LELauri

Chapter 42 - The Motherlode

Heath pulled up the calendar, as he had been doing more and more frequently since they set off. Another week and a half, and they would be at the outpost. That last box laughed at him as those days stretched off into eternity. He wanted to go for a run, something he usually hated with every fiber of his being. He wanted to smell air that wasn’t full of stacil flowers from his maintenance Skill. He wanted sunlight, any sunlight, on his skin. Spaceships could keep them healthy, and the Loon w...

Chapter 41 - Into the Deep

Malor’s Rest. Full rights owned by the Temple of Virtue. The order of monks was famous for eschewing luxury in all its forms. New initiates spent years living in the most isolated worlds imaginable, communing with their god and meditating on their ideals, before they could be trusted to spread the world amongst the temptations of the Core.

Aside from maintaining a waystation for travelers, the monks kept themselves isolated. 

If Heath had a choice, he wouldn’t have stoppe...

Chapter 40 - Creature Comforts

“Heath. Pal. Captain. I am begging. Please.” Copperfield was leaning over the table of the job hall, hands clasped together. The whole effect was fouled by the expression on his face, where he couldn’t quite hide a smirk.

Jenny Mae was doing a much better job. There might be actual tears in the corner of her eyes, though the dim lighting made it hard to say for sure. 

“I would agree as well.” Ekaterina had never begged in her life, and it showed. Not even a token at...

Chapter 39 - In It For the Long Haul

“Psst. Heath. Are you up?”

He jolted awake, heartbeat racing. Jenny Mae was leaning over him, whispering from a foot away. As awareness returned he realized he had fallen asleep in his Captain’s chair, a late night conversation with the Loon returning to him. Hours had passed while they theorized about possible improvements, and what the slow but steady growth the Loon was experiencing would mean for their strategy in the long-term.

“Why?” he whimpered. His neck was comp...

Chapter 38 - Armageddonator

Betsy the mech was in pieces across the cargo bay. Copperfield was in the center, holding some of the scales leftover from their raid on the Ruby Estate. He leaned in to watch, not wanting to interrupt the process. It was one he’d heard about but never seen. Most of the classers on his Uncle’s crew had been strong enough to afford the more usual mods, if they had independent armor at all. High-quality metals, magitech add-ons and the like. But he knew, in theory, that the point of a mech ...

Chapter 37 - Reaping Rewards

“That was worse than the goblins,” Copperfield said when they were alone after their delve into the Ruby Estate.

Emerald grunted their agreement. 

“Great loot though.” He triple-checked the hover dolly onto which Betsy had been loaded once the Swashbuckler had finally de-armored.

“Great loot,” Heath echoed.

“Sorry everyone. It said castle and I didn’t think it would be so….” Jenny Mae shrugged. “Clump up for a photo. Emerald! Stop wa...

Chapter 36 - Advanced Loot Distribution

As his heartbeat returned to a rhythm he could call normal, he became aware of something uncomfortable on his arm. Sticky and cold at the same time, he turned to see half his sleeve covered in blood. He swore, loudly. That coat was expensive. Then the pain hit. Shaking hands removed the garment, to see a long gash on his upper arm. At least it was shallow. Emerald and Jenny Mae appeared with some bandages and helped him cover the wound. And forced him to put the blood-soaked coat back on to k...

Chapter 35 - Ride the Goblin Wave

The next wave was better and worse. Somehow, they triggered the monsters before reaching the village. None of them had noticed any sort of trap or lookout, but it was impossible to miss a hundred screaming monsters barreling directly at them. 

With the bulk of his battle mech, Copperfield filled the tunnel. A blessing for keeping monsters off of the rest of them, but it forced the others to cram themselves against the wall to get an angle for their guns. A few of the bastards wiggl...

Chapter 34 - Winter's Fury

“We have a problem,” Heath announced. 

They were eating dinner, Ekaterina joining them at his request. Though dinner might have been pushing it. Rations reconstituted with water into what could only technically be described as a stew did not a satisfying meal make. 

“What kind of problem?” Copperfield was already finished, the pirate having learned a long time ago how to get through an unpalatable meal. He was tinkering with a piece of his mech suit while the res...

Chapter 33 - The Real Loot Is Skills We Earned Along the Way

“Amazing!”

“Hells yeah, we kicked that bear’s ass!”

“Didn’t die, so there’s that.”

“I have so many notifications. At least three levels, I’m sure of it.”

“Betsy’s gonna need some time in the box for repairs, but worth it.”

“Need to sell the rest of the parts. “

“Hold up for a second,” Heath laughed. His anger hadn’t disappeared, but it was pushed deep down under the effervescence of a successful first delve. “We nee...

Chapter 32 - The Forest Path pt. 2

“On three,” Heath whispered. “One, two, three!”

Everything happened at once. A [Surge] of mana flooded from Emerald into Copperfield, who didn’t waste the opportunity. 

He leapt forward, extra Power and the augmentation abilities of the mech letting him cross the small clearing far faster than any monsterthey had seen thus far. At the same time, a fireball launched forward, while Heath and Jenny Mae opened fire. It was a mirror of their first encounter, except this ...

Chapter 31 - The Forest Path

The inside of the guild could have been any office building, from any vid Heath had ever seen. There were workers, Classed and not, moving in every direction. Some cleaned, some were tapping away at pads to deal with scheduling or other maintenance, others chatted over coffee. Even in the middle of the night, it was bustling. And on every surface was the guild logo, a stylized bronze tree, gleaming under the artificial light.

Heath and his crew huddled in the entrance. They had shown up...

Chapter 30 - Dynamics of Team Structure

Heath should have unclenched when they reached Solstice and the official entrance to the Hummingbird Cluster, but he hadn’t. Every creak and groan of the ship settling, or thud coming from the engine left him flinching and asking Loon for a status report. The ship indulged his newfound paranoia. His crew did not.

“You’ve been in space for years!” Emerald exploded. “Stop that!”

“I know! I was just checking, it seemed louder than usual.” Heath defended his reaction t...

Chapter 29 - Traversing the Trellis

Heath spared a moment for trying to find some dirt. If any existed in it was deep in the center of the jungle. A region only cleared for rank three Classers and above. In a century, he could come back and add it to his collection.

Until then, it was time to clean. With a small crew, of which only three had any version of the [Ship Maintenance] Skill, it was a constant struggle to keep everything tidy. How they generated that much dust and dirt with just the five of them, Heath didn’t ...

Chapter 28 - The End of Endurance

It took Heath six jumps to break. Six jumps in eight days, all undampened, two through the smallest gates he’d ever seen. The narrower metaphysical tunnel made the sickness and discomfort far worse than the already unbearable standard set in their travel to date.

They reached Zyzyx, the last major hub before the Hummingbird Cluster, and Heath called for a day onshore. Jenny Mae and Copperfield would look for any cargo they could pick up for some quick creds, but he and Emerald had a f...

Chapter 27 - What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Waking up the next morning, Heath’s memories of everything after talking with Emerald were a blur. But he was clean and not starving so he’d call that a win. He had survived and now it was time to reap his rewards. Folding his hands behind his head, he pulled up his System notifications.

Then he nearly choked on the changes he saw. His skills had shot up, life and death danger would do that, he supposed. And he’d hit level 25. 

Distributing attribute points was easy. It...

Chapter 26 - Let's Make a Deal

“What the fuck was that?” Copperfield asked. 

Heath groaned. It was a fair question, and he couldn’t avoid answering, not after everything.  But explaining was going to be a nightmare. And he didn’t even know all the details. 

They were out of the range of most of the station’s weapons, anything else they could dodge with their speed increase, if it came to that. Though the distraction might be helpful, Heath was out of time.

“I have some questions...

Chapter 25 - Decorum on the Bridge

The Loon’s path led them through a market. Not the classy one from the top of the station that Emerald and Heath had walked through earlier, with its rows of artisanal produce, imported in enchanter-made containers to keep it at the peak of freshness. This was where the locals who weren’t so high or mighty could find anything they needed. Or get rid of anything they found. 

“Wait.”

At the Loon’s exhortation, Heath skidded to a halt. Shouts and shoves followed as he ...

Chapter 24 - Smuggler's Delight

Heath double- and triple-checked their list for docking. They were still a day’s flight out but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. This was a big one. They had passed through Sector Control four weeks and three jumps back. It should have been the most dangerous time for anyone smuggling contraband. He didn’t trust that assessment as far as he could throw it. 

Heath would just be glad to finally get whatever-it-was off his ship. Extra credits were always nice, but he wasn...

Ch 23 - Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Copperfield and Emerald staggered into view, followed by a crowd of mixed locals and other spacers, shouting and stumbling along like a drunken parade. Most looked like they were enjoying the show, but a few squared up against his crew members. 

“No no no,” Heath muttered as he hurried over. He was still too far away to hear what Emerald spat at the closest spacer. He was however close enough to see the shove the Spacer made in retaliation. And Emerald as they grabbed said Spac...

Chapter 22 - Driver Picks the Music

“Jump in 15 minutes. All crew report to the bridge. Passengers, seek secured location.” 

The Loon’s announcement was redundant. Heath and the others were already strapped in. Ekaterina presumably was as well, not that he could confirm it. Their mysterious passenger had been a ghost in the five days since leaving Atala and traveling to the system’s farthest jump gate, leaving her room rarely, and only when the rest of the crew was elsewhere. How she could stand to be cooped ...

Chapter 21 - Getting the Gang Together

Heath bounded to his feet the second the clock ticked over the hour, marking the end of his personal purgatory. No more interviews with the absolute dregs of the Atala system. No more sitting around at all. Just being in the same system, doing the same thing for long hours each day was making him antsy. Time to go.

Jenny Mae must have agreed. That or he was easy to read. She joined him without protest and didn't bother to argue for any of the sad excuses for Spacers they had just listen...

Chapter 20 - And to Those Not Yet Decided

They arrived back at the Loon at the same time as Copperfield, who had a scratched-up hover dolly following along behind him, with three weathered crates weighing it down, and a threadbare spacer-pack slung over one shoulder. 

Emerald stood in the hatchway as they all came to a halt, surveying their next recruit. They looked directly at Heath. “I hate you.” Then they turned and went back inside.

“Yeah, that’s Emerald. You’ll get used to them.”

At Jenny Mae�...

Chapter 19 - To Old Enemies

The next day was more of the same. Emerald left to go do shady outlaw things – Heath was still not clear on how you just picked up something to smuggle – and Heath returned to the same job hall as before to wait for applicants. With input from the others the previous night, they had narrowed down the jobs they were taking, and Heath set about accepting them while he waited for anyone to wander in. A process that was interrupted when Jenny Mae dropped down into a seat next to him.

�...

Chapter 18 - A Toast to New Friends

It was near the end of the day when the next candidate showed up. Heath had already narrowed down some possible contracts and done all his resupply ordering for what they would need. A side benefit of a small crew was getting by without too much overhead, but they still needed ration packs and first aid equipment. Stocking up in a big port meant they wouldn’t be squeezed for credits out in the middle of nowhere. 

The spacer that walked in had Heath bracing for disappointment yet ...

Chapter 17 - All Aboard

“Permission granted for docking at the Atala Imperial Spaceport, berth 155C. Estimated time to landing, 15 minutes.”

“Thanks Loon.”

Heath double-checked his harness one more time. Emerald had grumbled but eventually ceded to Heath’s newly-forged obsession with ship safety. They hadn’t pushed back on his assistance and Heath was embarrassed at how much he appreciated the understanding. 

“Let’s go over it one more time,” he said.

“Look kid, we’...

Chapter 16 - Starship Captain 101

“A thousand years of wisdom says if you need to up your hauling profits you choose specialized cargo, long distance routes, add passengers, or take the dangerous contracts. I don’t see us doing any of those.” 

Heath and the Loon had been strategizing for hours, but most of that time had been going around in circles. They needed money to improve the ship, and they needed an improved ship to make more money. The mail run they were bringing to Atala was a steady income, but jobs...

Chapter 15 - Touch Grass

Warm sun and the scent of a new city, fumes and all, were Heath’s first impressions of Eubank 2. A sizable population was enough for a spaceport, but not one that was teeming with amenities like a true hub. In fact it might be better described as a few empty fields with some hover dollies for moving cargo. Even so, it was busy. The few decades of colonization had established a brisk monster-part export market, which was profitable enough to be worth developing. And it was on the major route...

Chapter 14 - Upgrade Time

The chaos was all worth it for these little guys. Heath popped open the box to appreciate the argo crystals. Not that he thought Emerald would bother taking them after they saved Heath in the first place. But also they were a stranger he’d met that day. 

He needn’t have worried, both chunks were still there, the physical manifestation of System energy gleaming in the bridge lights, as if eager to be used.

“The sensors will tell you what configurations of upgrades are po...

Chapter 13 - Unlikely Allies

Heath heaved himself upright with a groan. “Next time I have to go into a creepy secret closet for a job, remind me to just make the smart decision.”

“Noted,” the Loon answered. “But you were successful. Our first fully completed contract, and a profitable one at that.”

“Right. Wait. How’d you know we got the argo? When I left you said it was less than five percent likely they would pay up.”

“A calculation I stand behind. However, your chaperone was waivi...