With a small sigh, I went to go hunt down the triplets next. Unsurprisingly, I found them in the captain’s quarters. This was the final piece of evidence I needed to know that Naida was correct in her assessment. The three were already practically moving into my own quarters. Like the songstress before them, I took a moment to study the three intruders before they realized I was watching them.

They were completely identical, down to their leggy figures and buxom chests. Their eyes were a startling bottle green framed by soft lashes and gentle cheekbones. Their hair was the same lustrous golden blonde that curtained just shy of their upper backs. Their wings were held close to their body, white soft things that looked like sleeping in them would feel amazing. For some strange reason my armor’s visor actually listed their names, and while a part of me was wondering why this had changed a more primal part of me was too busy staring.

Like Naida, they had also managed to discard the rags they had been originally dressed in. Sophia had managed to squeeze herself into a pair of gray leggings that looked like they had been sculpted upon her nautical miles of legs, with a blue button up blouse that strained to constrain her chest. She almost looked like a tempestuous valkyrie. Antonietta was the polar opposite, favoring a muted yellow dress that ended just above her knees with a cut low enough to showcase hints of glorious cleavage. I was reminded of spring blooms as she watched. Edelguard seemed to be trying to be a mixture between her two sisters. This cevanti favored a blouse with a connected skirt combo, done in cool pastel colors like the dawn before a storm. Spats protected her modesty beneath her scandalously short skirt.

“Y’know, if you're attempting to get in my pants only to later stab me in the back, it's working.”

The matching squeaks of surprise from the cevanti women had me doubled over in laughter. Sophia puffed up her cheeks in mock anger while her sisters flushed a handsome red. “We wondered how long it'd take before you figured out what accepting our dowries meant.” She took a breath, her nose twitching cutely. “Ah. Looks like our siren friend beat us to it. I guess I'm not really against her being the first. How did you get that Collar of Silence off?”

I shrugged. “I touched it. It went snap. That aside, what exactly are you three doing?”

It was Edelguard who answered. “Moving in, silly.” She chirped. “In cevanti culture, we're already married. The cevanti are all females, you see. So when a suitor is either given or claims the dowry of a cevanti woman, in the eyes of the law they're wed.”

“You do realize I'm a woman too, right?” Even as I spoke the words, I remembered that they weren't technically true.

“No you're not,” Antonietta shot back. “We can smell it. I'm not entirely sure what you are, but you smell like both a woman and a man.”

I couldn't even believe we were having this conversation. With a sigh, I focused on that same feeling I had when Naida’s Summoning Contract had appeared. With a muted flash of light, three contracts appeared before the cevanti. “Look, I'm not opposed to the idea of being wed to you three. You're exceptionally lovely. All of you. But I'm also in a situation where I'm potentially surrounded by enemies everywhere I turn. I'm not going to force you to accept those contracts. But if you don't then I think it's better to let things progress a little more naturally before I bare my heart and make myself vulnerable.”

I had barely even finished speaking before the three angels accepted the contracts, becoming three more of the unicorn’s summons. To be honest, I was slightly flabbergasted. Naida was one thing, seeing as I had returned the use of her voice. I hadn't really been expecting the same reaction from the triplets, who were even now pouring over my statblock. The sisters had a block similar to Naida, their stats reset now that they were under Artemis’s banner. Sophia's class was listed as a hurricane, Edelguard as a paladin, and Antoinetta as an archangel.

“A Champion,” Sophia whispered a little reverently. “One of Artemis’s, of all things. I'm not sure how I feel about that.”

“Why? Is that a problem?” I tilted my head again.

It was Edelguard who answered slowly, as though trying to gather her thoughts. “It's not a problem in and of itself. But Celestia, hundreds of years ago the cevanti spanned a stupidly huge empire. It was a Champion of Artemis that led us. The cevanti were so powerful, so vast, that our ancestors actually believed that they were the universe’s chosen race. They were uplifted and aided by Artemis’s champion at the time, assuring them that Artemis approved of the cevanti being at the top.

“Eventually the Great Imperium of Cevanti, as it was called, came to believe it was their divine right to cleanse the galaxy in righteous fire. The other races would either kneel at their feet or be slaughtered. The Cevantian Scourge, is what the other races named our ancestors. The war was so encompassing it was literally the entire galaxy versus the Scourge, and the Scourge was still winning. It was a crisis so large that the other deities had to band together to deal with the problem. Their champions came together, defeated Artemis’s chosen, stripped the cevanti of most of their power, then caused our males to become sterile. The cevanti were cursed to seek the seed from the men of other races to survive, and all of those offspring are always female and always cevanti.”

“Phew,” I sighed again. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. “That's a lot to take in. If it helps, I'm not really planning on galactic domination. I was reincarnated to be Artemis’s Champion because she basically has no power anymore. She had to ask another god who is sympathetic towards her plight to even summon my soul, because what little power she did have she wanted to use to give me as much of an edge against her possible enemies as she could manage. The Yunikōn is the only gift she was able to give me, and having that other god reincarnate me means that she is unable to have any contact with me outside a place of her worship. If that wasn't bad enough, I can only contact her through prayer once every few months right now.”

The three cevanti were wide-eyed. “That sounds like Artemis is attempting to make amends.” Sophie sounded hesitant.

“I don't know. I haven't heard her side of the story. I do know that she is lonely. I could feel it. Any gods that might be allies are afraid to offer companionship for fear of being censored by the gods who stripped her of most of her strength. However she is the Goddess of the Hunt, and there are plenty of things in the galaxy for us to hunt. Restoring at least some of her power shouldn't be too hard.”

Antonietta glanced at her sisters and giggled. “I can't speak for all cevanti, but for us at least, we're in this for the long haul.”

I shook my head and grinned. “Okay, enough serious stuff for right now. Considering everything that's happened, we'll have to have a chat with Artemis soon. And you three should really find your own rooms. I'm flattered that you want to make what we have going on official, but I still think it's a good idea for you to have your own space. We're going to be stuck together possibly for months at a time while in space, and I'd rather not have beauties like you three getting tired of me.”

“I don't think that would ever happen,” Sophie said softly. All three sisters gave me a chaste kiss before heading off to settle in their own quarters. I took a moment in the peace of my room to wonder how in the hell this was my life right now. In my previous life, I’d never really had much thought for romantic entanglements. Sure, my goal had been to eventually save enough money for Millie and I to get a house together, but that was merely a plan on my part to eventually get closer to my best friend. I’d had no idea that Millie had loved me, although looking back on it now I had to admit I might have been a bit dense. Millie’s feelings at the end finally clued me into why my childhood friend had followed me into the military, and then later the mercenary life. Millie had been a fantastic soldier, one I would have trusted my life to. But I had never been able to figure out why Millie seemed determined to follow me around.

Remembering Millie caused a pang of sadness to lance through my soul. I did love Millie. More than I’d ever thought possible. But these other new women in my life were starting to effectively worm themselves into my affections. Millie wouldn't begrudge me loving other women. Thinking about our lives together, Millie had always played second fiddle to me. She had enjoyed doing so. Where I went, Millie would inevitably be nearby. It was just a fact of life, no matter how many men or even women tried to date the girl nicknamed ‘Celestia’s Shadow.’ More than anything in that moment, I wished I had my best friend next to me. Not having Millie there was an open wound I hadn't even realized was present until now, and I desperately prayed that Shai was correct that Millie had also been brought into this universe. Eventually the two would find each other. I was sure of it.

With a force of will, I shook off my melancholy. I still had members of my new crew to get settled. The four ship technicians were clustered in the center of the corridor that housed the four Hangers. That same one with fire engine red hair was the first to notice my approach. “Ma’am,” she saluted, tapping her closed fist to her chest.

The others gave the same salute as I got closer. “How are you ladies holding up?”

“Very well, actually.” Red hair said proudly. “Oh, I'm Eve. That one–” she pointed to a carrot orange ponytail with gray eyes “--is Sensa, that one–” a burgundy bob cut with teal eyes “--is Clara, and our final member–” a black haired pigtail with brown eyes “--is Spirit. We were a part of the same technician team at Westfallen Armories. It'll be nice not having to compete against my friends anymore.”

I chuckled. “Was Westfallen that bad?”

“Yes,” Spirit said emphatically. “It was everyone's dream to move up far enough in the company to get their own hanger bay to work out of. Run-of-the-mill technicians like us would almost never raise that high without inside connections to the top brass or sleeping around, regardless of how talented we were. Even worse was the pay; we would only earn a flat amount of credits as a commission depending on the size of the ship we were working on, while the lead technician of the hanger would earn 60% of the commission and the rest would go to the company. So if we were working on a large ship and the commission offered was 100,000 credits, the lower rung technicians would earn maybe 1,000 credits while the lead would walk away with 60,000 credits and the company would get the remaining 40,000. It was a never ending cycle of barely being able to afford daily living expenses because the basic wage was also a pittance.”

“I'm not exactly a business oriented person, but even I can see that's a pretty lousy model. So, here's what I'm gonna do. You'll earn a base 3% from every job I get paid for. You'll get this from every job, regardless of whether any of my ships take battle damage. I'd like you to be maintaining my ships every time they return to their hangers, or in the Yunikōn’s case every time it docks. Any enemy ships that aren't too damaged and can be recovered, repaired, and then sold you'll earn half of what it sells for, while the other half goes to me to help pay for any components you need to repair said ships. Sound good?”

“Uh…” Sensa said hesitantly. “That sounds too good to be true. But your hangers are equipped with basic repair bots, so each of us should be able to keep your hangers running around the clock if that's what's required.”

“I'm not going to work you to death, but sure having my hangers ready around the clock will be nice. Welcome to the team.” As I finished speaking, four more contracts appeared before the technicians. I really needed to sit down with my codex and figure out if it had any new information for me. I hated the feeling of being left in the dark; so much was being thrown at me so fast that had I been anyone else they would have already snapped under the strain.

“A Champion of Artemis, huh?” Eve had a thoughtful look on her face. “That would explain what a unicorn is doing all the way out here in cevanti territory.” At this point, I wasn't even surprised my new technicians had accepted. Their classes were each listed simply as engineer. “This will eventually put us at odds with the Termia Empire.”

At my curious look, Clara elaborated. “The Termia Empire were the primary empire arrayed against the Cevantian Scourge of old. It's a predominantly human empire, and they used their significant galactic voice to persuade other empires to sterilize cevanti males in order to ‘prevent such a tragedy from happening again.” The air quotes the slight girl used spoke volumes to how much she disagreed with such a punishment. “When it comes out that Artemis has a new champion and that you're tossing your lot into the cevanti, the Empire will mostly view you as a threat to their power. They currently hold even more power than the old Cenvantian Scourge did.”

“Okay, one gigantic galactic empire is now my enemy. Sure, I can roll with that.”

“You're taking this awfully well.” Spirit commented.

“I'm a soldier. Or, an ex-soldier, at any rate. I'm used to having all sorts of enemies. If they come for what's mine, they're dead. What are the chances that the nobles who planned on turning you into slaves are a part of the Empire?” I already knew this thanks to Yunikōn's sensors, but I wanted to hear someone else's opinion.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Almost guaranteed. It's basically a well known secret that the Empire partakes in the slave trade. But it's not all black and white. The Empire isn't as united as they want everyone else to believe. The current ruling family despises the slave trade. They've spent decades fighting against slavery, but they're stymied at every turn. The inner circle of nobility, those who don't rule over planets on the outskirts of the Empire, have been trying to strip the Emperor of power because he doesn't differentiate between inner nobility and outskirts nobility. The inner nobility basically want more power and money because they see themselves as superior to the nobility ‘out in the sticks’.”

“And what side of that argument do you support?” I was curious to know how my new technicians thought.

Eve shrugged. “We've been outside of the Federation’s politics and sphere of influence for years now; the Westfallen Armories branch in cevanti space has kept us secluded from nearly all of that infighting. That being said, I speak for all four of us when I say that we're on the side of everyone getting along. There are enough problems in life without fighting with each other.”

Clara spoke up next. “However, we're all throwing in our lot with you and Artemis now. You're in a unique position to do some good in the galaxy, and I think we're all looking forward to the future.”

“You don't even know me. That's some confidence you have in me.”

All four women leveled a glare at me. “We can count on one hand the number of people who'd decide to offer would-be slaves a place on her ship and work if we want it. You can pretend to be this hardened badass all you want, but those you've rescued aren't buying it.”

I threw my hands in the air and started to walk away amidst cheerful giggling. I desperately needed a moment of quiet, so I headed back towards my quarters. A flick of my wrist closed the bulkhead behind me and I meandered over to the frankly way too large bathroom suite. I stepped into the shower, which automatically turned on. The water was already at the perfect temperature, and I started scrubbing the gore off my horn from when I’d stabbed that one pirate. He had gotten the jump on me and had attempted to hack at my horn with a rusted machete-type blade.

My armor had no traces of the laser fire I had taken, so I assumed it had some sort of self repair capability. The water still turned brown as the accumulated grime of combat sluiced down the drain. With a tiny nudge of my mind the armor faded back into its choker form, causing my clothes to instantly become soaked. I shucked them quickly before just enjoying the soothing heat from the water. I admired my head of rainbow hair; it was astounding that I could touch it and it felt like real hair, but the pirate hadn't been able to grasp it and it seemed to be unaffected by the water from the shower. +1 for not having to wash my hair and tail? In my more relaxed state, I wondered if it was technically considered hair or a mane at this point. It hung all the way down to my butt, and I was already taller than the average woman in my old life.

I then took a moment to really take stock of my new body. I wasn't covered in fur, for which I was grateful; fur just sounded like it would ruin everything about how I looked. I did have a little tuft of chest fur right between my breasts, and toying with it felt calming. The rest of me was just that same pale, milky white skin. It was almost albinism but not quite. I had traces of a six pack above my taut tummy and my limbs had the same pleasing muscle definition. I wasn't bodybuilder type of muscular, but I was incredibly fit despite my leanness. My breasts were capped with dime sized nipples. Below my waist, I did have a cock and balls. It was an odd feeling, having a new appendage where before I didn't. It wasn't quite the same feeling as my new tail, which was swishing gently under the spray with a mind of its own. I then discovered that I did have a little more fur, in a ring around where my ankles met my hooves.

I stood there for a moment longer, just staring at my hooves. For all intents and purposes, I shouldn't have been able to stand upright on my hooves, let alone all the running and walking I had done. My tail obviously helped with balance, but that didn't seem like enough. But then as I shifted slightly, I realized what was going on, and I lifted a hoof to press on its inside to confirm my theory. The bottoms of my hooves were like suction cups. The only hard part of the hooves was the outer section, or the wall. The rest acted as a suction cup, and as I shifted I could actually see additional muscles in my ankles extending and retracting to apply more or less suction pressure to the area of the hoof that was bearing the most weight at any one time. I wasn't generally one for the sciences, but my new body seemed to be a wonder of biology.

Deciding I’d cleaned enough of the grime off, I stepped out of the shower. I fished the codex out of my leggings, which seemed to be no worse for wear despite being soaked. With a relaxed hum, I eased myself into the massive bathtub and began filling it with water. The tub could likely fit half a dozen people, so I took the opportunity to stretch out. I felt much better now that I had the opportunity to just think and do research. I knew that I had two final members of my new crew to check in on, but I hoped the kitsune wouldn't begrudge me taking a moment for myself. I unlocked my codex, and unsurprisingly there was another new entry on the device.

Summoning

Summoning is a type of contract between two willing parties. A summoning contract carries with it a few quid pro quo expectations. The Summoner promises safety and stability to the summoned entity, while the summoned entity offers additional expertise and new spells to the Summoner. A summoned entity is unable to directly or indirectly harm their Summoner, nor lie in any shape or form. A Summoner’s Bond is formed upon the acceptance of a contract, and Summoners are rare enough that almost nothing is known about the different ranks of the Bond. The lowest ranking of the Bond is rank D and offers a flat 200 to all stats for the summoned entity, while the Summoner obtains one spell or ability from the entity and 50% of the entity's stats. The next rank is C, followed by B, A, then S, with each ranking providing additional benefits. The more the entity trusts the Summoner, the higher the rankings.

I tabbed over to the information on my new summons. The technicians were all at rank D, while my… Harem hopefuls? were at rank C already. It looked like rank C of the Bond offered 400 increased stats to the summon, then two spells and 20% stats to the summoner. It was as I was futzing around on these menus that I found a level up notification. Curious, I pressed it.

Congratulations! Your recent activities have increased you to level 33! Each level offers 5 stat points. These stat points can be spent in any one stat, and sleeping allows the allocated stat points to go into effect.

I tapped a dainty finger upon my chin. I had a total of 165 stat points to implement after my level increased. I didn't recall any notifications telling me that I’d earned experience, so I had to assume that killing those pirates had netted me new levels. It was likely that I would have to periodically check and see if I had any new levels throughout my adventures. I tapped on my stats to place the new attribute points, and the end results looked thus:

* Name: Celestia Nadir

* Class: Summoner

* Race: Unicorn

* Deity: Artemis

* Age: 127

* Level: 33

* Sex: H

* Strength: 165(735)

* Agility: 200(780)

* Perception: 300(870)

* Willpower: 300(885)

* Endurance: 200(785)

* Libido: 129

* Traits: Unsound Lifespan, Champion

* Titles: Champion of Artemis

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at myself. My OCD was showing again; there was just something pleasing about most of my stats being whole numbers baseline. The parenthesis seemed to be my total stats with modifiers taken into consideration. I hadn't really expected my summons to add so much more to my attributes, and I still had the two kitsune that were likely going to add to those numbers. As if summoning them, a chime echoed through the captain’s quarters as someone triggered what appeared to be a doorbell, causing one of my ears to twitch in that direction. It still felt weird to have ears on top of my head that moved independently of each other. The sensors being fed into my codex confirmed that the visitors were the two foxy ladies I had just been thinking of. I remotely triggered the door allowing them access. It wasn't long before the two bemused women were standing at the entrance to the bathroom, running their eyes over the form of their new captain.

“I’d get up to greet you properly, but I'm currently too busy being a liquid.” I said dryly. “I wondered how long it would take before the final two of my motley crew would track me down.”

I took a moment to study the two. One of them looked to be a bit older, just judging by the way she carried herself. She had that effortless grace that spoke of being a couple of decades older than her compatriot. She was tall and willowy, with silver eyes. Her hair was a beautiful pastel pink, styled in ringlets that framed her flawless face. Four fox tails in the same color as her hair waved gently behind her back, and she was dressed in a cheongsam that matched her eyes. The second one came off as a little more spunky. She was shorter than the first kitsune, for starters, and her chestnut hair was cropped short in a bob around a bronze skin tone. Flickers of red highlights decorated the ends of her hair, like flames. Her eyes were a startling gold, and she wore a more traditional red and white kimono. Three chestnut colored, red tipped tails flicked eagerly behind her own back.

“I am Orochi Inoue,” the one with pink hair spoke. Her voice was a clear bell. “It's a pleasure to meet a rarity such as a unicorn.”

“I'm Chie Kawasaki.” The younger one introduced herself. Her voice was peppy, as befitting her spunky appearance. “Don't worry about Orochi’s way of speaking, she's always super formal.”

“Yes, and you're a meathead.” came Orochi’s rejoinder. Chi puffed her cheeks in annoyance as I chuckled.

“You two sound like good friends.”

Chie shrugged. “Three months in captivity will do that. We kept ourselves from going insane, at least.”

“I take it the secret is out, then?”

“More or less,” Orochi inclined her head. “For a Soulmancer such as myself, falling under the banner of a Champion is a dream come true. I am young by the standards of similarly long-lived races, but even I have been inundated with requests from other Champions to join them. I have refused all of them.”

“Until me, apparently. Why?” I ran a hand through my magical hair in slight frustration. “What makes me so different, as the sole champion of a forgotten goddess, compared to a deity who has legions of Champions?”

Orochi maintained eye contact with me, as if trying to convey the seriousness of her words. “Your soul. Magically-inclined kitsune often have a specific domain they specialize in. Nearly all of us dedicate ourselves to magic, but there are a handful that go beyond just magic. Some possess the domain of emotions. Even fewer are capable of detecting thoughts, which is a primitive form of mind reading. However, I specifically specialize in the soul. I am so rare that anyone would be willing to kill in order to chain me to them. ‘Tis how I ended up captured by those ruffians.

“Believe me when I tell you that your soul is one of the most beautiful I've seen in my short life, Celestia. I see a person's soul in colors, and those colors represent various things. The color gold is reserved for deities, for example, while red could signify betrayal and black could symbolize pure evil. My ability can be blocked or tricked by anyone who's skilled in magic, but you're not doing so. Your soul is a gorgeous, pure silver. You've spent your past life killing, yes, but you've never killed just for the sake of killing. I didn't believe it was possible for anyone to have such a soul, yet here you are.”

“Artemis said something similar,” I said slowly. “Told me that my soul had a high compatibility with what she was looking for in a Champion.”

“I am not surprised. The goddess Artemis has not been active since the Cevantian Scourge threatened the galaxy all those centuries ago. There is a certain poetic justice to the fact that Artemis’s first new Champion since her downfall is in cevantian territory.”

I arched an eyebrow, ears pointed at attention. “Is working with the cevanti going to be a problem?”

Orochi raised her palms in a placating gesture. “Not at all. What was done to the cevanti was barbaric, and you'll find that many of the demi-human galactic empires did not agree with the Termia Empire’s judgment. Unfortunately the human and humanoid nations had far more power than demi-humans after the end of that Galactic War. It was easier to go along with the judgment instead of further fighting over it.”

I turned towards the other kitsune. “You've been pretty quiet over there, Chie. What's your opinion on everything that's happened in the past few hours?”

The younger kitsune frowned for a moment. “I've spent much of my life as a bodyguard to Orochi, yet it's only recently I've actually considered her a friend as opposed to my job. Before, I had never wanted anything outside that. My family has an extensive history of protecting kitsune who will one day become a leader of our people, and guarding a Soulmancer is the pinnacle of honor. It's funny that you're repeating the same question Orochi has posed to me on more than one occasion.”

“You are your own person,” Orochi spoke next. “Being my bodyguard is important, yes, but that shouldn't be the only thing you want to do. Besides, I'm not really a pilot. The Yunikōn has an expansive spell array, which means I'll be spending most of my time on this ship and using that spell array whenever the need arises. I can't imagine that I would be safer anywhere else.”

Chie was quiet for a moment, thinking. “Well, I'm an Enforcer. You don't have any ground forces yet, but you will eventually. A few of the crew’s quarters could be repurposed into bunks for groups of marines, right? And combat automatons would only take up space in the cargo hold if you wanted to use them. I could be your captain of ground forces. This way I can do something that meshes with my class while still being there for Orochi.”

It was pretty obvious that this was the biggest concession Chie was willing to make. But if it made the younger kitsune happy, I wasn't going to force the issue. I stood up, feeling far more refreshed than I had half an hour ago. Both kitsune were staring at me, but it didn't really bother me. There wasn't a whole lot of modesty in the military, afterall. A cloud of what appeared to be white mist engulfed my form, and when it disappeared I was completely dry. “Huh. That's different.”

Orochi chuckled. “There's going to be a lot of those types of reactions, isn't there? Was your old world not as technologically advanced?”

“It wasn't,” I replied bluntly. “We hadn't even managed to send people to the fourth planet in our solar system, let alone create spaceships like I'm encountering in this life. I'll tell you more sometime. For the moment, we should get together and map out a plan. I managed to outrun your captors for the moment, but I can't imagine they're going to give up easily.”