimental battleship, and with it forged a path of punitive destruction as they sought a habitable planet to call their own somewhere out of reach from the COS. They journeyed for 5 years, eventually finding a safe haven on a planet orbiting a lone star out past the outer reaches of the Orion Spur. I was the first naturally born Ferlo, proof that we could be a people with a future. For 25 years we had peace, growth and prosperity. Then the UTA discovered us. They killed almost our entire race in their attack. The rest of us were captured, to be enslaved or used as experiments for an old COS project their spies had stolen called Pathfinder.¡± At this Mari¡¯s gasp echoed through the ship.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Sorry for interrupting, Lerissa. I¡¯m glad you got away if that was the case.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay Mari. After my escape, I spent the next 5 years hiding who and what I was, taking any job or paying my way on any ship I could, slowly moving away from UTA space. 3 months ago the mining ship I was serving on gave me the boot. They blamed me for their low profits, like I could make the asteroid fields they kept sending us to better... I was stuck on Vankh ever since.¡± ¡°So you have transformative abilities like I do?¡± So both of us could change and become whoever we wanted? Nifty. That could be useful. ¡°Not quite. While I can change my shape to become the race I desire, I cannot alter what I look like.¡± At this statement her body shifts growing, tightening, changing from Human to Lodrian. I maintain control of myself, though everybit of my brain is trying to make me envision her in a leather bustiere... What the heck is this fascination. Mind back to the present Keiren, stay on topic. ¡°That was awfully quick compared to my form changes. But I see what you mean. You¡¯re still you. Still just as pretty, just larger, but proportionally the same. So you¡¯re saying you can¡¯t change yourself, just the race that you present to the universe?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a novel way of putting it. I like that. I am always me, just my race is different when I choose. Continuing with that vein, while my people are born hermaphroditic, we spent our childhood learning about ourselves and decided on our preferred gender as a coming of age ceremony. Whether we identified as male, female, or on rare occasions chose to retain our natural body. From that point on, all of our changes would be to the gender chosen, though I¡¯m not sure how the elders managed to enforce it. Needless to say, I am a woman, and cannot take the shape of a man. Unfortunately, I cannot give you much more knowledge than that, as I was still in my educational period when the UTA struck.¡± She smiles, although her eyes appear to be filled with sadness, and reverts herself back to her human shape. ¡°Thank you for explaining it to me Lerissa. You look like you could use a hug. And another bowl of ice cream. And a stiff drink. Bourbon or Rum?¡± I take her bowl to the kitchenette and refill it while pouring us each a drink, one of each so she can choose her poison. ¡°Thanks Keiren¡± She whispers as she takes the bowl, downs the bourbon (thank goodness, I prefer rum), and accepts the hug as I sit down beside her. Next thing I know there¡¯s a cold bowl of ice cream on my crotch, and a weeping crewmate on my chest. I think she¡¯s been holding it in for a long time. Possibly even since the day her homeland fell.
¡°Hey Mari, since Lerissa has cried herself to sleep, I¡¯d like to wait on your story, however much you¡¯d like to tell, until she is back with us. In the meantime, do you have any questions for me? I have a couple of things I¡¯d like to ask you about, but if there is anything you¡¯d like to ask please go ahead.¡± ¡°All right, spill it Keiren.¡±Errr... spill what? More importantly! She is using my name again.¡°First off, how the hells did you afford all the parts? I expected two or three stops to be able to afford the gear we needed, let alone the gear you got¡­ and I never would have thought you¡¯d get hands on Carthan parts. Second, you mentioned presents earlier. Where. What. Show me. Tell me. Now.¡± Alright, that tone is matching your holo-body¡¯s apparent age now. ¡°Control yourself Mari. To answer your first question, I got lucky. I sold the missiles for an additional 200 credits a piece, compared to your estimate, so I made a bit extra. Then when I went to buy the engines, they just recently had a massive influx of suitable parts come in, so I got them cheap. Around half your estimated cost cheap. So I asked if he had any frigate parts that would look good on you. He gave me a list, and I bought the ones I thought would work best. Then, once I had gained access to this form, I went and found one of the crime syndicates on the station. Somehow managed to become fast friends with their boss. At which point I bought those sweet little guns mounted ventral, as well as the answer to your second request. There are a few nice little bits and bobs, I¡¯m sure you noticed my workbench. I also got an IFF rectifier, and a hacking subroutine package for you. Figured that with them, we wouldn¡¯t have to shut you down for fear of detection. I didn¡¯t want to connect them in until you had a chance to go through their coding and hardware to make sure the syndicate didn¡¯t hide any backdoors or viruses in them. Oh and I also picked up a crap-tonne of holo-vids, music, and books for a bit of in-flight entertainment¡± ¡°What model and series? How much were they? Tell, tell, tell!¡± Wow, didn¡¯t expect her to be THIS excited. She¡¯s acting like a child on her birthday. ¡°Uhhh¡­ If I remember right, they were a XMD transponder rectifier, and a 6R1N ¡°Special Delivery¡± Hacking Suite. I think it was around 35000 for the pair?¡± I get up and head over to my workstation. ¡°OH. MY. GOD. Keiren. Quick, go grab them and let¡¯s get them installed. Now! Those are like the top of the market for each. You don¡¯t even know! Who the hells did you make friends with?? Each one of those systems should have set us back over 100000. And this bench of yours? It¡¯s a Patriarch series! Most smugglers, criminals, and even some government spies would sell their own grandmother to get their hands on one. They cost over 1.2 million. On a good day! How much were the guns? Did he have anything that you didn¡¯t buy?¡± Close your mouth Keiren. The flies will get in. I gather up the parts, and head over to the computer systems. ¡°I had no idea. I¡­ I can¡¯t fathom why Gustavo would have given me that kind of a discount. There were a couple things I didn¡¯t get. A stealth shield, that was 460000, and a neutrino beam gun for around 47000. I was torn between the beam gun and the ion cannons, but the utility of the ion cannon won out. And they were way cheaper, like less than half the cost of the beam guns. I really wanted that stealth shield though.¡± ¡°Huh? Those prices... sound about right actually. Weird. I would have thought that everything would have been given a crazy discount, considering the prices you got the rest of it for. There¡¯s no oddware or gaps in the code in the packages... very strange. Whatever, no point in giving yourself a headache thinking about it. Now get those systems installed and set up!¡± Mari walks me through connecting the transponder rectifier, and installing the hacking suite was a simple task. I also connect the storage system with my entertainment package on it. ¡°Okie-Dokie Captain Puffball!!¡± Sigh. Back to the insults. This one was a lot milder than earlier though? Maybe I built up a few brownie points today? ¡°You take Lerissa to bed, I¡¯m gonna play around with the settings on my new toys for a bit.¡± ¡°Sure thing Mari. You have fun.¡±
How did I get to this point. I ponder that as I lay there, flipping through the ID cards liberated from the pirates. The ones that belonged to the five pirates had around 132000 credits in them. I also think I found the IDs for our guests, judging by the names on the cards compared to the information I was able to glean from a Read Mind of them. I transferred 50000 into each of their IDs and kept the rest for myself. That should be enough to get them started on Eileris, or get them a transport to somewhere else. They were still sleeping quite soundly. As was Lerissa. I on the other hand, was not. You see, when I picked up Lerissa to carry her to her quarters, she halfway woke up, clamped onto me like a small child that had been allowed to stay up past their bedtime, and fell straight back asleep. Forget putting her to bed. I couldn¡¯t get her to let go. I couldn''t wiggle my way out. Trying to wake her just made her death-grip tighten further. So I lay down too. It¡¯s been quite the problematic few hours for me. Thankfully, I¡¯m no longer picturing her as a Lodrian in a leather bustiere. Unfortunately, that is because I got to watch as she somehow managed to mostly undress herself, without letting me go. So my now very male mind is going over those moments, those movements, again, and again, and again¡­ I need to find something new to distract myself now that I¡¯ve finished going through the pirates IDs. ¡°Mari? Can you give me a hand here?¡± ¡°Nope! Nothing I can do that you haven¡¯t already tried. Besides, I want to watch the fireworks when she wakes up. This situation should be good for making fun of her. Looking forward to her embarrassed face.¡± ¡°Fine. Don¡¯t help then. Can you put on a holo-vid for me? Low volume please. Something educational would be appreciated.¡± ¡°Sure thing!¡± The vid starts up. It seems to be called Pirate Captain Vargas gets some fresh Booty. Yes, I am aware of the double-entendre. So it seems was Mari. She¡¯s sitting beside the bed snickering after all. Each time she appears she looks more and more like a human teenage girl. ¡°Really Mari? That¡¯s not helpful. Or even educational.¡± ¡°This is the most educational holovid in the library that we have. At least on the topic of your current situation.¡± Aaaaand she¡¯s giggling again. I get it Mari. You think this is funny... I give up. No point in trying to win this debate with my ships pubescent humour tonight. May as well try to get some sleep. ¡°Alright Mari. Turn it off. I¡¯m going to sleep.¡± ¡°No way! We¡¯re just getting to the good part! You can sleep if you want to, I¡¯m watching this to the end.¡± At some point shortly after that, I finally drift off.