Astral Realms - A New Dawn

“You sly motherf-” mumbled Yurian as he cleaned the table with a piece of cloth he took from under it. He had just finished coughing the drink that had gone down the wrong pipe. “Say that sooner! I almost chocked myself out!”

Unsurprisingly, Vindril found all that spectacle to be very entertaining.

Yurian glared at him like his eyes could shoot daggers, but Vindril simply smiled. He could have added the sarcastic remark he could feel on the tip of his tongue, but ultimately decided to hold back. Better let the matter drop than risk losing a precious contact like him just to humour his sarcastic character. “’You good?”

“What do you think, smartass?” asked Yurian. “Damn you and your damned timing. Next time, try to warn me beforehand. I swear, you can be such an asshole sometimes…”

“Alright, alright. My bad.” he replied smiling.

“Jeez. Were it not for that timing of yours, you’ll be-”

“I know.” he interrupted.

“Then why the hell don’t you do something about it then?!”

“Because I don’t care.”

“Well, you should!”

“Anyway, arguing with you is not why I’m here.”

“Yeah, I figured that much by now.” he said in the calmest voice he could muster. “But colour me surprised. To be honest, I didn’t think you had it in you to collect all that money when I first saw you all those years ago. I can still remember those times, you know? So little, yet so determined; trying his best to survive all alone, without ever asking for help. Eh! I guess you always had it in you, didn’t-”

“Not to be rude, but I don’t want to talk about it. Don’t want to spoil today’s mood. It’s too important of a day for me. I’m sure you understand.”

This time Yurian smirked, before laughing shortly. Same old Yurian. “Of course. Of course. I guess we’ll finish this discussion at a later timer.” he said turning all projectors off with a simple touch.

Then, as he got up from the sofa, finishing the last drops of tea that had not dropped to the floor, he looked at him in the eyes. “Shall we take a closer look to my babies? I’m sure we’ll find the perfect partner for you.”

//////

Vindril could barely contain his excitement at that point, but he still trailed closely after Yurian, scanning every single spacecraft his eyes landed on. If he had the necessary funds to squander, he would have left that parking lot with an entire fleet to command has a saw fit, traveling the galaxy in style. He could already picture it clearly: Grand Admiral Vindril. Yeah. That had a nice ring to it.

He blinked rapidly. That was no time to loose himself into useless fantasies that might, or might not come true. After all the hard work it took to earn all that money, the last thing he wanted to do was waste it by buying something that wasn’t exactly what he was looking for. He had one chance only, so he had to choose carefully, and with the right mindset. A single mistake could have jeopardized his entire plans.

“So, what can I tempt you with, uhm?” asked Yurian.

It didn’t even take Vindril a fraction of a second to answer. “A frigate. One that can travel at Ultralight speed. Also, I need it to be ready for combat.”

“Ah. You’re looking to buy firepower, huh? Well, I got you covered. I’ve some vessels that have just come in that might fit your needs just right.” he said. “But let me ask you. Why not buy a cruiser? Sure, you won’t have the same firepower, but I think it’s better in the long run.”

“…Are you going to give me a big discount?”

Discount. Just saying that word seemed to have hurt his feelings more than anything ever could. So it didn’t surprise Vindril when he flatly refused.

“No.”

“Then it’s pointless to discuss about it.”

“Eh! At least give them a look. You’re already here. Might as well take a look around.”

“…If I’ll have time to.”

“Why? Got something urgent to do?”

“I-”

“Just kidding. You know I don’t meddle into other people’s business. Anyway, where were we? Oh, yes. Frigates. Follow me.”

It didn’t take long for them to reach the area where said starships were evidently stored away. Obviously, given the sheer size of the entire compound, that stretched for kilometres and kilometres, they used a vehicle to travel. If they hadn’t, they would have wasted an enormous amount of time that was best invested into something else. And Yurian could be many things, but he certainly wasn’t a fool. There was not a chance in hell that he would waste away such a precious resource as time.

After five minutes, they reached their destination. As Yurian parked the vehicle in the shadow of a tarp, squeezing it between the pole supporting it and a starship, he pressed a button, the green one, and the doors opened. Without missing a beat, ignoring the torrid heat that was beating down on them relentlessly, they nimbly dismounted. Fortunately the brand-new starships that were there were all protected by those endless tarps, or the sun rays would have hit them right in the eyes, posing a potential serious risk at their eyesight. It was minor risk that wasn’t likely to happen; but there was still a chance, no matter how little that might have been.

“Alright. Here we are. The best shop for starships in all of Keelo Prime. If you need something to travel space, I’ve got it. If don’t, well, wrong shop.”

Vindril considered telling him he was the only one who sold starships on the planet, but opted out of it.

“So-” said Yurian, looking perfectly business like since he had set foot in there. “What’s your budget? I need to know what I’m working with. Time is money after all, and we can’t waste it.”

Vindril had come prepared. In the past month he had collected every single coin, currency, or credit in his possession and deposited them into his banking account in the Starnet. Of course that wasn’t related to the major galactic banks of Arn-6X, but it still served his purpose for the time being.

In any case, the amount of money that came out of it was certainly not exorbitant, but it would have appealed to many people in the galaxy. People, Vindril knew, very ready to kill for way less money than that. “55 million coins.”

“Star coins?”

“Of course.”

“Good. Good.” he said looking pensively. “You can buy a reeeealy nice frigate ship with that amount. Come! I know exactly what you need.”

“But I haven’t even told you wh-”

“No need.”

Walking towards the first starship, which was stored just a couple of paces away, he began describing her in the most detailed description, reading the file that had popped up from his ring projector. “This is HKL-56, codenamed Cheetah. She has two Cyon BK91 engines, making her the fastest option on the market. Her general shape is also great for nimble manoeuvres. However, that comes with a price. Her armaments are somewhat lacking. Two thermal cannons and one compartment for missiles are the only things she has. As for the cargo capacity she’s the lowest accommodating vessel, with a maximum of 30 tons.”

“As for crew space? How-”

“Max 5 people, but she can operate with just the pilot. Like all the models I’m showing you, so keep that in mind.”

After explaining some minor features that weren’t particularly interesting, they moved on.

The next starship was, unlike the Cheetah, less nimble and much more heavily armed. To be honest, Vindril felt like it was a bomb ready to explode the moment a missile hit her in the right part of her hull, most likely the armoury, but he didn’t voice his complain.

Just like before, Yurian flicked the projection that was coming from his ring and began reading out loud. “Now, this beast of a starship, codenamed Rhino, for obvious reasons, is the most heavily armed of them all. She’s HKL-38, same builder as last one, if you’re wondering.”

Ah. That explained the matching serial letters. Those were starships made by the same company.

“Eight thermal cannons, mounted…well, pretty much all around it, make this vessel one serious challenge to win a fight. You can’t obviously beat bigger ships, but you get the gist of it. She’s also equipped with three missile compartments, for medium and long-range fights, and a couple of turrets that will came in handy if you’ll find yourself surrounded by enemies in a spaceport, if you know what I mean…” he said smiling.

“Downsides?”

“None.”

“…”

“Ah! Fine!” he said frustrated. “Given her size, she’s a pain to manoeuvre, even in open space. And speed is not her strong point either. The single, albeit powerful, T-32 engine that she has right behind the maintenance room does its best, but the sheer weight of it, which comes around 243 tons, is slowing her down. Considering the general aerodynamics of its form, it’s almost a miracle that she can even sustain Ultralight.”

At that point he turned around, ready to showcase the last starship which, for what Vindril could tell, seemed to be a weird mix between the two. However, he stopped right in the middle of the road, turning to face Vindril. “Ah! I almost forgot!”

“What?”

“Her cargo capacity is bigger than the Cheetah, coming around at 65 tons. It’s not enormous, but you can work with that. A looooot of things can be stored in that.”

Vindril sharply exhaled, trying to calm down the deafening heartbeats that were humming like drums inside his ears. For a moment there he thought that man had forgot something serious. That damned merchant had almost given him a heart attack. And he was the one that had a bad timing? Unbelievable…

As he sighed, they reached the very last starship to be viewed. It was, just like Vindril had thought, a sort of strange mix between the previous vessels that somehow managed to get past the approving forms required to get the approval from the competent authorities. The how was an unknown that was going to remain a mystery forever.

“Last but not least, let me present to you our last option. GBS-TX, codename, Hammer. She’s a sort of compromise between the two, so you can guess what the specs are without me reading them out loud. Now, there are other ships I could show you, but those are the best for your needs. I’ll give you some time alone so you reach a decision.”

With that said, Vindril remained alone, as Yurian went on to inspect some crates over to the left.

To say that he was very conflicted would have been a euphemism. After all the hard work he had done to get there, now he had to choose which of them starships was the right one for him. It was a harder task then he had originally thought.

On one side, the Cheetah had the basic characteristics he was looking for. She was nimble, elegant, and was the fastest among the three. But having that little cargo hold was a problem. All in all, it meant that he could get whatever the hell he wanted at the fastest time, but with little cargo to transport. He put that starship on hold.

Then he considered the Rhino. While all that offence capability made her a real threat in a fight situation, and with all the conflicts that were going on around the galaxy that was certainly a plus; and a big one at that. But her lack of nimble movements was something he couldn’t overlook. What was the point of having all that power if it constricted his movements? He discarded the idea of buying her.

Lastly, he stroked the idea of buying the last vessel had had just seen. On paper, or hologram to be fair, she was the sort of compromise that might have been exactly what he was looking for. But then again, he had to keep in mind that it was exactly that: a compromise. And as far as he was concerned, those things were pretty much a gamble.

Now what? He was at a crossroads. And the choice was a rather difficult enigma he didn’t know how to solve. But he had to. He just no time to waste. Time was the essence.