Warhawk's Amnesty - Ch. 23 - Warhawk's Wyverns - Beta (Patreon)

“Ugh, I’m so bored,” Eni said, rolling around on the living room couch.

“You’re bored?” Seb asked, chuckling. “We’re on a cruise touring the galaxy. We’re in the best suite they have to offer, with round-the-clock room service. What more do you want?”

“Yeah, all of that’s nice but there’s nothing to do.”

“Nothing to do? There’s ten different restaurants, three different pools, a number of clubs, arcades, and a whole other number of things.”

“We did all that in, like the first week,” Eni said, sitting up. “I’ve resorted to hacking the crew’s comms just for fun. You would be surprised what some of them are getting up to when no one is looking.”

“I think it’s pretty well established that the crew fucks,” Seb said, laughing.

“Oh, it’s better than that. One guy was sleeping with three women behind their backs. He had it down to a science. So, I forwarded his messages to several of the other girls, and boy were they pissed.”

Seb let out a nervous laugh as he drew parallels between the man and his own situation.

“While I do enjoy the amenities,” Nalla said, joining them from the kitchen, “I do agree with Eni. I wouldn’t be upset if we left at the next stop.”

“Oh, not you too,” Seb said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, me too. I’ve enjoyed the past couple of weeks. It’s been fun to get away. But… I don’t know… I feel like I am becoming complacent. That it’s time for me to get back out there.”

“Exactly,” Eni said. “I don’t remember going this long without jumping into the holonet, either. It’s probably completely different. I’m itching to plug back in.”

“You sound like an addict,” Seb said.

“Yeah… Eni… when was the last time you’ve seen a doctor?” Nalla asked.

“That’s a good question,” Eni said, pursing her lips. “I honestly don’t remember.”

“You should let me examine you when you have a free moment.”

“Are you hitting on me, doc?” Eni asked with a smug smile.

Nalla’s face turned a bright red. “No, of course not. I meant it only in the most professional sense.”

Eni let out a cackling laugh. “I’m just kidding. I’ll let you examine me any time you want.”

Nalla’s face got even redder when Eni raised her eyebrows at her. It tickled Seb, watching Eni push her buttons like she did so often to him. He couldn’t believe it was as simple as having a rational conversation with both of them. But here he was, madly infatuated with them both, and they shared the same feelings for him.

The group turned at the sound of the front door opening, with Vi entering the room with a towel wrapped around her swimming suit.

“What are you all laughing about?” Vi asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Eni said. “Just Nalla flirting with me is all.”

Nalla’s face puffed and her brows furrowed. “I was doing no such thing. I was just trying to explain that Eni should get a check up since it’s been a while.”

“That’s probably a good idea, Eni,” Vi said, joining Eni on the couch across from Seb and Nalla. “You should get that gigantic head of yours checked out. There’s no telling what’s going on in there.”

“I do not have a gigantic head!” Eni shouted. “Pracovi are naturally small. It’s perfectly proportioned with my body.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.”

Seb could see Eni was about to pounce and claw Vi, so interjected before there was blue blood on the floor. “We were also talking about leaving at the next stop. Both Nalla and Eni are feeling like it’s time to go. How are you feeling?”

“I’m good either way,” Vi said, resting her feet up on the middle table. “It’s nice having a pool that accommodates orlindrians and being able to swim every day. But I wouldn’t be upset about earning some credits. I still have a long way until I reach my goal.”

“Your goal?”

“Oh, did I not tell you? I could have sworn we discussed this when we were talking about my racing history. I want to start an HC-0 team.”

“Oh wow, that sounds amazing, Vi,” Nalla said.

“Yeah, you never told me this,” Seb said. “I thought you got banned?”

“I got banned from racing, but didn’t get banned from owning a team,” Vi said with a smile. “I’m going to earn enough credits, found my own team, and then take that championship trophy. I can see the look on their stupid faces all ready. One giant final fuck you from me.”

“That sounds… like quite the goal. You’d need millions, right?”

“Hundreds of millions just for the entry fee alone. Then I’d have to hire the best crew, best racers, build an HC-0 ship. It’s a huge goal, but one I’m committed to.”

“So, once we disembark from the cruise, what’s your plan?”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of go with the flow kind of gal. I’ll probably start looking at open jobs and see what sticks.”

Seb turned and looked at Eni. “What about you?”

Eni rubbed her chin and scrunched her nose. “I originally thought I’d go back to Pyrus Station. However, the more I think about it, the more I think it would be a bad idea. I’d probably just purge everything and move on. Maybe start looking for a new home.”

“And you?” Seb asked Nalla.

“Well… I want to keep helping people. Whether that’s aboard a ship, station, or whatever. You don’t just stop being a doctor. I guess… I guess it depends on what you all decide.”

“What did I tell you, Vi,” Eni said, elbowing her in the arm. “I told you the doc was flirting with me.”

Everyone shared a laugh.

“Yes, I have grown fond of each of you,” Nalla said.

This is it, Seb thought. Now’s my chance. If I don’t say anything now, this could be the final week where we’re all together. Even if the girls and I care for each other. If I don’t keep us together, there’s a good chance we’ll all go our separate ways. I don’t want that, and I don’t think they want it either. They’re all looking to me to make the decision for them.

“Okay, here’s my thought,” Seb said, jumping from the couch. “I’ve already talked with Nalla about this in the past, but Vi and Eni, I want you to think about it too. What if instead of us all going our separate ways, we stay together?”

“Like we all buy a house together?” Eni asked.

“Better… we build our own ship.”

Vi sat up in her chair. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”

“Here’s just my idea and to be honest, it’s all hypothetical right now. But what if we start a freelance company, register with the guild, and build our own ship? We won’t be shackled to work for corps or other assholes we don’t want to work for. We and anyone else we hire on full time will be equal partners. We’ll keep everything fair and make decisions as a crew.”

“I like the sentiment,” Eni said. “But a crew needs a captain. People need someone with authority to look to when decisions need to be made.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Nalla added.

“Then I’ll be the captain,” Seb said. “But we’ll all have a say when it comes to any major decisions.”

“Tell me more about the ship, though,” Vi said.

Seb smiled and kneeled around the table. “I’ll need to find a builder, but I can design it based around our needs.”

“I want it to be fast,” Vi said with a wide grin. “In FTL and out. Oh, and with big ass guns.”

“I want an infirmary with the best equipment that we can afford,” Nalla said. “Something universal since we’re all different species. A healing tank paired with an automated operation table would be perfect.”

“Well, if we’re building a wish list,” Eni said, tapping on our WICI. She expanded a document and started taking notes. “We’ll need a good sensor and communication package. A virtual intelligence can handle our navigation duties. We’ll need plenty of processing and servers to handle all of that. I’ll take care of all the security layers.”

“Can we get it so the rooms have their own artificial gravity controls?” Vi asked. “It would be nice to be able to stretch and move around without requiring my skinsleeve.”

“Definitely doable albeit a bit more expensive.”

“It should have a large cargo bay, enough for at least a hundred metric tons,” Seb said. “I figure one way to quickly recoup our investment will be to do some transportation runs.”

“Good call, there are always jobs to move cargo.”

“And if we have big guns,” Vi said. “We can take the higher risk, higher reward jobs.”

“Better add good shielding to that list,” Seb said.

“What about rooms?” Nall asked. “We could double up the earnings by taking people and cargo to the same destination.”

“That’s a good point,” Eni said. “But rooms do take up a bit of space.”

“Let’s do ten individual rooms, with the ability to confirm them into bunks,” Seb said. “That would give us quite the flexibility in the event we run into the same issue we did back on Inoi 3.”

“Yeah, no one wants to sleep in a cargo hold,” Nalla said, taking a sip from her drink.

“We should get dual bathrooms then,” Vi said. “One that’s a bit more public and one that’s a bit more private.”

“If we put in a captain’s quarters, that could account for the private one,” Eni said.

“We don’t need a separate captain’s quarters,” Seb said, moving back to the couch. “I want this to be an equal thing.”

“You say that now, but I think we can all agree that having that extra privacy would be nice. Plus, it’s your name going on this registration.”

Seb held up his hands. “All right, all right, just trying to do the right thing by you all. If you’re fine with that, then so am I.”

“It’s not like we’re not going to come and steal it from time to time,” Vi said, laughing.

“For safety, we should have escape pods on both sides. Enough for our total capacity. Engineering bay and maintenance access I’ll design up to spec. What else are we missing?”

“Oh, food!” Nalla said. “We should have a nice big kitchen with a dining room table, and a pantry big enough for six months.”

“Six months?” Eni asked, wide eyed. “We planning on getting lost in uncharted space?”

“No, she’s right,” Seb said. “That’s pretty standard nowadays for cross-galactic freighters. You always want to plan for the what-if scenarios? Something I figured you would appreciate.”

“Well, when you put it that way… why not a year?”

“That’s a lot of food,” Seb said, chuckling. “But you’re the planner, so I’m good with what you decide. Oh, and speaking of contingency plans. Let’s not rig the brand-new ship to blow.”

“Ugh… fine…” Eni said, rolling her eyes.

“Is there anything else that we need?” Vi asked.

“Outside of some ancillary things like furnishings and things, that should be it,” Seb said.

“Are we really doing this?” Nalla asked.

Seb looked around the room. Everyone shared a big grin. “I think so. Eni, do you happen to know a good ship builder?”

Eni’s lips furled. “What? Just because I’m pracovi, I should know someone who builds ships? Not all of us are gearheads, Seb.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Eni crossed her arms and huffed before she spoke. “Maybe you should think twice about what you say then.”

“I am truly sorry,” Seb said, leaning across the table. “I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

Seb sat in silence, staring at Eni until she eventually caved. “Maybe I do know someone.”

“You do? That would be a great help.”

“My… family works at the pracovi docks and should be able to help us.”

“Do you think you could give her a call?”

“I will once we drop out of FTL next, but the ship is only a small piece. You’ll need to get registered with the Freelancer Guild. Then we’ll all need to register as members of the crew. Once we get the paperwork finished, we’ll need to work through all the accounting headaches and everything else. I can do the first part, but I really think we should prioritize a virtual intelligence to handle all the tasks we don’t want to.”

“Whatever you do, please… please… do not start calling the intelligence Vi,” Vi said. “You can’t imagine how often people think I am a bot or I hear Vi called out and think they are talking with me.”

“There’s only room enough for one Vi on this crew,” Seb said with a smile.

“Thank you.”

“So, is there like a virtual intelligence store that we can buy them from?”

“Yeah, there are a host of computation cores we can choose from. We would start with a base core. Depending on the core would determine how many module slots it comes with. The more expensive and complex virtual intelligence, the more modules you can plug-in.”

“What kind of modules are we talking about?”

“It can be anything. Going back to our earlier discussion, if we want them to handle navigation, we would upload a navigation module. If we want them to handle the legal and accounting matters, those are two more modules. If we were to give them access to a bot, we could upload a chef module. It’s kind of endless depending on the use cases, just the more tasks we want them to be good at, the more expensive the core. Oh, and any number of modules we choose, we’ll automatically subtract one for the personality module. I’ve used virtual intelligences without a personality module and let’s just say it’s a hard requirement.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Seb said. “You said they become more expensive as they increase in complexity. How much we talkin’?”

“If we want a small one, it could be only a couple thousand. However, the good ones can run anywhere from twenty all the way up to a hundred.”

“That’s the cost of a perfectly good shuttle!” Seb shouted. “Can’t you just program one yourself?”

“Can’t you just build a space station?” Eni spat. “Of course I could. After spending years learning how to do it and with enough resources, but that’s a waste of my time. There’s better people out there at that kind of work than me. I’m much better at tearing things apart.”

“That’s just a lot of money.”

“Right, but they are pretty much the best at that computational stuff. They also don’t cost anything after the initial investment. Imagine if we were to outsource that to someone else. Paying a navigator, lawyer, and attorney. Those costs add up. We’ll see the return on investment in a year or two. Likely sooner if we’re good at our jobs.”

“All right, I trust you.”

“One thing those virtual intelligences will never be better at is flying,” Vi said confidently.

“I’m not so sure about that,” Eni said. “There’s a reason why they’re not allowed in the hypercore series races.”

“They’re not allowed because they’re shit. They can’t truly feel what the metal beast is telling you when you’re pulling nine g’s into a turn. They have no instincts, just a bunch of ones and zeros.”

“Well, that’s just completely wrong because most modern virtual intelligences use bio—”

Eni stopped when she looked up at the snarl on Vi’s face.

“My bad,” Eni said, shrugging with a sly smile. “I don’t know anything about piloting. You’re the expert there.”

“Put me up against any virtual intelligence and I’ll do laps around them.”

“No need to keep pushing. I believe you.”

Seb intervened when Vi’s eyes squinted further. “So… about getting everything started. You said you can get us registered with the guild, right?”

“Yeah, once we’re out of FTL,” Eni said.

“We’ll need a name, right?”

“Yeah, anyone got any ideas?”

While the other three sat in silence contemplating their ideas, Seb got up and walked to the kitchen to grab a drink. He looked outside one of the many of the one-way windows of their balcony room. The chaotic streaks of the FTL dissipated, revealing an orange and blue planet beneath them. Seb nearly dropped his drink as he rushed back to the couch.

“We just dropped out of FTL!” Seb shouted.

Everyone sat up from their seats and turned to look out the windows. They clapped their hands on their bodies and laughed with glee. Eni brought up a new window on her WICI.

“Give it a minute,” Eni said. “It’s going to take a bit for the ship’s network to connect to the nearby satellites.”

“Did you guys come up with anything?” Seb asked.

Nalla shook her head. “It doesn’t seem we’re very good at this.”

“Are we going for something more official sounding?” Vi asked. “Something like Warhawk and Associates?”

“Gross,” Eni said, leaning away from Vi. “We’re not some corp.”

“I know. That’s why I asked.”

“What about Captain Warhawk and the Wild Bunch?” Nalla suggested.

“That sounds like a band name,” Vi said, laughing.

“I like it better than the corp name,” Eni said. “We need something cool, though. Something tough.”

“Warhawk’s Vanguard?” Vi asked.

“That’s pretty cool,” Seb said.

“A bit too militaristic, in my opinion,” Nalla said.

“I agree,” Eni said. “We don’t want to be mistaken as some black ops mercenary group. That’s just asking for trouble.”

“We need something strong and powerful,” Seb said. “This is also our chance for freedom to get away from everything. To be our own group.” He snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. Warhawk’s Wyverns.”

“Ooh, I like that,” Vi said. “Wyverns are huge, viscous, but also protective of their kin. Plus, they fly.”

“Eni? Nalla?”

“I love it!” Nalla said.

“Eni?”

Eni furiously typed on her projected keyboard and paused when she heard her name again. “Oh, was that not what we were going with? I already submitted the form.”

“Wait, so we’re officially a crew?”

“We’ll have to wait for all the forms to complete… but yeah… we’re official.”

Seb and his companions jumped from the couches and shouted in happiness. He rushed over to the minibar, grabbed a sealed bottle of orlindrian champagne, and popped the top in celebration. Nalla handed everyone glasses and Seb poured them all a drink. He raised his glass and shouted. “To Warhawk’s Wyverns!”

“To Warhawk’s Wyverns!”