World Seed_Expansion
Page 17
What I found was… surprising to say the least. When Celeste teleported all of us to the location, including Yin, Yang, Yo, and herself in our original bodies, we did not appear in a castle like I had expected. Instead, we appeared on a much larger bridge to a ship. Surrounding us were various elves, almost all of which were in a fitted uniform. The only exceptions to this were Talia and Maeve, who were in their queen’s attire.
Well… Talia’s queen dress was still the priest clothing that she received from Aria. Apparently, any time she appears in front of other people, anything she is wearing automatically is replaced by that dress. That meant she basically had no other option but to wear it all the time. She made sure to vent this to me one day while we were at Gerin Prime, talking over a friend call. Now, the Queen of the Woods has come to share my disapproval of the elven goddess of fashion…
“Surprise!” The two queens, and Celeste all said at once, while the various uniformed elves all gave a salute. I could feel my eyes twitching slightly at this scene. Please don’t tell me this means what I think this means…
“Oh, don’t worry John, the queens aren’t coming here with us. They just wanted to be here to say goodbye before you left. Besides, the look on your face right now was worth it.” Celeste replies with that same mischievous grin that I’ve seen her wear several times over the last few days. No wonder…
“Ahem…” Maeve cleared her throat, assuming her queenly persona around all of these people. “For services rendered to the entire elven race, with the approval of all High Queens, we bestow onto you this cruiser-class vessel, the Ariadne. In addition, we have granted you a crew of two hundred and fifty high elves, enough to fully operate this vessel. Lastly, you have been granted the title of Captain of the Ariadne, and savior of the elven people.”
After this, Maeve gave a warm smile towards Queen Talia, who nodded her head and continued. “As this ship and crew were of the elven worlds, it is requested that you maintain regular contact, so that their families back home can be kept apprised of the situation. For that purpose, we, Queen Talia of the Woods, have been chosen to act as your point of contact on the elven worlds.” She gave a small smile as she added one last part in. “We hope that your future travels will see you safely, Captain John of the Ariadne.”
Well, that title just sounded all sorts of strange. However, Celeste didn’t give me time to think it over. “This is actually one of their newer models of ships, but it hasn’t had much to do in a while. I helped them upgrade various features to our level, such as helping them install hologram technology and the enchanted systems. This ship’s speed is roughly ten percent faster than the Seraglio, as well, while their generator is far more efficient than the one we were using. The combat systems are still lacking, but that’s only natural for now.”
I turned towards Sharon, to see if she had anything to add about this. After all, she had also encouraged me to come to this event. However, she simply shook her head back and forth. “I just wanted to enjoy a party before we left, I didn’t know anything.”
You have been granted the title of Captain of the cruiser-class vessel, Ariadne!
Due to crew size reaching the minimum requirements, you now have access to the Ship Management Window.
You gained a new title!
Starship Captain
+20 Charisma. Access to Ship Management Window
You have gained a ship and the loyalty of a crew through your actions. So long as you remain a fair and just captain, they will remain faithful to your cause, whatever it may be.
Deep breaths… deep, calming breaths. “Okay.. so let me get this straight.” I first turned towards Celeste, likely the mastermind behind this whole thing. When she read that thought, she adopted an innocent smile. “I am now a captain… like an actual captain of an actual crew..?”
“Yep! Although I can interact with the ship computers, I am not required to be in full control like in the Seraglio. And don’t worry, we aren’t trashing the other ship or anything. After we transfer the clone tech over here, we’ll be leaving the Seraglio with the elves, so that they can study it.” After Celeste said that, Maeve nodded her head slightly, so I turned towards her next.
“While I must thank you for the ship, it is rather sudden… Still, I hope that I live up to the expectations.”
Maeve smiled to me, nodding her head again. “Don’t worry, Captain John. You seem to be far more noble than you believe. Many in your position, even among the elves, would have taken advantage of your position and knowledge to subjugate other races who were no longer capable of defending themselves. Instead, you chose to come to our aid, and even took the time and effort to eliminate several calamities that our people were suffering from. As a representative of the elven race, we sincerely thank you for this. You will always have a place to return to, should you choose to once again visit our worlds.”
Finally, I turned to Talia, the little queen. “....I’ll be in touch.” There really wasn’t much to say in that regard, was there? I mean, she was basically going to be calling me every so often to speak anyways.
She looked like she was getting ready to smile and say something, before she realized what I had just said, and puffed her cheeks out to pout. “Yeah…” Was she expecting some grand speech or something…?
Finally, I turned back to Celeste. “So… being captain means I have the authority to choose a vice-captain, right?” The Deus Ex nodded to me. “Alright then… I hereby appoint Celeste to be the Vice-Captain of the Ariadne. Furthermore, she will be in charge of regular operation of the ship, unless an emergency occurs. Bye bye.” With that, I turned and immediately retreated from the bridge, having absolutely no idea where I was going. I will just ignore the sudden laughs coming from behind me as I try to find my room and hide in it until forever.
Chapter 22 - New Ship, Same Old Group
After a while of aimlessly walking around the ship and being greeted by a few random elves, I got tired of not knowing where I was going. Remembering something that Talia had mentioned, I pulled up the Ship Management Window. Hopefully, there should be a map in here somewhere!
Ship Management
Map
Reports
Upgrades
Crew
Oh good, there is a map… Opening it up, I was surprised by just how large the ship was. The ship itself was just over a thousand meters long, almost a hundred meters wide, and roughly a hundred and fifty meters tall. There were several different levels within the ship, with various elevators between them. On the map, there was clearly labeled areas such as the hydroponics bay, the medbay, the canteen, and several crew quarters. However, there were also several areas that were greyed out.
The greyed out areas included things like a secondary bar, a lounge, and even a sauna. When I selected one of them, it pulled up with information about who was working in which section. Apparently, the greyed out areas, deemed as nonessential, were unstaffed. Looks like two hundred and fifty elves don’t really cover everything.
I shrugged, and looked through for the captain’s quarters, using the map to guide me. This was a far better option than aimlessly running about. Though, I may have overreacted a bit due to my embarrassment.
While I was walking, I took a look at the ship upgrade options. With Celeste here, getting the plans needed for the upgrades shouldn’t be too hard. Though, maybe the advanced upgrades won’t be possible without slowly working our way up there first.
Improved Sensors
Improved Shields
Improved Generator
Improved Weapons
Crew
Improved Hull
Improved Engines
Improved Security
Additional Features and Facilities
For some reason, the Additional Features and Facilities option was grayed out. When I tried to select it, I got the following error message.
Minimum requirements not met. Must have all current facilities staffed before more may be added.
So I really do need more crew. Well, maybe they only got this many people with that in mind, so that I can bring in more from the planets I visit in the future. There’s also the animals from Sharon’s grove that could evolve and take over the nonessential areas.
Looking in the reports section, I found various stats about the ship, as well as reports filed from engineering, medical, navigation, and security. How is this so convenient!? And why didn’t I have it before? Was it because I was just a figurehead captain? It’s got to be that, right?
As I was thinking about this, I finally arrived at the room that had been labeled as the captain’s quarters. When I opened it up, I found a wide circular bed, large enough that I was ready to mentally curse a certain AI who probably set it up like that to tease me. The rest of the room was fairly normal though, with a dresser built into the wall, a walk-in closet, and a personal bathroom.
Laying down on the bed, I closed my eyes and let myself drift away for a few moments, until there was a knock on my door. “Huh? Wha? I’m awake! I mean… come in.”
The door opened, and Yin walked through the door, giving me a slight smile in her human form. “Enjoying the new home, John?” She asks, sitting down in a chair on the far side of the room, a bit surprised at how comfortable it was. This was probably one of her first times ever actually sitting in a chair, so I can’t blame her.
“Ah… yeah. You’re not with Yang right now?” I looked over to Yin, doing my utmost to keep my thoughts pure and professional.
“No, Yang is in the gardens right now. She seems to like it there, and the one in charge was happy for the company. While it is not as comfortable as your… grove? It is still better for her than the rest of the ship, and I managed to talk her into it.”
I was still amazed at how mentally mature Yin was after evolving. Was this the effect of manually evolving a creature the long way, rather than taking the shortcut and turning into a demi like Yang? “Thanks. I was worried she’d get lonely, since our next trip will be a long one.”
Yin nodded to me, smiling slightly. “The queens wanted me to apologize on their behalf for ‘springing this on you’ so suddenly, but they felt that our previous home was not up to the task we had set for it.”
I couldn’t really fault their logic there. We had to save power at quite a few times, which became inconvenient. Still… a bit of warning next time! “So, what are you going to do?”
“Well… Not sure.” Now that she didn’t actually know what to say, it seemed like Yin had gone back to being a taciturn. Maybe Celeste had offered her advice on those first few lines? I can’t keep up with these women! “What about you..?”
“I was thinking about just sleeping until we get to the next world. That sounds like fun. No training, no emergencies, just me and a pillow, and lots of pleasant dreams.” I began to fantasize about being able to do just that. Before this whole thing started, I was a proud NEET… and now I’m a captain of a starship out to save the various races of the galaxy.
Yin smiled slightly, but didn’t say anything about that. “I see… Where next..?”
“Honestly… that’s a good question. Celeste said that we were heading to another world that is several months away, but didn’t mention which one it is. We’ve also got several stops along the way, to other planets that I know really nothing about…”
At this point, Celeste chimes in over the mental link. “Ah, sorry. The next big stop is for a cybernetic race. I’m not sure at what point there history is at in this time, but in the future they were the ones to originally invent the Deus Ex.”
I relayed that information to Yin, who didn’t seem to really understand. She was mentally mature, yes, but that didn’t mean that she automatically knew what cybernetic meant. I explained that they were robots like Celeste, and she seemed to understand with that. “Ahh.. I’ll leave you alone for now, John.” She gave me a warm smile before she headed for the door. “Call me… if you want some company?”
I nodded my head, and she stepped out the door. I could hear her say to someone in the hall. “Your turn.” Before she walked away. What is going on now?
Sure enough, there was another knock on my door a few moments later, and Sharon came in. She sat down in a huff, in the same seat that Yin had just vacated. “Ooh… this is soft. Wait, wait, that’s not why I’m here.” She quickly shook her head as she tried to gather her thoughts. I gave her a moment, before she started again. “So, new ship, new crew, new position. How you handling it?”
“You know I used to be a NEET right?”
She looked at me blankly for a moment. “What’s a NEET?”
“.... To put it simply, a lazy bum. I was quite proud of being a NEET…”
Sharon covered her mouth with a hand and laughed lightly. “And now this, right?”
“And now this… I would really like to just lie down and pretend it’s all been a crazy, messed up dream. That I’ll wake up at home, slightly overweight and need to worry about bills again. But nope! I wake up, and see the stars flying by, or go out and see a bunch of strangers that are apparently now following my orders.”
“Well… if it helps, those aren’t really stars that flash by in subspace. Those lights are a residual effect caused by the exotic mana bouncing off the shields. That’s how Celeste described it to me when I asked. There aren’t any planets or stars known to exist in subspace, so there is nothing for you to see fly by.”
“...That… did not help, no.” I shook my head and sighed. “How are your animals coming along?”
She smiled brightly at that. “Pretty good! I managed to get a few more to learn how to cultivate, and some of the evolved ones have begun breeding. I’m expecting to need to expand my grove even more here soon, to support all of the new species. After that, I guess I’ll see what I get when we get to our next planet.”
I nodded my head to her. “That’s good. At this rate, you’ve probably got a small army in there now.”
She chuckled lightly, nodding back to me. “Probably, I never counted them all. But my Wild Voice has been progressing pretty steadily. I think that, soon I’ll be able to carry a conversation with it on all the time. I’m not really sure what the more advanced effects of the power could be, but this much is already pretty good.”
“Yeah… my Toybox is… still a pain to use… It’s great for sending a small rock halfway across the room, but anything more than that takes quite a bit of focus.”
“This is the part where I’m supposed to come up with some profound advice that suddenly helps you break through a bottleneck in training and unleash your full potential, right?” I saw a wry smile on her face when she asked that. “Well… my profound advice for the day is… that I want icecream. That’s all you’re getting out of me.”
With that, she laughed again, jumping out of the chair and running to the door. What is with these girls… At least the elf crew is not all female. It’s not all female, right?! Those queens wouldn’t do that to me! I hastily pulled up the management window, and saw that there were actually more men than women in the elf crew. I’m saved… I don’t have to worry about a massive harem ship.
While I have the window up, I go back and select the upgrades. From there, I select to improve the ship’s engines, so that we can maybe get through this trip faster.
You have chosen to upgrade the engines of the Ariadne.
This action will take 7 days to complete, which may be influenced by various crew members.
Do you wish to continue?
“Yes…”
Ship Alert!
Captain John of the Ariadne has chosen to upgrade the engines of the Ariadne!
This process will take 7 days, unless influenced by qualified personell.
Qualified positions: Engineering, Miscellaneous
“Oh, nice! Finally, my time to shine!” I heard Celeste over the mental chatter, and she seemed quite happy for this news. “Alright, John. I’ve got a schematic right here for you to look over.”
This ship does not currently qualify for this upgrade.
“Eh? Okay… how about this one!” With that, I got yet another schematic download, this time for a slightly less powerful engine.
This ship does not currently qualify for this upgrade.