"Yeah it'll be a sight for sure." I said while also imagining it.
Whatever the case it was a far off goal as I had to get rid of all this trash first. I didn't quite have enough materials to create a second furnace yet without dipping into my personal stores but that was fine as the first furnace would likely fix this soon enough. With the materials stored in my house finally we headed back to town where a surprise awaited me. There standing next to the fast travel station with a cocky smirk was Clay.-
"Yo! Been a tick or two ain't it kid?" he said grinning.
"About three weeks give or take galactic standard time." I with a smile as I walked up to him.
"Whatcha been up to kid? And who are your friends here?" He asked curiously.
"Follow along to the place we're currently operating out of, the walls got ears here." I said and he nodded.
Clay's a damn good smuggler and so knew that talking out in the open wasn't always the best idea, especially in hostile areas. My friends looked at Clay curiously but didn't say anything until we were back in my house.
"Well I'll be a jabbers uncle, that egg finally hatched! Mighty impressive looking critter too if a bit small." Clay said with an impressed whistle when he saw Ladon in my house.
"That's Ladon, the goodest boy." I said as I scratched the big lizard affectionately on his side. "Anyways I suppose introductions are in order! Everyone this is Clay, Smuggler, Gunslinger and all around people person. Also an official slash unofficial part of the Jakobs family like my badass self!" I said grandly as I gestured dramatically at Clay.
"Haven't lost your flair I see, then again you are the same person who created a dragon for no other reason than because you thought it'd be cool." Clay said with a chuckle.
"Presentation is important I'll have you know! Anywho moving on to this eclectic clusterfuck of a group is in order Roland, ex-crimson lance man and grouchy faced soldier. Lilith, fellow Siren and rose with daggers for thorns. Brick, berserker and all around bro. Finally there's Mordecai and his bestest bird Bloodwing who is our designated sniper and bird respectively. You already know me so no introductions needed there." I said with a grin.
"No joke? DAAAM son that's quite the collection of personalities." Clay said genuinely surprised by that short but sweet introduction.
"I'm not grouchy faced, just take things seriously." Roland said defensively.
"No you look like someone pissed in your cereal ninety percent of the time and the remaining ten percent you are either asleep or slipped up with some other expression." I said giving him a deadpan look.
"Ha! Grouchy face." Brick said with a loud laugh as Roland's expression went to his default resting bitch state.
I turned back to Clay with a curious look "Why are you here anyways? I doubt it's because you were missing this ugly mug." I asked as I took off my mask and sat back in a chair relaxed.
"You might look a bit odd but I don't know about ugly. You're right though this isn't a social call. Got a couple of reasons for being here as a matter of fact. Dude by the name of Marcus ordered some stuff you can't find on world for one and the other was to drop off your ship that the old man finally got back from those eggheads who were lets say "reluctant" to part with it." Clay said as he leaned against the wall.
"I WAS wondering about that." I said honestly.
I knew the old man wasn't the sort of person to go back on his word and I also knew that simply putting parts together should have taken at most a month for the estimated size of the ship. That brought up the question of what the fucking hold up was but I didn't bother asking since the old man would definitely take care of it. Learning that it was the scientists and engineers who had been keeping the ships delayed on purpose solved that little riddle perfectly.-
I kinda felt bad for them as if I wasn't wrong they were trying to figure out how I had miniaturized the parts without effecting performance. Since the manufacturing method was through my crafter however there was no way in hell they could which led to the delay as they pointlessly wasted time to try and figure it out. Still I had to admit I was VERY fucking stoked to get access to my own personal ship as that meant access to the entire universe. *Que guy holding universe in hand meme*-
"Old Monty ended up sending some folks to forcefully collect the ships from the eggheads. Got a little hairy before the stubborn bastards handed them over. Gotta admit they are beauts too, only a bit bigger than an orbital dropship really. Only flaw I saw was a small storage space but with this fancy alien house I don't see that being an issue for you." Clay said as he pulled up a picture of the ship on his echo to project out for us to see. The ship looked a bit like a blade if you were to make the blade almost ovular and added windows and thrusters on it.-
Clearly the thing was designed for atmospheric entry and flight as well as space travel just as I'd hoped it would be. There was plenty of planets that likely held life that went undiscovered still and thus didn't have fast travel stations on their surface. If I found them but couldn't land on them to explore much of the utility of the ship would vanish for me. I mean I suppose I could rig up a sort of missile system to launch fast travel stations from orbit to the surface but it would honestly be better if I could just take the ship from orbit and land it on the surface.-
"That ship is Alex's!?" Lil exclaimed in shock when she saw the gorgeous and clearly high end spacecraft's image.
"Yep, I wanted it to eventually travel the cosmos in search of new traits and lifeforce." I said proudly.
"Roadtrip!" Brick said excitedly.
"Don't jump the gun mate, still gotta open the vault first." I reminded him.
"But then we go on a road trip?" he asked with his best puppy dog eyes, kinda creepy looking to be honest.
"We'll see. I take it you've got the fast travel code for the ship with you?" I asked Clay eagerly.
"Sending it over now." he said and soon I got the code and chuckled at what it was, Pr3d4tr.
"Lets go check it out then, not going to bring it down to the surface though since the locals might try something stupid." I said and we all piled out of my house again as I closed it up and stored it away.
We headed over to the fast travel station but i paused for a second instead of using it straight away. I waved over Scooter instead who walked over with a confused look.
"You need somethin?" he asked confused.
"Nah, just wanted to know if you wanted to come with us to check out my ship. Seemed like something you'd get a kick out of." I said with a grin.
He shuddered slightly at that since I hadn't bothered putting my mask back on. "I'd like to see the ship but, uh, maybe you should keep your mask on?" he suggested awkwardly.
I shrugged and put my mask on "A scary look, I get it. Don't worry about offending me though, I am very aware I look like a demon. Side effect of my powers unfortunately." I said unbothered by his repulsion response to my face.
"I don't see what the big deal is." Brick said confused.
I chuckled "Never change mate." I said patting his back before setting up the fast travel to the ship and hitting the button.
The usual sudden blackness and then unfamiliar surroundings happened as I was sent digitally to my new ship. Looking around I was impressed at what I saw as the interior while kinda small was squeaky clean.-
I couldn't find so much as a spot of decay or any scratches on any of the walls that had exposed pipes and a few wires as well as a smooth titanium floor. The fast travel was clearly located in the storage area and as Clay said the place was not big at all maybe fifteen feet wide and long with a ceiling only ten feet tall. It certainly wasn't crowded when everyone arrived but it also wasn't spacious either. Scooter's eyes brightened as he looked around and the others shared a similar amazed look.-
"This is NOTHING like the transport we came in on, it's so clean!" Mordy said amazed.
___________________________________________
https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce:259,524
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade]X4, [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Demi-supreme body-Legendary grade], [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X2,[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade], [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade],
Stored traits: [Flame projection gland], [Mechanical engineering expertise(degraded)-Common grade]