Power’s Pink Price - Chapter 045

This colony seems a bit further along: They have an actual traffic control tower separate from the ship, a proper landing pad, warehouses… and it looks like they're disconnecting power conduit from the ship now - and the lights are staying on. I guess the ship isn't far from leaving.

I find I have to call ground control to clear the runway… seems there are folks who don’t believe the thing they can’t see is going to crush them.  I’m going to need to think of a way to make that less of a problem… I could cast Mirage Arcana on the ship, but that runs into the side effect and with repeated use… hmm.  Well… for now, nobody’s dead, so… “Stephanie, open the cargo bay door, please.”

I use the com plugged into my neck to borrow the ship's sensors and watch people start at the door appearing seemingly from nowhere. I wonder when watching people’s reactions to a door opening in mid air will get old?

The loaders do their job, getting cargo out, and I walk around and look at the colony… this one is quite far along, with enough around the landing pad for me to call it a spaceport without stretching terms too much… including another parked starship. It's just a shuttle, but still… good for them.

I do my usual Ears of the City trick to locate a suitable client, get as much cargo as I can fit in the shuttle (we have four available cargo bays, so that's a hundred tons of goods - apparently there's a lot of edibles here). It’s not going to Absalom Station, but that’s actually okay - we have a while before we need to be back there, and have some leeway in time for claiming our replacement ship.  We're taking them to a Near Space manufactury that will turn them into meal kits, apparently.

We load up, take off, plot our course… eleven days of Drift travel… and go.  The trip is largely uneventful; I do take the time to implant my other ioun stones, and have one of my summoned minions craft a Ruby Sphere Aeon stone (an Ioun stone with the serial numbers filed off - this one serves as a tier three computer with a personality, no need for an interface, and a built-in personal com… and as we have the time, I have it upgraded to a tier five computer, a system-wide com (allowing me to talk to anyone in system with a similar com; I plan to upgrade that to unlimited range when I can, but that will be a while), True Frame Camera (a camera that can see in the dark and easily recognize holograms and illusions), laser microphone (lets me hear things through thin barriers to a good range), and an X-Ray Visor (can see through most things to a range of sixty feet, but does have some limitations). I also commission one for each of my real companions. I put mine in my (now empty) Wayfinder of Passage… and yes, it fits.

They all come out pink, though, with a darker, circular bump on one side.  I  commission regular Wayfinders to hold them, so they can be placed in pockets and be less obvious. That should deal with extra-vehicular communication.

After the trip, of course, we unload, and as there's nothing to deliver to Absalom Station, we just head there, empty… which takes three days… but I do NOT implant that one, as I know I'm going to want to upgrade it later.

Euler of course beats us there: She was going straight there, after all. And I find she's ahead of the game: Knowing my preferences, she's already set it up how I like: Stripped out basically everything, upgraded the turret to twin heavy mounts and put Persistent Particle Beam weapons on them, set it up with a signal basic drift engine, basic long-range sensors (with the Djezet-infused upgrade so they are as long of range as possible), luxury quarters, then spent the rest of the budget from trades on shields, and just enough power to run everything. It'll get two long-range shots at the most damage throwable by the biggest weapon that fits - and as a Medium ship, it can land on a planet if needed.

She's now a freighter that will make some capital ships pause… especially with the gunners I provided, who will nearly never miss… and I still need to make her disappear.

Which I do, of course.  It takes a few days to take off all the hull plates, cast Superior Invisibility on them (and the bolts), as well as the various “exposed” portions of the guns, engines, scanners, and so on, then a few more to put it all back together.

We christen her “The Brute” in a simple ceremony, as she's slow, lumbering, and hits above her weight class (she's tier five, and should be able to take on a tier seven ship reasonably reliably in one-on-one combat).

Although I do figure out how to upgrade the pilots further:

After double checking with my phsntom laptop, it turns out that Spheres of Might has the Extra Combat Talent feat, which I can repeatedly give to my summoned creatures via Attuned Mysticism and Enable Function… and the Pilot Sphere is built for that system, and can grant ranks in Piloting. Even better: A lot of the talents apply to Starships.  Assured Repair for a summoned engineer lets them take twenty without taking the extra time. Emergency Repair lets the engineer “Hold it Together” (suppress the issues with a damaged system system for a round) for no action cost once per combat. One with the Machine lets the pilot use her Dexterity in place of countermeasures for Tracking Lock (TL) purposes… and as a buffed elder air elemental, that's higher than anyone can buy. Pilot’s Savvy lets them use ranks in Piloting for any check in Starship Combat… and that sweet dexterity modifier blows any of the other summon's mental scores out of the water, so I swap them all out. Speedster increases the ship's speed by one.  Sturdy Pilot gives the ship more shield points… there's others, but those are the highlights. And feats are free for my summons, so I grab them all.  

Between the free ranks for having the Pilot Sphere talents, skill focus, the creature's dexterity modifier (after Polymorph Any Object and Chasing Perfection), Karmic Blessing, Bestow Insight, and Greater Heroism… they are rolling with a thirty two point bonus on gunnery checks (and note that printed ship AC only goes up to thirty-five), a fifty one point bonus on everything else relating to starships, and are rolling three times on each check then taking the best. Oh yes, and the ship's AC is at twenty-six and it's TL at forty two… assuming anyone finds a way to target it in the first place when it can only be ‘seen’ by touch or True Seeing.

To put this in perspective, I'm doing this with a tier five ship, while the printed tier twenty ships - as high as they go - have attack bonuses of twenty nine to thirty one (but can get a little higher with a computer assist), while they have ACs ranging from twenty eight to thirty five and TL from twenty-eight to thirty-two.  Those would be a threat… if they could find us.

About the time I'm done with The Brute, I get an email from the Norikama executive I contracted:

“Captain Alex Abrams,” Standard greeting, that. Get to it….

“Your ship is ready.” That sounds promising, “We did some bonus alterations to improve the design.“ That not so much. How badly am I shafted? “We worked with Unified Conservatory (UC) to create a biomechanical starship for you - so that we could get you a docking canopy instead of a mere shuttle bay. It holds two Small ships or four Tiny ones, rather than the single ship a shuttle bay can contain.” It doesn't enclose them entirely, however, which means I'll need to separately make the carried ships invisible. “And, of course, as a biomechanical starship, it will fix itself for free under the light of a star.” Yes, at the cost of having problems with radiation, which is an issue because I ordered an Abysium power core, which exposes the ship to radiation whenever it has an issue. Ugh.  Still… I was planning on not getting hit, and that's the biggest cause of issues in space combat.

“We are certain you'll be happy with your purchase,” I'm already annoyed, “So please come pick it up at your earliest convenience at the enclosed address,” at least it's station side, “docking fees are paid until the end of the month.”

There's also a reminder about crew requirements and some legalese attached, which I skim through… aha. So they didn’t actually make a new ship like I ordered, they refitted a salvaged vessel… “worked with” UC… more like “with their leftovers.”

Well… I can at least go look before I scream at the rep, I guess.  I head that way to check on my purchase….

This colony seems a bit further along: They have an actual traffic control tower separate from the ship, a proper landing pad, warehouses and it looks like they're disconnecting power conduit from the ship now - and the lights are staying on. I guess the ship isn't far from leaving. I find I have to call ground control to clear the runway seems there are folks who don't believe the thing they can't see is going to crush them. I'm going to need to think of a way to make that less of a problem I could cast Mirage Arcana on the ship, but that runs into the side effect and with repeated use hmm. Well for now, nobody's dead, so Stephanie, open the cargo bay door, please. I use the com plugged into my neck to borrow the ship's sensors and watch people start at the door appearing seemingly from nowhere. I wonder when watching people's reactions to a door opening in mid air will get old? The loaders do their job, getting cargo out, and I walk around and look at the colony this one is quite far along, with enough around the landing pad for me to call it a spaceport without stretching terms too much including another parked starship. It's just a shuttle, but still good for them. I do my usual Ears of the City trick to locate a suitable client, get as much cargo as I can fit in the shuttle we have four available cargo bays, so that's a hundred tons of goods - apparently there's a lot of edibles here. It's not going to Absalom Station, but that's actually okay - we have a while before we need to be back there, and have some leeway in time for claiming our replacement ship. We're taking them to a Near Space manufactury that will turn them into meal kits, apparently. We load up, take off, plot our course eleven days of Drift travel and go. The trip is largely uneventful; I do take the time to implant my other ioun stones, and have one of my summoned minions craft a Ruby Sphere Aeon stone an Ioun stone with the serial numbers filed off - this one serves as a tier three computer with a personality, no need for an interface, and a built-in personal com and as we have the time, I have it upgraded to a tier five computer, a system-wide com allowing me to talk to anyone in system with a similar com; I plan to upgrade that to unlimited range when I can, but that will be a while, True Frame Camera a camera that can see in the dark and easily recognize holograms and illusions, laser microphone lets me hear things through thin barriers to a good range, and an X-Ray Visor can see through most things to a range of sixty feet, but does have some limitations. I also commission one for each of my real companions. I put mine in my now empty Wayfinder of Passage and yes, it fits. They all come out pink, though, with a darker, circular bump on one side. I commission regular Wayfinders to hold them, so they can be placed in pockets and be less obvious. That should deal with extra-vehicular communication. After the trip, of course, we unload, and as there's nothing to deliver to Absalom Station, we just head there, empty which takes three days but I do NOT implant that one, as I know I'm going to want to upgrade it later. Euler of course beats us there: She was going straight there, after all. And I find she's ahead of the game: Knowing my preferences, she's already set it up how I like: Stripped out basically everything, upgraded the turret to twin heavy mounts and put Persistent Particle Beam weapons on them, set it up with a signal basic drift engine, basic long-range sensors with the Djezet-infused upgrade so they are as long of range as possible, luxury quarters, then spent the rest of the budget from trades on shields, and just enough power to run everything. It'll get two long-range shots at the most damage throwable by the biggest weapon that fits - and as a Medium ship, it can land on a planet if needed. She's now a freighter that will make some capital ships pause especially with the gunners I provided, who will nearly never miss and I still need to make her disappear. Which I do, of course. It takes a few days to take off all the hull plates, cast Superior Invisibility on them and the bolts, as well as the various exposed portions of the guns, engines, scanners, and so on, then a few more to put it all back together. We christen her The Brute in a simple ceremony, as she's slow, lumbering, and hits above her weight class she's tier five, and should be able to take on a tier seven ship reasonably reliably in one-on-one combat. Although I do figure out how to upgrade the pilots further: Spoiler After double checking with my phsntom laptop, it turns out that Spheres of Might has the Extra Combat Talent feat, which I can repeatedly give to my summoned creatures via Attuned Mysticism and Enable Function and the Pilot Sphere is built for that system, and can grant ranks in Piloting. Even better: A lot of the talents apply to Starships. Assured Repair for a summoned engineer lets them take twenty without taking the extra time. Emergency Repair lets the engineer Hold it Together suppress the issues with a damaged system system for a round for no action cost once per combat. One with the Machine lets the pilot use her Dexterity in place of countermeasures for Tracking Lock TL purposes and as a buffed elder air elemental, that's higher than anyone can buy. Pilot's Savvy lets them use ranks in Piloting for any check in Starship Combat and that sweet dexterity modifier blows any of the other summon's mental scores out of the water, so I swap them all out. Speedster increases the ship's speed by one. Sturdy Pilot gives the ship more shield points there's others, but those are the highlights. And feats are free for my summons, so I grab them all. Between the free ranks for having the Pilot Sphere talents, skill focus, the creature's dexterity modifier after Polymorph Any Object and Chasing Perfection, Karmic Blessing, Bestow Insight, and Greater Heroism they are rolling with a thirty two point bonus on gunnery checks and note that printed ship AC only goes up to thirty-five, a fifty one point bonus on everything else relating to starships, and are rolling three times on each check then taking the best. Oh yes, and the ship's AC is at twenty-six and it's TL at forty two assuming anyone finds a way to target it in the first place when it can only be seen' by touch or True Seeing. To put this in perspective, I'm doing this with a tier five ship, while the printed tier twenty ships - as high as they go - have attack bonuses of twenty nine to thirty one but can get a little higher with a computer assist, while they have ACs ranging from twenty eight to thirty five and TL from twenty-eight to thirty-two. Those would be a threat if they could find us. collapse About the time I'm done with The Brute, I get an email from the Norikama executive I contracted: Captain Alex Abrams, Standard greeting, that. Get to it. Your ship is ready. That sounds promising, We did some bonus alterations to improve the design. That not so much. How badly am I shafted? We worked with Unified Conservatory UC to create a biomechanical starship for you - so that we could get you a docking canopy instead of a mere shuttle bay. It holds two Small ships or four Tiny ones, rather than the single ship a shuttle bay can contain. It doesn't enclose them entirely, however, which means I'll need to separately make the carried ships invisible. And, of course, as a biomechanical starship, it will fix itself for free under the light of a star. Yes, at the cost of having problems with radiation, which is an issue because I ordered an Abysium power core, which exposes the ship to radiation whenever it has an issue. Ugh. Still I was planning on not getting hit, and that's the biggest cause of issues in space combat. We are certain you'll be happy with your purchase, I'm already annoyed, So please come pick it up at your earliest convenience at the enclosed address, at least it's station side, docking fees are paid until the end of the month. There's also a reminder about crew requirements and some legalese attached, which I skim through aha. So they didn't actually make a new ship like I ordered, they refitted a salvaged vessel worked with UC more like with their leftovers. Well I can at least go look before I scream at the rep, I guess. I head that way to check on my purchase.