Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Location: Solar System; Above Venus; Valterion Shipyard

After going through a quick version of my story, we decide to take things slow for the rest of the day and remain within the conference room to just talk. I spend a few minutes with everyone, even the Peacekeepers, who I don't really know.

Later, at about dinner time, Lucy suddenly has a pot floating before her and starts to cook something. I don't even know where she's got this from… Anyway, one of the Peacekeepers, an A&D Mage, stands next to her and provides a Fire spell that heats the pot while Lucy is cooking.

In the end, we are served a nice soup made out of potatoes and vegetables. The meal is rounded off with some bread to dip in. It's nothing special, but Lucy still manages to make it taste amazing.

Then I teleport Lisa and Vic back to their ship for the night before returning to the shipyard. Everyone else wants to stay where they are and camp inside the shipyard, myself included.

Not that I get much sleep, as we all continue to talk through most of the night. The good thing is that as soon as a bit of alcohol starts flowing, everyone becomes more comfortable with the fact that I'm part of one of the Big Five families. I hope this continues when they are sober again.

When I finally lie down on my sleeping mat, it's way past midnight, and so I quickly fall asleep. Breakfast the next morning isn't nearly as nice as last night's dinner, as Lucy is still fast asleep and no one seems to be able to wake her. That's why we have a simple toast with jam and honey. At least our A&D Mage can make the slices golden brown…

Now, about an hour later, Lucy is finally awake, and our big group gathers around the conference table to discuss our further course of action. My first item on the agenda is something I don't really care about that much, but I still mention it as it might make things a bit easier for Grandpa John in the future.

"So, I probably should have said that yesterday, but I forgot it in all the excitement. I'd like to ask you to keep my identity secret until the end of the Earth Adventure. That said, I won't go back in disguise, so the secret will be out sooner or later. But without anyone confirming things, not that many will believe the news. What I mean to say is don't go out there, screaming about a new Valterion and stuff."

That earns me a few chuckles but also a lot of nods. I'm not worried about my close friends spilling the beans. The Peacekeepers, on the other hand, are a big unknown, but a glare from Shay seems to stop any ideas. And well, if it happens, it happens. The nervous look on Tim's face tells a different story, and I glare at him.

"I just told my parents, I promise," he says in an apologetic tone.

I let out a short laugh and wink at him. "It's okay, Tim. I'll have Grandma Amelia send them a message."

It takes a second, then his eyes widen, and cold sweat starts forming on his forehead. "I… Uh, I tell them myself." Seconds later, I feel Utility magic being used next to me, and Tim's gaze turns distant. "Done! Also, now I know how your fake identity was so good," he manages a weak laugh in the end.

I turn back to address everyone. "Now with that out of the way, we should discuss how we want to proceed here at the shipyard. According to the rules, Maja wasn't defeated during combat, and so she rightfully won access to the shipyard back for us. That means Prince Kai has no legal claim to the place right now, and we should have a few days to explore in peace."

I look at Dave specifically. "Where do you want to go?"

He discusses a bit with his friends before answering. "If that's okay with you, we'd like to continue right here in the command center… I mean, we've already started, so it would make the most sense for us."

"That's perfect!" I flash him a broad grin. "We'll be looking at the actual shipbuilding area then."

The six of us – my original group – leave the others behind to do their thing in the command center. We count on them to inform us if they find anything that could be relevant for our trip to the actual shipbuilding area. They happily agree, and while we walk down another hallway toward our destination, Dave's first Communication spell comes knocking. I accept and hear his voice in my mind.

"Just to let you know… We managed to boot up one of the consoles. It's actually in pretty good condition, and we've found a station status window. The good news is that your way over should be clear. The status says all doors are open or at least not locked down. I think you identifying yourself deactivated a lockdown setting or something. Toby is trying to dig deeper at the moment. We'll keep you posted. Now the bad news… We've only got information on the administrative areas of the shipyard. The actual shipbuilding parts are like a black hole. I think it's on a different power grid and therefore still offline. We've only activated an auxiliary power plant after all."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Thanks, Dave! That's amazing news. Don't worry too much about digging into the deeper layers of the system. We can have Clara take a look later on. And thanks for the heads up on the power. We'll try to find a power plant too, then."

After saying goodbye, Dave disconnects the call, and I relay the information to my team. It doesn't change much for now, but we speed up a little while walking toward the shipbuilding area.

The hallway ends in another one of those giant tunnels that seem to lead from outer space to the heart of the shipyard. Counting on that currently unproven theory, we turn right and now follow that tunnel. Again, calling this a tunnel feels like it doesn't do it justice. I mean, it could easily fit the Stargazer with space to spare. Maybe even a small freighter with a longitudinal container configuration.

Anyway, after a while, the tunnel seems to come to an end, and we start to become more careful again. Lucy casts an additional Shield spell around us and slows down a little. She comes to a full stop when the tunnel ends and widens up into what I identify as something akin to a dry dock without the dry part, as we're in Space.

"Guess we found it," Lydia says in budding excitement.

"True," Nick agrees.

"Yes, but it's a small one," I add, because there's no way a ship like Conor's Saoirse would fit in here. The Stargazer, though? Yeah, I can imagine it being built at this place. "Let's take a close look at the place anyway. We can search for the big one later on. Here should be plenty of things to discover already. But first, let's see if we can find a power plant."

We stay together as we don't know if there are additional security measures in here, and slowly enter the shipbuilding space. I cast a few additional Light spells to fully illuminate the room, and we all stop and stare. There's a skeleton of an unfinished starship right in the middle!

Wow!

"That's unexpected," Nick says and takes a step closer, but Lucy stops him.

"Wait, don't leave my Shield."

"Right…" He gets back into formation, and we ignore the starship in construction for now. Instead, we walk alongside the length of the hull and slowly approach the bow of the ship.

On our left side are lots of small rooms, all closed off with rolling gates. They go from the ground all the way up to the roof, and on a few gates are labels left. One says "rivets," another "spacers," and so on. It's storage space for everything you might need to build a starship. I can imagine an army of small drones floating around and accessing those storage spaces to get the things the workers would need. Huh, maybe it was even fully automated.

Now that I think of it, that makes even more sense. Especially now that we've arrived at the bow of the ship. Because a bit further ahead and about two stories up, there's another big pane of glass overlooking the whole area. This suspiciously looks like another command room, and we unanimously decide to check it out first.

As we approach the entrance door below the big glass panel, I catch something in the corner of my eye. There's a door at the far right corner with a yellow, triangular sign right in the middle. The sign features a black lightning bolt. That's a warning sign for electricity!

"Wait!" I call out and point at the door. Let's check that out first."

"Ah, brilliant," Nick says, and we quickly approach the closed door, just to be disappointed by what we find inside. The reactor is beyond saving… Not only have all the cables leading away from it degraded, but the reactor itself is nothing more than a heap of debris. "Damn," Nick mutters and kicks a piece of rubble.

"Do we have a spare reactor?" Lucy asks jokingly, which causes everyone but me to laugh.

I frown. Well, we do have a spare reactor… It's something Dad gave me just before Vic and I left for the Legredo System, saying, "just in case you need one." Now we need one, but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle to hook it up right here. "Let's take a look at the control room before we decide whether we need the reactor or not," I say in a deadpan voice.

Tim spins around to look at me. "Wait, we do have one?"

Lucy laughs even harder. "Of course we have one… It's Sara we're talking about."

"Yeah… Right," Tim replies and turns around. "Well then, let's check out the command room. Maybe we can activate a few things with a battery."

This time, the path into the command room is simple. Lucy leads us through the door below it and past a broken-down elevator. When we don't find any stairs, we return to the elevator, and Tim makes short work of the remains of the cabin. With that out of the way, I cast my trademark Telekinetic Bench in an XXL format for us to step on. To hide my true capabilities in Utility magic, I ask Tim for assistance, and together we float ourselves upward.

When we arrive on top, Lucy uses a Strength spell and then proceeds to pry the doors apart. Then she casually steps off the invisible platform and enters the command room. We follow her, and I take a glimpse out of the big window before us. The halfway-finished starship looks even more impressive from up here.

I avert my gaze and look at the room itself. I should have expected it, but I'm still a bit surprised by how familiar the layout feels. Again, it's just like the Stargazer's bridge. I stride purposefully toward the captain's chair – or probably commander's chair in this case – and sit down. Before me is a rounded console with three big screens.

"Can one of you hook up our battery, please? I think here's a good place to start."

Alina nods and starts unscrewing a panel at the side of the console. Then she checks out various cables while mumbling under her breath until she pumps her fist in triumph and proceeds to connect the battery. I wait in silent anticipation and pray for the screens to display something.

There, a short flicker!

I lean forward and focus on the rightmost screen, where I just saw the flicker. A second one follows, this time on the screen in the middle. It takes an agonizingly long minute until a third flicker goes through both screens. Then they briefly shine bright white before displaying the VHI logo.

I frown at the number of dead pixels I noticed when they turned completely white for a moment, but at least the VHI logo is legible. I guess we'll see once it's done booting up. The screen on the left, though, seems to be completely dead.

It takes five minutes to finish booting, and a status report appears on the right screen while a menu is on the one in the middle. I stand up and look at my friends. "Alright, let's see what we can dig up here!"