Collection 16 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 16

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Claybrooke System, Free Worlds League

3002 August

I blinked as I got another point. 

I wondered what trouble was going to come my way that I got that point. Or maybe there wouldn’t be trouble. The way the points rains down on me felt random and arbitrary. 

I took only a few moments before dumping that point into Medical Technology, bringing up to 2 points total. This meant that I was now able to start making much more complex medical devices. 

Now, if 1 point into Medical Technology gave me the knowledge and schematics to build ultrasound device, then what could I make with 2 points into it? 

My mind was quick to tell me. It gave me a blueprint to build a device - a factory, really - that combines multiple ingredients through two dozen processes that would end up as a topical cream for clotting, antisepsis, and wound sealing.

The Medigel.

… The stuff that could, if advanced enough, act like a health pack in video games.

Holy shit.

But goddamnit, I needed at least the same amount of space as the entire Solo Killing’s manufacturing hub just to set up the factory! UGH! 

… That just meant that I needed to build up my ship. Make it bigger. I had the means. I had the manpower. I had the science.

I let out a low laugh that started getting louder and louder.

---

Armas Arlaoskas

Armas stared at Edward as his brother started laughing out loud randomly during crew dinner time. 

Like… 

Bruh. You’re scaring us.

He glanced around, and didn’t see anyone reacting in any particular way. The most reaction he saw was Amy raising an eyebrow before going back to her “baby-strengthening nutritious meal” and the rest of the crew just ignored him.

… Okay, so maybe his brother only scared him.

But could he be faulted for that? His brother could be crazy at times and his most recent solution to any and all problems seemed to be “build bigger and badder warship.” 

Because if Solo Killing was now jumpship size, then it fit the warship category. 

“What are you thinking about this time?” he asked his brother, resignedly. 

Edward looked at him, stopping his laugh just for a moment, and then he grinned. “Well, I’ll have to expand the ship again.”

Armas didn’t even bother to raise an eyebrow. Wasn’t ship expansions - both size and numbers - always something on his brother’s mind? 

“For what?” he asked instead. 

“See, I thought of something new. Something … productive and helpful. Something that everyone will want.”

“Mechs?”

“Better. Medicine. Even better, emergency medicine.”

“... Like what?”

“See, I thought about how to apply what I knew about medicine. Half of the problem of medicine was figuring out how to save someone. This is even more true when it comes to the battlefield or emergency situations. So … medigel. It’ll be a topical cream, or maybe even a foam, that’ll disinfect, clot, and seal wounds all in one-go.” Then he paused. “But the factory to make it on any industrial scale will require doubling the size of Solo Killing right now, so I will have to delay that.”

“Why not just make a new ship?”

Armas and Edward both turned to look at Sato, one of three mechanics aboard Humpty Dumpty. The caucasian Hindu from Campoleone looked like they were the ones not seeing something obvious. “Look,” he continued after the inquiring looks from the two of them. “It’s obvious that you can’t do everything on one ship, right?”

This time, Armas turned to look at Ed.

And Ed looked like he was about to disagree. He shook his head at Ed, who seemed to get the hint, and turned back to look at the oh-so-mistaken mechanic.

He seemed to get that, but continued on anyway. 

“So why not build a … factory dropship? Like a dedicated one and not like Solo Killing? Building more ships would also give you more flexibility, right?” 

“If we want to think about this on a strategic sense, then yes,” Edward hummed. “Three ships certainly loook scarier than two, and moving the factory already inside Solo Killing to another ship will allow me to use that same space for more firepower.”

More firepower?

Brother, you have enough firepower on that thing to bombard a world back to the Stone Ages.

“So having a dedicated factory ship will be good, right?”

Edward closed his eyes and leaned back. His bulky arms crossed over his chest, and tilted the chair ever so slightly back.

This was his Sitting Thinking Pose #2.

After a long time, Ed opened his eyes and looked at Sato.

“... Why? Thinking about becoming a captain yourself?” Ed asked. 

“I might be,” he replied. “It looks like a good gig from what Armas and Amy do and get.”

---

Amy Arlaoskas

She wasn’t sure if she liked what she was hearing. 

Sato was … not someone they could trust easily. It wasn’t that he wasn’t untrustworthy; he kept the crew’s secret so far. 

But it was another thing to give someone unconnected to them a command of a ship, even if said ship probably won’t have the jumping or warping capabilities. 

At the same time, she knew that not giving each member of the crew something could mean that they might see reason to betray them later down the road for the insult. 

After all, they gave Edward their trust and kept the secret but nothing else in return? The ones most likely to feel about this was Sato, and him bringing this up pointed to him wanting more. The mechanic had more ambition than he made himself seem like. 

She glanced at Armas, who saw her glancing. 

She shook her head discreetly. Thankfully, she was on the same side of the mess hall table as Sato, so he couldn’t see her shaking her head. 

Edward saw her shaking her head, too. 

Edward leaned back. “I’ll have to think about it,” he said out loud. 

“Sure,” Sato, and not anyone else, said. 

It became clear to Amy that Sato might have been waiting for a moment like this. That he might have been waiting for a chance for a bigger reward instead of a single mech or some components.

But she also couldn’t allow herself to become paranoid and suspect him for everything he’d yet to do.

She needed to talk to Armas and Edward in private about this. 

---

Later that day while the mining drones hauled in ore to be processed in Solo Killing, she met with Edward and Armas aboard the said ship to talk about exactly that. 

And the moment they were in a secure room, she didn’t waste any time.

“I think whatever it is that lets you do all of this, you need to start investing in intelligence security,” Amy said to Edward as seriously as she can.

Edward was a good teacher. When he wasn’t making a decent textbook on how to operate, maintain, and fix dropships, he personally taught each of the crew something that they wanted to know more that he knew about. 

While her love had focused on becoming a better captain, she dropped working as a mechanic and took up more serious research and education.

Like intelligence.

Because, somehow, Edward had special forces training. And Armas was confused about how he had that training. Like it was scary how deadly Edward was with his hands, never mind with his technological skills and know-how. 

But he was neglecting areas he shouldn’t have been. Perhaps the trust the crew shared - so far- had made him lower his guard. 

So she needed a new way to go about encouraging him and her love to do something to improve their current rather lax security problem. 

“... Why are you recommending that today?” Edward asked from the captain’s seat of Solo Killing with him facing them.

“Because whether you make a new ship or not, you’ll eventually get more crew, and unlike before, you’re going to famous enough - and a big enough of a target - to warrant spies. You need a way to catch them if they were to act within the ships,” she reasoned, even if that wasn’t her true reason. 

No, she wanted Edward to start spying everyone who wasn’t an Arlaoskas or had no strong loyalty to them.

Like Miguel. Miguel was loyal to Edward. Was he fanatical? No, but if the situation truly called for it and his own chances of survival was slim, then the atheist latino might go out in a blaze of glory to save Edward. If the mechwarrior got a bit more interest outside of being the best mechwarrior or something stupid like that, then he might make for a good captain.

But he wasn’t. 

The other two crew members, Riley and Danielle, did have reasons to be more loyal to them than Sato did. Aside from the fact that both of them were Armas’s friends (her love was sociable like that), neither held ambition. 

In fact, Danielle, the mechanic who came with them from Kendall, just wanted more fun things to play with. 

Edward hummed. “Makes sense. We will need stricter security protocols, too. What do you think, Arm?”

“What my wife says,” he replied with a shrug. “You’re the one teaching her special forces stuff.”

“Bah,” Edward grunted. “Basic counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and counter-insurgency are part of special forces training.”

That made Armas pause. “Wait, that’s what you’re teaching her?”

“Yes? She asked.”

“Huh,” Armas muttered before turning to her. “What do you do with them?”

“... It’s just more interesting than cold, heartless machines.”