Symarion: Call of the Void.

Building the first foundation.

Weldor System.

Anthony smiled as he stood in the doorway to his bedroom, what once used to be just Ina’s room, had now become, more or less, a shared arrangement between him, Ina, and Tilly. And those two, they where laying on the bed holding hands while sleeping, which looked quite, serene.

Looking at Ina’s belly, he was wondering when she would start showing. Only four month had passed so far, and he would guess that she would show first, given that she was build less robust then Tilly. And it made him kind of giddy thinking about it, if a bit nervous about the thought that he’d be a father soon.

“ Yeah. “ He uttered under his breath as he decided to leave them to sleep, thinking about how glad he was that he only impregnated those two, a ship full of giggling and crying might be a bit to much for him.

But there where also advantages, as he could test with Tilly, as doing the deed in his Plane did not yield any gain unless it was the intention to breed them. But where he gained over 50 points with Ina, it was barely ten with Tilly. It was a quick gain, but he wondered if it had any effect on them if he tried the act there, and then not go through with it in the real world. It could not be that easy, but he would not know unless he tried it.

“ Another time. “ He uttered, moving into his Office where, screens showed the current Situation of the Sovereign units on Eden and the Pride’s Fall.

These screens, they had their advantages, not only could he see their Situation, but if he focuses his mind on them, he could jump right into controlling them, instead of going through his plane, which saved him quite the hassle.

“ Hope ? “ Anthony called out, briefly looking at the Screen showing Eden, and how a pair walked past the Sovereign unit, looking at it and chatting quite lively, probably about what the lifelike Elven android may be used for.

“ Yes Anthony ? “ Hope responded.

“ The Sovereign unit, I think I have an Idea we can use. How about we design the crew, in a similar fashion ? The standard Sovereign, and the rest, white hair, eyes and robe. Craft the image of a new species of sorts. “ Anthony suggested.

“ The Skin crafting requires the Siren’s assistance, the scale your thinking of may be to much. “ Hope countered.

“ Then, Ruler, and Commander. Design them anyway, with some changes to appearance. We can still go with the setting on a smaller scale. One Sovereign per fleet, and the remaining captains with a commander variant. “ He suggested.

“ That would seem doable, but we need ships for that first. “ Hope reminded.

“ Yes, starting tomorrow. I am going to take care of it. See If you can squeeze in some advanced processing for the next Sovereign variant, and use the current model as basis for the Commander variant. “ He noted, thinking about the 02 wreck that was still reachable to him.

It made him wonder, how much of the ship had to remain for him to still be able to save it ? He never did have a representation of the 01 after all, and he did never ask about it. Well, something to think of if he visits Eden again through Sovereign.

“ Understood. And in that case, you may want to consider an IFF Change. We have been running standard IFF’s this entire time, if you pose as a new species, we may require another sign of uniqueness.” Hope offered.

“ True. “ Anthony agreed.

TMS and TCS were, Terran Military or Civilian ships. EDN, Eden defense navy, and Seltran used just SLT in their IFF.

“ You think we even need an IFF ? “ Anthony asked.

“ We do, if we do not want enemy ships to just turn theirs off and sneak into the midst of our fleet, it would be a surefire way to disrupt us if they went and send explosives disguised as ships. “ Hope suggested.

“ Point taken. Then, just SVR, for Sovereign, “ Anthony suggested.

“ Noted, shall I change the IFF for the Hope and the New Horizon.” She asked in return.

“ No, there is always a chance that someone might stumble across us, leave Hope as is, it would be bad if they tie us to Sovereign once we started moving, and your in stationary mode, we would be sitting ducks. “ Anthony instructed.

“ Understood. “ Hope responded.

“ How confident do you feel recreating the 02 and 01 ? “ He then asked.

“ I can build an estimate, but not the full ship, I would need to take the New Horizon apart to create a blueprint. “ Hope responded.

“ Hm, then, tomorrow, I will get the 02 here, I will repair her, and you take her apart. But when you create the blueprint, make a variant of her without the sleep pods, max Cargo-hold, basic AI core, and light defensive Armament. We will need her for the resource systems, I can’t help transfer Materials at the moment as I have not figured that out, and you need to retool the material anyway once we start building our own ships. “ Anthony explained.

He still had no idea how to transfer resources through his plane freely. It did on it’s own when he repaired or changed something. But Ludwig had reminded him of what he said in the past, that what goes from A to B, can go the other way too, meaning there must be a way to transfer it at will.

“ I am going to bother Ludwig for a moment, and See if we can get another Escort mission going, We can use the money, and maybe I am able to snatch a ship this time. “ Anthony uttered.

So far, he had only used his Visit to Rendar station to chat with Ludwig about his ability, and done a simple escort mission for Miners. But there was the rule that Mercenary groups could salvage the wrecks of their kills, as some ships could be repaired or recycled if not to heavily damaged.

Strengthening himself as a Mercenary on that side may not be a bad idea, it too was a way to get ships, and make some money, even if the latter was used only for mooring costs and exterior ship repairs, as he had no intention to openly show his ability to them.

“ Understood. “ Hope responded once more, and Anthony would then focus on the Sovereign on the Pride’s Fall.

Rendar System

Rendar Station, Pride’s Fall was currently moored to one of it’s many docking ports, thanks to Ludwig who knew some important people on this station. Having connections to him waved the docking fee’s for now, but in the long run Anthony would have to start paying for his own stay.

The station itself was a round structure with plenty of docking ports spread around it’s edges, and a domed central district where most administrative buildings where located. The entire station was about 2 kilometers across, more then enough space for the station to refine and use what little resources the system offered, while mostly serving as place to live for Mercenary outfits, pirates and anyone that would like to stay out of sight.

The outer districts, so Anthony recalled, was the place you’d go to shop for equipment, and close to his port was the Weapons shop that Ludwig was running, dabbling mostly in personal equipment like guns, rifles, armor, and some less then legal equipment.

It was one of the standard occurrences on this station, even if it was somewhat of a front for the Psykers Union in Ludwig’s case. A meeting point for their Psykers, while making a bit of money on the side for Ludwig.

“ Lad, what can I do ya for ? “ Ludwig greeted when Anthony entered this shady looking store of his, and he could see quite the assortment of new and used arms on display, with some models that seemed a bit outlandish to him.

“ Hi Ludwig. I was wondering if you could get me in contact with someone for another mission. “ Anthony asked outright, as Ludwig was someone who could do so.

There was an actual mission board of sorts in the Merc guild, but he was not getting access to anything but what Anthony considered milk runs, missions that often were no more then simple deliveries. And he was a little too impatient doing missions that barely got him the ships fuel for his troubles.

“ Ya, figured, ya haven't been doing a lot here lately, folks be lookin at ya with suspicion lately, Andrew. “ Ludwig suggested, using Anthony’s fake Identity to address him.

He was registered in the Terran commonwealth as Andrew White, a name Anthony came up with after recalling Jonathan’s companion, that white Medical android that Johnathan had called Andrew.

He was now known as some farmers boy that inherited the ship and some wealth through a friend, and was now supposedly trying his luck with a bunch of close knit friends as Mercenaries.

“ What do you mean ? “ Anthony asked.

“ Lad, ya be sittin on yer ass for month, ya haven’t been gettin any supplies, taken any mission, nor have ya been doing any work. People be startin ta get itchy fingers around ya, thinkin yer watching em, maybe tell on em ta da Commonwealth.

They not be givin ya any of da good stuff, not till they be seeing ya ta be one of em. “ Ludwig advised, and his way to speak, which Anthony now understood was considered common, reminded him that he needed a translator build into Sovereign. It was at times a headache to understand.

“ Yeah, busy. “ Anthony remarked, although thinking about it, he probably could have done a little more already. But he was still trying to learn flying the ship properly, and he’s been doing some flight training with the New Horizon and the Jump ship, and he still had ways to go.

“ Yeah yeah, so how it be lookin on yer side ? “ Ludwig asked.

“ Getting settled for now. Haven’t found anything I care to settle yet, but I got me some resource bases for now. Likely going to rebuild the two ships the Hope lost and prepare a supply-line. “ Anthony responded, not intending to share with Ludwig that he was about to start stealing Terran ship wrecks again.

“ Hm, why dontcha be using dat ? “ “ Ludwig suggested.

“ What do you mean ? “ Anthony asked a little confused.

“ Resources. Bring em in, sell em cheap. “ Ludwig offered.

“ Wont that look suspicious ? “ Anthony wondered.

“ Hell yeah, people be thinkin ya be milkin merchants. May get folks ta drool, wonderin if they could be gettin a cut, and they be gettin a bit of respect for ya. And yer helpin local folks too. “ Ludwig explained.

“ You mean like, acting a Pirate and bringing in stolen goods ? “ Anthony asked to make sure.

“ Sorta. Ya can still claim it be legal, but folks be thinkin a honest man a fool ta sell stuff cheap here, when ya be gettin a better cut everyplace else. Shows skill, may be lookin a bit off ta some of the Merchant folks here, but even pirates have Honor. If a pirate takes a Merc contract, they not be robbing their bread-giver. Dat be a fast way to loose mooring rights here. “ Ludwig elaborated.

“ Ah. I see what your getting at. Create the false image of a skilled pirate, which will make offers more lucrative, is what your saying, right ? “ Anthony tried to assure that he understood.

“ Yep, now yer gettin it. If ya can’t wait and want the juicy runs, ya gotta make it juicy for em ta hire ya. “ Ludwig agrees.

“ Then I need a transport ship, and probably more ships as escorts, if I start doing resource runs here, I don’t think Pirates will just be watching. Which means, I am back at the beginning. “ Anthony summarized for himself, unwilling to use the New Horizon vessel as it would eventually tie Sovereign to him, likely earlier then he’d like, but perhaps he could find a Transport ship in Logan.

“ Well, I can give ya a boost there. There be an old junker that been captured recently. It’s a scrapheap some folks been usin to lighten Merchant loads, but da former owner been outta luck. Got done in thinking he could stab folks in da back. Reactor be fried, and it be likely scrapped if no one will offer a better cut for it.

It aint worth crap, but with yer ability, it be a nice catch, just don’t go making it all shiny and new, dat be looking suspicious, just fix what get’s it flying for now, do a few runs, and then have folks fix it up for ya. Make it look like ya be making progress.

And if ya want pirates attention, get some rare minerals, that be quick ta get attention, an perhaps some bounty as well. “ Ludwig suggested.

“ How much do you think it would be sold for ? “ Anthony asked.

“ Hum, scrap value probably be a few hundred credits worth. Would need a working reactor, and it’s an old one, unlikely ya get one for that junker these days. A thousand perhaps, maybe two. “ Ludwig responded.

For a scrapheap that was far to high a price, if the recycling value was merely a few hundred Credits, which was what went for money these days. So it was obvious he’d be scammed by the current owner, and he only had 150 credits to his name as is. But, looking at Ludwig’s sleazy grin, Anthony figured that he already had a solution for that problem.

“ And how do you suppose I get the money for this junk then ? “ Anthony asked, taking the bait as it sounded like a good way to get a good start.

“ Oh, I can lend ya some. Make it look, legit. I buy it in yer name. People be thinking I be pullin one over ya. Then ya get ta pull yer miracle, bringing in goods, I get my 50% on the loan, and people be startin ta respect ya. “ Ludwig offers.

“ 50% huh ? “ Anthony asked, an eyebrow raised at Ludwig who now was showing a new side to him.

“ Gotta look legit, if I be starting givin handouts, people be thinkin I be workin with ya. “ Ludwig counters.

“ Ugh. Well, I guess. “ Anthony grunted, thinking it over for a moment, and honestly, if he brought in some resources to sell for cheap, he should still be able to get the money back in, even if the ships were shot down.

In fact, Pirates made sure to attack where no one looked, so, he could even use his ability then. He might loose the freight now and then, but he would get more ships, and that could get him better missions that would pay well. And Ludwig was not wrong, helping the local economy would get attention in both, good and bad ways.

The only problem remaining was how to get the resources onto the freighter. But perhaps he could get the help from Eden. He just needed the gate in Merag which connected them to the Terran Commonwealth. If it’s connected to his gates, then transportation becomes easy.

Using the Jump-ship may also be an option, but the chance of discovery may be to high.

“ I think we can do that, I’ll see if Eden can help with a transport route. “ Anthony relented.

“ Good, I get it for ya, come back in a day or two. And don’t be all jumpy about fixing da reactor right up. Make it look like yer crew is doing da fixin. Make people think yer doing some patchwork on da reactor. “ Ludwig uttered.

“ Got it. Two days then ? Got some work lined up on the Hope tomorrow anyway. “ Anthony suggests.

“ Yap, pleasure doing business with ya, Andrew. “ Ludwig spoke with a wide grin, reaching out to shake hands.

“ Your a piece of work. “ Anthony said with a chuckle, reaching out to accept the handshake.

“ Got ta act da part. “ Ludwig responded with open amusement.

“ Two days then, and Ludwig, thanks. “ Anthony uttered.

“ Don’t be gettin ya panties in a twist now lad, ya be helpin me too. Ya don’t get ta stay here unless ya got some dirt. Be lookin suspicious if yer da clean one. “ Ludwig remarked.

“ Well, then I look forward to do business with you in the future. “ Anthony remarked to Ludwig before he moved to leave.

This was as good a start as he probably would get, and if he dared bring in rare minerals, well, he might even make a decent cut and start buying ships. And while the Civilian combat vessels were not as efficient as the Military once, they sure did open additional path’s for him.