Looking at the Princess who was obviously unhappy with what
she’d heard, I looked around, and said, “Wait until we’re alone.” She blinked,
and then nodded, understanding that spilling details of a private conversation
with her sister would be bad for the whole flying under the radar thing.
That said, we were in the shady entertainment and people
trafficking section of the station right now. There were a couple bars, sure,
but they weren’t that busy at the moment, and none of them had private rooms.
On the other hand, there was a slave market just around the corner. In the
hustle and bustle of the market, we’d be able to have a discrete conversation.
So, slaves were legal in the Empire, but as we walked
through the market, it surprised me on the number of ways slaves could be
‘controlled’. There were four basic types of slave controls:
Tracker Collar: The most basic controller, the Tracker
collar identified a wearer as property of their owner. It had a constant GPS
signal tracking their position. Trying to disable or remove the collar without
the proper codes resulted in an immediate alert going out to the local
authorities.
Defiance Collar: Used on ‘less than willing’ slaves who
still have some fight in them, the Defiance collar allowed the owner to
administer strong electrical shocks to the wearer, from just painful to being
enough to immobilize them. Like the Tracker, it had a beacon relaying the
slave’s position at all times. Trying to remove a defiance collar without
authorization resulted in the collar discharging all its power at once, likely
killing the slave, and their would-be rescuer.
Cranial Implant: This nasty piece of work was primarily used
for ‘pretty’ slaves, the ones used as sex toys or in the entertainment
industry. Placed inside the skull, the implant allowed the owner to inflict
pain directly upon the victim’s nervous system when they misbehaved. It also
had a function where it could be detonated remotely, with predictable results
for the unfortunate slave. The use of cranial implants was supposedly heavily
regulated, ever since a high-ranking noble had gone for a medical procedure,
and found the doctor had added a ‘gift’ at the request of the noble’s wife
(something about her finding video of the nobleman with his mistress).
Stepford: This was
the worst of the lot, in my opinion. The Stepford
looked and acted like one of the other types, but it had hidden circuitry in it
that basically engaged in brainwashing the victim to become the perfect slave,
as defined by the owner. Obedience conditioning and personality modifications
were common, but not nearly as bad as the option to lock a person’s original
personality away, forcing them to be a prisoner in their own body as the
collar’s personality acted for them. Worse, this collar used the wearer’s own
Psy to power it, reducing their PP regeneration by 1 while it was worn.
As we stepped into the slave market, we were handed a
brochure. There was an auction going on tonight, it seemed, and we still had a
couple hours to review the ‘merchandise’ before the auction began. Making our
way towards the auction floor, which was only sparsely occupied at the moment,
we found a couple seats, and then I nodded to Sheila. “What’s wrong?”
She sighed, and said, “My brother has been planning his
attack for a long time, it seems. He’s got the support of some of the nobles
and business leaders, as well as the higher-ups in the military. He wants to
restart the wars, and bring everything into the Empire. My father and older
brother both were against that, which is why we’ve had peace these last few
years.”
“So it isn’t going to be a cut and dry succession. How many
of the higher ups are for your brother?”
“Only a few, but that would be enough to split the fleet if
they moved openly.”
“And I assume your sister is working to shore up her
position?”
“Yes, Merida currently has support amongst the Imperial
Senate, and the loyalist members of the military support her. But they are not
the ones in overall command of the fleets.”
“Because the higherups like the idea of war. Let me guess,
they probably have ties with the people who make the weapons, right?”
The Princess sighed again, and nodded. “Yes, that is about
the shape of it. It looks like there will be a civil war, after all.”
I nodded. That was what I had expected, more or less. The
people behind the coup would be killed if they gave up, and the Second
Princess, at least, would be ‘silenced’ if she lost, to keep her from
instigating rebellion. Those two were locked in. The question, of course, was
what to do with my Princess.
Looking over to her, I said, “So, they’re going to be busy
making moves. What will you be doing, in the meantime?”
“At this point, my voice doesn’t count for much here in Sol
System. The ones who would listen are already behind my sister. If I could get
to one of the other fleets, convince the one in charge to come aid my sister,
that would go a long way towards cutting the losses. It saddens me, but for
this to end, my brother must die, and the rogue Admirals and Nobles put in
their place.”
I nodded. She had a good head on her shoulders, at least.
“So you’re going to need someone to get you to a fleet base, without getting
caught by your brother’s supporters?”
“Yeah. Could I hire you for the job?”
I considered that for a moment. I’d be sticking my neck out,
sure, but the Princess wasn’t that bad, as royals went. Certainly not a diva
like some people. “Sure, we can work something out. But I’ll need a full crew
before we leave the system. By the time we leave the station, we’re going to
need those guns manned, I think.”
Two things cut off the conversation there. First, I got a
message on my bracer. One of the people I’d been chatting with on the Sol
System player chat had sent me a message, saying that they were currently on
Choson Ring, and asking if I was still looking for crew. I sent them a reply to
meet me later on, at the bar ‘Dent’ had recommended. I was going to be going
there to look for crew and check for jobs, anyways.
Second, more people started coming into the hall. The
auction was about to start. Not long after the crowd started gathering, the
auctioneer entered. The market knew their audience, and it showed in their
choice of auctioneer. She was a pretty human, with long raven hair and curves
to die for. She was also dressed in a skinsuit that straddled the line between
functional and existing to show off her body.
I ignored the greetings and such to take a look through the
brochure I was given. While I probably wouldn’t be buying anyone, after sitting
here for so long, we needed to put in some bids or it would draw attention.
Most of the slaves, naturally, were pleasure slaves or the like. But I did see
some interesting ones in the mix.
Auction Roster
|
|
Lot Number
|
Description
|
16
|
Human Male, Level 36. Skilled combatant
with melee and ranged weapons.
Reason for Enslavement: Judicial
Penalty (Homicide)
|
25
|
Human Female, Level 20. Skilled mental
Psy user. Stepford collar equipped.
Reason for Enslavement: Debt
|
45
|
Ihm Male, Level 45. Extremely effective
combat slave. Gladiator training.
Reason for Sale: Owner’s Death
|
58
|
Vrok Male, Level 30. Starship Pilot.
Reason for Enslavement: Alien in
Imperial Space
|
121
|
Knelfi Female, Level 10. Starship
Mechanic. Stepford implant equipped.
Reason for Enslavement: Alien in
Imperial Space
|
130
|
Human Female, Level 80. Pleasure slave
with medic training.
Reason for Sale: Owner’s Death
|
150
|
Human Male, Level 20. Nomad with combat
training.
Reason for Enslavement: Judicial
Penalty (Homicide)
|
187
|
Human Male, Level 10. Pleasure Slave,
surgical doppleganger for Prince Travis. Stepford implant equipped.
Reason for Enslavement: Debt
|
200
|
Human Female, Level 5. Nomad with
pleasure slave and bodyguard training. Stepford defiance collar equipped.
Reason for Enslavement: Contractual
Obligation.
|
Hmm. I knew that the Terran Empire was racist, but I didn’t
know that any aliens coming into the area were subject to enslavement. I could
see the Nomad population getting bent out of shape the first time a player with
a different race tried to take a quest into the Empire’s space.
Another interesting point I noticed was that once you were a
slave, you were always a slave, unless freed by your current master. If the
master died, and you weren’t freed in their will, you’d be taken by the estate
and sold at an auction like this one. Presumably, it was set up like that to
keep the slaves from getting ideas about killing their owners, but who knows?
At any rate, I saw a couple people on that list that could
be good additions to my crew, if I could get them for a decent price. I was
surprised that a couple of Nomads had made it onto the docket, but then,
reading between the lines, it was clear that one had killed someone and gotten
caught. The other, well, she probably signed some contract without reading the
specifics, or in some other way got suckered into signing her freedom away.
Probably failed one of the high-difficulty starts. Sucked to be her.
I figured if I could score one to three crew members, then
even if the ‘HaveGunsWillTravel’ poster from the System Chat didn’t turn out to
be the right fit, I’d be able to handle more substantial runs than I could now.
I just hoped the crew didn’t set us back too much.
As I was considering things, I was half-paying attention to
the auctions going on. Prices for the slaves changed a lot depending on their
qualifications and attributes. Naturally, female pleasure slaves tended to be
higher-priced, but there was one combat slave that went for 100K credits!
Apparently he was a famous arena gladiator whose owner had died.
The aliens tended to be less expensive, probably due to the
locals being racist pricks, unless they were pleasure slaves. That was lucky
for me, since when Lot 121 came up, no one really cared for the Knelfi
mechanic. Knelfi were apparently this game’s version of ‘space elves’, and the
girl was pretty, in a ‘girl next door’ kind of way, but not the kind of beauty
you find in pleasure slaves. Ended up getting her for only 1500 credits, which
was well worth it in my opinion.
Now things were getting more interesting. On Lot 130, there
was a bit of a bidding war going, but I ended up winning the fight for a
substantial sum of 32000 credits. OK, so the bidding would probably have gone
on longer if I hadn’t cheated by using an Influence to stop the rivals from
bidding again, convincing them that the combat-trained Nomad would be a better
use of credits, since he would come back after death.
My final purchase for the auction was something of a whim.
Fortunately, most of the big spenders had gotten burned out a few lots earlier,
when the Prince doppleganger showed up, so when Lot 200 rolled around, there
were only two or three people still bidding. It was towards the end of the docket,
and a lot of people had spent most of their budget. I managed to win the lot
for an impressive 130400 credits.
Your actions have earned you a title!
Slaver
You have purchased two or more slaves
within a four hour period. You receive a 10% discount on slaves bought
outside of auctions, and on slave collars and implants. +100 Fame.
Controller
You own one or more slaves with the
Stepford-style collar or implant. Your standing amongst slave owners is
increased. Your standing amongst those against slavery decreases. +400 Fame
amongst pro-slavery individuals. -400 Fame amongst anti-slavery individuals.
Restrictor
You have purchased a fellow player as a
slave! You are certainly someone to watch out for, as even your own kind
aren’t safe from you. +10% to Intimidation and fear effects vs. Nomads, +10%
to resist Intimidation and fear effects from Nomads. +1000 Fame.
Negotiation increased to 7/100!
+1 CHA
Etiquette increased to 7/100!
+1 CHA
Your actions have resulted in you
gaining the following Perk:
Subtle Mind
You constantly try to disguise your Psy
usage. Potential observers -50% to discover source of your Psy usage.
|
I could only grin at the blue box as I went to collect my
‘winnings’.
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