Collection 15 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 15

-VB-

Armas Arlaoskas

Claybrooke, Free Worlds League

3002 June

Armas paled when he saw the ping, the return ping, and the third ping. 

None of those were from him or Edward. 

And then he saw Solo Killing pinging. 

The ship clunked and propelled forward. 

He quickly picked up the intercom radio. “Edward, shouldn’t we be jumping out right away?” he asked his brother. 

“{Nah.}”

He sputtered at his brother’s reply. “But shouldn’t we be trying to avoid drawing attention?” he asked hurriedly. 

“{Yes.}”

“Edward!” 

He heard laughter from the other side. “{You know, you’re right. I thought about it. But then I realized something.}”

“Realized what?”

“{If we just move along… then they’ll just assume their sensors were wrong.}”

Armas grabbed his face and leaned back into the chair. “Ed, there is no way that people will just ignore us like that! Your ship doesn’t look anything like a jumpship!” 

“{Yes. If you are close up. Did you notice how much longer my ship became?”}

Armas thought about it. Looked out of his own Humpty Dumpty’s cockpit window.

“Ah.”

“{You get it, and I think I forgot until I remembered half-panicked,}” Edward chuckled. “{Solo Killing is now longer than the smallest jumpship within the Inner Sphere.}”

Amy, who was sitting next to her, raised her eyebrows in surprise when she heard it.

Yes.

Solo Killing was now officially big enough to be mistaken for a jumpship from a distance, especially with how Humpty Dumpty hung onto it. 

“{We’ll just have to limit any inner system warp travel.}”

Everyone on the ship groaned at that. They got used to traveling back and forth easily using Solo Killing’s warp drive. Now, they were going to have to travel back and forth the star and their destination the slow way around.

Thankfully, this meant that everyone would have a lot of downtime. 

But it was a convenience they wouldn’t have anymore until they revealed more of their means. 

Armas let out a sigh of relief. 

This … was probably the best action to take in their situation. Acting normal, as it were. 

-VB-

Amy Arlaoskas

Claybrooke, Free Worlds League

3002 July

It’s been two days since they arrived in the system, and so far, nothing happened. 

While she wasn’t sure if this meant they were out of the woods completely, she was sure that at the very least a lack of aerospace fighters circling them meant that things were good.

Hopefully. 

The need to hide their advanced technology just inconvenienced them. The travel time between Claybrooke and Claybrooke VI was nearly three weeks long. Sure, Edward set a tough speed at nearly 3 G’s, but the “inertia dampener” built into both ships prevented them from feeling it in full. 

(Again, like with anything else that Edward did, no one asked anything, because his fantastical technology was … just out of the Inner Sphere.) 

It was going to take them another five days before they arrived. 

She sighed as her hand subconsciously ran over her pregnant belly. 

She hoped that Claybrooke would have a pretty decent hospital for her to check-.

Wait, what was she thinking? 

She waddled over to the nearest intercom radio, picked it up, and called Edward. 

“{Yallo?}”

“Ed? It’s Amy.”

“{Oh. What’s up?}”

“... Do you have a way of making medical equipment?”

There was a moment of silence on the other side. 

“{I didn’t before. I do now.}” She tried not to think of the implications of his seemingly casual statement. “{It’s about the baby, right?}”

“Yes…”

“{Cool. Come over to my ship in about a day. I’ll have them ready.}”

And then he hung up on her.

With a resigned sigh she was all too familiar with, she put the radio back and waddled back to her and Armas’s bed. 

---

Edward Arlaoskas

I don’t know why or how but Amy asked her question right as I got a point.

And while I could have spent it on any other tech fields, I realized that I have been neglecting many other fields of technology and knowledge. 

So I dumped that new point into a new field: Medical Technology. 

Combined with what I knew personally before the Inspired Inventor and what I knew to make with it, I now had a whole avenue of tools I could make. 

Sure, I couldn’t make anything like medigel for general purpose healing, but a fetal ultrasound machine? 

I could make them without any problem.

I just … needed to test it out a few times to make it safe for human use.

---

It worked out fine! 

And I got to see my nephew’s little toes!

-VB-

Count John de Claybrooke

Claybrooke VI, Free Worlds League

3002 July

He looked at the latest letter from Duchess Humphreys and knew that its content was more or less same as those before it.

An offer of a low interest loan to help him wipe his debt.

“Why does that bitch constantly keep pushing this issue?!” John snapped as he ripped the letter and hurled it at the archaic fireplace inside his office. 

With a heavy sigh, he let his head drop into his hands. 

He knew why Duchess Humphreys was pushing the issue; the deadline for the next payment was closing in. He’s pulled every trick he had up his sleeves to push the deadline back again and again, and now… he was at the end of his ropes. 

His house and world were close to bankruptcy. In fact, bankruptcy was only three months away, but because the situation in his world was so dire, he didn’t have any more means to keep it at bay. 

There was a knock on the door.

“Milord.”

He looked up from his desk. “Come in.”

His secretary came in. “We have communication from an approaching jumpship.”

“And? Is it the debtors again?” he asked irritably. 

“No, sir. The captain of the jumpship is claiming to be a mercenary company captain… and a mobile manufacturer here to deliver some goods from Thurrock.”

John blinked. “Mobile… manufacturer?”

“Yes, sir. They claim to be capable of making quite a number of things in exchange for C-Bills or refined resources.”

“Like what?”

“Well, sir, their catalog includes Phoenix Hawk-1D, tanks of unknown origin, and any component we can provide a decent to pristine example of.”

“A mobile factory?”

“It seems so, sir.”

“... and how much are they exactly charging for that Phoenix Hawk?”

“Only two million C-Bills.”

“BUY THEM ALL!”

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Claybrooke VI, Free Worlds League

3002 August

The first order we got came in even before I sent Armas down to the planet to deliver the contracted goods.

It came directly from the civilian ruler of the planet, one Count John de Claybrooke, with an order for “all Phoenix Hawks” we were willing to sell. I chose Phoenix Hawk as the mech to sell because I had an example schematic I saved from tinkering with the Phoenix Hawk I earned before modifying and handing it to Miguel. 

I mean, I didn’t plan to use it like this, but I was now. 

“Well, no. I’m only selling two units per planet I stop by,” I told Majordomo Michelson as I steered my ship toward the asteroid belt between the third and fourth planet. It made for a good place to stop by. “And the reason why it’s so cheap for him is because if you read the electronic copy of our catalog, then you would have seen at the front most page that who makes the order matters. Since the count ordered it, he is also giving me mining rights to the entire system for the duration of my stay. That’s why it’s half-price.”

“...?”

“No, we won’t be operating on any planet. We’ll mostly be operating around gas giants and asteroid fields. Even debris fields, if there are any. Already refined scrap is still refined material that can be more readily processed into a product.”

“...”

“No, I don’t negotiate on the mining rights.”

“...”

“So you don’t want to buy the Phoenix Hawk? Then just say so instead of complaining about whether or not I’m licensed to do so. It’s not like the original manufacturer is alive.”

“...”

“Alright. Two Phoenix Hawks, then? Got it. I’ll have them delivered to you by … the beginning of September.”

I hung up and picked up the intercom radio. “We’ve got our first job, people! Two Phoenix Hawks! We’re gonna deliver it all packaged up IKEA style!” 

“{... What is IKEA?}”