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Alex was once more seemingly floating in the nothingness. This time, however, he had something like an overlay provided by Natasha, showing him not only the location of the trove that the Russian had found, but also a rough, potential route to it.
He might have been at a loss as to what he should do, but his implanted training came to the fore, and he activated his seat and bracelets.
Magic moved through the levi-steel frame at his direction, shifting gravity’s effects and causing the ship to begin to fall in the direction he wished to go.
Humorously, they first moved at a sort of diagonal, almost seeming to be sliding rather than flying.
He finessed the control to change the rates of movement for various parts of the ship and it righted, reminiscent of when the wheels on a drifting vehicle finally caught the road, and when the nose was properly oriented, he added thrust from the main engines, causing them to shoot forward.
He got feedback from the ship, feeling almost like a pressure wave was moving through his own body as the load was redistributed through the various systems.
Internal magics kept those within from feeling the changes of direction. Though, he knew that could only do so much if he started whipping the ship about.
And that was all it took.
He would be manually controlling the ship for this first run to make his experience with this truly his own, but it was quite spectacular.
The first thing that stood out to him was that they were going ‘up,’ out of the plane of the star-system they were within, thus avoiding most of the potential obstacles and giving them a good ‘top-down’ view of the place.
It was a blue star with lots of debris of various kinds. Information provided by the ship said that this had been the location of a mining operation and shipyard, but another faction had come in and destroyed virtually all the infrastructure.
The setup was that they’d been here, fresh on their first mission, looking for potential survivors when the call came in to head for Dorgon.
It was a bit odd to Alex that a troop transport had been performing such a mission, but he supposed that if they’d found enemy ships or a new base, they’d have been able to wake the soldiers and use them to potentially strike back.
Regardless, this is what the Watchers had put in place and poking holes in it did no one any good.
They had no idea what the trove that Natasha detected could be, but in the given context, it might be some valuable materials, survivors, or potentially even components for their ship.
In any case, they didn’t expect any direct benefits to themselves. Nevertheless, it was a perfect opportunity for most of the crew to finish their updates to their systems—minor though they may be—and let Alex familiarize himself with his role.
It was odd. As he guided the ship—giving it a bit of sway back and forth while he continued to accelerate in an arc toward their destination—he felt… calm, at peace.
There was a simple joy to guiding the ship and looking out at the vastness that surrounded him.
He had half expected existential terror at seemingly being exposed in the vacuum, but instead, it just felt… nice.
The feedback from the ship fed through his skills so seamlessly that he genuinely felt like it was he that was flying, thrusters strapped to his feet.
He occasionally had to sway his trajectory either around or out of the way of minor debris that Natasha’s more ‘high level’ scans hadn’t picked up, but that was fine. His own spherical sense—amplified through the ship—was more than up to the task, even if it was still a very close view given how fast they were going.
Interestingly, his Advanced Kinesthetics skill was able to kick in a bit to help him skirt little issues and fall into a comfortable position for the journey.
All too soon, Alex was flipping around and applying thrust, slowing down far more quickly than he’d sped up, riding closer to the tolerance of what the ship could mitigate for those aboard.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a ‘yes/no’ affair, so if he did make a bit of an error, it wasn’t like he’d paste those within. Instead, they’d just feel a bit of pressure instead of seeming to be on solid, unmoving ground.
Even with that assurance, he didn’t lessen his efforts. His implanted training guided him in exactly how to do such maneuvers with aplomb.
Their destination was a large asteroid with clearly artificial structures threaded throughout.
As he brought the ship to a stop—not docking, he was no fool—Alex moved back into the bridge, finding the others waiting. “Alright, we’re good to go.”
Juba grinned. “I see structures. Can I sweep the place?”
Audry chuckled. “That’s a mining station down there. Let me go and strip the storage bays and connect to the database to see if there are any quick, rich veins we can harvest. There might even be a few spare mining and extraction drones we could add to our supply.”
Alex looked to the other Initiates, getting shrugs. Finally, he smiled. “Why not both?”
The others chuckled and agreed. “Both.”
“Both.”
“Yes, both.”
The two non-Initiate crew members nodded and vanished from the Bridge, clearly departing from their own duty stations to execute the will of the crew.
Alex then drew the attention of those remaining. “It will take about eight hours to spin up the jump. I’ll be able to maneuver a bit if needed during that time, but I won’t be able to effectively leave this system. Shall I start the process?”
John frowned. “Do we need to pick a destination?”
Alex shook his head. “Not until we’re ready to jump. We’ve got time.”
After John nodded, Pilar interjected. “Can we abort the charging process once we start?”
Alex waggled his hand. “Yes, but we’d still have to let the drive cool a bit before I could warp. Likely twenty minutes, give or take.”
With no further questions, they agreed that it was best to start the process. Kaylee said she’d investigate improving that system’s efficiency and shortening jump charge time as a high priority, and everyone was obviously grateful.
And… that was it. He didn’t have any task while various drones and the two non-Initiate crewmen went over to the asteroid from where Alex had parked the ship, barely fifty feet from the closest point of contact.
There was a dock available, but no one had questioned Alex’s choice to forgo docking until the place was swept by Juba.
So, he would be needed in an hour or so to perform the docking procedure, but until then, he was free.
He met the gaze of Bev across the bridge, and she smiled. “My medical bay is open. From your file, I assume you will want some… collaboration?”
Alex smiled. “I’ll be right there.”
He glanced around to his colleagues, and they all waved goodbye, so he disconnected.
There was a moment of disjointment as his mundane senses—as well as Spherical Sense—disconnected from the ship’s systems, and his primary perception took in the wonderfully blank room around him.
Huh… I wonder… And just wondering pulled up the training he’d ‘received’ on the subject.
This room was designed to make it easier for the ship’s magic to override his senses of all sorts. This was because it didn’t do so in a way that truly blinded him to his body’s actual location. If something entered the room while he was ‘plugged in,’ as it were, he would be able to see or sense it as normal.
The magics involved seemed to him an encyclopedia of instructions, all written so finely, that he could only pick up the most general portions of their purpose. Ha, I can only read the chapter labels.
That was as good a way of thinking of it as any, he supposed.
I really need to hone and practice my… well, I was thinking of my senses, but I really should say: my everything.
With a small smile at the wide road ahead, he stood and strode from the room.
It took him less than five minutes to get to the medical bay. This was partly because he ‘knew’ where it was, as well as his cuffs showing him the way, but mostly, it was because the ship really wasn’t that large overall.
Oh, it had a massive holding area in which the troops they were transporting were hibernating as well as where the ships for those troops were packed for transport, but the ‘active’ sections were minimal.
When he entered, he was reminded of sci-fi medical bays from across fiction as well as the shipboard infirmary that he’d had occasion to visit while on a family trip as a child.
It was compact and efficiently designed, though he could feel magics that would open up walls at need, likely to accommodate more patients in the event of a true emergency.
At the moment, however, it was a room that would be crowded with even four people within. With just Alex and Bev? It was comfortable.
He extended his hand to the woman, double checking that he was keeping power from his vocal cords. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Bev.”
The woman chuckled, taking his hand. “Not really a doctor, but the nomenclature works well enough. It’s good to see you more cogent this time around.”
He winced at that, but put away the wave of memory and emotion that tried to rise up within him. “Yeah… I appreciate your assistance, and it seems like I’ll have more to be grateful for as well.”
“Indeed. We can talk about your biological… issues. How they let you out of basic without a proper retrofit, I’ll never understand, but it seems that much of this crew is similarly afflicted…” She frowned before shaking her head and sighing. “But on the positive side, you’ve managed to acquire an Attribute, eh? And from the sounds of it, it's a rather useful one at that. Though, I haven’t heard of this one in particular…” She glanced down at her wrist where something Alex couldn’t see was clearly displayed. “Basic Skeletal Structural Remodeling, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded. “So, others can acquire Attributes after all?”
She shrugged. “I mean, yes. It is not uncommon. Though not everyone who gets one is so lucky in what they get, not by a long shot.”
He sat in an offered chair and inquired further. “How does it usually happen?”
The woman smiled. “Tea? Coffee?”
“Coffee, please.”
She nodded and pulled two cups from behind a small wall with seemingly no delay, offering him one. “It can happen in several ways. For those of the upper echelon, they are born with Attributes that only manifest under the proper circumstances. There is an argument whether they actually have the Attribute to begin with or just the potential, but the distinction is generally academic. Others have… encounters with magical creatures—usually unpleasant—and some sort of Life Force is exchanged. If they survive, they can occasionally manifest an Attribute. Finally, it is possible to purchase Attributes from System Stores, but this is… expensive is an understatement. It is to the point that even most planetary rulers prefer to choose a second parent for their children based on the potential for Attributes in their offspring rather than to pay for a sure thing.”
Alex nodded. “I see.”
She smiled. “I won’t ask how you got this Attribute—nor the others I saw hints of around the redaction—and I will tell you that no one will learn of them from me.”
“Thank you.”
“Now.” She took another sip of her coffee and straightened. “As you know…” She frowned. “Actually, given your biological… issues, it is possible that this portion of your training was skipped. I do suppose we have been in need of more hands, so the training might have been abbreviated…” Her frown deepened at how unlikely that was, but then her face blanked momentarily, and she shrugged before continuing. “In the Imperium, after the basic biological clean up, we offer skeletal modification—among others—as an incentive and reward to those who desire it for many things. It is also a great way to spend one’s pay, but in your case, you don’t actually need me to do such modifications.”
He shook his head unnecessarily as he took his own sip. The coffee was good. He lifted the cup slightly. “Thank you again for this.”
“Of course.” She smiled. “Now, the information on what various packages offer is not a secret, and in this case, that is to your advantage. I could give you that data package and send you on your way, or I could offer a trade within the structure of the Imperium.”
Alex nodded slowly. “So, I could get a list of known beneficial modifications and attempt to make them on my own simply by asking.”
“That is correct.”
“Or…?”
Bev nodded. “Or, you can volunteer to fly a dropship in the initial landing on Dorgon and to then be an officer in the initial ground assault.”
Alex opened his mouth in confusion, but that triggered his memory of his specific orders. Once they arrived at Dorgon, he could remain in orbit, piloting various ships in the defense of the planet from above.
This offer would get him closer to the action, but also take him out of a theater of combat that included ship busting weaponry.
With that in mind, he was inclined to agree. He wasn’t going to jump in without learning more, but he decided to be a bit playful about it. “Where do I sign, and when can we start?”