Vivid Stars Online

The meeting room went silent after we'd all entered, and it took a few moments before I belatedly realized they were waiting for me to take charge. "Right then," I started with an awkward cough, "David, first, I think I've been eager to hear how the experiments went."

"Sure, Bossman," he responded with a careless wave as he strode toward the room's front. It was set up with a single table facing a massive holographic projector, which currently displayed a blank screen.

He swiftly interfaced with the projector and switched to a display of twenty-odd three-dimensional plants split unevenly by an intersecting horizontal line. Each image rotated slowly, showing all sides of the plant in question.

"Welcome, everyone," David said, the young man still looking entirely at ease while giving an important presentation. "A few of you have been following my work closely, but for most, this will be your first detailed look at my results."

"As such, I'll give a brief overview before diving into the details. Please hold any questions until I've at least finished the introduction." He paused momentarily as if waiting for any objections, then continued.

"The purpose of this project was to determine why previous attempts at large-scale agriculture have failed in this province and to invent new methods to overcome the underlying issues discovered."

"The most ideal outcome we had envisioned was to discover at least three stable crops that could be effectively grown for mass consumption. I'm overjoyed to announce that the project has not only achieved this goal but gone well beyond it."

My hands had already started clapping by the time I fully registered what he'd said. The rest of the room joined me moments later as David paused with a huge grin. He might think this was all a game, but he was clearly still proud of his achievement.

He certainly deserved it. I could already see where this was going, and if all the plants up on the screen were suitable for growing here, he deserved the applause. That was better than I could have hoped for.

"Thank you, thank you," he eventually responded with a laugh as we quietened down. "Now, on to the specifics of what we have available. In total, I have twenty-one different plant species here that have shown significant promise."

"Some are useful in medical or other applications," he pointed toward the eight plants below the horizontal split, "but are not edible. These are primarily the area's native plants that we were able to domesticate."

"The rest," he continued with a gesture at the plants above the line, "are all suitable for consumption and, between them, cover enough nutritional needs for a balanced diet. Most of this category are the usual southern plant strains grown in the other provinces."

"Now, you are likely wondering how I managed to get common staple plants growing here when everyone else had failed, so let's get into the details," he said as he flicked toward the next slide.

The rest of the presentation was interesting but densely packed with scientific data. From what I understood, it essentially boiled down to a plant's Psi tolerance. This was something that we'd expected but which had proved difficult to test.

David had designed a set of greenhouses that could use shielding materials to control the background Psi levels within. Once they'd been constructed at a significant cost by the local building company, he'd been able to run all the experiments he needed.

The local plant samples I'd been able to get him were the first test. They'd grown well in the default background Psi energy but had their growth stunted when he tested them under reduced levels.

Conversely, when he increased the Psi levels within the greenhouse using beast corpses, they withered as sprouts. This pointed to the theory that each species had a narrow band of tolerance.

To cut a long and detailed journey short, he realized that the planet's most common staple crops had to have adapted over time, as they were common breeds brought with the first settlers.

Using hydroponic setups, he could breed multiple generations quickly, raising the background levels slightly each time. Eventually, he brought each species' tolerance up to the default level we had outside.

Not every species made it all the way, but the ones that survived would provide the bulk of our edible crops. Best of all, this method gave us proprietary crop breeds to grow. Until someone else reproduced his experiments, we had a monopoly on growing non-native plants.

"Excellent work," I congratulated after a second round of applause died down. "You've achieved more than I could have hoped for, and it definitely deserves a reward. Think about what you might like and let me know."

He looked surprised but nodded as a smile grew on his face. "Could you please work with the most experienced farmers we've been able to tempt here on a plan for this year's harvest? Let's focus on the food crops to begin with. While I'm sure the others will be profitable, I want to ensure everyone has enough to eat first."

"Sure," he responded, still looking inordinately pleased. "I've already got a few ideas, but you're right that I could use some input from experienced farmers. I'll get right on that," he finished as he returned to his seat.

Next, I called Elana up to report on the ship. It was pretty much what she'd already told me, just with more details, but it was a useful lead-in for what I would present next.

After congratulating her on the progress, I stood and moved to the front of the room. "Chief Engineer Elana brought up an important point; we're still missing a key metal for fixing the frigate. This was the target of my winter expedition."

"Much of the trip was boring, so I'll skip it. We bypassed as much as possible to maintain our speed, though I do have several interesting locations that I'll be sending follow-up exploration teams to."

"What's important is what we found at the end. We were able to confirm our intel pointing toward an ancient Arkathian mining outpost." I deliberately omitted any mention of where I got the intel; instead, I just pushed forward with the explanation.

"While we were unable to clear the site completely, we found evidence confirming that it contained the deposit we need. I intend to take a strike team back to finish clearing the area and determine how much is accessible for us."

"Further," I continued, holding up a hand to forestall some early applause. "I have already signed an agreement with the palace to lease the mining rights for the area. We will be allowed to keep the bulk of the mine's output as long as we provide security and labor."

The applause resumed after that, so enthusiastic that I felt rather abashed by it. Surely, it wasn't that impressive. Then, as it died down, both Mayor Kosfeld and Captain Hendricks raised their hands. I pointed to the Captain to start.

"Excellent work, My lord," he began as he stood and half-turned to face me and the rest of the still-sitting group. "At your request, I've already notified our strike team to prepare."

"I do have one thing to bring up, however," he continued, his tone becoming hesitant. "We will have to purchase at least one more VTOL craft if we are going to provide security for such a distant locale. Preferably a rapid response model so we can bring in reinforcements as needed."

That was a good point that I hadn't considered, and I nodded at him in response. "Understood Captain. We'll likely need to hire or purchase some additional cargo-hauling models as well; I'll ensure we get what you need when I organize the purchase."

It was going to be expensive, but it wasn't going to be avoidable. The Resulum was an absolute requirement to get the frigate working. If I were lucky, it would continue to provide more than we needed, and I could recoup the cost with sales.

Of course, that would come down to how large it was, as the Broker had requested half in trade for an interdimensional portal design. While there might be some wiggle room there, as I had been noncommittal, I also had to bargain for a way to locate Elana's location on Earth.

As the Captain sat back down, I gestured for the Mayor to take over. "My comment was largely going to be about additional transportation as well," she said with a smile. "We hardly lack for miners; there's been something of a gold rush once the word got out about the new mining village."

"We've been getting applicants faster than it can grow up there in the mountains, so it shouldn't be hard to get people as long as the pay is appropriate," she finished as she settled back down.

In other words, I would have to pay extra for the remoteness and potential danger. Not unexpected, and it was good to hear that there were people who would be interested.

With my piece complete, I sat back down and started the rest of the presentations. The Captain reported on the success of our patrols after the army had left. They struggled a little at first due to a lack of firepower but soon recovered after he'd put together and equipped the strike team.

While there had been injuries, we hadn't had any casualties yet, and the number of troops on hand had steadily grown with the increased population. That was good news, and I encouraged him to continue recruitment.

Currently, the levy I was required to provide was almost entirely made up of my ships. If I ever wanted to be able to move beyond the planet, I would need a large group of trained soldiers to take their place.

Finally, the Mayor gave her piece, followed by several smaller presentations from her aides. They covered the town's status and the villages under its protection.

Two of the people I'd short-listed from my original interviews had come up with the funding needed and had begun setting up farming villages with the Mayor's approval. I would need to confirm their appointments with an official baronage once complete, but I saw no issues with doing so.

They were already part-way through construction and should be prepared for immigration by planting season. This would dramatically increase the area of farmland we could protect with patrols, which was the primary limiting factor on how large our operation could be.

It would also help off-load some of the town's population. From the Mayor's report, it was close to double the size before winter, and that was before the bulk of the farming labor had arrived.

Housing might still be available, but the town's amenities were beginning to strain under the rapid expansion. More work would be required to aid in its smooth transition to a full city, which seemed to be approaching far more rapidly than anyone had expected.

I authorized further spending from our taxes for now, but with all of my other commitments, I couldn't invest any more of my personal funds. Many of the needed developments would have to wait until harvest time when we would sell to the entire food-hungry province.

David and the Mayor's forecast numbers would then cover the work at even the most conservative estimate.

Hours had passed by the time the last presentation had finished, and it was now well into the afternoon. I thanked everyone for their hard work and organized individual meetings over the next few days before I left.

I wanted to make sure I took care of everything urgent before I returned to the mine. While it would be a much shorter trip than the last one, I didn't want to shirk my responsibilities any more than I already had.

Then, I was free to return to the frigate with Linnea. It was nice to be home, however odd it was to call a spaceship that, and we settled in for a meal with the crew. The new cook was excellent; Elana had done a great job selecting them.

I made sure to get introduced to everyone and do my best to remember their names over the meal. While it might be some time before they went into combat under my command, it was best to start building the relationship early.

They needed to see me as in charge but also as approachable. I was sorely aware everyone here knew their job a lot better than I did, and I wanted them to feel safe bringing up objections or problems when needed.

After the meal, I was finally free to bring up my ship repair quest in the privacy of my cabin.

Quest: A ship of your own

While you have gained a frigate through luck and bargaining, it is in a sorry state indeed. Repair, rearm, and man this vessel to bring it back to its full potential.

Objectives:

Repair and Rearm:

Fully repair ship components (3265/3723)

Refill missile reserves (0%)

Refill Torpedo reserves (0%)

Refill Fuel Reserves (87%)

Skeleton Crew:

Hire pilot 1/1

Hire chief engineer 1/1

Hire assistant engineers 0/3

Build engineering robots 20/20

Hire communications officer 0/1

Hire sensor operator: 0/3

Hire AI capable of handling communications and sensors 1/1

Hire weapons officer: 0/1

Hire fighter pilots 9/4

Hire gunboat pilot 2/1

Hire fighter support personnel: 3/3

Rewards:

A working ship

The progress on it was good, particularly in the Skeleton Crew section. With the alterations it had recorded, the only person we were missing was a weapons officer. It was something that Mira, our onboard AI, couldn't handle due to the Arkathian safeguards.

Unless Elana could manage to override those, and we decided it was a good idea to give the AI weapons control, we would need to find a capital ship officer who knew what they were doing.

Repair and Rearm was on track as well, or at least the repair part was. The rest of those components would be fixed once we had the Resulum. Rearming was something we'd have to focus on after that.

The fabricator should be capable of building the torpedoes and missiles as long as we could provide enough raw materials. It might be expensive, but we would manage.

Confident that we'd be able to finish the quest, I enjoyed the rest of the night with Linnea before we drifted off.

After a few more days of managing things here, we could finally acquire the Resulum and complete the deal with Broker.