am-books Chapter 58: Captain of the Ship
Chapter 58: Captain of the Ship
Chapter 58: Captain of the Ship
It was just the two of us in the small control room. Different parts and scrap from different companies and ships created a haphazardly-looking control room.
I heard some footsteps headed our way, so I sent a blast of soul pressure through the back of the ship.
The sound of footsteps stopped, and I yelled back, “That’s your one warning.”
No one continued to come.
The older man grabbed the edge of the table and pulled himself up.
“I wouldn’t try attacking again unless you want another one of your puppets destroyed and a couple of your limbs.”
The man froze for a second before peacefully standing up. My soul pressure had already completely surrounded him, and I felt that he tried using a skill.
I was surprised he even wanted to try anything. Consider the state of the crew and especially how his puppet ended up. The latter of which would be a considerable dent in their time and resources. I had no idea about the actual physical or time cost it took to make one, but it couldn’t be low.
All forms of combat robotics and puppets had a price. Though the latter, due to requiring a great deal fewer parts, was substantially cheaper.
Humanoid robots weren’t commonly used, and on multiple levels they were inefficient. Drones were used plenty, but one had to go well out of their way to find a humanoid one. The main difference between them and puppets was that robots were engineered to move, while puppets weren’t. A puppet couldn’t stand up or even move without a user controlling them, they were basically just short-mid-range weapons. People didn’t need a skill to control puppets, it could be done through effort and training. However, pretty much everyone who did use puppets did have a skill for it.
A couple of his bones cracked, and he asked, “...Why did you leave us alive.”
He looked up at me trying to look for anything useful. I was quite a bit taller than him which most likely wasn’t helping his neck.
I smiled under my helmet, “Cause I can’t be fucked to pilot the ship.”
The man’s eyes widened, they were screaming ‘She can’t be bloody serious’.
“I know the basics, and I have dealt with similar equipment before, but what has saved you is that I don’t feel like wasting the time figuring that stuff out.”
The man groaned, “We are alive because of that.”
“Yep,” I held back the part of me that wanted to clap. “Be grateful you didn’t end up like the last group of guys I stumbled upon, there wasn’t much to clean up.”
The man sighed. I believed he was trying to figure out if I was telling the truth or not. Leaving everyone alive might’ve added some doubt to his mind, but the absolute state I left members of his crew in and my general strength and combat prowess–one doesn’t get to my level of absolutely effortless destruction without getting their hands dirty at least one–was enough to make him believe I was being serious.
“What is it that you want?” The man asked. I had to give him credit; he was brave enough to not back down, or he was just so jaded from working in this field for a long time.
“Hmm, I’ll get to that in a moment.” I crouched to reach his height. “But what are you doing out here?”
…
The man stayed silent.
“Come on, answer. I’m not going to bite, I’m just curious, no one is this far in the middle of nowhere for no reason.”
The man sighed in annoyance. At this point, I did hear some more people come to the door.
Not hostile–I could feel the complete utter fear radiating off them–they probably just wanted to snoop on the conversation.
“Ergh, we got the tip-off that there was some valuable lost cargo in this area...”
“Did you find anything valuable?”
“Just some scraps, enough to make some profit.” The man sighed.
“What did you plan to do with these scraps?”
“Sell them of course.”
“Anywhere specific?”
“Just wherever the next stop would be.”
“And, where do you plan to stop next?” The man clicked his tongue, he clearly didn’t want to give me any specific information by just giving vague responses.
They could be selling the goods anywhere, through legal or illegal means. Plenty of scavengers
“Argh!” He fell to his side. His crew stayed at the door, afraid to enter.
“I said don’t try anything, remember?”
I created a starlight claw, punched through the floor, and dragged up a puppet he was moving under me. It had a long black blade attached to its arm–a more specially made variety compared to his others.
Still, I promised.
“You’re lucky I didn’t say I would kill you the next time you tried something.”
The puppet erupted in a deep crimson flame.
“Cause you see, I got a deal for you.”