Setting up a Corporation (what this game called guilds) was pretty straightforward. Since I was the boss, I unilaterally decided that the Corporation would be called the Black Star Trading Company. I set myself as the President/CEO, obviously, and made Jaynie the COO. Shearah got to be Vice President of Operations, Carissa was Vice President of Accounting, and Cali was Vice President of Public Relations. That caused the sullen sexpot to snicker when I said she could ‘relate’ to the public with either her ‘talents’ or her shotgun, whichever was more appropriate. Everyone agreed that the 10% guild tax was fair.
Imperial First Bank was a pretty solid institution, according to my reading. They had branches throughout the Empire, and were one of a few banks that actually had branches in other factions’ territory. Their coverage in areas outside the Empire was more spotty, but they at least had a branch in the capitol of every major planet in ‘Known Space’. Which meant I could access my accounts from most places. They also were surprisingly good with client confidentiality, being a lot like Switzerland in that regard. The flip side of this was that they had very strict identity scans, the interest was low, and they wouldn’t open accounts for anyone who had a criminal record.
I opened a personal account, and gave each of my four ‘extra’ IDs access to it, so I wouldn’t have to worry about always wearing this face when I needed to see a banker. None of those IDs had a criminal record, and they all were issued by a legitimate source, so it only took a hint of Influence to make it pass muster. Jaynie already had an account with a lesser-known bank that didn’t spread past the Empire’s borders, but offered better interest (and didn’t care about IDs). The other girls were all Property, so couldn’t have bank accounts, naturally.
I opened two more accounts, one for the Corporation, and one for the Raven. It took a little bit of work, but finally I set up my ‘shares’ system for funds coming from missions. One quarter would go directly into the Raven’s account, one half into mine, and one quarter would be split between the free individuals on the crew, which basically meant Jaynie, for now. 10% of what went into the personal accounts (whether mission-related or not) was automatically deducted for the Corporate Tax. I planned to use that as a fund for gear maintenance, or purchasing items for the guild as a whole.
Not wanting to keep a whole bunch of cash on my bracer, I immediately deposited 464K credits into my new personal account, and nodded to myself as I saw 46400 credits move into the Corporate account. Felt a whole lot more comfortable not carrying around half a million credits just sitting there asking to be stolen.
Now I had a crew, I had someplace to drop the Princess, and I had paying work going the same way. So I was in pretty good spirits when we left the bank and headed back to the tram. This time, we weren’t alone in the tram. Six big, burly men, all wearing similar outfits, and carrying obvious weapons. I pegged them as one of the local gangs, and slipped my hand to the hilt of my energy blade, unclipping it, but keeping the device hidden inside the sleeve of my coat. No sense in warning the fools. Especially since they were Nomads.
Mason Scott
Human Male
Level 15
Titles: Thug
Dexter Ball
Human Male
Level 15
Titles: Thug
Bennie Owen
Human Female
Level 10
Titles: Thug
Ian Curry
Human Male
Level 15
Titles: Thug
Thomas Briggs
Human Male
Level 15
Titles: Thug
Nelson McGuire
Human Male
Level 20
Titles: Thug, Manslayer
Oh, my bad. One was a female, but so butch that I thought she looked like the other guys. Anyways, I muttered softly to my group, “Get ready for a party, girls. These idiots look like they’re going to try something stupid.”
Sure enough, the toughs moved forward, with the biggest out in front, and the five others backing him up. The guy in front at least appeared to be a bit smarter than the others, and looked to be sizing me up. “Listen, buddy, this here’s our tram, so if youse wantin’ to ride, you gots to pay the toll, see?”
I smiled back, and said, “Oh, no. Don’t think that’ll be happening. See, I just went and deposited all my cash in the bank, so there’s nothing to pay a toll with.”
“Well, that’s gonna be a problem for youse. But since I’m a great guy, you give us the girls, and we’ll let you walk outta here at the next station.”
The ‘lady’ in the back said, “Yeah! We got some pretty collars you can wear!” Apparently, they were too stupid to see one of the girls already had a visible collar.
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Another spoke up, “We’ll show those bitches how it feels to be with a real man!” That caused a good bit of laughter between the punks. They didn’t notice Cali and Jaynie shifting to get a better angle with their weapons. They were used to their size and strength being enough to intimidate people. Too bad for them, I wasn’t that easy to intimidate.
I unleashed a Mind Pulse, stunning the six idiots. It only lasted for ten seconds, but that was enough to start the party off right. “Take them out!” My energy blade snapped into existence, and I immediately went for critical hits. Mr. ‘Manslayer’ quickly found himself sans head, as the blade made quick work of his neck. Looked like they had decent armor (physical armor, at least), but the physics of this game were pretty real. If you didn’t have armor on your neck, you didn’t benefit from it. My bracers had an energy field which surrounded me for energy armor, but the additional energy armor in my coat wouldn’t do any good if someone didn’t me in a place covered by the coat.
Cali and Jaynie unleashed their attacks as well, a pair of shotgun blasts catching two of the other guys. Their armor did indeed protect them, in that they weren’t dead, but it clearly didn’t block all the damage, or keep them from getting knocked on their asses from the close-quarters shots. The ladies each got another shot off, just as the idiots were starting to come out of the stunned state, sending the last two men to the ground.
The woman found herself on the wrong end of my Stunning Grasp power, when I bitch-slapped her in the face with it, sending her down to the ground, spasming with the electric shock. Cali and Jaynie joined me in quickly dispatching the four guys. “Strip them of everything before they despawn. We’ll split the loot after.” Working fast, I managed to strip the still living woman and used a pair of manacles to bind her hands behind her back before she was able to fight back.
Seeing how the situation had turned, she began cursing quite fluently. I caught both English, two Imperial languages, and what sounded like Russian. There was a lot of repeated curse words, and general ranting about how she would do this or that to me, questioning my parentage by suggesting I was descended from various cattle, and other fun stuff like that. After a few moments, I took one of the collars that we’d looted from the thugs, and showed it to her. That made her shut up, her eyes going wide.
My own grin got a bit devilish, I admit, since my Analyze told me it was a Stepford tracking collar. I let her watch as I changed the settings on it, and said, “Now, I honestly don’t know what this will do to a Nomad, but I’m all for finding out. I’ve set this so that when I put this on you, you’ll be property of my Corporation, and the Stepford protocols will turn you into a nice, obedient whore. You’ll go to the nearest brothel and do whatever it takes to get a job as a prostitute. You’ll keep yourself nice and fit so you make as much money as possible, and 75% of the money you make will go automatically to the Corporation, so you’ll have to do a lot of work if you want to eat decent meals.”
I let that sink in for a second, before continuing. “Of course, you can get a new character, but you can only make a new character every three RL months. Even if you started on opening day, you’re only two weeks into that three month period. That means you’ll be missing almost ten months in game time, sitting on your ass, while your buddies here move on without you.”
I mind-pulsed her again to keep her still while I locked the collar around her neck, and said, “Or you can be a good whore, and when you’ve earned my Corporation 1 Million Credits, I’ll let you stop being a station whore. The choice is yours.” With that, I released the binding, allowing her to stand. She was naked, unarmed, weaponless, and had no ID or anything but the collar. Would be a nasty piece of work earning a million credits. I gave it a couple days, tops, before she tried to get her buddies to free her. That would have her branded as an escaped slave, and would be free for anyone to claim as their own if they got a collar back on her. I’d get a 100 credit transfer fee from the new owner, and they’d have a new slave they could keep or sell for a profit. Bounty hunters actually had a decent side gig if they chased escapees, and her face would be all over the station if she ran.
Really, there was no downside for me, and no matter what happened going forward, this ‘woman’ was fucked. Best part, she couldn’t even glare at me, as the Stepford collar was making her happy and obedient.
While we were in the tram, I checked the loot we took off them. Some decent (if low-level) gear that could sell for some credits in addition to what we took off them, including basic weapons and ammo, nine more slave collars, and they had a lot of drugs. A LOT of drugs. There were thirty doses of Kamikaze, ninety of XtC, and thirty of Jovian Fly. The leader also had an injector of nanites that were just nasty, and were definitely something I didn’t want on my ship. I was going to sell the lot of them before I got back on the Raven.
Kamikaze
Type
Drug
Rank
Common
This combat drug is designed with a quick injector, for rapid effectiveness. It increases a combatant’s combat ability, but can be very addictive if used often. Kamikaze addicts are prone to be more aggressive, and get into fights more often.
Duration: 10 Minutes
+10% Physical Stats for duration
-5% Mental stats for duration.
Resist 10% of all damage for duration.
When duration ends, -20% to all Stats for 1 hour, - 50% to all actions for 10 minutes.
XtC
Type
Drug
Rank
Common
A classic party drug that has been improved over time. Used to induce a mild euphoria and increased sensations. Can be addictive when taken over a long period of time.
Duration: 3 Hours
+25% CHA for duration
+25% to Seduction for duration
-50% Sp. Def. for duration
-50% to resist Seduction for duration
Increased physical sensations for duration
Jovian Fly
Type
Drug
Rank
Common
A popular ‘Male Enhancement’ drug, Jovian Fly is legal throughout the Empire. It is not habit forming, though long-term users may suffer confidence or performance issues without the drug.
Restricted: Only works on males.
Duration: 1 Hour
+20% to END for duration
Stamina costs of physical activity reduced by 50%
Bitchmaker™ Nanites
Type
Augment (Nano)
Rank
Uncommon
An restricted and highly illegal augmentation from the unaligned world of Hundeherstellar III. These nanites infiltrate the subject and create physical and mental changes in the subject. Unlike the Stepford series collars, these changes are permanent. The physical changes can be reversed with Cleaner nanites, but even with Cleaners, many subjects never fully recover from the mental changes.
Restricted: Only works on females.
Pet – The victim is unable to stand on two feet, or speak except in barks and growls like a dog. Mental changes reinforce the canine behaviors.
Remodel – Allows owner to change physical aspects of victim.
Master – The victim imprints upon a male Master, set by the nanites, becoming devoted to them, insanely loyal, and eager for any attention from them, whether signs of affection, or abuse.
Conditioning – The victim’s mind is subjected to intense mental conditioning to reinforce the nanite’s commands. The psychological trauma ensures that the victim remains docile and obedient, even when the nanites are cleansed from her system.
Oh, and I leveled up, too.
For killing or subduing six enemies of higher levels than you, you gain 30000 XP.
+2000 XP for fighting alongside your Crew in battle against higher-leveled enemies.
+2000 XP for fighting alongside your Corporation members in battle against higher-leveled enemies.
+1000 XP for fighting alongside your Slaves in battle against higher-leveled enemies.
You are now Level 10! You have 10 Stat points to spend.
You have defeated six other Nomads in combat. +300 Fame
Blades has improved to 2/100.
+1 STR
When the tram opened in section 16, I slapped Bennie on the ass, and sent her on her way. Sheila just shook her head as she looked at me. “You’re quite evil, you know that?”
I shrugged, and said, “Well, she and her buddies were being stupid thugs, and they picked the wrong crew to mess with. That collar was one of the ones we took off them, so I think it is delicious irony that she is now wearing it. Anyways, their leader had some nanites from Hundeherstellar III which makes what I did look like child’s play.” Sheila shuddered at the mention of the place. Seems it had a bit of a reputation, probably with good reason.