The virtual interface was far more distracting than I’d expected, but I was sure my brain would get used to it.

My spatial awareness could catalog a room with a glance, fill in the details of people and movements using my other senses, and I could swear there was even a sixth sense type of thing going on with it at times.  Well, the point was, my brain was extremely aware that the video screen and interface I was looking at wasn’t really in the room, which was distracting.

I’d adapt.

I ordered the ship suit, and several weapons which brought my credit balance down to two hundred eighty-three credits.  Specifically, I bought a hand plasma weapon, simply because it had a secondary non-lethal setting, and for one other reason.  I also brought a plasma rifle which was the equivalent of a sniper class weapon, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever need it, but I was an assassin, and I wanted it. 

The other reason for the hand weapon, was to disguise the fact I was now the proud owner of my own palm insert plasma ball generator.  I also knew a bit more how it worked, because it seemed too much like magic at first, I’d done some research.  Dimensional technology could build tiny portals from one spot to another.  The tiny device was expensive, seventy-five credits, because it also came with a much larger base station which would be installed on the ship.  All the small thing did, was act as a receiver, and it created the fields required to hold and then direct the plasma toward a chosen target via the AR interface.  Most, if not all of the energy was also generated at the base station, and transferred.  The bio-electric interface would never be enough energy to open a dimensional portal, even a microscopic one, but it was enough to maintain the quantum paired connection with the base station so that it could open a portal and send energy and plasma to power the palm weapon, no matter where I was in the universe.  It was… still cool, even now that I understood it better.

The ship suit was one of the more expensive kinds as well.  I’d discovered the blue force field around the captain and others which had saved them from Plasma was integrated into the suit, which was charged from body heat.  The idea was not to get hit at all though, the shield was only effective against a few blasts before it would need to recharge again.

Of course, I didn’t have any of it yet, I had to stay in the ship suit I had on until I arrived on our ship, so I could change into the black and gray colored uniform.  It would all be waiting for me.

Last but certainly not least, I ordered a device to… take the edge off so to speak?

Unfortunately, if I ever quit and went home, I couldn’t take any of it with me.  Well, maybe the space age vibrator, but not the weapons.  Which was why education was one of my goals.  I’d found out education was probably one of the most expensive things out there outside of buying a ship.  Houses cost less credits.  Each course cost about five thousand credits.  I wanted one for quantum physics, dimensional physics, wormhole physics, fabrication technology and design, and artificial intelligence and security.

Those five courses would not only teach me the underlying principles of all the alien technologies, but also how to design and create them.

That was almost a year’s salary, which I supposed wasn’t too bad.  I could take one course every two months.  Besides my curiosity on how everything worked, there was also the point that if I ever went back to earth I’d have the knowledge and ability to build my own ship, and my own plasma ball palm insert.  I still wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to go back, so the former reason was still reason enough for me. 

I’d be able to design my own weapons, ships, and other things.  If I was really going to live two thousand years, there was no point in putting any limits on my ambition in this empire.  But… that was for the future, for now I worked for Vik, probably for many years if I didn’t get myself killed.  It would take me at least ten years to save enough to pay for my education, buy a ship, and enough materials, power, and fuel to get it home, and that’s if I saved two thirds of my salary every month for that purpose.  I didn’t think that would be too difficult.

Who knew, maybe after ten years I’d never want to leave at all?

Oh, good news, no rules against twisting the sheets with my captain.  I just wasn’t sure yet how to seduce him into chasing me until I caught him, he was an alien after all.

“Lori?” a pleasant female voice asked.

“Yes?” I asked curiously.

She said, “This is Jillintara, can’t wait to meet you and Ann.  I’m sending the weapon systems data and knowledge, along with a tutorial to Ann.  It will also include the ships schematics.  She can download it to your mind, so you’ll be set when you get here.  It’ll be nice not being the only female on board.”

Wow, her voice was complex, and had real emotion to it.  I imagined she was far more advanced than Ann, I might have to reevaluate my thoughts on artificial assistants.  I supposed she had to be sentient with a will, if she could independently control the ship, she’d have to be.

“Thanks, I’m looking forward to it.”

She laughed at my dubiousness, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to me.  I also have a physical avatar, just to warn you.  I bet they didn’t tell you that.”

“No, they didn’t.”

She said, “I’ve been given some data on you and read the mission reports.  If you’re interested, I’d love to spar with you, and get acquainted with your world’s fighting techniques.”

“I’d love that, I need to do that anyway on occasion, to keep in peak form.”

She scoffed, “On Earth maybe, but your health nanites will take care of that for you now.  Though, I suppose it might make a difference in mental preparedness.”

Right, forgot about that little trick.  Perfect health and fitness.  No wonder the blue man group was sizzling hot.  They didn’t have to work for those hard-muscled strong bodies.  Damn, I needed a cold shower.  I was starting to feel a little shallow, but in my defense, I’d been stuck with no options outside of one-night stands for a long time.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted with any of them, and though I was attracted to Vik the most, I knew it was a shallow thing.  My body wanted his.  Unless he turned out to be a womanizing bastard, I saw no reason not to let it happen should the opportunity arise.

Part of it was also the surreal quality of my situation.  I felt like hot and very well built blue alien men had to be me dreaming about one of those torrid romances I’d mentioned earlier.  I shook my head and got back to the conversation.

“That second part is important.  Lack of hesitation, and knowing my surroundings is important in a fight.”

Jillintara replied, “I’ll take your word for it.  I can’t not pay attention, I also can’t be distracted, only too busy.  The download is done, I’ll let you take care of that, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow night when you get home.”

Home?  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, except I was grateful for the warm welcome, and felt a little tightness in my chest.  Was that stupid?

“Thanks, I’m looking forward to it, and to meeting you in person.  I bet you’re blue, and beautiful.  Can I call you Jill?”

Jillintara said, “I’d like that, if I can call you Lori.  As far as the other, you’ll be the judge when you meet me tomorrow night.  Talk to you later.”

“Goodbye.”

Had she sounded flustered at my beautiful comment?  That was cute.  An A.I. being self-conscious also told me she was a lot more human than Ann was.  How did that work, were artificial assistants the slaves of the Empire, as opposed to the Stolavii having human slaves?  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, and it would be ridiculous for me to jump to conclusions.  Whatever Jillintara was, she was obviously happy about it.

Ann said, “She disconnected, are you ready for the download?”

I put down the glass of water, and sat back in the chair so I wouldn’t fall out.

“Hit me.”

It wasn’t painful or pleasurable, but it was a rush, as the information flooded my mind.  Missile types, of which there were three.  Like the Stolavii ship, there were twelve missile launchers on a Isyth cruiser.  The three types were nuclear, plasma warhead, and a plain old hardened projectile which was most often used for planetary bombardment or taking out asteroid installations.  There were thirty-eight plasma weapons on an Isyth cruiser, compared to the forty-eight on a Stolavii cruiser, mostly because the Isyth cruiser was smaller. 

It was still about a quarter mile long, just a little shorter, but it was much sleeker, and had twelve decks instead of sixteen.  Despite that, the Isyth cruiser had more cargo carrying capacity for raw materials, mostly because the crew was limited to command crew, which meant far less cabins, less food needed in storage, smaller mess hall, and a whole lot more space for more cargo.

Both the bridge and engineering were in the center of the ship, and had primary, secondary, and tertiary systems for redundancy.  I looked forward to getting there and finding out what we were going to do.  I didn’t really feel like I owed the Earth anything, I’d been a virtual slave of my government after all, but it was slightly more motivating knowing I’d be working to figure out why so many humans were being abducted recently, and what the Stolavii were up to with all of them.  I wasn’t mad at all humans after all, just the ones that had made me what I am and used me.

The download had also included the board controls, battle sensors, and countermeasures to fool enemy missiles like decoys, and an electronics package to spoof, and jam missile locks.  There were also smaller less powerful laser systems on the ship, that shot down incoming missiles, which was called the point defense system.  I ran a couple of simulations that Jillintara included, and I scored extremely high on reaction time, which wasn’t a surprise, but I scored a little low on tactics.  Learning how to fight in space was a new experience, and would have a learning curve, but I’d catch on quickly enough with a little practice.

For the rest of that day, and the next, I tried to come to terms with the changes in my life, and the fact that I was now part of an alien empire’s military.  Ironically, I was also free for the first time in nineteen years, and doing what I’d decided to do.  Still, to say I was suffering from culture shock was an understatement.  It all still felt just a bit surreal, but it was my life now, and I’d have to suck it up and come to terms…