"At least these outlaws are civilized enough to believe in rigorous schedules." I say dryly as I see the system message that caused me to wake up. A lesser being than myself would be insulted by having a daily routine dictated to them, but unlike Orcs or Human rabbel I know the value the power and efficiency of order and organization. I dismiss the message and note to my satisfication that it costs me less mental effort to do so than it did before. Since I am free to dispose of my time as it pleases me to do so in the morning, I quickly decide to train my Interface skills, and by extension ensure that my magic is actually wieldable for when I need it. Spellcasting being the only aspect I could comfortably wield with my artificially increased instinct attribute. To truly be able to utilize my power I would need to achieve greater Insight and Control ratings, without them I would only be limited to crude spells.

I sit up on the cot and fold my legs in a meditating posture and begin practicing the Cloaking skill that Tlokbur showed me. The pitiful state of my NVR attributes once again becomes apparent as I try to meditate for over an hour and in that time I barely sense a trickle of magic within me. Last time I had overextended myself through brute force to learn the skill, but I would not make such a foolish mistake again. I strain my patience instead of my body this time as I carefully practice cloaking my nanites. It is an alien experience to feel the imaginary cloak of shadows hide the trickle of mana going through my form.

The difficulty of the task goes from how hard it is to feel and cloak the nanites, to the intense strain I feel from maintaining the skill. I can feel sweat pouring from my body and a growing headache as I time and time again force myself to cloak my nanites. Every time my focus breaks I redouble my efforts to reestablish the cloak around me. After an hour of intense effort, finally i could feel the fatigue becoming too much and I slump forward. I decide to just indulge in the pain and groan loudly at the massive headache. Pain breeds power in those who are resilient enough to withstand it.

The justifications for why I bother with all of this fade from my mind as a numbing void starts fraying at my thoughts. This is the only real moment of quiet I have had since I ended up in this strange world, and the sheer frustration of it all leaves me cold. Why am I working so hard to reclaim my old powers? Really, did the power I once had ever serve me well. It was because of said power that i ended up stranded in a world where I am practically useless. I try to rally against these thoughts and point out how I am not useless in this world. In this world I am the greatest being of all as I alone can wield spells here. Then again...Mara exists and she possess far more power and potential than I could ever have. 

This lone realization shatters my resolve and I lay down to wait for hours more until a sharp ringing followed by two interface messages appearing before me.

NOTE: You have sustained 10 mental damage, caused by the depression condition.

ALARM: Early Afternoon Appointment with Morgera. You have 10 minutes to reach it, coordinates are in your map.

I blink at these news and once again the sheer invasive nature of the NVR boggles my imagination. However, I must admit that while it is invasive to have a machine capable of meassuring ones mental faculties as well as ones physical health, it is also an undeniably useful thing to have. I roll off the cot and languidly get to my feet, I can still feel that ever present void in the back of my mind. But the alarm combined by the system messages have sufficiently distracted me to the point that it is rendered unimportant.

Spending time with a merely upjumped Octopus is not exactly an ideal past time, but it might have useful knowledge to impart. And I am not an arrogant being, I will not reject knowledge even if it comes from an inferior source. Inferior sources of knowledge and power are in fact preferable to their superior counterpart, a mere squid will be easy to manipulate compared to demons and mediocre old ones. 

WIth these encouraging thoughts I gather myself and move out of my quarters. With the help from the map function in my NVR it is easy to navigate my way through the ship to the room of the appointment. Morgera the lesser one is nowhere to be seen in the corridor, so I knock on the metallic door to the appointment room. It elegantly slides open with a gentle woosh and reveals the contents of the room. In the center of the room there is a large water tank with several devices within the water and outside of the tank. My NVR informs me that this tank is a "Aquatic Habitation Chamber", within the water I can see Morgera floating in the water. Morgeras bulbous eyes turns to me and I suddenly hear his voice ring out through the room. "Ahhh, Mr Glyphnax how nice to see you. Come in come in, there is a chair in the corner of the room."

I pull out the chair from the corner and otherwise note that the room is mostly empty if you ignore the water tank and the golem body that Morgera pilots when out of the water. I sit down in the chair and the Octopus speaks up with a rather cautious tone in his artificial voice. "Sooooo, Galactic Society...errr what an enormous topic to be honest. I feel daunted by the fact that I have been entrusted to guide you through this trasnitional period." I barely managed to conceal a snort in response to that as Morgera blubbers one without noticing my emotions. 

"The Academic in me makes me want to lecture for hours about the various intricacies of the galaxy and the many species here, but due to several scoldings from Miss Violet I have decided to give you a more....ugh practical instruction." Morgera pauses for a few seconds as he clearly tries to asertain my mood through the translucent tank. I however, do not give him any indications as to how tedious and annoying I find this conversation. "Specifically I will give you relevant information about the context around the upcoming mission. I am sure you have many questions, but let's refrain from those until we have gone deeper into the topic."

"You might have noticed that there has been talk of terms such as uplifts since you came here, and you have gotten the basic gist of it explained I am sure. Uplifts meaning species like us, those who were either not sapient or not yet at the interstellar technological level. In the galaxy there are around thirty acknowledged species, that means species who have not entered galactic society through being uplifted. But there are hundreds if not thousands of other species all over the galaxy, who have been partially or fully uplifted. Sadly, they face considerable discrimination from members of the thirty acknowledged species." Morgera blubbers on with an unsuitable amount of passion from an instructor.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"The most vulnerable ones are sapient species who have only been partially uplifted or who have not been uplifted at all. As mentioned earlier during the meeting, Shieldmaiden is one of many interest groups who have exploited such peoples for various reasons. In their case it is primarily for financial gain and reduced oversight from the various galactic governments that is their motivation. To help stop that the various notable galactic governments agreed to what we call "The Compact of Sapient Dignity". Several laws and regulations where put into place in that compact, among others the Pangalactic Law of Indigenous Preservation."

Morgera floops around in the tank for a couple of seconds and seems to push his tentacles in random directions before his attention is turned to me once more. "Ahem, sorry for the interruption. Anyway the Pangalactic Law of Indigenous Preservation was a law or rather a series of laws put into place to protect species who have not achieved Interstellar flight, from abuse and exploitation. The unfortunate aspect of these laws is that they have several loopholes that can be and has been exploited by various parties. One such loophole is the so called "help clause", a clause that allows an interstellar organization to establish themselves on a planet if the indigenous people there are in imminent need of help. Another one is the law that one are free to interact with an indigenous people if they have been asked for consent and have accepted the presence of off-worlders."

Morgera wags a tentalce at that point and the loopholes that could come from such laws are immediately obvious to me, and if they had not been I would not have asked for clarification anyway. There is some period of silence that one could describe as awkward before the Octopus continues. "Shieldmaiden is exploiting this seemingly well meaning law to use low developed planets as hideaways for their factories and facilities. Since investigators and journalists...err journalists are people who gather and report news to the public, cannot travel to these planets due to the law it means that these interest groups can operate with impunity. These interest groups are in turn protected by bigoted and corrupt political factions that work to ensure that as few people as possible step in to help. We are, however, Outlaws and as such we can go wherever we want as all places are equally legal for us."

I finish his point with a casual wave, "which in turn makes us excellent operatives for either side of the game. These...shieldmaidens can use people like us without risking anything, and more noble organizations can in turn have people like us sabotage them with little risk to themselves." Morgera bops up and down to indicate that my assumption was correct, as if this creature is an authority on the issues surrounding politics and finance. The Octopus continues to explain various uninteresting minuate surrounding the galactic legal and financial system, most of the focus being on a system called Capitalism.

Upon the lecture ending I give the creature an approximation of a respectful nod before I exit it's quarters. I must admit that Morgera is more intelligent than most upjumped animals I have encountered, so I should not consider it completely useless at least. My walk through the ship eventually leads me to the common room again, and while I did plan to continue my Cloaking practice an unexpected issue arose. I felt a strong quiver go through my stomach and an old but familiar feeling of hollowness gnawed at my insides. My cheeks blush as I realize that this feeling is hunger, my mystical might has fallen so much that inconveniences like hunger are once more a relevant factor. I shudder as the thought of what follows after consuming food goes through my mind. 

My inner turmoil is not helped by the fact that a scrumptous smell flows through the air at that moment, and I almost scramble down the stairs of the common room to an area that seems to serve as an eatery. The Captain stands by some strange contraption and whistles while cooking on a pan. To my surprise there seems to be no cooking flame involved, yet the food he prepares seems warm. I hover in the background while starring at the food being cooked by the whistling Human. Torran turns to look at me and flinches, "Oh Glyphie you scared me." He seems to focus his gaze more on me and smiles with a strange emotion coloring the expression. "Hungry huh? Well don't you worry the food will be ready soon.

He indicates for me to take a seat by the table and I do while Torran turns to continue cooking and whistling. I silently seethe at my predicament for several minutes as the rest of the crew, walk down the stairs to join me by the table. I only absently return their greeting as I am too distracted by errant thoughts and emotions to deal with tedious conversations. Eventually toran places plates of food before us and I start eating it absently. Despite my distant mind I must note that the food is...adequate and that it abates the gnawing hunger within me. 

I leave the meal early after finishing the food and spend my time wandering the corridors of the ship, while trying to practice the Cloaking skill. Sadly, it becomes very apparent that my pitiful control over the NVR does not let me cloak and walk at the same time. It is when I go to sit down in a corner that another alarm notification appears to remind me about the therapy session with Namatha. Curiosity accompanies the frustration of failiure and it drives me to seek out the location of the meeting. I discover that this room is on the upper tier of the ship and I make my way there without any preamble.

When I enter the room it becomes apparent to me that Namatha will be a more difficult sparring partner than Morgera. The room is a relatively spacious study with chairs, couches and two bookcases as well as a desk with various items spread out on it. Namatha is seated on a chair across from a couch and she gestures for me to sit there. "Ahh Glyphnax, it is good of you to be punctual. We noticed you were a bit distant during lunch and I almost worried you would not show up." I hesitate before I move over to take a seat on the couch opposite to her. Upon looking into the eyes of the human I see a significant level of strength and willpower hiding behind a relatively delecate exterior. This makes it even more apparent to me that I must approach her with care.

"So, my NVR notified me that yours sent me an emergency message requesting close to immediate assistance in regards to your mental health. It is my job to ensure that every crew member has a healthy and stable mind, but since I doubt you have been to therapy before, it is up to me to establish ground rules. If you don't want to talk then don't talk, but don't lie to me. I know it when people lie to me, secondly I expect you to be courteous here and you will be given the same courtesy in return. Lastly, everything you say to me here will be confidential and will remain concealed until and unless you want to share it." Namatha efficiently and with a powerful aura of authority, takes control of the conversation as she practically pins me in place with her gaze.

I normally would balk at a human trying to dictate terms to me, but I realize it would be hard to challenge this one in her arena in my diminished state. So, as a result I transform the sneer I am tempted to show her into what I hope is a calm smile. She returns the expression with far more authenticity than my own gesture and says. "Keep in mind this is a safe space for healing and I only want to help you here. With that being said let's begin with talking about the cause of your mental breakdown a few days ago." A flicker of a barely familiar emotion goes through me as I gulp to this rather effective opening salvo.