I woke up and sat up. Yesterday was my majority under the Orphan Protocol. My parents had died in a tragic accident involving a portal when I was young and I then became a ward of System. I had met with System and gotten my inheritance and rewards and made my choices that I was given. I sold my parents old ships but kept the astromech plus some other stuff they left behind, a journal, starmap and an AI Bot among them. I had ended up with a lot of credits, far more than I thought I would. I found out a bit more about System.
I had found some surprises with the AI-Bot. It was an advanced one that could pose as human and was called Ishmael. He had made the decision to serve with me as a liegeman rather than go his own way, as the law decreed he could. My astromech, Artoo, I had decided to upgrade to an AI-Basic and had put him into the relevant shop to do the upgrade and was collecting him today from the owner of the shop who owed my parents a favour, which I was hoping would make the bill cheaper.
The owner was also a member of the Starfox clan who owned the system I lived in, including the opened planet. Only the clan was allowed there. I lived on one of three star ports that they owned in the system. The owner was called Heph Thorsson and as well as being a member of the Starfox Clan, he was one of the leaders of the clan council for the star port I lived on.
I had received some rewards off of them for stopping a disaster that nobody had realised was in the offing. However, they had also wanted me to meet with their council to discuss some options when I came of majority. When I had taken Artoo into the upgrade shop, Heph Thorsson had arranged for the meeting to happen after I would return to see my Astromech today. Although, he would now be an AI-Bot and may make the choice to sever ties with me or work for me. I was hoping he would stay.
I had also before I gone to bed spent a bunch of my choice points. I now had a whole bunch of information and knowledge now buzzing around my head. It would probably take a little while to become second nature, however I noticed some changes to my mindset that weren't there before that were related to my new skills. It seemed a bit scary, but was part and parcel of my life now.
I heard movement from the other room. That would probably be Ishmael, my new liegeman. By swearing as such, He was bound to me and me to him for as long as it was in effect. I was the captain so my orders would always be obeyed. I got myself ready and went into the other room.
“Good morning Ishmael. All caught up on all relevant information?” It was strange. He apparently was a memory wiped AI, But had retained his personality and module skills. He also had some reputation with factions unknown to me. It was a mystery, but one I figured could wait. He had skills I needed and I couldn’t afford to be picky.
“Yes Captain. I know as much as I can and await your orders.” Although he was basically a robot, the outside of him showed him as a human male of about 40 with tattoos on both his arms and wearing a blue crewman suit, a basic design that hadn’t changed in thousands of years probably.
“Good. We go to pick up Artoo, if he wants to rejoin me and then we are going into a meeting with the Starport Starfox Council. Once we have done that, we will come back here. I will explain our plan, we will look at current skills, figure out what we will need to execute said plan and then well, go shopping.”
“Very good Captain.” It was a bit odd him calling me captain, while I didn’t have a ship, but that was only a temporary thing. We left my apartment and ventured to the Business strip. I got myself a breakfast wrap along the way and concentrated on that while we walked. My new skills I realised were kicking in and I was noticing things a lot more and in particular noticed that Ishmael was employing one of his paths, the Close Protection path. While there shouldn't be any danger to me here, it somehow comforted me and made me feel better. I knew the module was fully realised and T2, meaning I was probably one of the safest people on the station.
We made it to the shop where we were greeted by Heph Thorsson who gave an odd glance to Ishmael. While some things could be hidden on a public status page, Being a liegeman was not one of them. He was probably wondering the circumstances but it was considered good manners not to ask. So he shrugged and turned to me.
Your astromech has to be one of the oddest little mech I ever did meet. He decided to stay in his astromech body but had me make a few changes to it. He can now speak, but apparently he still communicates for the most part in whistles. He had me pull a couple of modules and install a couple. He has also decided he wants to stay with you.” A wave of relief went over me. Artoo came out and whistled a happy whistle. Then he suddenly spoke.
“I swear Liegeman to Captain.” All of a sudden, I had a system notification asking me if I wanted to accept. I did. Even happier whistles came from Artoo. I laughed and bent over to hug the astromech on his dome. He was family and I was glad he had stayed. I resolved to look at his new status page later. I straightened up and looked at Mr Thorsson.
I then asked him “How much do I owe?” I had a favour owed that I figured would bring down the price. But I was speechless when he handed me a receipt saying favour paid in full with no bill. That must have been some favour my parents owned. He nodded to me and gestured to me to follow him while moving to the bigger building down the lane. The Clan Admin block for the star port was our destination. It was time for our meeting with the council. I was nervous.
We entered the building and headed to what was termed as the casual meeting room for the council. Anything that was official that affected the whole star port, was usually held in the main council room. For any other business that didn’t require an audience, they used the casual meeting room. We entered and Mr Thorsson gestured to the seat before the table and moved round the table to join the other four members there. Artoo and Ishmael stayed at the back of the room while I went and sat on the chair and looked at the council members.
Mr Thorsson, as I said, owned the AI shop that was licensed by System. It was clear that at some point he had been a soldier, but all he said was he had served his term. He was the longest serving member of the council and it was said had been here since the starport was founded, 300 years ago.
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Sat to his left was a lady that I recognise as the main administrator for the star port. If there was a complaint or decision about the station that needed to be made that wasn’t at council level she was the lady who made it. She was also in charge of the day to day running for the most part. Her name was Namse Starfox. Some of the clan abandoned their actual last name and chose to use the clan name or included the clan name as part of their name. Thorsson was a rarity in that he didn't do that.
To her left was another man who didn’t use the Starfox as part of his name. But then, he was famous before he came to the star port. The newest member of the council, He had served as the Station Sheriff for the last 30 years. Before that, he had made a name for himself fighting various pirates that had sprung up from races on planets we had inhabited or that came through portals. Humans were not allowed to fight humans according to System. Everything else was fair game. We were yet to meet space aliens. As far as I knew. His name was Frank Orcbane. As you could probably tell from the name, he mostly fought what was known as the greenskins, a race from Planet 7.
The last council member was a member of a planet race. Specifically from the planet in this system that was unlocked. Known as ‘Brownies’ They were a race who delighted in keeping places tidy and in order. As a result, they were normally found everywhere and generally welcomed. The Starfox Clan had a number of them in their clan and were generally welcoming of the different planet races that were around so long they were peaceful and played by the rules. Her name was Majories Duster Starfox.
Namse Starfox led the meeting. As the administrator, she would outline what I figured was going to be an offer of employment of some kind, and if there were any problems, the council could make a decision on it or ratify it as is. She looked at the screen that was in front of her then looked at me and began speaking.
“Stefan Nurfern. You are an outsider to the clan in trustworthy standing. You have now reached your majority and have received the rewards for the service you did us. We are now prepared to make an offer. You can then go away and consider it, accept it now or make a counter offer.” She took a sip of water and continued. “We are willing to offer you employment under any department that you qualify for and wish to work in. As you gain in rank and time with us, you may well be offered entry into the clan. This is no small matter, but we feel you deserve this chance. How do you reply?”
This was a very generous offer. In fact, this was probably the easiest way into a clan that I knew of. The problem was, I had my own plans. They did not include entering into another clan. “I would like to make a counter offer.” Surprise came from the faces opposite me, but they indicated willingness to listen. “I have my own plan, mostly based upon the plans of my parents. This would preclude me into joining a clan. That said, I would like to work for the clan through the clan quest system with a favoured status.” This basically meant that I would work like a favoured contractor for the clan. Work that they would offer to outsiders, but with the favoured status, I would be offered the best prices to buy and sell, and missions that would only be offered to people who had the favour of the Starfox clan.
Namse looked at the others. They seemed a bit unsure until Thorsson spoke. “I do not have a problem with this, if it is what you want. If you ever did want entry into the clan, there is a way to do it through the quest board. The favoured status is normally given to trustworthy outsiders anyway. I vote aye.” With that, so did everyone else. I stood up and bowed to the council. I didn’t need to, but then, they didn't need to make the offer or take my counter offer. Respect shown for respect given. Frank Orcbane came over to me.
“My department is primarily responsible for the clan system. Any problems and you can contact me. I was one of the ones on that shuttle you stopped from taking off and exploding so I have no problem extending this further courtesy. I will register you with it, and you should be able to access it and use it from tomorrow. Your reputation with us has already been changed to reflect your new status with us.” So saying he marched away.
I collected Ismael and Artoo and went back to my apartment. We sat down and I began to explain my plan. It was an ambitious one. But all we had to do was make what I termed phrase one work. I got us to put our statuses up on the apartment screen, So I could see what we had. Once we knew that, we could put the shopping list together.
Name: Artoo
Age: 1 Day
Status: AI-Bot - Fully Realised Basic
Reputation: None
Ship Piloting T2 - Fully Realised
Ship Repairs T2 - Fully Realised
Hacking T2 - Fully Realised
Sensors T2 - Fully Realised
Name: Ishmael
Age: Unknown
Status: AI-Bot - System Start
Reputation - Factions Unknown
Space Work T2 - Fully Realised
Ship Engineering T2 - Fully Realised
Close Protection T2 - Fully Realised
Ship Weapons T2 - Fully Realised
Name: Stefan Nurfern
Age: 16
Status: Emancipated Minor
Credits: 7,000,001,990
Free Points: 6
T2 Paths:
Small Ships - 10 PP Used
Exploration - 10 PP Used
Harvesting - 10 PP Used
Refining - 10 PP Used
Reputation:
Starfox System - Trustworthy
Starfox Clan - Favoured Contractor
System - Trustworthy
T1 Paths:
Robotics - 2 PP Used
Specialised Shipping - 2 PP Used
Assets:
Two Liegeman
Hangar 15
Apartment and contents
System added paths:
Jack Of Trades - 2 PP Used
System Connected - 2 PP Used
I looked at Artoo’s status sheet in awe. For him to have T2 modules be fully realised and I owed nothing, means my parents must have been owed a huge favour. However, They had spots for up to six more modules each. Although, Ismael may be a bit different, being an advanced AI. However, I could not ask. Any modules he got were up to him, as a Free AI. I would give them an amount of money to spend on themselves as they wanted, I decided, when we went shopping tomorrow. We would finalise the list in the morning.