Age of Space

From report on human corruption, by Benedict Aufstar, Professor of economics: “- As a consequence of the booming economic and political corruption, resulting from the never-ending expansion of humanity, several cultural norms emerged as a result. Assassinations became common, leading to more and more resources being spent on defense. Case and point, here's an interview with the CEO of Universal Genetics, Greg Pentecost:

“Self-defense you say? HAH! Of our annual net revenue, at least 40% is spent on defense in one form or another. Anything from having to invest into cyber security in order to avoid patent theft, buying battlecruisers in order to protect our shipping lines or installing planetary defense level armaments in order to protect our facilities, we spend so much on defense, we might as well be called a private military company at this point. Want to know what our company actually does? We produce and ship food, but after moving this close to the frontier, I no longer recognize my own company.”

In the dark of night, three figures hid behind a corner, discussing:

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this,” one of the men nervously commented.

“How many times have I been wrong about something like this?” The female in the group excitedly asked.

“Still, there’s a reason the bounty is 3 million credits. Look at that building! There are still guards patrolling it, and it's in the middle of the night!” The man said back.

“We’ve already scouted the place plenty, let's just sneak past the guards, get in, kill the kid, then bolt. Why are you getting cold feet Daktan?” The third man whispered, visibly annoyed at the hesitant man.

Finally, the man nodded, and they began stealthily moving towards the factory.

“...”

They approached the first fence and began cutting it open.

Unbeknownst to them however, the act of touching the fence, caused small turrets to begin silently rising from the ground around them…

They continued on ahead, silently reaching the second fence.

“Told you it was going to be easy,” The woman began.

“-Shhh!” The third man cut in.

“Do you hear that?”

As they sharpened their ears, faint sounds akin to whirling metal could be heard from behind them.

“Was that sound always there?” The woman asked, placing her hand on the fence.

However, the second the hand touched the fence, blinding torchlights illuminated the trio as lasers began firing from behind.

A booming alarm began ringing out from the factory as even heavier armaments began rising up from up ahead.

The woman didn’t even have time to scream as the fence became electrified and an overwhelming current flooded her body, knocking her unconscious.

"How!? No one said anything about turrets -Argh!" The third man shouted, as a laser shot blasted into his arm.

"We need to get o-" the hesitant man began, but before he could finish, a burning hot beam pierced through his head, scorching out a hole the size of a thumb as it exited out on the other side.

Amidst the overwhelming barrage of laser fire, guards, some of which were hidden before, began surrounding the trio, but it was pointless at this point...

This facility was equipped to fight military grade forces, not upstart assassins...

The trio was already long dead, lying lifelessly down on the concrete.

The heavier armaments hadn't even had the chance to fire before they fell.

Ronin was abruptly awoken in the middle of the night.

He'd quickly searched for his security guards. There was a booming alarm blasting his ears out and he needed an answer.

You could say he'd been quite surprised when his security informed him of the attempted break-in.

They'd first assumed the trio to be thieves due to how under geared they were... Then they’d found the missive... and the weapons.

Everyone, his security included, had been baffled at that point.

Who in their right mind would attack a factory with bolt cutters and laser pistols?

“…”

Regarding more important matters though, Ronin had made great progress.

There was a mountain of work to do, but with his improved mind, he swiftly burned through his academy exercises.

As time passed, his sore muscles also recovered quickly, though his head still felt sore.

Regardless, with the battle soul technique, Ronin could now go on for days without having to worry about the energy from the alien artifact affecting his mind.

No longer having to worry about his own mind left plenty of time to catch up on schoolwork.

As for spaceship construction itself, he’d bought the design of a cheap and outdated shuttle model, the Hemsway-D8.

It probably wasn't something he'd be able to sell, but the design was more than enough to practice with.

He looked over at the ship as it stood there, right beside the assembler, partially constructed.

He’d spent days figuring out how to print the components, then double checked each part with a multiscanner, making sure that everything came out right.

The ship was one of the smallest shuttle editions out there, only 3 meters long and 2 meters wide. Still, figuring out how to use the factory assembler alone had taken hours, and it would likely take hundreds of hours more before he fully mastered it.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to use the alloy compressor this time, Ronin inwardly sighed in relief.

Assembling the shuttle couldn't purely be done by the factory assembler. There were specific welds that had to be done by hand which the assembler simply wasn’t built for. Wiring could also get very delicate, making it practically impossible to do without highly specialized tools which had to be worked by hand.

Further, as he continued working on the shuttle, he noticed another feature. He could tune it. He could increase fuel efficiency, but its maximum speed would be reduced. He could enhance its steering sensitivity, but the machine's robustness would decline as a result.

All of this was of course way outside of his comfort zone at the moment. He was struggling just with putting the thing together, forget about optimizing it! But, as he learned more, he did notice the different design solutions used in making this thing.

There was a rhythm to the design, the materials picked, the workarounds chosen, the positioning of the wires etc. Every decision made when designing this ship gave the final design a distinct character.

Feels like the designers of this ship wanted safety, but why would they skimp out on the internal dampeners... It's almost as if they wanted a little danger mixed in as well when they designed it, Ronin thought as he looked over the ship's blueprint.

Much like when he grappled opponents in “Glory in the Arena”, spaceship design was like a puzzle with many different solutions.

The path you picked “flavored” the design and the sheer range in different types of alloys and parts out there, gave an almost infinite variety of possibilities on how to put a ship together.

He began operating the assembler, moving the assemblers' arms towards a certain part of the ship's combustion engine.

PING!

He got a notification on his implant.

Hmm, so it's time already.

After over a month away, it was time to return.

He stuffed the academy uniform into a bag, then put on his much safer Heromaker suit.

Calling down a shuttle, he entered it and was met by a couple of raised eyebrows as the shuttle driver noticed his armor.

"Ehem, Sir, where to?" The driver asked, trying and failing not to stare at the golden codpiece.

"Ironglades Spaceforce Academy, and yes I know its golden and sticks out, but I would appreciate it if you didn't glare at it like that."

“…”

As Ronin sat down and glanced out the window, the shuttle lifted off the ground and began swiftly traveling across the city.

After a short 15-minute ride, the shuttle landed, and a self-conscious Ronin walked out onto the academy plateau.

However, just as he had begun walking towards the hangar, a voice rang out behind him:

“Long time no see Mr. Maximus. It must have been quite the business trip,” the smooth and deep voice spoke.

Who?

Ronin didn’t recognize the voice. Turning around, he saw Simons.

Startled, he began looking around. Although a bit sudden, it was nice seeing Simons again, but where did that other voice come from?

“Sir, are you ok? Your eyes are flickering around like crazy…”

Ronin did a double take. There it was again! That deep voice.

What’s this? I think it emerged as Simons moved his mouth! Could it really be?

“Yeah, it was quite the trip, but it’s good to be back. We’re also going to be working together in a few days, and I’ve already got some ideas on what our first collaborative design should be. I can’t wait to get started!” Ronin said, his eyes now squarely fixed on Simons lips.

“Indeed, I’ve got some thoughts on this as well- “Simons began.

Ronin was now certain. It was Simons!

“Before any of that, I’ve noticed some changes in your speech, how did that come about?” Ronin broke in. He had to know.

“Oh, you noticed- “

Noticed? You’ve suddenly developed the voice of an angel! How could I not notice? I even doubted it was you!

“The contract for working at Maximus Solutions stated that it required the employees to have the ability to communicate clearly. I’m not the type of man who will gamble on whether or not I get to keep my job. From voice coaches, to liposuction, I did whatever it took to maximize the clarity of my voice. I guess you could call it a maximus solution so to speak.” Simons said, chuckling at his own joke.

Liposuction? Ah, now I see it.

The bulging neck, which was earlier fused seamlessly into the rotund body, was now gone. The neck was now about the same size as Ronin's own neck, which on Simons, did not fit at all!

Ignoring Simons strange new look, Ronin chuckled along, walked up to his new employee and slapped him on the shoulder.

“A Maximus Solution indeed! Now before we start working, how about a little team building before the big day? We should celebrate our employment after all!”

“Team building?” Simons questioned, a little skeptical.

“Listen, I'm thinking we eat out, a fancy restaurant, a full buffet! No limits, where we eat and drink to our heart's content on the company’s bill!” Ronin grinned back at him.

“Well, I guess I could set aside some time-”

“Good!” Ronin laughed back.

“…”

They continued chatting as they made their way towards the hangar, but before they arrived, every single person on campus seemed to suddenly stop.

One by one they began staring at the incoming vehicle. Ronin and Simons looked up as well.

It was a beautiful shuttle, not meant for commuting, it looked more like a carefully crafted machine of power, built for arenas that pushed both pilot and machine to the limit. A racing shuttle maybe? Or a pit fighter?

“Who’s that?” Ronin asked in wonder.

“You really don’t know? You really do live under a rock!”

Ronin grumbled in response.

After a short silence Simons spoke again:

“Cadet Haraken. That’s his name… He’s said to be an unrivaled genius, only seen once a century.”

The shuttle landed as students began swarming around it, forming a crowd.

As a red-haired boy walked out of the vehicle, several campus guards ran up beside him, holding back the excited mass of people.

Men were shouting for an autograph and girls were blushing as he moved along. It had to be at least a couple of hundred people circling him as he walked.

“He could have graduated by now, but the academy held him back. He’s only been here for a year but he's already better than most graduates.” Simons commented as they watched the spectacle.

“The pilot program?” Ronin asked.

Ship designers earned esteem and renown, but they weren’t treated like idols. Not like that.

“Yeah,” Simons nodded as the red-haired youth waved his hand and a wave of shrieks from the girls in the crowd followed.

“…”

“Today we’ll be working on air lock configuration,” professor Roneus Ravent said as the class began their 4th practical this year. Ronin had missed two exercises, but he’d gotten a message from the academy on how to rectify it a few days back.

As they began working, Ronin teamed up with Simons and it didn’t take long before they got into the groove of things.

Many had been ambushed by the difficulty of the first exercise, something the whole class had corrected for while Ronin was gone.

Ronin and Simons quickly got the air seals working properly but the electronics on one of the airlocks took some extra work. Anastasia, as always, was the first to finish, raking in the extra points in the course.

“…”

Before the 5-hour mark, everyone was done and the class started leaving the hangar.

“Mr. Maximus, you will need to stay behind,” Professor Ravent said as Ronin was about to leave.

One of the students snorted in response:

“Serves him right, it was bad before when he never showed up in class, but at least he showed up for the practicals. Now? The slum rat is even skipping those.”

The haughty student wasn’t alone in his sentiment. Ronin saw several other students agreeing with him.

Apparently, Ronin Maximus wasn't very popular with the class.

He brushed it off. They knew nothing of his circumstances. If they were going to act like that, they could forget about getting employed in his company in the future. Their loss.

“…”

After the last few students left, Roneus Ravent pulled out an electric brush, adjusting his hair and mustache before proceeding further to pull out yet another, new brush, which he started using to brush his uniform. After he was done, he began pulling out a disinfectant bottle, but Ronin quickly broke in before he could begin using it:

“Professor, I assume you held me back to catch up on the exercises I missed while in prison?”

“Yes, but also, not quite,” Mr. Ravent said in his usual monotone voice.

Pointing towards Ronin, he continued.

“You have to remember, you’ve been signed into the genius track now, meaning, you’ve got double the workload... For now... We might increase it later if you can handle it.”

I can get even more work? Ronin's eyes shot up.

They must be pushing “geniuses” as hard as possible in order to maximize their chances of moving up towards higher systems.

“Double the normal amount of work is more than enough,” he said hastily. With the company and the Potentia Panorama, he had more than enough to do at the moment. The last thing he needed now was more work.

“Anyways, you’ll be doing an extra exercise with me here after the normal ones from now on. And, sorry for keeping your new status in the academy secret. None of your fellow students know you're currently in the genius program and we’d like to keep it that way.”

“To be honest, I’m actually kind of grateful for that… There’s a lot of heat on me as it is,” Ronin sighed back.

“The bounty?” Ravent asked, raising an eyebrow. “We here at the academy can actually help with that.”

"Really? How?"

In answer to the question, the professor's eyes began moving, working on something with his implant before making a slight swiping motion with his right hand.

Ronin's implant pinged, indicating a new message.

As he opened it, he noticed:

A contract?!

Reading further down, he quickly became discouraged. He’d have to give away any and all ownership and intellectual property to the academy for the next 10 years. In addition, the academy even had the right to dictate his life, down to what he was allowed to eat from now on.

“This is a slave contract. I can’t take this,” Ronin said, shaking his head.

Roneus Ravent simply nodded, giving no indication to whether or not he was happy with the decision.

Without missing a beat, Ravent began the practical: “Today we’ll be working on heat transfer systems. Getting rid of heat in space has always been a bit of an annoyance in spaceship design, now, let's start off easy and install a couple of radiators-”