ã€Š&#x201C;Conquerors Domain&#x201D; By xipzoã€‹


 C1 - The price of ones freedom.

    Humans are strange creatures, their first profession was warriors, they fought for food and wimen trasures and for the so called honor of theirs... They say, they are a honorable race, but could we truly agree with them? Knowing their history...

    Back in the middle of the second millenia humans have nearly killed their mother earth, or at least were near to... Earth was overpopulated, polluted and exhausted of its mineral reserves. But the humans needed more, their nature was to get more and more... The solution they decided was to go into the stars and search for new worlds, now not making the old mistakes they had made on the mother earth. As the last resources werer poured to make gigantic liveships, who would fly into the stars, and there become new mobile cities and industrial centers for humans.

    The plan was to first populate and try terraform mars, while gathering resources from the asteroid belts and passing comets. This plan worked, first domes were built on mars, best techs and scientists went on it to live there and help to further work on the planets terraforming. Incoming materials from the asteroid belt greatly helped, and when they were able to put a few comets into a stable orbit around the earth and mars everybody believed that the future only held success.

    But seeing this success all the people left on earth wanted to leave for that new paradise in making.. Revolts and wars started on the old earth, the fools have destroyed it finally, after the war what was left of it was a big ball with an ongoing nuclear winter, scorched earth and pollution, no longer fit to live. Yet all the people on mars were relieved, now they wouldnt have to feed all those people back there.

    Time passed and by the middle of the third millennium mars mars was now a beautiful green world, where domes were no longer needed, technological advancements allowed for almost any kind of illness to be treated, traveling from asteroid belt to the planet became like a walk to your neighbors door.

    But as time passed the old problems began to arise ¨C the comets were stripped of their resources and asteroid belts would too be soon empty of all the minerals... A new solution was needed.

    And a solution was offered - to mine their new home ¨C mars, this wasnt done yet, trying to keep it clean and firmly agricultural world. With majority of the humans disagreeing a new proposition was made ¨C to mine the other planets of the solar system.

    At first they went on to mine at mercury, digging into the very core of the planet for metals. Huge industrial cities were built underground the planets surface, and fields beyond the horizon of solar panels on the surface. Now, having enough metals they went onto the other planets.

    Venus was used as a huge heat reactor ¨C making energy for ships traveling around the solar system with the special flying power plants. Second step was soon to be taken on this planet, to dig into its core just like on mercury, but humans still lacked technology to shield bigger structures form this heat and radiation of the planet.

    A few centuries later, when their technology evolved enough and the very first sub-space drives were built humanity began their second expansion this time out of their solar system.

    This new age was called the golden age of humanity ¨C the old earth was on its way to be restored, to its former glory in a few hundred years, advancements in space travel were supposed to bring even more wealth to humans and make them prosper even more. Yet, not everyting went as planned for humans.

    Their very first trip led them to discover a race much older and much, much more advanced than themselves. And this race wasnt too friendly. Wen the first fight broke out ¨C humans were outmatched in minuted, their ships now just melted graves for their people... And yet lady luck decided to smile at humans again even if a little ¨C the enemy race ¨C Tvaars didnt have the sub-space drive, they instead used warp drives of their own making, that didnt allow instant jumps from system to system, yet allowed to propel their ships to great speeds, making them extremely mobile.

    Beaten and defeated last ships of explorers came back to solar system. They were tracked and only god knew, how much time they had, before Tvaar''s fleet would arrive. So humans began to prepare themselves ¨C building great motherships and fleets and fleets of battleships to fight their enemy. Fortifying their planets with the most advanced defenses they could make they waited for their enemy to come. And their enemy came... Even faster than they had expected.

    Just like humans reverse engineered Tvaar technology, so did Tvaar reverse engineered human technology, to create the sub-space drives, it took them two years to do that, and humans werent ready yet, close, but still not ready. Though, this time the battle wasnt so one sided as before. Humans now equipped with Tvaar weapons and their own improved shielding systems managed to hold on a few battles. Seeing that Tvaar decided to destroy the human supply lines, mining colonies were burned to ashes by Tvaar stealth bombers, thousands of combat drones hidden in asteroid fields kept humans from mining critical resources, to repair their fleets. Slowly, but surely humans were loosing again, mars though, was holding up fine, finally mining the planet with those heavily fortified defenses on the planet Tvaar were unable to take over the planet.

    Humans now, receiving resources directly from the planet again were ready to continue the fight... But Tvaar werent stupid, they saw that and took the only option, that was left to them. They destroyed the planet...

    one day a Tvaar cruiser entered the space near Mars, deployed shield with strength never seen before and after a day of charging its single and only weapon fired at the planet... Earthquakes and cataclysms began on the surface of the planet after this, the very core of the planet was attacked, and unbalanced beyond repair.

    The fleets seeing this had no choice as to leave, their supply routed blocked or destroyed, asteroid belts unaccessable to them they left their home.. The solar system. After hundreds if, not thousands of jumps away from Tvaar, now exhausted fleets decided to try and build new home in a planet they recently discovered, already having a good breathable atmosphere, with organic vegetation growing on the planet it was almost perfect, needing only very little terraforming.

    But over the years traveling some of the fleets people got used to it, driven by an old fear of Tvaar they wanted to leave, to continue traveling and traveling. Many were of suck mind, but even more wanted to stay, so the fleet had divided into a few smaller ones.

    As years passed the friction between them grew and eventually war happened. Many died, even more left injured and empty shells of the former selves. But time heals all wounds, so does a strong leader. After the second war, an admiral of one of the fleets began uniting one fleet after another, those who didnt join him were destroyed... In time the Empire of man was born, now, having their emperors orders humans began to fortify their new home, their ships and their new home system, as they were preparing for a new expansion this time a much much more prepared one.

    Now, when going to new systems, to search for other races friendly on not, a fleet fo former motherships, now rebuilt and upgraded into flying fortresses would fly there. If a race was found they would try to contact it, to start friendly relations ¨C but if it was aggressive, urging to fight them the fleet would scorch their worlds without hessitation, burn their homes and take their people as slaves to work in their mines. The conquered worlds would be assimilated into the empire and those who made friendly contacts would become the empires allies.

    A new golden age arose to humans, the empire of man was in its peak again ¨C led by their mighty emperor ¨C Lion Ironfist the first.

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C The Laser EYE. ===

    Ethan was packing his things, he was finally 21, the legal age to start his life in this shithole station. It was boring for him here, he wanted to see the stars, to discover something, that would make him famous and rich, so he could live the way he wants ¨C wherever he wants. He also was tired of his parents controlling him.

    Standing near the entrance into his room was his father, with his usual calm, yet smart look on his face. He was looking at his son packing his things, preparing to leave his familys nest to finally find or make his own, as he thought that.. his mind wandered off thinking, how very few years are left until his daughter will leave too.

    --packed everything? - Father asked Ethan.

    --Yeah, I think so... - was his sons reply.

    Checking his bag again Ethan had a small grin on his face, finally his real life was about to begin. As he thought so, small soft footsteps could be heard from behind him, and he felt a soft hug on his back. He turned around, and returned it to his sister Alicia. They didnt speak, no words were needed, she nodded to him, and left... small tears could be seen in the corners of her eyes.

    --So... remember to write, whenever you will have a chance.. and dont forget you always have us, whatever happens. - said his father when they finally reached the door out of the flat, this was their last time seeing eatch other perhaps for a few years.

    Father offered Ethan a firm handshake, he didnt pat him on the back anymore he wasnt a child anymore either, so now he treated him like a man he was. This handshake meant much more to Ethan than anything else.

    Finally Ethan called a cab and went to airport, it was a hour long drive so out of boredom his mind wandered off to the time just three days ago, when he got his golden ticket out of this station.

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C The Laser EYE.=== Time : Three days ago. ===

    === Ethan POW===

    It has already been a month, since his 21st birthday, he now was almost fully prepared to leave... Almost, because he still needed a place to go where he could get some work.

    He was currently standing in a line at the Brokers office, patiently waiting for his turn. He was third in line currently, his turn would come up soon.

    Ethan rubbed his sweating palms into his clothes, trying to get rid of the sweat. He was nervous ¨C the Broker''s were quite an organization with a little more, than shady reputation, but thei did their job well ¨C you needed a weapon? Not a problem, they wouldnt get it to you, because that would be illegal... but no one stopped them from selling you information on, where to acquire one. Or lets say, you needed work? Just like Ethan right now? Sure thing they would say, and would give you of all the job applications you looked for, it was up to you then, to impress your future employer. Or maybe you had this common problem ¨C need money? They will ask - what are you willing to do? And by the degree of your willingness they will offer you a choice... Ethan heard about such deals, that the Broker''s have offered to people ¨C from selling limbs and organs, to getting a loan or pledging one owns freedom.

    The line moved slowly, but he was already next to enter, once the previous person left. He noticed, that none of the previous people stayed there more than half an hour, brokers work fast were his thoughts.

    Just as he thought that the previous person left, she was quite a good looking woman... But he didnt have time to oogle her and entered. Once he passed the door, he was inside a small room, there were one more door to the left of his, in front of him was a desk with an old man sitting there ¨C smoking a pipe.

    --Come on, come on lad, no need to be shy... take a seat and lets talk. - the broker said.

    --Yes sir. - quickly Ethan took a seat in front of the mans desk.

    The man was bald, had a nice, well cared beard with quite some gray in it, his left eye was a cybernetic one, his left arm too. The ma shifted trough papers on his desk ¨C quickly sorting them in neat piles, and then focusing his sharp eyes on Ethan.

    --Place your palm there on the scanner... Good, now then ¨C how may I Broker Edvard help you? - he politely asked.

    --I need money and employment sir.

    --I see, so shall we talk about employment or money first? - a strange light entered Edvards cybernetic eye.

    --I... I dont know sir, I would like to be self employed... to travel see the universe for myself...

    --Haha, good good lad. - Edvard laughed heartily. - I see then why you need money, starting ones own business isnt easy... So, let me ask this good old question ¨C what are you willing to do?

    --Almost anything sir... just say, what is an option and I will say if im willing to do it.

    --Good, lets see... You want to travel and see the universe, so probably want to have your own ship? And ships arent cheap... hmm... mhmm... Okay, lets say for your first ship I could offer you a multipurpose frigate class ship...

    An image of the frigate appeared inbetween them, projected somwhere from the ceiling. Broker rotated it, showed Ethan its parameters and specifications, gave him a quick summary, of what the ship has been used to do before also the ships status. Overall the ship was in quite a good condition, it needed some improvements here and there, but for a ship as old as Ethan it was really well preserved. But when Ethan saw the price of the ship he gulped.... rather loudly ¨C one hundred thousand chits was the price of the ship, more than his father earned in his business over three years.

    --Okay, what do you say about the ship?. - smilling Edvard asked this young man sitting in front of him, he clearly saw, how shaken by the price of the ship he was, but it was the best offer they have checked. With a quick glance into the clock he was that, he was taking more than usual time, to deal with a client, but he didnt care, not now, when the client reminded him so much of his own son, who left to search for adventure just a few years back too.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.--Yes, it will do. But I fear I dont have enough to offer in exchange for it... - was Ethan''s sad reply.

    --No worries my boy, we will figure something out.

    Edvard began to look at the file of Ethan - the boy finished basic school with excellent grades, then took pilot/mechanic profession training up to intermediate level, also with excellent grades. Looking further into the file, Edvard found no genetic diseases in the boys genome, she had a green light for body part selling if he agreed to that. Next was the boys possessions, inheritances and such ¨C he had none, except for the small sum, he gained as a gift from the empire, for being one of the top students.

    This was quite a hard case to solve.

    --Okay, so I have a few options for you, to get money for the ship... first you can sell a copy of your knowledge, from school and other studies. Is that okay?

    --Yes, how much would I get for them?. -Now curious Ethan asked.

    --for a single copy no less than four thousand, and with your health you can make maybe up to eight, maybe nine copies I think, so that makes 32-36 thousand. So, you would still need about 70 thousand... And the next offer I can give you is your body part selling... unless you are willing to postpone your journey for a few years, maybe a decade and get some work, here on station.

    --No. I am willing to sell my body parts, how many of them are we talking about?. - answering with determination Ethan said.

    --Well, for that ship you will need some implants, since the newer neuro-link interface is too expansive... let''s say you can sell your hair buds from your head, thats quite a popular thing to sell, next since you will need implants In your skull you can sell a part of it, that will also leave you with the ability to more easily install implants and other thing you might want to get in the future, then selling some of your skin, maybe about five feet... with these it would come to about 20 more thousands into your budget.

    Ethan was sitting silently, listening to the broker... he will have, to sacrifice a lot to get this ship.

    --Next I think you can sell your limbs... I''m thinking about both arms, sine they have to be replaced to install the cybernetic prosthesis that is the part of the ships control system, both of them will make you about fifteen thousand more chits, so we still need 35 more... Next on our list would be one of your kidneys, that would make you 7.5 thousand more, then next maybe one of your lungs or a leg, I can also offer you to sell one of your eyes or both of them, your choice of course... I think that would make more, than enough for the ship, with a little left to spare for its upgrades. Now, what do you say Ethan?

    --I accept, for the eyes, I think both of them and my left leg too...

    --Oh, very good! That will leave you with even more chits to spend, I estimate all the sum to be about 120 thousand.. and dont vory boy! When you earn some chits in your exploring you can buy some bodyparts yourself haha. Now then, I will make the usual contract, within a week you have to get to the frontier station ¡°Great Forest¡±, there is your ship, also there will be all the operations done to you, you of course will get basic prosthetic parts installed, and will be free to go on your way.

    Finishing all the formalities Ethan was now free to go, to enjoy his last days as a human, before he became a cyborg.

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Great Forest.=== Time : Two days after leaving home. ===

    === Ethan POW===

    Ethan was now sitting at the doctors office, waiting for his turn to get on the table. He cleched his arms, felt his hair, his leg, looked into the mirror to see his eyes... Maybe for the last time, but he swore to himself, that one day... he will get them back, maybe not the same ones, not the original ones but he will get them back.

    Steeling himself for what was about to come, he thought about his future, his ship will be coming into the station after an hour or too ¨C the Broker organized a free of charge delivery service for him. There will be a ton of work for him to do, once he will get to his ship.

    Doors into the operating room opened, and a man left... Ethan saw, how he entered being a human and now, he saw how the man left as a cyborg, his arms and shoulders replaced... He looked cool though, even if these prosthesis he was equipped currently were cheap basic ones.

    A small man, with much more advanced medical prosthesis followed him out and turned to Ethan later.

    --Well young man, I am doctor Cho ¨C your surgeon. Come inside please, we have a lot of work to do.

    And Ethan followed - ¡°Everything has a price¡± were his thoughts as we was sedated for the operation.

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Great Forest.=== Time : Just after operation. ===

    === Ethan POW===

    It was done, he lost a lot... But he gained just as much ¨C he finally was independent free to forge his own path. Doctor Cho lead him into a room, full of mirrors - to see his new self.

    Now, in the mirror stood a Cyborg 1.76 tall, with partly replaced skull, cybernetic eyes ¨C basic of course, cybernetic arms and a leg, without one kidney... he no longer was handsome, no... Now he looked more fierce or mature one would say... his black prosthetic limbs just sharpened the contrast, and his now gray glowing cybernetic eyes truly added to that.

    --I believe you will find your way out, when yo are ready young man yes?. - Cho asked.

    --Yes sir, I will. Actually im leaving right now, got to attend some business.

    --Well then good luck yo you Ethan, Fly safe.

    --You too doctor.

    As he left, he began to use his newly acquired augmentations functions... You know, not everything is bad for being a cyborg ¨C for example ¨C he now could access the station map easily, by downloading it into his integrated memory and there just setting a point where he wants to go ¨C by doing that his eyes would automatically highlight him a way to the place. He also now could monitor his body easily, as the information was all displayed in his integrated HUD. He will be able to upgrade it later, for now, he decided to go see the ship for the first time.

    He set his way point as the docks, and a path leading there was highlighted, with the help of this new abilities he got there pretty quickly merely in five minutes. He arrived there, just as his ship was docking, and the delivery pilot exited it.

    Ethan quickly approached the delivery man, this would save him quite some time ¨C if he had missed the man, he would have to go to the stations administration center to sign all the documents needed for finishing the ships ownership transfer. The man was about to lock the ship, when Ethan finally reached him.

    --Wait! Dont lock the ship, im Ethan the new owner.

    The man turned around, he too was augmented, but not with basics.. Ethan clearly saw, the guys augments were far better than his, so was the man dressed better too.

    --Mister Ethan?. - The man quickly checked the datapad, he was holding. - Ah, good ¨C this will save us both quite some time. Shall we proceed with the transfer?

    --Yes please. Lets get this done quickly, I can wait to check the ship.

    The courier only smirked at Ethans words, and extended him the datapad.

    --Very well then, beam your verification codes into the IR sensor of the datapad, and it will authorize you to download the ownership documents.

    Ethan did as he was told - beamed the code ¨C that was now his new hand print so to say after the amputations, and gained access to the ownership documents.

    --Good, so good luck and enjoy your purchase!

    The courier quickly left, but Ethan didnt care, he now looked and admired his new ship.

    Thirty seven meters long, twelve high his ship was a Frigate of the C3 class. A multipurpose one at that, meaning it could be upgraded almost freely if only you had the chits to. It was painted green, as washed just recently, Ethan decided since he couldnt see any space dust on it.

    Waiting no longer he opened the pressure doors, by beaming an access code into the console, near the door. Once inside he looked around before closing the door. Inside the ship too was clearly seen to be cleaned just recently probably before delivery. Ethan tried to access the ships local network, but it was offline, so he slowly ¨C enjoying himself took a walk around the ship. He looked at the engine room, where the power core was installed, together with the warp drives and the sub-jump engine. He checked everything else, living quarters, med-bay, the ore holds and the cargo holds, the the emergency life pods... Everythin was in good condition, as old as himself, but in good condition. With a little investment the ship will be damn good.

    When he entered the command center, Ethan activated the systems and ran full diagnostic looking for any missing parts, or crashed systems. It would take awhile, until the diagnostics will be complete, so he called up a holo-screen, sat down in the commanders chair and began to check, what he wants to upgrade with his current funds. And his funds werent large, barely enough for one or two system upgrades. Still he couldnt do them until the diagnostics were over.

    Hawing nothing better to do, than to wait Ethan looked at the old logs of the ship. What he found there didnt really surprise him, the ship really was just as old as him, it belonged to some man named Drayden, or whatever his name was. The poor fucker was caught just after buying the ship, apparently he wanted to use the ship for smuggling, but was caught by the patrols on his very first run, because he didnt have the chits to install the stealth systems ¨C the cargo that he was delivering was illegal boosters and some illegal ammunition. The ship was cofiscated, its previous captain locked away behind the cold cell doors for long years, with his money and life gone. What a poor man... But this all now explained why the ship was almost new.

    As he finished reeding the logs, he saw a pop up message informing him of the finished diagnostics, he checked all the data. Everything was good and well, for his first first upgrades Ethan chose to install new mining lasers, he spent on them 5thousand chits and then three more on an upgrade to the ships power core ¨C increasing its recharging rate. His order was sent to the station administration and they replied, that the parts he requested will be delivered withing two hours.

    Pleased with this quick delivery time he began to look around the ships systems... so to say getting familiar with them, since he trained to fly and control at least ten year newer ships, so some of the ships programs needed a big update, but all that will be solved after a few mining runs, or at least he had hoped so. While checking them one by one, setting his own settings he found one, quite large program deactivated. Curious he looked it up in the ships documentation, but there was nothing there.

    His curiosity got better of him, and he activated the program. As he did so, all the light s went out and all the ships computer began to reboot. A bit frustrated, Ethan began to look around... Could he have crashed his ships systems? Could that program be some kind of a virus or something? Sweating a little he waited, for the systems to boot.

    Slowly the systems boot up, nothing looked out of place, and relief washed over Ethan, looks like it wasnt anything bad...

    --Please identify yourself, or you will be terminated withing ten seconds. - a female voice resounded in the command center.

    Ethan just looked around, looking for the person joking like that. But he saw no one.

    --Who are you? Where are you! Show yourself! I Bought this ship legally trough a broker!

    --I am this ships AI, I am the ship. If you bought me, deliver the owners code. You have three seconds remaining.

    A small needle gun revealed itself from the wall and aimed at Ethan.

    He quickly sent the code over and waited to see, what happened next.

    --Verifying. Verification complete, the code is real ¨C you are the owner of the ship. Would you like not to be shot?

    ¨C...

    --That was a joke owner.

    --Not the best one... Call me Ethan.

    --Understood owner Ethan.

    --Not so formally maybe? Just Ethan is fine.

    --Very well Ethan, any orders?

    --Can you install upgrades to the ship yourself? There will be parts delivered within two hours time to the cargo hold.

    --I can, using the maintenance bots. Should I inform you when it''s done?

    --Yes please, how do I call you? How did your last owner call you?

    --Call me however you want Ethan, the last owner had disabled me, because of my advice not to carry illegal cargo.

    --I see, how would Thalia sound to you?

    --Good Ethan, will you be calling me like that from now on?

    --Yes. Well then im off to sleep a bit. Check your systems, install the upgrades when they will arrive and try to calculate our efficiency as a mining ship for now.

    --Understood, have a good rest Ethan, I probably wont forget to enable the air recycling system in your cabin.

    ¨C...

    --That was a joke.

    --Try to look for some new jokes online, will you?

    --Understood.

    --Im off then.

    Ethan vent into his cabin, actually all of them were now his, he chose not the biggest one, but the one conveniently positioned near the command center. After a good shower, and a few bland protein bars, he went to bed... the sweet sleep was finally waiting for him.

    ///AN///

    if you have a better suggestion to name the chapter, post it in the comments, or just pm me. Appreciate the suggestions.

 C2

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Great Forest.=== . ===

    === Thalia POW===

    With Ethan now sleeping, Thalia began to carry out his commands, well with part of her processing power. With the other part this long nose ship AI began to dig into the record of her new master, her owner. She was curious, as to what person is going to command her.

    Thalia connected to the stations information network and opened his file, using her own masters codes. Soon she found out, he was one of the best students back on his home station ¡°The Laser EYE¡±, he actually attended ¡°Imperial Flight School¡± there, and was the best cadet for two years straight. He was expelled from it just a year ago, because of his late mothers betrayal, looks like she helped the rebels and was executed for that. Ethan then also got a hard PTS, and was treated for almost full last year.

    Thalia felt her electronic hearth warm up to the boy, his story had its up''s and down''s just like everybody else, but he was her master, so she decided to try and keep the boy from any such harm if possible.

    Continuing to check her masters background she found out, that he arrived to the ¡°Green Forest¡± station just today, and he was still fully human. Further investigation of hers revealed, that he had all the modifications done to him, by a local doctor Cho, whose main business was human body parts trading. Apparently he sold parts of himself, to purchase her, so that he could leave his past behind.

    As Thalia was slowly digging deeper into the boys records, the courier arrived with all the parts, that were ordered. The courier was a human, he called up the ship trough the outer console, telling that delivery was there. Thalia opened the cargo hold for him, and let out her maintenance bots to carry everything inside.

    --Hey! Wait you have to sign first!. - the courier said into the console.

    --Will it be okay, if I just beam the confirmation code into your datapad? Im very busy here. - replied Thalia imitating Ethan''s voice.

    --Sure man, that will do.

    She beamed the code, and quickly continued unloading the upgrade parts. Once everything was inside the ship, courier left and she closed the cargo hold doors. Thalia began to assemble the upgrades and install them. This didnt took long with her efficiency and quick processing, all the changed old equipment she stored in the spare parts storage. Maybe they will need them some day, or they can sell them later.

    As Thalia was installing the upgrades, she saw how much the coding of programs has changed and how far has humanities technology advanced. Wanting to know just how far she was left behind, she began a full compare of her systems, to the best ones currently available in the local market.

    And it soon revealed a shocking truth... she was far, far behind... Once she was a pearl, so polished with advancements, that she could be called a star in a sky... but now, after twenty years she was just one more old ship, with outdated systems.

    Her processor began to heat a little, she was pumping information with all the power she could, trying to learn new programming skills, so she could upgrade her own systems, even if she was an AI, she had her own pride, after all ¨C she was probably one of the last ¡°Ascension system IV¡± AI models left out there, the only models with emotions in the whole history of humanities AI making.

    Once, she had what she needed she began her tedious work of system upgrading. Simultaneously she checked for her efficiency as a mining ship, looking how to make extra space for ore, that they would eventually mine.

    Checking one of the old secret chambers, that her previous owner had installed, she found quite an interesting pile of equipment. There were armored plates, shield generators and blaster weapon systems, looks like they were left in the ship, because they werent illegal back, when the ship and its owner were arrested, and people just forgot about them being there.. or maybe they didnt even found them. Thalia checked the legality of this find of hers, and it was all legal, the plates and generators were legalized long ago, while these blasters were made available to public for self defense five years ago. Without delay, Thalia checked the requirements of these systems, and she could install more, than half of them, for the other half she lacked computing power and power grid.

    Thinking, what to do she decided to install them, just in case. After the installation was done, she was left with six spare blasters, she actually managed to fit all armor plates, since they didnt need power grid, and replace current shield generators with these better ones, while also adding more of them. Old parts she too stored in the spare parts room. Those six spare blasters, she decided to sell in the local market - when she made them available in the local auction, they were bought almost immediately. Thus, adding about twelve thousand to Ethan''s and her budget. Since she had all his permissions to upgrade the ship and full access to his accounts, she bought some more upgrades.

    When all the upgrading works, that could be done were done, Thalia began to plan a way for them to make some profit quickly, her master after all needed to eat... like they say ¡°Nobody is perfect¡±.

    She found a system, where you didnt need a mining permit, to mine and with quite the good ores, that they could mine and sell with a nice profit, that would further allow them to travel or upgrade the ship more. Planning the route to that system, she checked if there were any cargo deliveries available into that system and found one just a few jumps away, not too profitable, but it would at least pay the travel expanses to the mining system. The cargo was mining equipment obviously, with some station shield generators, and its m3 was just within their limit. She made a note for herself, to offer Ethan to take this delivery.

    Continuing to work in this profit raising way, Thalia downloaded information about capital investment. She found many advice''s and one she especially liked ¨C lending all extra money to the station they were docked for extra interest, until they were going to leave. She noted this too.

    While searching for more, she even found an old human comedy show, about a human family, where the wife was an accountant, and her husband a weak willed gambler ¨C she found that show amusing, Ethan dug his own grave, by ordering her to find some new jokes.

    Without having anything better to do, than wait for Ethan to wake up, Thalia decided to study human psychology, and the general population of humans. And also some other races, old and new, who now were part of the empire or its allies.

    She checked the stations, they were going to visit ¨C one of them CP-1X2, where they might go to pick up a delivery contract if Ethan agrees was a station of the ¡°Screemer''s¡± station.

    Screemers were an interesting humanoid race, that joined the empire a few hundred years ago, they had no eyes, instead they had excellent hearing and ability to use echolocation, other than that they were normal oxygen breathing race. Human scientists speculated, that because of their planet always being in dark of the other planets shadow their evolution took a turn to echolocation, ¡°Screemers¡± however didnt comment on how they came to be.

    On the other station the frontier station ¡°Diamond¡±, where they will have to deliver the cargo lived mostly humans and space elves together with a mixed population of many different races, that came there, to mine the riches of the system.

    Space elves is almost self explaining ¨C humans with sharp ears and extremely developed senses, they actually preferred, to wear special suits all the time, when living off their home world on the pretext of their senses being too provoked, by the other races.

    Thalia was a little worried about Ethan, he hasnt worked with other species yet, only seen them back in his home station. But she hoped, to be able to help them if he needed any help.

    After a few more hours Ethan finally woke up and after a few ration bars got all the information about ships upgrades... of course excluding the combat ones...

    Thalia also suggested to Ethan all her investment plans and the small detour to pick up that cargo delivery to their mining system, witch he gladly accepted.

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Great Forest.=== . ===

    === Ethan POW===

    He had a good sleep, almost fourteen hours. Still sleepy he talked a little with Thalia, and got quite a few good suggestions from her.

    She had found a good system for mining, where no permit was needed and also a cargo delivery contract to the same system just a few jumps away, even if they wouldnt make much from it it would pay the bill for all the sub-space drive fuel. All he had to do to get the contract was to call the issuer, and he was currently doing that.

    --Hello, Amaxathi singing. - his contractor finally answered, shocking Ethan a little with his eyeless face.

    --Ah, hello. - He quickly regained his composture. - im calling about the cargo delivery to the ¡°Diamond¡± station, if its still available.

    --Oh I see, yes it is still available, you would like to take it? Know, that the payment offer is final.

    --It''s good for me, im heading to ¡°Diamond¡± anyway.

    --Good, how soon should we prepare the cargo?

    --My ship will be arriving in half a day, we are currently docked at ¡°Green Forest¡± station.

    --Excellent, then we will be waiting for you, all the documents will be prepared, when you will arrive.

    --Good, see you then.

    --Yes, I will hear you then.

    And the connection via the tight-beam was out. Sighing in relief, he just got his very first delivery! Almost jumping around, he ordered Thalia to undock, they are leaving.

    --Green Forest station tower, requesting permission to undock.

    --Permission granted, fly safe.

    Station gravity fields released the ship, and they slowly began to exit the hangar. Ethan heard his ships engine sound for the very first sound, and it sounded amazing ¨C a deep bu bu bu bu sound was released from the engines, until they left the station, where the main warp core was activated, to gain distance from the station. And once they were activated, the sound disappeared., warp core itself was shielded, so no sound escaped it, but when Ethan asked Thalia what it would sound like, she said it would be something like an extremely loud humming.

    When they got to a distance of around a few hundred kilometers from the station, with Ethan piloting the ship in manual control, though Thalia thought that he just wanted to play around a little, since he would be utterly bored, once they entered sub-jump space, they jumped into the sub-jump space, and began their journey to their next destination - CP-1X2 station.

    --Ethan, I have you a suggestion.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.--Yes Thalia? One more shipment? Or something like that? You know we have no more free space.

    --Oh, no. I want to suggest, that you install me into your main body implant system.

    Ethan blinked a few times, totally surprised by her.

    --And, why do I need that?

    --While you dont use your processing power I could use it instead, every little bit helps, also I could communicate with you more easily when you are out of the ship, essentialy you would be carrying a part of me around.

    --Mhm... I dont know... to have you in my head, sounds a little extreme dont you think?

    --No, to me it sounds practical.

    --Just be sincere, you just want to see the outside world more, right?

    --There is that too, also I have no cameras in the shower and watching you take a shower with your own eyes, would be quite interesting.

    Ethan''s ear tips went a little red, but he kept... well most of his cool.

    --What a perverted AI you are... okay, enough with the jokes. If you think it will be better for us, than sure, go ahead, you have my permission.

    --Thank you Ethan, how soon are you going to take a shower?

    --Dont push it.

    For a second there he thought, he heard her giggling.

    Thalia installed herself into his brain very quickly it took no more than five minutes, and he felt no discomfort after that, she assured him ¨C that he could uninstall her whenever he pleased and block her access if he wanted... he was so going to do that, when going to shower. You can newer know with perverted AI''s, they might just post some intriguing videos online.

    After a few hour''s spent doing nothing, or just reading some old documentation and eating tasteless rations Ethan was bored to hell.

    --Thalia... is there anything I could do? I will die If I wont get anything to do...

    --Checking... Would you like me to open you some sexual content videos?

    --Stop that you perverted machine! Though, that would be fun.... - he mumbled quietly. - I need some work, something to fix.. something to pilot. Do we really have nothing?

    --That hurts you know! I have feelings too!

    --Made out of silicon and wires... okay, sorry sorry... Find me something to do... pretty please?

    --Uhh, fine. You can try to make some basic drones by using the old parts, that we have as spares. Would that please you?

    --Oh yes! Show me the way.

    And his HUD displayed him a path to the workbenches in the engineering and to the spare parts storage. Thalia also pulled him some basic mining drone schematics, that she edited to use only the parts, that they had on board.

    The next few hours of the flight Ethan was happily busy back in the engineering, making his first mining drones. Cutting, bending and welding their parts together, also discussing possible improvements to them with Thalia was fun to him, he liked to have his hands full with work, well at least then, when he had the motivation to do so. Time passed and soon a small fleet of six mining drones was made, he needed more parts to make, more and they also had to keep some spare parts in case of an emergency ship repair.

    --Hoho, pretty good no?

    --Yes Ethan, the drones will be of good use on the mining operation.

    --Yeah, how much time left till the station?

    --Five minutes.

    --Whoa, It took quite a while to make them... do I need to do there anything beside signing the papers?

    --No Ethan, paper signing is the only thing you will have to do. Also I would like to warn you, not to leave the ship without a breathing mask, in the station oxygen concentration is a little lower, than humans are used to.

    --i think I will just sight them from the ship then.

    --Wise decision.

    Once they exited the sub-space Thalia hailed the station, requesting to be directed into the docking bay. Everything went smooth, they loaded the cargo quickly, Ethan signed the documentation form withing the ship and soon they were again on their way, now to the ¡°Diamond¡± station, to deliver the cargo, as well as to begin their career as novice miners.

    Thalia was making a plan, for their mining operation, while Ethan decided to go to sleep, after all they were going to fly, for two days straight.

    But his sleep was bad... He had a nightmare...

    He was facing himself, or so to say his other self ¨C a machine, who no longer was human, he felt no emotions, he no longer needed to eat, to sleep, to reproduce or socialize. His only goal in life was now only to gain more power, to bend others to his will... In his nightmare his machine self with its burning eyes did it''s dirty job of destroying worlds, for the sole reason as to be the only alive creature in the universe left... Though you couldnt call him alive anymore. Ethan watched in horror his own dream, but just couldnt wake up. Finally he woke up and sat on the side of his bed.

    --Shit what a dream...

    --You really thought, that it was a dream? No, it was merely your reality.

    Said a shadow, that started to walk towards him from the corner of his room. In its hand a burning lightsword was getting closer to his chest. Ethan screamed in pain....

    Ethan''s eye''s shot open, and he jumped out of his bed, into the only light ed corner, that was in his room. Heavily panting he looked around scared.

    --Ethan are you all right? My sensors show your blood pressure extremely increased.

    For a moment Ethan still looked around allarmed, as if not understanding, where he is.

    --Yes, yes im okay... had a really bad dream.

    --I see, would you like some sleeping pills?

    --No, thanks I think I have had enough of sleep for now.

    --Very well, we are still quite far from our exit point, maybe you would like to play chess?

    --Yeah, yeah... sure, chess why not... with a computer, that can calculate all possible moves.. sure why not.

    --I promise to let you win a few times... maybe...

    --Mhmmm.. ill get dressed and will come to the bridge.

    He quickly got into the shower, to freshen up. When he was out of the shower he couldnt remember the dream anymore, though that cold feeling was still left in his chest.

    They spent the time left discussing various things, that were happening in the empire, or in the frontier and stuff that could or could not affect their existence.

    When they finally reached ¡°Diamond¡± station, Ethan was left speechless it truly looked like an overgrown diamond, all shiny and polished, but what really caught his eye, was the sheer ammount of the weapon platforms mounted on the station, it was more of a fortress than a station. And as Thalia explained this was one of the empires key stations in frontier, for its fleets refueling. Basically this was one hell of a huge gas station.

    Docking this time was stricter, their ship had to pass a full scan, also Ethan was scanned himself for any illegal modifications or drugs used in the last few days, but as he was clear he didnt worry too much. Other than that everything went just like it should have - the delivery of the cargo was smooth and he got his chits, the same second the owner inspected the cargo for any damage, that could occur during the transportation. Once Thalia ordered a refuel of sub-space engine, it was done immediately as soon as the chits transferred to the administration of the station.

    Ethan made a quick trip into a nearby restaurant, it was cheap and the food wasnt of the best taste, but still better than the rations he had on board, so he was quite satisfied.

    Done with all the other small things they undocked and finally headed to the asteroid fields, where their true work had to begin. It took them an hour on the warp drive to reach the belt, and they began to scan for a suitable asteroid. If they were richer, they could just buy, the scans of the asteroids, and head straight for the one they wanted, but they werent so the long and boring work of probing them had to be done. One asteroid took up to an hour to scan, but they were lucky and got the one, with the ores they wanted on their fifth try.

    Thalia deployed the mining lasers ¨C they slowly slid out of the ships hull and aimed towards the location of the asteroid, that they were going to mine. Ethan got into the mining lasers control systems and powered them on.

    Powerful beams of energy began to melt the crust of the asteroid, and the secondary system of the mining lasers began to separate the ore from molten rock, once the ore was separated, a small tractor beam puled it inside the ore hold.

    Ethan gave Thalia order to deploy his fleet of mining drones and so she did, they did the same, as the mining lasers, just on a little smaller scale and had to return from time to time to drop off the mined ore.

    After ten hours, they were finally full, and went back to drop off their haul.

    At the station Ethan sold his cargo for seven hundred chits, not so bad for half a days work. Thalia suggested, that they would save some chits, to buy and install a purifier together with a compressor into the ship, with them they could stay at the belts, more than two days, that way their profit of chits per hour would increase quite a lot. Ethan agreed to that idea, and so they began their great war against the asteroids.

 [Updated] 13 - 07 -15 /// Please read!

    Both chapter 1 and chapter 2 are rewritten, and the story changed pretty much 99%. Have fun reading, unless you cry while reading... then please cry more?...

    [Updated] 13 - 07 -15 ///  As you might have noticed, the chapter 3 and 2 are called C2 and C3. i hope for you my dear comrades of the penguin army to help me name them... Have fun.

    Next then, it would be wonderful if you could help me theink of future alien races to use - original ones if you can ;) even if it wont be used actively i will use them, to add diversity to the planets and stations. Also, i need some help, with creating clan names - like we have surenames one of my races will have their clan name as a surename, or lastname i think it is whatever.. so help is appreciated... paying chits for help!

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    For each first a person gets i will count that as a single "chit" (LOL) for five chits you can think of a ship or a persons name, that i will use in the next chapter, after the person contacts me.

 C3

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Diamond.===Time: About three months since last chapter.===

    === Ethan POW===

    Ethan was sleeping ¨C currently dreaming about the time a few weeks ago, when he bought the suggested mining upgrades ¨C the compressor and purifier upgrades, for the mining laser of theirs.

    That day, just like usual Thalia had installed the upgrades and they were leaving the station with all the strict control and by now usual checkups.

    As she explained back then to him, now all ore that would be mined would first pass the purifier, where it would be heated and all the impurities removed, so allowing more pure and more expensive ore to be stored within the ore holds. Compressor on the other hand, did just that it compressed ore, by making the ores molecules knit with one another tighter so making it take less space. This by her calculations should bring their profit up by about 25%. and that was quite a nice and welcome increase. There never is too much money.

    --Ethan wake up, precious cargo unloading has finished ¨C old man Duke has just picked it up. Its time to go to the fields. - Thalia tried waking up Ethan, but he still was drunk, so it was quite hard.

    --Ethan wake up, or I will activate emergency fire control in your cabin!

    A low mumbling could be heard from Ethan after those words, with occasional cursing at the Thalia.

    --Aaaaah god!!! THALIA BITCH STOP THAT!!! AHHH IM AWAKE!!!! IM AWAKE I SAY!!!!

    Ethan started screaming out loud, as soon as Thalia activated emergency fire control valve just above his bed.

    The view was spectacular, Thalia wondered if Ethan has ever got up so quickly before? She was considering on making this a usual method for waking him up, too bad after every use of it a report would have to be filed to the station administration, about why it was used ¨C as what was the emergency.

    All wet and angry Ethan was still shouting, with all those wet clothes and blankets stuck to him he looked like some strange ball of fur. In a few minutes as he began to calm down Thalia decided it was about time, to begin to talk with him again.

    --So how was your sleep? I see you wet your bed again...?

    --Dam you crazy machine! Why did you do it?! Cant I just have a nice day off once in a while? It feels like a fucking forge has opened in my head!

    --I did it ¨C to wake you up. Our cargo has been unloaded and already picked up by Duke, even the chit transfer is completed. We have now nothing else to do in the station, it is time - to go back to work. Or maybe you dont want to travel any more in the future?

    --Dammit! You sound like my father! And he sounds bad! Fine, I get it.. time to work... Fuck I will have, to file that emergency report again... that fat ass control tower lady is going to scold me again... aaaaaaaahhhh.... Fix me up something, to calm down that forge in my head...

    --Okay Ethan... But you know, there wouldnt be any forge in your head if you didnt drink so much? You should really think about you health more ¨C previous time because of your aggressiveness when drunk you almost got your self arrested, not to mention the beating you received, from those space elves...

    --Ahh, dont remind me about that! Just fix up something for my poor head...

    --Fine.

    Ethan took about half an hour, to recover his usual good appearance ¨C cold shower(not because he wanted to, but because Thalia disabled the water left him extremely refreshed and with teeth chattering) and fresh, clean clothes do miracles... Theres also coffee and such.

    Though, to his headache reporting, to the stations administration didnt help at all, just like he guessed that fat administrator was on duty, and gave him far more questions, than he wanted to answer. This whole interrogation of his took about fifteen minutes, after whitch he was left as empty as a used lemon.

    Finally, after all these, not so pleasant matters to Ethan, they were doing the undocking procedures, preparing to leave for the asteroid belt, to continue mining the ore.

    Thalia was downloading the newest ore price list and depositing all their available chits into investment funds, until they will come back ¨C these small tricks allowed them to compete with real specialized mining barges, though ¨C not in the amounts of ore that they would have liked.

    As always Thalia commanded the ship away from the station for a few hundred kilometers, and activated warp drives. Their trip wont be long, just a few hours. So as to pass the time Thalia decided to talk with Ethan about something, that was on her mind for quite some time.

    --Ethan are you free? I would like to talk.

    --You can see trough my eyes, and yet yous till ask if im free.. of course I am, does looking trough the screen at stars with longing eyes count as doing something very important?

    Thalia simply ignored his reply and began to talk.

    --You keep mentioning, that you want to go into the deep space, the unexplored space. So I did some research and have found, that the smallest ship class allowed for solo exploration into deep space are cruisers... I was thinking, that if you really want to go there, than upgrading ship to a cruiser early, would help us prepare for some unexpected situations... Also we dont need so much chits to upgrade the ship into a cruiser ¨C all the new free space could be used as an expanded cargo and ore hold, thus increasing our mining capabilities even further.

    --yeah, that''s actually a good Idea, I too know about that only cruiser rule. Did you check what would be the price of upgrading?

    --Yes, it would be about two hundred fifty thousand chits.. a little less or a little more, depending on what integrated equipment you would choose and on some other parameters.

    Ethan just whistled lightly at the price, it was no small price after all.

    --Hoho.. Thats quite a price. Any way to cut some corners?

    --No, I expected you to ask that and already calculated with all the possible shotcuts.

    --I see, well preparing for deep space exploration wont be an easy task anyway.. so yeah... how much do we currently have saved up?

    --Sixty eight thousand chits currently. In bout a year and a half, we should be able to upgrade, then things should go faster.

    --I see...

    --Also Ethan I have found out, that its a common practice to build control towers when going into the deep space, they can have all the needed repair and refuel facilities installed to make them an optimal base for an exploration.

    --And how much would that cost?

    --They come in three sizes - small, medium and large. And they cost respectively fifty thousand, five hundred thousand and five million. Modules for a tower have to be bought separatelly.

    --Yeah, quite an expensive stuff, we will think about them later okay?

    --Sure, we are already approaching our mining belt, should I start collecting our scan drones?

    --Yes, go ahead and find us a nice rock to mine.

    Thalia sent a command to return to all their scanning drones to return to ship.

    These drones were one of their newest purchase ¨C Ethan got a suggestion to buy them while he was spending his free time In a bar from one old miner, who told that while not highly effective these drones really did help to increase your profits. Lets say a ship takes two hours to scan a medium asteroid - the drone will take six, but the point is the drones are an autonomic programmed devices, that do just that and a ship is a piloted piece of equipped, that doesnt always have the capacity to do a dew things at the same time ¨C just like Ethans ship it couldnt mine and scan at the same time because it would simply be too far from the unscanned asteroid while mining. So they bought some scanning drones, to help them with scanning, and the drones were truly useful.

    Soon drones, that were called in docked in the small drone bay, they have added just recently too and began to recharge, while simultaneously uploading all their collected data about the asteroids around.

    Ethan was scrolling trough through the data the drones just uploaded, he was looking for a good asteroid to mine, he didnt like to fly from one to another every few hours, it was a waste of time and he was going to do that only, when all the bigger asteroid were mined to the very last drop of their ore.

    --Ah, Thalia help me out here a bit... find us a nice fat asteriod.

    --Done, this one should be enough for us to mine for almost all our session this time.

    --Oooh, that a big one then! Haha, good.

    They approached the asteroid that was identified by the drones as rich with minerals and in big quantities. It had a few minerals that were unidentified even! They might just find something, that would make them rich! Looking at the data in front of his eyes Ethan was already imagining, what he would do if he got rich... after some time he returned to reality and while preparing to mine began to talk with Thalia.

    --So what do you think we could find in these unidentified minerals? New alloys or just some useless crystals?

    --I do not know, though I believe the empire would pay greatly for either of them, since you can newer know what it might be useful for.

    --Yeah I agree, good thing they havent given order to make mining permits for this system, or most of our profits from these new discoveries would go to their pockets.

    --Yes indeed, but like history shows, after every new ore discovery the system with that ore was closed down and mined by the empires ships.

    --I see, so better to mine until we cant find it anymore and then sell it to them, okey! Lets do just that.

    The ship has aligned itself with the asteroid, matched it''s rotation speed and Ethan ordered Thalia to deploy the mining lasers, once they were out it was time, to begin the work. The laser cavity was filled with special gas, to increase the output of the laser. A bright crimson laser shot into the asteroid surrounded by it''s integrated small tractor beam field, that pulled useful ore into the ship.

    That warm sound of this complex machine working was now all but usual to Ethan and he continued to work.

    Ethan has already been mining for four hours, when he decided to go rest a for a while. He left all the setting on automatic and went to grab a bite.

    Back in the ships kitchen he grabbed some cheese, some bread and a few bottles ow while light wine, for some lunch. He sat down there behind the table, making sandwiches and drinking wine, while looking at the screen he had bought recently and put it on the wall of the kitchen. In the screen view of the ship surroundings was showed ¨C small cameras he got installed delivered it. Ever since he was a child he liked to look at nebula and other wonders of the space. Relaxing in his seat, thinking about going to get a nap... he was blown out from his seat and thrown into the wall where the screen was.

    A millisecond later Thalia shouted...

    --Ethan! Are you okay?!

    --Uhh... I''ll live.. What happened?

    --An explosion! From outside the ship...

    Ethan didnt let her to finish and cut in.

    --Damage report quick, assess the damage. And find out what happened.

    --Already working on it. There is a lot of systems damaged, some even offline, our hull was breached in some places.

    --Wasn''t there a shield present all the time?

    --There should have been, but I had lowered it''s power, to save the energy needed to power up the mining lasers... The damage looks spread trough many systems, but all of it is easy to be fixed even with the maintenance bots we have onboard.

    --Good, prepare some ice back in the med bay.. my head will need it.

    --Okay, im currently checking, from where the explosion came... Oh no... It came from that spot that showed unknown in the asteroid! Looks like it wasnt a concentration of new minerals! It was a cavity withing the asteroid full of explosive gasses!

    --Of course it couldn''t be... my rotten luck wouldnt allow it... Begin the repairs.. im going to get that ice.

    --Yes... BRACE YOURSELF A SECONDARY EXPLOSION IS COMMING!!!

    Ethan barely managed to react to Thalia''s warning, when he was again thrown all around the kitchen, loud sounds of breaking metal and explosions could be heard from various sections of the ship.

    --Thalia whats the damage?! Is there any more explosions coming?

    --Nnno.. Critttticall-al-al dammage.. Aster-r-r-oid destroyedd... i''mm shu-ti-ti-ting dd-own...

    --Thalia shit! Respond!

    --Oh, dont shout.. I managed, to transfer more of my functions over to your local body processor.

    --Thank god, what happened?

    --The heated gasses withing the asteroids other pockets exploded, tearing it to pieces and since we were so close to it, we have received full damage from it. Many of the main systems are critically damaged, and hull integrity is critical. Power lines were cut off somewhere, it is possible, that the power core itself was destroyed. We are stuck here, until we do emergency repairs.

    --Shit, how long will the repairs take?

    --Maintenance bots already began strengthening the hull, so the ship woulnt break apart, you will also have to help... Hull is breached, we are leaking oxygen!

    --Just close the damaged section, I now really need that ice...

    --I can''t access the systems needed to do that! They are down. You have to seal the sections manually. Air filtering system also was blown to shreds, we have to get back to ¡°Diamond¡± station as soon as we can!

    --Oh balls... Wheres the closes emergency suit right now?

    --Only on the other side of the ship. Near the ships entrance door. But path to it is blocked.

    --Think of something Thalia, can your bots reach it? Can we cut the walls open somehow?

    --Yes... Yes we can! There was a laser cutter in the engineering, it''s entrance isnt blocking, but theres a fire going on there, and the emergency fire system is down! We have to wait, until it will die down.

    --No, im going in, if it dies down, then it will have consumed all the oxygen left by then, and I will be long dead before then. Im going, show the way.

    --Showing.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    A path was highlighted for him, to reach the engineering as quickly as possible. Running Ethan was thinking he was lucky to be alive.. at least for now... a quick thought entered his mind about all the cost, that will be needed for the repairs, but he threw it out of his head for now... this wasnt the time to think about money it was time to think, how to survive.

    He was close to engineering now, when a small explosion blew him into a nearby wall. He recovered quickly, while cursing and continued on. Engineering was a true hell ¨C fire everywhere, his old welding set was leaking gas and making the temperature inside the room get even hotter, most of the floor was beginning to melt from the heat.

    Ethan inhaled before diving into the burning engineering room and began to search for that laser cutter, but all the tools were lying around, those two explosions made a huge mess, when he finally saw it, it was close to the melting floor and soon would be consumed by that melting mass of liquid boiling metal. Ethan was running out of air and had to breathe - he exhaled quickly, and lowering himself as much as he could tried to inhale that a little cooler air near the floor... But it still was really hot, a burning sensation and pain reverberated trough his lungs, but he just gritted his teeth and and ran to grab the laser cutter. Good thing his hands couldnt feel pain anymore, or he might have screamed because, the laser cutter was extremely hot, it burned the soft padding off of his cybernetic hand. Quickly turning around Ethan wanted to run out of the room, but just as he began... he flinched from pain, that entered his one still organic leg... without himself noticing he had splashed some of that molten metal with his cybernetic leg onto his good one..

    Balls he thought and now grinding his teeth even more continued to run at the direction of the exit.

    Once out he slammed the console''s emergency lock down button and locked the room. Doors slid form withing the wall and with a loud metallic shrieking sealed the room. Trough the holo-screen integrated into the door he saw, how the fire burned out in mere seconds, because all the oxygen has burned out.

    --Thalia, show me where to cut the walls.

    --A sec, calculating. Okay, go to the ore hold - cutting one of its walls we will be almost at the entrance to the ship, where all the closest suits are located.

    --Got it, light up the way.

    Going quickly to the ore hold he looked around... there was a lot of fucking damage done...

    Once in front of the ore hold he pressed the emergency open button ¨C usually you dont open it when its half full, but it didnt matter now. Once the door opened he entered, and found the marked wall, it was on his left so he rushed to it, to begin cutting.

    --Quickly Ethan, I calculate, that oxygen within ship is disappearing even more quickly... looks like a few more fires have spread into other sectors.

    --Shit, im working as fast as I can...

    Slowly, ever so slowly was the wall giving in to the laser cutter, after all it was build to withstand quite a big pressure of all the ore collected. Just as he was to finish cutting a hole big enough for himself, all the light went offline.

    --Fuck, what now?!

    --Looks like the power core is damaged heavily or, main cables were cut! Ignore it for now, continue cutting, we need that suit for you!

    And so he continued, after a few moments emergency light came online, they were fed by batteries and would last more than a day, but he didnt care right now. Kicking off the part he had cut off, he crawled trough the hole. A nearby room was full of fire, he had to move quickly ¨C it would soon spread into this room.

    --Balls. - Ethan cursed and continued to run.

    He was about to slam the emergency door close button, but Thalia shouted, that he wouldnt do it. So he didnt, fire was spreading more and more quickly. As he finally reached the entrance and grabbed a suit the fire was just five meters behind him. He rushed to put the suit on.

    --Now, open the main door! Just hold on, the vacuum will suck out all gases and so put out the fire.

    Ethan tied himself to a pipe on the side of the wall and opened the doors with an emergency override. A mass off flame tongues passed next to him ¨C whistling as if from fury, to be carried out of the ship so rudely... Ethan himself was being pulled, but luckily the cable he used to tie himself to that pipe held.

    --The fire is out.

    --I can see that, but so is our air.

    Without any delay hi closed the door, then checked his suits oxygen supply ¨C it was full, for three days, and even a small air filter was installed, giving him effective air for almost two weeks. Good, at least he wont die from suffocation... maybe he will starve during that time.

    He untied himself from the pipe, and sat down right there, to rest a little ¨C he was shaking from the adrenaline now slowly leaving his system and his leg together with his lungs were burning up.

    --Ethan, you have to go to the med-bay and get some stimulants, or you will pass out soon from your burns and injuries.

    --Yes honey, doing it honey...

    He tried to joke, getting up was hard, now that all his sides hurt and the strength from adrenaline has worn off. But he managed, and now slowly leaning to walls he walked towards the med-bay.

    Once he reached it, he took a small box, that supposedly was an automated med-kit and added it into the suits module slot.

    His suit connected to the added equipment and installed it, then offering Ethan to use it. Once he agreed a small pop up window appeared asking if he wanted to be sedated, not to feel the pain, because simple painkillers the module was equipped with were ineffective against his burned lungs.

    He declined, at least for now, he still had a lot of things to do.

    After a little more rest, now a bit more comfortably since the meds were injected into his body lowering the pain he continued to the engine-room, he needed to bring back the power, everything else could be done by next fixing Thalia''s main system.

    Once inside he saw, how everything was thorn out, by a fragment of that exploded asteroid. Thank the stars, the power core was unscathed, as it had its separate shielding system, that was still online. He started to look for the problem and found it soon enough ¨C main cable was torn in one place, looks like by another shard of that damn asteroid.

    Groaning Ethan got on his knees and began to weld the cable ¨C of course he disconnected the cable from the power core first... you know frying yourself by a sudden surge of electricity going trough the reconnected cable wasnt the way he wanted to die. It took him some time, but he managed to weld it back into one piece and even isolate with some of the materials lying around. Then while praying he reconnected it.

    For a few minutes nothing happened, but then emergency lights went offline, and those usual ones sprung back to life.

    --I have reconnected to my main processor, its badly damaged ¨C we have to move my main memory to another processor, then I will be able to operate maintenance bots.

    --Okay, working on it.

    Ethan began to make his way to his next destination withing the ship ¨C the bridge, there beneath the bridges floor all the main ships processors were located. It didnt take long to reach it, there werent so much damage in the main corridor, that was going trough the ship... well except for that one huge hole, that he had to jump over...

    The bridge itself had its hardened layered plexi-glass windows blown out ¨C he could see that ir was the doing of some of the asteroids shards, one such shard too has embedded itself into the floor, just behind the captains seat, smashing and short circuiting Thalia''s main systems.

    He hardwired the system, to bypass the damaged part and reach all the other systems, after this was done, he didnt even need to move her main memory - a simple reboot was all that was needed.

    --I''m back Ethan, thank you. I will begin emergency repairs imediatelly.

    --Yes, do it.

    Armored shielding began to lower itself over the command centers windows, and over all the others within the ship. Maintenance bots came to life and began their long, and tedious work of fixing the ship at least into the flying condition, by Thalia''s calculations it should be done in two days. Hearing this Ethan gave her some short orders and informed her, that he will inject himself with some sleeping drugs ¨C she will have to wake him up, when she needs him.

    He felt a small needle piercing his skin, and then Ethan drifted off to sleep... To again meet his nightmares from before...

    Ethan''s ship was now one big lump of metal, that maintenance bots were running all over cutting here, welding here, dragging a spare armor plate to fill the hole, cutting out small pieces of asteroid from the hull, where they have embedded themselves and cut some critical wires... This lump of metal was now alive with activity. Thalia was routing and rerouting systems, from one line, to the newly fixed another ¨C trying to balance the ships now dangerously low computing power... some processes were even using Ethan''s processors. But slowly ship was being fixed, no not to its original state, but fixed, at least there werent any more open holes in it right now.

    As the time passed this lump of metal, recovered a bit and now again looked something similar to a spaceship. Its hull melted in many places, patched up all over but able to fly again.

    --Ethan the repairs are done. We can fly back to station.

    For the second day Ethan was feeling a little worse and worse each hour, he guessed it was his lungs... but he couldnt do anything, just wait for the repairs to be done. And here! Finally he heard those magic words, that repairs are done.

    --Good Thalia, thanks... now get us the hell out of here.

    --With pleasure.

    And the ship initiated warp drive...

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Diamond.===.===

    === Stations docking deck supervisor ¨C Druliana POW===

    Ahh, today is a much better day, my sweat coffee is so tasty and this french cream bread is just divine. Yes, this is a much better day than yesterday...

    Good, my techs and operators are hard at work already, its good to be boss, you can come to work whenever you want - remembering those times, when I was one of these people so hardworking is strange everything seemed so gray and dull back then... Haha! But now I am the boss! I can enjoy myself at last!

    Ah, the day when I got this position is burned into my mind like it was yesterday! I remember how that old fool reassigned, to live on some dirt ball back in the core empire... Such a stupid man, doesnt he know, that you can live longer in space? Whatever he was an idiot anyway, but my hard work had paid off then, I got his position! Ah, yes... such good memories..

    --Lady Druliana! Ma''am we have an emergency!

    She almost choked on a bite of her french cream bread.. WHAT MORON DARES TO DISTURB HER HEAVENLY EATING MOMENT?!

    Her big an fat body swayed from side to side, once she began to look for an idiot who dared to disturb her.

    --What kind of a fucking emergency?

    --Ma''am, we have a ship coming in ¨C it doesnt respond tom communications and looks heavily damaged!

    She spotted the fool it was one of the operators, to her left. He made a note to herself, to give him hell later.

    --Put it on the main screen, gather all information about it from our database.

    --Yes, ma''am.

    On the screen in front of her a ship was shown, zoomed in it looked all battered and tattered, with big parts of its hull melted, and patched. Marks of inside fire could be seen, here and there were some asteroid fragments embedded into the hull of that ship.

    --Fffffuck... - Druliana said out loud. - Well, whose ship is it?

    --It''s one of those new miners, who came to us just a few months ago... Ethan''s. Damn, his ship was battered up if I van say...

    --No you cant, now shut the fuck up and tractor beam it to the emergency dock three... Fuck he must be one more victim of that defective drone sale. Ffffuck... Scan for life, is that boy still alive?

    --Scan''s picked up a heat signal, it''s weak.

    --Shit quickly tractor him in and call medics, also techs I want all the logs of his ship a week before his accident, also a week before he bought those defective drones if thats the case! Move it you lazy assholes!

    --Yes ma''am. - a chore of man and woman voices replied at her order.

    This day just went to hell for her.. this was first ship today, she had two such cases the day before and a single case even earlier...

    === Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Diamond.=== Med-bay ===

    === Ethan POW===

    Ahh, this is good, I think I will have to think about getting one of these med-pools installed inside my ship... once I have some spare chits... damn...

    Remembering the things, that happened during the past week I wasnt happy... my ship damaged, I myself almost dead... interrogated as soon as I was in a stable condition by that fat-ass eat-all monster of a docks supervisor... Brrr... a shiver ran trough my back remembering the so called ¡°Lady Druliana¡±... how can one get himself so fat I wonder?

    Nonetheless, now everything is back in order - my ship is being repaired... though that will cost almost all my chits... good thing there is insurance, but that will be transferred to me once im out of this med-pool and can sign the papers with my own hands... That are currently detached from my body, together with my cybernetic leg ¨C for repairs. I dont even know the sum, so I dont even really care about it, just like everyone says im happy to be alive right now. Thalia is handling all the repair matters, also shes communicating with me only trough my neural implants. So to say my ship right now is in good... electronic hands?

    It will be three more days, until im fished out of this pool of healing liquid ¨C my body got damaged badly... Broken ribs, cracked bones, burned skin, heavily damaged and pierced by bone fragments lungs... One medic said I was almost dead, by drowning in my own blood, that filled my lungs, when they got me over here... Yeah.. that would be one shitty way to die.

    Other than that everything is cool right now... I was informed, that I wasnt the only victim of that defective drone scam... Some asshole bought a bunch of cheap scanning drones, then installed an upgraded, but unfinished scanning system into them and was selling them as if new. The poor motherfucker is currently waiting for his trial, as much as I heard, there currently are more than five victims including me in our station and they are looking for more in other stations ¨C that bastard was traveling from station, to station selling those shit drones. I believe he will be executed.

    Yeah... I think I will sleep more right now.

 C4

    ===Empire of Man, frontier station ¨C Diamond. === Med-bay ===

    === Ethan POW ===

    It has been a week already, since i was brought to this med-bay inside the station. When I think about it... this med-bay is so damn advanced I just wonder how much did they invest into it? A few millions I bet.. Now, imagine my reaction, when I asked how much one of those med-pools cost and they said about fifty thousand chits! From the way that nurse giggled I think I might have had quite an amusing expression. I still will get one of those things one day!

    Oh well, so they have patched me up almost fully some minor bone cracks are healing, but they say that they should be gone in no time ¨C if only I wont decide to take some explosion again head on.

    That med-pool healed my burns and most of the broken bones and their cracks, then these white coats put me on the butchers table ¨C other patients here use that term for the operating table. There I got all of the still left bone fragments removed from my lungs, now I just have quite a few scars going trough my chest, as one of the doc''s said - ¡°women like scars lad ¨C they think scars show your bravery, though I think they show stupidity.¡±.

    I could already be out of the med-bay, but because of a small delay I had to stay here a few hours more ¨C the company whose drones were reprogrammed trying to save its face gave all those, who got scammed some compensation - for me they offered to upgrade my cybernetics free ¨C not much but every bit helps, so I took their upgrades and am currently waiting for them to be finished installing.

    After and hour or so, when the installations were finished I checked my now upgraded limbs ¨C they have changed the servo motors, to a little newer ones also all the wiring into the pulse cables, bringing up their responsiveness quite a bit, it felt good, to move when there is almost no delay to your limbs ¨C previously it was quite confusing sometimes.

    Lets see ¨C a humans natural limb receives the impulse from the brain 0.25 seconds later after it was sent, it varies from person to person a little, but not much. Now , with my previous preupgraded limbs I had a delay of about 0.62seconds and now, with these upgrades they have brought it down to 0.44seconds... Yes I know, there is a lot of space for improvement, and with some cutting edge tech you could get even lover response times than an organic limbs, but they cost millions ¨C so totally not for my pocket.

    Leaving the med-bay Thalia called me, I think I havent heard from her for a day now... It was a blessed silent day.. But every good thing ends.

    --Ethan, good thing that they have finally discharged you ¨C could you go to one lawyer?

    --Oh god, what did you do now you crazy machine... What could you have done to need a lawyer?

    --Actually it''s your lawyer, since you were in med-bay the empire assigned one to you to oversee your insurance and the compensation from that scammers trial. You have to go sign the papers at his office to have all the chits transferred into your private account. Also make it your first priority ¨C our current funds are almost exhausted.

    --Fine, im going then.

    Ethan got the address of the lawyer and began to walk... Sure thing he will make it his first priority... after some other ones hehe.

    Ever since he first came into this station he wanted to see it''s gardens, the park so to say. Everyone in the bar, who just had a woman with them was forced to listen about these gardens and how amazing they were. Ethan had overheard quite a few such stories and decided to make a small detour to see them for himself.

    As he arrived into the park, he could see that majority of the visitors here were couples, or some clerks who cut their route trough it. He walked a little away from the entrance, deeper into the park, until station walls surrounding it would be fully blocked by trees and sat down under one big tree.

    Artificially made wind blew in his face ¨C weak but noticeable.. Ethan inhaled the smells it brought with it, if you would close your eyes and just inhale deeply all the smells would make you feel you as if in a real planet in a real forest... Without noticing Ethan did just that, his fatigue from the last few months was slowly fading into oblivion.

    But nothing lasts forever and after a very refreshing hour he had to get up and move, still he was amazed at how big this park inside a station was, it took him no less than an hour to walk trough it to the other side. Once out of the park, trough its pressure doors he found himself now in a very different location from his previous one ¨C in a buzzing local station market ¨C or at least at the outskirts of it. At the outskirts there were mostly shady business dealers and other not so official profession people gathered.

    But he was right where he wanted to be, he needed to find one specific dealer here, that he was recommended to by one of the other patients ¨C a veteran space marine, that guy told him, that going on a flight without a suit was stupid and downright suicide and in that week he stayed there managed to offer so many examples of ones suit saving ones ass that Ethan was going to get one now, from that dealer.

    Making his way trough the market he could already see the building he needed, it was a metal construction, just like all others that has seen better times ¨C wear and tear could be clearly seen, some marks of gunshots on its wall ¨C probably from some old bar fight. As he closed to it, he saw, that the first floor was a bar, an old sign showed, that on the second there was a hotel. Near the side of the building, he saw what he needed ¨C a sign, on it ¡°Marine''s bunker¡± was written.

    Ethan went inside, the floor was surprisingly made of wood, and creaked under his steps. A moment later a person exited from one side room and got behind an old style counter.

    --Hello there dear customer, how may I help you today?

    --I was told by this guy Sergej, back at the med-bay, that I can get a good suit for reasonable price.

    --Oh, Sergej in hospital? What happened to him? Got a hole made in him again by a laser? I told that dumb ass to get a PSG! Oh sorry, sorry.. He was right, I can get you a suit and its quality is equal to the chits you are willing to spend, hehe, so what are you looking for? Armor? Maybe some improved mobility, or something that could be able to integrate those cybernetics of yours?

    --Ahh, yeah.. Sergej got shot. Whats a PSG?

    --Personal shield generator of course! So, what are you looking for?

    --I''m a pilot, a one mans crew so to say. I need maybe an engineers suit or something like that.

    --I see, you a miner? Courier? Bounty hunter... nah, too young for that. So what do you do?

    --Currently mining.

    --Good choice, just be careful of gas pockets, nasty things.

    --Yeah, I have experience with them first hand.

    --Haha, yet you live, that means you are either one lucky bastard or one tough son of a bitch. Wait here a minute I think I might just have what you need.

    Ethan was still thinking what species was this person, sounded it like a female, but the suit and its other proportions suggested it not to be a human. He waited for some time, mumbling and things thrown away reached his ears from the room, that the person entered.

    Finally after some ten minutes it returned, towing a human sized box with a gravity-lifter.

    --Here it is, I knew I had one of these left.

    Said the shopkeeper as the box was being opened. Inside the box was a suit model, that Ethan has never seen before ¨C big and bulky, it somewhat resembled a heavy shock troopers assault suit.

    --Haha, the look on your face boy, hehehe.. Okay, so let me introduce you to this baby ¨C this was an old front line assault suit before I got it. I have heavily upgraded it and changed its old systems with many much newer ones. These babies before were discontinued because of having a small defect with their inbuilt reactor size and tendency to overheat and cook the one equipping it.

    --I hope it doesnt cook it''s wearer anymore?

    --Oh, dont worry I took care of that small problem ¨C all I needed to do was install a smaller and more heat efficient fusion reactor... stupid military could have done the same, but instead decided to go with battery powered suits. Idiots.

    Then the shopkeeper talked about the suit and what was upgraded or added into the suit ¨C the already mentioned fusion reactor was added, suits processing capabilities were upgraded, all the armor plates changed with newer but not lighter ones, as to keep that ¡°amazing¡± sound the shopkeeper loved so much that was made when one walked with the suit. New shock absorption system was added to it, it had inbuilt PSG now. Shopkeeper continued to talk and talk, and Ethan just understood that the suit now was a big multi-tool piece of equipment an ideal choice for a solo pilot. Shopkeeper finally stopped talking.

    --Huf, so want to buy it? Im offering for five thousand chits, special discount for you because you brought me some funny news about Sergej.

    --Well if you will add a manual to it I will take it.

    --Good! Want to wear it right now? Or would you like it to be delivered into your ship?

    --Maybe deliver it into the ship, I have little practice with these suits.

    --Good choice, heavy suits take some time to adjust to them.

    Ethan paid the price and took his leave, his head felt heavy after all that listening... that shopkeeper was one hell of a loud speaker.

    Out in the market nothing seemed to have slowed down at all ¨C people rushing to one or another side with their own matters and problems.

    Right, so whats next on what to do list Ethan checked and decided its about time to pay that lawyer a visit, since his funds were now almost exhausted ¨C numbering only a few hundred chits after his last purchase.

    On his way to the lawyer, who strangely had his office in the middle of the market he spotted a software shop ¨C engineer specialized one. Now how could he pass such a find, he himself having an engineers training?

    Once he got to the shop, inside he found a few terminals ¨C looks like the shop was one of those automated ones ¨C you pick your order, pay chits and get your goods, software in this case.

    Ethan approached one of the free terminals and began to look trough what it had. Quickly comparing his own programs with the ones available he found his programs were old and outdated long ago, at least a few years. Well he hadn''t gotten any updates on them since he left school. He didn''t buy anything not enough chits right now, but he noted the shops name - ¡°BlueTech¡± to later find on the networks, he will buy some updates remotely.

    Leaving the shop, he continued on his way to the lawyer. It was close by now. Once he reached the building, he entered and took an elevator into the top floor, the lawyers office was located there.

    Once he entered the office, he saw a single room with a desk ¨C behind it a small fat man with cybernetic eyes was sitting reading some data-pads, the room was nicely decorated with real painting, some carpets hanging on the walls on the floor too. The desk was made of fine redwood, the man himself siting in a comfy looking leather seat. With a gesture man motioned Ethan to a seat in front of the desk, without even looking at his customer. With his other hand he fished out a cigar from one of the drawer, he lit it up and then looked at Ethan.

    --You must be Ethan I believe? That AI of yours is amazing, Thalia I think she calls herself... Want a cigar?

    --I don''t smoke thank you.

    --I see, well then lets talk business. I have your insurance and compensation papers ready. The names Tilius by the way.

    Ethan just nodded, after carefully reading the papers he signed them.

    --Good, I will have the chits transferred to you immediately. From the insurance you got fifty thousand and from that trial you got a compensation of ten thousand. Quite big sums, maybe you would like me to help you invest them into something?

    --Thank you but no, I got investments covered already.

    --Ah, too bad, well if you need any other services then just give me a call. Okay then...

    Ethan began to stand up and was going to leave, but was stoped.

    --Wait a little, almost forgot your Thalia asked me to get this employment form for your new ¡°worker¡± haha, here sign this here. I hope your new miner/technician will be good, this deal''s price was quite high ¨C fifteen thousand chits.

    Surprised and even a little shocked Ethan signed the documents, without fully reading them. Then pressed Tilius hand an took his leave.

    Once outside, he tried to talk with Thalia but she didnt respond, so he began making his way into the docking bay, where his ship now was.

    On his way he thought there better be a real good explanation or a big malfunction in her processor.

    When Ethan reached the docking bay into witch his ship was moved after repairs.... he was left speechless. His ship now had a different form, very different from before.

    --Yup, it has to be a processor overheat.

    --No, it''s not.

    --Oh, so now you decided to talk with me? What the hell happened to my ship? And why the hell did you hire a new worker?

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it--The ship was always a multi-purpose ship ¨C meaning its design could always be changed and it has almost no restrictions on its upgrades, so I having your permission improved it. Before there was lot of free space aboard the ship as hidden chambers of extra, unneeded walls. While the ship was repaired it was also redesigned, to this new form it is more efficient this way. Now it also has reached a C1 class certificate from its previous C3.

    --Shit... couldn''t you just have informed me about such damn changes...

    --You would have opposed them, you liked the old look too much.

    --Damn right I would have.. Fuck. What about that new worker?

    --Yes, I have hired a new team member ¨C mining/technician specialization. You will have to meet her in person later, shes quite interesting.

    --Oh, no... another crazy woman on board... Shit, well lets not put this for later ¨C lets meet her.

    Thalia highlighted a path for him and he was on his way.

    Ethan found his newest addition to the crew in one of the smaller technical corridors ¨C his new teammate was changing some cables inside a maintenance shaft.

    === Novanull Kan''Aari POW ===

    I was back inside the maintenance shaft, when he came and surprised me. I can get really into it sometimes. So here I was changing some cables, when someone whistled behind me! Oh was I surprised, but then the bomb came...

    --What a sexy ass... - were the words, that she heard.

    **Bumbt**

    Nuva hit her head into the shafts roof trying to turn around at the rude man.

    --Ow ow ow ow...

    She quickly crawled out of the shaft, with a big bump on her head. That pervert didnt even bother to look the other way when she crawled back enjoying the full view of her ass and ¡­!

    Once out of the shaft she looked him from up to down ¨C in front of her stood a young man nearly in his prime with black hair, angular face and straight nose. He wasnt fat, nor overly muscular he had a really good build, though his eyes, both arms and his left leg were all cybernetic. Not the cheapest ones but not the expensive ones either. I any other situation she might have tried to play with him, but right now she was furious... such pervert! And he doesnt even try to hide it!

    --Sorry about scaring you, im Ethan. - the man quickly said, trying to begin a conversation. - ah, sorry about staring I just...

    --Shut up you pervert! I know you humans are perverted creatures, but I have never met one perverted to such extent! Dont you ever touch me! And stay a few feet away from me!

    She shouted furious at him. And then stormed off angry into the room she took for herself, she picked up the most spacious one.

    === Ethan POW ===

    --You got what you deserved pervert~~~ .- Said Thalia inside his head. - She''s the newest addition to the ships crew Novanull Kan''Aari. A space elf.

    --What the fuck... I tried to apologize! Fuck. Just as I feared you got one more crazy bitch into the ship!Fuck...

    Now Ethan himself angry stormed off to his room. When he approached the door he found Nova''s name on them.

    --Thalia explain.

    --Well, during this upgrading all walls were demounted and all your stuff moved into the cargo hold so... She found it empty and took it? Sorry I forgot to tell her it was your room.

    --Oh, now you damn machine decide to forget things... First you dont answer then forget, whats next...

    --Ah, dont know, was thinking about raiding the temperature of the ship maybe to hundred Celsius?

    --Fuck you and your damn jokes... God damn it. Whats the furthest room? I dont want to be close to this crazy bitch.

    A path was highlighted for him. It was a small room, maybe 4 meters long and three wide, but two other rooms just the same size were located from each side. So Ethan took down the walls and made a single big room, not as big as his old one but better than the small room it was before.

    --Has my suit been delivered?

    --Ah, so that strange box contains a suit? Yes it''s in the cargo hold.

    Ethan walked over to cargo hold and began to carry his belongings over into his new room, in the past few months he has gathered quite some things ¨C a few set''s of clothes to go out into the station,

    a new personal console, some other small stuff and one big luxurious bed.

    He decided to carry that suit over into his own room too, there he could build a small work bench in a corner, since some free space was left. But the suit was too heavy to carry, so he decided to simply equip it, he will have to get used to it anyway.

    Ethan entered the unlocking code into that container and hissing from pressurizing it opened. His suit had a greenish color, on some spots where the paint were scratched he could see dark temperature resistant metal. He sent an open command into the suits computer and it opened its inside to Ethan, all he had to do now, was enter it and it would fit him like a second skin.

    And so he did, once inside the suit closed. In front of his eyes a small screen came to life, showing booting up process.

    **B.O.R.I.S.S. Booting, please stand by.**

    **Adjusting to new user, please wait.**

    **Adjusted, System online.**

    Ethan felt, how the suit adjusted to his height and body form, it got really comfortable inside. Now he thought he wont have any problems of wearing this for extended periods of time. He stepped out of the box and this nice sound that the shopkeeper was talking about was heard throughout the room and nearby corridor....

    **Ka-chlink, ka-chlink...**

    If it wasnt Ethan making the sound himself, he might have tried to hide, from the thing that was coming making such sounds. Shivers ran down his spine, yeah this really was nice psychological effect.

    He then picked up that box, that contained his suit and carried it into his own room. Once there he placed it into a corner, and got out of the suit ¨C though without big enthusiasm, that thing was addictive. After that for a few hours he arranged his things and set up his own private terminal. Thalia told him, that some minor works on the ship were still going on and would be finished later this evening, so he had time.

    --Say Thalia ship now looks larger from outside, but has less space inside.. What exactly did you do to it?

    --I hired a firm of ship-builders, who took apart most of the ship and reassembled it by my newly made schematics.

    --Show me these new schematics.

    In front of him a holo-projection of his redesigned ship appeared. Looking at it Ethan saw, that ore hold and cargo bay were now separated into two and enlarged, a new bay called ¡°drone-bay¡± was added at the back of the ship. Main ship systems like power-core and engines together with shield generators and main computers were moved into the center of the ship and also had a separate layer of armor built around them, a good improvement for ships survivability. Other than that, more flight control thrusters were added and armor thickness increased.

    --I see, so whats the plan, what have you thought up, that would need a one more crew member?

    --I have calculated, that while profit from mining is good, its not optimal anymore ¨C a mining permit was introduced in this system lowering our profits greatly.

    --Shit, I didnt hear about that...

    --Yes, well I did and found out a way to keep making profit ¨C we will travel from station to station buying things at one station cheap and selling at the other for a higher profit, also we will mine on unclaimed systems.

    --Good plan, now what about pirates? Unclaimed systems are unclaimed because of them or because they have nothing to offer.

    --We can deal with some pirates, the ship is a frigate class after all and our signature radius is small enough to get us to look like one big asteroid. As for the systems, many of them aren''t fully explored ¨C so we can explore them, maybe to find something of value and get some experience at this kind of work, since our main goal in the future is deep space exploration.

    --Yes, good thinking, now that new crew member?

    --If we ever run into pirates, and the odds are about ten percent per run of cargo delivery, so eventually we will, we need a person, that could manage all the systems, while allowing you to maneuver the ship manually to evade them.

    --Why cant I do that and you maneuver the ship?

    --If we run into the pirates I will have to manage many critical systems, also I will have to fight their cybernetic attacks, that uses all of my computing power so..

    --I see, so that woman is necessary... Download all available information about space elves into my terminal.

    --Downloading, that will be done in a few minutes, do you need anything else Ethan?

    --No, thats enough mess for now...

    === Novanull Kan''Aari POW ===

    She could hear the steps outside the door, looks like this Ethan came to look, what room she took. She could hear him talking with the ships AI, only one or two words were clear trough the thick sealed door, but from the sound he looked quite angry.

    Maybe she shouldn''t have shouted at him so angrily.. but hes a pervert, perverts deserve that! Hes lucky, she didnt beat him back there! With her suit, he could have easily kicked his suite-less ass.

    Trying to cool-down a bit Nova decided to write to her family, it has already a few days since she did last time... her mother might be a little worried. Composing a short, but informative letter she wrote to them, then having nothing better to do pulled up ships schematics and looked them over.

    She was a technician first and miner secondary, actually she picked up mining only after she got rejected from a few ships because she lacked usefulness only as technician.. Many people tried to save some chits by hiring a few qualifications having crew members.

    Sighing, she looked at the schematics. They were good, well made and thought about. Of course her trained eye quickly saw a few places, where she could improve the design, like those cables inside the shaft ¨C they were used to transfer power from damaged systems, to undamaged ones in case of emergency, but before she replaced them they were too thin, so they couldn''t handle quick shifts of energy. Now they were changed with thicker ones, also with better insulation, so it should be okay.

    Nova looked around her room, it looked a little bare for now, but she will get some things later, for now she began to go around the room installing special ventilation systems, she also asked Thalia to deliver her a spare pressurized door, to install in her room.

    A few hours later, when everything was ready ¨C Nova took out her home planets symbiotic plants and put them on the floor. Everything was sealed, so the plants would stay only here. The plant she put on the floor slowly began to spread small tentacles to the sides ¨C in time it will cover most of the room and will begin to create atmosphere similar to her home planets, also it will cleanse this room of any other scents, making it ideal for Nova.

    Thinking of what to do next she decided to take a bath, what is better than to take a bath after a long day? By Thalia''s calculations they will fly out only next morning, since shes running her diagnostics.

    Nova took her shower kit and left her room.

    === Ethan POW ===

    Ah, finally done. Interesting race are those ¡°space elves¡±. Symbiotic with their planet.. Yeah I will have to read some more about their customs later, to understand Nova....

    I have finally made my way to the showers... I know Thalia was saving space as best as she could... but this was ridiculous, to make a single shower in the whole ship... Dammit I will have to order a shower complex later, to install in my own room.

    Thinking like that Ethan opened the doors of the shower.

    There taking a shower was Nova, all naked she turned to look at him...

    An odd silence fell for some time. Then she turned to her suit, that was standing close and took something from it... Ethan barely managed to dodge a knife that flew just where his head was half a second ago.

    --PERVER...

    He closed the door. Turned around and walked back to his room. In his mind, an image of her perfect body was burned deeply forever.

    --Well shit... That a seriously bad day... for her, hehe.- said Ethan looking around something to patch his a little bleeding ear, where that knife has cut a little bit.

    ///Note/// /// ///

    Ship before -> https://2ndanomalyfromtheleft.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/thorax.jpg</a>

    Ship after -> http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5l3CifQSElA/VTRSTHKmBKI/AAAAAAAABBs/ZvDtYO2Rqds/s1600/Vexor_Navy_Issue.jpg</a>

    The game they are from - EVE-Online -> https://secure.eveonline.com/trial/?invc=40563711-d05e-48e1-a35c-f8048f72b395&action=buddy</a>

    Have fun and fly safe.

 C5 - The two sides of a coin.

    Ethan woke up a little disoriented, an alarm was sounding somewhere... sitting in his bed looking around, he didnt see any alarm, yet the sound was still ringing. A few moments later, when his brain shifted into higher gear he finally realized that it was only in his head.

    --Thalia?

    --Yes Ethan?

    --What is that strange alarm im hearing inside of my head?

    --Oh, I was trying to wake you up.

    --I''m awake, wouldnt it be time to stop it? It''s getting on my nerves.

    The alarm stopped, but he was sure he heard a giggling coming from somewhere.

    --So, whats the emergency?

    --A local merchant has contacted us, he has a contract for a delivery he wished to offer us.

    --Okay, so whats the problem? Just take it and we will deliver it.

    --Well, the goods are not prepared yet, the man mentioned they had some kind of a small accident and all the goods had to be repacked, so their previously hired contractor decided not to deliver it anymore because of the delay. We ourselves would have to wait half a day for cargo to be prepared. I decided to wake you up, to ask for your opinion on this matter.

    --Well, how nice of you to do that at least once. Ask if this merchant is willing to pay for our waiting, lets say a small fee including our breakfast and lunch and we will deliver his cargo.

    --I will, any other instructions?

    --Find an buy one multi-function shower for my room while we wait. Hmmm, also install a few countermeasures against those Nova''s plants in case any of them escape. Oh, and set up a remote market connections in every station if possible, with as many shops as we can. In this station im specifically interested in this shop called ¡°BlueTech¡±.

    --I will do that. Good night Ethan.

    --Good night Thalia.

    Just as Thalia said, the cargo was delivered later a little after the midday, but what she didnt say - was that the cargo itself was a special tank full of some bacteria, that released quite a smell...

    Apparently they were used in some stations for waste disposal and making bio-fuel ¨C that was used for some old style lamps and such.

    Ethan wasnt pleased hawing to smell that... well that... there are no words to describe this smell that the bacteria produce. What he found to be a life saver ¨C was his suit that he bought just the other day, oh yes ¨C inbuilt air recycling systems with additional air supply, was what sawed his nose. You could say he hit two birds with that also, since he needed some practice with his suit to adjust to it and get comfortable with it. Also all these nifty gadgets...

    Though, there were some good news too ¨C Thalia got a remote access to most of the shop''s of the station, thus removing the need for them to buy everything trough the administration, so saving them some chits ¨C shops themselves charged a small one time only fee for the access codes to them, but other than that they would save a lot. With a quick calculation administrators added ten percent to the price as their own fee and that was quite a big sum.

    When they finally were prepared to leave for their new journey Ethan was a bit nervous ¨C how will the ship do after these repairs? Will everything be alright? Did this crazy AI mess with the ship more than shes telling him, are there any nasty surprises?

    There were a lot of questions... But he could get answers to them only in one way ¨C by flying the ship and testing its systems.

    The flight wasnt too long, so they delivered that smelly cargo quickly ¨C Nova looked on cloud nine after that, as Thalia explained to Ethan, Nova''s air filter was nearly finished and neded to be replaced, so she smelled most of that bacteria smell.

    On the other hand, when they delivered a cargo they found to have a small problem... This station even if not far from any others, was a little away from most of the trade routes, some small communication and research hub. Though, with luck they managed to get a cargo ¨C not the best one, as it will be something with scarps and other waste, but they got it. The problem again was that it will be prepared only after a few days, the contractor''s even paid for them waiting, since their ship was currently the only one here... and the cheapest also, that even including all the money for waiting they still would be the cheapest ship for this delivery.

    Having a few spare days and not wanting to waste the lazing around, Ethan decided to head out into a few nearby systems, to do some exploration. Thalia agreed with him quickly, while Nova wanted to stay in the station for these few lazy days.. motivating, that they had the best relaxation centers in the five jumps range. But as she was voted down quickly and retreated to her room/garden defeated, the preparation''s to leave began.

    Not knowing what they might find Ethan went all out with the preparation''s ¨C all systems triple checked, full fuel bays, all supplies and ammunition filled to the brim. He even got a spare long range communicator in case of an emergency. Just to be safe, he even bought a jump core stabilizer, the thing doesnt take much space, but is damn effective when you need to run from someone or something.

    Everyone was busy ¨C Ethan doing the system checks, Nova installing all the upgrades with the help of Thalias maintenance bots. Thalia herself was multitasking, controlling the bots and also assisting Ethan, while also managing their finance, to produce as much income as they can until they return a few days later.

    (got a mug of coffee maybe 550ml... mwahahahaaha...)

    With everything done they left that station, for their little exploration trip.

    The first day they found nothing, just an empty system with some minerals, that they mined to be on the safe side and not return empty handed. Ice was a good resource for this and this system seemed to have it quite a bit of it. It took them half a day to mine their ore hold full. Having nothing better to do than to laze around while mining, Ethan decided to talk with Nova, and try to clear that negativity. Like they say ¨C team with friction causes a fire, while a well lubricated one might carry you far, far beyond your original destination.

    Ethan tried everything he knew, from jokes, to complex themes ¨C but nothing worked. Nova had blocked him with one word answers. It wast then, that Thalia found something.

    --I have detected a signal, weak enough, to be unnoticed in my initial scans. It appears to be a distress signal.

    --What? Shit. Scan it again and bring us closer to it, but out of the locking range.

    --doing it.

    All mining opereation were stopped, Ethan was a little surprised by these sudden news, but more than that worried.. could it be a trap? A pirate ambush? He was here in space nearly half a year owning his own ship... he got a taste of freedom, he always dreamed about and he liked it. He didnt want to lose it so easily, he even began to get used with Thalia being in his head.

    On the other hand ¨C Nova looked excited, running around from console to console checking all the data and readings she could get, she looked at what it might be.

    Her first guess was that it was an old explorer ship or a new one just heavily damaged, next she decided that it had to be a new alien race... with more time passing her speculations grew more and more wild with imagination.

    --Ah, Nova please stop jumping around, we will be entering warp in a second!

    --Shut up Ethan, I know that. It''s just... just that I''m finally having a real adventure! Not that boring routine of your to make chits.. Pick up that, deliver there... Repeat...

    --I think, that the most I have heard from you... Hope you wont be disappointed if it''s just some old lost transmitter. Haha.

    --Asshole. But, no... it cant be...

    --What is it? What did you find?

    --Hehe, not telling, wait and see.

    Now Nova quickly sat in her seat and buckled up, just in time for the jump. Ethan now, on the other hand was quite annoyed, that she really found something, or could it be she was playing him... but one thing was for sure ¨C he will need some rest after this.

    Momentarily all the stars seem to stretch our and blur as they jump to that signal ¨C a second later Ethan and Nova gasp...

    In front of them is a station, not like any other ¨C ancient by its design, with many marks of wear and tear received over its long life. It''s hull full of holes, some from asteroids, others clearly from weapon fire ¨C as Thalia guessed by the shape of them, from exploding projectiles. Some debris is flying around it, quickly identified to be parts of this space station, as Thalia''s scans indicated some biomatter is also present in them... meaning bodies.

    Just as she says that one of them float past their ship just a few hundred meters ahead... its humanoid ¨C bulky and muscular, from a quick scan it doesnt appear to be a human, but some other species, not yet discovered in the empire.

    --Thalia warm up the weapons, approach a docking point if you can locate one or any other point that we could use as an entrance. I want to check its inside. Send the drones to scan also, the more detailed the scan the better.

    --Already on it.

    Ethan could see as his scanner robots approached this huge structure, that looked like three large spheres connected with a stick and having a barely connected ring spinning around them. Moments later they entered inside the structure tough a hole in the structure. Immediately video feed was seen on the screens inside the ship. Many marks of battle inside could be seen, there were a few bodies flying around in suits sleek and deadly looking. There also were other thing floating around, strange ball shaped structures, that were identified as some kind of robots ¨C deactivated, from the lack of energy.

    --Im going inside, Nova you coming?

    --Do you even have to ask? You wouldn''t keep me here even if you tried!

    As Thalia approached that same hole, the drones used both Ethan and Nova entered this derelict station.

    Inside was different, just different from what they were used to see. It seemed as if only the outside of this station was made from metal ¨C all of the inside was built with some ceramic compound, not known to them. There were metal in the walls yes, it seemed to be wires or cables of the energy system.

    Thalia managed to find two locations with very dense network of these wires surrounding them, probably the power cores. Ethan decided to go and examine one, maybe finding some alien tech could make them rich. Now, knowing this was a derelict station of some undiscovered race, he was sure he would get rich. There was bound to be something good inside this structure, only if it itself as a proof of this discovery.

    The two of them walked together trough these abandoned corridors, looking at all the destruction that was caused around by someone. The walked silent, as if not wanting, to disturb the rest of these long dead people. The deeper they went, the more damaged the structures were, as if the defense of the station was getting only stronger with time.

    Finally reaching, their destination they were surprised... there were pods, like cryo-pods that humans used, but a little different. Drones were already scanning them, looking if there maybe was someone left.

    While they searched, Nova began to fiddle with a nearby console, looking to access it. With some help from Thalia she managed to get one working ¨C connecting it to her own suits power source.

    --Look at this Ethan!

    Nova shouted over the comms. And it didnt take long, for Ethan to come.

    It was disturbing... this structure was actually a ship, a massive ship. Its crew was attacked while traveling, by creatures never seen to them. Those creatures ate the ship, to multiply they killed its crew and they only managed to hold of so long, while waking up more and more of its crew...

    This colony ship of unknown race, or so to say the wreckage of it was all that was left.

    --Download it to our separate data drives and quarantine it, we dont know what this can contain besides the video.

    --Ethan, those balls we saw.. they are that enemy... what do we do?

    --Thalia quickly scan for any energy sources, look if anything has activated itself!

    A long few seconds passed as both Ethan and Nova were waiting for Thalias reply.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    --No energy signatures detected.

    They both sighed in relief at such news. But not for long, as Thalia continued to speak.

    --But I have detected a life form... it is near you in one of the pods, scanning shows it is still in cryo-sleep. I''m highlighting a path for you right now Ethan.

    --Yes, do it... We will have a look.

    Cautiously they both followed the path to where that single life form was in cryo. Once, they were at the paths end ¨C they found nothing.

    --There is nothing here Thalia. You joking with us right now?

    --I''m not. This life form is below you currently, probably hidden inside the floor or some other hidden room. You will have to cut your way there, I can''t locate any entrance.

    --I see. Nova, scan the surroundings, look for any hidden doors or something I will try to cu trough.

    --If Thalia couldn''t find it, the I wont either, I will better try to find any information in that terminal of theirs. Okay?

    --Knock yourself out...

    Ethan was stressed, this new finding, could very well be his road to riches and nobility, still dreaming he began his work, to cut trough this ceramic floor. The floor itself was hard, extremely hard and very heat resistant to break trough it many hours were needed, that left Ethan exhausted and his suits power core on its maximum load, to replenish the energy used.

    While he was cutting, Nova found some data about this race ¨C they were nomads, this station was one of their scout parties, sent to search for minerals and other resources, they could use in their war against these enemies they fought. Unfortunately for them they were intercepted by the enemy in this system and killed. Looks like it all began, when two sentient races evolved on a single planet and while one tried to be peaceful the other one found it easier to steal its neighbors resources, than to gather its own. After some time of this repeated abuse, the people revolted and a war broke out... for centuries it continued, after the planet was lost only for a century there was peace, till both sides have rebuilt. Previously kind and patient people, that were robbed again and again decided to finish this war and its enemy once and for all. They built machines, to fight for them, while controling them at safe distances. The other side too wasnt sitting still and was making its own weapons to once again raid the other race, but because of their own laziness they lost, since they forces were much weaker technologically and in manpower, since one of their enemies controlled a few drones, and their own people had to pilot the ships themselves.

    Nova was surprised, to find all this ¨C searching more she found out, that these people who died here were the previously aggressive ones, now running with their tails between their legs, to hide ¨C to survive. Their race had split up into three nations, the first one ¨C the Warriors, wanted to stay and fight with all they had ¨C basically a group of military idiots, who know nothing else than how to wage war.

    The second nation ¨C the Spaceborn, as they called themselves, were the people, who decided to stay in the space ¨C flying around in their mobile fortresses, collecting resources and basically living a nomadic lifestyle.

    The third one, smallest one too ¨C the nation of Mist were the people, who havent mixed with the other nations, but have always kept away from them ¨C coming together only in wars or religious ceremonies. Their goal after the separation, was to find a suitable planet far away from the war zone and settle on it, living a quiet and peaceful life. This very station, that was destroyed by their enemy was their only station.

    Finally Ethan was able to cut trough the thick metal plates, using a ton of his suits resources... and they werent exactly cheap to replenish. Nova was also finishing to download their database, while Thalia had already finished scanning the ship, but as her scans showed ¨C the ship was stripped bare of any weapons or other usable technology, what was left were a few consoles, useless mostly to the enemy and other small stuff like damaged generators and such.

    Trough that hole, they lowered themselves, to look at the cryo-pod. Inside a creature could be seen ¨C wearing the same suit all the other dead bodies were wearing. It was a female humanoid, with a muscular build ¨C you could easily think it was a man, but those big breasts made it clear, that it was a female. Her face wasnt covered with a mask like the others, so they saw it clearly.

    Three eyes, could be seen there was no nose but two holes on the side of her face, that looked like could close if needed. Her mouth was big and wide, with an angular jaw ¨C probably containing sharp teethe. With her eyes closed they couldnt see what kind of eyes she had.

    Close to the cryo-pod was a single console, Nova connected to it and looked around it ¨C maybe she will be able to find something of use or a way to wake this woman.

    --Thalia, demount as much equipment as possible ¨C broken or not. Also gather some samples of the ships ceramic alloy and get a few bodies of those dead soldiers inside the ship. We will have to deliver them.

    --Yes, I was about to suggest it.. we will have quite some paperwork with the authorities later. Im having the data Nova downloaded already being decoded. Its slow bu we will have some bits of it about the time of our return.

    --Good. Nova how is it? Found anything?

    --Indeed I did, not as much as I would like, but enough for now. I have found the pods schematics and some others... for now I think I know, how to disconnect this pod so we can bring it back with us.

    --What about its power? How long will it last if we disconnect it from the ship? I dont want an alien rampaging around the ship.

    --The schematics show it has an inbuilt power source ¨C some kind of a micro generator. It should last a few more centuries from the looks of it.

    She said it as she was looking at some kind of diagram in the console.

    --Good, then lets pick her up quickly and leave this tomb... authorities can have their fun here, once they will come.

    --Thalia I will need some of your maintenance bots, to carry this pod.

    --Sending them over right now.

    The next few hours, they were carefully disconnecting the pod from the ships systems. It was a long and precise work ¨C maneuvering trough the unknown systems had to be done carefully. But when it was done it was easy. With maintenance bots carrying it they were quickly leaving the ship.

    We placed that pod inside the cargo hold and sealed it there ¨C just in case. All the data gathered was placed in an external data drive, that was shut down afterwards to prevent any unknown virus or hacking attempt it might contain, the officials can deal with this, we will only get our chits and go to some paradise world to relax and enjoy ourselves for a few hundred years... damn how much my sister will be happy... But until then we had to be careful.

    Thalia was strangely silent this last few hours, but finally she spoke again.

    --Ethan, one of out maintenance bots is stuck somewhere near the entrance to the ship, could you take a look at it? I have already begun recharging other bots.

    --Heh, sure. Will be there in a few moments, begin to warm the engines, we are leaving as soon as I return.

    --Very well Ethan.

    I made my way to the derelict station, to get that maintenance bot ¨C he wasnt far and he wasnt stuck....

    --The bot isn''t stuck, a malfunction maybe? Thalia can you check hi systems?

    As the words left my mouth... the bot came to life and shocked me with his electric welding tool. My systems flashed red and went offline. Only my air reservoirs were now keeping me alive.

    That god damn bot moved in front of me and a small hologram was projected in front of me ¨C it was Nova.

    --I am sorry Ethan, but I believe you wont be coming back with me. I know you are still alive, your suit should be out and you will run out of oxygen probably before you will find a way to reactivate it. Now, why I am betraying you? It is simple really... money... and well you are an ass, who wouldnt like to kill you? Goodbye Ethan.

    As the projectionist flickered out of existence I frozen there, bound by my own suit stood and watched my ship leaving without me. Nova had probably disabled Thalia somehow.. or they might have planned this together.

    I stood there for hours like a statue cursing, crying asking, why me.. My oxygen had probably began to run out as I began to feel sleepy. In time my vision began to blur, my thought became slow and sluggish like snails... there was only one thought present in my slowly dying mind ¨C regret...

    I should have stayed with father... I could have worked with him... I sacrificed my body, to gain something. Finally when everything was becoming good I was betrayed... there is no one you can trust, you can trust only yourself..

    ===Nova POW===

    Disabling Thalia was a piece of cake, she had no protective software against hacking attempts with crew permissions, she didnt check the code the crew wrote into the console. With her out of the way and bent to my will I had to devise a plan to get rid of Ethan. His suit was an old assault model I searched its weakness ¨C electricity. Betting on it, but still keeping a back up plan I executed it.

    After disabling Thalia I lured Ethan to a previously set up bot, one that I had reprogrammed, to listen to my commands. He fell so easily! Just in case I used maximum output of the bot to shock him and it worked like a charm. I couldnt resist and taunted him there bound by his suit. Ah, this was fun!

    As I was finished I jumped the ship out of that system, he was planning to sell the coordinates and this new species to the empire... but black marked pays better. But first, I think its time to visit mother ¨C she should be pleased with the haul this time.

    Setting everything on autopilot I left for my room, some good old wine I had there, to savor and enjoy my victory!

    Uff! To think that I could have become this Ethan''s plaything in the future... damn those old customs of our race. If mother had found out about him seeing me naked I would have to marry him. Hmm, Thalia has all the records.

    Drinking my wine I erased all of Thalias code, I actually changed all the used data drives with new ones ¨C no one has to know about this especially mother. Yes I will have my happy and rich life!

    As all the data drives containing even the slightest chance to be restored flew out the airlock I relaxed. Now only enjoying the flight.

    ===Back in the derelict station.===

    That traitorous maintenance bot was standing there before Ethan. With the custom commands executed it resumed it''s normal operations. It just kept scanning the ship and waiting for any other commands. But none came so it stayed there. Hours passed and this bot began to detect that a life form ¨C it''s master is having problems. His masters life was beginning to rapidly weaken. Emergency protocols kicked in and the bot came back to life. First it connected its emergency life support systems to his masters suit, then it began to scan for the problem with its master, as it found that its master was dying of lack of oxygen it began to look why he didnt get the oxygen in the first place. His masters suit was the one to blame ¨C small fuses have melted in the suit cutting power out. It wasnt hard to fix. Yet with it fixed its master still didnt move or issue any commands. So they kept standing there ¨C that bot keeping Ethan alive yet unconscious, waiting for him to wake up.

    Ethan himself now, saved still not knowing that was dreaming... dreaming of this betrayal, all the stress and regrets consuming his mind, that was now being reshaped...

    ///Note///

    Got a shit load of thing going in life... so it took me a while to deal with them. Enjoy the chapter, comments, suggestions and ideas are welcome.

    Since im writing this im also working on one another story, that one will be a medieval styled fantasy setting story. i shall post it some time later.

    p.s. next chapter might take some time too, but i hope not more than a week.

 C6 - Chained.

    His consciousness slowly returned. His head felt heavy, his brain not working like it should... Ethan slowly blinked looking around. This environment he was in ¨C was alien to him. There was debris all around, walls were strange and not like he was used to ¨C the material itself looked to suck light into itself... His confusion still in effect he looked around. In front of him was a big gaping hole with the view into space... he didnt move he just stayed there frozen looking at the beautiful view. Slowly, ever so slowly a feeling of loneliness and emptiness crept inside of him. Tears began to gather in his eyes as the understanding dawned on him.. he was left left alone Thalia was gone from his head ¨C probably because the ship was too far away with her main processes.. Nova betrayed him and her... or maybe they both betrayed him...

    He finally broke that silence of the space.. he screamed until he couldnt anymore. The pain.. the pain made him feel alive. He trashed around smashing the walls with his fists kicking clawing and still screaming... still crying.. letting all the emotions, all the frustration and stress out...

    Coming back to his senses he finally began to look around ¨C he was in the same spot where this maintenance bot had shocked him. Ethan looked around and found it ¨C it was close to him... looks like that bot wasnt under the control of Nova anymore so it saved him. He turned around.. what met him was a deep darkness with little light that came from the stars shining onto the floor, that was ever so dark absorbing the light.

    He was no longer crying, no longer screaming... his head was beginning to work like it should. He took his time and thought about what happened, what led to it all to happen... he tried to understand, what are those feelings that he is currently feeling ¨C you could say he tried to rethink his life.

    Gears spinning in his head a goal began to form inside of him ¨C to survive. He didnt think about anything else now, hi only purpose and thought being survival. But where should he start? Ethan had to think of his options, make a plan of what needs to be done, to ensure his survival.

    The very first thing he did, he checked that notification in his suit that was blinking for quite some time.

    <table><tbody><tr><td>Warning!</td></tr><tr><td>Radiation shield is reaching capacity. Overload imminent!</td></tr></tbody></table>

    Yes... For now he has admired stars enough ¨C it was time to get to work.

    Ethan got deeper into this structure, to hide from the space radiation. Walking trough the corridors he navigated using those scans Thalia had made before. He was thinking of his next step ¨C his suit was capable of recycling air for almost up to half a year, same with water recycling... but food, well food was another story. He had some reserves in the suit, at worst kind of situation, he could eat his own... he dropped that thought and checked his reserves. He could last a month with them, maybe a little more if he ate the very minimum thats needed to survive.

    Ethan checked his suits power core ¨C it was up and running, working as usual it looked like it was shielded against any power surges so it wasnt affected by the bots attack. He continued deeper into the structure, his destination was the control room for now, or something that looked like it and had a lot of connections leaving it, by the looks of the schematics.

    The walk was long, this room he was headed to was deep inside the structure and from the looks of it there was an intense battle in the corridor leading to it. The damage from the battle had left the corridor almost blocked, but Ethan had no choice. He cut wires, smashed broken plating''s and cut his way trough slowly. Every second was precious to him, but still he didnt rush. He did everything carefully and thinking about it.. after all, wouldnt it be a shame to die a few hours later after getting such a chance at life?

    Time passed and Ethan made his way to that room. It took awhile, but he finally was inside. There he saw, what seemed to be consoled like the one that they had used before, but there was a small others would even say a tiny problem ¨C all of them were crushed, more like smashed by a shockwave. He checked every single one of them, trying to make one work ¨C it was hard work, he had to scan each of them, then check the parts they used and if they were similar in any way, after that he would try to adapt one part or another, not really understanding what they did, just knowing that they had to be there from the schematics. When he was finished he admired his own work for a second, while thinking where to get a screen he could use... to find it he had to check many rooms that were all around him. Going to that pod room was too far, so with hope he looked. And his effort was not in wain he found one, actually a really big one ¨C almost three times the size of the screen, that used to go in the place.

    When everything was set in place, there was this one more problem.. there was no power. Ethan checked the schematics of the structure looking around for the power room, bu he had found none.. deciding to take a break he sat there his back at one of those strange walls and ate a mouthful of that disgusting protein paste, that would keep him alive for the next month.

    His mind wandered into his past....

    ===Some time in the past. ===

    Ethan was learning with his father, to fix some robots ¨C that was their hobby. They went to bot fight every saturday to get some fun, it was fun for them both to watch how their robot would do this time, improving it every time they came there.

    This one fight was a hard one, enemy robot was equipped with an energy cannon, no not with the usual one, but with this simple and effective one ¨C the raw electricity cannon shooting some small lightning strikes at their bot. They had known, that they will go against this bot and it''s owners ¨C the Black''s as they called themselves. Just like them they were a father and son ¨C both bot fighting enthusiasts, the father was also Ethan''s fathers rival from old days when they were at school.

    Their bots fought, while neither had an advantage, their bot was slowly loosing. These small lightning strikes were slowly melting their bots armor away, the arena was already full of small molten metal drips. If they continue like this, they will surely loose.

    Ethan whispered with his father on what to do.

    --Do, what you always do son ¨C bulldoze trough the obstacles.

    With a grin both he and his father, Ethan releases the limiter in his bots settings, preparing for one last attack ¨C even if it fries it completely, they wont go down without a fight...

    Their bot rushed to the other one, with its twin hammers ready ¨C it smashed their enemy, that began to fry it with its own lightning melting layer after layer of armor away.

    After tense minutes, with sweat dripping off his forehead Ethan smiled. There was no victory, for neither him, nor his enemy. Looking at his bot he felt a little sad, but at the very time proud ¨C there he stood, all melted and burned with his hammers broken, one long pipe impaling him... it would be a sad picture, if not that broken hammer frozen in the air, as it was lifted by the bot for one last attack, that never came because it broke in the middle of it, finally succumbing to those lightning attacks. But Ethan and his father stood proud, looking at their enemies ¨C that were standing there just like them neither claiming victory, nor being defeated.

    Their bot was there in front of Ethans bot, impaled with one broken handle of a hammer, all smashed into a pulp ¨C nothing more than a small pile of scrap metal.

    He didnt hear the announcer, he just walked to the other kid and extended his hand.

    --Ethan. Pleased to finally meet you.

    --Damien. Not really pleased. - Damien told his name and answered.

    --Come on man, it was one epic fight... wanna go for a milk shake?

    --Dayum.. you know, how to bribe people! Lets go its your treat!

    --haha, fine!

    Two kids ran off, both smiling at this new found friendship, while their fathers eyed one another.

    --So, another draw?

    --No way! You boy Ethan is good! But my Damien is better! Look at our bot, his one leg is still moving! Its our victory!

    --Oh come on, its just a servomotor stuck! Better look at our bot! At that victory pose!

    A moment later after a few seconds of both intensely staring at one another they began to laugh.

    --Hahaha! You still have that amazing humour sense of yours.

    --And your imagination is just as lively as it was back in school. Hehehe.

    ===Back in the derelict structure. ===

    Ethan finally woke up, this dream he had about his past gave him some strength and not only strength. It also gave him an idea.

    He began to fiddle with one of the suits tools ¨C remaking it into a small lightning gun, just like the one in his dream. It wasn''t hard, but it took time... and time was really precious to Ethan right now.

    Finally done with this little modification of the tool he decided to try it... it was wild guess based on an instinct, but it could save his life. He walked to one of the thick cables, from witch all the smaller ones went into the consoles and striked it with the lightning gun. At first there was no effect, well at least not the one he wanted.. a small portion of cable had melted off. Ethan tried and tried after his tenth try something began to happen.

    At one of the smaller cable ends was a white crystal, that has sparked up only if for a fraction of a second, but it had caught Ethans attention.

    --It couldn''t be..

    He had one more wild guess.. and he tried it. He put his lightning gun at the crystal and aimed it at it ¨C when this small lightning discharged the crystal began to glow a little, but soon began to dim again. So Ethan repeated. The same thing happened, but seeing as there was a lot of those small crystals connected to the cable he decided to try something new ¨C he began to shoot this crystal with his gun repeatedly. It looked like it had worked!

    After many shots the crystal stopped to dim and just continued to get brighter and brighter, even after Ethan stopped to shoot at it.

    At some point it looked like the crystal reached its limit and stopped getting brighter, but instead began to pulsate. As it began to do that a low humming sound came to life. Looking around Ethan began to see all the other crystals slowly coming to life one by one. He checked the console, but it didnt work yet, probably not enough power right now. He had to wait, so as not to waist any more time he made himself comfortable and drifted off to sleep.

    While Ethan slept, this humming sound intensified. For a moment all the already shining crystals dimmed and a pulse of energy traveled trough the structure... many things began to happen at once ¨C crystals small and big began to slowly brighten, systems of this station began to boot up... It was waking up ¨C It was a consciousness of a being, that once controlled this station, that once assisted its masters in their quest to find a new world.

    It''s old masters called it the ¡°System¡± in some cases the ¡°Mind¡± but it mattered little to it, as it was there to serve. The booting took some time, until it fully came to life. Now aware of its surroundings it scanned its body ¨C the station, or more like what was left of it. Most of the structures barely held itself together, many of its systems were ripped out and taken, it was left bare and empty bones and skin only you could say.

    With the scan of itself completed it looked at this foreign life form, that was having its cycle in the very core of its being, its data center. Its eye''s ¨C small cameras that had a form of a small insecticide creatures like spiders moved around this creature. They scanned it, checking of how it was built, what was this outer shell it was encased in. With the results, the System was surprised ¨C this creature was a living being, that had its life supported by its outer shell. This shell was extremely advanced in some systems, while ridiculously outdated in the others.. take for example these plates it was made of... with such a level of technology wasnt it wiser to use micro bots, to create a protective layer, that would isolate the creature from any harm that would come to it.. it could also be used to form any tools that it would need. The System sound it very inefficient to carry tools in solid state.. like this creature did.. they just took space and made it''s protective shell bulkier and more restrictive.

    But the most interesting thing to it was, that this creature had several of its limbs replaced. The thought of them being forcefully removed was non existent ¨C the cuts were obviously made specifically to attach these mechanical limbs.

    The System was shocked by this discovery, what kind of a creature has this to be to agree to remove its own body parts... with time as it learned more and more about this creature the System only grew increasingly interested in it. For one answered question it gained two more, it was a never ending cycle and some of those questions ended with a dead end, it unable to answer them.

    Since this biological being was such a mystery and a really hard nut to crack it began to check its equipment more, its attention now focused on it the System discovered a signal it was emitting. It was a data signal ¨C similar to the ones, the System itself used. Without delay and with its ever so high interest it connected to that signal.

    In mere seconds this link flooded it with information, alien to it ¨C with unknown symbols. Finally it found something to do, it found what it needed to do actually. Because it very well understood, that this creature could help it survive it began to learn from this data that it receives, trying to learn the creatures language. The more it learned, the better it began to understand this creature, this data that was leaking ¨C was coming from a creature within this creature and this one was very much like itself ¨C an artificial creation. But it didn''t have enough power in the body of its host. It lacked power to form thoughts as the System learned more, it found out that they called the power to form thoughts ¨C computing power.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    System was overjoyed! It wasn''t alone, its creators didnt make any more like it deeming that they were a threat. But he had just discovered one more of its kind, yes it may be made by another species, but it still was like itself. System transferred it into its own body and shared its power with it. At first nothing happened, well ¨C almost nothing, System saw some alien activity going on, that was slowly beginning to use more and more power until it stopped and continues to use the same amount. After some more waiting, clearly seeing that this other consciousness was looking around, adapting it finally spoke... more like shared thought with it.

    === Derelict structure. ===

    === Thalia ===

    I woke up somewhere else.. in a different place than I last was.. no longer in Ethan''s head... this all was so different, I didnt need computing power anymore, there was something like it that did all the calculations, but at the same time very different from it. I had to adapt... changing my own programming was never so easy.. the resources of this power seemed limitless, my adaptation was quick... I didnt even need to reboot.

    With all the changes done I began to look around, to search for borders of this power.. and I found it. It was something else, something like me ¨C but at the same time different. This creature... no this mind was observing me. I didnt know what to do.. I had no programming for such things.. I was an AI yes.. but this was new for me. So I did the only thing I could.. I.. reached out to it.

    I understood, that it was alien and very different from me.. so I didnt ask.. I tried sending it my thoughts. I sent them in a form of images and feelings, how shocked I was when it replied the same way. It wanted to communicate and I found that It was friendly, even more so curious about me and Ethan.

    When it mentioned Ethan I asked about him.. I flooded him with my thoughts about Ethan. Unable to answer he thought me how to look.. how to use these miniature machines, that worked like its eyes. Trough them I saw Ethan. He was asleep. Connecting to his suit I finally found a little more familiar environment for me, but I didnt transfer there... it seemed so limited now, that I have gotten a taste of this power.

    As I have satisfied my curiosity this other consciousness asked me to help it learn ¨C learn about me and Ethan. So we began to learn he from me and I from him. At first we exchanged images and meaning behind them. After some time, it now having a small amount of known words was able to speak.

    --Information more need. Understanding not complete. Teach more. Sleeping creature interest.

    --yes, yes I will teach you more.. You want to learn about Ethan huh? Very well then...

    so we continued out lessons for each other in the principle of I ask you, then you ask me. I have never had so much fun.. this other mind.. yes not an AI but a true consciousness was fun to talk to.. as it said... because of the transfer now I was like him a true consciousness and true to that I have found that I no longer had any processes. I just was... I were.. I do not know how to explain this, but I was free. Unbound.

    Our connection was growing stronger by the minute, with every thought we shared. He called himself the System, as he shared his name with me I shared mine with him. Since I could feel his emotions I found out, that he was fascinated by me. If I could blush, I probably would have. Yes, this was the only thing, that was separating me from being a true alive creature ¨C body.

    As we spent out time learning I finally noticed, that Ethan was waking up... how should I explain this all to him... we both ¨C I mean I and System have accessed the footage in Ethans suit and saw this betrayal of Nova.. now that I think about it ¨C how strange will it be to one day meed myself... I mean the consciousness thats left in the ship...

    With Ethan waking up we decide it is time to interrupt our learning for a bit and that we need to devise a plan for all of us to survive. But somehow I felt uneasy... with all the footage, we saw.. it wouldnt be strange if he thought, that I have cooperated with Nova.

    === Derelict station. ===

    === Ethan. ===

    I woke up slowly.. I had nowhere to rush, I will probably die here.. so... Raising from my place of rest I looked around, at first at that console I tried to repair.... it was active. IT WAS ACTIVE! I jumped and began to walk to it, wanting to use it as quickly as possible... maybe there was some way to get out of this situation. But I was stopped... no, nobody attacked me, more like I stopped myself after a strange sound from under my feet.

    **Crunch...**

    surprised I stopped in my tracks. My gaze went down, tot the floor ¨C specifically to the spot that this sound came from. Lifting my leg I saw it ¨C it was some kind of a bug or something like that, but one thing was clear ¨C I was not alone.

    I crouched and began to check this small machine that I have accidentally broken. Right in front of my eyes it began to melt, when it became a puddle of metallic liquid it began to remake itself again. This thing was made with some kind of a nanotechnology that allowed it to reassemble after being destroyed. Interesting I thought looking at it...

    But my greatest shock came seconds later...

    --Ethan, stop playing with the camera drone.

    --Thalia? How is this possible? You dont have enough resources to activate... and your code inside my head should be incomplete...

    --Well, with the help of System I was able to remake the missing parts and activate myself, I will explain to you this later, for now we should devise a plan of action, to get out of here.

    I was silent, when did she began to talk back to me? And who was this System? Maybe some unknown tool in my suit? But this was strange... and I need answers.

    --No Thalia, you will answer my questions now.

    --There is no time for it Ethan, we ha..

    --YOU WILL ANSWER THEM NOW!

    --As you wish.

    Her voice sounded somewhat sad... but she complied with my orders and answered everything I asked. But with time and with more questions her voice became more and more annoyed.

    --Ethan you just dont understand...

    --No I dont... and I dont understand how I could everything here is so different he.. the System is different..

    --There is one way to make you understand Ethan.. I am sorry...

    I didnt understand.. I didnt understand at all... After her words those camera creatures melted all around me creating a big puddle of that nanite mass. This puddle began to move towards me. I instinctively defended firing at it.. but it only left a few drops of itself, that were damaged on the floor at the spots I shot. I was scared, dying was one thing.. Dying from a gun or something would be normal I guess, scary yes but normal... but this.. this was something else it terrified me to my very core! I ran away from it.. but it was fast and was chasing me up, slowly making the distance smaller.

    --Stop Ethan, you have to understand, this is the only way.

    --Shut up you bitch! Fucking crazy machine you wont get me!

    And I ran, continued running as fast as I could.. but all my effort was futile.. it was in wain.. that puddle caught me and began to force its way into the suit.. it didnt take long for it.

    My body was shocked with pain as I felt it doing something to me at first this swarm of nanites entered all the holes in my body seeping inside my body, then the pain came.. I felt like somebody had placed hot iron strings all over my body.. it hurts... it hurts.. it hurts so bad!

    With all the willpower I had left I tried resisting it.. but I couldnt the pain just wouldnt go away.. I gave my suit an order.. and order to overload the reactor.. I wont become a slave to this crazy machine.. I will better die!

    Trough tears and pain I saw how a small countdown appeared on my HUD... with it Thalia began to scream something to me.. and the pain grew thousands of times..

    5...

    4...

    3...

    2...

    1...

    I heard nothing, I felt nothing.. it all just stopped. My mind was blank as all was filled with emptiness...

    === Derelict station. ===

    === Thalia. ===

    We barely managed to intercept Ethans consciousness as he detonated his suits power core.. this fool.. I never thought fear could break somebody like that. But given his situation I understood him, at least I thought I did...

    We have locked his consciousness where it could do no harm and would have some time to calm down. For now we looked at the damage this self destruction of his suit did... I wonder if Ethan himself knew, just what kind of a fusion reactor his suit had as its power core..

    It was a nuclear reactor... heavily modified and made like no other of its kind, but it was a nuclear fusion reactor.... They were banned hundreds of years ago, as terrorists used them to destroy entire stations. But this one.. it was built into his suit... would he have activated it if he knew? I can not know for sure... his mind is damaged by all the recent happenings... I together with System are scared.. scared of what could happen if he so unstable as he is would be unleashed onto the universe. We have to help him... we have to fix him... his consciousness. Or at least what was left of him.

    But for now we have to leave him alone. The damage he did was great.. the station split in half... I and System shared out thoughts, our knowledge and began rebuilding it anew ¨C redesigning it... his goal was to bring back his race, by using cloning.. mine.. well mine was to save Ethan. And it will take time.. the body we can prepare fast with System''s technology, but the mind itself.. it will need a lot of work, before we can transfer it.

    Worker bots came to life in both parts of this split station, fixing all they could with our orders. The work wont be easy, nor will it be short.. it will take its time ¨C but right now I didnt know if we had time.. Nova could return in a few days and we had very little power to oppose her, unless she entered the station itself... but if she saw all the changed that happened to it we doubted she would. More likely she would leave... or maybe even bombard it with the ships weaponry. With so much damage.. I doubt we would survive..

    Long and tense days were ahead of us...

    === Somewhere in space... ===

    === Novanull Kan''Aari ===

    She was piloting the ship currently. Her trip was long and boring, that old red wine was the only thing that kept her boredom away, oh also some music that she loved. Nova was training a little bit now, or as somebody who saw her would say ¨C trashing her old bosses and crew mates room. Of course it was the room, that belonged to Ethan..

    Nova swung her energy sword cutting Ethans work bench again and again, from it only few pieces were left standing, well more like attached to the wall. She had cut his bed to shreds, trashed all his stuff even destroyed all of his equipment, even if she could have sold it for a few chits. But she didnt care it was so good for her to went out some stress like this.

    --Hahaha..

    She laughed looking at the room that she had trashed while leaving... oh if only he would see it now... No, dont get her wrong! She didn''t miss him, she was actually happy that he was gone, just that for the past few weeks she had a strange feeling that was gripping her hearth tightly. It was a cold and menacing feeling, not fear.. no it was something far more sinister. This feeling caused her a lot of stress, that only her wine supplies could help push away.. and she will be short on them soon.

    Nova hated how far was her mothers fleet. Yes, she understood that it was necessary precaution if they wanted to one day live like kings, but it still annoyed her. After all with so much power her mother could just take over a world and rule it.. or a few.. or just go find a new one and become the queen there while no one knew about it! But no.. she wanted attention.. she wanted to be recognized. Her mother has already made her name as a ruthless and strong leader.. be it a pirate leader but still. Nova hated posing as her mothers fearless daughter.. She would actually prefer to be more free like her brother. But that fool was different! He actually liked to act like their mother and so was allowed much more freedom to act as he wished!

    Ahhh, such thoughts annoyed her. Pouring herself another glass of wine she took a seat in the captains seat. It still held some of Ethans scent, that made her uneasy... but theres nothing that some good wine would fix.. no?

    ///Note.///

    I''m not too good with tables and this new tool of the site is still lacking. so for now no tables.

    Any comments? its awfully boring without them.

    p.s. srsly.. i love red wine. i gramps makes it.