Into the Black

There are two schools of thought when trying to sneak into a naval base in a ship that just recently went and blew up a Navy ship. The first, of course, is to go the stealth route, and sneak in without anyone noticing you were there. That has the obvious drawback that the moment anyone realizes you’re there, they start getting real antsy about your presence, and their questions typically involve a lot of weapons pointed your way in case they don’t like your answers. Since we were trying to dock and do business, instead of doing a full assault, that was a difficult hurdle to cross.

The second option is to hide in plain sight. We had already spoofed the name of the ship, and after I’d separated from the Princess, I’d assumed one of my other forms.

Okuda Riku

Human Female

Level 18

Titles: Hotshot, Captain, Slaver

That was the identity I’d picked for this run. My thoughts were simple enough. Pretend to be a legit freighter, with a wholly different captain. No one would think that a white male could become an Asian female, right? Fortunately, my clothes resized for me. Had to admit, the bodysuit looked even better on me as a female than it did when I was a guy.

The Princess and the crew hadn’t seen my ‘illusion power’, and I’d made sure to change in my cabin, so there was no worry about spilling the beans on the truth. Not right now, anyways. Fortunately, while the bounty on the ship had been transmitted, the full logs had not made it yet, as those would be sent by courier, for security reasons, which meant first they had to retrieve the datacore from the Nightingale, if that was even possible after such an explosion.

The Fleet Base was a space station, located protectively near the Gateway. It bristled with all kinds of weapons, in part because the gate was a natural way to send surprise attacks into the heart of Imperial space (though the mass restrictions would keep too many ships from going through at once), but primarily to safeguard the Gateway itself. As an example of Lost Tech, the Gateway was, literally, irreplaceable. Hell, people didn’t even know if it could be fixed if anything happened to it. Sure, the massive structure was made of an alloy or material we couldn’t begin to understand, and seemed to be impervious to all assaults, but that didn’t mean the military cared to let people try until they found something that worked.

From the infodump my knowledge skills had given me, I knew that Gateways were one of the four means of FTL travel currently in use. There was some variation, but everyone in known space used one of four systems: Hyperdrives, Transition Drives, Gateways, and Anchor Drives. Hyperdrives were the most common, naturally.

There were sixteen gateways in Known Space, and thankfully it didn’t take any special tech to use them. You simply flew to the huge ring, sent a signal with the right coordinates for another ring, and it opened up a portal between the two rings that you could fly a superdreadnaught through. Instant transit, but only between Gateways. Useful if you were traveling between Alpha Centauri and the Giedi System, but going from Alpha Centauri to Sol? No luck.

Still, that meant a LOT of trade came through here, and while most of it was centered on the commercial platforms, enough supply ships came to the Fleet Base that they had a few dedicated slips for civilian transports, well away from any classified or dangerous materials. The Azaroth’s Call (otherwise known as Starlight Raven), landed at one of the civilian berths with no trouble. Especially when I mentioned that one of the packages we were delivering was for the Admiral.

When we landed, I decided that it would be a bad idea to hang out around here too long. Plus, wandering around in a large group would draw all kinds of the wrong attention to us. So we (and by that I mean ‘I’) decided to split up. Cali would deliver the ‘intellectual property’ that was clearly NOT a shipment of porn to the Lieutenant that ordered it. Jaynie got to deliver the booze to the Officer’s Club for the wedding. Carissa ventured to the local spacer bar (the appropriately named ‘Shore Leave Pub’) to get some more deliveries, especially anything to the planet below. Shearah would stay on the ship, and continue her tune up on the engines. And I would take the Princess to see the Admiral, under the guise of delivering his ‘medicine’.

Intellectual Property Shipment

The Drachen Group needs a shipment of ‘intellectual property’ designed for stress relief, including reading material, vids, and sims, to be delivered to Lieutenant Maxwell Black at Fleet Base Bagthara for redistribution. While not illegal, the material is considered contraband aboard military vessels and in the Mormon Colonies.

Difficulty

D

Task

Deliver stress relief supplies to Lieutenant Black.

Payment

10000 Credits

Neptunian Ale Shipment

The Officer’s Club at Fleet Base Bagthara is planning a wedding celebration for Captain Markham of the Endurance. Captain Markham, a native of Triton, requested Neptunian Ale as part of the celebration, but there are no local suppliers in Alpha Centauri.

Difficulty

F

Task

Deliver six cases of Neptunian Ale to the Officer’s Club at Fleet Base Bagthara.

Payment

20000 Credits

An Admiral’s Favor

Admiral Nimitz of the Second Fleet has a taste for certain rare delicacies from Mars. These delicacies are not easily obtained through official channels. The Black Sun Pharmaceuticals Group would like you to take a shipment of these delicacies to the Admiral.

Difficulty

C

Task

Deliver the crate of ‘luxury pharmaceuticals’ to the Admiral.

Payment

60000 Credits

Of course, random traders from a seedy station don’t just get to walk into the Admiral’s office. We were patted down (one of the guards was rather thorough with me), but since we’d left the obvious armor and weapons in our bracers, that wasn’t a problem. Unfortunately for us, the dimension lock field that was put up inside the military half of the station made it so that we couldn’t get anything out from the dimensional storage in the bracers. That would be a problem if things turned ugly.

Walking through the corridors with Sheila and our guide, a fresh-faced lieutenant that couldn’t have been too long out of the Academy, I put a bit of extra sway in my hips, emphasizing this form’s lithe curves. Combined with the Asian look, I could tell that the lieutenant was a little uncomfortable, under his black uniform outfit. I was, after all, just wearing the skinsuit, having decided to leave the coat and vest in my bracers for the time being.

That was on purpose, of course. It distracted the ‘escort’ from looking too closely at the Princess’s face, and SHE was still wearing her coat and had her hair hanging down in a way that hid her cheekbones and neck. Yes, not exactly the most complicated disguise, but we didn’t need to go full Mission: Impossible for this. We just had to get the Princess in to see the Admiral without half the base recognizing her. ‘Not royalty’ clothes, a subtle disguise on the face, and something else to draw their attention, and most people would just remember two hot chicks, and that the Asian one had a nice ass.

Like I said, getting into the Admiral’s office wasn’t exactly a simple process. He was an important man, and quite busy with the business of running a fleet base. But the manifest for the personal delivery of his ‘luxury pharmaceuticals’ allowed us to get into the office. That, and a bit of subtle Charm on my part. Convincing the officer that it would be best to let us conduct the business with the Admiral discretely was enough that his rather suggestible state convinced him that it was a proper request.

Chester Nimitz

Human Male

Level 200

Titles: Admiral, Strategist, Blooded, Survivor, Slaver

The Admiral himself was a powerfully built man, almost comically so. It was a sure sign that he went overboard with genetic modifications, turning himself into a picture of masculine overcompensation, with muscles on his muscles, and so on. His office was in a similar vein, full of gaudy objects that spoke to the power and influence he wielded as commander of this base, reminding everyone of his importance. I was amused to see a sign on his desk that read, Hindsight is notably cleverer than foresight. Nice touch, that.

Stepping to the front, I smiled at the Admiral, who was looking the two of us over in a way that I was none too happy with, but that wasn’t my business. Holding the package in one hand, I offered him my datapad to get him to sign off on the delivery. The Admiral gave the manifest a once-over, ensured that the package had not been opened, and signed off on it, allowing the credits to flow into our accounts. He never noticed as I slipped a sliver of Mindread into him.

As ready as I could be, I nodded to the Princess, who signed off on her own job, transferring credits for her job as being complete. Stepping to the front, she pulled her hair back, revealing her face. “Hello, Admiral.” I didn’t need to be mindreading him to see that the Admiral recognized her immediately.

Reading the man’s mind was interesting. The Admiral may have had a few morally questionable vices, and certainly a rather large amount of ambition, but he was loyal to the Empire, and to the previous Emperor. The prospect of riding into Earth space at the head of a loyalist fleet to defeat the usurper definitely tickled his fancy. He could use the prestige that would offer him to become the head of the Navy. Maybe even get a political marriage between himself and Sheila. It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought of possessing the Princess before…

With difficulty, he brought his thoughts together, and said, “Ah, Princess! I am so sorry for your loss. We heard about the attack on the palace through the milnet, but they have a block on all communications in and out of Sol now, for ‘security concerns’. What independent news we’ve been able to get has mostly come from traders. What is the situation?”

“Not good, Chesty. That little shit, Travis, went and teamed up with some of the nobles and admirals. They killed everyone except Merida and myself, and even then, it was only because we had help escaping.”

The Admiral frowned, and the only reason I had any warning about what was going to happen was because I was already in his head. Orders had come ahead of us over the milnet. The Prince had the ‘loyal’ Navy attack the Senate. Other Navy officers had intervened, and the First Fleet divided in two. Princess Merida, the surviving Senators, and others had managed to escape aboard the ‘rebel’ fleet, likely attempting to create a government in exile. Prince Travis was now the Emperor, and the Admiral was loyal to the Empire.

As the admiral reached to hit a button on his desk, I hit him with a Charm Person, and said, “Stop right there, Admiral. Be a dear and sit down and ignore everything in the room until I call for you.” My tone was polite, but forceful. The Admiral did as he was told, and I released the Mindread before it drained too much of my PP.

Before the Princess began to complain, I said, simply, “Your brother attacked the Senate. First Fleet is broken, half fleeing with the Princess and whatever remains of the Senate, and half following the new Emperor. Your ‘friend’ is loyal to the Empire, not you. The only way you’d convince him to ignore his orders to eliminate you would be to take him as your husband, seems he’s wanted to ‘possess’ you for quite some time.”

The Princess turned a look of revulsion to the Admiral. He was a good thirty years older than her, and the news that he wanted to ‘possess’ her was decidedly unwelcome. “Well, shit.”

I nodded to her. “Now, what we do next depends on you. You’ve got a decision to make, Princess.”