The journey to Laloria Prime felt like the calm before the storm. The Yunikōn entered the hyperlane with little fanfare outside the dizzying kaleidoscope of colors rippling past the cockpit windows. Eve had enthusiastically attempted to explain what was going on when a ship entered a hyperlane with the hyperdrive, but it honestly went in one ear and out the other. I'm simply not a science girl, and I didn't need to understand how something works in order to use it. Hyperlanes acted as highways that allowed me to travel between sectors of space far faster than standard FTL and that was all I really needed to know.
I spent a decent amount of that month preparing myself to slip back into the role of a platoon leader. Obviously commanding an entire mercenary company wasn't going to be exactly the same as leading a platoon of soldiers, but I could certainly apply the lessons learned in my first life to this one. Edelguard had warned me that as a unicorn I was likely to naturally attract plenty of folks under my banner simply because I was the only one of my kind in cevanti space. The unicorn’s tiny sector of space was almost clear across the galaxy, so many lightyears away that it would take decades to arrive without making use of a gateway.
The most exciting part of the trip was finally using the Ship Summoning Tokens. It was pretty unanimous that I would try to summon more combat ships. Logistics were going to be important if my order ended up growing quite large, but logistic ships could be brought on from those I recruited. If these new vessels I was going to summon came with lunar cores like I suspected they would, they would increase our combat power exponentially. And if what Edelguard mentioned was true and my company ended up quite large, the triplets plus Naida would make good lieutenants with higher spec Artemis ships. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to do the summonings one-on-one with the future pilots. I really needed to take a moment and get a better grasp on their various classes and what they would offer in battle. Nadia ended up being first primarily because she arrived at one of the hangers first after I’d sent the four of them a message.
The siren glanced around the spacious chamber curiously. The human engineers had already each claimed a hanger they would work out of. To that end the rest of us were mostly banished from those areas of the Yunikōn as the excitable girls prepared the spaces to their liking. This one was apparently Eve’s, as she stood against a workbench to eagerly watch. I removed one of the tokens from my codex and actually studied it up close. The thing was shockingly unremarkable, roughly equal in size to a half dollar coin from my old life. On one side was featured some sort of strange snake woman. She had the upper body of a gorgeous and well developed woman, but the lower body of a giant snake. A handful of what appeared to be much smaller snakes formed her hair. I didn’t know what the woman was supposed to represent, so I ended up flipping the coin over. The backside was fairly worn, although the indentations told me that there had been writing there once upon a time. Only three letters were still legible: d, n, and a.
Nadia was looking at the coin over my shoulder. “What do you suppose those letters mean?”
“I have no idea. All four of them are the same. Artemis might know, but it's going to be several months before I can contact her again and ask.” I snapped a few holograms of both sides of the coin to show my Goddess at a later date. “Are you ready?”
Naida nodded resolutely. “I am ready to be able to help you in your endeavors, captain.”
“Well to start, tell me about your class.” When I heard the term Songstress, I imagined a singer or performer. I wanted to see how close my guess was.
“So remember how I told you that all sirens are capable of charming with our voice? Well, a Songstress takes that to the extreme. We can hum or sing even simple notes to provide buffs for our allies or debuffs for our enemies. The ship of a Songstress amplifies that ability, allowing us to project our voice much farther than one might expect. The only real downside is that our songs don’t work if they can’t be heard. As soon as an enemy or an ally closes their close range communication channels, our effectiveness is basically gone. My class is a fairly common one among sirens, but I’m the first of the Shadowrose family to have it. Thus, I decided to try and strike off on my own instead of helping my father with our private contractor business.”
“Fascinating. This universe seems to blend magic and technology together fairly well.” Then, with a quick smile, I activated the ship summoning token. I was almost expecting some sort of fanfare. Maybe a cheerful noise, or a flash of light. Instead, the new spaceship was suddenly there. It faded into existence like it had always been there, and despite being a small personal craft I felt that it was just as majestic as the Yunikōn. It had a slight triangle shape to it, narrow at the cockpit before widening gradually about its body before reaching the engines. It was pretty clearly built for agility, and it held the same dark violet and white color scheme as the Yunikōn. At least the coloration was going to be uniform between the Artemis class ships. As Naida excitedly made her way towards the boarding ladder, I checked the ship’s stats with my codex.
Name
Sorderil
Classification
Artemis, Support Craft, Songstress
Hardpoints
3
Weapon Load
2 Continuous Lasers, 1 Chaingun
Traits
Heavily Shielded, Lightly Armored
I felt like this might be pretty standard for a supporting ship. They weren’t going to have a whole lot of weapons since their job was to provide battle support for their allies. I was pretty intrigued by the traits; the Yunikōn’s stats didn’t have anything similar at the moment. Heavily shielded meant that the ship’s shields were going to be much harder to shatter with both lasers and kinetic artillery, but lightly armored meant that once those shields were breached there wasn’t going to be much in the way of additional defense against attacks. The Sorderil’s weapons were pretty nasty, too. Continuous lasers fired a beam of light and heat designed to overheat an enemy’s generator and systems and cause them to fail. They weren’t particularly good at piercing shields unlike the Yunikōn’s own pulse lasers, but for disabling ships there weren’t a whole lot of better weapons. The chain gun was rather short ranged, and would likely only be utilized against foes that managed to get too close. I followed Nadia to the cockpit and received another shock.
It was full of water. There was a forcefield over the entrance to the cockpit to prevent the water from flooding the rest of the ship, and unlike the Yunikōn there were no windows showcasing the outside. Instead, there was a great number of screens that appeared to be hooked up to photographic devices on the outside of the craft, as the screens were currently showing the hanger in great detail. I wasn’t entirely sure how the screens were unaffected by water until I stared at one long enough to pick out a faint shimmer. More forcefields seemed to protect the electronics from the fluid. My vision was suddenly interrupted by a changed Naida as she came to a swimming halt in front of the cockpit entrance, and she took my breath away.
I knew that she said her race was a siren, and she had the scales dotting her body to prove it, but this was the first time I was actually seeing the fact that she wasn’t completely human. Her lower half had transformed into a giant fish tail, complete with two massive fins where her feet would normally be. Her scales had grown, now covering her in such a way it was almost like she was wearing a bodysuit of them. She no longer had her clothes on, and I could see how the scales wrapped around each breast to preserve her modesty. She looked absolutely radiant in all that water, and I unexpectedly found my mouth extremely dry. I was rather at home with the fact that I found the female form attractive, but this was such an entirely new level of infatuation that I felt like I was going to swoon.
Nadia grinned at my stunned ogling, and she glided forward until she passed through the forcefield. As she did so she was completely dry, and her scales started to recede. Her fishtail separated into legs with a swirling mist as she approached me. Her lips met mine in fiery passion and I didn’t even resist before I was kissing her back. It was a long time before we finally separated for air, and I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You are exceptionally beautiful.”
She emitted that tinkling laugh that drove me crazy. “I’ll take the compliment. So, what do you think?” She gestured at the ship around us.
“What’s with all the water in the cockpit?” It all felt kind of strange to me, as I also failed to spot any sort of captain’s seat or other instruments I would expect to find in order to pilot the ship.
Naida stretched. “Siren ships are fairly unique like this. Despite being in space, we are often still more comfortable in an aquatic environment. So our ships have a cockpit that reflects that. There are hundreds of sensors that follow my movements, so that when the generator is in cruise, battle, or max we can control the entire ship by swimming. Sirens don't get tired in the water, meaning I can keep flying my ship with little loss in effectiveness compared to another pilot who'll eventually feel exhausted.”
“What happens when you hit one of the walls, though? If there are sensors translating your swimming into movement, as soon as you hit one of the sides of the cockpit and have to swim the other way the ship is going to follow you. That sounds like it runs the risk of moving back towards enemies you were flying away from.”
Naida giggled. “We use spacial magic to solve that issue. As soon as I hit one of the sides it'll drop me on the opposite side using the same angle I was already swimming in. That's one of the reasons there's no windows. Windows that can stand up to laser fire are definitely capable of withstanding a bit of water pressure, but the cockpit is surrounded by a spell array that channels spacial magic. Windows would provide unnecessary weak points.”
I shook my head. “That almost seems like a pointless waste of technology. Clara was going on about how advanced the Yunikōn is, but to me the Sorderil is the bigger marvel of engineering. Let’s go check out the rest of the ship.”
The rest of our exploration was done in companionable silence. The Sorderil was up there with the Yunikōn in terms of comfort, with bright lighting and roomy hallways despite being a small craft. It only took us fifteen minutes of simply walking before we had traversed the entire ship. The rooms were much smaller, but Nadia still had a captain’s bedroom with an attached bathroom, a kitchenette, and another room for a second crew member. The cargo hold was also non-existent compared to the Yunikōn, which had a gargantuan hold capable of carrying several hundred tons. That didn’t really bother me, though. I wanted a combat craft and that’s what I got. Thanks to the Yunikōn, the Sorderil didn’t need a cargo hold capable of holding plenty of supplies. Having a mothership was going to be really handy.
The Sorderil did, in fact, have a lunar core. This moon generator was much smaller than the one on the Yunikōn, and as such only had a single containment ring lazily spinning around its equator. Still, if what Clara was telling me about the Cores was true, even this small one could likely power dozens of small craft similar to the Sorderil. It was still mind-boggling that I was going to have five of these ships powered by miniature moons. It also got me wondering if other champions would have similarly crazy powerful ships. It seemed pretty likely. I hadn’t yet ran into another champion, but if I kept making waves sooner or later one would find me. I would have to make sure I was as prepared as possible.
“What do you think?” I turned to face my companion.
The normally reserved siren jumped into my arms and seared my lips with a kiss. “It's fantastic. It's even better than the ship I was piloting when I was captured by those pirates. With this, I’ll be able to support you even more.”
I rested my forehead upon Nadia’s, mindful of my sharp horn. “I’m glad you like it. Why don’t you start a simulation to help get used to how Sorderil handles? I still have three more ships to do.”
With a quick nod and another peck on the cheek, Nadia darted back toward the cockpit. I had discovered last week of our long journey that I could call up simulations designed to mimic how the Yunikōn felt to fly, allowing me to train myself even while my gunship carrier was in hyperdrive. I had spent all of the past week training myself into exhaustion to ensure I could pilot the Yunikōn to the best of my ability, and as a result I had neglected the girls a fair bit. They understood how important this training was, but I still told myself to be better at the social aspects of my new life. The only way we were all going to make this work was if I made sure to put in the effort. After the trials those women had been through, if they were going to be happy following me around the galaxy then I was going to reciprocate.
I left the Sorderil and passed Eve. She gave me a distracted finger wave as she studied whatever readouts the Sorderil was sending to her tablet. Undoubtedly the redhead was going to be busy acquainting herself with the new ship that was going to be her charge. I strode over to the next hanger, my hooves tapping an ever pleasant rhythm. I never expected to enjoy the sound of hooves, but something about the way I walked just ticked the acoustic lizard part of my brain. The next hanger contained Sophia and Sensa. I quietly gigged to myself at the two ‘S’ names ending up in the same hanger. If I recall correctly, Sophia’s class had been listed as a Hurricane. Nadia’s Songstress I was able to at least guess what it was, but Sophia’s didn’t sound like an RPG class I would be familiar with from my teenage years.
I gave the cevanti woman a hug. “So, Hurricane? I’ll admit I’m a bit lost on its capabilities.”
Sophia giggled behind a refined hand. Yup, she was definitely a noble. “A Hurricane is considered a damage class. Our ships generally prefer fast firing weapons and our magic consists of lightning. We really specialize at disabling or ignoring shielding; electrical currents as powerful as what lightning consists of really don’t play nice with shields. Only battleships will have the power for the shield hardening required to withstand my attacks; others will fall prey eventually. Hurricanes are mostly limited by their total mana pool, and once that’s exhausted our effectiveness diminishes quite a bit. Naida being a Songstress will help alleviate some of this issue, as she will be able to help replenish our mana without needing to eat or sleep.”
I held her gaze for a moment. “Are you sure this is what you want? I can still return you to the planet you’re supposed to be governing. I can’t promise that cruising around the galaxy will be very safe.”
Sophia shook her head gently, and then sighed. “No, my future wife. I’m right where I want to be. We are going to destroy House Orion, and then we’re going to help the Imperium of Cevanti become a power again. Besides, my replacement has likely already arrived in my territory and started governing it in my stead. Any wealth outside my dowry would have automatically been claimed by the Imperium after the first month of my disappearance and will be used to make the lives of my citizens better. At the very least I do not want to return until we have triumphed over Orion.”
“I can respect that. You have a beautiful drive, Sophia.” The angel blushed slightly as I went to trigger the next token.
This next ship was very clearly meant for speed. The Sorderil had favored maneuverability with its triangle design, but this one seemed to have one aspect: fast. The main body was oblong and streamlined. It had a pair of wings outfitted with an additional two engines for a total of three, which was overkill for a small personal craft. At the very tips of those wings sat a linked pair of lasers and autocannons. Autocannons and the like were generally never mounted onto small craft, as the primary foe a personal craft was going to be fighting would be another personal craft. Kinetic artillery flew far slower than a beam of laser or plasma fire. But if you were fast enough to fly circles around other ships, kinetic artillery could still pack a punch.
Name
Thunderbolt
Classification
Artemis, Interceptor, Hurricane
Hardpoints
4, internal weapons bay
Weapon Load
2 plasma cannon, 2 coilguns, anti-matter torpedoes (8)
Traits
Balanced, Speed Queen
I chuckled a bit at the ship's fitting name. I was a little more interested in the weapons, however. While I had assumed they were just lasers and autocannons, they actually weren't. Plasma cannons basically used a variant of shielding technology to encase a ball of plasma in a magnetic bubble and launch it at very high velocity. They were extremely short ranged weapons, but were absolutely devastating against lightly shielded targets and armor. The coilguns had a much larger range than the plasma cannons, while also firing much faster than their railgun counterparts. They also used less power and generated less heat, perfect for small craft.
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The real interesting thing was the internal weapons bay. Anti-matter torpedoes were rarely used even on small ships, as they traveled extremely slowly. But their warheads included a shield attenuation device capable of completely demolishing any shield it came into contact with, regardless of hardening. A single torpedo could split a battleship in two, or severely cripple it otherwise. It looked like the Thunderbolt could potentially take down large vessels instead of having to rely on the Yunikōn’s proportionally bigger weapons.
True to its tags, the Thunderbolt had balanced armor and shields. It probably wasn't a good idea for a ship designed for heavy frontline use to have either weak armor or weak shields like the Sorderil; to that end, Sophia's vessel was more of a generalist ship as opposed to being heavily specialized. The major drawback of the Thunderbolt was its Speed Queen trait. I didn't have a good frame of reference to determine how fast the ship could actually move, but Speed Queen doubled the ship's movement in a straight line. The downside was that the ship was more sluggish than most other small craft while turning. It also didn't have much in the way of thrusters, meaning the primary way the ship was going to fly was from its three massive engines. Most ships used thrusters to fly about in standard space, otherwise known as sub-light flight. The engines were mostly reserved for FTL and Hyperspace travel, usually because of generator constraints. Ship engines were just too powerful to justify wasting generator energy in such a way. With a lunar core, however, most of the conventional ways of powering ships flew out the window.
The interior of the Thunderbolt is fairly cramped, as the body of the craft was basically an oblong tube with a pair of wings attached to its sides. From the cockpit back it was just one long hallway interspersed with a kitchenette and captain’s quarters and ending with the lunar core at the tail end. It didn't even have a small lounge or mess hall. Everything unnecessary had been cut to streamline the craft as much as possible. The cockpit wasn't all that different from what was in the Soderil outside of the distinct lack of water; after Naida’s ship I had almost been expecting something outlandish, but that wasn't the case. The only real difference was the massive spell array on the ceiling of the cockpit, as the Thunderbolt didn't have a dedicated spell array room given its size. The cockpit was so tiny that if Sophia stretched out to her full wingspan they would be brushing the walls. I glanced over at the cevanti expectantly.
She gave a soft smile, understanding my look. “The Thunderbolt seems almost custom made for me and my class. I wonder how those coins manage such a feat?”
I could only shrug. “I don’t understand much of this universe. Asking me that question is almost as pointless as asking me why our ships are powered by miniature moons.” I reached out and gently patted her head, and as I did so I really appreciated how absurdly tall I was. The three sisters barely came up to my chest. They were the perfect head pat height. Sophia blushed bright red and swatted me away as she turned to move back towards the cockpit. I chuckled a bit and went to go find the second sister.
Edelguard was waiting serenely in Clara’s hanger, the latter of whom was bouncing on the balls of her feet impatiently. Paladin was another class that was fairly easy to figure out, but I still asked to confirm. “I take it you’re the protector of the group then.” Edelguard inclined her head politely. She was certainly more serious than her sisters.
“My job is to attempt to take attacks meant for my allies, yes.” Her halo glowed a brighter yellow for a moment before a transparent, hexagonal shield appeared in front of her face. I walked up and rapped a knuckle against the barrier; it certainly felt solid.
“How does that translate to space combat?” I asked, curious.
“The spell array in the ship I’m piloting amplifies my magic, allowing me to project a shield several times larger than this one anywhere in my line of sight. A Paladin’s ship also has its own shield that it can deploy for allies in its immediate vicinity.”
That sounded extremely powerful, but I still had to voice the question. “What are the limitations?”
Edelguard smiled slightly, showing that she approved of my desire to understand her power. “Line of sight and size. The farther away or the bigger the shield, the more mana it's going to consume. My current mana pool is nowhere near enough to shield a broadside battleship, although shielding the Yunikōn should be within my capabilities.”
I nodded, pleased. I then had a thought I wanted to voice since I was right here. “I realize that Sophia basically forced you and Antonietta into this entire thing, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask you for your own opinions, Edelguard.”
The cevanti across from me studied me for a moment before offering a slight smile. “Please, just call me Eddie. Edelguard is too much of a mouthful. That aside, you've done something that I never expected to have in my life.” Clara, off to one side, stilled her impatient bouncing to listen. It was obvious she was curious.
I raised an eyebrow, prompting the Paladin to continue.
“Paladins are often the militaristic arm of whatever deity they follow. Whereas priestesses are the civilian side of the temple, Paladins are the… more brutish muscle.
Imagine my frustration when I discovered my class was a Paladin, yet the cevanti haven't had a god or goddess since the Scourge.”
I made a noise of understanding. “You felt like you didn't have a purpose.”
Eddie inclined her head. “Yes. Paladins receive bonuses to their spells and stats based upon their devotion to their deity. I've spent the past fourteen years with half a class. Then during the darkest hour of my life, you showed up out of nowhere and offered me something no one else could. As far as I'm concerned, you could be the most evil woman alive and I'd still be inclined to follow you.”
I snorted. “I'm not going to pretend to be a paragon of virtue, but at the very least I'm not about to set the cevanti back on the path of the Scourge.”
Eddie’s grin was much larger this time. “That's what makes you worthy of the House of de Casteinau.”
Anything else she might have said was lost as I used the third token. The new space ship was definitely more bulky than the previous two, and larger as well. Its overall shape reminded me of the head of a maul. The entire thing was a long rectangle shape with the cockpit area being pretty narrow and short, then flaring out into two boxy wings. A single absolutely massive thruster sat on each wing, and the overall housing of those thrusters made me assume they could rotate a full three-sixty degrees. The thrusters were so large they took up half of the surface area of the wing. A barrel of a railgun peeked out from the nose of the craft, and an array of missiles were mounted upon each wing. I took a glance at its stats.
Name
Shimmerene
Classification
Artemis, Defense Craft, Paladin
Hardpoints
3
Weapon Load
2 Missile Pods, 1 Railgun
Traits
Fortress, Stability
In addition to looking as though it could take a beating and keep flying, the Shimmerene was certainly designed to be a defense specialist. Its weapon loadout suggested a focus on longer ranged combat against large ships like cruisers, battleships, or carriers. Fortress provided a durable shield and tough armor while slowing the ship’s overall ability to fly. Stability provided an anchorpoint by reducing physics exeterted upon the ship while its large thrusters were active with the drawback of being able to move. I assumed that this would mean incoming attacks wouldn’t push Shimmerene around as much while trying to shield its allies. It was definitely a unique vessel, but my mind was already attempting to design strategies around Paladin-class ships. My personal experience as an army grunt suggested it was better to simply not be hit by an attack in the first place. But that wasn't really applicable to space combat. Much like ships traversing the seas, most spaceships couldn't just accelerate to get out of the way of a laser attack that was traveling at light speed. Even kinetic artillery and missiles traveled fast enough to hit a large target like a cruiser or a battleship before the said ship could avoid the impact. This was where the tank class ships would come in. Whichever side of the conflict had better (or more of) tank class ships would inevitably have an edge.
The implications were interesting. Just throwing a higher number of ships at an opposing force wasn't instantly going to work. But it also suggested that lives in this universe were fairly cheap. Remove tank ships from the equation and the surefire way to win was to just toss lives at the problem until you won. Tanks couldn't be everywhere at once, so if you overwhelm them with numbers there wasn't much they could do. All of this was also before taking stats into consideration. With just the stat boosts from my new allies, I could already feel an improvement to my ability to fly that went beyond just training for a few hours every day.
I was brought out of my musings by Eddie already clambering up the ramp to her new ship. Despite myself I couldn't quite manage to keep my eyes off her bubble of a butt. This moment of weakness also allowed me to discover that while the triplets did have roughly the same figures, Eddie was assuredly more muscular. It was subtle, but the Paladin’s arms and legs were more defined compared to her sisters. I found myself wondering if this was a result of differing stats. Sophia and Eddie were both strength based classes, but Eddie had a higher endurance as befitting a defender. My own body didn't look any different from my Summoner Bonds, but I could definitely feel the effects. I felt like I could ruck march a hundred miles and not break a sweat. I had always been fit, but this new body was insane.
Shimmerene initially felt more roomy than the two spacecraft before it, but this was mostly attributed to how wide its footprint was. In fact, I could see the lunar core from the cockpit. This one was much larger than those found in Sorderil and Thunderbolt, and had two containment rings. The cockpit was also heavily armored. I still wasn’t entirely sure what material made up the spaceships in this world, but it was several inches thicker than even the Yunikōn’s bridge. The lips of a bulkhead protruded slightly from the top of the cockpit’s entrance, obviously designed to seal the entire cabin in the event of a catastrophic failure. The spell array rested right before the lunar core’s chamber, and both wings held massive compartments that allowed easy access to the oval shaped thrusters taking up each wing. I turned to Eddie as we met at the ramp again. “I’m glad that this one seems to place pilot survivability so high. Ships can be replaced. You cannot.”
Eddie blushed shyly at my words. “Thank you, Celestia. It’s… strange, to have someone outside my sisters that cares.”
I snorted hotly. “What the humans did to cevanti was barbaric, and I’ve seen some nasty stuff in my day. I’ll spend the rest of my infinite lifespan convincing you that I appreciate you, if that’s what it takes.”
Eddie brushed my cheek with the ghost of a kiss before retreating back into the Shimmerene, and as I moved to visit the final sister I realized that I had started talking like I wasn’t even human. I slowed my stride and then paused for a moment. I stared at my pale hands, then reached up and tapped on my horn. Technically I’m not really a human any more, despite what’s on the inside. It was a disquieting feeling, to realize that I’ve already started to see humanity as an enemy. But it also felt… right. There were plenty of nasty individuals and organizations in my previous life, but I also couldn’t imagine those same people deciding to magically neuter an entire species and then treat them as little better than livestock for the past thousand years. Still, as much as I might have subconsciously wanted to, I couldn't just assume the worst of all humans. After all, the four Westfallen Armories technicians seemed to be decent girls. The Empire’s Emperor also wasn’t likely to be an enemy at this point in time. Anyone who dislikes slave trade is okay as far as I’m concerned.
My bit of self reflection over, I moved over to the last hanger. This one contained Spirit and Antonietta, both of whom were huddled over one of the many workbenches lining the walls. “So you’re saying those containment gyros are what’s keeping those lunar cores from overwhelming us with their gravitational pull?”
“That’s exactly it, Toni!” Spirit exclaimed excitedly. “The Yunikōn’s moon generator is so large it has to have three of them. The first two are the primary containment rings that keep it suppressed, and they’re always rotating in opposite directions to each other. The third one is the final safeguard, designed to speed up if the system detects that one or both of the others have failed. Initial scans suggest that the third and final ring can keep the lunar core suppressed for up to six months by itself before the stress becomes too much and it tears itself apart. Six months isn’t a whole lot of time when we’re talking about space travel though, so if the other two are inoperable we might not even have time to make it back to a dock.”
“What happens if all three fail?” I asked, making my presence known.
The two looked back at me in unison, soft smiles lighting up at my approach. Spirit answered my question almost hesitantly, like she didn’t really want to answer. “It's impossible to know without it actually happening, but current readings suggest the Yunikōn’s lunar core has enough gravitational pull to completely implode the ship in less than a second. None of us would even have time to register it, let alone feel it. I’m not even confident your unicorn armor would allow you to survive such an event.”
I huffed out a breath. “Okay, so let's make sure the lunar core never gets hit.”
Toni shrugged a delicate shoulder. “The lunar core seems to be the most heavily armored part of the ship. Unlike other large ships that use standard generators which can be taken out by skilled attackers, damaging a lunar core would likely take at least three antimatter torpedo equivalent weapons in the exact same spot. That’s not something our enemies are going to be able to accomplish without extreme sacrifice.”
I rubbed at my chin, considering. “Maybe, maybe not. With how priceless the Yunikōn is I could imagine some nutjob of a commander deciding the sacrifice is worth it. Particularly if the only other option is to let me keep the ship in one piece. Still, at least I know a little more about the cores. Are you ready for your own ship?”
Toni bounced excitedly, causing her bust to perform some really distracting movements. Judging from her knowing smile, she knew exactly what she was doing to me. For the first time in both my previous life and this one, I was starting to lament the fact that I was gay. These women were going to be the death of me long before any other champions would have their shot. Attempting to maintain my veneer of professionalism, I activated the final ship summoning token.
The resulting ship that emerged from the light was huge. So huge, in fact, that it barely had enough room to fit into the hanger. It was the largest personal craft I had yet seen. Generally speaking, spaceships in this universe had a couple of size classifications: personal, small, medium, large, and captial.
Personal ships came in a variety of sizes from small ones like Sorderil to large ones like this new ship. Small ships included Corvettes and Frigates, both of which performed different roles. Corvettes were more maneuverable and excelled in fighting in asteroid belts while Frigates traded maneuverability for more staying power. Medium ships consisted of destroyers and cruisers. Destroyers boasted sturdy defense and armaments, and were almost always accompanied by at least two cruisers, as cruisers were the dedicated spell ships of a fleet. While every ship had spell arrays to cast spells and abilities, cruisers often had more than half of their crew as mages. Battleships and battlecruisers took the large classification, with battleships taking the role of long range bombardment and battlecruisers being the large class spell ships. Then finally, capital ships were either dreadnoughts or carriers.
The Yunikōn was fairly unique in that it had the size of a cruiser, the firepower of a destroyer, and could be flown by one person like a personal ship. Considering how much power the lunar core was outputting and the fact that as Artemis grew in power so too would the core, I could probably even upgrade the vessel to have battleship levels of defenses and firepower. The new craft was an oblong rectangle similar to the Yunikōn, but that was where all similarities ended. It had a total of four engines, two on either side of the cockpit and two more at the every end of the craft. The center was the most interesting, as it was basically a long tube just big enough for a single person to walk back towards the engines. On the sides of the tube were six repair arms, three per side, and each arm housed a dizzying array of gadgets that I assumed would be capable of providing emergency repairs on a ship without requiring the damaged ship to be docked. The arms emerged from what looked like fairly bulky boxes, leading me to believe they could be retracted out of sight while in spaceflight.
I turned at Toni’s gasp. “Six repair arms? That’s practically unheard of for any ship.”
“I take it you already like the ship?” I couldn’t stop my own half smile at seeing her giddy excitement.
“By Artemis, yes! Most Archangel ships– or any healer type ship, really– Will generally have only two repair arms at the absolute maximum because of power constraints. A single repair arm takes up so much power from a generator that there’s never enough power left over to operate any weapons on civilian ships. Military grade generators produce enough output that they can support two arms, but any more than that is impossible. We’ve established that lunar cores produce insane amounts of energy, but to be able to support six repair arms at once… it's unheard of.” I checked the new ship’s stats while Toni explained.
Name
Dawnbringer
Classification
Artemis, Repair Craft, Archangel
Hardpoints
5
Weapon Load
5 Heavy Pulse Lasers
Traits
Aura of Healing, Artemis’ Shelter
So this repair ship had some bite to it. Five heavy pulse lasers didn’t seem like much for a ship of its size, but at the very least Toni wouldn’t be completely defenceless if enemies managed to get too close. The listed traits were easily the most powerful out of all four of my new ships. Aura of Healing caused Dawnbringer to exude a field of nanites, slowly repairing all ships within a hundred mile range. The description didn’t give me an actual number, but the slowly part was emphasized. If I had to guess, the repair was only enough to keep a ship from further falling apart if the repair arms were busy with other ships. Artemis’ Shelter on the other hand, doubled the repair rate of the repair arms as long as Dawnbringer was completely stationary. Toni and I walked up the ramp to her new vessel, and as I did so I asked for more details on her class.
“So the Archangel class is a type of healer. How does that work with space ships?”
Toni giggled. “I use my mana, of course. Few ships are going to have a cargo hold big enough to host all of the materials required to repair a ship the non-magical way. The repair arms will steadily consume my mana to form the required components to patch up damage. I should caution you that such a patch job is only temporary, and the more stress you put onto a ship that I’ve healed the more likely for my work to become undone and then evolve into an even bigger problem. Ships should still return to a drydock as soon as feasible to do so for more permanent fixes.”
“So your class isn’t just an ‘I win’ button if we can keep you alive and healing ships. I was starting to wonder how fleets could ever be destroyed if they just kept returning to the repair ships.”
Toni dipped her head. “Think of me as a finite resource. I can keep forces fighting long past when they should have retreated, but only to a certain point. I also can’t do anything if an attack completely destroys a ship.”
“That’s fair. I would suggest getting familiar with your new ship. I have a kitsune to go track down; I need to see if she can teach me a little bit of magic before we hit Laloria.”
Toni wrapped me in a hug. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. When I think of what our future would have been like if you hadn’t come along…”
I returned the hug as her words caused her to shiver against me. “Hey, none of that now. Don’t get hung up on what could have been. Focus on the here and now. We’re going to get stronger, and then we’re going to take the fight to the bastard who tried to enslave you. Okay?”
The slight cevanti nodded, and I kissed her forehead as she finally pulled away. She stood a little taller, as if to show me that my presence and my words helped. I watched Toni as she moved up the ramp to Dawnbringer, making sure that she wasn’t just putting on a brave face. I clapped Spirit on the shoulder as I left, and she gave me a warm smile in return. I exited the hangar and then moved towards Orochi’s quarters. The spiritualist enjoyed meditating in her free moments, and I was pretty sure I’d find her in her room.