It’s a wonder what a good night's sleep can do for one’s health. Both physically and mentally.

Getting out of bed I headed over to the shower and enjoyed the warm recycled water for it’s warmth. Because the smell and taste would be better to keep unmentioned. Once done I put on one of my grey colored shirts, it wasn’t anything special, but it was easily replaceable and was okay to get dirty.

As I walked out of my quarters to get some breakfast I found Belleran standing there. “You do sleep right?” Belleran smiled. “Never needed much of it.” I shook my head. “Lucky bastard.”

After our brief interaction, we went to get breakfast. If you ate quickly enough you wouldn’t have time to really taste the insect bar. As one of the more wealthy inhabitants of our world we did have access to other food choices like fish and shrimp, man I love shrimp. But the bulk of what we ate was the same as everyone else.

We headed over to the engineering bay, specifically Grimar’s workshop. Coming through the door to engineering I saw the workshop was overflowing with life. Hundreds of engineers, construction drones, and other mechanical life walked, flew, or climbed all over the place. Each being more busier than the last.

“It’s a madhouse..” Belleran quietly muttered. I laughed. “Nope, it’s just your normal work day here.” As we looked for an opening in the crowd to squeeze through people began to take notice of us and the surrounding mood slowly began to change. The sounds of hustle and bustle in our surroundings grew quiet as everyone stood still and stared. Taking that as our cue we began walking towards Grim’s workshop. As we did I started a private comms channel with Belleran. “Why is everyone bowing and looking at us like that?”

“They're not looking at us, they're looking at you, My Lord.” Upon closer inspection, it seemed he was right.

“Why though?”

I heard Belleran chuckle in the channel, quite the juxtaposition compared to his stoic guard expression.“It’s not that weird if you think about it. Tell me My Lord how many royals or rulers do you know that would not only risk life and limb to stand side by side with their citizens in their defense, but then also lead a devastating counterattack by boarding the enemy ship.”

“No one in particular comes to mind. Also, call me Jason in private, I’m getting really tired of the My Lord expression. Especially while I’m not holding that station.”

“Of course My Lord.” Teased Belleran. “But even if you discount all that there are still the other actions you took during your month as Lord. From bringing new technology in the form of construction drones to our industries, to the expansion of our navy and the deployment of new defenses around our station. You have proven to your citizens that you have both the strength and will to lead us forward. So it’s not strange that they look up to you now.”

“But that wasn’t all me, without Henry the idea to repurpose the wrecks would have never come up, without General Thalia’s work the soldiers wouldn’t be ready in time to use the ships and the list goes on.”

“While they definitely deserve credit for their work, you shouldn’t overlook the fact that you initiated all of this. Without you, we would have just added a few extra defenses to the station and called it quits.”

We came to a stop as the engineers stopped us. Belleran made sure to watch for any suspicious behavior as we were surrounded by everyone, but he seemed relaxed as if he knew something I didn’t. From within the crowd stepped two familiar faces. Grim and Henry each carried something hidden under a piece of cloth as they came forward. Grim broke the silence first. “Milord, we de engineerz thank ye for ye’s service during ze last month. You’re foresight prepared us for a battle we would not ave been ready to face. You’ve shown bravery and commitment in da face of danger to both us and ze rest of Rafar. You’ve sacrificed with and for us and shown ze enemy dat were are not to be trifled with. I speak for ze all of us when I’z say you have our thankz and loyalty for whatz ever is to come next. Deze are a token of our gratitude.”

Lifting the cloth Grimar revealed a beautifully crafted pistol and shiny black leathered holster. The weapon felt smooth to the touch. They even had pieces of gold worked into it. “It’z from all of uz, we’ve heard you lost yer weapon in da fight, so wez made you a new one.” Grimar stepped back and let Henry take the floor.

“I still remember the years you put into making this.” Henry showed off his mechanical hand. “You told me back then that this was not just to pay me back for my sacrifice, but to pay it forward, by giving me not just a new hand, but new possibilities.” Henry’s hand expanded revealing the many floating cables hidden within, it was one of the many features I had added. “You said it was time to reclaim not just what had been, but to move beyond and show what we could be. And now it is our time to pay it forward.” returning his hand to its normal form he took the cloth off to reveal a shining golden arm and hand.

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I holstered the gun so that I could touch the arm, my new arm. “I.. How did you get this?” Everyone smiled as gravity pushed down my tears. “We’ve all chipped in. Because we believe in the future that you will bring.” I had wondered why the doctor had installed a mechanical nerve center on the stump of my left shoulder so early, But to expect this… Henry and the others helped me connect the new arm to my socket. As it connected orange light glowed within the grooves of the golden arm and hand.

[Detecting new input method. Expanding options, calculation progress 0%]

If I didn’t close my mouth soon then three generations of flies would have settled in.

“You knew about this didn’t you.” I said more than asked Belleran. He just smiled.

“Everyone, from the bottom of my heart thank you. I promise to continue to dedicate everything I have to change our lives for the better!”

A message came over the intercom as everyone cheered. “The funeral procession will begin in two hours, please make the necessary preparations for the ceremony.” Everyone went their separate way to prepare for the ceremony. As I and Belleran went to do our own preparations my mind kept racing as slowly a plan started to form.

[Rafarian Royal palace - Rulers office]

As I strode into the office wearing proper black military funeral attire I saw my parents wearing the same kind of dress style. “Ah Jason, I see you’ve gotten our people’s thanks.” I nodded. “Father we have to talk. Now.” My mom and dad’s expressions got serious. “You have ten minutes.”

Without further ado, I began. “The trade alliance has been dissolved and if nothing is done we will soon face a food crisis, and that is even with the extreme loss calculated in.” They nodded. “Therefore I propose a simple plan. We will continue the trade plan, but not with the alliance but instead with a specific number of members with whom you have built up a good rapport over the years.”

“And how do you propose we convince them to come all the way out here then?” Asked my mother. I shook my head. “We don’t. Instead, we will come to them.” They shared a look. “Let me guess” My father began. “You want to take the big carrier ship we just captured.” I nodded. “And what if you get attacked by Zerrik or some other ship?” I raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Then we fight back.” My father shook his head. “We can’t risk losing more personnel or resources on a venture that might fail, not this soon.” I let out a dry laugh. “And do what instead? Sit here and starve to death?” I let out an exasperated sigh.

“The carrier can deal with any threat that comes its way once we have modified it to bear more turrets and other weaponry. Besides that we will have a minimal amount of fighter squads onboard and some bombers so we should be able to scare off any wanna-be pirates or other threats out here. And if anything worse does show up then we can just use the EMP cannon and then run away. According to General Thalia, the weapon still works.” Their eyes went wide when I mentioned the General’s name. “So it’s not just you huh? The General is in on this too.” I looked at the clock, only two minutes were left and yet both still didn’t look convinced.

“We can’t continue like this. For decades our family has been playing it safe, and yet nearly all our hard work was almost wiped out in the blink of an eye! We need to start taking big risks, or nothing will change.” My father looked angry. “Do you think we haven’t considered taking more risky actions? From the start we wanted to make bigger moves, but do you know how precarious our position was when we got here? The populace had just lost their revolution against the authorities before we came along. And let me tell you, us not being natives and coming from the A.U. certainly endeared us to them back then! If we slipped up for even a moment everything would have fallen apart! And now after all our hard work to provide peace and stability and to have the populace trust us, you dare suggest throw all of that away!”

I gritted my teeth. “That’s not what I’m saying at all you stubborn old man!” I shouted. “Our position is rock solid, the people know that we care for them. And now that people have seen that we can defend ourselves, the time has come to invest and take risks for a better future.” My father just laughed. “Our position is rock solid? Don’t make me laugh! It is you who is blind my beloved son. What do you think will happen to us once the food stocks and water supply run dry? Do you think they won’t blame us, do you think they won’t drag us out like animals!? No, it’s better to play it safe and find alternative solutions to our food and water problems.”

I slammed my fist on the delicate desk, leaving my own mark on it. “Our slow and steady plans nearly cost us our one and only chance at a future! If it hadn’t been for the actions we took that day we would have lost everything! Why didn’t you expand our borders to claim new resources?! Why didn’t you expand our navy so that we could defend ourselves and run our own trade convoys?! Why are you still scared of the Union!” It was now my father’s turn to slam the desk as he too stood up to look me straight in the eye. “Because they could crush us all if we so much as show even a hint of aggression! Our diplomatic ties with our friends in the Union are what kept us safe from invaders for all these years! And now you’re planning to risk all of it without even considering the wider implications your actions might have! Do you think for even a second that the Autarchs from the Union will let us expand without any repercussions? And what if war breaks out again between the Union and the Psionic Enclave, who will protect us then!”

I stared daggers into my father’s eyes. “Well guess what, even though we abided by those rules the Union still came and waged war on us! I said while waving my new arm around. “And we beat them! Without any additional help!”

“ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!” My mother said with cold steel in her voice. “We don’t have time for this! We have to go to the funeral. We can discuss all of it later. Right now we have to attend to our fallen heroes, we owe them that much at least.” On that, we could all agree.

The Car ride to the temple was quiet.