Leading the two toward my ship, I Can hear Harlen's breathing getting more erratic. When I turn my head to check on him, he stammers out. "Is this entire ship made of tritarium?"

Looking back at the ship, I say, "no, just the hull

and a few key parts of the engines that have the most wear and tear." As we get closer, a section of the hull facing us folds in on itself, and a ramp unfurls to attach itself to the bay floor. The ramp is large enough for two tractor-trailers to pass each other comfortably.

Seeing this, Harlen asks with a touch of confusion, "why did you build in a ramp? Why not install a teleportation array?"

(Well, because my people aren't that far in our teleportation tech) Not that I will tell him that. "More complicating the tech, the more can go wrong," I say nonchalantly.

On my other side, Gregory rolls his eyes at me, then walks up the ramp. When he reaches the top a few steps ahead of Harlen and me, he stops and stares, with his mouth hanging open.

Catching up, I stop to watch my companions with a chuckle "what do you think of my cargo bay?"

Harlen and Gregory back up a couple steps and look along the outside, then poke their heads back inside. "How is this possible?" They both say at the same time.

I can understand their awe. I felt the same when the Twins first showed it to me. The cargo bay is nearly a mile in each direction, and this is only the first level. Although as massive as this is. It is a gnat compared to the colony ship; The federation gave those who wouldn't conform. At least they did that much before kicking them out, like an unwanted stepchild.

Eventually, my companions got over their shock and asked. "How do we reach the rest of the ship if there is no teleportation array?"

Walking to a wall not far away, I press my hand on a scanner, and a door opens into an elevator. Where do you want to go first, engineering, bridge, cafeteria, lodging, or maybe weapons systems?

"What can you tell me about the engines?" I'm assuming most of it is confidential. Asked an intrigued Harlen. Next to him, Gregory's eyes lit up.

"Well, for in-system, we have a gravity drive. It's good for going in a straight line, but maneuvering is done with fusion thrusters interspersed all along the hull and wings. Long-distance, I will keep those details to myself." (mostly because I do not know how to explain folding space)

"How are you sustaining all of this?" He asked, waving around.

"I believe I shall also keep that to myself; I hope that is alright?" (Not sure how you would react if you knew, in the center of this ship, there is a small man-made sun trapped in a pocket dimension.) "Why don't you check out lodging for now? While I check on some systems, it's been inside that pocket dimension for some time now."

When the two were off exploring the living quarters, I touched my ear. "Hey, Al, can you connect to the ship A.I.?"

{Yes, give a moment, Slate... Done what would you like to check on?}

"Actually, I wanted you to take control of communications and sensors if you can do that."

{Very well, Slate, all we need is authentication from you.}

As soon as he said that, a palm reader folded out of the ceiling right in front of me. So I pressed my palm to it, then it scanned my eye before retracting. "Is that all you needed?"

{Yes, that is correct. I Am now in control of those systems.}

"Great, can you see if you can scan a few of the ships? In the adjoining bays and see if there is any tech that the Nano-machines can replicate, like the teleportation arrays?" I say while rubbing my palms together.

{Understood I will begin the scan. This will take a few hours in the meantime. I Can only do translations; your mental protections will be down. I recommend staying aboard the ship as no mental attacks will pass through the hull.}

"Okay, will do." I then wandered off to find my guests. I soon found them relaxing in the theater room with an old western movie from the early nineteen hundreds.

I backed out with a smirk and headed to my own quarters as I have never seen them yet. Walking inside after using my palm again, I saw a rather plain room not up to the twins' standards but just about right for me. In one corner is a tritarium slab, just like the one back home. A desk with all the drawers filled with various office supplies and a laptop shut on top. "wow, old school." On the shelf behind my desk is a model of the enterprise inside a glass bottle, "Nice." Strangely I Can't find a wardrobe or dresser of any kind. There are a shower and sink, but no soap.

Finished checking out my room, I headed to the kitchen, and after making a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I carried them back to the theater to finish the movie.

When the movie finished, Harlen turned to me, "do you need more crew?"

With a chuckle, I said, "you can send your resume to my logistics and personnel manager." Then I sent him Jarlen's info with the communication device Gregory gave me.

I feel Harlen is a bureaucrat to the bones, so he might be handy for communications and trade. I should talk to Jarlen about this later.

After looking at the bridge, that was just a room full of darkened screens and empty chairs. We went back to Harlen's office to take care of the paperwork for my new space yacht... Not sure how anyone is going to fall for that. With the massive cannons sticking out of the wings, but whatever, they probably know what they're doing. Well, Harlen anyway, Gregory said the paperwork was boring and went to flirt with another Mountain sprite out in the hall.

Nearly two hours later, after signing my name so many times, I lost count. I officially owned a modern space yacht and could land anywhere, non-military, in this system. Harlen raised his brow at my obviously foreign name but said nothing. Before leaving his office, I asked, "it's fine to leave my ship in your shuttle bay, right?"

"Huh, oh, yeah, that's fine," he said distractedly as he continued to type at his console.

Taking that as a dismissal, I did what Al recommended and went back to my ship to spend the night. As Gregory had already left with his Female friend, I didn't invite him along. I did, however, contact Jarlen and let him know what was going on.

His only response was, "that's good. I don't have extra beds in my place, anyway." Then he hung up.

Sitting at my desk, I took out a small journal and, with a grin, started writing. Star-date 01-01-0001. Hey, it's my ship, and I'm lost somewhere. Who knows how far away. So I Can make my own dates up. If anyone doesn't like it, then don't read my journal.

Where was I? Oh yes, the date. Well, I started my day with a trip to the city to meet my adopted son, kicked an asteroid back into space, putting a teensy weensy dent in the moon. Then I walked through a glitched portal into a desert planet. Where I met a nice little mountain sprite known to most races as a goblin, or at least that's how my A.I. translated it. After that, a bona fide prince came knocking on my cabin door, and we set off on an adventure to the city. I showed off my little ship and got my first space license. Yeah, it's official. I Am a captain.

Hmm, yup, that covers the important points of my day. Then I closed the journal and put it back into the desk drawer. Got up, took a shower, and lay down on my bed.

After a few more hours, not sure as I wasn't keeping track. Al finally finished scanning the surrounding ships and apparently stole designs for multiple devices. Including the teleportation array. However, it would take some time to replicate any of the fancy new toys I gained. Apparently, I will get a significant boost to my sensors and communications. But no weapon upgrades, as none of the ships nearby, have any installed. That's too bad. I enjoy having the biggest gun in the area, and not knowing what the locals have is bugging me.

Glancing at the time, I decide it's time to meet up with Jarlen and see what's going on. Walking to the hull inside my room, an opening appears, and I jump down the several hundred feet to the shuttle bay floor below. Startling the man in an army uniform, looking for a way inside. At least, that would be my guess.

"Can I help you, sir?" I ask semi politely.

"Is this your vessel, sir?" He asks.

"It is, is there a problem?"

"Are you aware installing weapons aboard a non-military vehicle is against the law?"

"What do you mean, sir? I have no weapons. Those are merrily a prototype communications array I Am going to be testing soon."

The officer (well, I think he is an officer anyway) looks at me suspiciously. "can I see some identification?"

"Why, of course, you can," and I hand him my new license. "here you go."

After typing something into his fancy arm computer thing, he turns back to me, "it says here you built this -space yacht- yourself. Are you an engineer?"

"well, it's not like any Tom, Dick, and Harry can build a ship, right?"

The officer began tapping his ear in confusion. "Apologies, my translator, seems to be malfunctioning. I didn't get that last part."

With a sigh, I say. "let's try a different tactic," and I released a portion of my aura, weighing the poor man down. "Don't bother me my experiments are far above your paygrade, do you understand?"

"My Lord, I Am sorry no one mentioned that you're from the council. I will take my leave immediately." With those words, he turned to hurry away.

"Hold on there, my boy, I would appreciate it if no mention of me or my experiments left this hanger. Is that understood?"

"My. Lord, I will not say a word to anyone, then he ran away."

While slowly following along, I absentmindedly wonder. (what is the punishment for impersonating a member of the council) Leaving the shuttle bay, I turn a corner only to realize; I do not know how to get back to Jarlen's shack.