Capítulo 4: Chapter 4: Next Move
The System made a [Ding] sound that pulled him back into the present.
[Commander, the Freyr Drone is returning with its final load.]
Daniel focused on the blue trapezoid icon growing in his optical sensor.
In no time, he observed the drone enter the Drone Bay, and a notification appeared in the top right corner of his vision.
He mentally selected the notification, and a view of his Storage Module appeared in his field of view.
**
[Storage]
- 5x Sensor Components
- 4x Sauveterre Engine Components
- 2x Hovarth Drive Components
- 6x Armor Components
Capacity: 17/25
**
Daniel let out a mental breath when he saw enough Sensor Components to upgrade to Level 2.
"System, please us the Components to upgrade the Sensor."
[Commander, the upgrade will take 30 minutes.]
A progress bar appeared in the top left corner of his field of view.
Daniel watched as a blue bar began filling up, and he stared at it for a moment, making sure that it didn't sputter and stop like so many software updates did.
Even in this technologically advanced era, buffering still existed.
He looked away after he was satisfied, and began thinking of his next moves.
Without Weapon Systems, he would be unable to destroy any ship for new components, let alone hunt down the INS Tilan.
So, his only option was to buy the components needed. He thought about how to pay for anything, before realizing he was surrounded by rare ores, and had access to a Drone that could collect it.
"System, send the Freyr into the Asteroid Field to harvest ores, and prioritize rare metals."
[Yes, Commander]
Moments later, the Freyr emerged from the Drone Bay, banking toward the Asteroid Field.
Daniel observed the drone for a moment, looking on as it danced through the Field, before slowing in front of a decent sized Asteroid.
The claw attached to the bottom extended out, but instead of approaching the Asteroid, a light blue laser shot out from the center of the claw.
The laser sliced into the Asteroid with apparent ease, breaking it apart, and as the pieces floated away from the main body, they floated toward the Freyr and into its cargo module on the rear.
Seconds later, what looked like refinement slag was ejected from the top of the Drone.
Daniel had never personally watched a drone mining an Asteroid before, and he was curious.
"System, explain what the Freyr is doing."
[Commander, the Freyr uses the mining laser to separate pieces from the main body, before using the onboard tractor beam to pull the pieces into the built-in refining center to separate the ore from the slag, then ejecting that slag back into space.]
Daniel didn't know a lot about drones, but he knew for a fact that no drone in existence was able to do ANY of what the Freyr was capable of.
What sort of society could produce such advanced tech, and also mass produce such tech for at least commercial use, if not domestic?
[Ding]
A notification popped into the top-right of his field of view.
**
[Sensor Upgrade Complete]
- Sensor is now Level 2
- Able to detect the composition of materials, as well as identify the modules on star ships.
Upgrade Condition: 0/10 Sensor Components
**
Daniel immediately focused on the Asteroid Field, identifying all of the valuable ores that present. Cillium, Lykate, Thersium, and Valkium.
He almost looked at the planets, but he was worried he would be bombarded with so many materials that he'd never see them all, and end up wasting time.
**
[Storage]
- 4x Sauveterre Engine Component
- 2x Hovarth Drive
- 6x Armor Components
- 5x Kg of Cillium
- 3x Kg of Thersium
- 1x Kg of Valkium
Capacity: 21/25
**
The Cillium would net him about 100,000 Galactic Credits, 50,000 GC's for the Thersium.
He wasn't sure what the 1Kg of Valkium was worth. He knew it was what most armor alloys were made of, but the exact amount in any given alloy was a mystery to him.
"System, can you tell me what the Valkium is worth?"
[Commander, Valkium is worth approximately 250,000 Galactic Credits per Kg according to local sources.]
Daniel was about to ask the system to predict where the Illion Destroyer had gone, when he considered the System's ability to know the Local Markets.
He knew it was probably reading his mind or something for most of it, but he didn't know anything specific about Valkium, so how did the System know its local price?
"System, how did you come up with the price for Valkium?"
[Commander, a combination of your memories and the data core of the Sheffield provided the necessary information.]
"When did you obtain the data core of the Sheffield?"
[This Unit's initialization protocols include the deep scan of all data in the local system, so that it can provide the information to the User upon awakening.]
He mulled over that for a moment, before an idea popped into his head.
"System, would you be able to extract information from other sources, for example, a stations logbook?"
[Yes, Commander.]
Bingo!
That's how he'd track the INS Tilan that had killed the Sheffield.
All he had to do was jump into the next predicted destination system, find out if the Destroyer had been there, sell his wares, upgrade his weapons, maybe add a shield, then follow the breadcrumbs.
All ships, according to the IGT Accords, had to register a previous and next destination with every station they stopped at in peacetime.
Daniel had a pretty loose understanding of the Intergalactic Trade Accords, but he knew enough to run a mining barge and not get hit with trading fines.
Alright, he had a next move planned.
Now for the final step.
He looked at the empty [Name], and thought deeply about what his new moniker would be.
He knew he'd always refer to himself as Daniel Venata, but his new body needed a name.
He was lost for a second, before remembering something his father had said about their family name.
"The Venata Family is an Ancient one, tracing our roots to the first colony ships. Our name comes from a lost language, one forgotten in the river of time. Venata comes from an old word, Venator. It means Hunter."
At the time, Daniel, a fresh-faced navy recruit, had written the words off as some sort of weird pep-talk, but now...
It seemed rather fitting.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder