34. Calm Discussion

Right after getting back from exploring Ashen Port, Abyssal and Kuon quickly gathered within the bridge to have a small discussion. Abyssal explained patiently to Kuon about what they did outside and the difficulties they were going to face moving forward. Namely, about their money problem and what they could do to solve it.

“I think I roughly understand our current situation,” Kuon said to Abyssal.

“Yeah, we are going to need some serious cash if we want to move forward with exploring the sector.”

“Do we though?” Kuon asked back.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“I can see why credits would be important, but should it truly be our first priority?”

“Well… without credits, we won’t be able to buy warp fuel. I think that’s a pretty big deal. We are going to need those if we truly want to explore outside of this sector. That and we need cash to buy more supplies for Meica anyways.”

“The cat aside, we aren’t really in a rush to obtain warp fuel, aren’t we?”

“That’s true, I guess. But I would like to get started on getting a bit of cash and slowly obtain new components and stuff.”

“Understood. If that is your decision then I will follow.”

“Though I say that, I don’t really know what to do to get credits,” Abyssal said as she went over to the hologram table. She then turned it on and set it to display the sector map.

“Do we not have any way to earn credits?” Kuon asked as she studied the sector map as well.

“We somewhat do. Though I want to see if we can find some other way first.”

“I see.”

Silence occurred between the two Living Cores as they observed the sector map on the holographic projector. Abyssal looked at the map to see if she could find any inspiration on how to solve her money problem. Kuon, however, didn’t know exactly what to find within the sector map so she just kept quiet.

“Oh right! Kuon,” Abyssal called out all of a sudden.

“Yes? Do you require anything, Master?”

“Back when Meica and I were exploring Ashen Port, we wanted to stop by the space lounge, you see? Over there I met someone that looks so out of place. She wore a Kimono.”

“A Kimono...?”

‘I guess Kuon doesn’t know what a Kimono is, huh,’ Abyssal thought to herself. She dug into her consciousness to find an image of the girl before outputting said image onto the holographic projector.

“This is her. See what she is wearing? That’s a Kimono.”

“I see. An eastern style oriental dress. Was she the only person that dresses like this in all of Ashen Port, Master?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I think so. We walked around for hours, she’s the only person who wore like that.”

“Eastern oriental style, pinkish theme. Just like the battlecruiser docked outside of Ashen Port. Master, I suspect a connection between this person and the battlecruiser. She might be a crew of the ship,” said Kuon.

“Eh? What makes you say that?”

“The battlecruiser… The ship's design looked very much like the ships that came from the Dawning Star Empire. It’s a space nation that is quite the distance away from where we are right now,” Kuon said as she pointed at the galaxy map, at a location ‘northeast’ of the galaxy, far far away. It was basically at the opposite end of where they were.

“I’ve only ever seen diplomats from that nation, but they dress exactly like the person in this image. It is a nation that upholds culture and tradition. Given the way with how the woman is dressed and how the ship looks, I think it is safe to say that the two must be connected,” Kuon explained.

‘Dawning Star? Is that a pun on Rising Sun?’ Abyssal thought to herself.

“This nation, The Dawning Star Empire, is that one of the nations that were involved in that war of yours?”

“Yes, Master. It was the third faction that was involved in that three-way war. It's a nation whose speciality is their incredible stealth capabilities. Few radars can detect them when they activate their cloaking fields. Although, their stealth means nothing if they use weapons with a high energy signature, so they supplement their weaponry with a plethora of missiles and space torpedoes. They are the very best at producing these missiles which are known for their devastating damage. These missiles can be just as stealthy as the ship that fires them."

Kuon did a short pause before continuing. "Their stealth capabilities aren't the only thing that they specialised in. Their ships are known to have very high mobility when compared to ships of the same class. Though, they do sacrifice a little bit of armour in order to achieve this. Damaging their directional propulsion system cripples this mobility. Ships of the dawning star empire aren’t well known for taking damage. However, as always, there are exceptions. It's not advisable to underestimate the power of their guns and armour."

Kuon then gave a slight bow, showing that she is indeed done talking.

“Hooh, interesting. I wonder what a person like that is doing all the way out here. So near to the border of a nation that they are at war with no less."

“The war happened quite a long time ago, Master. There might not actually be a war going on right now.”

“Oh yeah...  I forgot you’ve been hibernating for decades, huh. Makes sense that the war would end by now. Still, I’m curious to know why she’s out here in this sector than somewhere nearer to her nation.”

“It’s not really that weird to have the occasional freelancing ships to be from a faraway place, Master. She could be here to do trade. Buying and selling goods from differing nations has its benefits. She could even be here due to a job or maybe she’s just visiting a friend,” Kuon gave Abyssal her guess on why she thinks the kimono wearing woman was here at Ashen Port.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Is there something about her that is bothering you, Master?”

“Hmm, no, not really. She just stood out and caught my attention, that’s all,” Abyssal replied, her eyes still looking at the galaxy map.

“I see.”

And so, the two came into complete silence once again. Abyssal had her eyes on the map like a hawk looking at prey. She seemed to be studying it very intently, her drone barely moving. A few minutes had passed when she suddenly moved her drone in order to touch the hologram table. She zoomed in to a specific part of the sector map before studying the place closely.

“Is there something important you wish to find on the map, Master?”

“Hmm? Um, yeah. I feel like we shouldn’t have too much human interaction. You know, keep contact to a minimum. For now at the very least. The visit to the lounge and our…. unfortunate departure from it, made me realise that Meica is not really a good person to represent us out there. That’s not to mention our meeting with the maintenance guy.”

Following this statement, Abyssal could hear a small satisfied hum coming out from Kuon. “I agree. Surely we will have to wait until we gain enough zenatonium to create our avatars.”

“Nah, I was thinking of buying or assimilating some android or something to go about business. I’ve seen a few human-like mechanical constructs, thought I could scrape up enough money and get one of those instead. Or, I could secretly try to assimilate one and construct one from scratch using the nanites.”

“I see… That’s a great idea, as well,” Kuon responded, a hint of disappointment could be heard from her voice. “How then, are we going to obtain money if you are going to be avoiding meeting with people? It would be hard to accept jobs that way.”

“That’s why I want to go here!” Abyssal pointed at the galaxy map. It looked to be a very sparse asteroid field that was neither near nor that far away from Ashen port.

“An asteroid field?”

“Yup! It looks like a place where miners would go. I’ve been wanting to go to one first actually, but I thought that going to a port first was a better idea.”

Kuon tilted her drone sideways. “Why an asteroid field?”

“Why? To mine some resources of course! We could gather much-needed resources and sell the excess at Ashen Port. I think it’s a pretty good idea to get some cash rolling.”

“Will it truly be that easy?”

“I don’t know. But we might as well try.”

“If Master says so then I have no objection. However, I do have a few concerns regarding the matter.”

“Oh? What concerns?” Abyssal asked.

“How we are going to mine the asteroids without a mining laser or a mining drill.”

“Hmm? We have nanomachines, why do we need a mining drill? We can just assimilate the asteroid or deconstruct it, right?”

“Huh?” Kuon replied with a confused tone.

“Eh?” Abyssal replied back, confused as well.

Kuon was rather speechless by the answer, messaging her imaginary temples.. “... you have a point, I guess. We could try using that method.”

There were actually more concerns she had. Things like the difficulties involved in beaming said resources from the mined asteroid to the ship and the problem of knowing which asteroid actually have viable resources for them to collect, but Kuon automatically assumed that Abyssal had some sort of plan for it. In the likely event that she doesn't, Kuon would at least find a little bit of joy in watching her master fumble around.

…...

And so with that, Abyssal made her decision and a ship-wide announcement was made to declare their next destination— a mining trip to the shallow asteroid fields. Abyssal did approach Meica to ask if she wanted to explore the port once again before leaving. She only replied by saying that they could always explore more after the mining trip.

“Oh right, Meica! I don’t quite remember, but did you send that letter to your family to let them know that you are fine?”

“Yup! Meica sent letter when Abyssal busy looking at shops!” Meica replied with a smile on her face.

‘Yet another lie, huh. Was Kuon right about the Nekomis, after all?’ Abyssal thought to herself as she gave Meica a thumbs up with her personal drone. Or at least tried to.