Expedition Space
Droo Clearway is very close to getting his own ship and the freedom to go and explore frontier space without the yolk of corporations breathing down his neck for quotas. He took on a simple job that is paying handsomely. His cargo simply must reach Varsa VI. Simple enough, whatever could go wrong?
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Chapter 1 - Reconnect
Droo watched numbers running across his screen. The jump coordinates were being calculated for the next leg of his journey. While the math itself was indecipherable for the human mind, Droo knew what errors or warnings to look out for. The moment he had taken possession of The Gillfare, he had spent the first week implementing his custom logging and reporting scripts throughout all major systems of the sleek Swan-Class Deep Exploration vessel. Droo had been piloting ships of many sizes for most of his life and had built a respectable library of life saving code that either tweaked important systems or gave him early warnings on anything that could become an issue. He had transferred and adapted these for well beyond 30 Sol years now, but this was the first time he would be using them on his own ship.
The Gillfare had taken his instructions without a hitch and the advanced positronic matrices had even helped find some fixes to old annoyances he had never been able to quite work out. The ship was not top of the line by any means, just like Droo himself, the Gillfare had seen a lot already. But compared to some of the decrepit hulks he had steered in the past, this was an incredibly modern piece of equipment.
He still could not believe his luck. He had saved up for years and was close to being able to afford a humble ship, one of the old Dugan-Class Surveyors that had been used in the early days of Frontier Space exploration some 80- or 100-Sol years ago. This was his retirement plan. Get an old ship in good enough condition to get him to Frontier Space, take on contracts to find and retrieve biological compounds, monitoring black holes or whatever else the many corporations had in mind that would not put him into the crosshair of some trigger-happy pirates or privateers. He could just live off the smallest income if he had his own ship.
As he was looking through ships for purchase, he saw the Gillfare. She had something about it that had always fascinated him. She was from a golden age of space exploration, when a lot of emphasis was being placed on functional luxury. While not as curvy as more modern ships, she was built right as the hard edges went out of style and more subtle and less brutal shapes started dominating ship design. She did not have the many amenities of modern ships, but she did come with a Matter Rearranger and a sophisticated Refuelling System that used solar as well as particulate refuelling technologies in conjunction with heavily miniaturized energy storage systems. The extra energy consumption from the Matter Rearranger meant she would not be fast, nor did she have very impressive armament. But what she lacked for in military prowess, she more than made up for in range and resilience. The Swan-Class ships were made to send scouts deep into Frontier Space for extraordinary amounts of time while being entirely self-sufficient during such ventures. And that was exactly what Droo had been looking for. A slightly understated ship that he could operate and maintain by himself for years without needing to see another living soul while getting paid enough to keep up with licensing fees and other, minor, unforeseen expenses.
Besides the fancy self-sustainment systems the Gillfare came with a small med bay, enough to treat two patients, one fully automatically and for most ailments, two large cargo compartments with simple to operate matter transportation systems, three crew quarters and one captain's cabin, a kitchen and common module as well as a gym, a small hydroponics garden, water storage and filtration as well as a Ludo-Deck with six sub chambers, four of which were fit for habitation. All armament was stored in private and secured lockers throughout the ship and ammunition was rematerialized as required. Rematerialized ammunition was never quite as powerful as pre-produced ammunition that was purpose built and properly specced, but Droo would be ensuring he would never have to fight anyone or anything with the Gillfare.
A series of beeps and some notification pop ups declared the operation of calculating the jump coordinates as completed. The spot he was going to did not have an official designation, nor did it quite matter where it was. Space was endless. He was simply jumping close to a star that would provide plenty of solar energy for the Gillfare to recharge, give him time to perform routine maintenance and be ready for the next jump in a few days while peacefully drifting through the system. That was all that mattered about the destination he had chosen. That, and the assurance that this system was not on any official Corporation or Vanta-Net maps. Most pirates were not interested in exploring space and corporations were looking for the most efficient routes. Going to coordinates that nobody else would travel to was only ever useful if they were looking to hide or escape and for those purposes there were better options than the systems that Droo was looking to jump through. He simply wanted to peace.
This would be his last job and then he could finally go and explore. The Gillfare would have been out of his budget if it had not been offered in conjunction with a delivery contract. Any pilot willing to carry the cargo aboard the Gillfare to Varsa VI in New Frontier Corporation space and deliver it undamaged within one Sol year would receive a hefty sum as well as full ownership of the Gillfare itself. Droo had been competing with a dozen or so pilots that had applied for this contract and was chosen by lottery between the five most eligible candidates. Droo had never been lucky. This would be his first break in a very long time, and he would savour every moment of it.
He leaned back and quickly looked over the minified logs on a tertiary screen. The summary he had programmed seven years ago was still all he needed to know if his current vessel was truly ready to jump. All systems were within acceptable parameters. There was a slight anomalous reading on the secondary engine core, but he would have time to see what that was about once he arrived at his new destination.
Droo linked his Cerelock with the ship's computer. During the actual jump the ship needed more computing power and no artificial network would ever reach the same capacities as his biological CPU. The little chip immediately connected, and all data links were established. Droo verified safety protocols functioning as they should and locked down the ships non vital systems for the duration of their travels. A lot of people really did not like this part, but Droo was not like a lot of people.
He smiled and pressed the button labelled "Jump Now".
Droo felt reality being folded in upon the ship. For a brief moment both the Gillfare, Droo and everything else on board the ship was removed from reality, only to be returned to it elsewhere. How exactly the jump drives worked was a mystery to Droo and the vast majority of humanity. Sometimes he suspected that only a handful of individuals really understood the technology at any capacity that got close to the full picture. As far as he knew jump drive engines were simply more than the sum of their parts and the parts were contributed from the many various corporations working to explore and exploit the universe in the never-ending pursuit of infinite growth and wealth.
A trickle of blood ran down Droo's lips and chin. He wiped it all away and verified the ships parameters using his Cerelock link. Everything had worked out perfectly and they were exactly where he wanted to be. A soft blue light flooded the ships view ports as he looked at the star they had just arrived at. He severed the Cerelock link and turned booted up the solar collection process. The efficiency here would be a little lower, requiring him to spend a larger amount of time, but he did not mind one bit. He had plenty of time and there would be more than enough to do here and occupy his mind with.
He got up and left the small bridge. The ship would now refactor and run hours of diagnostics to realign with reality again. Droo would be spending the time on the Ludo-Deck. It was important for him just as much as the ship to reconnect with reality after seizing to exist for a split second. Usually everything went well, but sometimes people felt disconnected from their bodies and experiences. Ludo-Decks were made to offer any and all functions required to help facilitate that process.
Reaching the Ludo-Deck, Droo got himself a refreshing aloe infused sectral drink from one of the matter rearranger endpoints. He looked around the main chamber of the deck. The walls were bare and there was no furniture. From the main chamber led six doors to the sub chambers. Currently only one sub chamber was occupied. Droo did not have a lot of money to spend, so all he could afford was a middle aged, pre-owned but experienced and obedient pleasure slave. A lot of people preferred fight training to using pleasure slaves after a jump, but Droo had a way to combine both and save money and time. Not a lot of pleasure slaves were suited for his way of using them, but they were easily replaced if one broke.
He linked up with the Ludo Deck using his Cerelock and commanded the room to rearrange itself to suit his needs. The configuration had to be reset before each launch to avoid damage to the nanite drone swarms which replicated any surface, material, and shape that one could wish for. Droo simply replaced the floor with a soft mat and left it at that. He went to check on sub chamber 1. The life signs of his slave were in good order. She was still pacified and restrained. Usually, you did not need to both restrain and pacify a slave, but Droo had quickly learned that this particular item seemed far more receptive to what he needed from her if she was first drugged and then chained inside her chamber. For some reason, this slave auto lubricated far more effectively following these exact steps. There even seemed to be a difference between his direct involvement. While the Gillfare was more than capable of restraining and handling any slave brought aboard without his physical input, this slave seemed to be reassured by his personal presence or even him directly applying any subjugation measures. He did not see why it would make a difference; the outcome was the same either way, but he did not mind. As with anything he had ever owned in his life, he took exceptionally diligent care of everything that was his. While affordable, Droo preferred things he knew over things he had to still bend and shape into what he needed them to be.
With a thought he unlocked the chamber door and peered inside. The warm red light inside the chamber made all outlines slightly fuzzy, but he could see her lying where he had left her. The infusion link was still tightly connected to her wrist-port and her ankles and arms were securely locked within the storage pod. She was naked and entirely bald. Droo had only left her eyebrows when he had acquired her, because of the state she was in. He had bought her from a police auction at T-Station 6678 before he went on his first jump. She had been confiscated during an enforcement action against a Gene-Manipulator-Ring. Apparently, she had been used to find a vaccine against bloodbug infestations. Sadly, the gene manipulations had not made her immune to the critters who loved to dwell in hair. Droo had cut it all off and ensured that the Gillfare had applied all treatments to ensure the infestation would be eradicated.
He preferred her this way, but having no hair meant there was little to grab onto and control her besides the arms and possibly her tits. The problem was that she was rather small breasted and controlling someone by the arms usually meant needing to use both of yours as well. To help bridge this disadvantage until her hair would be grown back entirely, he had outfitted her with a nice, sturdy collar around her neck. The bonus here was that he could easily attach additional restraining modules to the collar and ensure her compliance.
Droo looked her over. She was not as ugly as he had first feared. After thoroughly cleaning her and putting her through a re-nourishment procedure she had lost that forlorn and haggard quality about her looks. He likely had gotten a bargain with this purchase now that he thought about it. Her value had easily tripled since he had restored her. He was not looking to sell this slave anytime soon, but it was good to know he had made a good purchase either way.
With another thought the drug line detached from her wrist port and retracted into the chamber wall. The restrains flipped open and he had the pod raise her up into a standing position. He grabbed her by the collar and as she slowly started opening her eyes, he pulled her out of the pod.
"Time to reconnect", he said as he led her out into the main chamber.
Early spacefarers of old Sol had failed to account for the impact of such simple human connection. Many expeditions had to be abandoned because humans fundamentally need touch and closeness. When they were still using primitive ships that required large crew compliments to traverse space, they had trouble finding competent crew that was also sexually compatible. Droo did not know why they did not simply use their slaves from the get-go for such purposes, but he figured it must have been that sub chamber technology simply has not been around all that long, and they had to make choices who would get the precious resources.
He pulled her against himself, eliciting a soft moan from her already by this simple gesture of command paired with touch. He was still clothed, but that would soon change. He had verified she was in good condition, but there was more to check and more to reconnect with, both within her and within himself.
"Present", he commanded.
S-1 turned around immediately. She lifted her eyes to look at his. They were the same color as the bright blue star they were orbiting, but there was no emotion in her gaze. She simply presented her eyes for inspection. Droo could see no anomalies, no burst blood vessels, no unusual dilation beyond what the drugs would do to her. Next, she opened her mouth wide and stuck out her tongue. Droo pulled her tongue out a little further and peered down her throat. This would be enough to verify her health, but he was here to reconnect and for that, he needed to feel alive. He put three fingers on her outstretched tongue and pushed them into her mouth and down her throat. She blinked lazily and began sucking on his fingers and pushing her face against his intrusion. Her eyes still betrayed no emotions, but her body certainly showed her desire to reconnect as well.
He grabbed her neck and pushed her even harder against his hand. She gagged and fought to keep breathing through the involuntary reactions to such handling but made no attempt to remove herself from the situation. In fact, she leaned against Droo and grabbed his arm to pull him even deeper into her greedy mouth. He pulled the wet fingers from her mouth and slapped her hard across the face, first left, then right. She gasped and cried with surprise and pain. Her saliva was smeared all over her face as Droo grabbed her chin with force and turned her around.
Not needing to repeat the command that was still active, she immediately bent over and grabbed her cheeks to pull them apart, revealing her holes for Droo to take a good look at. He leaned down a little and saw her dripping with wetness. Both holes looked good ad ready for use. He reached out to her and ran his fingers across her wet slit, rubbing her juices over her ass as well.
She moaned with pleasure as he touched her so. Sometimes Droo was not certain if it was the inspection, the drugs, or the touch itself that excited S-1 so much. In the end, it did not matter. It was time to reconnect and for both to feel alive again.
And he would certainly make her feel alive.