ShipCore

Book 3: Chapter 97: Preparations and a Message

USD: 10 Days after the Arrival to MIL-1A

Location: Van Biesbroecks star, Meltisar, MIL-1A, Central Hub, Habitation Arc 26

The speed of how fast things moved after her request surprised Alex. After Thraker and her had talked to Admiral Darren, he had agreed immediately. This set the wheels in motion for her to enroll in the next class which was already winding up to start.

The timing had been excellent, anyway, and Alex realized it had likely been why she had seen so many people at the recruitment office previously. They all had known a class was about to start up, and the next one wouldnt be for several months.

Basic Training was slated to take 11 weeks. She was miffed that she had set up her apartment and bought all the things for it when she would already be leaving, because they held BT on the surface. She kept telling herself it would only be 11 weeks. Then shed be back up to the station where the naval academy was located to take the officer training courses.

Alex finished packing her pack. She had two of them, one for carrying all the things that had been listed in the briefing folio, and the other, special one for her ShipCore. Admiral Darren had arranged for a special dispensation for that as a medical requirement. Not that the folio explained what it was, just that it was medically necessary for her to maintain it on her person at all times.

Shed actually been nervous about it, but the Admiral had explained that in every course there was a special class specifically for enhanced humans. Genies, cyborgs, and anyone with more-than-human capabilities would be slotted into it. She guessed now theyd have to add NAIs to the list someday.

Her folio reported her as cybernetically and genetically enhanced, grade S. She wasnt sure what that meant, but at least no one was going to freak out when she started lifting twice her own bodyweight without breaking a sweat.

Bag packed, she hurried and got dressed in her civvies. Once she was ready, she grabbed a small security device she had bought earlier and installed it on the door. It was connected to the StationNet and would blast an alarm across the floor if anyone entered without disabling it.

Technically, she was the only one that could, but she didnt feel like trusting that completely. Setting up a second device, she attached a small transparent line to the wall in front of the door. It was so thin that no one would notice walking through it. It would activate a silent alarm, however, alerting station authorities.

A third line was attached low to the ground, with no device attached. Its only purpose was to alert her if someone entered, and they defeated the other two devices. Which was a real possibility if someone had some type of detection tech.

Not that she had left anything of value worth playing the spy games but she felt like someone might go after her things since she was going to be gone for 11 weeks.

Alex sighed; the number was technically small, but it felt enormous. Especially since she wouldnt be able to visit Elis for the duration. Recruits werent allowed to leave boot camp during basic training.

Making sure she had the laminated folio with her paperwork, she carefully sealed up her apartment.

On the way to the tramline, she opened up her datapad and quickly flicked off a message to Rick and Sawet that she was headed down to the planet as well, and going to boot camp.

She was reading an article on what to expect and prepare for at basic when the replies came in. Rick sent her a thumbs up while Sawet just sent a Oh shit emoji. A smile appeared on her face and then the car arrived at the medical center.

Nothing really had changed, and she headed down to the section that they had put Elis in for long-term residence.

The flower vase had been emptied and Alex pulled out a set of fake flowers shed gotten. That way she wouldnt have to worry about them dying while she was away. Elis stirred as Alex moved around the room and pulled up a chair beside the bed, setting her bag down.

Elis, its me, Alex.

Elis's eyes opened and looked around the room lazily. Alex took her hand and squeezed it, but there wasnt an immediate response.

Im going to be gone for a while. Im going to be going to basic training. Alex said, launching into a lengthy explanation of what had happened and was going on. At one point Elis's eyes landed on Alex and stayed there for a while. Alex squeezed her hand again, gently.

At the end of the explanation, Alexs datapad beeped. Checking her messages, she saw that her loan application had been approved. She thumbed her acceptance and suddenly her equity in the Iron Horse had been promised away in return for repayments and interest.

|650,000,000 SE|

Theyd not given her anything like the value of the ship. That they had rounded off the number to present her with a clean 650 million also cheekily showed they somehow knew exactly how many credits she had. She couldnt complain because she didnt really have any credit score. As it was, she had to beg help from Admiral Darren just to get the loan.

Thankfully, he didnt make her tell him what it was for, and Thraker didnt have to know that shed bartered away the equity he had signed over to her the first day she had it.

Pulling up the CECs banking display for her credit chit, she viewed the annoying popup ad that had assailed her once before.

|INTERESTED IN SEEING A DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF YOUR EXPENSES? THE CEC OFFERS AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE FOR THE LOW PRICE OF 500 MILLION SE CREDITS. SEE ALL COST REPORTS, INCOME STATEMENTS, AND SYSTEM ORGINIATION LOCATIONS, AS WELL AS REPORTS ON ALL MANAGEMENT AUTHORIZATIONS! |

She hit buy and another thumbprint authorization popped up. She accepted it.

|-500,000,000 SE|

Quickly she thumbed over to the new access page for Starlight Revolutions accounts.

|Main Account Balance: 150,000,000 SE|

|92 Pegasi Account (Local Unavailable): 2,532,839,938 SE|

||Last updated, 36 days prior. Realtime access, unavailable. ||

|Nu Crateris Account (Local Unavailable): 323,528 SE|

||Last updated, 36 days prior. Realtime access, unavailable. ||

||Expand Details Available. ||

Alexs eyes widened at the 92 Pegasi balance. She had no idea how A31 and Amy had made that number of credits. The date also interested her because it had been updated much more recently than when they had left.

That meant a courier ship had moved through at some point, which gave her a bit more hope that theyd be able to slip back into the systems past the front-line system of 90 Pegasi. Maybe it would be worth pursuing a cover as a mail packet ship?

Alex shook her head. There would be time to think and plan on that later. She needed to put in place the second part of her plan, the one that had been worth the five hundred million credits.

| -1 -12 -5 -24 -1 -13 -9 -14 -13 -5 -12 -20 -9 -19 -1 -18 SE|

| -5 -12 -9 -19 -9 -14 -10 -21 -18 -5 -4 SE|

| -18 -5 -20 -21 -18 -14 -4 -5 -12 -1 -25 -5 -4 SE|

| -4 -15 -25 -15 -21 -18 -2 -5 -19 -20 SE|

There was no way for her to confirm that the message would get through. The courier that had most recently updated was over a month old and the fighting might have become more intense since they had escaped. But there was a chance that it would get through. Maybe even sooner than later.

The Mail Service was a civilian org recognized by both the Solarians and Corpos, and that meant they wouldnt be actively gunning for them in theory. The reality of space warfare meant that most packet captains probably wouldnt risk it, but from what Alex understood, the longer a system set out of reach the higher the bounties the Mail Service paid for achieving updates.

That kind of mercenary service, she was sure, would lure in someone to fly through eventually. Even with the risks.

The software update would propagate to the management branches then, and she hoped Amy or A31 would notice and read the transactions she sent them and figure out how to decode the message.

It was a long shot, but at least they would know where she was and that she and Elis were alive.

Alex also put in a withdraw request for 1.5 billion SE. She felt odd, despite the money being technically hers to ask for as the owner of the corporation, especially when A31 and Amy had been the ones to make all the moneyand made far more than Alex had when she played at being an arms dealer. Still, that many credits would be very helpful in the current situation.

Even if things fell through with Thraker, shed have the chance to purchase her own ship.

Elis made a noise and Alex put her datapad away and squeezed her sisters hand. The nurse came in and did her rounds, leaving Alex feeling lost. It was time to go, but she didnt want to leave Elis for so long.

Swallowing her emotions, Alex stood up and gave Elis a hug. Ill be back, I promise. You just try to hang in there and get better, okay?

Elis made a noise, and for a second Alex thought she was going to hug her back. She didnt, but Alex smiled back at her weakly, knowing she would have if she could.

Ill be back to visit as soon as I can. Alex said weakly, squeezing Elis's hand a final time. Elis had already fallen back asleep.

As she stepped out of the room, it was almost too much. The emotion in her chest felt like it would explode or drag her down. She forced it aside and pushed her way through.

She was not going to fail; she would find a way to help Elis.