Novels2Search
Youjo Kodama
Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Raine has a conflicted feeling after she left the hangar so suddenly and disruptively. Especially after she assaulted and disrespected Mr. Swann, the senior mechanic, so badly in front of his underlings.

On the other hand, Raine can feel elation from the fact that she managed to beat someone from this futuristic and advanced age for the first time… Thus reassures her greatly that there is no insurmountable gap in ability between her and the individuals around her.

She was feeling timid and unsure all this time, unsure whether the knowledge and experience she has accumulated from her previous life would mean for naught against someone naturally born and raised five hundred years after her time.

There was a sense of unease that she would have nothing to offer and that she would not be able to make her descendants proud… If the rest of her descendant are like Mrs. Alakoni, then they would also be putting her on a tall pedestal, and the pressure of their expectations weighs heavily on her heart.

In her distress and to her shame she lashed out towards the most convenient target, which is Swann. Her justification to practice magic was just that, an excuse, a convenient outlet for her inner frustration and anger.

Raine broods and stew in her negativity as Ms. Iden trailed along behind her silently and letting her vent steam.

Raine stops suddenly and so does Ms. Iden, before Ms. Iden can ask a question, Raine turns around and bows deeply at Iden Versio.

"Ms. Iden, I apologized for my unsightly conduct at the hangar earlier. I have no idea how I can make it up to you for assaulting one of your crew members in your presence." Said, Raine, as she maintains her bow towards Ms. Iden, and then raises her head again as she straightens her back.

Iden waved off Raine's apology and sighed with relief at Raine's change of mood for the better.

"Ms. Raine, what you just did in the hangar was, in fact, the correct way to interact with those entrenched in Dwarven culture. The dwarves are a straightforward and hardy bunch. In fact, they will respect you more if you can beat them in brute force as they prized personal strength and a strong, unyielding character like the mountain rock they symbolized themselves after. Perhaps his pride would sting as Swann sees you as a mere little girl, but with time and as you prevail over more adversaries then he would feel pride instead of shame. Certainly, if we are in a tournament, there would be the shame for a veteran to lose out to a first-comer. But such sentiment would fade the more stage you progress through, and if you emerged victoriously and became the champion perhaps, it would become pride instead that he has faced the champion first before anyone else." Explained Iden as she kneels down and hold both of Raine's shoulder and gazes into Raine's faceplate.

Raine tilted her head at Ms. Iden encouragement, she cannot say that she understood such mentality, but it seems that Ms. Iden is fine with her rough treatment of one of her crewmember. At least to dwarves.

"Of course I cannot condone such treatment if you treat all my crews like that. Only dwarves and orcish culture would such treatment apply Ms. Raine. I hope you would treat humans and elves differently. Especially elves as they are easily offended and have a superiority complex over the rest of us sharing the universe." Warned Iden seriously as she tapped Raine's faceplate to hammer in the point.

Raine annoyedly waves Ms. Iden's hand away and then she nodded at Ms. Iden's warning and have kept it in her heart.

Iden Versio then stands back up and proceed to hold Raine's tiny hand as she guides Raine towards the command bridge.

"Now let's meet up with my bridge crew, shall we? I am sure you're impatient for us to proceed to the trade hub station to start our adventure together." Said Iden Versio kindly.

Shyly, Raine follows behind Ms. Iden towards the ship's command bridge along the dark ship hallways while listening to  the hums of the life support system maintaining the environment for the existence of life among the void of space.

In a way… Raine felt like she just gained a dependable older sister…

The existence of such older sister is an anomaly to her, as in her previous life she was the eldest, and the difference of age between her and her siblings are only a year before the next sibling came along.

Their parents are more hands-off in their early years, so she has no common interest with their siblings as each of them took on a different coping mechanism in such an environment.

As the eldest her interest are books, especially the novel kind, light novels of fantasy or science fictions are her favorite, and she could spend hours in the library reading classic books as the famous five or the secret seven are her staple childhood books.

Her younger brother took a more academic interest and strived to gain the academic achievement, a laudable goal to her, but she felt that such a life is dry and devoid of joy, but she respects his decision.

The youngest brother instead took the more social route, a highly extrovert and social person. He has built an impressive social network and has become the most street smart among us siblings. However, on the downside, she is worried about the harmful habit he had taken from his interaction in his social circle when he went out with his friends and came back late at night.

Even though all of us have a different method to cope, have different characteristics and interests, we have a common pet peeve to the suffering of our mother which is our resistance to getting married.

Raine swears that her mother kept pushing acquaintances daughter at us like there is no tomorrow. When all of us are finally married, her mother weeps tears of joy.

Shaking her head of old memories, both Raine and Ms. Iden enters an elevator which according to Ms. Iden leads directly to the command bridge.

The elevator has multiple security scanners, and is reinforced to survive impact and explosion from outside. It can even survive the void of space as it is environmentally sealed and equipped with its own life support system and power generating engine core.

An advanced elevator meant to be used daily and serve as a panic room during hostile boarding or an escape pod in the event of the destruction of the ship according to Ms. Iden.

But she has one complaint about this seemingly ‘advanced’ elevator.

It's so damned slow! How far can the command bridge be that it would take five minutes for the elevator to reach the command bridge even if she took the elevator from the lowest level of the ship!

And another thing! What's with the damned elevator song? The lyrics are all over the place, some are in German, and some is in English! The engineer of the elevator must be on crack as she received a link for the music playing in the background from the elevator itself sent to her Omni-tool!

No matter how many times she stares at her Omni-tool screen, it cannot be removed, and the link is still there mocking her. The link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsRrswyAEs0 refuses to disappear as she tapped furiously at her Omni-tool screen.

"Just let it be Ms. Raine, our maintenance team is an avid music lover, and they changed the background music for all the elevator scattered all over the ship every day. And to top it off they made it, so the music itself is downloaded to the crewmembers Omni-tool. You'd have to ask Kaidan if you ever want to remove the music file from your Omni-tool but good luck with that as both Kaidan and Ron are in the whole scheme as well." Said Iden Versio from beside Raine inside the elevator.

"If they know what's good for them they'd better." Grumbled Raine as she gets tired of tapping futilely at her Omni-tool screen.

Afterward, an awkward moment filled the elevator space where waiting inside are Raine and Iden Versio, only filled with the elevator music in the background as both wished the elevator can reach the command bridge faster.

Unfortunately the moment was broken by Iden Versio before the elevator can reach their destination.

"So… Did you see any cute boy after you awaken from your sleep?" Asked Iden Versio conversationally.

Raine stares with horror behind her faceplate at Ms. Iden. She is not having this conversation with her, particularly since internally she still sees herself as a man, her external appearance notwithstanding.

"Oh, I just assumed since you're a handsome girl and all I would have thought you'd have approached one of the cute boys back in Ms. Alakoni premises." Said Iden Versio abashedly.

"Wait, what? Do you realize that in my last life I was a man? And furthermore, even if I am a girl now… Why would a girl at my supposed age be chasing boys? I thought at this age girls would say boys are gross and play with their dolls, pink ponies and such." Said Raine confusedly.

"Oh right, you're ancient. Well, this is awkward. I forgot back then it was different. Well then Ms. Raine, I don't know how to tell you this but…" Trailed Iden Versio awkwardly trying to come up with words and fidgeting uncomfortably.

"What is it?" Asked Raine impatiently as she crossed both her arms in front of her breasts, the pair lifted up defiantly as if saying ‘Yes. What is it?' while raising both it's eyebrows if it have a face of its own.

"Well for a starter, you do know that hundreds of years ago there was a human-made catastrophe where the whole of Earth is covered in ice and hail because of an early attempt to terraform the planet right?" Said Iden Versio as she became calmer as she explains.

"Yes, I was informed by Ms. Alakoni in her office, and you were there as well. Get to the point." Answered Raine pushing the issue further to get an answer.

"Well, we might have made a small side effect when we tried to cope with the extreme cold by using genetic engineering CRISPR procedure to bolster our cold resistance so we can survive in freezing temperature." Said Iden Versio as she laid down the facts piecemeal by piecemeal.

"Define ‘small'?" Asked Raine more urgently.

"Well, we might have accidentally doubled our DNA chromosomes structure, hence for every man born there would be three women born alongside it. So basically for every man, there would be three women competing for his attention." Answered Iden Versio with embarrassment.

Raine gasped at the stupidity of the people after her time. So in short, to solve a problem they have caused, they dug a bigger hole and then sleep in the hole with the dirt mound piled up on the mouth of the hole above their heads. After a period with no problem occurring and when the whole thing suddenly collapsed on their heads, they found themselves buried six feet under the ground.

"You're serious? You're telling me that the DNA of all humans is now living are composed of a four-stranded quadruple helix, and I imagined, where the Y chromosome needed to decide that a child would be born male are stacked against men being born?" Asked Raine with both eyebrows raised and jaw dropped, as well as her pair of breasts as both her arms dropped in shock.

"Hmm more or less. Instead of the chromosome XX for females and the chromosome XY for males, which naturally makes the gender ratio of fifty-fifty. We now have the chromosome XXXX, XXXY, XXYY for women and the chromosome XYYY for men after the genetic engineering to bolster our extreme cold resistance. The genetic engineering had become irreversible when they discovered the issue, as the four-stranded ‘quadruple helix' DNA structure is a dominant strain when paired against the natural two-stranded ‘double helix' DNA structure. When the scientists back then discovered it, it was already too late for the majority of humanity as their DNA structure was already artificially changed as the government encouraged and subsidized the genetic engineering CRISPR procedure to be taken if they want more of their citizens to survive the biting cold." Explained Iden Versio sheepishly.

"Ms. Iden this is no joking matter! What effect did this have on society with fewer men and more women?" Asked Raine with horror.

"Well at first nothing, society would continue along as normal for a time and men would still manage the workplace while the women would handle the household. However as time goes and the population ratio reversed, the pattern is slowly changed until now where women administer the workplace while men manage the family." Explained Iden Versio.

"A world of moral reversal is it… I assume polygamy, the practice of having multiple spouses would be increasingly common as time goes." Said Raine with speculation.

"You are correct Ms. Raine. There was a time when polygamy has become the accepted practice in society to account for the fewer men available for women to marry. And the practice of monogamy has been treated with contempt as pure selfishness. The uneven gender ratio has created social issues such as teenage girls harassing and assaulting teenage boys in their dormitory and stealing the boy's underwears and sold them in the black market. Unfortunately, in adult’s cases, it doesn't get any better as homicide cases where women are fighting for the same man’s attention are quite common, until recently..." Said Iden Versio as she left a slight ray of hope at the end of her bleak words.

Raine noticed this pause and brightened up to the possibility that Ms. Iden is offering a glimmer of hope to this world that has increasingly made less sense to her 21st to 23rd-century sensibilities.

"The scientists have discovered a cure for the four-stranded ‘quadruple helix' DNA structure and restore it to its natural state?" Asked Raine with happiness and relief as she excitedly holds her hands together under her chin in excitement.

"What? No, the Caldari State funded an artificial womb program a few decades ago producing male children's and now possessing a single man to marry is possible for every woman as long as they serve or join the military for a set amount of time before both of them are allowed to discharge. A large part of the men in the Caldari territory is part of the military now, as the Caldari State raised and educated the men with government funds as part of a government program. To be honest, I joined the mercenary because contrary to the Caldari State program; the mercenary men are natural born." Refuted Iden Versio while crushing Raine's hopeful question with cheerfulness and oblivious to Raine's despair as Raine falls weakly to the ground.

Raine cries manly tears of regret as she can imagine the suffering of hundreds of thousands of men as they faced the horniness of teenage girls treating them as sexual objects.

And from all corners of the world, she can hear female nazi feminist cackled like a demented witch as they continued abusing and raping their husbands without a care in the world under the misguided belief of ‘making things even with men' over the courses of centuries under the rule of men.

"Sniff, your suffering would be ended, brothers. I will help make a better condition for men in this universe, equal to the women if it's the last thing I do." Promised Raine from the elevator ground.

"Ms. Raine I'm all for gender equality and everything… But I hope you will not take it too far and became one of those radical masculinists down the road, please. We have enough problem detaining them when they staged a protest. Their shriek hurts your ears, and some of them have made their nails thick and sharp like claws." Asked Iden Versio seriously as she stared down at  Raine kneeling on the elevator floor.

At this point, Raine have had enough of this nonsense. She stood up abruptly and started banging at the elevator doors blocking her way out to freedom and the elusive rationality.

BAM!BAM!BAM!

"Let me out! Let me out of this insane place! I don't want to take it anymore! And that God-damned elevator music!" Shouted Raine as she bangs her fists on the elevator door continuously with the elevator music softly playing in the background.

Fortunately, someone above answered her prayers, and the elevator door finally opens to the ship's command bridge.

Raine rushed out of the elevator and became the center of attention as she lamented while kneeled on the ground.

"Damn them, damn them all to hell!" Shrieked Raine on her position on the ground as she kneels on the command bridge floor, attracting the attention of the command bridge crews around her.

"At ease." Said Iden Versio as she calmly exits the elevator and greets her subordinates while playing down the fuss Raine made on the command bridge ground floor.

"What's wrong with her commander?" Interjected Charles Pressly, the navigation officer as he made the inquiry in everyone's mind.

"Oh, she's just playing around. You know kids, always exaggerating. I've only asked whether she sees any cute boys back in director Alakoni's office." Answered Iden Versio as she approached Raine.

"Oh, she's at the age where she thinks all boys are gross and icky then? Give her time; she'll grow out of it. In the meantime buy her a soccer ball or basketball to play with other girls her age. Why I remember my daughter did exactly that, but she still became a horndog when she grew up to be a teenager. Eats like a pig, messy room and tried to wear bras two sizes too big with fake paddings to show off her chest to boys in her class. Ahh, that was funny as hell." Laughed Charles reminiscing about old times in his family.

"Ms. Raine, have you let steam out of your system?" Asked Iden gently as she nudged Raine back into the real world.

Raine snaps back to reality and with embarrassment stands up quickly and shakes her head to reboot her self-esteem.

"Yes… I am alright now, and I apologize for my outburst Ms. Iden." Said Raine calmly as she bowed politely to recover as much dignity as she can.

"It's alright Ms. Raine, please introduce yourself to the command bridge crews. You've met Mr. Charles Pressly, our navigation officer earlier. And then we have our pilot Mr. Jeff Moreau there at the center of the room although he likes to be called ‘Joker' instead. Next to him is Dr. Leonard McCoy, our medical officer. And then we have Ms. Nyota Uhura, our communication system officer. Beside her, inspecting her sniper rifle is Ms. Yoko Littner, our weapon system officer. Next to her is Ms. Kiyoh Bachika, our chief security officer. And finally you've also already met Mr. Rory Swann earlier at the hangar as our engineering officer but usually, he wouldn't be on the command bridge but near our power engine core instead." Introduced Iden Versio as she pointed to her bridge command crew one by one.

"Hello everyone, my name is Raine Sioux. I apologize for the disturbance I caused. It is a pleasure to meet you all since I will be the client for Inferno Squad I hope we can get along well." Greets Raine politely as she covered her groin with both hands and bowed like a maid.

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"Quite alright Ms. Raine, it is no issue at all. Even though we've met earlier, my name is Charles Pressly, the ship's navigation officer. As I've said as a father of three, I am quite used to such behavior. It is good to be reminded of a simpler and happier time at my age." Said Charles Pressly, the Normandy SR-2 navigation officer, as he stands gentlemanly like a butler.

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"Happens to all of us. Some days I also want to scream and shout when I watch the news channel nowadays. By the way, my name is Jeff Moreau, the ship's pilot. You can call me a ‘Joker,' but we live in crazy times." Said Jeff Moreau, the Normandy SR-2 pilot, as he shakes his head in frustration.

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"Please come to visit me in the infirmary if you need medical assistance or just someone to talk to Ms. Raine. My name is Dr. Leonard McCoy, the ship's medical officer. I have been updated about your ‘unique' medical condition by director Alakoni herself. We will do our best to take care of you during your time with us, rest assured." Said Dr. Leonard McCoy as he stares at Raine's medical scan on screen.

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"Charmed, there is nothing wrong with letting loose now and then Ms. Raine. My name is Nyota Uhura, the ship's communication system officer. Please do not worry about making a disturbance. We are here for you." Said Nyota Uhura, communication system officer, as she shifted her attention from the ship's holo panel to reassure Raine.

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"Hello there Ms. Raine! My name is Yoko Littner, the ship's weapon system officer. We have heard so much about you from Ms. Iden through the radio, and we look forward to working together with you." Said Yoko Littner, weapon system officer, as she looks up from the scope of the sniper rifle she is inspecting on the work bench and mirror in front of her.

[http://www.allthatsepic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sonya-blade-cosplay-featured.jpg]

"Nice to meet you girl. My name is Kiyoh Bachika, the ship's chief security officer. I've heard what you did to Swann in the hangar earlier. If you need a partner to spar with, please look for me." Said Kiyoh Bachika, the chief security officer as she lifts her gloved fist as her badge and dog tag glimmers on her black leather vest.

Raine has memorized all the command bridge crew member's name and position. They look nice enough, but what is it with the reversed role.

The men are navigation, pilot and medical officer, while the women are communication, weapon systems, and chief security officer.

The chief security officer is even challenging her after hearing her altercation with Swann.

Well, at least the engineering is headed by a man. That's a tradition that is still familiar to her. Or maybe it is just her head that is positioned wrongly.

Then what is the point of her being gender-bent if the world have a moral reversal?

Oh right, she has a socket instead of a plug now. Well, at least she doesn't have to cope or adjust to a more feminine mindset if it's going to make her stand out instead. And perhaps another thing is that she would be worried about plugs coming to her, but there is a good chance that because of the moral reversal then it would mean that the men would stay passive and wait for the women to make the first move in initiating a romantic relationship.

Raine suddenly realizes that she has spaced out again for a while there and with embarrassment, bowed and greeted everyone again.

"Ah forgive me for my lapse, I thank everyone for their understanding. And I hope all of us can get along well." Said Raine in reply from her position across the gathered command crew members group.

Iden Versio then clapped her hands loudly to attract everyone’s attention and start commanding her crew members back into attention.

"Alright gentlemen and gentlewomen, it's time we get this show on the road. I am sure Charles has already told you our destination this time would be Jita IV trade hub. Thanks to Lai Dai and the sponsorship of director Alakoni we have traded in our old Caracal Cruiser with this Cerberus Heavy Assault Cruiser. With the upgraded specs of the ship our journey to the Jita IV trade hub would be reached in 48 hours time instead of 120 hours, it would have taken by using our old ship. Joker, man your station and let us enter the wormhole." Commanded Iden Versio as she took the command seat at the center of the command bridge while everyone else straps themselves on their station.

"Commander, I have cleared our departure with Earth's space control. We are cleared to go Faster Than Light." Said Nyota Uhura, the communication officer, as she looks up from her screen and with the headset on her head after communicating with the Caldari space control.

"You've heard the lady, Joker. Punch it!" Commanded Iden Versio from her command seat.

"Aye-aye captain. Worm-drive engaged, the capacitor from our ‘Graviton' reactor is being drained. Three minutes until the worm-drive completely drain our ‘Graviton' reactor then we can open the wormhole to pass through captain." Reported Joker as he fiddled with the information panel in front of him and held the steering wheel steady with one hand.

Raine looks at all this with fascination as she gets excited with the sound of the engine humming throughout all the ship as it prepares to go Faster Than Light. In her curiosity, she approached Joker's station, and her attention is also focused on the screen in front of her showing the stars and nebula outside the ship.

"Oh hello, Ms. Raine, here to see my work? We'll depart soon, so if you can wait with the commander that would be great." Asked Joker as he idled waiting for the capacitor to fill the worm-drive.

"Yes, so we use a wormhole to go FTL? Is it the same for the other races?" Asked Raine with curiosity.

"Yes, humanity uses wormhole for FTL. Other races do not use the worm drive though. It will be weird if different races use the same FTL method. That either suggests extreme coincidence, or it is done by design. I'd be wary of a trap if somehow different races separated by vast distance and at various cultural and technological level somehow can use the same method. With that in mind, the elves use web way technology, the dwarves use Stargate technology, and the orcs use warp technology. The elves and dwarves build megastructures in each of their star systems while humanity and orcs can use the device within each ship to go FTL. While this means we used fewer material resources compared to the elves and dwarves, the downside of our method is we lose efficiency and stability when we go into FTL. I am sure you realize that to engage the worm drive we dumped all our capacitor from the ‘Graviton' reactor into the worm drive to open the wormhole. The energy required to open the wormhole is universal to all our ship sizes as the energy requirement is adjusted based on the ratio to the ship's mass and size. We need to stop in between each star system and wait for the capacitor to regenerate and repeat the process. We are not able to regenerate the capacitor inside the wormhole as the energy generated are redirected to maintain the energy field around the ship to not be ripped apart by the fluctuating wormhole fields." Explained Joker academically, being a pilot he would be expected to know this information.

"Interesting. What is a capacitor? And does the orcs have this same drawback?" Asked Raine from beside Joker.

"Capacitor is the term for the energy requirement used by the ship. It is electrical power generated by the interaction of antimatter and matter in the ship's reactor. The orcs do not have the same drawback as we do, the moment they exit their FTL they have a full capacitor and are combat ready, while we have to spend some time waiting for the reactor to regenerate the capacitor again since we do not need to maintain the energy field outside the wormhole." Explained Joker academically again.

"Wouldn't that mean the orcs FTL is an ideal method to use?" Enquired Raine as she tilted her head.

"There is a huge drawback to it, a horrible one, but of course to the brutish orcs, it serves as natural selection in culling the weak. Entering the warp is not without risks, as the warp is a separate dimension where demons dwell. Hence, once in awhile demons can enter their ships and attacked the living looking for souls to eat. All other races shunned this FTL method and only the orcs are embracing this travel method." Shuddered Joker as he looks to either side as if expecting demons to pop up beside him suddenly.

There is minority belief in the supernatural, but compared to the power of technology, the power of supernatural pales in comparison. What use is a flying possessed keris against the might of assault rifles and mechanized armor?

"Even if something like that appears we should just shoot them back into oblivion right? Don't tell me you do not have a proton pack like the Ghostbusters?" Asked Raine with skepticism.

"Real life is not a movie though, although in this case even that statement can be taken as false… There was a movie released when I was younger… It is based on a true story when we captured an orc ship, and an experiment was arranged by the military to do research on warp technology and application. The ship was boarded by some researchers and elite military personnel. When all of them are inside the ship, the ship are made operational, monitoring and recording system installed throughout the ship, and with the higher ups approval they engaged the warp drive and jumped into FTL. What happened next is something that came out of a horror movie. Demons appeared incorporeally and started attacking anything alive inside the ship. Our men, of course, fights back and shoots the demons, only to find that all their weapons are useless as physical bullets, energy blasts and flames pass through their bodies. The movie I told you about uses the actual recording of the event itself during the production of the movie on the director's insistence. To this day I always got shivers when I remember the expression of the soldiers when the demons ripped their souls out of their body and started eating the souls in front of the cameras. By the time the ship reached their set destination, the demons fade away, the bodies of the soldiers and researchers litter the decks unharmed but lifeless. Ever since then warp technology research are banned, and there was always fear in public with anything associated with the warp. Later on after interrogating orcs pirates we found out that the only way to defeat demons in that state is by using unarmed combat and pure strength as souls can touch each other as shown in the recording. Hence by moving the body, the soul copied the stance and movement of the body. The orcs are always fighting during the warp travel, and they bashed, choked, pummel and decapitated demons using their own hands and feets. That is something that cannot be copied by the other races as the demons itself has supernatural strength, a normal human would not be able to cut it. A dwarf could have the strength, but they have poor reach. Hence they were slaughtered as well. The elves do not want to sacrifice any of their precious life to test it, so we would never know how they would fare." Explained Joker lengthily and academically.

"Ho, that sounds interesting. I may have something to use against demons if we ever encounter them. Do you know how I could encounter one?" Asked Raine with eagerness.

"I am afraid the ship they used is destroyed, and the wrecks are displayed in a museum with the banner ‘Never again!' being draped over it. Look, Ms. Raine, I'd love to answer your questions again but the worm-drive gauge is almost full, and I need to attend to it. Sorry, but can you take a seat and we can continue this again next time?" Apologized Joker as he starts getting ready to perform the jump.

Raine could understand Joker's point of view, so she dropped her line of questioning.

Looking for a place to sit though she sees that there is a small space in front of Joker's lap.

So taking advantage of her small stature and body, she managed to slip in between Joker and the steering wheel.

Ignoring Joker's protest and Raine was about to take a seat on Joker's lap by bending over her ass before it was being blocked by both of Joker's hand grasping her ass tightly stopping her from sitting on the available space in-between Joker's legs.

"You do know back where I'm from. Holding my ass like this would be considered a crime, Joker?" Asked Raine as she looks over to her back with a raised eyebrow as she imagines her position would be regarded as suggestive and criminal back in her time.

A little girl in a skin-tight suit bending over and with a man holding her ass tightly over his legs? Yes, that's a criminal offense right there, and she could expect immediate arrest and an angry mob chasing Joker out of town.

"Nice try Ms. Raine, but that only applies if a woman is doing the same to a little boy where I come from, and you're in my neighborhood. So too bad, but I would have to ask you not to sit on my lap as I have the vrolik syndrome which causes extreme brittleness in my bones. I don't want to risk fracturing my legs when you sit on it. So please run along to commander Iden Versio at the back, you can sit on her lap without worry." Admonished Joker as he pushed Raine out of his station and shoo her along to commander Iden Versio.

Raine, feeling admonished, sheepishly return to Iden Versio's command seat.

"Ms. Raine, we are ready for departure. Would you like to see how we travel in space?" Asked Iden Versio, seating on her command console as she typed on the holo panel in front of her.

"Yes, Ms. Iden. I would like to see it." Answered Raine as she walked and sat on Iden's lap.

"As you say Ms. Raine. Joker launch the worm and take us out of here." Commanded Iden Versio as she rubbed the top of Raine's helmet.

"Aye-aye captain, launching worm now." Acknowledged Joker as he tapped on a console.

Raine sees a bright orb launched from the ship on the large screen ahead, and to Raine's amazement it explodes ahead of the ship, and a hole opens in front of them with energies flowing into the hole and through it. Perhaps it is a hole in the fabric of space and the energies flowing into it like water follows some sort of natural law.

"Afterburner's hot commander! We are entering the wormhole!" Reported Joker as he pushed a lever and the ship's inertia compensated for the sudden acceleration.

In Raine's eyes, she can see the wormhole swallows the ship and Joker reported that the wormhole have closed behind them. The ship is now moving on the movement of the energies that have flowed into the wormhole before it closes as the afterburner have been deactivated the moment the ship enters the wormhole. The ship's method of going into FTL reminded her of entering the huge and tall water park as she slides through the water tube from the top to the pool below.

According to Joker's words earlier, the ship's energy is now being used to generate the energy field around the ship and to maintain the life support system. Raine sees that since the ship enters wormhole, some crewmembers started taking a break and exits the command bridge to their quarters for rest, this includes Joker.

The only crewmember left in the bridge is Charles Pressly, the navigation officer and Ms. Iden Versio, the commander.

"Commander, we have a few hours until we exit the wormhole. I recommend you to have a rest first in your quarter. As we will repeat the process every few hours once we reach a new star system and the reactor is full, we would only need Joker's and my presence then." Reported Charles Pressly from his work station on one side of the command seat.

"Alright, take the bridge, Charles. I will take a break in my quarter." Said,Iden Versio, she then lifted Raine from her seat and stand up heading back towards the elevator.

"Hey, what about me?" Asked Raine from her position beside the command seat, feeling alone.

"Your room is below the command seat, Ms. Raine." Said Iden Versio as she stopped and turned around again.

"I beg your pardon?" Said Raine with confusion.

Raine then sees the commander pressing her hand against a palm scanner on the back of the command seat, which causes the command seat to move aside and open a hidden room below with a staircase leading down.

"Your room is located inside the most secure room inside the ship, which is the command bridge and further secured and hidden below the command seat. The control panel has been configured for the command bridge crews and yourself only. When you want to enter or exit the room then just scan your hand on the control panel near the doorway of the chamber. The hidden room is an extra feature expressly installed when director Alakoni called for our services." Said Iden Versio as she gives the room's manual to Raine's hand.

Raine accepted the manual, and as she gauged the entrance size, it can only fit Raine's body and an adult certainly wouldn't be able to enter and easily maneuver inside as they go down.

"As you see the entrance would make it difficult for us to enter your chamber, so please rest inside while we travel to Jita IV trade hub since it will take two days to reach the trade hub you can sleep first or surf the library we have on the server. If you need anything, please contact Charles Pressly above your room as he would be available on the command bridge most of the time." Explained Iden Versio as she turns around and exits the command bridge.

Raine stands there on her room's entrance before she took the steps down. As the command seat closes behind her, she can see the softly lit room and the bed that looks like a modest hotel room with amenities, a small stove, and kitchen with a small fridge and a working desk. There is even a shower and toilet available near the entrance. The whole thing reminded her of a hobbit's hole.

With satisfaction of the room's quality and setting. Raine stripped her helmet's off and placed it on the work desk. She also took off her black cat hairband, her black cat tail belt, her holstered sidearms, her sheathed nova blade, and finally, she stripped her Omni-tool, armors, and combat boots until Raine is left with only her undersuit. Looking at the shower, she stripped her undersuit as well but was having difficulty taking it off as her breasts are hindering her movements.

When the whole thing is off, Raine hangs it off the work chair behind the work desk and enters the shower cubicle. After taking a hot shower, she felt renewed and refreshed as she toweled herself dry. She spotted a small cubicle under the sink. When she opens it, to her delight, there are clothing for her and even pajamas.

Raine then proceeds to wear the pajamas and hopped onto the bed, marveling how soft and fluffy it is. She cannot help but squeal and roll around on the bed. After feeling tired, she stopped and hopped off the bed to wear her Omni-tool again, and she found that Ron has sent a mail to her when she's in the shower, so she proceeded to open the mail.

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Hey Raine!

I just heard from Commander Iden that you found out that the moral is reversed compared from your time. I wouldn't say I know how you feel but I have this manga where a woman from an alternate dimension similar to the moral of your day landed in our current society. To me, it's quite funny that a woman would act so boyishly, so I recommend you have a read of it to understand better the moral of our society. But the manga depicts some nudity and some topic that may be offensive to some, so if that kind of thing offended you, then I would not recommend you to read it. In the end, the decision is up to you but no worries as the manga don’t have a sexual scene. With that out of the way, here is the link to the manga I mentioned before, the title of the manga is ‘the world of moral reversal' 

http://www.mangatown.com/manga/the_world_of_moral_reversal/c001/

With love,

Ron Stoppable

Raine is curious about the manga that Ron has given the link in his mail. Moreover, she is also curious about the moral standard of today's society, so she opened the link and read the manga.

To say the least that it has flipped Raine's view of the world is an understatement, but she appreciated that Ron had sent the manga so she can take in this new paradigm better if she wants to adapt and cope with the time. She then writes back a reply on her Omni-tool.

Dear Ron,

Thank you for the manga that you have sent me. I appreciate that you have sent this to me before we reach the trade hub so I would not make a fool of myself when we reach there in two days time. How's your gaming session going?

With stoic tsundere love,

Raine Sioux

Raine sent the reply and was continuing to roll on top of the soft bed before she hears the ping of a notice that she has received another response from Ron.

Dear Raine

No problem Raine! Anytime!

Also, my Playstation 45 is hard to handle. It keeps distracting itself with minor patches or updates instead of focusing on letting me play the game I want. After some time experimenting and with great difficulty I have found that the gaming console itself can work well enough as long as you do not let it connect online or have any internet connection at all. I have no idea why Sony decided to push this product to the market. I think the company was trying to take advantage of an executive order that is in consideration with the corporate board. If the executive order is passed, Sony will be the only console available in the market as Microsoft would have to catch up to make their console compliant with the given executive order. Pass or no pass though, the consumer will still suffer, so I think this is a bad move on Sony's reputation.

Ah, look at me prattling on about difficult and complex thing such as the politics of the game company. I hope you can rest well as I have a zombie slaying marathon myself with Kaidan here in my room. Also, don't tell anyone this but he suck tits playing this game.

I do not! Raine, don't believe Ron!

YES! You should believe gjlf;hgfahjgf,mnvgggmgui

Raine laughed at the content of the mail, but since Ron already mentioned for her to sleep, the idea has become an attractive one to her. She's tired and sleepy already, so she supposed it's about time she dozed off.

Raine then turns off the light off the room and tucked in on the blanket while the cool air-conditioned room as she proceeds to dream of slaying demons with a nightmare blade while riding on top of a spaceship across the star-studded void of space.