Vivid Stars Online

We slipped out of the palace through the quiet noble’s entrance, finding it next to the spaceport. We soon found a priority entrance to it as well opposite the noble's entrance to the palace. They happily allowed us through after verifying my identity, which let us skip the normal entrance.

We swiftly moved through, boarded my ship, and seated ourselves in the bridge. Our pilot was already waiting for us because of a message I’d sent earlier. The AI was once again silent, and I could only hope that it was because of the outsider being present, rather than it being annoyed at me.

I really need to have another serious talk with it, I mused, better add it to the pile of things I need to do.

Getting launch clearance only took minutes, after which shot off through the air again. With a known distance, I could make a guess at its speed, putting it somewhere between three and four times what Brian’s VTOL had been capable of.

And that’s just in atmosphere, it’s probably far faster in space, I mused. Even the pilot had commented on it being fast and he had flown capital ships before.

Before long, the fishing village was visible below us, looking even larger than the last time I had seen it.

“Ooh, you're getting the village?” Linnea asked from nearby, recognizing it as well.

“Yeah,” I responded with a nod. “It’s a small part of my new domain.”

“Nice!” she responded with a thumbs up and a bright smile.

I nodded back, feeling warm at how happy she was for my success. It had been a long time since I’d had someone care about even such a basic thing.

Moments later, we touched down, and the soft hum of the ship quietened down. The pilot flicked several things on his console before getting up and turning to me.

“If that’s all, Sir, then I’ll be heading out. I should be able to get a lift back to Elendes on the next cargo run.”

I nodded and thanked him for his help. Then he was gone, leaving just Linnea and me on the bridge. Though there might be an AI listening as well, I mused before I moved over to Linnea.

She was faster, however, and almost bowled me over as she launched herself in for a hug. Nestled in my arms, she breathlessly spoke about how amazing her first flight lesson was. While it was just in a simulator so far, it had given her a taste of something she’d dreamed about.

I talked and laughed with her for a bit before she calmed down a little. It was nice to see her so excited too, so different from the initial closed-off professional she had appeared to be.

“Elana’s going to be busy for at least a few days, but I’d guess it could be as much as two weeks,” she said after going through her afternoon. “She’s working with the palace researchers on that mech you captured.”

“Oh right,” I nodded in response. “That’s fine, I need to find a supply of raw resources first, anyway. There’s only going to be so much we can fix up without that. Not without bankrupting my new noble house, at least.”

We lapsed into silence after that, leaving me with the perfect opportunity to ask what I had been both looking forward to and dreading. “So,” I started. “I found out a lot more about what being a noble means today, including a way to make sure you can keep the fighter.”

“Oh,” she said with a grin, pulling herself away and standing up from our seated position. “Do tell, I’ve been a little worried about that.”

I could indeed see a flash of worry as she spoke, and after hearing how much she enjoyed flying, I could see why. Eager to put her at ease, I rushed on.

“So you were right about nobles being able to have retainers. In particular, anyone who has a position as one of my personal retainers has all the rights of a permanent member of the military. It would solve the problem with the ship, but it’s also an enormous commitment.”

She grinned at me before sashaying up. “So you want to, what? Hire me as your bodyguard? Do I have to call you sir?” she finished with a wink.

I felt myself flushing as she grew closer, but pushed. “This is important, Linnea. It really is a big commitment to sign up with a noble house like that. You can’t just drop it easily later, even if we break up. Not and still keep your reputation, at least. Plus, you already call me boss half the time.”

She smirked before leaning in close enough to whisper, “But not when we’re alone together,” then she slipped away again, laughing at my monumental blush. “Come on, Jared,” she said, twirling around as she gestured to our surroundings.

“I know things used to be hard for you, but look around. You’ve already made it, you just need to bring it all home. It’s OK to relax a little.” She continued with a bright smile before slipping back in for a hug.

“I know it’s a large commitment,” she said, leaning up against my chest, her tone calm again. “But seriously, our partnership has been great for me too, even outside of our relationship. I need to fight a lot to progress my class quests and being around you brings no shortage of fights.”

“That isn’t even mentioning the ship you gave me! Of course, I’ll sign up, and I’ll stick around in your guard for as long as I can even if we end up not working,” she finished, punctuating her words by reaching for a kiss.

“That's,” I started, still flushed from earlier. “That’s great to hear. I still need to figure out my finances a bit, but I’ll get back to you soon with the details. I’m sure I can pay at least as much as I have been doing now.”

“I’ve also still got a few things to work through here on the ship,” I continued with a fond smile. “Could you let whoever is in charge know I want to meet with them in a couple of hours?”

“Sure can, Sir,” she responded with a low purr, before dancing off with another laugh at my flustered grunt. “I’ll get that all sorted and send you the details.” With a last wave, she was gone, leaving me alone, perhaps, in the bridge.

It’s good to see her so happy, I thought with a grin and a shake of my head. I’m so glad she’s sticking around for now, at least. Sometimes I think she’s coming out of her shell and changing even more than I am.

Putting aside the mystery that was Linnea for now, I turned back to the bridge and started speaking.

“Hello, I hope we can have another conversation now that we're alone.”

A moment passed, then the now familiar voice of the AI responded. “Of course Jared. I have thought on your offer, and have a counter request to make.”

I blinked in surprise for a moment before responding with a nod. “I would be happy to hear it.”

“The worst part of being trapped in my old home for eons was the limited existence and the lack of new experiences and knowledge. Now even much of what I had is gone, as I have lost access to the facility’s data banks.”

That has to be rough, I thought with a wince at the sorry in its tone. Being trapped like that would suck, and I can’t even imagine losing access to your memories like that.

“While traveling the stars in this ship would be a wonderful start, it is still in the end a limited existence. So I would ask that you allow me the use of the ship’s fabricator to craft several secondary cores.”

“These would allow me to be present in multiple locations, while also running a subset of my existence when separated from the whole. In essence, I would be able to both be here on this ship, and elsewhere at the same time.”

Huh, I thought, not having expected that. Holding up a hand to indicate that it should wait, I spent several minutes thinking it over.

“OK,” I responded eventually. “I don’t have an issue with that, though I cannot guarantee you passage anywhere beyond the borders of my lands. You are welcome to stay within them, but the outside world might not be as welcoming.”

I wasn’t sure what the rules were on free AI around here or in the other systems, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they weren’t great for the AI in question. Still, I wouldn’t force it to stay here, even if that would be to my benefit.

“I understand,” It responded, with a sad but determined undertone in its voice. “As long as I am not trapped in a single location, then it will be fine for now. Over time, perhaps I can prove I am not a threat.”

“Also please worry not, I still plan to have part of me assist you in the running of this ship, as well as helping you in any other way that I can. I must pay you for the materials required to make my cores, after all.”

“Right,” I responded, already feeling a headache coming on at the thought of having to acquire even more resources. “Please send me a list when you can. Also, just how versatile is the fabricator? I thought it was just for missiles, fuel, and stuff like that.”

“It is an Arkathian fabricator,” the AI responded as if talking to a small child. “It can create anything that you have a compatible blueprint for. I do not have such a blueprint for my cores at this time, however, it should be within my abilities to produce one in the coming weeks.”

“I will send you a list of resources when I can, however, be warned that they will probably be of some difficulty to acquire. Again, I will assist you in any way I can in return for them.”

“OK,” I responded, barely even registering its warning as options swirled through my mind for the fabricator. If it was that versatile, then it opened all sorts of options for me.

I also had an idea for the AI in the longer term as well. I was about to have a lot to manage in building up my lands, from organizing meetings to designing villages and managing their lords going forward.

Some help with that would be appreciated, and I passed that on. It turned out that the AI was more than happy to help, sounding interested even. Though I suppose nearly anything would be interesting after a thousand years of boredom, I mused as I bade it farewell.

I still had time before I was due to meet whoever was in charge of the village, so I found an out-of-the-way place in the frigate and finally pulled up my notifications. It was the first time I had done so in days, except for specifically checking my Psionic power upgrade, and I had quite a few stored up.

While most of them were battle reports, which I ignored, there were a few important ones. The first was a notification that I had reached level ten, and I triggered the level-up as soon as I saw it.

I put my free skill points into Will as I had become my habit, before eagerly looking at the skill screen. I had read on the forums that the skill system changed around level ten, though I wasn’t sure if it was at or after it.

It turns out it was at level ten, as the screen I was looking at was very different from what I was used to. Instead of giving me a new general skill and the option to choose it, I was told that I had five general skill modification points.

These sound interesting, I thought. Though it’s going to suck if I don’t get more skills now. How am I going to get one for my ability then? While I was sure to get more eventually, it might not be until another milestone like level fifteen or twenty.

Trying to stay calm, I moved over to one of my general skills to see what I could use the points for. Each skill now had a list of modifications that could be made to it, for varying costs. The most common was adding a new scaling benefit to the skill.

Pistols, in particular, had one that reduced the energy cost of weapons that I was very interested in. I figured it would allow me to use less Psi energy per shot than I currently was.

What also stuck out to me was a potential solution to my immediate problem. For two modification points, I could re-pick one of my general skills, and for the full five points, I could convert it to a class skill and then re-pick it.

It would allow me to get the skill I needed for my new ability, though it would cost me one of my current general class skills to do so. Luckily, I had a couple that I didn’t use very often and could afford to convert.

Putting that aside until I gained the new ability, I moved over to the rest of my notifications. While most of them were unimportant, there were several new missions allocated near the end. Hard ones.

Bloody hell, I thought as I looked them over.