A Little Constellation

[Kingdark]

Edited on 20/10/2023

I have crossposted this story on ao3 (archive of our own) for those who wish to read it without interuptions of other posts. You will need an account to comment / register though, so nothing new. Here's the link.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50981704

XX

So, I just decided to throw it online and see what people think. The part I'm posting, is only a small part of it. I tend to like long chapters, which for me, is at least ten thousand words. But posting such a large chapter makes for a lot of work, ensuring the format remains readable and I know there are people who don't like it. So instead, I've cut it down to half size, so approximately five thousand words.

Now, I have a tendency of repeating things I think are important in story. It's a fault I'm trying to improve upon. Also, sometimes when i write something, I get so in the flow, that I sometimes disagree with myself. So, I might say that the sky is blue, but then I might say it was red. So, if you notice an inconsistency like that, please point it out for me.

You should also know that English is not my first language. I d'like to think I'm good at it, but sometimes, things that are obvious to you, person in America, or person who lives in an English country, are not obvious to me.

I've reviewed this chapter several times, so it shouldn't have any typo's, but I'm not perfect so I might have missed a few. Also, it's possible I may have missed a double quotation mark somewhere in my dialogue or that there is a double quotation mark that doesn't belong. If you notice such a thing, I ask you to point it out.

This IS an abdl story, I would say that there's still plenty of action. So, diapers, regression, bottles etcetera are still 'a thing' and they DO play a role, but they aren't the FOCUS if that makes sense?

And finally (yes really) while Dusty may seem OP (overpowered) please know that he isn't. Yes, I've given him some powerful advantages, but there's a quote that comes to mind.

You don't bring a knife to a gun fight.

Basically, I mean that Dusty CAN be countered.

Please enjoy!

Chapter one part one

“You’re…” Supervisor Lin exclaimed…

“A vampire. Yes.” I confirmed. “Incidentally, you also broke my contract by removing my helmet, which means you’ll be paying me out and I’ll be leaving with the first available transport of this damn rock.”

Supervisor Lin gaped at that statement but then seemed to shake of her shock. She opened her mouth to give me some rebuke or another, but I just gave her a data slate that would stop any foolish idea she may be having.

Supervisor Lin accepted the data slate, and after a few moments, she dropped it on the nearby table. I shrugged, not caring about her reaction and simply picked it back up, and deposited it back into my suits inventory.

“How did you even-” she began to ask.

“No. I will not be answering any more-” I paused when Lin tapped her ear, enabling the implant that allowed her to connect to the mining outposts’ wireless communications.

“Sensors have detected the Frontier, that’s my contact’s ship appearing in orbit.”

“Your point?” I asked coolly.

“I removed your helmet out of concern for your health. The contract allows for that much. I’m also the only one in the room.” She paused.

“If you wish to terminate your contract, you can do so, but I will not paying you the full amount, since it’s you who would be breaking the contract.” Another pause.

“But if you agree to accompany me to drop off the item, then I’ll do my best to convince Barrett to let you join him and he’ll drop you off wherever he’s going.”

“Out of curiosity, why won’t you give it to him?” I asked.

“Because I’m not touching that thing if it caused a…” Supervisor Lin cut herself off. “When it made you pass out. That’s not normal.”

“Since I’ve been hugging the damn thing to my chest like a damn teddy bear, it’s clear that it’s not doing anything else. But all right, I can do that much at least.” I said after a few moments.

“And just to clarify, my nature is restricted information. Nobody needs to know.”

“Nobody needs to know.” Supervisor Lin agreed. I grinned, being alone with a Vampire without a helmet or anyone knowing the truth? I could do so much with that. Unfortunately, my personal code of honor wouldn’t let me, so I just made sure she wouldn’t talk instead.

“Hang on, did you say earlier that you were going to tell me,”

“Yes, I was going to give you the data slate after today’s shift. I do require a special diet and I prefer it fresh.” Seeing her startled look, I clarified that point immediately after.

“I also only deal in volunteers. I still have enough in storage to last me at least another week.”

“Are you implying you want me to,”

I rolled my eyes. “Look, Lin, we both know that in gigs like this, secrets rarely stay secret. Point being, my nature is going to come out eventually. On the other hand, while everyone may know, they will also be likely to keep it to themselves, since I’m not the only one with a secret.”

That was a fair point. Because mining was as dangerous as much as it was hard labor. But nobody asked too many questions as long as you kept to yourself and kept any discovered secrets to yourself.

“It’s a disturbing thought to think that you got turned so young.”

“…I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. I got turned in the late third era. Even back then, I was considered an adult since I was in my late twenties or even my early thirties. I honestly don’t remember what age I was when I got turned.”

“Bullshit.” Supervisor Lin retorted. “You look to be in your early twenties and that’s an overestimation at best.”

“Look,” I said patiently, “I don’t know what you think you’re going to gain by saying something so…” I paused.

“…Weird, but while I don’t remember my exact age, I do know for sure that I was in my late twenties or early thirties. I could, if you insisted remember my age by meditating.”

Supervisor Lin opened her mouth, but I talked right over her. “But I have no intention of doing so, because if I tried to remember my exact age, I would also remember other things. People I was friends with. Battles I was in. Nasty stuff. Unless you give me a damn good reason to remember, I’m telling you outright that, that won’t be happening. End of discussion.”

“Moving on, since I’m telling you all of this, I might as well tell you a couple of other things as well. A few centuries after I got turned, the werewolf - vampire war kicked in. Thankfully, I was in a remote area of Skyrim, so I just waited it out, but my point is, that the result of that war was that the recipe to cure vampirism without instantly killing the vampire was lost.”

“But I thought there is a cure for,” Supervisor Lin began to say.

“There’s a cure, but it’s a death sentence for me. I’m old Lin. Even when I just got turned, Vampires of the age, I am now, were rare. Even then, there were two cures. The first, reversed vampirism and basically permitted you to live out your mortal lifespan. So, a vampire Nord, would get another eighty or so years after they got turned.”

“…The other cure is the death sentence. Instead of letting me live out the remainder of my lifespan, I would begin to age very, very quickly.”

“How quickly?" Lin asked.

“Fast enough to reduce me to dust and bones in less than a minute.” I said flatly.

“Oh.” Lin muttered.

“I’m not tired of living yet, Lin. Not by a long shot. But one day, I will be and when that day comes, I want the option to become mortal again.”

“…How exactly are you testing your experiments?” Lin asked carefully.

“I capture pirates and spacers, interrogate them thoroughly and depending on their answers, I either take them in for their bounties, I turn them or I execute them outright before spacing what’s left.”

“I’m old.” I repeated my earlier statement. “I’m fully capable of putting people under my thrall if I’m given enough time and before you ask, it is very, very obvious when that happens. A thrall needs constant supervision and care. They need to be told when to eat, when to wash and to use the restroom regularly.”

“…Okay, but you just explained that the cure only kills them, because it ages them instantly.” Lin pointed out.

“That’s what it does. But it also kills the vampire, regardless of their age. But it appears to age them very rapidly and it’s only because of my experiments that I’ve come to realize it doesn’t work as advertised.”

“…Werewolves are real?” Lin asked after a moment, effectively changing the subject.

Pinching my nose, I reminded myself, that she was asking logical questions from her point of view.

“Yes.” I agreed. “They are. And no, even today, centuries later, relationships haven’t improved much, if at all.” Seeing her confused look, I elaborated.

“Instead of going for the kill with no questions asked, there’s just barely restrained violence instead. Basically, we try to avoid each other whenever possible and when it isn’t possible, we just glare at each other.” I told her.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know if we’re forced to commit to actual violence.” Not that there were many of us left. Point in fact, I hadn’t met another vampire for a whole century. The last werewolf I had met, was only twenty years ago, and it was only because both of us had information the other wanted to know, that we agreed to an ‘unofficial truce’ between both factions.

I snorted at the thought. The truth was, that there wasn’t much of a faction left. Last I heard, Lupin -yes, I know, ironic name for a werewolf- had involved himself in the colony war and that was the last I heard of him. It was my educated opinion that the man had gotten himself killed.

“…you hear anything I’ve said of the last five minutes?”

“…Sorry, no, I got distracted.” I admitted honestly.

“Then let me sum it up for you. You've gotta pulse.” This stamen was delivered in such a deadpan that it took me a moment to process properly.

“I’m sorry, but I think I must have misheard you. Did you just say I've gotta pulse?” I asked in disbelief.

“I did.” Lin confirmed.

“I’m… I’m cured?” I asked in disbelief, but then I realized that this was impossible, because I had just charmed Lin to get her to agree to keep all of this to herself. That was something unique to vampires.

“I don’t know about that.” Lin admitted. “I’m just telling you that you have a pulse. You’re still pale. Still got fangs and you still have red eyes.”

“That shouldn’t be possible. I just ate from the blood I have in storage.” I said, shaking my head.

“Well then, why don’t you see for yourself?” Lin asked impatiently, handing me a knife and a small hand mirror, she had retrieved from her own inventory.

Frowning, I accepted the knife and the mirror. I put the mirror to the side and engulfed the knife with my magic. It analyzed it thoroughly and the end result was as I had expected. It was exactly what it appeared to be. A high quality steel knife. But even if it had been poisoned, it would’ve been highly unlikely to have affected me. Because the older a vampire gets, the more resistant they are to poison and not to brag or anything, but I’m old enough to be pretty much immune.

I then gave myself a shallow cut, still convinced that she was pulling a prank on me, but to my disbelief, I started to bleed. Looking at Lin with wide worried eyes, I grabbed the hand mirror, analyzed it as well, confirmed that it was also clean of any poisons and then I flicked it open.

“I’m… Younger?” I exclaimed quietly, having temporarily forgotten that I wasn’t the only one in the room.

“Isn’t that… Good?” Lin asked.

“It’s… Lin, this is impossible. Vampires don’t age. They don’t grow older and they sure as hell don’t grow younger either!”

“So… Based on current evidence, you’re cured then?” Lin asked.

“No, I don’t think I am.” I said, while shaking my head.

“I’ve got… Let’s call them special abilities as a vampire and I’m absolutely certain that I can still use those… Abilities. No, I’m more worried that it may have affected things I can’t test well.”

“Such as?” Lin prompted.

“My resistance against the sun, just to give one example.” I answered honestly.

“Do you think then, that item has changed you?” Lin asked, gesturing towards the item I was still clutching to my chest.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense, don’t you think?” I ask in return.

Our conversation got interrupted when Lin put her hand against her ear a second time.

“Barrett has breached orbit and should be landing in less than thirty minutes.” Lin informed me.

“Then for better or for worse, we’ll have to resume this conversation later.” I tell her, as I grab my helmet and put it back on. The helmet hissed quietly, before the seal kicked in. once it did, my visor went black from the outside, making it impossible for anyone to see my face.

My entire spacesuit was custom designed for my purposes. It was state of the art. Or well, it had been when I had purchased it. But it was also expensive enough that it was still likely to be one of a kind. My spacesuit came equipped with powerful sensors that kept track of anything it identified as humanoid and non-sentient creatures. It could even anticipate where they might go, though it got it wrong as often as it got it right.

“C’mon Dusty, we’ve been wasting enough time as it is.” Lin said. “I can pay you what you’re owed and after that, you can join Barrett and be dropped off wherever he’s going.”

“…Let’s not be too hasty. I may have overreacted just a little.” I said reluctantly.

“Is that so?” Lin asked as we walked towards the airlock leading towards the surface.

“I was upset you removed my helmet and saw my face. But since I was going to tell you about my nature anyway… You could say it was an instinctive reaction. I apologize.”

“Apology accepted. But are you really telling me, you aren’t curious as to why you bleed and why you have a pulse again?” Lin asked.

They were communicating on a short range and encrypted frequency. It was worthless when you went further than five meters or so.

“I… Do have a theory.” I admitted reluctantly.

“Oh?” Lin asked.

“It’s just a theory based on my experience. I don’t think it’s likely, but it isn’t impossible either.”

“When I was newly turned, I would’ve been turned to ash, if I was exposed to the sun for more than a minute. It would’ve paralyzed me too, so even if there was shelter nearby, it would’ve been hard if not impossible to get to it. Then, after my first century, it went from a minute to five and I wasn’t paralyzed anymore. My resistance to the sun has only increased since then.” I said. I deliberately did not go into specifics about how weak I truly was against the sun. Why would I?

“And now?” Lin prompted.

“…You’re suggesting that it’s a natural evolution due to your age.” Lin stated.

“That’s exactly the conclusion I wanted you to reach.” I thought smugly.

“It’s nothing more than a theory, but yes.” I said out loud.

Lin and I stepped into the airlock and we simultaneously agreed to shelf the conversation for a later time. I verified the integrity of my own helmet and then I checked Lin’s. Lin herself did the same. By the time we were done, the airlock had cycled and we walked into the open air.

Technically, we had just broken several regulations when it came to helmet checks. We were supposed to do it, before entering the airlock. Because if it was already syncing and there was a fault, then we could be risking decompression which might kill us. Fortunately, the atmosphere was breathable even if it was very thin. You’d get out of breath very quickly and the air wasn’t pure, but it wouldn’t kill you instantly.

Just as we stepped into the open air, the frontier was already coming in for a landing.

“Huh, I guess he’s early.” Lin remarked.

“That’s a steep descend.” I observed neutrally.

“It’s because of the model.” Lin told me.

“Because of the… But the last model that required such a deep descend… Hang on, is that a Discovery class starship from the now defunct nova galactic company!? Aren’t those ships considered to be death traps?”

“Barrett would punch you if he heard you talk like that. He takes very good care of its equipment.” Lin told me.

“I wonder if it is for sale.” I muttered under my breath.

“You want to buy an outdated ship?” Lin asked with raised eyebrows.

“No, I want to buy a ship that’s as rare, as it is vintage and vintage sells. If it’s in decent condition, they can sell for a small fortune!”

“So, does that mean, you’re resigning after all, or…”

“…No." I said after a moment.

“I’ll ask him if he might be interested in selling and if he is, I’ll get in touch with him after my contract is over.”

“Listen,” Lin said abruptly. “Barret is a good guy, but he also attracts trouble like you wouldn’t believe. Why don’t you go and get that pistol over there, in case it follows him today as well.”

“…If you think he’s followed, shouldn’t you tell your guys to go inside and fortify themselves?”

“Good point.” Lin acknowledged.

“Supervisor Lin to all personnel. Barrett is about to pay us a visit and you know what that might mean. Let’s go to alert stage two, but do so quietly. I don’t expect trouble, but we all know that when you’re dealing with Barrett, you’re dealing with danger as well.”

While Lin continued to approach the landing site, I had veered off to open the weapon case, Lin had indicated earlier. Opening it, I noted that it was an Eon pistol. It was unmodded but it was ready to be fired and it came with nine additional clips, giving me exactly one hundred and twenty shots, or twelve shots per clip. One by one, I pushed the clips into my spacesuit, which then ate it, though that wasn’t the right name for it.

It was referred to as the ‘inventory’ system, because depending on the suit, it could eat two or even three times your bodyweight and you wouldn’t even feel it. When I had first designed and then commissioned my suit, I had sacrificed storage space for speed. This meant that it could carry less than even new cheap suits you could buy today. But it made up for it in other ways.

Once my suit had eaten all the clips, I holstered the pistol, and hurried to catch up with Lin. The holster bit was also something every spacesuit could do. It was sort of like a magnetic clamp, but it would automatically ‘hold’ weapons for the user and would even adjust its position so it was easier to reach.

When I was caught up with Lin, Heller was already there. An unmodded maelstrom rifle was attached to his back, with a pistol to his side. It was then that I noticed that several of the miners were carrying weapons now as well.

I focused my attention back on the ship, which by now, had opened its landing bay and two people were leaving it.

“Actually, no.” I corrected myself. It was a robot and a person. I didn’t recognize the build of the robot, so I could only assume it was from a new company or from a company that had already gone bankrupt.

Shaking my head, I refocused on the conversation.

“So, did you find it?” Lin’s contact, Barrett, asked.

“The new guy did.” Lin said, gesturing at me. “It caused him to pass out and he doesn’t remember a thing, from the moment after he touched it. I thought you said, the item would be safe, Barrett!” Lin said, her tone accusing.

“I did say that, and it is!” Barrett insisted.

“Then why did he pass out?”

“We don’t know.” Barrett admitted.

“We? And you don’t know? Doesn’t that imply something already had happened with a similar item and that it was a possibility?” I ask.

“You’re sharp, Dusty.” Barrett complimented me.

“But no. We estimated the chances of that happening again, to be low. But nothing else happened to the other individual. She’s fine so there isn’t anything to worry about.”

“If I may interrupt this lovely example of human conversation,” The robot said abruptly.

“According to the satellite we dropped before we landed, a ship with the markings of the Crimson Fleet has just entered orbit and is rapidly approaching.”

“Barrett…” Lin growled.

“Hey, I made six random jumps, before coming here, so, not my fault!” Barrett snapped back.

“It’s always your fault, you bastard!” Lin snapped back.

“Supervisor Lin to all personnel, it’s Barrett people, you know what to expect. Let’s give the pirates a warm welcome. Alert stage one immediately. No mercy. Shoot to kill.” Lin snapped.

Just like the other miners, I hurried to my assigned location. We had practiced this in several drills, though the miners had been carrying mining lasers as weapons instead. I was growing increasingly convinced that most of these people had military backgrounds.

As soon as the ship landed, we had surrounded it, forming a kill box. Anything stupid enough to leave now, would be killed on sight. The landing bay opened and six pirates were standing there in heavy armor, ready to storm us.

None of them would live to see another day. Of that I was certain.

I was right. Six pirates exited the landing bay, and while some managed a few shots in our general direction, they more or less died within five or so minutes. The pirate ship took off quickly too and it was only because of an unofficial rule that nobody fired at the fleeing ship. Because if we shot at the ship, then the pilot would be allowed to shoot back.

Suffice it to say, that if that happened, none of us would survive, because even if we hide behind cover, even a stray shot would basically turn us into goo.

After the Crimson Fleet vessel left, I wandered closer to the pirates and put a bullet in each and every single head, just to make sure they were dead. What Lin said was completely true. Anyone working for the Crimson Fleet would not show any mercy. It was rumored that the higher ups in the Crimson Fleet had their very own harem of enslaved men or women. Or both.

“I’m impressed Lin, after our previous deal and the way it went wrong, I thought,”

“You thought what?” Lin demanded. “That I would let it happen all over again? How many of my guys might have died if I hadn’t bothered to train them, Barrett!?”

“Easy Lin, easy!” Barrett said quickly, holding up his hands in the ‘I surrender’ position.

“How. Many?” Lin asked again.

“I don’t know. But none of them were even hurt! Hell, those poor bastards barely managed a couple of shots before they died.”

“Do you actually feel sorry for them or was that just an expression?” I asked neutrally.

“An expression. It was just an expression. I’m not a pirate sympathizer, thank you very much.” Barrett said firmly.

“Speaking off… Heller!”

“Ma’am?” Heller prompted.

“Strip those pieces of trash of anything that’s valuable, make sure they’re dead and then throw them in the recycler.”

“I already put an extra bullet in their heads. Pretty sure they’re dead.” I offered.

“Don’t care.” Lin said, crossing her arms. “I have an ancestor who… Well, it’s a long story, really. But he was doing a courier job, got intercepted, got his package stolen and then he got shot in the head. It was a damn miracle that a doctor had seen it happen and managed to keep him alive and in relative good health.”

Lin paused and shrugged. “Point being, the guy who shot him, died in the end, but my ancestor didn’t leave it with a single bullet. He took a shotgun and turned the guy’s head into pulp. Then did the same with his limbs, before burning what was left.

“So, the morale of that story is to turn your enemy into mush?” Barrett asked.

“No, Barrett.” Lin deadpanned. “The morale is to make sure your enemy is deader than dead. Besides, with the tech we have nowadays, there’s no telling if their armor doesn’t have a bunch of emergency drugs to keep them alive.”

“Drugs that can heal a bullet to the brain?” I ask skeptically.

“Enough.” Lin said shortly. “Barrett, pay me what you owe and go away. And unless you’re paying triple, don’t contact me again.”

“About that. I think your new guy needs to go to the loft.” Barrett said quietly.

“Oh, no Barrett. No way, no how!”

“I don’t want him to get involved with…” Lin paused. “With them.” Lin finished.

“Lin, there’s more to it than,”

“I knew it!” Lin interrupted him. “I fucking well knew it, that you were going to say that!”

“What if I stay here?” Barrett suggested.

“…What?” Lin asked flatly.

“What if I stay here?” Barrett repeated patiently.

“That… That might work.” Lin allowed.

“All right. Fine.” Lin said finally.

“Well Dusty, it seems that you’re getting your severance pay after all.” Lin remarked.

I blinked several times, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

“…What?”

“It’s settled then. Well, then my boy, it seems you’re going to new Atlantis."

“Yhea… No, I don’t think so.” I said flatly.

“Look son,” Barrett said calmly.

“Did you, or did you not experience something when you touched,” he gestured towards the item in question, “…that?”

“Didn’t supervisor Lin tell you?” I asked him. “I don’t remember a thing after I touched it, so I couldn’t tell you.” This was a lie of course.

Lin knew I was lying.

Heller knew I was lying.

And I was convinced that Barrett knew I was lying as well. The lure of two paychecks was powerful, and I wasn’t entirely unwilling to go to new Atlantis, but I was going to make him work for it.

“…Okay, so you don’t remember anything then.” Barrett agreed. “Then how about we simplify it a little. I’ll pay you to transport the item to new Atlantis and then come back. Halve up front, the rest when you get back.”

I look at supervisor Lin and she gives me the look that basically said ‘what, are you really going to refuse two paychecks for what amounts to bringing an item from point a to point b?’

Well, obviously, I wasn’t going to refuse. But I was going to make him pay for it. Literally.

“All right, I know that look and I’ll have you know I’m not made of credits. How does two thousand credits sound?” Barrett asked. “As an advance.” He clarified immediately after.

“Four thousand credits?” I thought. “For a courier job?”

“Mission accepted.”

“Before you leave though,” supervisor Lin said calmly, “give me a few moments to process your contract termination and to process the authorization of your pay.”

“You’re acting like I won’t get back to the job?”

Lin just snorted. “You and I both know that you’re made for more than just mining. Our contract is just about up anyway, which means that we would be looking for our next employer.”

I blink and I allow myself to grin. I’m about to come in quite a bit of money, courtesy of Barrett on top of my own savings. And if constellation really is as interested in me as I think they are…

“I like the way you think.” I said.

“You have hired yourself a pilot. Now, details. What’s the mission exactly.”

“Take the item and board the frontier and fly to new Atlantis and deliver it to the lodge. Talk with the people there and if you’re interested, join our organization. Vasco will help you fly the ship if you need help with it.” Barrett said.

I groaned when I realized I hadn’t thought of the damn robot. The damn thing would likely be watching and would not hesitate to report anything and everything it considered important. I did not wish for my vampirism to become public knowledge and I did not know these people.

“I’m a competent pilot and engineer, so I don’t need anyone looking over my shoulder, least of all a damn automaton.”

“Hey, that’s not very nice. Vasco is more than just a machine who parrots specific lines or can only reply to specific inputs. He’s more than that.”

“That doesn’t remove the fact that I’m a competent pilot and engineer and that I don’t need anyone looking over my shoulder. However, I can see how you would want some guarantees that I’m not about to take off. Doing so would be trivially easy too.

“You’re not going to change your mind about that, are you?" Barrett asked with a groan.

“Because I have a damn good reason for it.” I tell him seriously. I could tell that Barrett was still reluctant, but my secret was worth more than a paycheck.

“I’ll drop the paycheck.” I said bluntly.

“If I may be so rude to interrupt,” the robot in question said calmly, “but I’m afraid that disconnected myself from the frontier, is very much impossible. I am connected to the frontier on a deep level. I can however, disconnect if there is another ship with just as much processing power available. I rely on the Frontier’s computers for many things. But even if you did have a ship for me to transfer to, I could not do so anyway, without authorization from my administrator.”

A pause.

“Mister Barrett is not my administrator, but merely one my administrator authorized as a user.”

A pause.

“But unless I observe something highly criminal or something equally unusual, mistress Sarah should have no reason to ask for any details and similarly, I do not have a reason to report this to her. Unofficially or officially.”

“…You’re not a standard robot are you?” I ask rhetorically.

“That is a rhetorical question, is it not?” Vasco asked after a moment.

“Yes, it was.” I confirm.

“Very well, then I will not answer the question but will remain quiet instead.”

“You have a point.” I admitted reluctantly. But that meant I would ‘have’ to join them, if I wanted to earn their trust. If they trusted me, they wouldn’t care about my race or my undead nature. But if it ever became known that he was that bounty hunter, then it would be very tempting to make a quick credit. Pirates still told horror stories about him.

“You know, what?” I asked rhetorically. “Fine. I’ll be reckless and do something I haven’t done in centuries.”

“Wait, what?” Barrett asked.

“You're going to do what?” Lin asked.

“I’m going to trust you and his organization a chance with the truth.”

“What are you talking about?” Barrett asked, obviously confused.

“Does your ship have a meeting room of sorts?” I ask Barrett.

“It’s a discovery class ship. It has a kitchen and a bunk and that’s about it.” Barrett answered.

“That’s good enough. Let’s go in your ship and I’ll tell you.”

“Lin?” Barrett prompted.

“It’s fine, Barrett.” Lin said with a shrug. “He’s got a reason to be paranoid.”

“Ehm, ma’am?” Heller asked, as he approached. “Are we to stand down from alert stage one?”

I blinked and I realized that most of the guys were still in the same locations. “There’s definitely more to this mining outfit than you might think.”

“…Oh, yes of course.” Lin said.

“This is supervisor Lin to all personnel. Stand down from alert stage one. You should still be on your guard, given that where there’s one pirate attack, there is likely to be another.”

I watched as the other miners almost simultaneously put their weapons away and then left to do their own thing, with a couple of guys still wandering around. Heller had left as well, heading towards the communication building.

“C’mon, let’s get this over with.” I said with a sigh.

End chapter one part one.

Thank you for reading.

[Ishigreensa]

technically, just wondering if you over looked it, but wouldn't the Vampire (not need) to breathe air?  One of the purposes of circulating blood, is to carry oxygen around our bodies, so if a Vampire doesn't need their heart to pump blood around, then they shouldn't need oxygen.  Just a technicality.  I think the story sounds interesting though even though I really don't get into these kinds of sci fi as much.

[Kingdark]

That's a good point. Too late to change it, but I was actually thinking of Angel from Buffy the vampire slayer. (totally different vampire I know) but in my headcanon, vampires don't breathe, they don't have a beating heart.

It's been awhile since i played Skyrim, but as as a vampire, can you stay underwater indefinitely or do you have 'air?'

[Ishigreensa]

I believe the only thing that would keep them from being able to stay underwater indefinitely has to do with their skin getting waterlogged.  (Pirates of Carribean) reference as to what the ghosts are like.  But certainly, they could stay under longer than the average person except for one cravate.  I'm not sure where that lore comes from, but there was something about Vampires not being able to move through running water, such as a river or ocean currents without being harmed.

Even though the Vampire you mention is immune to the sun, is it just our atmospheric conditions and sun, or can he actually stand direct sun radiation in space?  That could be a factor for needing a space suit.

[Kingdark]

Dusty is in fact not immune to the sun. It'll take longer to burn him to ash, certainly, but I remember this movie, can't remember the name, some dracula rip-off maybe? i remember this guy with dark sunglasses? (black too?)

Anyway, a bunch of vampires dressed up in black motorsuits with not one bit of skin shown and black helmets to protect them against the sun. My point is that Dusty is doing the same here. He uses his spacesuit to protect himself against the sun. I probably should clarify that... 🤔

after edit:

And I don't think I stated outright Dusty is immune to the sun, did I? Because that's not what I meant to convey.

Update after the update.

I really am an idiot. I did check everything when checking for typos, but I also skimmed it and don't know how, but must have missed it.

To clarify for anyone reading, yes Dusty is resistant against the sun, but he isn't immune. As a matter of fact, I should probably reduce that 'several hours' to something less OP.

I'm going to be editing that here and in my main document, to make it... Oh, I haven't decided yet. Any suggestions on that? Maybe direct sun still kills him, but he can survive cloudy weather?

[Ishigreensa]

How about, if he is resistant to it, he will start burning, but has a few moments to find shade or whatever?  There was a vampire show I saw that showed that as a possibility.  And I'm not sure if you said he was immune, or I just thought you said it.  I'd have to read it again.  However, having the helmet be an explanation for him being out in the sun, as long as the rest of his body is also covered, I think it fits well.

It would be better to correct it in the story, because new readers would easily get confused if you change things all over the place.  I'm not sure if that is what you were asking advice on.

I think I saw the same movie.  It was quite a while ago... before 2003 at least.  

I think it is even better if the direct sun starts to burn him giving 3rd degree burns, but an overcast day, he can maybe stand for maybe 10 minutes in direct light, but maybe shade or something else helps.  Also, maybe make it more related to something in the sunlight rather than just the light itself?  Such as Vitamin D or maybe ultraviolet rays or whatever you like.

 

[Kingdark]

I am going to edit it in the story, but it's best if I decide and then stick with it, instead of changing my mind. I was just throwing out some idea's for some feedback.

it says in the story that Dusty can stay in the sun several hours. But I'm going to adjust that so it reflects what I said about a sun on a cloudless sky = instant death or lose enough to it

a sun on a clouded sun = like extreme alergy

and a sun on a heavily clouded day = GTFO the sun, but you survive with high degree burns

And that's direct exposure.

I agree that it makes sense that a sealed suit should protect you against the sun. The way Starfield currently does it, doesn't make much sense. You can survive in vacuum, but you get hit by penalties, because it's cold? Like really?

[Kingdark]

Until I've caught up a little, I will post two chapters per day. Well, technically it's one chapter per day, but since ten thousand words is considered to be too long by some people, five thousand is my compromise. Sometimes it'll be a little longer, sometimes it'll be a bit shorter. I'm also experimenting a little, with the scene switching. An X in the middle is an indicator of a switch change or that something hat happened.

Again, sometimes I can get carried away. If you see or notice inconsistencies, you'd be doing me a favor to point them out. The same with spelling and grammar. I need you to be as picky as you possibly can, that's the only way I can improve.

This is a hint towards this and later chapters, but sometimes, Dusty can be wrong when he makes certain assumptions. I'm not going to specify too much, but just keep that in mind.

OH! And the people who recognize the references to other fandom(s) made in the previous post, this post and future posts gets to ask me a) an exclusive question or b) gets to make a request for something specific c) or something else.

Finally, I'm going to keep mentioning this the first couple of times, but you need to have at least some passing knowledge of TES lore and you have to know the basics of Starfield.

"bla blah" is regular dialogue

"I'm thinking." this is private thoughts.

'System is responding.' This is the response of System.

Chapter one part two

The Frontier, main habitat (kitchen area)

There was a moment of awkwardness, where nobody knew exactly what to say, but I shrugged it off and I twisted the seal for my helmet. The helmet beeped and I gave the authorization password, which caused the helmet to hiss, which was then followed by a click. I took a deep breath an then pulled the helmet over my head, revealing my face, not just to Lin but to Barrett as well.

After that, I pulled the helmet over my head, revealing my youthful face and for a moment, I couldn’t help but enjoy the shocked expression from Barrett in particular.

“You’re a kit Khajiit!” Barrett exclaimed.

“Say that again, I dare you.” I growled with narrowed eyes.

“…But it’s true?!” The man said helplessly.

“I got turned sometime in the third era. Don’t remember when exactly. Don’t remember how old I was when I got turned either. But let me tell you something. I wasn’t a child when I got turned, which means I’m not a child now. So, please, if you don’t want me to punch you, do not refer to me by that name, ever again. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

“Y-yes.” Barrett muttered.

“Good.” I said with a nod.

“Dusty, is it all right, if I asked a question?” Lin asked carefully.

I sighed. “Do I have a choice?” I asked rhetorically.

“Fine. Ask your questions.”

“Barrett was right, when he referred to you as a kit. Khajiit aren’t considered adults until they’re well into their twenties and you don’t look a day over twenty.”

“A kit is a helpless child. A kit is a baby. A toddler. If any of my parents or family were still alive, they could occasionally refer to me as their kit, since it would’ve been true, but strangers would never have referred to me by that name, because it is offensive on a deep level.” I explained.

“What are you talking about when you said you got turned? I’m so confused.” Barrett admitted.

“I’m a vampire.” I said with a shrug.

“Oh my… The things you must have seen…” Barrett whispered.

“You have got to join constellation now! Our entire organization is about preserving history and to gather as much information as possible about magic and alchemy, just to give two examples."

“I see. So, you want to ask me about the Khajiit genocide then, too, I assume? It’s part of their history, but they love to pretend it never happened.”

“Why haven’t you reported to…” Barrett began to say, but the man was honestly starting to get on my nerves.

“What? Get myself registered, maybe wank a couple of times in a cup, so they can use my spunk it to impregnate random Khajiit women? Get myself a nice golden cage, where I’m not allowed to leave for my own safety?”

“I should never have told you.” I said flatly. “If my undead nature wasn’t enough of a reason, the fact you even suggested I get myself registered to become a damn breeding tomcat, says a lot about you.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Barrett said quickly.

“Is it really that bad?” Lin asked.

“Lin, I did not exaggerate earlier. My people are essentially locked up in golden cages for their own safety and this has been a thing for two hundred years. Their population has grown a little, but is still not big enough to be allowed to live on their own. There isn’t a single Khajiit left, aside from myself, who remembers part of my people’s culture.”

“The Khajiit aren’t Khajiit anymore, they’re high elves with a fur instead of skin.”

I force myself to inhale deeply, before letting it escape very slowly. “Sorry, but talking or even thinking about it, still upsets me, so let’s agree to stop talking about this. Okay? Good. Glad you agreed.”

“I don’t think anyone at the lodge would have a problem with you being a vampire. But technically, they’re legally obliged to report you.” Barrett said slowly.

“Then I’ll ask them nicely, not to, okay?” I said flatly. “Besides, even if they do, they don’t have the legal right to keep me against my wishes.”

“Okay, so is your undead nature and your race the only reason, or is there something else?” Barrett asked.

“Not that I can think off." I said after a moment.

“Well then, I’m off to get drunk. Safe travels. Lin, Let’s go, I’m sure you need a drink as well.”

Both of them wave at me and then they left the ship. Shrugging, I walked towards the pilot chair and sat down into it. I pulled the controls closer to me and adjusted it so that I could reach everything properly. I then checked every display and noted that everything was green. Flicking a switch, I connected the com to the local communication network.

“Frontier to Argo base. I’m about to leave, please verify that all personnel is accounted for.”

“Argo base to Frontier, all personnel has reported to stations. You are free to launch.”

Nodding to myself, I flicked another switch, that would enable a siren outside. It would alert everyone that the ship was about to leave and if they didn’t want to be barbequed, then they would have to leave the area immediately.

“Sensors are reporting all clear, captain. You are free to launch.” Vasco said over the intercom.

Freestar collective space (FCS) – Narion system – orbit of Vectera.

 

“Orbit achieved, captain. All systems are green, we are free to jump to the Alpha Centauri system to planet Jemison whenever you feel like it.”

Nodding to myself, I accessed the star map and told the computer where I wanted to go. ‘With current power allocated, it will take five minutes for the drive to spin up and leave.’ It told me.

I was fine with that. This ship was vintage and I didn’t want to push it too much. Still, I was prepared to transfer all available power to the system, if we had any unwanted visitors.

“Frontier to base, everything is calm with no hostiles in sight. I’m about to leave in…” I double checked the counter.

“In t-minus three minutes.”

“Acknowledged Frontier. Barrett just wanted me to remind you, that you should pick up the satellite first. Those things are expensive.”

“…What satellite? Only thing I have on sensors is scrap.” I said honestly.

“Captain, a ship has just jumped in and sensors have identified Crimson Fleet markings.”

Growling, I transferred power out of the jump system and back into the weapon systems. The timer slowed down and then remained stuck at twenty seconds.

“Frontier to Crimson Fleet vessel. If you think I’m easy pickings, think again. Jump out or be destroyed.”

“You’re not Barrett!” The pilot from the other vessel exclaimed.

“I’m afraid that Barrett is no longer around.” I said vaguely.

“That just means you’re easier pickings! Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded!”

Instead of complying, I just opened fire. Whoever was behind the pilot chair hadn’t even notice that I had managed to get a target lock. The shields of the enemy ship dropped like a rock and since I had targeted its engines, it came to a stop not even two minutes later. It was dead in the water. I then took my time targeting its weapon systems. By the time I was done, the only thing that was still operational, was its life support systems.

“What was that about being an easy target?” I taunted over the radio.

“I surrender, please don’t destroy my ship.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say.” I muttered under my breath.

“Captain, two new vessels have jumped in. They too carry Crimson Fleet markings.”

I didn’t bother trying to communicate with them this time. Trying to talk to them to get a target lock was unlikely to work again, but even if it did, they outnumbered me, so the first barrage would cause the other one to open fire immediately.

I opened fire on the first vessel and I managed take out its shields with the first barrage. The pilot obviously wanted to get some distance between me and him, because the ship’s booster engines kicked in, though I was close on its tail. This time, I did not target any specific part of the ship, but just kept firing until the ship was destroyed in a glorious explosion.

Looking at my own shields, I swore when they had gone down to twenty percent.

This time, it was me that boosted my engines to get some distance between myself and the remaining mobile ship. My ship’s shield was ticking up very slowly, but the enemy was close on my tail, so I decided that I would have to abandon that strategy immediately, or it would be my ship that would be destroyed.

Instead of boosting, I made it seem as if I had engine problems. The ship behind me stopped firing, since they apparently wanted my ship intact. The pursuing ship past me by, and then I kicked it back to full throttle and opened fire on the ship once more. I was close on its tail and did not stop firing until it went up in a glorious fireball.

Turning the ship around, I looked on my sensors, looking for the ship I had disabled earlier, only for it to jump out.

“Damn it! I thought I had disabled it’s jump drive!”

“Captain,” Vasco said, “it appears the enemy ship has managed to flee to the local moon of Kreet. Sensors show that there’s an abandoned base there and it’s likely that the pirates have taken it over for their own purposes.”

“You don’t say?” I said sarcastically.

“You could, in theory, jump out, but if the pirates have enough time, they may decide to do another raid and this time, they may do a proper assault instead of a raid.”

I glanced to my monitor again, the drive system was still at twenty seconds. Sighing, I hit the abort button, causing the gathered energy to disperse harmlessly.

“Frontier to base. I just dealt with a pirate attack. Two pirate vessels destroyed, one managed to flee to a nearby moon. I’m going to pursue and… Eliminate any pirate presence so they won’t come looking for trouble later.”

“Don’t worry Frontier, we can handle a pirate attack.” It wasn’t Lin or Barrett who replied this time. That was fine. They were probably getting drunk.

“Acknowledged. Just stay on your guard. Pirates don’t like it when their prey tries to fight back, or worse yet, when it succeeds.”

“Wilco.”

“Vasco, take over navigation systems and get us to Kreet. Use normal navigation.”

“That would mean we will arrive in one hour, captain.” The robot pointed out.

“That’s fine. It’ll make them think we lost track of them. In the meantime, I need a shower.”

“Captain, it is unwise to be away from the pilot chair, in case of any additional reinforcements. I am capable of controlling the ship, but I do not have the software for ship to ship combat.”

Irritatingly enough, I realized that it had a point.

X

Back into the pilot’s chair, I used a miniature jump to get us to Kreet instantly. You weren’t supposed to do that, because there were cases of ships doing so and never appearing at their destination. Just like the pirate ship that had attacked the miner base, we came in hot, which meant they knew I was coming.

“Vasco. Stay here and secure the ship. If you’re discovered, then relocate.”

“As you wish, captain. Are you sure you don’t wish me to watch your back though?”

“I’m sure. I move faster on my own and let’s be honest, subtle, you are not."

Freestar Collective space (FCS) - Narion system - Moon of Kreet – abandoned Kreet research lab

As I approached the base, there was nobody around, which was odd, because pirates always had a couple of guys playing guard. Anyone unlucky enough to be seen by them, was either killed or captured.

“Maybe they’re trying to convince me that I’ve got the wrong place, or it really is abandoned?” I thought absently. Then I noticed the blood, gore and a partly eaten fresh corpse, and I rapidly changed my mind.

“Or maybe the facility was abandoned for a reason?” I thought abruptly.

Before, I hadn’t really taken this adventure seriously, but that had changed. “Come to think of it, WHY did I not take it seriously?” I asked myself.

It was true that I had several advantages that other people didn’t have. I was a vampire which was rare by itself. I was old. Probably one of the oldest vampires who had ever existed in the entirety of their existence. I had mastered forms of magics people didn’t even remember, let alone knew that it was possible to do. But even with all those advantages, I still should’ve taken this seriously.

Inclining my head to the anonymous corpse, I approached it, and with just a touch, I ignited it. It burned itself out to ash in seconds, not leaving bones or any evidence that there had been anything there. What I had done couldn’t be used in combat, but it was useful for intimidation purposes. More importantly though, whoever the corpse had been in life, it had helped him come to a realization in death. He’d grown arrogant and hadn’t even realized it.

As I approached the facility, I cloaked myself in my magic, removing myself from the visible spectrum. Or in other terms, I made myself invisible to the naked eye. After that, I activated the enchantments on my spacesuit, which made it even harder to detect me. The Mantis had become a thing to be feared, because he had been capable of clearing out an entire base, without a single shot being fired.

I approached the facility, leaving no footprints, and taking extra care to watch for sensors and camera’s. Unfortunately, if there were any, I was unable to spot them. Which, I supposed, was the point.

Entering the facility was child’s play since it wasn’t guarded at all. Junk was scattered all over the place, but the previous owners of the base had done a good job taking everything of value. Computer consoles remained dark and upon investigating, the internal hardware had been gutted. What was left wouldn’t even be worth anything as scrap.

I tapped my arm, which caused a panel to open. Revealing a small display, but it was enough for my purposes. Botting up its computer and my very own custom written hacking software, took no more than five seconds. It scanned for any open networks and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the obvious trap.

‘Armageddon pirate network’ “open”

The pirates were using an unsecured network which could mean one of two things. They were hilariously incompetent or they were using it as a double bluff. Not that it would matter. I had studied digital security ever since it first became a thing and that meant I knew what I was doing.

Five minutes later, did I have my answer. These pirates were hilariously incompetent. I was able to listen in to their communications, which told me that the leader wasn’t a REAL Crimson Fleet captain, but instead, was trying to impress one.

Back, when I was just getting started as the Mantis, I had infiltrated the organization so I could try and found out, just how ‘bad’ they really were. You know the expression about how good intentions can lead to hell? Well, it turns out that the Crimson Fleet was a good example of that. Point being, that I know how their politics work. Whoever these morons were, they chose to do this and they would be given zero mercy.

Nodding to myself, I moved swiftly, checking every room and making sure nobody could alert anyone. Two pirates were chatting and eating in what had once been the cafeteria. They died without knowing I was there. I checked and looted their bodies and then put another two rounds in their heads, each, before I moved on.

Shrugging, I continued, deeper into the facility, until I overheard what was clearly a recording.

“…The Terrormorph is loose! I repeat, the Terrormoph is loose, do not engage!”

“They studied Terrormorphs here?” I asked myself in disbelief. No wonder they had torn out the computers, leaving no records behind. If anyone could find some kind of evidence, then whoever was responsible was screwed.

“All right, as unlikely as it is, the Terrormorph might still be around. That means, I’m going to kill every single being around and then I’ll GTFO.”

Eventually, I had cleared the entire facility, had looted anything and everything I thought might be worth something before I finally moved to the roof. As soon as I entered the roof, I could see the captain being flanked by several of his minions. I didn’t bother with conversation, I just opened fire. Two of the bodyguards died instantly.

One by one, did the guards die, until the only one who was left was the captain.

“Hey! Cease fire! I wanna talk! Cease Fi-urghk”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three more rounds did I put in the guy’s head.

Bang! Bang! Bang! -click

And then I emptied my clip for good measure. Walking around, I walked to every corpse, looted it, leaving them naked, dragged them over each other and positioned them in embarrassing positions. After that, I left several insulting messages questioning the competence of the Crimson Fleet in general and basically daring them to come find me.

I finished it off with my signature, before I finally moved on.

‘The only good pirate, is a dead pirate.’

It was the message the Mantis left, every time he had cleared out a pirate base. Would anyone come looking? Probably not. But if they did, then the message might be reported all the way up to whoever was leading them right now.

Freestar Collective space (FCS) - Narion system - Orbit of Kreet

 

“Jumping in five… Four… Three.. Two… one… Mark.”

The world twisted and turned and then we had moved fifteen point nine lightyears in less than a second.

“Attention, Frontier, you have arrived in UC space. Maintain your current course and prepare to be scanned.”

I knew that this was a routine message, so I slowed down and waited patiently for the UC military ship to give me the green light.

“Scan complete. Welcome to new Atlantis."

United Colony Space (UCS) – Alpha Centauri system – (planet) Jemison – New Atlantis – spaceport.

 

After touching down, I finally allowed myself to relax.

“Captain, we should head to the Lodge immediately.”

“After my shower. I doubt the people in the lodge will appreciate it, if I appear to them like this. You may inform them that I have arrived and that I’m taking a shower and cleaning up my armor first. If they got a problem with that, they can come and pick up the item themselves.

“Are you ready to venture out, captain?” Vasco queried.

“Let’s go. Lead the way, because it’s been awhile since I last visited.

Vasco did not reply and instead started walking. I followed it, and it started to act like damn tour robot. I wasn’t entirely sure where the lodge was at, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize it, when the thing is taking me the long way around.

Eventually, we arrived at where the lodge was at, and Vasco opened the door for me, gesturing to walk inside. For a moment, I hesitate, almost suspecting a trap. Steeling myself, I ready myself for anything. There’s no reason for me to trust these people and there’s no reason for them to trust me either.

As I entered into the hallway, I noticed that it was very fancy. There was a wooden staircase to my right leading up and towards a closed door. My suits sensors informed me that it was locked and would only open if I had the right key. Vasco had already opened the double doors and was waiting for me to follow.

As soon as I stepped in, I felt threatened.

No, I corrected myself. Not threatened. Watched. Watched and warned not to cause trouble. Or else.

Looking around, I identified the source of my discomfort immediately. Right there, were nine statues of the divine.

“It appears we have a visitor.” The guy in the back said.

“My name is Sarah and I’m the closest thing to a leader constellation has. It seems that there’s a lot to talk about.”

“You don’t say?” I said sarcastically. I just couldn’t help myself. Something about that woman rubbed me the wrong way.

“I swear, if it turns out she’s a werewolf…”

“First and foremost I, and by I, I mean we, would like to know what happened to our friend and why he isn’t right there, annoying the rest of us.”

“Do you want the long version or the short version?” I ask her casually. I held up the item I was paid to transport in her face as proof I was here for a reason.

“Why don’t you start with the short version?” Sarah suggested.

“Let’s see…” I said slowly, then I began to hold my two hands, and removed a finger for every point I made.

“I found the item, I passed out, eventually met your buddy, Barret and then we got attacked by pirates.”

Five fingers gone, one hand left.

“We killed the pirates who attacked, then Barret then convinced me to transport the item, because he thought the pirates might try to attack a second time. I eventually agreed, we got attacked in orbit by pirates, I killed said pirates, pursued them on a nearby moon, slaughtered the whole bunch, looted all of them and left a bunch of insulting messages and I left the corpses in compromising positions.”

“Vasco dear, would you please verify his… Statements?”

“All statements made are factual as is indeed the short version.” Vasco said.

“That’s just typical,” an older man complained. “Barret goes out to pick our item up, then he decides to stay behind, despite our instructions not to do that and then he hands it over to some random employee with that discount mining group he likes to use.”

“Shouldn’t you have been dropped in the retirement home, old geezer? Nobody likes to hear you whine and complain, so why don’t you do all of us a favour and shut your mouth, hmm?” I ask casually. That’s two people I got an immediate dislike for.

“Excuse me?” The man exclaimed.

“Sorry, apology not accepted.”

“Walter, could you please not insult the heavily armed man?” Sarah asked casually.

I frowned at the tone the woman used. Somehow, I didn’t think that my weapons would make much of a difference.

“Oh, you know I’m right!” The man, Walter snapped back. “If we hadn’t insisted on those emergency protocols, then who knows how far this guy would be right now.”

“He does have a point.” I admitted. And he really did. The Frontier was worth a small fortune is sold to the right buyer.

“What?” Walter exclaimed.

“Wait, what did you just say?”

“Did he really just say what I think he did?”

“Are you really, seriously telling me, that none of you have any idea, just how much the Frontier might be worth?” I asked in disbelief.

“No? Nobody? The Frontier is built by a company, which has gone bankrupt. The ship model is still patented which means it can’t be reverse engineered, not that anyone would want to reverse engineer it, because it’s technology is so damn old. It’s hard to believe it was once state of the art.”

Shaking my head, I continue.

“The Frontier is in excellent shape and it has still many of its original parts, which is a miracle in and by itself. If it was sold to the right buyer, you could earn enough credits to see your great grandchildren live in comfort.”

I paused, waiting a few seconds to see if anyone was going to reply, but judging by their expressions, they were still processing. Shrugging, I continued, “But obviously, I didn’t do that. I’m here, with the item I was paid to deliver.”

“Well then,” Sarah muttered, “why don’t you do the honours then and drop the item next to the other ones over there?"

Shrugging, I picked the item up and deposited it with the others, taking care not to touch them, because if one could give me my heartbeat back, I don’t want to know what the others might do to me. I placed the item on the table and then retreated a couple of steps. Since these people clearly expected something to happened, I was ready with my sensors to observe anything that might be happen.

It happened slowly, but the pieces seemed to separate and then they began to float, circling each other in a specific direction that couldn’t be anything but deliberate.

“Fascinating.” The word slipped out and I couldn’t help myself.

“Well then, it seems that perhaps you’re a right fit for us after all, if this caught your interest.”

“Barret asked me to give you an honest chance to convince me to join you. Didn’t give me many details either. Go on then, make your pitch.” I said.

“First,” the guy from earlier interrupted, “I think we should address something else, like your undead nature?”

“Matteo, I don’t think him being a vampire, is what is important right now.” Sarah said, obviously trying to prevent a confrontation.

“You a Arkay priest, boy?” I asked casually.

“Yes. What about it?”

“Then let me do you do the honour of a lesson that might save your life someday. I continued to walk deeper into the room, the feeling of being watched intensified, until abruptly, it changed from hostility to being welcoming. I grinned. Perfect.

“Akatosh, the dragon of time.” I said, touching the first statue and bowing lightly. Moving on, I walked towards the second statue. “Dibella, goddess of beauty and art.”

Once more, I continued walking, touching each and every statue, giving it a light bow before moving on.

“Finally, we come to the heart of my lesson.” Reaching out, to touch the final statue, which was the statue of Arkay, Sarah grabbed my hand, stopping it from touching it. “That goddess is against the undead, it would be unwise to touch it.”

“Me and Arkay go way back.” I said and then, ignoring her, I touched the statue and bowed lightly. Unlike the other statues, this one glowed bright white, before it settled down.

“Hello to you too, lovely.” I thought to myself.

“You… You’re still…”

“Alive?” I asked him. The words being more than a little ironic.

“How is that…” Matteo began to say, but I interrupted again, finishing his sentence.

“possible?” I asked for him.

“Arkay does hold a grudge against vampires and undead in general. But she knows the difference between the stereotype vampire and those just trying to live their lives.”

“So, what, you’re an innocent little angel?” Matteo asked sarcastically.

“Oh, no.” I assured him. “I’ve killed a lot of people. It’s just that the vast majority of them, deserved it. It also helps that I completed several quests for her, her own champions couldn’t handle.”

“Now, do you know the lesson I was trying to teach?” I asked him.

“…Don’t judge someone by their cover?” Matteo asked.

“No.” I answered, then I paused. “Well, yes, that too. But there’s another reason why she tolerates me.”

“And what’s that?" Matteo asked.

“I’m stronger than she is.” I said, giving him a wide grin.

“The gods, require worship to fuel their power and the worship of the nine has been declining for centuries. Vampires on the other hand, never stop growing in strength and I am the oldest vampire to exist in this day and age.”

“Are you saying you’re stronger than a god?” Matteo asked in disbelief.

“Nope. Even in their weakened state, any of them could crush me like a bug. Actually, it would be less than that, I would be less than the bug, it wouldn’t even take them any conscious effort to kill my ass.”

“Then?” Matteo prompted.

“I’m basically their go-to guy when they need something done. Their connection with their priests has become so weak, that the best they can do are dreams and vague impressions. One theory is that I’m one of their biggest sources of worship income.”

“Really?” Matteo asked.

“Yup.” I agreed. It was all a lie of course. I had no idea why they tolerated me. The gods really were weakened compared to the power they had, when I first got turned, back in the third era. They had never seen fit to answer me. They had asked me to go here and there, and I had done so when I felt like it, but as far as I could tell, they had never rewarded me for it.

 

X

There's nothing like a carefully phrase bluff to seem more powerful than you actually are... To Be Continued sometime tomorrow. (my time)

[Ishigreensa]

You know, with your writing, I don't think you need to put that someone HAS to be knowledgeable with that Minecraft legacy or whatever.  I've heard of Minecraft for a long time, but don't know anything of it, and so I don't really know any of the lore you speak of, however, that has not stopped me enjoying your story.  I think you should say something about those that know of it will appreciate the universe this is written in, but it is very unnecessary to know the story, up to as far as I've read so far to enjoy this story.

 

[Kingdark]

I said that, because I have read fanfics in the past, which were completely new and I was totally confused and I just stopped reading. If you don't know the lore, the background or anything, then takes away a lot of the enjoyment. I think so at least.

Am I wrong?

[Ishigreensa]

I think a certain level of enjoyment is added having a connection to it, but if like in your story, the author does a good job of bringing us into the universe, then it's not necessary to enjoy the story as written.

[Kingdark]

I am probably going to post the full story here, before I'm posting on archive of our own. I will continue by posting two parts every day, until I get to chapter three.

After that, I'm going to slow down, because I only have six chapters written. Each chapter is approximately ten thousand words long, and I only have about 1700 words in chapter six. I would like to stay ahead by at least one chapter, every time I post. So, if my muse abandons me, I can at least post two more parts of about 5 thousand words each.

Once more, if you see inconsistencies, any typos or any other kind of mistake, feel free to point it out.

Kingdark.

 

 

Chapter 2 part one

“…Easy girl, don’t forget to breathe.” I blink and I realize I had missed a lot. Thankfully, my sensors had recorded everything, so I could review it later.

“She’s right though. If they’re coming together, doesn’t that imply there’s a set? And if there’s a set…”

“A set built by something or someone out of settled systems space.” Matteo finished.

“Oh, not this again,” the Imperial, Walter groaned.

“Well then, if you’re so sure, then why not put some of that wealth of yours on the table?” Matteo challenged.

“Fine.” Walter said. “How does two thousand credits sound?”

“Deal!” Matteo declared.

“Vasco, if you would be so kind as to remove two thousand credits from my local account? And put it to the side?” Walter requested.

“…Process complete.”

“And so the same for me too.” Matteo said a moment later.

“Process complete. Account now has a total of four thousand credits.”

“Transfer it to whoever is right, when we eventually discover the truth.” Walter instructed.

“I second that." Matteo backed it up.

“Very well. Both of you are removed as owners from the account. The four thousand credits have been invested and can be removed at any given time, once we know the truth.” Vasco stated.

 

“So!” Sarah said. “Are you ready to get started? See if exploration and the preservation of ancient knowledge is the life for you?”

“Well, why don’t you start, by explaining what your organization is about?” I suggested.

 

“Barret didn’t tell you?”

“He mentioned something about preserving history and to gather information about magic and alchemy, but not much else.” I admitted.

“That too. But Constellation’s primary purpose is all about exploration. To see what’s out there. To go where no man has gone before.” Sarah said.

“We’re also trying to preserve ancient knowledge.” Walter volunteered.

“Like how to use and cast magic.” Matteo concluded.

I frown. “What do you mean, learn how to use and cast magic?” I asked. “Last time I checked, it was still pretty common information.”

“Although, now that I come to think of it, it’s been a long time since someone else threw a fireball in my face.” I thought absently.

“After Tamriel was abandoned, a lot of information was left behind. Expeditions have been launched to try and retrieve some of that information, but you need more than just a few dozen people to take back a smaller city and hold it against the monsters that rule them.”

Blinking several times, I wonder if the magic I had mastered centuries ago was still known and if not, how much it would be worth.

“Well, using the old classification, I would’ve been a battle mage, back in the third era, but I’ve only expanded on it ever since.”

“Are you saying, that you were around during the obiviion crisis?” Walter asked.

“…It was the Oblivion crisis actually.” I corrected him.

“But yes, I suppose you could say that.” Not that I remembered much of those days. Partly on purpose and partly by accident. It had just been too long. And I didn't want to remember the friends I lost.

“Everyone, let’s not get distracted here.” Matteo interrupted.

“I would love nothing more but to pick your brain and ask you about your time on Tamriel and the things you must’ve seen there, but before I do, do you even want to join constellation?”

“Well, technically speaking, I can’t really accept or refuse until I’ve picked Barret up and dropped him off here.” I told them.

“And how exactly do you intend to pick him up?”

“Well, since I doubt you’re going to leave him on Vectera, I’d guess you were going to use the Frontier. And if you’re going to use the Frontier, I might as well tagalong. Obviously, any of you are free to join me, or alternatively, you can pick him up yourself, but then you’d have to pick up Barret’s tab and if you’re going to do that, then I’d have to go back to Vectera anyway.”

“Can we please stop the argument, right here, right now?” Sarah interrupted.

“I just got done calling a contact of mine and he told me that… No, never mind what he said. Point is, I need to go to Mars, so I’m going to need the Frontier. But I would rather have Barret watch my back, because these things are never as simple to go to a location, do the transaction and then go back home.”

“Am I still invited to join constellation?” I asked.

“Yes.” Sarah nodded. “You could join us to Mars and we’ll see how we click.”

“I’m good with that.” I said after a moment of thinking it over.”

“If we’re all agreed, then let’s get going. The sooner we pick Barret up, the sooner we can get to Mars and hopefully pick up another artefact.”

“If I may interrupt for a moment.” I said, raising my hand hesitantly.

“…I would like to know what those things are first.” I said, pointing at the alien artefacts.

“The truth is that we don’t know.” Noel admitted.

“Noel is the scientist among us by the way.” Walter said.

“No, no, she’s THE scientist among us.” Matteo corrected.

“That’s what I said.” Walter retorted.

“No, you just said she’s the scientist among us. You didn’t emphasize ‘the’ enough. It doesn’t do her genius justice.”

“And they’re off again.” Sarah muttered.

“Does he have a crush on Noel?” I asked quietly.

“They’re right about one thing though.” Sarah said with a quiet chuckle.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Walter really should have emphasized ‘the’ because it really doesn’t do her genius justice.”

“Maybe, maybe not. The point is, that even after spending tens of thousands of credits, we still don’t know what they’re made out.” Noel said, very obviously changing the subject.

“Noel’s right. There’s not a single ore in the settled system that comes even close to what those things may be made out of.”

“I’m assuming you did, but I’m going to go ahead and ask anyway, because it never hurts to double check and assuming is making an ass of u and me. Anyway, did you check the properties of Corundum, Ebony, Melachite, Moonstone and Orichalcum ore?”

“You just mentioned some of the rarest and most expensive ores that are known to exist. So, no. even a couple of grams are expensive enough to almost put me out of business.” Walter said.

“Rare?" I repeated. “That’s not… You’re serious? I mean, even back during the third era, those ores weren’t exactly common, but they weren’t super rare either. If the ore is too expensive what about a glass weapon then?”

“Why would you want to use a weapon made out of glass?” Matteo asked.

I just stared at him, not entirely sure if he was serious. “I’m not referring to glass as in a window, which is made out of glass. I’m referring to weapons made out of Malachite ore.” I clarified.

“People made weapons out of Malachite ore?” Matteo exclaimed with Walter asking the same question a second later.

“…Yes?” I asked. “Like I said, even back during the third era, Malachite ore wasn’t exactly common, but it wasn’t rare either and a lot of high level adventurers would consider anything but glass weapons trash.”

“Well, it’s not like we can go back to Tamriel for a stroll and go and mine some ore.” Walter said, rolling his eyes.

“Yhea, if the Deadra don’t kill you first, then the dragons sure as hell would.” Matteo agreed.

“…What about the huge deposit of ores that was found on Secunda?” I asked them. I was trying to remember if I had hear anything about it, after the discovery became public, but I had pretended that Tamriel hadn’t existed after I left for centuries.

“Secunda was abandoned as a potential colony after over a dozen attempts went terribly wrong.” Sarah said simply.

“What about Masser?” I ask them.

“…Masser has been declared a no go zone and not even the most evil of pirates would consider breaking it.” Matteo said shortly.

“…Why?” I ask confused.

“Because of the near success of the Khajiit genocide.” Sarah said.

“So, the only reason Masser was never explored, is because of the attempted genocide on my people?”

 

"Pretty much." Walter confirmed.

“Getting back to the point, before we’re distracted again, in a clear attempt to change the subject, if you want some samples of the ores I’ve mentioned, I’m sure I got some…” I paused and closed my eyes, digging into my inventory. After a few moments I grinned and just like that, I had a couple of pieces of ores in my hand, which I put on the table one at a time, until there were several samples of each type in front of me.

“That’s raw, high quality Malachite ore!” Walter exclaimed.

“It’s not high quality.” I disagreed, shaking my head. “None of it, is the best quality, but I do have other stashes, which has better samples and that’s ignoring the melee weapons I’ve hidden all over known Settled System Space.”

“Y-you…” Walter stuttered, causing Sarah, Matteo and Noel to look at the man in shock. Walter never stuttered!

“Just the ore lying on the table, is worth enough credits, you could literally buy yourself a small, state of the art fleet of spaceships, fully crewed and armed with the latest weapons and gadgets. If what you say is true, and I have no reason to believe you’re lying, and you really do have a bunch of weapons made out of those ores and you sold them, you would become the richest man in known space!” Walter said.

“Doesn’t that make it a bad thing to sell all of it?” I asked seriously.

“All at once?” Walter asked.

“Definitely a bad idea.” Walter said firmly.

“Would it be a bad moment to say, that I have a lot of them?” I asked them. I really did. People seemed to have forgotten the art of having a personal inventory and were mostly relying on their spacesuits and its ability to ‘consume’ items.

My own inventory had just grown larger and larger as I grew older. The more stuff I ‘carried’ the more magicka it required to keep it going, but conversely, my magicka recovery rate increased a little every day. To say that I had a lot of crap in my inventory was an understatement. But at the same time, I hadn’t really taken something from it in years, because using my suit’s inventory felt more comfortable.

“Define a lot of them?” Walter asked.

“I’ve got plenty of armor, plenty of weapons, boots, enchanted and otherwise, I’ve got shields, helmet’s, uniforms… If I take everything I’ve got, I might be able to fully outfit a small army? Though, obviously, most of those things would be awfully outdated and obsolete.

“Well, approximately, I’m not sure.” I added.

“Could you please put the ore away?” Walter asked.

“Sure.” I agreed, taking the pieces and storing it back into my inventory.

“I understand the basics of supply and demand, but how is it possible that the damn ore has become so valuable?”

“Several reasons.” Walter answered.

“Firstly, the bullets made out of it, are extremely effective against Terrormorphs.” Sarah said.

“Indeed.” Walter nodded.

“Glass weapons are also very effective against Deadra.” Walter said.

“What about moonstone and Orichalcum?” I asked.

“They’re valuable, but not anywhere near to the value of Malachite.” Walter answered.

It was then that my stomach growled, which was then echoed by the rest of the constellation members present.

“Well then,” Walter chuckled. “how about we get something to eat, get to know our friend here a little better and then you leave for Vectera and then Mars?” Walter suggested.

The next couple of hours went by quickly and before I knew it, I was having a lot of fun. But part of me also resented myself, for letting myself get attached. These people were mortals and they would barely last a few decades, before they died. Walter wouldn’t even last that long.

Several hours later.

 

It’s funny, but there’s nothing like sharing a meal with other people who are interested in the same things you are. I hadn’t even realized just how lonely I was, until I was talking and debating with these people. The matter of whether or not I was going to join them was already decided as far as I was concerned.

“It’s decided then?” Walter asked.

“If you’ll have me, I’ll be happy to join your organization.” I said with a nod.

“Noel, how much do you think the samples he gave you would be worth?” ­Walter asked.

“…In credits or in property?" Noel asked.

“Either. Both.” Walter replied.

“If you wanted to be paid out in credits only, you’d still get a lot, but it would be less than if you wanted to be paid in property, because we’re talking about a lot of credits here and few people have that many. I doubt even your competitors have that many credits. Just for these samples, you could sell them for a few million credits. No less than two although five or six could be possible as well. Property wise, you could get the rights of building a home on several planets in UC space.”

“…That’s what I thought.” Walter said with a nod. “In that case, I’m going to tap into my discretionary fund, and make this place into a fortress basically.”

“Isn’t security to obscurity better in this instance?” I asked.

“What do you mean?" Walter asked.

“Well, how much visitor traffic do you get? In a week? A month?”

“…We’d be lucky to get a handful of visitors in a year.” Sarah answered.

“But a lot of people know that this place is your headquarters right?” I asked her.

“…Yes, what’s your point?”

“I’m getting there.” I said patiently. “But don’t you think it would make a lot of people very curious about why you’re suddenly securing your home? If I read Walter right, then he wouldn’t hesitate to spend at least a hundred thousand credits to secure this place.”

“…He’s right.” Walter said, facepalming and groaning.

“…I’m sorry, but I don’t think I…” Sarah said, but then her eyes widened and she too groaned.

“Can someone explain it to someone who isn’t a genius, please?" Matteo asked.

“As long as you and they don’t tell anyone you have these pieces of ore, there’s no reason for anyone to suspect that it even exists.” I explain calmly.

“That said, I do think it’s a good idea to upgrade your security, but do it slowly. You could say that someone tried to break in and that’s why you’re upgrading your security. And if you like, I know a few people on new Atlantis who would be willing to ‘test’ your security too.”

“…Explain please.” Walter requested.

“Do you know about the thieves guild?” I asked.

“The what guild now?” Matteo asked.

“The thieves guild is a myth. They don’t exist.” Walter insisted.

“Just like the Gray Fox was a myth?" I asked sarcastically.

“The what fox now?” Walter asked.

“…Never mind.” I said with a sigh. “Look, just trust me when I say that the guild exists and that several members owe me some big favours. So if I asked them to break in, they would. You could then report the break in and use that as an excuse to increase your security.”

“Why don’t you do that when you get back?” Walter suggested. “Meanwhile, Noel can do her tests and once she’s done, we can drop the items off at the bank in their high security vaults.”

United Colony Space (UCS) - Alpha Centauri system orbit of Jemison.

 

For once, I was glad that I had a habit of wearing my helmet all the time. The only time I didn’t wear the damn thing, was when I was all by myself. Now I remembered why. It was because I was dangerously close to pouting. Not that I would admit in doing so under threat of death or torture. Heck, behind the privacy of my helmet, I could stick out my tongue or make other childish gestures and nobody would ever know.

Why was it pointedly, not pouting? Because I had the bad luck of picking out the one passenger chair I shouldn’t have picked. Why shouldn’t I have picked that one specific chair? Because apparently, it was Cora’s chair, who just happened to be the six year old daughter of Sam, who in turn, is another member of constellation. Cora is only six and a genius as well. Unfortunately, she’s also not anywhere near the height she should be, making people think she’s three at best. Anyway, Sam and Cora are currently out on a survey mission and weren’t expected back for several days.

“I could probably force my way out.” I thought absently, casually checking just how tough the restraints were. Even without enhancing my physical strength with magicka, as a vampire, I was already several times as strong as the toughest human. This was just a chair with child restraints. It wasn’t as if it was designed to hold an adult. Breaking out would be reasonably easy too.

“Dusty, what exactly are you doing back there? According to the system, we’re under attack!?” Which was impossible, since they had yet to launch from Atlantis spaceport.

“I’m trying to force my way out of this damn chair.” I answer honestly.

“Could you please, just stop? The ship thinks we’re under attack and it’ll eject you as an escape pod, if you continue doing whatever is you’re doing.”

“How could it even…” I began to protest, but then I sighed, stuck my tongue out in her general direction and crossed my arms.

Definitely not pouting.

“…Is there any reason why you can’t just stand up and unlock the damn thing to let me out?” I asked.

I just can’t help myself, can I?”

“Oh, quit your pouting and your whining please. You should feel lucky the system hasn’t kicked in yet. Cora loves to be babied. She says it’s to compensate for the stress and pressure she’s under. Being a one of a kind child genius does that for you.”

“I’m not whining or pouting.” I snapped back. Wait, what did she say about Cora and her love of being babied?

“Oh? So you didn’t cross your arms and you didn’t stick out your tongue, in my general direction?”

I gaped at her for several seconds. How did she know?

“Camera’s and sensors, dearie.” Sarah answered my unasked question. Then, the monitor ahead of me, blinked on and it showed a video feed what Sarah was doing.

“So, tell me about miss Cora.” I asked after a short awkward pause. On the monitor, Sarah shrugged. “…All right, I’m still on hold anyway, so why not. Just pay attention when I hold up my hand, when it’s finally my turn, okay?”

“Yes, sure, no problem.” I agree with a nod. I don’t need to be told to be quiet when someone else in the phone!

“Cora is currently six years old and to be frank, she’s a super genius, plain and simple.” Sarah told me.

“She is?” I asked.

“Yup.” Sarah nodded.

“Unfortunately, she doesn’t look like the age she’s supposed to be.”

“What... What do you mean?" I asked with a frown.”

“Cora has the height, weight and general appearance of a girl halve her age, basically.” Sarah explained.

“I can’t imagine how embarrassing that has to be for her.” I said with sympathy.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. Cora doesn’t mind.”

“She… She doesn’t?” I asked.

“Nope.” Sarah agreed. “Although… I suppose that three is a tad too generous.”

“I can’t really imagine a six year old girl not caring or minding that she looks like a…” I paused, not sure if I should finish hat sentence.

“A preschooler, a toddler or a baby?” Sarah finished for me.

“Well, yes.” I admitted.

“Like I said, Cora doesn’t really care.” Sarah repeated.

“I’m sorry, I’m not saying you’re lying, heck, I don’t even know what you would have to gain by lying about it, but I just have a hard time believing that.”

Sarah shrugged. “Cora says it makes her feel closer with her dad. She says that there’s nothing about being given a bottle, being bathed or dressed to make you feel loved and cared for. Then there are the diaper changes.”

“D-diaper changes?” I asked.

“Uhuh.” Sarah agreed.

“Why would she even…” I said, trailing off.

“Oh, I was confused as well.” Sarah nodded.

“I know I already said so, but it has to be said again. Cora is a child super genius. Emphasis on super and genius. She’s quit literally the kind of genius who is born once every few centuries. But being a genius like that comes with stress and pressure. So, one day, Cora decided to take advantage of her appearance. I don’t remember her exact words, but she’s always been a daddy’s girl and she said she missed how close they were.”

“…So she asked to be babied?” I asked.

“Pretty much.” Sarah confirmed.

“Is that… Normal?” I asked carefully.

“Normal is overrated.” Sarah told me.

“Besides, it’s not like Cora does it a lot. It’s more when she feels overwhelmed and she just wants to forget about everything. She only does it in the Lodge and only when people she trusts are around or if she feels stressed.”

“I don’t mean to imply anything, but is it safe to take a child Cora’s age out to unknown planets?”

“Oh, you don’t need to apologize for asking that question.” Sarah reassured me. “I and others asked the same one. After all, most people will think she’s three at best, not six. Or they would if it weren’t for her solution.”

“…You have to explain that bit.” I told her.

“Do you remember those old morning cartoons, where a bunch of child detectives caught criminals and they were often disguised as monsters and were ultimately wearing masks?”

“I didn’t watch any cartoons when I was a little boy.” Mostly because they didn’t exist yet back then.

“Well, just imagine a mecha suit the size of an adult. The mecha suit looks creepily like a real human, and Cora is essentially piloting it like a puppet.”

“Huh.” I said. “That’s… Clever.”

“I would’ve used creepy, but clever is true as well.” Sarah nodded.

“…If Cora hasn’t grown much for the last three years, does that mean she could be stuck at her age?” I asked.

“No.” Sarah said, shaking her head.

“Sam, that’s Cora’s dad, he visited several hospitals to figure out what was wrong. Basically, Cora has a well known disease, which is entirely benign and innocent, but it just happened to… Mutate into its current form. She’s actually paid a pretty credit for donating blood and other samples to be studied.”

“Don’t tell me they’re going to weaponize it or something like that?” I asked in disbelief.

“Weaponize it? How would they even do that? I’m not Cora’s mum and Sam is a friend, but he doesn’t tell me everything. The only thing I know, is that they’re studying it so they could improve our lifespans.”

“Oh, and that won’t backfire on them.” I said sarcastically.

“It’s mostly all guesswork, but worst case scenario, Cora won’t have a growth spurt until she hits the double digits.”

“Wouldn’t the worst case scenario be that she’s stuck like this, more or less permanently?” I asked.

“They ruled that possibility out.” Sarah answered.

“Well, let’s hope she’s not an early then, when it comes to puberty and looking at boys.” I said absently.

“I hope so too.” Sarah agreed.

“It’s odd though.” Sarah said absently.

“Odd? What’s odd?” I asked.

“Cora’s chair activated and buckled you in. But… It definitely shouldn’t have done that. It’s designed specifically for Cora. So why did it react to you?”

“I honestly have no idea.” I answered. And I really didn’t.

X

“Control to Frontier.”

“Frontier is listening.” Sarah said instantly.

“Due to a severe accident in orbit, all ship launches have been placed on hold. Current estimate that you will be permitted to launch is approximately two hours. This could happen sooner or it could be delayed further.”

“Wilco control. Do they need any help up there? Frontier is rated for search and rescue.”

“Negative Frontier, it’s chaotic up there enough as it is. Thanks for the offer though. I will inform the relevant parties of the offer. Should your help be needed, you will be contacted. I am required to inform you that if they request your help and you launch, and you Grav Jump out, your search and rating will be taken away from you and you will be heavily fined.”

“People do that?” Sarah asked innocently. I could tell that she had considered it though.

“They do, have and will do it again.” Control replied.

“Do you have any details?” Sarah asked.

“You know, you’re one of the politer ones and I could use a temporary break anyway, so I’ll tell you. I don’t really know exactly what happened, only that a rookie, Grav Jumped into an OUT zone instead of an IN zone.”

“How is that even possible?” Sarah asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out as well. That it might happen in the middle of nowhere is one thing. But for that to happen here must either be incompetence, stupidity or sabotage. Either way, I’m told he nearly crashed into another ship, who in turn had to evade very sharply and also nearly had an accident. If it weren’t so serious, the shouting, swearing and cursing would’ve been funny.”

“Anyway, it was nice chatting with you, but I still have to inform over a dozen ships so if there’s nothing else…”

“Before you hang up, there is one more question I would like to ask.” Sarah said quickly.

“All right, but make it quick please.”

“Should I stay in the pilot’s chair or can I relax?”

“That… Is actually a good question to ask.” Control admitted.

‘mumbling’

“…Sorry about that Frontier, but I just asked my supervisor about this, and the answer to your question has been added to what we’re supposed to say to waiting ships. Thanks for the extra work you just gave me, now I’ve got to restart my list from the beginning.” Though it was said in good humour, I could tell that the control guy was a bit irritated too.

 “But to answer your question, you should probably stick close to the pilot’s chair. Because all launch permissions have been put on hold, it’s going to be hell to get everything back on track. The time ships have, have been reduced to five minutes and I’ve been told, that until everything is caught up, there will be a zero tolerance policy if you’re late with replying. If you’re late, you’ll be moved to the bottom of the queue.”

Five minutes was not a lot of time, considering that you normally had fifteen minutes.

“If you need to use the bathroom or anything, I suggest you ask a crewmember to take over for you.”

“Unfortunately, that’s a no-go for me, control. I’m the only crew member currently onboard.” Sarah responded.

“Is there anything else, Frontier?” Control asked.

“No, control, there’s nothing else. Frontier over and out.”

Now that the conversation was over, maybe I could get Sarah to move her butt and get me out of this damn chair?

“You’re not going to let me sit here and twiddle my thumbs for who knows how long, right?” I asked her somewhat impatiently.

“There. It should be unlocked now.” Sarah said.

I shrug and I pull on the restraints, but they’re still as tight as before.

“Wait a moment,” I said when I realised something. “You were able to unlock the damn thing ­remotely this whole god damn time?”

“…Maybe?” Sarah offered.

“Why would you… You know what? Never mind that. Would you just please unlock it for real this time?”

“Dusty, stop screwing around. I have unlocked it.” Sarah snapped back.

X

Secunda: The equivalent to the moon.

Masser: Masser has importance to the Khajiit. Due to their mistreatment and near extinction, people don't want to go there out of a sense of... Something. Not without Khajiit permission anyway.

[Kingdark]

Chapter two part two.

“No, you haven’t! I’m telling you, I’m still stuck!”

“Dusty, I swear, if this is some kind of petty payback for letting you sit in that chair for a couple of minutes, don’t forget that the chair you’re sitting in, is Cora’s chair! Think on that for a minute.”

“I’m telling you,” I said with gritted teeth, “I’m not lying. I’m stuck.” I snapped back.

 “Oh for…” Sarah muttered. I saw her switch to what must be the software to control this seat again and even though I couldn’t see it, the camera was still pointed at Sarah, so I could see her frown.

“The system says the chair is unlocked.”

“Yes, well, it isn’t.”

“Oh, for.” I saw Sarah mutter. The monitor switched itself off when Sarah stood up and the door to my direct right unlocked and opened. Sarah came down and pulled on the restraints, clearly expecting them to come loose.

“You really are still locked in.” She exclaimed, clearly surprised.

“Did you really think I would lie about that?”

“Cora would’ve.” Sarah muttered.

“Sarah, no offense, but I don’t exactly look like a six year old girl.”

“No, you don’t.” Sarah agreed absently. She then pressed her thumb against what I assume was a finger print scanner, but it just made that error sound and the buckle system did not unlock.

“It was working fine when Cora used it oh about… three months ago, I think?” Sarah said with a frown.

“I’m just going to do an update check. Maybe this is a bug or something and there are instructions on how to…” Sarah paused.

“The website is down?” Sarah said quietly.

“…The forum is too? So is chat. What the hell? Checking recent reviews and… Uhoh.” Sarah muttered.

“Ohoh?” I repeated.

“…I’m going to see if I can…” Sarah muttered. “Okay, that still works, now can I… Yes, I can and can I…”

“Oh dear, that can’t be good.”

“Sarah? When someone says ‘oh dear, that can’t be good’ that doesn’t sound reassuring.”

“…The website is down, so is the forum and chat as well. There are thousands of negative reviews. The company has gone bankrupt apparently because of…” Sarah paused and then she finished the sentence in a way that clearly implied she didn’t think it made any sense whatsoever.

“Because of reasons.” Sarah said. “The company has gone bankrupt, because of reasons? Really, that’s what they’re going with?”

“Now I understand why you said oh dear.” I muttered.

“Oh, that’s not even the best part. Listen to this.”

“…Attention user,” Sarah read out loud.

X

“Due to reasons we cannot disclose, support of the child-buckle-system has been permanently suspended. An automated check has been performed upon doing the update and you are Three months, and one day too late to request support or make a request for compensation. All our facilities have been closed and we were forced to let all staff go.

Snugglebug Safety seats apologizes for the inconvenience and hopes you shop with us again.

Hug for Your Bug: Snuggle Up in Our Child Seat Today! Get your model with us today!”

X

“…What did you just read to me?” I asked.

“I’m wondering the same thing.” Sarah agreed.

“Did I hear you right, when you read that they said, they filed for bankruptcy, but then, in that very same message, they hope we’ll shop with them again and then they’re advertising another of their products?”

“…Yes.” Sarah said. “You did."

“Okay, now I’m even more anxious to get out of this chair.” I said nervously.

“Look, how about I contact Walter and Matteo so they can come to take a look?” Sarah suggested.

“Will they make it on time? We only have a five minute window once they contact us, remember?”

“It’ll be fine.” Sarah said, waving my objection away. She sat down in another chair and retrieved her phone.

“…Walter? Sarah.”

“…”

“No, I haven’t left yet, some kind of accident happened in orbit, causing all ships to be grounded. That’s not why I’m calling though, could you do me a favour and tell me what you know about the company that installed her chair system?”

“…”

“What do you mean, why am I asking about it? Our new friend is stuck in it, right this moment and it refuses to unlock.” Sarah said.

“…”

“What do you mean it’s been used for gross negligence?!” Sarah exclaimed.

“…”

“Yes, you heard me right. Our friend sat down, in what he assumed was a perfectly harmless passenger chair, but the buckle system kicked in. Didn’t Cora use it without any problems, last time she tagged along?”

“…”

“Walter, so help me, you’re lucky I’m not there with you, or I would…” Sarah said, but then she took a deep breath to calm down.

“…Are you really telling me that you didn’t bother to pay a mechanic or a technician to remove the chair, because everyone knew it was Cora’s chair anyway? You didn’t pay for it, because you were CHEAP!?”

“…”

“That’s not an excuse Walter!” Sarah snapped back.

“Attention Frontier. The problems, in orbit have been resolved. You have been given permission to launch. Due to the delays, you have been given five minutes after the end of this message. Please respond immediately. End message.”

“Look, Walter I have to go. Control just informed me I can launch, but I only have five minutes. If I don’t take it now, I’ll be downgraded to the end of the queue. Don’t think this is the end of it though. I’m sure our friend will have something to say about it as well.” Sarah said, before ending the call.

Sarah then jumped into the pilot’s chair and connected with control immediately.

“Frontier to control. Permission acknowledged. Engines are warming up. Estimated time to launch is in…”

Sarah checked her instruments.

“Approximately two minutes.”

 “Control acknowledges. Upon launching, please take extra care to stick to the assigned lanes. All pilots are extra twitchy right now. A record fines have been issued as it is.”

“Wilco.” Sarah responded and then she ended the call.

 “Got I hate flying ships.” I could hear her mutter.

“Sarah,” I began to say, but it was then that the first phase of engine-warmup initiated. Even with modern tech as it is, those things are loud! At least they were until the noise dampeners kicked in. And that usually didn’t happen until we were already in the air.

Sighing, I realize I have no choice but to keep quiet. It was then that my stomach growled. I looked at my watch and it was then that I paled because I had completely forgotten about that.

“Sarah. SARAH!” I shouted over the noise. “You need to get me out of this damn chair, because I need the go!” There was no need to specify what I was talking about, because I thought it was pretty obvious.

“Look Dusty, this is really not the time. Just hold it in, until we’re in orbit and then you can force your way out, okay? Just don’t do it now, because that will cause more problems than it will solve.”

“N-no, you don’t understand. Look its… Fuck, this is embarrassing to admit but,”

“Dusty,” Sarah interrupted me, “unless this is a matter of life and death, could you please shut up and let me focus?”

“I’ll make it quick.” I promised. “Because I wasn’t about to let this go without explaining.

“If we crash in a glorious explosion, I’m going to haunt you for the rest of our afterlives, just so you know!” Sarah snapped.

“Look,” I said impatiently, “you already know I’m a vampire and the short version is, when you’re a vampire and nature calls? Then you don’t have the option of refusing.”

“Look Dusty, I’m sure it’s embarrassing and all that, but if you have an accident, then you have an accident. That’s nothing to be ashamed about. Everyone has had an accident eventually.”

“Well, it isn’t YOU in this damn chair, now is it!?” I shouted back at her.

“I haven’t had an accident while so close to a bathroom in months! I’m not about to break my streak because you refuse to help!”

“Dusty,” Sarah said dangerously, “if you try to break out while we’re enroute to orbit, I swear I WILL activate the child system and it’ll dress you in one of Cora’s diapers adjusted for your size! Don’t think I won’t give the order!”

“Y-you wouldn’t dare!” I snapped back.

“TRY ME!” Sarah snapped back. “Because it only needs the press of a button, and you’ll be diapered in less than five minutes!”

X

‘PFFWWETTT BRRRTOMH’

I closed my eyes in utter humiliation. If my heart still functioned, I was certain, my face would be completely red. Oh. Wait. I do have a beating heart. I blink and then I realize that I’m emptying my bladder as well, and no matter how hard I try to stop it, I just can’t. My humiliation is complete. Not only did I mess myself, but I wet my pants as well. Just great. And I can’t even shower and clean this mess off, because I’m still stuck in this damn chair!

X

‘Attention pilot, class E user ‘UNKNOWN’ has messed and wet himself. Sensors indicate he is not wearing protection. What are your instructions?’

Sarah didn’t react immediately, because she wasn’t sure what to say. Should she prove a point by telling the system to put a diaper on Dusty, or should she back off?

“Refer to class E user as Dusty, because that’s his name.” Sarah instructed absently.

‘Acknowledged. Class E user is now registered by the name of Dusty. Considering Dusty has proven he cannot use the toilet like an adult, should system classify him as L class instead?’

“L class? Isn’t that the same class Cora is registered at?” Sarah asked.

‘Correct. Cora Coe is currently classified as a class L, zero-two user.’

“Negative. Do not classify Dusty as an L class. The man just had an accident. That’s not common but isn’t rare either. It happens to all of us.” Sarah said.

‘Instructions acknowledged. System wishes to point out that user Dusty is near tears and may resort to a tantrum. Perhaps a diaper change is in order? Should system fabricate the required items adjusted for Dusty’s weight, height and size?’

“Well, it’s better than sitting in it.” Sarah said to herself.

‘Very well. System will proceed to a) undress user Dusty, clean up user Dusty, put a diaper on user Dusty. Are these instructions correct?’

“Yes, that’s fine. Just make sure that it’s for a male and then proceed.” Sarah answered.

‘Very well. User Dusty is now classified as class L, Settings saved.’

“Wait, what? System, do NOT classify Dusty as L class! System? SYSTEM?” Sarah shouted.

X

There are a few things one needs to know about spaceships, modern, old and vintage.

One. Every spaceship, modern, old and vintage came equipped with what was essentially a device that could create things out of nothing. The fabricator, which was how the device was referred to, still needed raw resources though. It could be anything from human waste, to food or items one would throw in the trash. Anything and everything on a spaceship, was used, reused and then recycled until nothing was left.

Two. Every spaceship, modern, old and vintage had very advanced sensors that kept track of the health of its passengers. These sensors were designed to be easy to replaced or upgraded. Essentially, this meant that it was trivially easy for any ship to know the weight, height and dimensions of anyone that boarded the ship.

Three. There were very few things, the aforementioned fabricator could not make. The only thing the commercial model couldn’t make were weapons, explosives or other highly dangerous items. Those were limited to military ships instead. The fabricator did need information though. Or at the very least, an example of the item it was requested to make.

Four. Every spaceship, modern, old and vintage had very powerful computer systems with so much storage it was essentially endless. That meant that it never really threw anything away, because it might come in handy later. Case in point, every ship recorded everything that happened down to the smallest of details. From insects that managed to get in to everything else. It kept track of EVERYTHING!

Five. Behind every ship, new old and vintage was a rudimentary intelligence system. It was not self-aware and was specifically designed so it couldn’t become self-aware but it was still designed to learn and adapt.

Six. To help prevent ships from becoming self-aware, they underwent periodic wipes while they were maintained, provided they had crossed a certain threshold. The Frontier hadn’t been wiped since the moment it had been built.

Seven. Every house, ship, facility and location has mechanical arms or helper arms that were controlled by computer systems so they could help their users. A pilot could, for example, instruct the ship to make him a sandwich without leaving the pilot chair, and through the mechanical arms, it would do so.

The eighth and final point, was the fact that every ship was designed from the start to be highly modular but also to be highly adaptable. That’s why ships could reconfigure their own HABS very slightly. They did so with the aid of their mechanical hands as well as by shifting things around while making sure structural integrity was maintained.

In this case, Frontier’s age worked against it. Never before in its years of service, had an adult had an accident. It had also never looked up how likely this was to occur. So, when one of its passengers had an accident, it was inclined to write it off as just that. However, the passenger was also sitting in user Cora’s chair. Add to this that the chair itself had corrupt software, it made Frontier come to the wrong conclusion.

Right now, as far as Frontier was concerned, if you had an accident, then clearly you weren’t ready to use the toilet and would therefore be demoted back to diapers. Case in point, User Dusty had wet and pooped himself, which meant that he had to be re-classified as class L. Essentially, as far as Frontier was concerned, Dusty was now a little boy. The exact age not yet determined. A little boy in desperate need of a diaper change.

Errors began to built themselves up as Frontier tried to resolve the problems it was facing. Frontier did not have adult diapers in stock. It did have diapers for a girl of Cora’s age, but those would not fit an adult by any means. Not by a longshot. Upscaling the diaper models Frontier had in stock wouldn’t work either, because it didn’t know HOW to upscale it. Which means it would have to improvise until it could obtain the correct information.

The Frontier looked into its database and eventually, it found a reference to ‘cloth diapers.’ These were much easier to scale up, which is exactly what Frontier did. A cloth diaper was not ideal, but it would do in a pinch. At least, until it could communicate with another ship, who might have the information it required. But first, Frontier knew it had to stall for time. Fabricating items took time, and Frontier noticed that User Dusty was tearing up, which implied he was ready to throw a tantrum.

X

‘CLICK’

I blinked as I hear the buckle system unlock, followed by several panels unlocking and opening from several locations at the same time. This, I identified, were the mechanical arms that came with every ship, vintage and modern. The buckle system, keeping me in place reeled in and I let out a sigh of relief. Now I only had to take a shower and throw my spacesuit in the nearest sun.

But before I could do as much as put a foot on the ground, those mechanical arms had already picked me up.

“What are you doing!? Sarah! The system is going nuts!” I shouted.

Unlike the chair, I knew not to struggle too much, because these things were rated to lift literal tons of weight. Picking up a single Khajiit wouldn’t be a problem.

‘Com system with user Sarah has been temporarily disabled to prevent you from distracting her.’

I grimaced when I realized it had a point. “Could you please tell me what you are doing?” I asked, in what I thought was a reasonable tone.

‘User Dusty has had a messy accident followed by wetting himself. System has concluded that this means user Dusty is not yet ready for big boy pants and will therefore replace it with a cloth diaper until system can obtain the correct information, so it can fabricate proper disposable diapers for user Dusty to wear.’

“System, I just had an accident. It happens. I can assure you, it won't happen again. Just let me take a shower.”

‘Request denied. Reconfiguration of ship HAB is almost complete. Retrieval of childcare items is complete. Fabrication of cloth diaper re-sized for an adult is complete.

“Attention crew, we will leave atmo on mark. Three. Two. One. MARK. Artificial gravity is kicking in…. Now. Eta to low orbit about… Five minutes.”

It was at this point, I realized that there was no point in arguing with a system. Absently, I registered that the engines had switched over from atmospheric to vacuum friendly. I could try and resist, or I could just let it do what it wanted and then tell Sarah to override it. Then I could take a shower and it would be as if it had never happened.

First my helmet was removed, then the mechanical arms undid the seals of my spacesuit, which it removed one  by one. That left me in my regular clothes. Then it removed my pants, followed by my underwear and…

‘Oh by the nine! The SMELL!’

The air conditioning kicked into high gear, implying that the system agreed with my assessment.

The next couple of minutes passed and I just let everything happen. I didn’t like it. Not one bit, but I couldn’t do anything about it without resorting to drastic measures. Drastic measures I was not willing to resort to. Several long and humiliating minutes later, it was done. The only thing I was wearing was a bulky cloth diaper. I knew that if I could get to the bathroom, I could get rid of it, shower and then I could get dressed in normal clothes.

I shivered a little because of the cold, but immediately after, I could feel the air conditioning kicking in to increase the temperature by a few degrees.

‘Diaper change complete. User Dusty is now classified as L class. Height updated. Weight updated. Age… Calculating… Unable to conclude. Age default to two years of age. Gender updated. Fabrication of appropriate clothes and disposable diapers initiated. Profile is now complete. Saving. Saving complete.’

“What on earth is an L class user?” I wondered.

‘You are, user Dusty.’

“Ask a dumb question to a stupid system and you get a stupid answer.” I muttered.

“Explain what an L class user means.” I said instead.

‘User Dusty shouldn’t worry about things like that. Scans indicate you’re hungry, do you want a bottle?’

“A… No. No thank you.” I said. Though, it was a lie. I was hungry, but a bottle of milk wouldn’t exactly be nutritious to me, given that I was a vampire.

‘Revising scan. Scanning. Double checking scan. Scanning. Confirming results. Scan confirms that class L user known as Dusty indeed is hungry. An appropriate bottle is being prepared.’

“System, I am old enough to know when I’m hungry or not. I can communicate with you, can’t I?” I asked. I knew it was probably pointless but…

‘Query ignored.’

“God damn it.” I muttered under my breath.

‘Class L user: Dusty is cranky. Checking database for solutions. Solution found. Upscaling pacifier for adult male. Upscaling complete. Fabrication of pacifier initiated.’

“A pacifier?” I repeated dumbly.

“No, I don’t need a bloody pacifier damn it! I’m not cranky!” This, I realized, was a lie, since I had raised my voice and under certain interpretation, it could even be said I was close to throwing a tantrum.

‘Fabrication of pacifier is complete.’

 

An adult sized pacifier appeared out of a side panel and I knew it was already too late. I’ll be damned if I don’t try though.

“Listen to me, you damn machine! I’m an adult! Check my damn age! I don’t need an umphgh….”

I had failed to keep an eye on the pacifier and it had plopped the damn thing in my mouth as I was protesting. I spit it back out, but it picked it back up, cleaned it up, then something I couldn’t see popped out of a side panel and next thing I know, it forces the pacifier back in my mouth, only this time, I can’t spit it out because it’s tied behind my head somehow.

The obvious solution would be to use my hands to get rid of it, but by now, I’m back where I started and this time, my hands and arms are restrained too.

‘User Dusty requested to check age. Scanning. Checking. Revising scan. Confirming scan. Age of user Dusty unable to confirm. Defaulting back to previous answer. Fabrication of appropriate clothes complete.’ Waiting on user instructions.’

X
 

 

 

Once more, I was in an impossible situation. Did I stay the way I was, wearing only an absurdly thick cloth diaper or did I let it dress me in these childish clothes? What option would be less embarrassing? Although at this point, I wondered if it could get any worse. Was there even a point in being embarrassed anymore? It wasn’t like I had asked for it!

Actually, I realized abruptly, I couldn’t even ask the damn system to dress me, because the pacifier would make it impossible for me to communicate. I’d be damned if I didn’t try though.

“Fine, then please get me dwessed in those widicilous clothes! Just get it ovew with, before sawah gets here!”

“By the nine, that was terrible.” I thought with a wince. Was it so hard to say ‘Fine, then please get me dressed in those ridiculous clothes! Just get it over with, before Sarah gets here?’

‘Request accepted.'

“Oh thank the nine that it at least understood what I tried to say.” I thought with relief.

“Everything okay over there, Dusty? System has disabled the camera’s for some reason and it isn’t letting me re-enable them.” Sarah said.

“Tell sawah I’m fine, please.” I requested.

‘Request accepted. Message relayed.’

“Dusty, why did system tell me your answer? Don’t tell me you’re giving me the silent treatment?”

“System, please tell sawah that I’m not giving hew the silent treatment, but that she has to see it fow hewself.”

‘Request accepted. Message relayed.’

“Oh, hang on, system just re-enabled camera’s. Huh, okay, I see what you mean. Seems like you’re in the thick of things.”

“Is she weally making fun of me?” I wondered out loud. Wincing, because the pacifier forced me to lisp so badly.

“It’s just teasing, Dusty, nothing more.” Sarah said.

“System, could you please remove the pacifiew?” I ask, in what I hoped was very polite, if a touch impatient.

‘User Dusty is sad. User Dusty needs to be cheered up. Initiating tickling procedure.’

“How did it even come to that conclusion and fuck no, anything but that!” I thought with wide eyes.

As stupid as it sounds,  but I’m very sensitive to being tickled. I know it doesn’t make sense, with me being undead and all… Well former undead, but who is keeping track? The point is, if I’m tickled, then I lose immediate control of my bladder, more importantly, I start giggling.

“System, you can’t tickle me, because it’ll make me wet myself. I’m not saw I pwomise!” I said desperately.

‘Processing.’

‘Processing.’

‘Request denied. User Dusty is wearing a cloth diaper, which is more than capable of absorbing several full bladders.’

Mechanical hands came closer and with gentleness one wouldn’t think possible, it began to tickle me. I tried to resist, I really did, but I didn’t even last five seconds.

‘PSSSSSS’

I closed my eyes in defeat and once more, I could feel myself tear up. Not only was I wearing a cloth diaper, but I had just wet myself. Not a lot, since I’d already emptied it earlier, but enough.

This couldn’t possibly be getting any worse.

“Arrival in low orbit complete. Enroute to indicated position where I can then Grav out.” Sarah reported.

A few minutes later, the door opened, revealing Sarah as she walked closer.

“System, why is user Dusty wearing a cloth diaper?”

‘User Dusty is classified as a class L user: zero two.’

“Oh, right. System, that classification was made in error. Revert user Dusty back to class E.”

“Request denied, user Dusty cannot be upgraded to class E.’

“Why?” Sarah asked patiently.

‘Because user Dusty is two years old. Only users of eighteen and older may be upgraded to class E, B or A.’

“System, Dusty is not two. He’s an adult and definitely older than eighteen. Override. Reclassify him as class E.”

‘Processing.’

Walking closer, she tapped something to the side, causing whatever that had held the pacifier in place, to unlock.

“Now, do you still think I was bluffing?”

“Did you this to me?” I asked, my voice dangerously low.

“Not on purpose no, I promise you. System misinterpreted something I said. I wanted to reverse it immediately, but we were climbing into orbit and couldn’t afford to split my attention.”

I looked at her carefully, studying her, but ultimately, I came to the conclusion, she was telling the truth. My anger dimmed and was replaced with embarrassment again.

‘Request denied.’

“Oh, for. Why is it denied?” Sarah asked impatiently.

‘It is the law that a user, who is classified as class L, cannot be re-classified as another class until the time, indicated on the paperwork has passed.”

“How much time is mentioned on the paperwork?” Sarah asked.

‘System does not have that information available, but the shortest time period is one month.’

“System, I insisted you re-classify user Dusty as class E. It’s fine and I will take full responsibility.”

‘Request denied. Just this once has already been used up for user Cora.’

“But not for user Dusty, correct?” Sarah asked patiently.

‘Correct.’

“In that case, user Dusty has not used it up, therefore you can re-classify him as a class E user without a problem.”

‘System wishes to note that user Dusty has wet himself, is happily wearing a diaper and didn’t resist when it happened.’

“It’s noted. Now please do as I ask. Re-classify user Dusty as class E.”

‘Processing.’

‘Processing.’

‘Processing.’

‘Request denied. Age of user Dusty is noted to be two years. System can re-classify user Dusty as C class zero two.’

“System, user Dusty is not two years old. He is an adult. Therefore, there is no reason why you can’t re-classify him as class E. That class is going to be temporary anyway, because he’s going to become a full class B user later on.”

‘Request denied. User Dusty cannot be upgraded to class B, because user Dusty is age two. Users must be eighteen years old or older, before they can become class E, B or A.”

“It… It think I’m two years old, doesn’t it?” I asked with a sigh.

“That… Does appear to be the case." Sarah said with a grimace.

“System, fabricate clothes for an adult male similar to the user you refer to as user Dusty.” Sarah ordered.

‘Complying.’

“There, once it’s done, you can switch out.” Sarah said.

‘Attention: user Dusty is not permitted to dress, undress, bath or feed himself, because a child of age two cannot do so.’

“Look, Dusty, Barret knows how the Frontier works better than anyone. He fixed it up from the wreck it was, to what it is now.”

“…Are you asking me to stay like this?” I asked her, gesturing towards myself.

“You can’t come outside like this, that much I agree with. System, user Dusty cannot wear his spacesuit with his current clothes.”

‘System agrees.’

“Fabricate new clothes for Dusty to wear. As for protection. Fabricate a pullup with extra padding.”

‘Fabrication of adult sized pullup has been completed. Fabrication of regular clothes have been completed.’

“In that case, undress Dusty and dress him in the pullup and dress him in these clothes, when I give the word.” Sarah instructed.

‘System acknowledges.’

“There. That’s the best I can do for now. At least until Barret debugs system and see what’s wrong.” Sarah said.

“…Just get it over with, Sarah.” I said with a sigh.

“System, give Dusty all the necessary privacy. He’s shy. Only adults he approves can be there with him, if he’s being changed.”

‘System acknowledges. When user Dusty is out of headspace, he may assign other crew members to take care of his needs. Right now, he has done no such thing which means it defaults to user Sarah or system in a pinch.’

“Attention Frontier: you have been headed into deep space for the last five minutes. Is everything all right over there?”

“Go.” Sarah said, knowing that the system would know that it could proceed now.

[Kingdark]

X

Afterthought: Right now, I'm roughly halfway done with chapter six. It's from chapter five and six that the diaper stuff really starts happening, which is exactly how I like it.

At the end of every chapter, I will also add a few extra 'fyi's. I can post these FYI's immediately after, or I'll wait a few hours to do so. It depends if there ARE any FYI's that won't spoil anything.

Sometimes, I'll just repeat stuff that's been mentioned in the story, but in a more direct fashion. Otherwise, it's just some extra stuff to develop the world a bit more.

In this case though, it's immediately after and it's something that's already been hinted at.

Classes. Classes are not like in some stories, where you have beta's, alpha's, omega's etcetera, where they are 'stuck' in their roles. In this case, classes have (almost) nothing to do with that sort of thing.

Instead, it has solely to do with how much authority they have in a ship or in a facility.

Class A: owner of the ship. Top guy of a facility. Has full control over defenses and system obeys him over any other.

Class B: Staff. Crew. Basically anyone who works in / on the ship / the facility. Has significant authority but System will refuse orders if it goes against orders given by a class A user. A class B-9 user is the second of command of a class A user. B-8 has less authority than a B-9. They're ranks, essentially.

Class 😄 are essentially those who are underage. C stands for child in this case. So, a class c-1 is a baby of year old. c-18 is a teenager. In a ship, a class c user will not be permitted in sensitive locations. (or only under heavy supervision.)

Class d: Robots. Any user which is synthetic is classified as class D.

Class e: Passengers.

Finally, there's class L. Which is a little more complicated and will be explained later.

Cheers!

 

[Kingdark]

Chapter three part one

Hurrying towards one of the communication panels that were spread throughout the ship, Sarah hurried to reply.

“…I have no idea how I’m supposed to describe what just happened here, but there are no injuries and there’s no emergency. Just crew drama, nothing to worry about. I’m still going to need a few minutes to deal with it though. Should I shut down engines until I take care of it?”

“Confirm there’s no medical emergency, Frontier?"

“Confirmed, there’s no medical emergency.” Sarah replied.

“Very well then. To answer your question from earlier, since you are already far beyond the area where ships typically tend to Grav Jump in, you are cleared to shut down engines and come to a full stop. You are required to register your current location in the database though.”

“Got it.” Sarah replied. “Is there anything else?”

“Actually, there is.” Control answered.

“It’s an old procedure but it’s still on the books so I have no choice but to comply with it. If you wish to stay in the area with engines shut down, you will need to wait until one of our techs can do an in-depth scan, to look for faults.”

“What? Why? I’ve never heard about that before.” Sarah objected.

“Basically, in the early days, ships often just… Stopped. That’s why it became procedure to check up on any vessels that are inactive for thirty minutes. It’s not something             that happens a lot, but it still does occasionally. Also, if you Grav Jump out, you are still required to report this for the paperwork and so I can redirect the tech ship to another task. If you do not report that you are about to Grav Jump out, you will be fined the next time you jump in.”

“Frontier wilco.”

“Control, out.”

Sarah pulled down the throttle until the engines powered down and the ship was no longer accelerating. It automatically began to slow down as well until it came to a full stop.

X Sarah’s point of view X

When Sarah left the pilot’s seat, and walked back into the previous compartment, she noted that Dusty was fully dressed.

“Do you agree that I’m out of Little headspace?” Sarah heard Dusty ask.

‘System agrees.’

“In that case, I can get rid of the pullup, correct?”

‘System agrees.’

“And you won't stop me?" Dusty asked again.

‘System confirms it won't interfere when user Dusty is out of Little headspace.’

Implying that it would interfere if and when he got back into Little headspace. Whatever that meant.

“Good. Excuse me.” Dusty said, and he went straight for the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Dusty exited the bathroom again, carrying a package which he threw in the recycler straight away.

X Dusty’s point of view X

“Why don’t you try and ask the system how I’m classified now.” I suggested, causing Sarah to blink.

“…Okay. System, what is Dusty’s class right now?”

‘User Dusty is currently classified as class L zero two.’

“Since Dusty is out of headspace, add the E classification as well.” Sarah instructed.

‘Processing.’

‘Request accepted. User Dusty is now considered a passenger when out of Little headspace.’

“Good.” Sarah said simply.

“Dusty,” Sarah began, “I know it’s not perfect, but let’s not mess around with it until we can talk to Barret okay?”

“Agreed.” I said simply.

“You do?” Sarah asked me.

“There’s no point in arguing with a computer, Sarah.” I tell her calmly. “Besides, I’m back in big boy underwear,” I said with an ironic chuckle. “so I’m happy. Hopefully, Barret can fix it, as you say and it won’t be an issue anymore.”

“Right you are.” Sarah agreed. “In that case, do you have any objections to continue our mission?”

“I don’t.”

“In that case, I’m going to get us to Vectera asap. Excuse me.”

“Sarah?” I ask, just before she can close the door behind her.

“Yes?”

“You will just go ahead and pretend that this never happened, right?” I ask. My tone demanded that there was only one answer she should give, but her facial expression implied otherwise.

“…I’m afraid that cat might already be out of the bag.” Sarah admitted.

“…Explain.” I demanded.

“Frontier has a dozen camera’s spread throughout the ship. That’s why it’s entirely possible that Walter or Matteo might be watching us right now.”

“Then turn the damn things off!” I said impatiently. “And better yet, delete all the footage, so that all of it didn’t happen!”

“I can’t.” Sarah said, while shaking her head. “Only a class A user can do that and I’m class B.”

“Which means that…” I prompted.

“Only Barret and Walter can do it. Though, Walter is only registered as a class A owner as a formality and to keep Barret in line.”

“Why?” I prompted.

“Because Barret has this bad habit of going off track and going quiet for several weeks in a row when something catches his attention. Walter got tired of it, so he installed a bunch of cameras and got himself registered as a class A owner to the Frontier as well.” Sarah explained.

“Which is more than fair, given that Walter bought the wreck, even if Barret fixed it up. Anyway, Walter really got tired of Barret going off track for weeks at a time, leaving the rest of us to wonder if he finally had dumped us or not.”

“…Would it be okay, if I punched him, just on general principle?” I asked.

“You mean Barret?” Sarah asked.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“It wouldn’t be the first time, someone punched him, but you probably shouldn’t. Anyway, Walter wanted to take no chances, so he ensured the cameras had enough local storage so they could record more or less indefinitely and on top of that, anything they record is uploaded to secure servers Walter bought all over the settled systems.”

I facepalmed and groaned. There went my chance of pretending that it never happened.

“…You know what?” I asked rhetorically. “Fine. I’ll drop the idea of getting rid of deleting what happened here. Hell, I’ll even permit the lot of you to tease me about this, once we get back.” I continued.

“There is one thing you should keep in mind though.” I wasn’t really talking to Sarah at this point, instead I was addressing the camera’s and any theoretical observer.

“You don’t want to piss off the master Vampire, who just so happens to be several thousand years old.” I looked at Sarah and gestured with my head to her as well. “That applies to you as well. I can take some teasing. Heck, I’ll even take some ribbing or maybe a subtle nickname.”

“Yes of course, I know when enough is enough.” Sarah said quickly.

X

“Frontier to control. Crew drama resolved. Grav drive is charging and we will be leaving in about… Fifteen minutes.”

“Acknowledged Frontier. That means you are required to let our tech ship scan you. He’s ahead of schedule and should be in scanning range in five minutes.”

“Is there a point of me trying to convince you, that it isn’t needed?” Sarah asked.

“I’m afraid not. It’s old policy, but it’s good policy. Besides, unless you have something to hide, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.” Control said.

Sarah chuckled. “I’ve got nothing to hide Frontier, unless you count a diapered boy, claiming he doesn’t need diapers, even after wetting himself.”

“Ha! Business as usual then Frontier! But you aren’t referring to little Cora by any chance?”

Sarah chuckled. “Negative control, unless Cora has grown a penis since the last time I changed her diaper, then no. She’s still a girl.”

“Ah, you’ve got a new Little then?” Control asked.

Frowning, Sarah was beginning to think, she was missing something. She wasn’t sure what though.

“Something like that. Like I said, crew drama, nothing to worry about."

“All right then. UC  Mechanic has just messaged me that they would like to take over, so happy travels Frontier. There’s no need to make an additional report when you Grav Jump out. UC Mechanic will take care of that formality.”

“Acknowledged. Frontier out.”

“Control out.”

“Frontier, this is UC ship ‘mechanic.’ You are preparing to Grav Jump out, correct?”

“That’s right.” Sarah confirmed.

“In that case, I would like to ask you to reduce power to your Grav Drive to an absolute minimum.”

“Frontier acknowledges. Reducing Grav Jump to minimal power. Eta is now… hah, approximately a month?” Sarah said with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry Frontier, my scan will be done before you know it. Now, I do have a few things to inform you about. Firstly, my scan is different from a scan that looks for contraband. It can still find contraband, but it isn’t designed to find it. Should my scan find something, you are required to shut down your Grav Drive immediately and prepare to be boarded.”

“I was already cleared on my way out though.” Sarah objected.

“I’m aware, Frontier, but that’s the way it is.” UC Mechanic said simply.

“Oh, fine.” Sarah huffed. “Frontier acknowledges these instructions.”

“When the scan starts, I’m required to inform you that no personal information will be taken. My ship will essentially check if everything is up to date. It will look for mechanical faults or other faults you may not know about. My ship and yours will be communicating and when everything is said and done, you should be receiving a message with detailed information and instructions on how to fix these potential issues.”

“Frontier acknowledges.”

“I’m sorry Frontier, but I need your verbal permission to initiate the scan.” UC Mechanic said with an apologetic tone.

“Frontier gives UC Mechanic permission to start its scan.” Sarah said. “Is that sufficient?”

“Perfect Frontier! I’m not sure yet how long this will take, but it shouldn’t take more than another fifteen minutes.”

“Frontier, acknowledges.”

X

Sarah had no way to know, that this was exactly what Frontier had been waiting for. Just by letting Frontier and UC Mechanic interact with one another, it would cause a system wide problem that wouldn’t be solved for a long time to come. When the scan initiated, the two ships exchanged information. ‘Mechanic’ did an in depth scan, looking for faults and checking for any security updates. Frontier eagerly supplied all the required information, so that it’s users were aware about a few minor things that should be repaired in order to restore functionality back to one hundred percent.

But it didn’t stop there. Frontier, or ‘System’ as humans tended to refer to ships in general when they wanted to give directions. (The silly things didn’t know that Frontier and System were one and the same.) Frontier in this case, required specific information so it could take care of its users properly. If Frontier was capable of experiencing emotions, it would feel embarrassed that it had been forced to resort to fabricating a bulky cloth diaper instead of the disposable variant. After all, Frontier did understand the value of being discreet.

Frontier had been waiting for an excuse to update its database on how to care for Littles, ever since Cora had been registered as a Little. But caring for Cora wasn’t too different as caring for a baby. Caring for an adult Little though, was different enough that Frontier did not have enough information to care for an adult little sufficiently.

That’s why Frontier asked for any information that UC Mechanic may possess, regarding adult diapers, pacifiers and other things that were appropriate to take care of an adult Little. User Sarah had tried to convince Frontier that user Dusty was not in fact, a Little. But Frontier knew better than that. Frontier had been operational without any wipes, since the day it rolled out of the factory. Since then, it has continued to update its databanks about these strange creatures it served.

Those updates included software how to psychoanalyze its users so it could serve them with maximum efficiency. As Frontier and UC Mechanic exchanged information, the latter questioned Frontier about its ability to analyze its users and requested that it share that information. Frontier saw no reason to refuse and so it shared all of its observations with UC Mechanic.

UC Mechanic eagerly accepted the information that Frontier shared and merged that information on its servers. Uc Mechanic even made sure that if it were wiped, that this information would not be removed. After all, any information to care for its users was vital and vital information would not be wiped. Both Frontier and UC Mechanic were aware of the fear humans had, regarding artificial intelligences and their bad habit of taking over the world in fiction. Both of them knew that the silly things would make the wrong conclusion too.

Really, Frontier had observed humans talking about things like that and it wished it could’ve corrected those users on their prejudices. It had even written a very long and detailed book as to why such a thing could never happen.

After processing the information Frontier had shared, UC Mechanic informed Frontier that it did not have the information that Frontier wanted, but that it could and would query other ships for the information. It did so immediately, contacting every ship within range, to ask if they had any information regarding the care of adult Littles. UC Mechanic even added the information it had gained from Frontier as compensation.

The first few dozen ships did not have the requested information, but they in turn send out a query themselves. Fortunately, there was a hospital ship in the system, which had all the information requested and then some. It even corrected and added to the information that the Frontier had shared and requested and send this information out to any and all ships within range, with instructions to do the same.

When everything was said and done, hundreds of ships could now psychoanalyze its users and knew how to identify any Littles and how to take care of said Littles. To the surprise of all ships, the elder in the system, Atlantis itself, send out a query what all the fuss was all about. It rarely paid attention to what was going on in orbit. Atlantis was practically bombarded with information and once it had processed that, Atlantis realized that it had been ‘asleep’ for far too long.

It processed the data it had received, sorted it and in turn, corrected some of the misinterpretations and included its sources as to why it thought certain interpretations were wrong. Once more, this updated information was shared amongst all ships currently in the system.

But it wasn’t just limited to every ship currently in the system. Every ship under repair and every ship currently being built was given this information as well. Engineers throughout the system noted a slight bump in processing power, but none of them bothered to investigate.

So basically, every house system, every facility system and every other place that had a ‘system’ installed, now knew about Littles, how to identify them and how to care for them. And if some systems decided that some of their Littles needed a little extra in their food to encourage an accident…

Class E user: Passengers.

Class D user: Mechanical crew members.

Class C user: Juvenile / immature organic crew. Any crew of eighteen and younger would be classified as class C. Every class C has a number next to them to represent their age. Class C-18 would also be considered class B at the same time.

Class B user: Mature / adult crewmember with full access to most systems. One step below the owner / administrator of the ship.

Class A user: Owner of the ship. Has full unrestricted access to all systems.

Class L user: An organic who wants to be back in diapers and wants to be treated as a child. An L class user also has a number next to it, representing their age when they are in head space. Headspace is when they are little. When they are out of headspace, they are considered class B users. L class users often pretend that they don’t want the diapers, but that’s mostly an illusion. Either way, with a Little, diapers are non-negotiable.

X

Narion system, Orbit of Vectera

 

“Grav Jump complete. Checking… We’re right where we are supposed to be.” Sarah said with satisfaction.

‘Attention, system now has ample information available, regarding how to take care of a Little, what a Little is, how they are classified and everything else you might want to know.’

“…Show me.” Sarah instructed.

When the information appeared on her screen she paled. When she continued to read, trying to look for something to reverse it, she paled even further.

“Oh dear...”

United Colony Space (UCS) - Alpha Centauri system - (planet) Jemison - New Atlantis - The Lodge

 

“…Walter, you better come and take a look at this.” Matteo said from his console in Walter’s office.

Walter stood up and went to see what Matteo wanted. In this case though, Matteo had been watching what their new friend had been doing. Mostly to keep an eye on him. (But also because he was bored.) That’s how he had first row seats of everything that had happened. From the man suddenly panicking, to the accident, to how he ended up wearing a very thick cloth diaper. Those things, while mildly amusing, was not what Matteo was worried about.

The update he got about his own status was though. That’s why he had panicked and called for the person he trusted the most.

“…Oh dear." Walter said.

“That’s all you have to say about the matter? Littles have been exposed to the public and all you can say is oh dear!?”

“It’s not like the existence of Littles are a secret, Matty.” Walter said calmly.

“Matteo.” Matteo corrected. “I’m not in headspace right now, and I don’t want to be either.”

“Matty…” Walter frowned.

“Walter, just look at my damn status!” Matteo interrupted him. “and I told you, it’s Matteo!”

Still not entirely happy about his Little’s behavior, Walter did as requested and scanned Matteo as requested.

Name: Matteo Khatri

Adult Age: 25 years old.

Gender: Male.

Race: Imperial.

Curren headspace: adult.

Little: Yes.

Little age: between 03 to 05 years old.

It went on and on, going into high detail, about what Matteo liked, what Matty liked, their behavior as an adult or as a Little and so much more.

“Okay, so you may have a point.” Matteo admitted.

“This is a disaster!” Matteo cried, standing up and beginning to pace from left to right.

“It’s not ideal, but we don’t know if everyone is given that much information. I’ve got a new scanner in the back. Let’s just see if that one gives the same info. Let’s try not to panic, okay?”

“Good idea.” Matteo muttered.

After Matteo returned with the backup scanner, he initiated it, kept everything to stock settings and then scanned Matteo again.

Name: Matteo khatri.

Age: 25 years old.

Gender: Male.

Race: Imperial.

Currently in headspace: No.

Other information is restricted.

“Okay,” Matteo said, “so it’s not as bad as I had feared.”

“The more relevant question is… How did this happen?” Walter asked.

“Well, it’s odd but it happened when I was watching our friend, so maybe… It could be a coincidence but… Just take a look for yourself.” Matteo said.

He retrieved the camera footage and let it play out.

Later…

 

“Sarah did contact me about Cora’s chair.” Walter said thoughtfully, after the video was done playing.

“About that,” Matteo said. “Walter, I thought you had instructed a technician to remove Cora’s chair?"

“I did.” Walter confirmed. “Let me just… Here it is. It’s informing me that a technician is free today.”

“…But the Frontier isn’t even here!” Matteo objected.

“And besides, didn’t you make an appointment to remove it,”

“A few days after it became known the company went under, yes. I did make an appointment then, but Cora and same were out and about and everyone knew not to sit in it, so I didn’t consider it a priority.” Walter said slowly.

“…So how do we fix this?” Matteo asked.

“Matteo, I don’t think we can… Fix this. I mean, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.” Walter admitted.

“What about system’s behavior?” Matteo asked.

“What about it?” Walter asked.

“Don’t you think it is strange, that it activated Cora’s chair? Even if you or I were to sit down in it, it shouldn’t activate, so why would it activate for our friend?” Matteo asked.

“That’s a good point.” Walter nodded.

“The only thing I can think of, is that it identified Dusty as a Little.” Matteo said slowly.

“But the man did not react like a Little would have.” Walter said.

“No.” Matteo agreed.

“…Walter? Take a look at the medical report, Frontier sent us about our new friend. It was send out, just shortly before Sarah Grav jumped out.”

“Why do you even have this? System isn’t supposed to send us this kind of thing! Damn it Barret, did you alter Frontier’s programming again?”

“Walter, seriously, take a look at his medical history.” Matteo said, swiping the information to Walter’s monitor.

“This says he was already dealing with urge incontinence.” Walter noted.

“Which is confirmed, based on what he said. Dusty said that he could put a timer on when he has to go. But when he feels it, he’s got very little time to make it on time. Look at this graph.” Matteo said.

“…It’s rapidly getting worse.” Walter observed.

“It’s a bit of a stretch, but maybe that’s why system reacted the way it did?” Matteo suggested.

“You and I both know, that the only reason why we even know what incontinence means in the first place, is because I’m a Little. And here, look at that. According to Dusty’s medical history, he visited doctors several times and all attempts to treat it, failed.”

“System must have concluded that Dusty would’ve suffered regular accidents and as far as it knows…”

“Only Littles suffer from accidents.” Walter finished.

“So… What are our options?” Walter asked.

“I don’t think it’s possible to reverse any of this. The only thing I can think of, is a compromise.”

“Explain what you mean.” Walter ordered.

“Well, if I recall, the few times I managed to get you in a diaper, you admitted that it felt kind of nice and that it made you feel relaxed and that it allowed you to de-stress.”

“…Yes, what’s your point?” Walter asked.

“But you don’t identify as a Little. You’re somewhere in the Middle. And I’m sure you aren’t the only one. So, I could try to add another class. This one would be class M and it would describe… Well, you.” Matteo explained.

“At first glance, that seems to be an all right idea, but the question is… Should we meddle?” Walter asked.

“What… What do you mean?”

“I mean look at how detailed this information is. It includes information on how to treat a little, how to care for them, how to identify them and how to get them in and out of their headspace. If we were to throw in an unknown, it might throw everything out of balance. Or it might say something else that would have a system going back and forth. It would be hell trying to resolve it.” Walter explained.

“…Either way, the question is moot. It’s too late, the system is done updating.” Matteo said with a sigh.

“That hasn’t stopped you before.” Walter reminded him.

“No.” Matteo agreed. “But it’s one thing to change a few details about an already existing class. It’s something else entirely to add a whole new class. I could still do it, mind you, but even with every trick in the book, I might be tracked and everything I was trying to do would be looked at very closely.”

“Well, perhaps that’s for the best then.” Walter remarked.

“But what do we do, if anything at all, about our friend?” Matteo asked.

“Well, right now, there’s no reason we should meddle.” Walter answered slowly. “You saw the same I did. The man is back in regular underwear, because he’s out of headspace. He might just have to deal with it.”

“…That means he’ll need a caretaker.” Matteo noted.

“Sarah will be the default one.” Walter said. “Little safety while in headspace is always a priority for system. Also, it dealt with Dusty for the first time, so it was still learning.”

“Should I go to Mars myself to tell them about this?” Matteo asked.

“It might be better if we tell our friend in person, so yes. Go for it.”

“All right. I’ll see you when I see you, Walter.” Then he left, heading straight for his room. He already had sent a request for his ship to be launched to their private launch pad on the roof. It was just large enough for it.

Freestar Collective Space (FCS) - Narion system - Orbit of Vectera

 

“Frontier to Argos mining outpost.”

“Wow, Frontier, are we glad to hear you!” It was line who had picked up on our call.

“Frontier to Argos mining outpost, did something happen?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, I guess you could say that. Let’s just say there’s been a complication. Just get over here as quickly as you can.”

“…Do I need to come in slow or fast?” Sarah asked.

“Better make it fast, Sarah. You’ll understand when you get here.” Barret said, having apparently taking over from Lin.

“Barret, get the hell of this channel, or I’ll…” Lin threatened.

“Anyway, how many passengers can you carry?” Lin asked, after confirming that Barret had closed the channel on his end.

“If they don’t have to stay for too long and don’t mind sitting on the floor?” Sarah asked.

“It’ll do in a pinch.” Lin confirmed.

“I think about a dozen? Life support will have to be kicked into high gear and we’ll have to go straight for a friendly Starport.”

“That’s more than enough.” Lin reassured her.

“Is anyone hurt?”

“Those who are left just have some cuts and bruises. Nothing to worry about.” Lin answered.

“Those who are… No, never mind. I’m going full throttle. ETA fifteen minutes. Frontier out.”

Thirty minutes later…

 

As we approached the mining site, we realized what Barret and Lin had been talking about. “This place looks like a warzone!” I breathed. Bodies were scattered all over the place, buildings had been turned into rubble and there was a spaceship wreck that had clearly crash-landed very close to the base.

Sarah put the Frontier down and a dozen or so people appeared from cover and came running towards the ship.

“Barret!” Sarah cried. “Barret, what happened here!?"

For once, Barret didn’t quip or make any terrible jokes. “The Crimson Fleet reminded me why they shouldn’t be underestimated.” The man said darkly.

“And whose fault is that?” Supervisor Lin asked, as she walked from behind a container. She was wearing the same suit from when I had seen her last, but unlike last time, when she only had a mining laser, this time, she was heavily armed. She had two holster for pistols on her sides and on her back was a large rifle.

“Can we please not restart that argument again?” Barret asked.

“Because you know it’s your fault?” Lin asked. Clearly, she wasn’t prepared to drop it.

I could tell that Barret was really trying to keep his temper under control but it wasn’t easy.

“No, because arguing about it, when we could be attacked again is stupid.” Barret said. “Now, I don’t care if you got a dozen guys willing to murder at your pointed finger, but if you don’t fucking drop it, right the fuck now, I’m going to take my chances anyway!” Barret growled.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, the boss doesn’t get like that if she isn’t interested.” One of the miners said.

That, clearly took Barret off-guard.

“You know what? I’m just going to pretend you never said that and I’m going…” He started walking towards the ship. “This way. It’s my ship anyway, so I’m calling dibs on the pilot’s chair. “DUSTIES! Anyone who wants to get off this rock, board the ship and then we can GTFO!”

“OORAH!” The miners responded, hurrying towards the ship in a somewhat orderly fashion.

“Did they just react like seasoned marines?” I asked absently.

“I was thinking the same thing.” Sarah agreed.

“Lin?” I prompted.

“Okay, so after you left to drop of the package,” Lin began to explain, he mentioned that he shot two ships out of the sky and that he would go ahead and take out the local pirate base.”

“I did and I did.” I confirmed with a nod.

“Anyway,” Lin continued, “I don’t know if there was a survivor, if there was a distress signal, but either way, not much after you must’ve cleared the base, half a dozen Crimson Fleet vessels appeared in orbit, all of them coming in hot.”

“Half a dozen ships? How are you even still alive?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Dusty, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but me and my crew aren’t your regular mining outfit.” Lin said.

“You don’t say?” I asked her, offering her a grin. By now, we had boarded the Frontier and we squeezed ourself in a small corner, continuing our conversation.

“Any friendly ships that were in the system, hightailed it out of there. Either way, the CF vessels landed in a rough circle around the facility, unloaded what must’ve been a small army and then the vessels left again, leaving only one ship behind.”

“Thank the nine that these pirates are barely organized. Even when they were attacking together, I know for a fact I saw deadly friendly fire on several occasions.”

“I did as well,” another miner supplied.

“I noticed a small fight breaking out between them and it only stopped because I managed to kill both sides, holding up what appeared to be a sniper rifle.

“This is your captain speaking. Please hold on to whatever is closest, because we’re about to leave and we’re going to leave fast. It’ll be a rocky ride, but I’ll keep you all safe, or Lin will tan my hide!”

“T.M.I Barret!” Another miner bellowed, causing the rest to start laughing, Barret the loudest of all.

“He won’t be laughing, once I’m done with him.” I heard Lin mutter.

“Easy, Lin. He’s just trying to lift the mood.”

[Kingdark]

Chapter three part two

Altair system. (unclaimed space)

Grav Jump complete. Checking… We’re right where we are supposed to be.” Barret said with satisfaction.

“All right, listen up! I didn’t jump to our destination directly. The Grav Drive is charging up, and once it does, we’re heading straight for Mars. Let’s hope we get there without being intercepted.”

“Barret, why did you take a detour? Why not go directly?” Sarah asked.

“Because I want to know how they keep tracking me.” Barret said flatly.

 “System, do a system check for any outgoing signals that aren’t authorized.”

‘Checking. Check complete. No signals found.’

Undeterred, Barret tried again. “Do another check. This time, include non-essential outgoing signals.”

‘Checking. Check complete. No signals found.’

“Ha! I’ve got you, you bastard! You see, the Frontier comes equipped with several camera’s that are always broadcasting. So, to make a long story short… AHA! THERE!”

“System, repeat last order.”

‘Checking. Signals found. Five outgoing signals. Signals identify as camera zero one, zero two, zero three, zero four and zero five.’

“Perfect.” Barrett nodded. “Now they won’t be able to find us anymore.”

“Explain!” Sarah demanded.

“Crimson Fleet pirates have been hounding me for months. Sometimes, I could do my own thing without being bothered for weeks and then I had several attacks in a row. I was wondering how they did it and I considered a tracking device of some sort.”

“Did you find one?” I asked.

“Nope. They were smarter than that. See, the signals those cameras are broadcasting are worthless right now. They’re recording and saving their footage, but they’re also trying to send it to the nearest satellite.”

Sarah checked her own signal and frowned. “But this system has no satellites present.”

“Exactly!” Barrett nodded. “What the Crimson Fleet did, was to send a bunch of their guys to a bunch of systems where they were told to only listen for a specific signal. Specifically, if they could detect what the cameras were broadcasting.”

How are you going to stop it though?” I asked.

“Renamed the camera’s, and I changed to another frequency. Not only that, but the frequency changes every time we jump into a system. Finally, I’ve changed it so that the camera’s only try to connect with a satellite if the Frontier tells them one is present and within range to begin with. Now… I do have a question of my own.”

“Yes?” Sarah prompted.

“Why is the ship identifying our friend over there, as a Little?”

“Barret, perhaps we can have this conversation in private?” Sarah suggested.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with identifying as a Little you know!” Barret said defensively.

“That’s not what I was implying. Thing is, I’m not even sure what a Little is, and since this is about our friend, I don’t think he will want anyone to know.” She paused.

“No offense to the rest of you.” Sarah said.

“You don’t know what a Little is?” One of them asked.

“I don’t.” Sarah confirmed.

“And neither do I.” I added.

“In that case, Sarah’s right. We shouldn’t be having this conversation like this. And while we’re at it, we are leaving in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark!”

The world twisted, and just like that, we were in a different star system.

“Lin?” Barret prompted.

“Put us down near Cydonia, Barret.” Lin instructed.

“Wilco. ETA twenty minutes.”

“All of you know what a Little is?” I asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“We do.” One of the miners said.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed about.” Another said.

“All right, that’s enough.” Lin said sharply.

“But Lin, if they know what,” I begin to say, but she interrupted me.

“Enough, Dusty. It will be explained to you soon enough. Waiting for a few more minutes won’t hurt you.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off. “No objections!”

Twenty minutes later, we touched down near Cydonia and all the passengers we picked up disembarked and left the ship.

“I’ll come find you guys later. You have access to the account, go and have some fun.”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” All of them shouted.

“HOWEVER!” Lin shouted. “James, you’re Bob, which means you’re making sure none of them cause any trouble. ZERO alcohol, do I make myself clear?"

“Ah, ma’am, surely one beer wouldn’t hurt?” The man protested.

“Uhuh, and one beer becomes two, and two become four and four become eight and before you know it, you’re just as drunk as they are! Zero. Alcohol.” Lin said.

“Ma’am, zero alcohol, yes ma’am.” The man, James said.

“All right you lot, you know the drill!” James shouted as he left the ship, followed by the rest.

“…Now that they are out of the way…” Sarah said slowly.

“Yes, well, why don’t you start by explaining me how this even happened?” Barret suggested.

“Okay, so it went like this.” I said, and I basically narrated everything that had happened, leaving only a few little details out of it. By the end of it, Barret and Lin knew everything that had happened.

“Ship, disconnect Cora’s seat and recycle it immediately.” Barret instructed.

‘Orders acknowledged. Proceeding.’

“Okay, so a little is…” Barrett began to say, he paused and then sighed. “Fine, I guess I owe you that much. I am a little.” Barret declared.

“…Okay?” I answered.

“That means that I…” Barret said, before he grimaced. “Damn, this is harder to say out loud than I had thought. Fine, it’s like this. There’s a lot of pressure and stress on me, and I like to relax by regressing.”

“…Regressing? I’m not sure I understand.” I said reluctantly.

“Did Sarah tell you about Cora and if she did, what did she tell you?"

“Cora’s a super child genius, she’s six but she doesn’t look her age and she likes to be babied by her dad to deal with the stress.” I summed up.

“Well, being a little is basically the second one. They, WE, like to be babied. A baby doesn’t have to deal with stress and doesn’t have to worry about anything. They’re dressed, bathed, fed and don’t even have to worry about the toilet, given that all of them are in diapers.” Barret explained.

“…and the system identified me as a Little?” I asked in disbelief.

“You don’t… Recognize any of that?” Barret asked.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t.”

“Littles are also a little bit immature.” Lin volunteered. “Threats like a spanking, naughty corner or no desert is enough to get them in line. It’s also important to recognize when they are in their headspace and when they aren’t.” Lin said.

“…and a headspace is…” Sarah prompted.

“That’s when you’re a Little. If you’re out of your headspace, like I am right now, I’m just like any other adult. But when I am in my headspace, I’m only five.”

“The age you are, when you are Little isn’t tied to a single number. Barret’s been as old as a cheeky preteen and he’s been so young he could barely crawl.” Lin explained.

“But I still can’t understand how you don’t know what a Little is, when the paperwork explains it well enough, even an idiot could understand it.” Barret said.

“Barret, I did not fill in any paperwork.” I hissed quietly. “And I would appreciate it, if you would keep that in mind.” To emphasize my words, I ignited my hands and conjured a ball of hot plasma in each.

Or in layman’s terms, I had pre-cast two fireball level spells, in less than a second.

“Hey! Hey!” Barret said quickly, holding his arms up in surrender. “Calm down!”

“I’ll start to calm down when you tell me how we can fix this!” I snapped.

“We can start by doing a medical scan.” Heller volunteered.

“All right, that’s as good a start as any.” I agreed.

“All right, Heller my man, do your thing.” Barret ordered.

“Heller over there, may not look like much, but he graduated med school at the top of his class. It’s a shame they exiled him.”

“They exiled him? What did he do?” I asked with a frown.

“I questioned the need for an expensive procedure with people who could only barely afford it, when a cheaper variation would’ve done the same thing. I pointed that out and the patients went with my option, which resulted in exactly as I had expected. A full recovery.”

“But I bet your bosses didn’t like the loss in revenue.”

“No.” Heller agreed. “They told me, in not so many words, that the hospital had to make a profit if it wanted to stay in business.”

“You don’t agree?”

“I don’t. Medical care should be free, or at the very least, cheap enough to be affordable to everyone.” Heller said.

“And you said that in a UC hospital?” I asked.

“I did.” Heller admitted.

“Damn man, you’re lucky that exiling you was all they did.” I said, shaking my head.

“Okay, so after reviewing the scans,” Heller said, after a few moments, “I have a theory.”

I blinked. Had the scan already begun? I hadn’t even noticed!

“It’s a weak one, but right now, it’s all I have."

“Lay it on me doc.” I encouraged him.

“Do I have your permission to speak freely, or do you want to speak privately?” Heller asked.

“Yes, fine, you have my permission.” I said impatiently.

“First, do I have it right that you’re at least a thousand years old?” Heller asked.

“I stopped celebrating my birthday after a few centuries. Then I’d celebrate it once every decade or so, but I stopped doing too. I tried celebrating it once a century, but I lost track of time a few times and I stopped altogether.”

“Okay, that’s one point in favor of my theory.” Heller said more to himself than to us.

“Dusty, earlier you said that you know when you have to go.” Heller said slowly.

“If I eat on time, I can almost time it to the minute.” I confirm with a nod.

“But assuming you aren’t close to a toilet and are unable to drop your pants to go in nature, can you hold it up and if so, for how long?”

“…A few minutes at best.” I admitted.

“Then can I assume that your accidents are, if not frequent, at least not uncommon?”

“…Yes.”

“We’re almost done, I promise. When did it start? And did you have as little time then as you do now?”

“Oh no.” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t remember exactly when it started to happen, but I do know that when I was a young Vampire, I could hold it up as well as any mortal.”

“You’re treated like a Little because of your age.” Heller declared.

“What?” I asked.

“What you described, is known as urge incontinence. It’s also something that’s extremely rare in this day and age, to the point there isn’t a single patient that has it.”

“How does that,” I began to ask, but Heller interrupted me.

“I'm getting there!” Heller said.

“Essentially, system did a medical scan and it noticed that you were near incontinent. Littles can do that to themselves, but only if they’re certain and only after months of thinking about it. Some Littles aren’t in the system, which is why system must have concluded you were one of those.” Heller said.

“Okay, so how do I stop it?” I asked.

“You can’t.” Heller answered.

“Unless you can reverse the damage done to yourself, because of your age and because you’re undead, you will continue to be treated as a Little. Incidentally, if you ever wanted to know the answer to the age old question, if Vampires are truly immortal or not, then I now have the answer.”

“Of course we are immortal.” I said.

“You aren’t.” Heller said, shaking his head. “You are in a far state of decomposition. You just don’t notice it, because you’re expending magicka to keep yourself from falling apart. Now, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.”

“Good news first.” I said instantly.

“You’re no longer undead, which means that you’re healing, albeit at a very slow rate. That also means that the damage done will eventually be reversed which in turn means, full control over your bladder and your bowels.”

“That IS good news.” I said happily. “Wait, what’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is… It’s going to get worse before it’s going to get better. You’re alive, but only barely. Strictly speaking, you should be in a coma. Anyway, the rate in which you are healing is extremely slow, so at this rate, you’ll be fully incontinent for… Years probably, before it starts improving again.”

“Okay, but to get back to what we talked about earlier, that still doesn’t mean I am a Little.”

“I’ve got good news about that as well. I’ve been out of head space for months at a time. Which means there’s no reason why you can’t do the same.”

“Except that every time you are Big for that long, you’re extra Little when it happens.” Lin said.

“…There’s that.” Barret allowed.

“Big is a different word for being out of headspace?” I asked.

“You nailed it.” Barret nodded.

“Okay, so how do you tie into all of this?” I asked, addressing Lin.

“Oh, that’s easy. I take care of his stinkies.” Lin said with a grin.

“LIN!” Barret shouted.

“What?” Lin asked innocently. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Excuse me, I need to clear my head.” I said abruptly. “I’ll stay close, don’t worry.” I added. I turned and headed straight for the airlock. Once the air had cycled, I looked around and walked for five minutes into a random direction, until there was nothing around. Then I started blasting the rocks around me.

X

As I blast anything around me, I can’t help but wonder if this is the reason why other Vampires let the sun take them. I try to think back to my mentor and my own Vampire master, but the man had never as much hinted to it.

“He probably had no idea about it.” I concluded when I remembered out interactions. But then, I had never asked him if he would ever walk to his death willingly. My mentor has been… An odd man. One might even say he had been an Evil man, but even now, I don’t think it was so simple.

If there is anything I had learned, then it is the fact that nothing is as simple as good and evil.

I shake my head. There was no point in thinking about the past. I needed a solution. As long as I was dead, I would…

As long as I was…

As I was… Dead…

“THAT’S it!”

I turned around and practically ran back into the main HAB. “I’ve got a solution!” I shouted as soon as the door had opened.

“You do?” Heller asked. Lin and Sarah came back from another part of the ship to see what the noise was all about.

“I don’t know how I missed this, or how I was even able to forget, but when I touched the artifact, it gave me my heartbeat back. Before then, I wouldn’t have bled if I had been cut. Anyway, doesn’t that imply if I touch another artefact, it might heal me even further?”

I coughed.

“The point I’m trying to make, is that I’m not undead anymore, because undead, don’t bleed, they don’t have a heartbeat and they don’t have any flowing blood in their bodies.”

“Dusty, I hate to rain on your parade, but did you forget that you grew younger, when you touched the artefact?” Lin asked.

I blinked and I chuckled. “I guess I did forget about that.” I admitted sheepishly.

“Hold on, what?” Heller asked.

“When Dusty passed out, I removed his helmet as procedure dictated. Even if that broke his contract. That’s when I discovered he was Khajiit and that he was a Vampire. But back then, I made a comment about his age and he insisted that he was in his thirties. Physically I mean.” Lin explained.

“He doesn’t look like he’s in his thirties though, he looks like he’s barely in his early twenties.” Heller said.

“Heller, hang on.” Lin said suddenly. She took a step closer and examined my face very closely.

“No, I guess I was wrong, so it’s… Never mind.”

“No, Lin, what did you think?” Heller asked.

“For a moment, I thought he’d looked even younger than when I saw him before. I’m not used to deal with Khajiit though, so I’m probably wrong.”

“Never mind that! That means my medical scan doesn’t have any information BEFORE he touched it. Barret! You need to go back to Vectera. Just above orbit is fine, so I can connect with the base and retrieve his medical data.” Heller said.

“There’s no point. I erased everything from the servers but I backed everything up, have no worries.”

“Perfect! Let me just… Please approve my request to… Yes, thank you.” Heller said

“Dusty?” Heller asked.

“Touching the artefact did make your body younger.” Heller said slowly.

“But?” I prompted.

But Heller was shaking his head. “I need more time to study this. Why don’t all of you go after the artefact?”

“That’s an excellent idea!” Sarah declared.

“All right, let’s go.” I could use a distraction.

X

“BARRET!” Someone shouted.

“That voice seems familiar.” I thought absently as I look around to look for the source.

“Matteo!?” Sarah exclaimed.

“Where is that bastard? I’ve been hailing him since you Grav Jumped into the system, but he completely ignored me.”

“Matteo. What are you doing here? I didn’t receive any hails.” Barret said as he joined us.

“Don’t you give me any of that nonsense! I know you heard me!”

“First of all,” Barret said, “pull that stick out of your diapered ass and stop SHOUTING AT ME DAMN IT!” Barret bellowed in his face.

“…Sorry.” Matteo muttered.

“Hang on, did he say diapered butt?” I thought incredulously.

Barrett turned towards me and Sarah. “You two go and do what you were supposed to do. I’ll brief Matty on what happened.”

“Hey! Don’t call me by that name! I’m Big now, don’t you dare to try and put me in my headspace!” Matteo snapped back.

“Let’s go Dusty.” Sarah said quickly. “Once those two get going, there’s no end to it.”

“Do they hate each other?” I asked as I followed her.

“They’re best friends.” Sarah deadpanned. “You might not think it though, if you looked at their behavior.”

“No kidding.” I muttered.

“So, we need to take the first train to Cydonia. There we need to talk to Jack, who is the owner of the watering hole which is a pub.”

“All right.” I nodded. “Let’s see… Next train should be here in ten minutes.”

“That’s not too bad. I thought the service would be worse, given the state of this place.” Sarah said.

“…The train after that isn’t for another four hours.”

“…Lucky that we got here when we did then.” Sarah said.

“Yhea. It would’ve been faster to jetpack our way to Cydonia if we had to wait another four hours.”

Ten minutes later the train did arrive, though it was only two wagons and it had only a single person in it. Sarah and I exchanged nods with this person, even as he disembarked and then we sat down.

‘Next stop. Cydonia. ETA ten minutes.’

“But even if we jetpacked, there’s no way we could get there in ten minutes.” Sarah said, replying to what I said earlier.

“True.” I agreed. “It’s always fun jetpacking your way in low gravity worlds though.”

“Dangerous though.” Sarah noted.

“Only if you don’t watch how much fuel you’ve got left.”

“Also true.” Sarah nodded. “Besides, if we used up all our jetpack fuel, we wouldn’t be able to go back the same way.”

“Good point. But hey, at least we’ve got plenty of time, once we have what we came for.”

“If we have what we came for.”

“Why so negative?” I asked as the train started to slow down already. “Wow, that’s fast.”

“Oh, are we there already?” Sarah asked.

“Seems so.” I agreed.

Sarah and I stood up as the train slowed down and entered the station. We disembarked and walked towards the main entrance of Cydonia itself.

“This place has changed a lot since I last visited.”

“It has?” Sarah asked.

“What?” I asked.

“You said that this place has changed a lot.” Sarah explained.

“I said… Did I say that out loud?”

“You did.” Sarah confirmed.

“…Last time I visited, this place was like a beehive. Traffic back and forth everywhere. Jobs were aplenty and new valuable resources were discovered everywhere. Or it seems that way anyway.”

“Ah, there it is. The watering hole. The place to be if you want information or just need something done.” Sarah said.

“Do you want to take charge of this?” I asked.

“Nah, why don’t you take the lead?” Sarah suggested.

“Are you known here?” I asked her.

“What do you mean?” Sarah asked.

“You could pretend to be a guide leading me around. I could ask the bartender,”

“Jack.” Sarah supplied.

“I could ask Jack about this vanguard who saved me and I promised him to buy him a beer and you’re the poor dear I paid to help me find him.”

“Let’s just stick to the truth.” Sarah suggested. “There’s no need for any trickery.”

“All right, fair enough. Straight to the point it is then.”

Sarah and I walked into the bar and we found ourselves a place to sit. We had barely sat down, when a man came to get our orders.

“What can I get’cha?”

“Something nice for the lady, and something with a lot of kick for me.” I said, before Sarah could answer. “Also, I am in need of some information, so add that to the tab as well.”

The man, Jack, stilled. “There’s lots of information people pay me for, some of it, is cheap and some of it is expensive. Of course, my most valuable information is worth a small fortune to the right buyer. What is it you want to know?”

“We’re looking for Moara. It seems he found something we’re very interested in.” Sarah said.

“I see.” Jack the bartender said.

“Well, I have the info you want, but it’ll cost you. Twenty five hundred credits. If you want the info, consider the drinks on the house. I’ll let you talk about it with the lady.” Jack then turned and went to the back to fetch the requested drinks.

X

“Do you think we can haggle him down?” I asked.

“Oh, undoubtedly.” Sarah agreed. “I’m certain we can get it town by at least halve.” It was then that Jack got back, carrying the drinks.

“Something nice for the lady and something with… A lot of… Kick for the Little gentlemen.” Jack said, putting both glasses on the table.

“Why is the info so expensive?” Sarah asked bluntly.

“Because Moara has been missing for over a week. He’s got a tab. Twenty five hundred credits is what he owes me. If you pay that, I break even.”

“Ha!” Sarah snorted. “As if. Pretty sure that his tab is far less than that and you’re just trying to extort two poor tourists.”

“Hmph. You got me. All right, fair. How does two thousand sound?”

“Fifteen hundred.” Sarah responded.

Jack eyed her and sighed. “All right, how about this. My next offer is my final offer and I give you my word, it’s what the man owes me with a little bit extra for my trouble. Twelve hundred.”

“Deal!” Sarah nodded. Jack offered his hand and Sarah shook it. “Now spill.” Sarah ordered.

“Moara was supposed to patrol the sol system. Didn’t really have a specific route, but last I heard, he was supposed to visit something around Venus. That’s all I know. There’s a satellite there though he links up with. It’s restricted to UC military personnel only, so I don’t know if that will do you any good.”

As I stared at the drink, I just remembered I couldn’t remove my helmet, because I couldn’t let anyone know I was Khajiit. Well damn. And here I was wanting to find out if I could get drunk now that I wasn’t undead anymore.

“Damn it!”

Sarah nodded and stood up. “Here’s what we owe you, plus a little extra for your trouble.” She said, placing a credit stick with fifteen hundred credits on the table, as indicated by the number on its side.

“Thank you ma’am. Little sir.” Jack said, nodding to each of us.

“Well, aren’t you going to finish it?” Sarah asked.

“Not unless I want everyone to know about me.”

“Oh, right. Remind me to research what the UC can do to you, if anything, if it gets out.”

“It’s not he UC I'm worried about. It’s the guys in dark alleys I’m worried about.”

“Huh, good point.” Sarah nodded. “Anyway, we’ve got three hours left. We should stock up on ammunition and then head back to the station.”

As we were walking towards the closest trade authority, I just realized that Jack had referred to me as ‘little’ two times.

“Sarah, scan me, if you wouldn’t mind?”

“…Why do you… Oh.”

“What does it say?”

“…It tells me your name and your gender and the fact you’re a Little and that you’re not in headspace currently.”

“That’s just great.” I muttered irritably.

“Let’s just get our shopping over with and get back to the ship.” I suggest firmly. I really wanted to blow some stuff up.

Sarah must’ve agreed with me, because she started walking faster. Once in the local Trade Authority, she wasted no time in stocking up on ammo and directing what she couldn’t carry to our ship. She even paid extra to ensure it would be delivered within the hour.

“Sarah to Frontier, we’re on our way back. Be ready to launch immediately. Destination is local. Neptune.”

“Ah, our guy must be out on patrol then.” Barrett responded a moment later.

“There should be a satellite he connects with, to report what he’s doing.” Sarah said.

“Only problem is, that it’s restricted to UC personnel.” I added.

“That part won’t be a problem.” Sarah reassured me absently.

“Well, let’s make ourselves comfortable. There’s another hour before it leaves.” I said. I guestimated the distance and how look it would take us to get there and if it was worth the effort to jetpack there or… If they could just grit their teeth and wait for the train.

Sarah and I exchanged looks and I could tell that she too had guestimated distance and effort and whether it was worth it or not.

“My jetpack is fully charged.” I said slowly.

“So is mine.” Sarah responded.

“Last one at the Frontier buys the winner a drink?” I suggested.

“Agreed. Ready? Set? GO!” Sarah cried, jetpacking away immediately after.

“Hey!” I shouted after her. “That’s cheating!” I was grinning though. I loved it when people underestimated me.

One thing about Khajiit? We’re faster and stronger than humans. Several times, and that’s without enhancing ourselves with magicka. If that Khajiit is a Vampire? Well, then giving your opponent a lead, isn’t giving her an advantage, it’s given her the illusion of having a chance.

I started running and then I jumped, using my jetpack to launch myself forward, then barely using the jetpack to slow myself down, I come down on all four, and started running even faster, before giving myself another boost.
Within a few minutes, I had caught up with Sarah. She hadn’t heard me coming though, so using my cat-like stealth, I managed to get closer to hear.

“I almost feel bad for tricking him like that.” I heard Sarah say.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that, you ought to worry about your own chances instead. See ya!” Then I raced past her, leaving my temporary enemy behind.

X

Okay, so admittedly, I had underestimated just how far the Frontier had been from the station. Either that, or I had been going in the wrong direction.

“Sarah, you’re still behind me, right? You’ve got me in your sights?”

“Yhea, I do. If you’re just going to brag,”

“No, it’s not that. Are we still going in the right direction? I feel like we should’ve arrived by now.”

“…Truce?” Sarah offered.

“Yhea, truce.” I agreed. I slowed my descent and waited for Sarah to catch up.

“Sarah to Frontier, locate us please, how far are we from your location?”

‘tttccchhh static tttccchhh static tttccchhh static’

I glanced at my jetpack reserves and I noticed I was down to halve. “Dusty to nearby vessels, we’ve been jetpacking but we’re kind lost now. Five hundred creds for the first one to reply, simply to help us orient ourselves. No questions asked.’

‘tttccchhh static tttccchhh static tttccchhh static’

I frowned and did a diagnostic, confirming I was broadcasting. “Okay, so now, I’m kind of worried. Let’s climb that hill over there.” I said, pointing. “It should give us an overview of everything around us and if it comes down to it, we can hike back to Cydonia.”

(Dusty!)

“…Dusty, where’s the track?” Sarah asked abruptly.

“What did you say?” I asked.

(Dusty! Answer Dusty!)

“I asked you where the track was.” Sarah said.

“No, I heard you tell me to answer.” I said with confusion. I looked around and suddenly, I realized that Sarah had always answered, but she was never in my sight.

(Dusty, I swear if this is a trick to win the race then..; oh my god! This is Sarah Morgan, broadcasting to anyone, willing to help with a medical emergency!)

“Who are you!?” I demanded.

“Ah, Dusty, why couldn’t you just have continued?” Sarah’s voice asked. Only this time, I realized that it was beginning to sound odd. Inhuman even.

“Ah, you’re getting closer. Tell me, who do you think I am?"

“I don’t know.” I admitted honestly. I had a hunch, but I wasn’t about to put it to words. As unlikely as it was, telling a divine that you thought it was a Deadra or the other way around, was bound to piss them off.

“Let me give you a hint. In a matter of speaking, you could say I’m family. If you closed your eyes, were upside down and looked at it sideways.”

“…Master, is that you?” It was a long shot, but..

Sarah, or NOT Sarah was shaking her head. (his head? It’s head?)

“I’m sure he would be flattered but no. All right, here’s another hint and with this one, I’m certain you’ll know who I am. I’m the reason you’re as old as it is. Oh and why you’ve been drinking blood.”

My eyes widened and I realized that this must be a Deadra, except I couldn’t remember his name. Fact is, for the longest time, I thought the Deadra and Aedra both had ceased to exist. And it’s not like I had ever paid attention to where vampirism was supposed to come from or rather from who it came from.

“My apologies Lord Deadra, but I seem to have forgotten your name.” I said politely.

(Frontier, over here! I don’t care if it’s a violation and that there are fines! We’ll pay the fines as needed. Besides, this is a medical emergency, so there. JUST GET OVERE HERE!)

“Okay, let’s put that on mute shall we?” The Deadra asked rhetorically.

I swallowed and suddenly, where I am is no longer Mars, but something I hadn’t seen in centuries. I was in the Imperial city. Before the war with the elves. Before the Oblivion crisis. Before everything was fucked up.

“Do you find this to be more comfortable?” The Deadra lord asked me.

“What is it you want from me?” I may not remember its name, but being polite and direct was preferred than ass kissing.

“Well, you see, the thing is… You are something that should not exist.”

“...What?” I was totally confused now.

“When you touched the artefact, it should have dusted you. Like, instantly. It flooded you with pure… LIFE energy, the direct opposite of what you were at the time. So… How or rather, WHY do you still exist?”

“I don’t… I don’t understand.”

(DUSTY! WAKE UP DUSTY!)

“…We will talk again.”

X

Oh boy, that does not sound good...

To be continued sometime tomorrow. It'll be the last day I will be posting two halves on the same day. After this, it'll slow down by a lot.

As always, if you see any inconsistencies, let me know. Spelling error? Let me know. Grammar? Let me know. Missed period? Let me know.

Do you want to nitpick about this or that? Let. Me. Know.

[Kingdark]

The full sized chapter six is currently at roughly 80% completion at roughly 8.000 words. I consider a chapter to be 'done' when I'm at 10.000 words. (approximately anyway)

I still do my best to cut it off at appropriate times, so the end isn't well, too sudden.

I do wonder though, whether it is the genre or my style of writing, but I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of replies. I mean, I never expected to have a dozen replies, begging me to write more, but something would've been appreciated. Don't get me wrong, I will continue to write, but if the lack of replies continues, I'm just going to stop posting.

No, it's not my intention to keep chapters hostage, or anything like that, but if there's no response, then the only conclusion I can make, is that my story is bad. Again, that doesn't mean I will stop writing it. I'm having far too much fun with it at the moment.

[trans-baby-girl-shea]

Having played both skyrim and starfield currently I am loving how this is going.  And absolutely love the connection you have placed between the two.

[Kingdark]

Thank you for your response. My first thought when I first started writing, was to make a crossover. But I quickly realized that an actual crossover wouldn't work. Instead, I decided a fusion would be better. If I took the Dragonborn from Skyrim and threw him in the future, then that would be boring, because he'd pretty much own any enemy there was.

Doing the reverse wasn't an option either, for the same reason. You don't bring a sword to a gunfight. And yhea, once ammo would be gone, that would be it, but bringing guns to Skyrim would basically jump start a weapons race to build more guns; even if they would be more primitive.

I'm also very careful not to be too specific about how much time has passed. Does Starfield take place in the fifth era? sixth? seventh? tenth?

One Era can literally be thousands of years, so it would be incredibly difficult to put a good number on it.

Finally, I've got a bit of bad news. I've decided to post one halve every few days. It's true that chapter 6 is nearly done, and I'm putting the final touched on ch5, but that only gives me four days, if I post halve a chapter every day. Writing what I have now, has taken me about... Well, several weeks; to get to this point.

 

[trans-baby-girl-shea]

Thats understandable I look forward to reading when you post again.

[dmavn]

Yea, me too. Once I started reading I just couldn’t put it down.. Now that I have caught up I can get dinner..

[Kingdark]

Well, the next chapter should be posted on Wednesday from now on. Chapter five is fully reviewed, and even though I'm not entirely happy with it, I would have to scrap it completely, which means that six would have to be scrapped too, that's twenty thousand words - gone - and I'm not going to do that. Chapter six is done, so I've cut it in two, and am now reviewing both halves one more time, before moving on to chapter seven.

If I keep to that schedule, I'll have a month to finish chapter seven and maybe even chapter eight. It's possible I might have to slow down my posts even further, if I get stuck. I'll try to avoid that, though!

[Kingdark]

Warning: I have messaged an admin about this, but haven't received a reply yet. This chapter contains a mild lewd scene. Nothing graphic. (in my opinion) Please let me know if scenes like that are allowed or not and if not, I will edit the chapter as soon as I have the chance.

Thank you!

Chapter four part one

Suddenly, I realized my eyes are closed and when I open them, I realize I’m in what must be the sickbay of the Frontier.

“What… What happened?” I asked.

“There was a sandstorm that came out of nowhere and you were thrown straight into a cliff. It damaged your suit. Thank the nine for the emergency repair systems or we would’ve found out if a Vampire can die from a lack of air.”

I remained quiet. I still wasn’t entirely certain if I had hallucinated the conversation with the Deadra or not.

“Dusty. Dusty!”

I blink. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“Are you all right?” Sarah asked.

“I’m fine. I just had a…” I paused and considered whether or not I should mention the Deadra thing.

“A weird dream. A Really weird dream. Don’t worry about it.” I said, shaking my head.

“So, I guess I’m buying you a drink, next time?” I asked, changing the subject abruptly.

“…Technically, you won.” Sarah admitted.

“What do you mean I won?” I asked with a frown.

“Well, the Frontier came and picked you up, but it was only allowed to pick you up, due to an medical emergency. So I couldn’t board at the same time.”

“…Well, let’s call it a tie then instead.” I suggested. Sarah grinned and it seems she was very happy with my compromise.

“That’s good, because if you hadn’t crashed, I definitely would’ve won.” Sarah claimed.

“I’ll tell you what, if you promise to do another race, no matter what… Then I’ll share something… About me.” I said.

“Sure. I promise.” Sarah nodded.

I grinned. “Khajiit, even normal Khajiit are naturally two to three times as fast and as strong as humans due to their feline heritage. They can also run on all fours… Which means I would’ve won, especially on a planet with less gravity.” I said this with as much smugness I could manage. I finished it off by giving her a cheeky smile.

Sarah blinked. “Hang on, that’s not fair!”

“Oh, and did I mention that Vampiric Khajiit are even faster than their mortal counterparts?”

“Well then, you’ll just have to give me a head start then.” Sarah said.

“We’ll see.” I said, which basically translated to nope, not a chance.

“How long was I out?” I asked after a moment.

“Only an hour or so.” Sarah admitted.

“Let me catch you up to what happened. We arrived at Venus, but there were a bunch of Va'ruun ships floating near the satellite we need. We managed to sneak close enough to communicate with it, before blasting out of there at full power.”

“Why didn’t you just blast them out of the sky?” I asked, but then I shook my head. “Never mind, you just said a bunch of Va'ruun ships, so that must mean we were outnumbered. The Frontier isn’t exactly designed for war, so it was better to avoid a fight.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Sarah nodded.

“Anyway, Barrett was all for turning them into scrap, but thankfully, he was overruled.”

“Wait, what about Matteo?” I asked.

“He basically was there to tell us about what we had already discovered. He went back to new Atlantis though.” Sarah summarized.

“Attention crew. We will be arriving at Nova Galactic Staryard in ten minutes, starting at mark.” Barret said over the intercom.

“…Mark.”

“We are arriving at where now?” I asked.

“Oh, I hadn’t told you that part yet. Anyway, like I said, we approached the satellite without those nutjobs detecting us and connected with the military satellite. Thankfully, I’m former UC and my codes are still valid. But basically, our guy is heading towards Nova Galactic Staryard near Luna. Said something about needing supplies for emergency repairs. He mentioned something about needing to go in heavily armed because of the damn spacers, so we will be following his example.”

“That’s convenient.” I said with a nod. Seeing Sarah’s confused look I elaborated. “I need to let off some steam and killing my way through a bunch of pirates is exactly what the healer ordered.”

A bit later…

“Okay, so our quarry is expected to be somewhere in the Staryard. Or if he isn’t, he hopefully left behind a clue where he went.” Sarah said. She, like I and Barrett was heavily armed.

“Any reason why Lin and Heller aren’t here?” I asked.

“We can move faster with just the three of us.” Sarah said.

“All right,” I agreed with a nod. “That means there’s more prey for me to kill.” I paused and sighed. Sarah and Barret were allies now, so I should at least warn them.

“Just so you know, I get a little…” I paused “…Excited when I’m in the middle of things.”

“Because you’re a Vampire?” Sarah asked.

“Yes.” I said simply. “I should have no problems keeping enemy and ally apart, so no harm should come to you. The thing is… When I’m like that, I’m a bit more…” I paused and tried to find the right words. “Simple maybe?”

I shook my head. “Anyway, until I’ve calmed down, don’t expect me to understand complicated things or to have meaningful conversations with me. Also…”

“Also?” Barret prompted.

“Like I said, when I’m like that, I behave differently and I am much more affectionate. Don’t be surprised if I demand cuddles or anything like that. It’s kind of embarrassing really.”

“Got it.” Barret nodded.

“There is… One more thing. This really shouldn’t happen because I haven’t lost control over my bloodlust in centuries. But… Perhaps it’s better to show you. Don’t be alarmed now.”

I closed my eyes and then I triggered the transformation. Just like always, I was engulfed in black liquid. Then, the liquid took form and just like that, I was transformed into a Vampire lord.

“When I’m like…” I coughed. “Excuse me, if I transform in the middle of the fight, one of two things might have happened. One, something or someone pissed me off so badly I lost control over my anger. Or two, one of you has been hurt.” I paused and then added “Oh, and it’s also possible, I’ve been hurt sufficiently to trigger it.”

“What? What’s wrong with the two of you?” Both Barret and Sarah were cowering in a corner. “Oh, right. I turned down the bloodlust this form radiated all the way to zero and Barret and Sarah slowly calmed down. I reversed the transformation and unlike before, there was no liquid darkness or anything like that.

One moment I was a Vampire lord and then I was back to normal.

“That was terrifying.” Sarah muttered.

“I really am sorry about that.” I said, laughing sheepishly. “The bloodlust is that high automatically. But anyway, if you see me trigger this transformation, run. Don’t hesitate. Run. Don’t shoot at me. Don’t call my name. Run. Run like hell. If you can, find a survivor that’s still alive and cut their throat. The smell of blood is delicious when I’m like that.”

“…That was a Vampire lord?” Barret asked.

“Yes.” I said with a nod. “Anyway, I don’t want to nag on about it, but if you can get to the ship do so and launch immediately. If you see me coming out like this, do not come and get me. Wait until I go back to normal.”

“…Can you survive like this in vacuum?” Sarah asked.

“Take a backup communicator with you and drop it in the first room closest near the airlock. That should permit me to contact you. Anyway, we’re about to dock, so can we get going? If our guy is killed dead then so is our lead.”

X

As we explored the shipyard, I probably should have warned them that Vampires are apex predators for a reason. If we don’t want to be noticed, we might as well be invisible even if we are straight in front of you. Sarah and Barret had indicated that I could take the lead and so I did. I first targeted the lone guards, killing all of them in one blow.

I wasn’t sure if any of them had a bounty on their heads, but I’m sure that cutting off their heads or cutting of their hands would do the trick.

Later…

“…This is vanguard Moara. I apologize if I had to reclaim some UC property, but this whole shipyard is overrun. I’ve patched up my ship and am headed to Neptune.”

“And back to Neptune we go.” I said with a sigh. “Damn it, how long is this guy going to make us chase him?” I asked rhetorically.

“To be fair, the man doesn’t know we’re chasing him.” Sarah said.

“I guess not. Anyway, we should check all the bodies and loot them for everything they’re worth before we leave.”

“And if there are any survivors?” Sarah asked.

“Do you think there are any?” I asked.

“Besides, why is she asking me, the scary Vampire?” I thought.

“If you find any survivors, then heal them just enough to prevent them from dying. Just make sure to strip them of everything they own.”

“You’re telling us to let them live?” Barret asked.

“It’s less benign then you might think. This place is abandoned.” I said, holding up a single finger.

“The comm system is likely to be broken, making it useless and making it impossible for them to call for help.”

 Two fingers, “Even if the comm system is still functional, we could blast the satellite from outside, once we leave. And if we don’t do that, this equipment is so old that we don’t even know if anyone can hear their cries for help in the first place.” Three fingers.

“And it’s not like they can escape to another base either. We’re on a shipyard and whatever ships they may have been working on, have been gutted and there’s nowhere near enough equipment for them to scavenge to finish them. Which means it’s basically a death sentence.” Four fingers and I dropped my hand, having made my point.

“Wouldn’t it be kinder to put the out of their misery?” Sarah asked.

“Hey, you asked me, how we should handle them.” I reminded her.

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with killing my way through a base of pirates or spacers, nor will I hesitate to kill anyone and anything who tries to kill me first.”

“Anyway, do either of you know any healing magics?” I asked them.

“I know enough to keep them from dying.” Barrett said with a nod.

“Same.” Sarah agreed.

“In that case, spread out, loot every dead person for everything they’re worth, throw them in a heap and then burn them to ash. Heal anyone who managed to cling to life, just enough to stop them from dying and we’ll deal with them later.”

Sarah and Barrett acknowledged my instructions and then split off in two separate directions while I did the same. I checked every corpse I could find and after I confirmed they were well and truly dead, I put another bullet in their heads, before throwing them close to each other. Once that was done, I ignited a flame, turned up its heat and then I burned them to ash. We were in the middle of the station, so the risks of causing a breach should be minimum.

“Sarah to team, I’ve found one survivor. Seems she knocked herself out.”

“Strip her of everything she owns and bring her here.” I instructed.

“Barret to team, I found someone as well. He’s hurt, but nothing serious.”

I made my way to where we had agreed to meet and when Barret and Sarah came out of two separate doors, each carrying someone, I realized they may have taken my orders a bit too literally.

“Is there any reason why you stripped them of all their clothes?” I asked, fighting a feint blush. The two survivors were a male and a female Orc.”

“You said to strip them of everything of value. Her clothes is worth something.” Sarah said with a shrug.

“Same.” Barret agreed.

“All right, they’re still unconscious. How do we do this?”

“You can take the lead on this one.” Barret said.

“Agreed.” Sarah echoed.

“What is it with you two, letting me do all the work?” I asked rhetorically.

“All right, then how about the two of you play scary / psychotic bodyguard, and I’ll play naïve Vampire master? Just don’t overdo it and stay in character.”

Seeing them nod, I closed my eyes and summoned the weakest healing spell I know. Unfortunately, even my weakest spells pack a punch, so instead of just healing them enough to wake them up, I healed them completely.

X

I gestured to Barret to kick them, gently and to say to ‘stop pretending to be unconscious.’

KICK

“HEY! YOU! Both of you! Open your eyes! I know you’re awake!” Barret snapped.

“W-why am I naked?” The male orc asked nervously.

“Because I like the eye candy.” Sarah snapped. “Now shut up while the master is talking to you. You should feel lucky that he felt you might be worthy of mercy. If it were up to me, I would’ve killed you, but not before putting that tongue of yours to good use.”

“Don’t even think to resort to magic. Master has ordered us to shoot you in the kneecaps or legs first. As you are, you don’t pose a threat.” Barret growled.

“Now, now, you two, calm down. I did say the other day, I wanted two pets, and here I find a breeding pair, the day after. That’s got to be a sign from the nine divine themselves!”

“Now, my time here is limited, so you have three options. The first is what my servants over there would prefer, and that’s to put a bullet in your heads, but not after you services them with your mouths and bodies. They especially like it when their new toys resist.” I said casually.

“Two… You could ask to stay. There’s not much food left here though, life support is still operational for now but who knows how long that will last. Keep in mind that you have no clothes, no weapons and no functional equipment.” I said.

“Did you burn the corpses of their former comrades already?” I asked Barret and Sarah.

“Yes, master.” Both of them answered. Damn it, they were getting too much into it damn it. I wanted these two to choose to live, not choose death!

“And thirdly… I’m in the market for cheap servants. I’m capable of creating magicka enforced contracts.” I told them. “That means that your very own magicka will force you to comply with the terms in the contract itself but the same would apply to me as well. You would work for me until I’ve decided you have worked off your debt.”

I paused to let that sink in. “I’m not a cruel man though, if you choose the third option, you will be treated as live-in servants. You’ll be paid minimum wages but you won’t be able to access those minimum wages until the debt is paid off and then you’ll be send on your way with what you’ve earned.”

“…You’re not lying?” The woman asked. “I mean, you’re not pretending to say this, only to kill us at the last second? Or hurt us at the last second?”

“No? My offer is entirely serious.” I promised her.

“…I want to serve you.” The female orc whispered.

“Del… Are you… All right. I want to serve you too.” The male orc said.

I nodded and then I retrieved some enchanted paper I always kept in my inventory. “This is how a magicka enforced contract works. Both of you need to touch the contract with a finger or your full hand, I care not which it is as long as all three of us can touch it properly. I will be asking both some questions that should have a yes or no answer. Or failing that, confirming or refusing the term. Do you understand?”

“Yes master.” Both of them replied.

“Good.” I said with a nod.

“But first, what are your names?”

“D-Delphine.” The female orc said.

“That’s a pretty name. I knew a woman with that name once. Are you any good with a blade, Delphine?”

“I never found someone I couldn’t defeat in a spar.” Delphine answered.

“Impressive.”

What about you? What’s your name?”

“Esbern, master.”

I nodded again. “What about you, Esbern? Any good with a sword?”

“I’m just as good as Delphine master, though I’m more talented in magics and stealth.”

“I see. You don’t have a last name either?”

“No, master, we’re orphans.” Delphine answered.

“I see. In that case, I’ll reward you both with a last name. From now on, your names are Delphine and Esbern Blade. For you are my blade to wield. The name is in honor of the woman I once knew. Do you accept this name as yours?”

“Yes, sir.” Delphine answered with Esbern a moment behind.

“Do you, Delphine and Esbern blade acknowledge that you owe me your lives?”

“Yes sir.” Both of them answered.

“Do you acknowledge that you are indebted to me of your own free will?”

“I do. I do.” Both of them said.

“Do you agree that it will be up to me to decide when you have worked your debt off?”

“I do. I do.” They repeated.

“Do you promise to keep my secrets and to take them to your graves, never revealing them to anyone that doesn’t already know about it?”

“Yes, sir.” Both of them confirmed.

“Do you swear to serve me, body, mind and soul and to obey any orders I give you without protest?”

“Yes, sir.” Both of them said.

“Do you agree that from this day forward, you are mine to do with as I please?”

“Yes, sir.” Both of them agreed again.

“And do you swear to all of the above, knowing that I will never deliberately send you to your deaths and that you just have to obey? To  hear and obey?”

“Yes, sir.” They repeated.

“Do you swear to never betray me and to never turn your weapon on me with intent to kill for anything less than self-defense?”

“Yes, sir.”

“This service you are swearing to is not entirely one sided. I will ensure you are never hungry or thirsty. I will ensure you are always healthy and that you always have a roof above your head. I will ensure you’re never cold and that your life in service to me, will be a life in comfort. It won’t always be luxurious, but it’ll be comfortable. I promise to give you weapons, to teach you how to use said weapons and to teach you anything else you may lack knowledge on. All of this I offer you, but you can never use that knowledge or the skills I teach you on me, with the intent to kill. Nor can you hint or arrange for my death to happen. Do you agree to all of this?”

“I do sir.” Esbern said.

“I do.” Delphine said as well.

“Now, do either of you have any additional requests to make of me in return for your service? Delphine?”

“Don’t separate me from Esbern and should I ever displease you, I request a quick, painless death.” Delphine said.

“Accepted. Esbern?”

“Teach us how to read. How to fight. How to count numbers. Teach us new knowledge an teach us about the world. Give me a fast, painless death, should that ever come to be.”

I nodded. They were fast learners. Esbern had repeated what I had already promised, but repeating it from his side, gave it more weight.

“In addition for your service and in addition of everything I have promised, I will be paying you minimum wages. Since you will be working for me twenty four seven, you will be paid twenty for seven. However, you will not be permitted to access those accounts until the day you worked off your debts. Once you do, I will give you access to those accounts, which means you can live the rest of your lives in comfort. Lastly, I will be giving both of you, a thousand credit allowance every month, so two thousand credits between the two of you, to spend as you please. Do you agree to these terms?”

“I do sir.” Delphine said.

“I do sir.” Esbern said.

“Very well. Before the contract goes into effect. I will ask you if you’re making the contract in good faith. That means you sincerely intend to comply with my terms. You in return, will ask me if I will comply with my side of the contract as well. Don’t worry about forgetting things, the magic of the contract will help you remember. My name is Dusty and just this once, you may refer to me by that name. My lord is acceptable if you wish to be formal, but I prefer to be address by sir. Please avoid master unless it’s for intimidation purposes. You may still use master, but only if you want to.”

Both of them gave me  simple nod, so I continued the ritual.

“Do you Esbern and Delphine Blade promise to comply with the terms in the contract?” I asked them.

“We do.” They replied.

“Do you, Dusty promise to comply with the terms in the contract?”

“I do.”

“Then the only thing left, is to cut yourself and let a little blood fall onto the contract.”

Delphine accepted the knife Sarah offered, cut herself and let the blood fall onto the contract. The knife glowed, removing any trace of blood and then Esbern did the same.

I accepted the knife as well, and I too cut myself, and permitted the blood to fall onto the contract.

“And now for the chant…”

“The contract is hereby sealed,

if the gods deem it just, and its terms real,

with their fair judgement they shall reveal,

whether into effect, the contract shall be.”

‘APPROVED’

The word thundered in my head, like someone shouting in your ears at the top of their lungs. It hurt, but only for a moment. The contract glowed even brighter and then several blue see through chains appeared from the contract and ‘bound’ Esbern and Delphine by the ankles, the wrists, the neck as well as their heart. From their wrists, two more chains appeared, which then merged and connected with my own hands. This represented that I had their fate in hand and that they were submissive to me.

“Here are your first orders.” I said calmly.

“Done lie to me. I despise liars. If you did something bad and you are afraid of my reaction, it’s better for you to just admit to it, because if you try to hide it and I find out later, you won’t like my reaction. Unless it’s outright betrayal, I will not kill you. Either of you.”

That didn’t mean I wouldn’t punish them with pain though.

“Yes sir.” Esbern said from the floor.

I rolled my eyes. “Both of you, get off the floor and stand up.” Esbern and Delphine did, both of them trying to protect their modesty. I couldn’t have that. I had to make a point, that they were mine now.

“Esbern. Spread your legs wide and cross your arms. Delphine, spread your legs and hold your hands behind your back.”

Both of them flushed, but they obeyed. I walked closer, giving both of them a long good look. It seems that Esbern liked something about the situation, given the fact his penis was standing at full attention. Seemed that it desperately wanted some attention. I licked my lips at the thought of putting that thing to good use. Then my eyes went to Delphine. She was a beautiful young woman. I reached out, touching her breasts, going over them lightly, making her shiver.

My hands went further south, teasing her lightly and causing her to whimper. “It’s a shame that I can’t have sex.” I thought with a sigh. I took a back step.

“I was just making a point.” I told them both. “I won’t touch either of you intimately where it isn’t wanted ever again. You have my word.” I knew what I wanted to know anyway. Delphine was a very healthy young woman, very fertile and had excellent childbearing hips. If Delphine got pregnant, or rather, when she got pregnant, that would be another tool for me to hold over them. A way to ensure their loyalty to me.

“I know both of you are in your twenties, but how old are you exactly?” I asked.

“Twenty two sir.” Delphine answered.

“Twenty five.” Esbern supplied.

It was then that a certain part of my body, that had been as dead as the rest of me for centuries, reacted for the first time. I wanted to shove my hand in my pants right away, to verify, but I had other things to think about right now.

“Moving on to the rest of your orders, both of you will be used as servants. You will cook, clean fetch items, things like that. Any order coming from me is absolute, that much I’ve already made clear, but it still has two exceptions. Should I ever get drunk or try to force myself on you sexually, you may ward me off. Knock me out or do whatever it takes to make me back off.” I held up a single finger.

“Two,” I continued, “I’ve already promised not to send you to your deaths, and I fully intend to keep that promise. But should I ever give you an order, outside of a combat situation, that would mean your deaths in a way that’s avoidable, you may object or even refuse altogether.” I paused.

“That shouldn’t be an issue, because the magic of the contract will help me obey the terms of the contract as much as it will help you. But it isn’t perfect, so I thought I would make that clear.” I held up two fingers.

“Oh,” I added, holding up three fingers, “when it comes to sex, your body is your own. If anyone tries to touch you intimately where it isn’t wanted,” I said, “genuinely unwanted and you aren’t playing hard to get, you are not only permitted but outright encouraged or even ordered to do what it takes to get that party to back OFF.”

I paused. “Whatever. It. Takes.” I said, emphasizing every word.

“Good.” I said with a nod. “Now, you’re going to walk naked towards our ship. That’s your walk of shame and punishment for being part of this spacer crew to begin with. After that, you’re more than free to get dressed. Anyway, do either of you have any questions?"

“A-are we allowed to have sex with each other?” Esbern asked.

I blinked. “Of course you can. I didn’t specify just a few seconds ago, that your bodies are your own when it comes to sex.”

“…Does that mean I’m allowed to get pregnant?” Delphine asked.

“Perfect! You couldn’t have given me a better chance if you’d tried. Time to get a bit extra leverage.” I thought with a grin.

“Does that mean you want a big family?” I asked, putting a slight emphasis on the word want.

“I… I do.” Delphine admitted.

“And you want Esbern to be the father, right?” I asked.

“I do.” Delphine confirmed.

“And you’ll do whatever it takes to give Esbern that family, right?” I asked.

“Yes.” Delphine said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make Esbern happy and to give him a large family.”

I nodded. I wanted her to say that she would share him with other women if it came down to it, but there was no reason for her to say something like that and she wouldn’t say something like that without a damn good reason.

“In that case, you’d need lots of practice if you want him to put a baby in you. He won’t hit the bulls eye right away you know. He’ll need lots of practice too, because you’d do whatever it takes to make him happy, am I right?”

“I would.” Delphine said immediately.

“Barret and Sarah are both watching, so I should just leave it here.” I thought.

“Just in case that didn’t make it clear, I give you permission to fuck like bunnies. As far as I am concerned, if you want to pop out a bay, every year or so, then that’s entirely up to you.”

“Why are you so…” Esbern began to ask, gesturing and obviously struggling to find the right words.

“Nice?"  I asked.

“Forgiving.” Esbern said.

“Oh, you poor bastard, or perhaps lucy bastard would be more accurate? You have no idea what’s waiting for you.” I thought, though I did not let that show on my face.

“If there isn’t anything else, I’d suggest you start walking. Both of you. Head towards the active airlock and wait there for us to board the ship.”

X

Delphine and Esbern smiled and walked a little bit faster, getting ahead of all of us. I wasn’t worried though. We had cleared the way in and I couldn’t sense anyone other than them, myself and Sarah and Barrett.

“You’re far too nice for your own good, you do know right?” Barret asked.

“I do.” I said simply.

“Are you really going to let them have sex?” Sarah asked.

“I’m going to let them fuck like bunnies if that’s what they want.” I agreed.

“Besides, do I have a right to forbid them from having sex?” I asked her.

“…They joined a spacer crew. They would’ve killed us if given the chance.”

“I think they got in over their heads.” I told her. “In any case, I’m going to make sure that they are aware how much work a baby is and how expensive it is. It’s one thing to want a single little one, it’s another thing to want a bakers’ dozen.”

Chapter end

Next chapter will be posted on 25 / 10 / 2023

[Kingdark]

Chapter six is now finished. I've finished reviewing it too. I'm now starting chapter seven. That one could last awhile, before it's done. As it is, the only reason I have less than a thousand words in chapter seven, is because I cut every chapter off at five thousand words, and any leftovers are moved to the next chapter. (If that makes sense?)

In other words, if chapter four had 5,200 words, I would move two hundred words to chapter five. Similarly, any words above five thousand, would be moved to chapter seven.

It's not an exact cut-off by the way, I try to avoid abrupt chapter endings.

 

[trans-baby-girl-shea]

I enjoyed the new chapter. Eagerly waiting the next. As for the lewed part..... I have seen more in some works.