AN: 13 Advanced Chapters on my Patreon. You can look me up as Crimson_Reapr. I will be uploading at least one chapter to Patreon today.
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Mark and the girls arrived at the corridor that connected the two ships and quickly made their way through it and into the Strathos' Shepherd.
As Mark guided them through the corridors to the mess hall, more commonly known as the cafeteria. As they walked, Mark could hear their "Oohs" and "Ahs" of admiration and surprise ever so often. They appeared to be fascinated by the ship's interior, something that worked to stroke Mark's ego and help pull him out of the sour mood that he had been put in by Marie's questions and requests to meet Anahrin.
Once they arrived at the cafeteria, they stopped right outside of it, taking in the view of the room. The cafeteria was quite spacious, being able to easily sit up to 50 people at a time, about 10 more than the ship's maximum crew capacity.
Mark was the first to enter through the doors of the cafeteria, opening his arms as he spoke. "This, ladies, is the cafeteria. I don't have much of a clue about how most of the things work in here, but luckily, there is a low-level AI that should be able to help answer any questions. Frankly, this is my first time being in this room as well."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Mark frowned instinctively. 'Shit,' he thought as he realized he had just opened the floodgates for another barrage of questions from the girls.
It started with quiet murmurs, but the sound of over 20 women all murmuring at the same time wasn't quiet at all. One of the women grew the courage to voice the question they all had. "What do you mean, this is your first time in the cafeteria?"
Mark let out a sigh and ran his gloved hand over his face, regretting ever opening his mouth. 'I have to start processing what I'm going to say before the words leave my mouth,' he said to himself internally. He was about to answer, but was interrupted by another one of the women talking. It was Esther.
"Hey, I must admit that you have given us more surprises in the hour we've known you than the Navy has given me in over 15 years of service," she said, crossing her arms as she finished. "I was trying to play devil's advocate and help you deal with the questions, but I must admit, even I want to hear the explanation for this. There is no way you would be aboard this ship and not have ever entered the cafeteria once with the days it takes to travel from system to system."
Mark cursed himself for having such a loose mouth. He had grown too accustomed to saying whatever came to his mind with Anahrin around, someone who knew every single one of his secrets. "Well, I know that I'm not obligated to satiate your curiosity, but I will tell you the truth just so we can continue having the same level of trust we've had until now... You wouldn't be wrong in your train of thought. I will admit that it is rather peculiar that I haven't visited the cafeteria even once before now, but frankly, I just hadn't had the chance to come grab a bite. After all, it has been quite the hectic travel for a ship's maiden voyage."
Seconds had barely passed, and Mark realized that he had, once again, revealed too much.
Marie decided to say what was on her mind before any of the other girls had the chance to voice their thoughts. "That... that kind of makes sense." Her words caused the rest of the girls to pause and think. Mark could almost see the gears turning in their brains as they processed everything. "I mean, think about it. This ship is sparkly clean, everything we have seen up to now is more advanced than what we are used to, and everything just seems so... new. Even the air smells different, fresher, to the point that it reminds me of the crop colony that I'm from. It doesn't feel as generated or recycled as the air on the Horizon felt."
Marie's words caused the rest of the girls to take a deep breath, murmuring and nodding their heads in agreement. The air was indeed fresh; the life support system that had been made by Anahrin was far more advanced than anything in humanity's repertoire. Mark realized that Anahrin had clearly taken the liberty of inserting really advanced technologies, by human standards, throughout the ship, even after he had stated that he didn't want the ship drawing too much attention for him. But then again, these were things one would only notice as they explored the interior of the ship, and no one would have access to it unless Mark himself allowed them on it.
"Alright, let me just show you to the crew bunks so you all can get some much-needed rest," Mark spoke, quickly leading the girls out of the cafeteria and towards the crew quarters. They took a few turns and went up to another deck level where the crew's quarters were located.
Once they had arrived at the crew's quarters, the women were once again surprised. Esther even whistled, something that earned a raised eyebrow from. He guessed that it was due to their size, something that he acknowledged was quite spacious. Each room had 8 beds and was about the size of a small apartment back on earth, much more spacious than the small rooms that most ships would have for their crew.
The only person who would ever get a room anywhere near the size of each one of these crew's rooms was the captain of a ship, and even then, the amenities they'd be privy to weren't as many as the ones in here. The rooms consisted of a small lounge with entertainment options, a game room, a bathroom with an actual shower, and multiple closets.
'Damn, I thought he had overdone it with my room stretching across 2 decks, having its own private medical bay, living room, game room, bar, giant bath, and even a downsized version of the virtual training room. It is also pretty much the size of a small house. Ani didn't skimp out on shit, even for the crew. Strathari standards were truly astonishing,' Mark thought to himself as he glanced around the room they were standing in. There were a total of 5 doors to the rooms, with a 6th one being more decorative and regal. That was the entrance to the first floor of Mark's Loft-like Captain's quarters.
"Alright, as you can see, this ship was made with the comfort of the crew in mind. You can divide the rooms yourselves, either choosing to squeeze into 3 rooms or spread yourselves through all 5 rooms." He paused before pointing towards the regal-looking door. "That door is the entrance to my quarters, so I'm never out of reach. If I'm not in my room, then I'll be on the bridge, which is on the level above this one. You can't miss it, it's the only room up there, except for the second door to my room."
The girls seemed extremely excited and started to split into groups to get to the rooms, but Mark stopped them in their tracks. "Ladies, ladies, calm down. Before you scadaddle into your rooms, I want to take those of you who are injured down to the medbay."
Mark's comment of "scadaddling" away to their rooms made a few of the girls chuckle. Most of the girls entered the rooms, and only those who were injured stayed behind with Mark. There were a total of 5 girls who needed medical attention, Marie being one of them. The blood had long since dried on her face, and no attempt had been made to remove it.
Mark led the way to the medbay, the 5 girls quietly following behind him. Thankfully, all of their injuries only expanded to cuts and bruises, nothing too serious, but something that should still be treated nonetheless.
Unlike the norm of human medbays, where there would be pods that would treat the patient, there were only 4 seats for treatment in the medbay. Not pods, but literal reclining skeletal seats that didn't even look comfortable.
One of the girls frowned at the sight, opening her mouth to voice her opinion on the med bay. "Well, I guess not everything can be top of the shelf. Spend all your credits building quality of life, you're bound to skimp out somewhere."
Mark didn't say anything, simply motioning for the girls to take a seat. Four of them moved towards the seat, with the exception of Marie, who chose to wait until they were done. Mark moved to a seat by a sink before turning to Marie and motioning for her to join him. She looked at him with confusion in her eyes, which prompted Mark to speak.
"You have blood all over your face. I thought you'd want to get rid of it."
Marie blinked, her hand instinctively rising to touch her cheek. The dried blood cracked faintly under her fingertips, flaking away in dark red specks. "Right… I didn't even notice."
Mark gestured toward the sink, handing her a folded towel and turning his gaze toward the other women who had taken a stance and were regarding the chairs with skepticism. The quiet of the medbay was only broken by the faint and sterile hum of the ventilation system.
To a point, Mark understood their reaction. After all, each seat seemed almost unfinished, polished bone-white frames made of a material that looked organic and metallic at the same time, lined with faint filaments of pulsing light. They didn't have any padding, no visible restraint systems, not even an interface panel.
"They look… so uncomfortable," one of them murmured.
Mark chuckled faintly. "They're not meant for comfort. They're meant to heal you, and as long as they do that, then they can look however they want."
That wasn't really much of an explanation, but it was enough to make them stop hesitating. With some uncertain glances exchanged, the women began taking their seats. As soon as the last one sat down, the medbay lights dimmed slightly, and the faint white filaments within the frames flared to life with a soft, pulsating rhythm.
"Whoa," one of them breathed out in surprise.
Thin arcs of blue light ran up and down the frames, scanning the contours of their bodies. Then, a low harmonic vibration filled the air, bringing with it an immediate change. The women felt a tingling warmth spread across their skin, seeping inward, as if every cell in their body had been told to run. A faint golden hue shimmered beneath their skin, tracing invisible patterns that faded almost as quickly as they appeared.
One of them gasped as the bruise on her arm visibly began to fade, and another blinked rapidly, touching the side of her face where a deep cut had been only minutes ago. It was already closing, and new skin was forming seamlessly without the rawness or the scabs that usually accompanied healing.
"Holy hell," another whispered. "This, this feels… It's like my whole body's buzzing."
Mark stayed quiet as he looked at them, leaning against the counter with his arms folded. He wasn't surprised to see them in action, after all, the dais back on the factory had fully healed him and been used to change his DNA. Instead, he was contemplating just how he was going to explain this. Or if he even needed to.
Marie noticed his composure as she finished cleaning the blood from her face, observing what appeared to be a quiet familiarity in his eyes. She watched the other women in awe before glancing back at him. "What is going on? What are the seats… doing to them? Those aren't pods, and I can't see any nanite injection system in sight."
He shrugged, looking at the women rather than her. "Not really my expertise, that was Ani's work. My best guess is that they accelerate natural regeneration. They don't inject anything, they don't force the body to heal, they just… remind it? I'm just as confused as you are."
Marie frowned slightly, trying to piece that together. "Remind the body?"
He gave a faint smirk, almost to himself. "Yeah, I think it's something like that."
She could tell he wasn't being completely honest with her, that he was holding back. He didn't have the evasive tone of a liar, more like a man who just didn't feel like sharing everything with a complete stranger, something she understood.
The girls on the chairs, meanwhile, were falling silent. The hum of the devices had shifted frequency, growing softer and more rhythmic with each tone synchronizing itself to the individual user's heartbeat.
Within 10 minutes, their bruises had vanished, the cuts completely sealed, and even minor fractures that hadn't been noticed had mended themselves. When the hum subsided, the light from the chairs dimmed, and the filaments returned to their dormant glow. The women then stood from the chairs, one by one, a little hesitant as if refusing to believe what they had just experienced.
"My ribs… I- they don't hurt anymore," commented one of them.
Another flexed her wrist. "That's impossible. That fracture should've taken days with a healing pod."
The last one touched her side, running her fingers along what had been a deep gash. Her voice trembled. "It's gone. It's just... gone."
Mark pushed off the counter, walking toward them with a calm nod. "Like I said, they just help your body remember how to fix itself. It definitely has its own cost, and I bet you're already starting to feel tired. Go get some rest."
He turned back toward Marie, who stood a few feet away, still watching him with a mixture of curiosity and quiet admiration. "That's almost like magic," she said softly.
Mark offered a small shrug, his lips curving into a modest smile. "Ehh, magic is just unexplained science. You show someone from the Stone Age a rifle and he'll probably chuck a spear your way while calling you a witch."
Marie folded her arms, her expression softening. "Listen, about earlier… when I brought up your friend. I shouldn't have said anything. It wasn't my place, and I clearly didn't read the room."
Mark's smile faded slightly, and he looked away, his gaze drawn to the soft gleam of the medbay's light on the floor. "I understand that you didn't mean anything by it. You just wanted an opportunity to further your career."
"Still," she said, stepping closer. "I can tell he meant a lot to you. And I shouldn't have pushed and kept on asking like I did."
There was a tense silence between them for a moment before Mark finally nodded. "Yeah… he did. And I appreciate your apology."
Marie smiled faintly, sensing that was all he was willing to say. She changed the subject gently, her voice lighter. "So… those chairs, you said they speed up regeneration. How did you even get your hands on something like that? I don't even think the most advanced ships or medical institutions are privy to such technology."
Mark chuckled. "Like I said earlier, I wasn't in charge of any of the internals; that was all Ani."
He observed as Marie took a seat on one of the chairs, closing her eyes as she did. An awkward silence filled the medbay as only the two of them remained. Mark observed as Marie's cuts and bruises healed, admiring how technology could do such things. 'Yeah, Ani, surely technology decades or centuries ahead of humanity's wouldn't draw attention.'
After her treatment finished, they walked side by side through the quiet corridors of the Strathos' Shepherd that were filled with the low thrum of the reactor echoing faintly through the ship's frame. The lighting along the floors adjusted as they walked, warm amber fading into cool blue as the ship's systems detected them.
Marie broke the silence after a few moments. "You know… I've never met anyone who builds ships like this, you know. Well, I've never met anyone who's ever built or designed a ship at all since you bunch are kind of... reclusive."
Mark glanced at her, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Well, I guess that can be true. People tend to lose themselves trying to create the impossible, and I'm guessing that the most famous engineers barely leave their own labs."
"You designed her, right?"
Mark's step faltered at the question, almost tripping over his own two legs. He hesitated before nodding. "Well, I did design the look and the layout, but I personally had my hands full making the reactor and the engines, pretty much made them from the ground up after redesigning the entire engine system. As for the rest of her, things like her systems, amenities, rooms, etcetera etcerta, not me, all Ani."
Marie's eyes lit up as he talked. "You redesigned the engines and the reactor yourself? Whoa, that's so cool. Like, it's so out of the blue. From what I've heard, people just buy the blueprints for the engines and build them... You're like a genius."
Mark smirked. "Let's just say I had a good teacher."
They eventually made their way up. The corridor opened into the wide expanse of the bridge. The screens marking the viewport were dimmed, revealing the distant glow of a nebula in the background, its pale red and blue light spilling across the black canvas of space.
The bridge itself was clean and elegant. Every console seemed to be positioned exactly where it needed to be, a symmetry that was almost artistic. The captain's chair sat elevated slightly above the others, with a single console in front of it that brightened as Mark approached.
Marie followed him in, her eyes scanning the bridge in quiet awe. "I can't say I've ever seen the bridge of a warship before… but this…" She turned slowly, taking it all in. "This feels so... elegant and distinguished."
Mark chuckled softly, lowering himself into the captain's chair. "Yup, she's the perfect mix of lethal, practical, effective, and beautiful... Oh, that's right, you haven't seen her from outside yet."
Outside the ship, small drones moved in formation between the Strathos' Shepherd and the drifting remains of the pirate vessel, transferring cargo containers, cutting through debris, moving with the same eerie precision that defined everything on the ship.
Marie stepped closer to the railing that circled the command platform. "Those drones, you programmed them too?"
"Nope. They're, uh..." Mark hesitated for a second, debating just how much he should say, choosing to lie instead. "They're automated to recognize priority cargo. I just tell them what not to bring aboard. Things like weapons, explosives, or anything that screams 'booby trap.'"
Marie looked at him with bemusement plastered all over her face, "And they just… know the rest?"
He nodded. "Pretty much. Alie-" He stopped himself, catching what he was about to say before it escaped his lips. "The system's learning algorithms handle the rest."
Marie noticed the slip; how could she not, but didn't comment on it. She looked toward the viewport again. "Do you enjoy it?"
Mark frowned in confusion, "What, the stars?"
"No, not just the stars, all of it," she said, turning to face him. "The engines, the systems, the building, you talk about it like it's more than just a ship."
Mark frowned mentally. 'The fuck is this chick going on about? I have given shit and lackluster replies the entire time?' He rested his hands lightly on the console, his gaze fixed on one of the holographic screens in front of him. "A- uh, I don't really know. I mean, I guess, it can be therapeutic, a pain in the ass mostly, at least the learning process was. But, I mean, I only have like, what, a year doing this?"
Marie's eyes almost bulged out of her eye sockets. "A year!?! And you already designed and built your own ship? Now I don't even want to ask you this, but curiosity is eating at me. Just how long did it take to build her?"
He looked up at her, mentally facepalming. 'Fucking dumbass, now just how long would be long enough?' He thought for a second, trying to recall how long it took for a ship to be fully built and spaceworthy, but he was shit out of luck. 'They never taught that in the fucking naval academy,' he thought to himself before replying. "Well, I wasn't doing it all, but it was about 6, maybe 7 months."
"6 TO 7 MONTHS?" she said in surprise, almost shouting it. "It took you 6 to 7 months to have her up and running, operational, and now on her very first flight?"
Mark gulped quietly. "As I said, I had help, a lot of it."
However, Marie was not buying it. "You do realize that even some of the fastest shipyards probably produce a destroyer every year and a half, maybe even every other year?"
Mark cursed himself. "Well, she's not a destroyer, she's a Heavy frigate."
Marie was dumbfounded. "Are you serious right now? How big is this ship?"
Mark looked at her from the corner of his eye, seeing how she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. 'Well, fuck it,' he told himself. "She's 335 meters long, 90 meters tall, and 125 meters wide."
He could have sworn that he saw her jaw hit the ground after he stated the size of the Strathos' Shepherd. "That's almost the size of a light destroyer."
He fiddled around with the holographic screen in front of him as he answered her. "Well, 100 meters shorter, I wouldn't-"
"That still doesn't really help your argument. You guys designed and built her in less than a year. A ship this size should take at the very least a year to make, and I'm being very, very generous-"
Mark interrupted her as the drones finished their work. The last of the cargo containers was sealed into the Shepherd's lower bay. "Oh, would you look at that, the cargo is secure, and it's about time we leave this place behind." The ship shook a little bit as he disengaged the external clamps, and the console flickered with confirmation prompts. He then tapped a button, and his voice came out of the speakers throughout the ship. "Ladies, we are done here. We'll depart momentarily."
The ship's AI acknowledged with a soft chime, and the engines began to hum to life, sending a low vibration beneath their feet.
Marie nodded her head slowly, understanding that Mark no longer wanted to talk. "I'm sorry if I asked something I shouldn't have. I'll be going to get some rest."
She started walking to leave the Bridge when Mark called out to her. "Hey, I uh... I just, you know? I'd appreciate it if we kept what we discussed between ourselves."
Marie stopped in her tracks and turned to face Mark. "Yeah, I understand, not everyone wants to share their secrets. Again, I'm sorry for asking too much."
Mark nodded, and with that, she left the bridge. The Strathos' Shepherd began to move a few seconds after she left. The faint motion of thrusters aligned her toward the next jump point, and her engines roared softly, then stabilized into a deep, harmonic hum.
Mark leaned back and closed his eyes. It would be about 19 hours before they made it to the next jump point, and Mark was no longer in a rush.