Mark woke up feeling satisfied. He was fully tucked into the bed, the girls were courteous. They were also his. This was a humandroid facility, he could manufacture endless delights. That was how the old coot who made the humandroids ended up killing himself. Maybe like all of life’s pleasures, moderation was needed. Still, he indulged himself the fantasy of an endless supply of women eager to pleasure him.
He then threw off the covers just as Eve walked into the room. She had a smirk on her face.
“Did you time that entrance?” he asked.
“No,” she said, smiling. “I was on my way to wake you up if you weren’t already. I was afraid the girls put you into a coma.”
“Guess I’m not going to get to tour the town then?”
“No, not yet. But I’m working on it even as we speak. I’ll take care of things out here, you take care of them in there.”
Mark went back into the vat that effectively doubled as his home most days and put his visor on.
Mark woke up in the rebirther facility. The face greeting him was probably the most unpleasant one in the galaxy, Vidal’s looming figure towered over him.
“Good to see your back boss, got your clothes right here.” He nodded to a pile. Military men were rather comfortable with being around nude men, an occupational hazard, but Mark felt slightly self conscious as he put his commander’s outfit back on. He looked at his combat logs, dreading the rebirth negative effect.
Death
Dying takes a tremendous toll on the body. If you are resurrected without a working brain, you lose all progress from the last time your brain scanned.
If you are resurrected with your brain still intact, you keep all of the points up until your last resurrection, and a fifty percent loss of all skills gained after.
You last had sixteen points unallocated at your last save. You gained four points in your last mission before you died. Half that is lost, giving you a total of 18 points.
Mark looked at his character’s attributes and particularly his health. It was a 10, which wasn’t bad. Character attribute points were the most expensive thing to upgrade in the game, because they gave you bonuses to almost everything you did. The cost was the number of character points minus the next level of the attribute you wished to level up. So getting his health up to 11 would cost him 11 character points. He figured seven points in reserve would hopefully be enough to get him through any future hairy situations.
He took a brain snapshot, then added the points to his character afterwards. He reasoned that if the purchase wasn’t good one, he’d be able to reset it. He felt more vibrant and confident after the points went into his character. Leveling up any skill produced a euphoric feeling throughout the body, a natural method of positive reinforcement meant to keep players progressing.
“Come on 1SG, let’s go back to base,” he said, slapping the beefy man’s shoulder. He grunted and the two left in a tactical SUV. Mark reflected on how spoiled he was with the military’s souped up equipment after using the basic gear that the police had. Lots of changes would need to be made to Gebo before it would be up to standard.
When he arrived at the ship, he dismissed the 1SG and went to his quarters. He started up the holodeck relay to Earth. He waited as the signals tunneled their way through space, and he received a transmission back. After exchanging pleasantries with the secretary, he was put on hold until the Colonel could answer the call.
A few minutes later, Col. Grohall’s stoic face graced Mark’s chambers. Mark caught him up on the basics of what had happened.
“I think we expanded too fast,” Mark said. “We expanded into regions thinking only about the costs to establish bases, but not about the costs to maintain them. Supply routes, construction and repairs, and so forth. There could be dozens of planets like Gebo, forgotten and alone, making deals with pirates to survive. We stopped one threat, but I don’t think we’re out of the woods by a long shot.”
“I’ll put you in contact with supply and logistics officers. But first, the IIO is very impressed with your investigations thus far. In light of that, they’re granting you the rank of Major from this moment forward. Congratulations on your achievement.”
Rank Gained: O4, Major
Congratulations! You’ve been upgraded to the rank of Major! You now have access to higher level weapons and armory at any Earth Alliance facility. You’ve also gained access to higher level space ships, ground ships, and air ships from the Earth Alliance. Additionally, you can order larger amounts of subordinates and establish outposts and trade routes as a field commander.
Rank * 2 points awarded, total of 8 character points awarded. Total character points: 15.
He was going to have to get another brain snapshot.
“Thank you Colonel, I’m honored,” Mark replied.
“You have done exemplary work and thus the IIO is going to increase your work load. You with several directives, both secondary and primary. The secondary directives are to establish peace on Gebo and prevent pirates from using it again in the future. Additionally, identify any at-risk planets and start reforging alliances and trade routes with these planets. We’ve been trying to tie too many trade routes to Earth for collecting revenue, but that isn’t feasible.
In light of extraordinary circumstances, you can temporarily establish trade routes directly and tax free. We’ll recommend legislation to make trade routes on outer planets more informal and with lesser penalties, in light of the harsher conditions for existence.
Now, your prime directive. Find the pirates, destroy them, and find any evidence to how far they’ve infiltrated our government apparatus. Any questions?”
“No sir,” Mark replied.
“Good luck on your missions, Major.”
The Colonel’s face disappeared. Mark thought about his next steps.
The first one would be to send out a press release on the current situation, with an awards ceremony for the officers who participated in the raid. That would boost morale and help cement in the civilian populations mind that order was being restored.
He thought about it some more. No, his first order of business would be to establish trade routes and get the planet’s finances in order. He went into it with gusto, but realized he wasn’t going to get very far. He had no idea what the trade routes even were. He accessed his menu for seeing what skills he’d need.
Establishing trade routes
You do not have enough points to become a trader. Respeccing your character is not allowed, so you will need to create a new one if you wish to become a trader.
However, if you wish to leverage your current personnel, your navigators can figure out the distances and time between routes, while your trader Chon can figure out what the best exchange rates are and which goods have the best comparative advantage by planet.
The following skills are necessary to become an interplanetary trader. Skills which are bolded are skill which no one else on your team possesses:
- Accounting. The ability to manage large scale finances by keeping records and knowing the assets and liabilities of any business, as well as spot forgeries and deceptions in records. Chon already possesses this skill.
- Acting (IQ, Average difficulty). This is the ability to assume the guise of someone else and exhibit the moods, emotions, voices, and mannerism of that character over a sustained period of time. The further this persona is from your core personality, the more difficult the skill check.
- Administration (IQ, Average Difficulty). The skill needed to run a large organization. Chon possesses this skill.
- Body Language (Perception, average difficulty). The ability to interpret the micro expressions a person makes with their face and body. Not recommended as your profession as investigator has already made you aware of people’s tells.
- Carousing (Health, Easy) - This skill makes you the life of the party! Not recommended since you will probably not be partying with diplomats to establish trade relations.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
- Connoisseur (IQ Average). You know the value of rare and exotic items, giving you an advantage in making lucrative deals.
- Current Affairs (IQ Easy). Your knowledge of the local administrative details. Not recommended as it does not transfer between planets and can be gained from news and talking to people.
- Detect Lies (Perception, High). The ability to know when someone is trying to deceive you. Not recommended based on your primary skill of investigator.
- Diplomacy (IQ, High). The skill of negotiation and diplomacy, involving calculating multiple, conflicting agendas between parties and getting the most favorable outcome for your own. Highly recommended.
- Erotic Art (Dexterity, Average). Your ability to use sexual acrobatics to give your lovers the night of their life. While fun to possess, you will probably not be bedding most of the diplomats and traders you encounter.
- Fast-Talk (IQ, Average). The ability to get people to make rash decisions against their better judgment. Also helps with the diplomacy checks.
- Cold-Reading (IQ, Average). The ability to ask leading questions and conduct an interview in such a manner that the interviewee gives away vital clues about themselves. Not recommended as it duplicates skills you possess as an investigator.
- Gambling (IQ, Average). You can make bets and win big on trade deals. Not a likely scenario for you in the future.
- Intimidation (Willpower, Average). The ability to persuade someone to act against their own self interest because of a belief that you are capable and willing to inflict great pain on them. Not recommended as your current strength rating gives you a negative penalty.
- Leadership (IQ ,Average). The ability to have others do what you want and think it was their idea. Chon already possesses this skill, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt you to be a better leader, would it?
- Merchant (IQ, A). Skill at buying, bartering, and selling goods. Chon possesses these skills already.
- Politics (IQ ,Average). Politics is the ability to get along with other politicians in order to enforce a specified agenda, it is separate from administration, leadership, and local knowledge. This skill is normally locked, but as interim governor, you can gain skills in this.
- Propaganda (IQ, Average). The ability to manipulate the media in order to get across a particular message. Though propaganda has a mostly negative connotation, it can be vital at establishing a political agenda.
- Public Speaking (IQ, Average). The ability to give persuasive speeches, tell jokes to an audience, calm a riot down or incite one, hop onto audio and video shows and not choke up, and otherwise make people laugh and enjoy your performance. Several sub-skills are related to this, but it is not recommended for your current desires.
- Sex Appeal (HT, Average). Become a fine mofo. This skill makes you enticing to members of the opposite and same sex, granting more favorable deals. Given your high health attribute, you already possess a high sex appeal. Suggestion is to use the Erotic Art instead.
Reading the list, Mark had a vision of creating a character with high health and charisma scores, putting nothing but sex skills into the character, and living as an intergalactic himbo. He entertained he delusion, then put it away. It might be fun to play that as a side character, but the pursuit of hedonic relations would bore him. After all, he already had a pair of concubines waiting for him back in the real World.
The game recommended five skills: acting, diplomacy, fast-talk, leadership, politics. Of those, acting and fast talk seemed to be focused on trading in more black market areas, assuming a cover identity and outwitting the other side. That scenario was highly unlikely in his mind.
More likely, these would be long, drawn out discussions and treaties, not deals cut in some back alley. Diplomacy had a rating of “high”, which meant 1.5 points per level. He decided to give two points into each skill, with diplomacy costing him 3 points, 2 points for leadership, and two points for politics. That left him 8 points for a rainy day.
His next three days were thoroughly uninspiring and boring, desk jockey work. Chon and SFC Stelmach would go through the planetary maps of the known universe, she’d find the trade deals that she thought was best for the region, and they’d make a call and start negotiating, with Mark and Chon acting as the official representatives of Gebo.
He placed a call to Colonel Rola to finalize the details. He’d need top et up trade embassies on foreign planets, and she had the personnel to spare.
“I’d be delighted to send off my people,” she said. “Some of them will stay here, but with the main mission accomplished, I think it’s time to turn over power to the people. They’ll be holding a special election tomorrow. With that done, I can disperse the crew and return back to Earth. Congratulations on your promotion to Major,” she said, looking at the gold oak leaf that adorned his lapels.
He next needed to talk to the press and make some statements. The unrest was partially due to having lost a lucrative trading deal with the pirates, Chon estimated it to be worth 1.8 billion in credits a year. After the trade negotiations, he discovered that Gebo could earn up to 1 billion in credits per year from the trade deal, and since Gebo was no longer run as a cartel, the citizens new spending power would probably make that money feel like more.
He called up the press and gave them a rundown of everything that had happened at the warehouse, the new trade agreements, and a video urging people to vote in the election. The last item on his agenda made him feel weird, he hoped it didn’t look like a bad after school special.
The new spaceship arrived from Earth, the one retrofitted to look like a pirate’s ship. Mark and Luciana went to give a walkthrough inspection of the new ship. She noticed his new rank and gave him an approving nod. “You should ask her out,” he remembered EVE admonishing him. Where was she? Normally, she chirped in his mind all the time, but he hadn’t heard anything from her. Guess trade policy wasn’t something a supercomputer AI was interested in.
When they arrived at the dock yard, disappointment awaited them. The new ship wasn’t a junker per se’, but it looked awful compared to either of the two ships that were currently in use. The exterior hull had been repaired recently, a bit of hillbilly armor on it to keep up appearances. It was a modified stock freehauler. . The weapon’s systems were bolted onto it after the fact. They appeared to be war-surplus weapons, the stuff that gets decommissioned and left on a planet’s garbage dump. They consisted of 10 fixed-mount 28cm missile launchers and one turret with 30 Million Joule UV laser. An extra maneuver drive was also bolted onto the structure, but the energy capacity wasn’t boosted with this, meaning it couldn’t fire weapons at full strength while also moving at full speed.
The worst disappointment though was the rooms. All of the cabin space had been stripped out to make bunk rooms, allowing more crew onboard, but putting them into cramped, common rooms. They’d have to divide the room into male and female quarters, clearly not a concern for the previous architects. There were only three cabins, and a med-bay consisting of only three spots. Saving lives was also clearly not a priority.
This was pretty much what they expected, but confirming it still left them both with disappointment. The only upside, a bit of a mixed blessing, is that the way the pirates stripped out the rooms to only have bunk rooms meant they could fit their entire fleet on a single ship.
“Alright,” Mark said, trying to add some fake enthusiasm to his voice. “We leave in two days. Get everyone together, inventory equipment, and we’ll head out to fulfill our primary directive.” Mark was glad that he’d finally be able to leave the planet. This would all be someone else’s problem, and they could read his report or ignore all of his recommendations.
No sooner had Mark thought these words when a pop-up notice appeared in his vision.
Congratulations on becoming an elected leader!
You have just become the elected governor of Gebo! Congratulations on winning a race you didn’t even enter!
You are now a faction leader of a group: Representative Democracy. Each Major Faction is unified by beliefs about major issues that draw other like-minded people together. There are also Lesser Factions, consisting of people with beliefs about lesser things, such as fandom or trivia.
Each faction sets up their own requirements for constitutes the core beliefs and what standards member must meet in order to be considered a viable member.
However, Acting in accordance the faction’s beliefs is the central focus of any membership. A person may belong to multiple different factions or may be expelled or leave a faction if their beliefs no longer align.
Each faction has the 4 Fs:
Fealty: How intensely the group believes in something.
Fellowship: The level of mutual trust, aid, and friendship that exists amongst faction members.
Force: The level of power the faction has without the direct involvement of the leader.
Fraternity: The ability of the group members to gain information, resources, or money for the faction overall.
As leader of a faction, you gain access to the cumulative resources of your members. With 23% of the eligible population voting, you have access to these members and resources.
Additionally, one point has been gained in politics as a result of you winning the election.
“Shit,” Mark thought internally. To Luciana, he said, “So I’m now officially the leader of this place. Want to get a bite at the best restaurant in here without a reservation?”
“How’d you win? Were you even on the ballot?”
“No, I’m guessing I won via the write-in ballot. Anyway, I’m thinking of using up a few perks while I’m officially the governor, before I retire the position.”
“Wait,” EVE said in his head.
“Well, look who finally appeared back. What do you mean ‘wait’ though, this is going to be a huge pain.”
“Yes, it will be. But think of the rewards. You’re going up against a pirate group that’s who knows how big. You might need a place to recruit military members from, and if you’re governor, that’ll be possible. If you’re not governor, you’ll have to ask Earth to perform this for you and send over whoever they have lying around, which could take months to years. That is ignoring the convenance of docking facilities and repairs, police personnel, and other benefits.”
“You really just want the money, don’t you?”
“I’m logical,” she said, sounding a bit indignant. “We need money to keep your place running, lest you forget, there are people who are after you right now. The extra money will help, but the real motivator is not getting you killed in the game. You take a permanent death and you’ll lose your corporation. And that means losing your new companions as well.”
“How would I lose it? Even if we lost the cryptocurrency from this game, we’d still be making a profit off our humandroid production. Right?”
“In financial terms, we are deeply leveraged. Meaning it takes money to make money. You focus on what you’re good at, and I’ll focus on what I’m good at. Don’t renounce your governorship until you’ve taken out the pirates for good.”
Luciana was waving her hand in front of his face.
“You spaced out there, after asking me out.” She said.
“Sorry, my computer doesn’t want me to give up the governorship, because I can do a conscription of the planet if we find out we need more people and it’s a permanent ship yard. So, shall we go on a date? It might be the last nice place we see for a while, given the erm, new ship you’ve just captained.”
“Why not?” she said. “Meet me in the bay in two hours, I have a lot of prepping I want done on the ship while we’re out and about.”
She left her new pirate ship. Mark was trying not to be overwhelmed. First, a field promotion, second, a governorship. He was really moving up in the virtual World. If only he were able to live it up like this in the real World.