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
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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.
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Difficulty
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D
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Task
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Deliver stress relief supplies to
Lieutenant Black.
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Payment
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10000 Credits
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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.
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Difficulty
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F
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Task
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Deliver six cases of Neptunian Ale to
the Officer’s Club at Fleet Base Bagthara.
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Payment
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20000 Credits
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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.
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Difficulty
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C
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Task
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Deliver the crate of ‘luxury
pharmaceuticals’ to the Admiral.
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Payment
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60000 Credits
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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.”
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