Side Quests for Harem and Power 6: I Got Myself a Frigate (Patreon)

Perhaps killing pirates had been the right decision because while the immediate consequence had been an interrogation and being mistaken for a terrorist, I got myself a cheap frigate in exchange (Systems Alliance Law “2160 C.E. Piracy, Privateer, and Rewards” Article 2, Section 9, Subsection 1, Clause C, which allowed for the eliminator of pirate crew to buy the pirate’s ship from the authorities at 25% of the estimated market value of the ship on the condition that they were eligible for deep space vehicle license with exceptions made for all ship tonnages at cruiser or above to be confiscated by the Systems Alliance Navy). 

Now, ships in the Citadel Council space were expensive. Element Zero, or Eezo, was needed in large quantities to make the eezo drive of a ship. For small ships like interstellar passenger shuttles, this amount wasn’t much, but there was an exponential requirement as ships got heavier (which meant that it was growing in size) and frigates were worth their tonnage in silver with varying levels of price depending on where the frigate was manufactured. 

The most expensive ships came from the Asari Republics. Not only was the Asari technology the most advanced in the entire galaxy, they produced smaller quantities of ships. Low supply, high tech, and high demand equaled high price.

The second most expensive ships came from the Salarian Union. Although not as high tech as the Asari Republics, Salaran Union continued to benefit greatly from their long relationship with the Asari, who share more of their technology - at a price - with the Salarians than anyone else. 

The Turian and Human ships were tied in terms of technology and price, but the Turians were capable of producing more ships faster, but also were picky about who they sold their ships too. 

The least wanted ships were Batarian ships, which were notorious for being unreliable. 

And well… I just got myself a Batarian ship. A used, old, and formerly pirate Batarian ship. It was, however, a frigate. As long as it flew, had shields and armor, go FTL, and utilized the Mass Relay, I was happier having a ship to my name than not.

It would make all kinds of movements easier. Hell, one of the reasons why I wanted to go after Benezia was the fact that she was loaded with resources, spaceships included. 

“So the ship you are buying … at 300,000 credits. Are you sure you want this ship?” the brunette Systems Alliance accountant across from me asked me with a raised eyebrow. 

To be fair, I was also a bit nervous about the frigate in question. Frigates were worth, at minimum, several million credits for the lowest quality Batarian frigate. For a frigate to be worth only 300,000 Credits (25% of the assessed value of the ship) meant that the Systems Alliance Navy estimated the ship to be worth only 1.2 million Credits, a full fifth of the price of the cheapest reliable class of Batarian frigate, the Xuyam-class “Exploration” Frigate.

From hearing the numbers alone, I knew that I was going to have to do some expensive refurbishing… but it would be worth it. 

“Yes, and can you help me with getting a frigate license?”

He smiled. “Sure, but only if you have all of the information you need right now.”

Even as I got help for the license and the subsequent paperwork, I wondered just what made the expert eyes of the naval personnel put the price down that low. After the bureaucratic work, I went to the nearest shipyard with the ship specs provided to me by the naval accountant. They had one look at the paperwork and told me it would be some time before they could bring the frigate up to Systems Alliance navigation standard.

I asked what was wrong with it.

The answers they gave me drove me to spend more money out of my pocket. As I suspected, the ship needed a month of work before I would be satisfied with it. The biggest issue that I was told was the failing structural integrity of the forty-five year old ship. It didn’t help that pirates weren’t keen on spending too much money, even on the very vehicle that kept them from blowing up like raspberry in atmosphere-less space. Too much of the ship had been rusted (which I did notice when I went on that killing spree), some of the ventilation pipes weren’t fixed to each other properly which caused leaks, some of the hermetic seals were rotten - not broken, rotten - which was suspect in and of itself, and cargo bay had been welded shut. 

Why the bay had been welded shut, I did not know, but the civilian shipyard saleswoman tried to make it into this big deal about slave ships shoving all manners of their captives into the cargo bay and welding the bay doors shut prevented more tech savvy ones from hacking the thing open when the pirates didn’t want them to open. Something about being able to lead the slaves out of the bay in more controlled fashion also flowed from her lips but I got the gist of her theory…

Theory because slavers and pirates would benefit more from having their cargo bays not welded and thus able to carry heavier equipment.

Because, you know, “pirates” weren’t being funded by the Batarian Hegemony and thus they couldn’t possibly have heavy equipments, right?

Because of course pirates wouldn’t use mechs, tanks, armored vehicles, shuttles, or anything other more useful things that can help them better assault their victims, right?

… Or the frigate, which lacked a lot of its normal armament, was used for transport, because it kind of made sense. Passenger shuttles were far weaker than frigates, after all, and most pirates roamed the Terminus Space, which was the lawless part of the galaxy. Yes, that made sense, if only barely.

Well, I supposed that I needed to collect a crew now. Or get Cortana to drive the ship. 

… But then I gave Cortana a mission. I didn’t want to appear or be wishy-washy. 

I’ll have to gather a crew myself.

…

Time to go to a kitchen.