Chapter 53

The two marine guards brought out a data pad the I signed and handed me a copy of the paperwork. They then took an image of me and Abby standing together for their final confirmation of the prisoner transfer. They released the locks on Abby’s PerCom. They left us and Abby turned to me and started asking questions. How did I get here? Whose ship was this? Why was I so skinny?

I threw the last question back at her. Abby said prisoners were allocated meals by caloric count so even though she worked out the calories were not enough to maintain her muscle mass. She told me she had been working as a monitor for one of the terraforming atmospheric towers. She was basically monitoring the hydrogen storage tanks and oxygen gas being expelled from the electrolysis of water from ice. Very boring.

We got to her cabin and I led her in and she was impressed with the ‘new cabin smell’. I indicated the skinsuit and clothes and left her to settle in. Her PerCom had been unlocked on the transfer and she could comm me when she wanted a tour of ship and a meal.

I went to my cabin and waited for Abby’s comm. I couldn’t focus as I was too anxious to show her around the ship. It felt good to see her again and I was hoping to impress her. There was no romantic notion in me, more the wayward son coming to the rescue and seeking praise for how far he had come up in the world. Ninety minutes later she commed and I rushed down to see her.

Her hair was wet and she was amazed the ship had actual showers. Usually ships just had cleanse foam as it was a nightmare to have showers for water recycling plumbing. I told her this was a luxury passenger ship and it was fully functional. She still didn’t believe me that I was the owner. I brought her to luxury deck and had the steward bots bring us some of the best meals. Abby scarfed down three separate meals while we talked idly and looked out the viewport at the planet below. With Abby satiated I finally got down to it.

I asked Abby to join my crew as my Chief Security Officer. She asked just a few questions before accepting, mainly she wanted to know where we were going. Abby didn’t have any family left in the Union. I then told her about Shinade and how she was pregnant. Abby congratulated me with a slap on the back, yep still strong. I told her of my security concerns and the trackers I already found and the nightmare it was going to be with ferrying prisoners. Abby was more than up for the challenge. I sent her a premade contract. The contract was for 250 Sol credits monthly and I gave her ‘security department’ an annual budget of 20,000 Sol credits. I sent her the ships information.

Wireless cameras had been installed beneath the epoxy paint. Only Eve and I could access the feeds…now Abby as well. She asked about the 20 wolf security bots next. I told her they were just the cheapest option at the time. I sent her a picture of two of the wolf bots with their new fur suits on. I told her about Gabby and her project. Abby asked directly if I was having sex with the girl. I liked that about Abby she didn’t beat around the bush. I told her no, it was a professional relationship. Tora walked into lounge as we were talking.

I introduced them and Abby got along famously with the cat woman. Apparently, there were a number of the Wren on Bastille. Good folk is what Abby called them. Tora was here to eat and look at the planet as well so we left for the tour of the ship.

I started on the lower cargo decks and explained that I had valuable alien artifacts and precious metals. I didn’t want the crew or passengers getting anywhere close to them. She nodded and mentioned a few security things she could do. The life support deck, robotics deck and alien tech deck were next and she seemed suitably impressed or just responded to my own enthusiasm…I couldn’t quite tell. Rather than head up to deck 6 we went to aft engineering and I gave her the tour of main engineering. She seemed interested in everything I said and was making notes on her PerCom for security measures. We exited up on deck 10 and we toured the shuttle bays.

She spent quite a bit of time in the Marine Drop Shuttle, amazed I had it and it looked to be in better condition than many she had ridden in during her time as a marine in the Union. The LUX shuttle was not there and the remaining boarding shuttle didn’t impress her. The two heavy Sapphire fighters though…she looked at me twice before shaking her head. We couldn’t remove the heavy sensor blocking tarps but she peaked at the beasts. I told her we had two crew members learning to fly them but the fighters were here for ‘just in case’ scenarios. I planned to run before fighting any engagements.

The command deck was next and she logged future security upgrades non-stop into her PerCom. She was suitably impressed. The ship looked essentially new everywhere you went. When we got to the AI housing room Julie introduced herself and Abby had a conversation with the AI like she was another person. When Julie told her about her VR capabilities and future upgrades Abby got even more interested. I had break the two apart to finish the tour.

We went down to deck 8 where her cabin was assigned and she reviewed all the changes Shinade had made. Abby said Shinade did a good job and only had a few security checkpoints to add. Then I opened the armory for her. Once again she gave me that look like ‘what the fuck did you do to get all this shit?’ She went in and started going through everything on the racks and the power armor. She mentioned the Sapphire Empire powered armor suits were much better than the Unions. After she was satisfied, we went to the crew fitness center.

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I know I should have gotten in here more often and Abby wrapped her hand around my bicep and poked my abs. I had been eating too many of those restaurant meals from Gunther Prime. Abby turned to me and just said it was time to get back in shape. A ship’s captain needed to be fit for duty and impress the crew. I tried to tell Abby that I was just the owner and engineer but she wouldn’t have any of it. She insisted I was the ship’s captain and if she needed to beat that into me in this fitness center every day she would.

The luxury cabins on deck 7 were next and Abby just couldn’t stop saying if this was how the rich bastards lived then she wanted to be rich too. I told her she could take one of the cabins for her own if she wanted to but she just laughed and said she could never get comfortable living amongst the elite. Andie was in the medical suite and once again Abby started a conversation. I didn’t know how she so easily related to everyone she met. After they finished Andie asked me if she could get a full SNAIL suite installed.

A SNAIL kit was an acronym for Slow Normal Aging and Illness for Longevity. It was expensive, around 100,000 Sol credits and rich people started using the treatments twice a year when they turned 25 or so. The treatments typically gave a human another hundred years of life. While the suite cost 100,000 Sol credits, each treatment cost between 100 and 120 Sol credits on top of that! Well I was barely 20 so I didn’t feel the need to get one right now. Then she handed me a project folder that she completed with Suruchi. She planned to charge our luxury passengers 150 Sol credits per treatment, generating an estimated 300 Sol credits per trip. This meant the suite should be able to pay for itself in about 10 years based on the data. Interesting but still no. I looked at my account balance to confirm, just 88,201 Sol credits. And I still planned to free a few more Union fleet members and had just given Abby a 20,000 budget that I was sure she had already spent based on her fervent note taking.

The last deck we toured was the regular passenger deck which was still very impressive. It had a lot of entertainment areas and was very comfortable, just not as ostentatious as the luxury deck. We ended sitting where we had our meal four hours earlier and got the steward bots to bring us another meal and some draft beers.

I asked Abby to not hold back and tell me what she thought. I had spent a fortune on the ship making it a mobile research home in the guise of a passenger liner. She was very impressed. I then asked her if there was anyone she knew on Bastille that I could pay for their release and they would be good crew members.

She mentioned Haily. I already knew the woman I dated while at the naval academy was here. Sensing my hesitation she said was I mad because she broke up with me? Well grow up she scolded! Did I think she was a good sensor technician? Well yes, she was intelligent and our engineering conversations while we dated showed she was competent. Fine. I would pay for her release and see if she wanted to join the crew as the bridge sensor officer and sensor engineer.

I then asked if I could contact people via video conference calls instead of paying and then have her decline to join my crew. Abby said she thought yes. I commed Suruchi on the planet below and asked. The answer was yes. Great news! Ok that was number one contact. I asked her who else?

Abby taped on her PerCom…she obviously missed the device since it had been locked during her time on Bastille. She said Lieutenant Francis Pineda. He was a marine officer and one of the few who maintained order in the Bastille barracks. He was a good man in his 30s. She didn’t think he was married but did have parents and siblings back in the Union. Ok we would try him.

Her next offering was Saabir. He was a Wren technician that worked on the terraforming device. He wasn’t a prisoner though, just a civilian worker. He was extremely young and inexperienced though but one of the nicest Wren she had ever met. I asked her about security personal for her to oversee. Her eyebrows shot up. Grunts she asked and I nodded in response.

It didn’t take her long to offer five names. Maria Sahagun, Hanno Sabet, Lucius Fortune, Mitchel Breece and Loree Kinkade. The first name, Maria Sahagun, was actually from the Colonial Combine. The rest were Union marines who Abby lived or worked with on Bastille. The Colonial Combine was a group of settlements that the Sapphire Empire annexed just before they invaded the Union. A few people fought the annexation and Maria was one of them.

I commed Suruchi again and asked her to return to the ship so we could conduct the vid interviews. She seemed a little peeved as she was actually quite busy establishing passenger and cargo contracts. I asked if Dora could handle that for a day and she acquiesced. I smiled as we disconnected feeling I had won a minor debate.

I asked Abby if she knew any fleet personnel that were good people. I needed a pilot for the Void Phoenix in particular. I also wanted to hire a logistics officer if possible.

Abby tapped on her PerCom thinking. When she didn’t say anything for a bit I engaged her again. She confessed most of the people in the fleet ‘camp’ on Bastille were assholes. Fleet and marines just didn’t mix well in any environment. There was an FTL engineer…it took her a moment to get his name…Damian Loredo. He was ancient though…maybe 90 and life prolonging treatments. He was the chief FTL engineer Chimera, the ship she served on. Ok I added him to the list out of courtesy but I really didn’t want anyone besides me messing with my FTL drives.

Before letting Abby get some much needed rest in a very comfy bed I brought her to see Eve. Eve was still monitoring the security cameras and talking with Julie over the speakers when we found her. This was a mistake. Abby basically scolded Eve for letting me get way out of shape. I could see the gears turning in Eve’s programming and I knew Abby had just created a new nightmare for me.