Chapter 2

‘Damn, this is going to take some getting used to,’ I thought.

She grinned, and then my mind was filled with the mental image of us in a zero ‘g’ suite of rooms.

I was shown to a monitoring room and left to use the AI computer system. My task was simple. Pick my new ship and outfit it as I wished. I had a base allowance for this new craft, which the Federation provided as a grant. I was, of course, free to spend as much of my own money as I wanted.

I reviewed the available ship types.

1) Standard Free Trade Vessel, Mk IV.

This was the standard workhorse of galactic trade. The ship evolved from the best of the prior trading ship models to dominate the marketplace. It was such a hit that little development of new models was even attempted. It was the ship I now owned. Its advantage was that I would look like any other free trader and could ambush enemies. Its only drawback was the availability of armament and shields.

It could house four Mk VII torpedoes and had four mount points for lasers. These were located forward, aft, and on both sides. They could support up to ‘type six’ lasers. The shield mountings would allow up to level seven shields, and with expensive modifications, you could get a level eight mounted in the reserved bay. The ship could be a good choice, as it was new, unlike my current boat. Also, it had all the upgrades and improvements currently available.

2) Viper, Mk II.

It was a standard ‘police-style’ vessel. It was cone-shaped and heavily armed with twin forward-mounted level nine lasers. It had its torpedo payload that was envied. It packed a whopping twelve Mk VIIs. If its design had one drawback (other than it would stand out like a sore thumb), it would be that the shielding was only level seven. The ship’s shape and engine placement prevented the craft from mounting anything more significant. There was no way I would even consider it, despite the firepower this baby could carry inside its plastic steel hull.

3) Warrant Officer’s Special, or WOS for short.

It was so big that it, too, ‘stood out like a sore thumb.’ However, it had the ‘armament advantage’ unavailable on other ships. It had level ten military lasers and level ten shielding. There were eight torpedo mounts, and it had unbelievable speed capabilities with a modified jump/warp drive engine. It was the fastest ship in the eight galaxies. The essential cargo capacity was two and a half times that of any other boat. It would be a significant ship for standard trading or salvage after one blows apart an opponent. How many cargo containers survive a ship being destroyed around them is fantastic. If I were going to war, this is the ship I would want to be flying in. The only drawback was that any pirates I would run into out there would flee at the first sight of this ship. There is a trade-off for everything.

4) Standard Free Trade Vessel, Mk V

I am in love with this baby. The elite rank of pilots favors it. It is bigger, faster, and meaner than the Mk IV. It has twice the cargo capacity and an entire military ‘montage bay’ for weapons with eight torpedo mounts. The only ship faster was a WOS. But this ship looks like a Mk IV. It’s perfect for me. It also had room for a crew of up to six persons. The only limiting factor was that I needed to find a way to max out the weapon and shield bays. Still, it would be far superior to my old Mk IV.

I placed an order for the hull on the spot and sold my current ship in trade.

Okay. At this time, all I owned was an Mk V hull. I broke even between the trade-in for my Mk IV and the grant I was given. Still, though, it needed to be outfitted. The engine was standard since it had already been built into the hull. However, the AI system could make all the difference, so I reviewed the available options.

Computer AIs:

The standard AI used by most free traders out there was better than the one I’d had in my old Mk IV. Not by much, however. Then, there was the Enhanced AI system. It was simply better than the standard. I always needed to understand all that talk about internal relay buses and phased couplings. It must have made a difference because the system could support multiple AI personality crystals. The Military Grade AI system would have an advantage in combat ... well, that was its primary function. Military-grade AIs scared me, however. I had heard stories where the ship and the AI had survived and won the battle, even if, while doing so, the owner of the ship died in the process. My last choice was the Elite Grade AI. It was a hybrid cross between the Military and Enhanced civilian model. There was no question in my mind that I wanted the best. So I paid the seven Million Galactic Credits for the Elite model and received a ‘free personality crystal credit.’

I would pick one out later, as there were so many options. How does one describe the choices? Let’s see ... imagine a thousand naked women are standing before you, and you can only choose one of them. That is what it’s like to pick out a personality crystal. There are just so many choices. That’s when it occurred to me why I had never upgraded my AI before. I could never choose between them.

Shielding:

All shields are rated on an increasing scale, starting at ‘One’ and increasing in number, equal to their resistance of force. In other words, a level one shield could withstand a level one laser burst with only a ten percent degradation. Of course, that also depended on the heat build-up imposed on the ship from the energy release needed to deflect the strike. Most civilian grade shields are rated from one to five, with higher levels reserved for the elite and military. After all, the Star Federation couldn’t allow civilians to equip their ships with shields to withstand its weapons systems. It sounded good on the Holo display, but the black market made up for this restriction nicely.

I chose the level eight military-grade shields at this time because I didn’t want to leave the station broke, and there were still weapons systems to purchase.

Torpedoes:

The Mk V could hold eight of them, unlike the Mk IV, which was limited to four.

I ordered four Standard and four ECM-enhanced torpedoes.

The ship’s lasers were the last item on the list. Lasers come in ten grades. One to four are civilian lasers. Five to eight were Military Grade. Nine and ten could not be mounted on anything smaller than a WOS. I chose twin grade eights, front, and rear. I did not bother with side mounts at this time, as I was too close to busting the bank.

I finalized my order with the dockyard and found that it would take two weeks to get my new ship outfitted to my specifications. I hoped the nearly thirty-five million credits I had just spent would serve me well. Then again, the way bounties were paid on many of the galaxies riff-raff, I could recoup my expenses in less than a year! This is just by blasting pirates and turncoats.

Pirates. I had no sympathy for them. I’d had so many run-ins with them so far in my career that I looked forward to hunting them. Turncoats, however, were on my ‘All Time Hate List.’ Imagine having all the benefits of federation life and forsaking it to help an enemy power ... or worse.

‘Well,’ I thought. ‘I wonder if that tech is off for the next few days.’

She thought back to me, ‘Three days. I am off for the next three days. Show me a good time the first day, and I will be available for the next two.’

Darn. My thoughts were being broadcast to everyone. I wondered if she overheard my thoughts on her fine-looking body. Especially those long legs and where I wanted them wrapped around my body. I heard a mental female giggle and knew it was she. God, this is awful.

‘Don’t worry about it. It happens to everyone that gets the implant.’

I tried not to worry. Mostly, I waited. According to my watch, it had been eighty cycles since the AI chip in my brain announced it was fully functional. The mental operations menu appeared in a virtual display before my eyes. It was just like a HUD (heads-up display); no one could see it except me.