Dark Fate, Book 15 Prologue (Patreon)

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Internal Discussion Forum, CRN Mercurial)

**SECURE FORUM. DO NOT LINK TO EXTERNAL SITES.**

WrenchMonkey, Sulu, Trapper, Goddess, Critter, Bookworm, Shinobi, Snake, Skipper, Bloodsucker, Bobcat, Kitten, Heretic, Puritan, Charmander, Professor, DarkLord, Rerun, Doc, ThoughtSo, BadGirl, CallMeDaddy, Hentai, and Chatty are in the chat.

Hentai: Mmm. Some of those elf boys were scrumptious! Do you think we can take some home with us?

Goddess: Not exactly a lot or room on board for dependents, Hentai. Probably would require them to come to Ceres on a civilian transport.

Hentai: Oh, boo. How long do you think before we start seeing tourists from the Commonwealth start to roll through Ceres?

Chatty: Depends on how well the talks with the diplomats went, I guess. Stitch drives mean that they could skip past the front lines of the war, so that takes one level of concern out.

Shinobi: That’s above my pay grade for sure. I just fly, and shoot xeno fighters. But it would be nice to get some trade from the Commonwealth.

DarkLord: There are discussions to that effect, yes. Passenger service will probably wait until things are a bit more settled, but the first traders may actually decide to convoy with us on our return trip.

Bookworm: Wait, really? That’s fast!

DarkLord: They’re all independent traders, not the large merchant companies. They are more flexible in what they can do. So far, twelve freighter captains have contacted Mercurial, asking for escort to Sol. According to the manifests they’ve transmitted, they’re carrying consumer goods.

Bobcat: So… alien radios?

DarkLord: Some. But also personal computers, translators, and other small devices that can be bought in bulk. Not to mention media. Basically, they raided the alien equivalent of Walmart. But, since these are new and exotic goods, they’ll fetch quite a price in Ceres, and even more on Earth.

CallMeDaddy: So, you are saying that we should stock up on things before we leave. Got it.

DarkLord: Also, if anyone is hoping to bring home new pets, be they animal or alien, as long as they are properly collared and remain in a capture ball for the journey back, that is fine. But we will be checking to make sure that they are all legally obtained. No causing diplomatic incidents, mmkay?

Puritan: Oh, good. Because I stopped by the slave market while I was on shore leave.

Heretic: You naughty boy! You didn’t just go and grab the first girl in the slave market to be your relief, did you?

Puritan: Of course not! I have some standards, you know! It was the second girl. But seriously, this place was pretty slick. They had a catalogue that you could filter by different categories. Race, Class, Profession, skills, minimum attributes, body type, and so on.

CallMeDaddy: So, what did you pick?

Puritan: Oh, a cute knelfi girl. Level 10 Battledancer/Maid with the [Carnal Arts] skill. Tried her out, and she is everything I wanted and more! Apparently, she ran up some debts due to her sister’s medical condition, and she had to sell herself to cover the costs.

Goddess: That’s terrible! The poor dear! And what happened to her sister?

Puritan: Don’t know. I’m sure it was all fine, though.

Heretic: You heartless asshole! Go find out! Or I’m going to make you cross-train with Engineering, going through all the sewage systems on the Mercurial!

Puritan: You can’t do that, can you?

DarkLord: Actually, yes. Squadron leaders and department heads are encouraged to have everyone cross-train, so that, in the event of an emergency, people at least have some familiarity with systems beyond their base role on the ship. Which is why you’ll also have people from different departments learning to fly, for instance. If a shuttle pilot suffers a heart attack or something while on a mission, it would be good if someone else on the shuttle knew how to fly, instead of just praying for salvation.

Kitten: Not to sound trite, but with the System, and gods being real, isn’t praying actually useful now?

Skipper: Not especially. Unless you have a priest-type class. Even then, there are limits to how much gods can interfere. My wife is a Priestess, and the best she could do through prayer alone was pray that her goddess watched over us.

Kitten: So, miracles aren’t a thing?

Skipper: No, miracles do happen, but they aren’t something that gods can just do whenever you pray for them. Especially if you’re praying for something big.

DarkLord: Exactly. Prayer might nudge things a bit, especially if you’re devout, but you still have to ACT. In the example of the emergency pilot, prayers might help with guiding the craft to a controlled landing, but you still need to have someone flying the shuttle!

Bookworm: Hey, boss, is it true that you went and Tiered Up in the middle of a party?

Heretic: Can confirm. He was his usual Greater Incubus Blood Warlock/Slave Master when he shuttled down for the party. When he came back, he was a Greater Incubus Demonic Seducer/Demon King!

Shinobi: Demonic Seducer? What kind of class is that? And is Demon King a real profession?

DarkLord: I suppose there’s no harm in talking about it, since you can find the information through the System Shop with the right requests. Demonic Seducer is a rare racial class for those with a demonic race and the warlock class. There are some requirements to unlock it, but it focuses on melding my demonic abilities with my warlock abilities, and making me better at affecting people.

DarkLord: Demon King, on the other hand, is a super rare profession only available to demons who rule a kingdom and have done a couple other things. There are a few nice abilities it has, but I can sense any demons within a certain range, and they can sense me, and we both are informed of our relative power to each other.

DarkLord: I didn’t get any options to upgrade my race, unfortunately, but that was due to me already being a Tier 3 race. Apparently, I won’t get an upgrade to that until hitting Tier 4.

Professor: Options? You mean that you got to pick your profession and class, like we did when the System came online?

DarkLord: Yes, you are given your ‘best fit’ options when you hit the Tier, based on your actions and skills. The same kind of interface and scheme as when the System initialized, too. Oh, and for those of you wondering, that choice was a one-time thing. Kids born after the initialization won’t get a class choice when the System unlocks for them during puberty.

Professor: So, the System assigns a class at birth, but the profession can be chosen?

DarkLord: Exactly.

Professor: What about those who were born before the System initialized, but were too young for it to unlock? My cousin is 11, and hasn’t had his System unlock, yet.

DarkLord: If what I’ve seen and heard is any indication, those who weren’t old enough for the full unlock will have their class pre-assigned, though there are ways to change it later, if they want. The System was basically kludging things together to cover for all kinds of unexpected developments, remember. That’s why we got an options screen like the Tier choices, since it was closest to something the System had as a default. The underage kids probably defaulted to the System assignments.

Professor: Makes sense. I’ll have to inform my cousin when we get back.

Chatty: Speaking of going back, how much longer are we going to hang around, boss? I mean, shore leave is nice and all, but it’d be nice to head back to Sol. Can’t properly swap stories over coms.

DarkLord: Should be two days, and we’ll head back, leaving behind the diplomats who are going to be doing their thing.