Blue Star Enterprises

"While I was impressed by the ship schematics, I'm rather looking forward to seeing the interior," Krieger admitted from the copilot's seat in the shuttle.

They weren't alone on the flight up; there was a whole group in the back of the shuttle, but Alexander had chosen to fly it himself since it would be the shuttle that resided aboard the new heavy assault frigate. It was a smaller ship than the old pirate shuttles that he had refurbished, but it could carry the same number of people or cargo. That was thanks to some of the upgrades he had been able to make courtesy of the captured corporate gunship. It also sported a hidden FE cannon as well as a few other surprises.

"I am as well," Alexander admitted nervously. The Orca was the first ship he had built from the ground up with an actual crew in mind. He didn't include the Stingray prototype that Char had taken since that thing was a mess, and he hadn't built any other piloted Stingray gunships as of yet.

Those will be coming soon. Now that he had the bugs worked out with the design and a weapon system he was comfortable with, it was time to start producing the trainers. The cadets from the academy would be flying copilot in those before the year was out and well before Alexander returned from his trip.

He banked the shuttle slightly, and the ship loomed large in the wrap-around holo display.

Krieger let out a soft whistle. "The STO is doing themselves a disservice by not painting their ships. That thing looks gorgeous. Did you name it yet?"

Alexander agreed that the ship was something else. Much like the Stingray, it was all smooth curves. Even the lasers were hidden inside rounded protuberances that barely stuck out from the hull. The front of the ship sloped rather abruptly, forming a sort of wide duckbill kind of shape at the front.

Instead of answering Krieger's question, Alexander flew alongside the sleek vessel and gestured to the lettering on the side.

"BSE Yulia's Grace?" the man asked. "Don't get me wrong, Alex, it's a nice name, but don't you think it might go to your daughter's head to have a ship named after her?"

"Have you met my daughter? She doesn't much care about stuff like that, and she hates when people call her princess or treat her differently than the other kids, but I didn't name the ship for her sake. I did it to make a point to anyone who might be thinking about harming her or us." He gestured at the ship. "That is the grace they will be presented with upon our visit. They better hope they don't squander it because I will not have any if someone attempts to harm my daughter, me, or any of the crew."

Krieger just stared at Alexander for a moment before turning back to the ship. "I see your point. Hopefully, you won't need to make it again while in STO space."

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst," Alexander said as he turned the shuttle and entered Grace's hangar.

"I agree with the sentiment, but that sounds like something Galloway would say. I think you two have been spending too much time together lately."

Alexander chuckled at the comment, and Krieger smirked.

He knew the man was just trying to lighten the mood, and he was right to do so. This was a day of celebration, not one where he should be fixating on the worst possible scenarios that might happen while he visited the center of power for the STO.

Once the hangar was pressurized, he stepped out along with the other visitors, who included the new civilian council. They were a mix of people from every possible group on Eden's End, and Alexander only knew a few names.

One of those was Jacob Tallan, who happened to be Sarah's father. Alexander had been surprised when he first learned that Yulia's friend's father had joined the new council, but he really shouldn't have been. The man had been rather active in the community since Alexander had saved him back during Arkonis' attack.

Another surprise council member was Mingyu Na. The man had been admiring the hangar with the rest of the visitors, but his friend smiled when he noticed him step off the shuttle.

Mingyu made his way over. "Alex. I must say, I've been watching the ship construction take place over the last few weeks, and while it is a very unique-looking ship from the outside, I have a feeling the inside will be even more so."

"I'm certain you will be impressed. As for you, we haven't spoken much lately, and now I know why."

Mingyu chuckled. "Yes, the council thing just sort of came up, and I decided to offer up my expertise. I almost forgot how much work it was being in charge, and the council doesn't even have many duties."

"If it's too much, I could slow down mining operations," Alexander offered.

"Don't you dare," Mingyu said with a laugh. "I need a reason to leave every once and a while, and with your generosity, I might actually regain some of the wealth I lost during my flight from Petrov." That last part came out with a bit of bitterness, so Alexander decided to switch the topic.

"How is your family settling in? I know Yi Na is doing well in his position, but I don't interact with the rest of your family quite as much. If I recall correctly, one of your sisters was a bioengineer. Two medical companies recently set up shop on Eden's End. She may want to try working with them."

"It's funny you should mention that. Wei did approach those companies, but they didn't want anything to do with someone with outdated knowledge from the Coalition."

Alexander winced at that. It was easy to forget that some people within the STO still held a grudge against the former Coalition worlds, even though the war had ended decades ago. "Is it going to be a problem?"

Mingyu shook his head. "Not unless you don't want competition. Wei is too stubborn to back down. She took their dismissal of her skills as a challenge. Since then, she has gathered up a team of people, which includes some of the Asgardian doctors who remained behind, a few skilled chemists from the refugee population, and help from your Head of Medical, Gabriella." Mingyu glanced around before lowering his voice. "She plans on synthesizing all of the medications from the STO before the two new arrivals realize that the STO's patent laws don't apply out here."

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Alexander couldn't help but chuckle at that. The Asgardian legal system had a series of patent laws, but it didn't prevent people from recreating your product; they were mainly in place so those who invented something and patented it got a cut when a company from another planet decided to manufacture it there to save the cost of transport.

He hadn't patented anything within Union territory yet, but he would in time. Alexander would be sure to patent them in the STO at the same time, though, to prevent some shady corporation from trying to steal his designs again.

"Competition is good, and it sounds like those new companies need a wake-up call. I wish her luck. What of the rest of your family?"

"Doing well. My father enjoys teaching, and my mother has taken up some seamstress work to keep busy. Ju and Jin don't seem to mind their positions, although I suspect Ju would still prefer to have her own company."

Alexander frowned slightly at that. "I'll keep that in mind, but I did warn her before she took the position that all imports and exports would go through BSE."

"She knows this," Mingyu confirmed, "she just likes to complain. It's not easy going from being your own boss to someone else's employee, even if she is practically her own boss with the way you run the trade on Eden's End."

"If she's truly unhappy, please tell her to come see me or Pembrooke. I'm sure something can be worked out."

Mingyu nodded. "I'll mention it to her, but enough about my family, I want to see this ship."

Alexander obliged his friend.

The interior of Yulia's Grace was quite a bit different than any other warship he had been aboard. It differed from a standard Orca class as well.

Because of the nature of the ship as his personal diplomatic vessel and the fact that he and others might be spending more than a year aboard, it had a few more luxuries than a warship would normally have.

The first thing the group came across upon exiting the hangar was the main hallway, which had been covered by art and tapestries purchased from the citizens of Eden's End. There were a few bare spots here and there, but the faux wood material tastefully filled those spaces, making the ship feel much more like an actual home than a cold metallic box.

Alexander hoped to fill a few of those spots with Asgardian art at some point, but trade between Unokane and the other Union planets was still quite slow since the Jarls or their people had to visit in person or go to Asgard to use the only Asgardian Qcomm.

That hadn't stopped Alexander from making a few deals to sell thruster design plans to the Jarls who had reached out to him. Those sales had occurred prior to his pulsed fusion embargo deal with Omni, so he saw no point in mentioning it during their negotiations. He wouldn't be able to patent the design anymore according to his agreement with Omni, but that wouldn't stop Char or the other Jarls from doing so.

He chuckled internally at that. For all Omni's efforts to stop them, all they did was open up a can of worms for even more people to undercut their profits in that market.

It would take time for Char and those other Asgardian worlds to build the engines based on his design schematics, but that was fine. He knew he would never likely have enough manufacturing in Unokane to fill every single order, especially when his product line was constantly expanding.

The next destination on their tour was a holo suite. Alexander had been surprised to find out that watching movies wasn't much of a pastime in the present day. At least that seemed to be the case for everyone he had met.

Then again, everyone who Alexander interacted with had more important things to do than waste hours sitting around entertaining themselves. He did purchase a few films from the core worlds, but he suspected the room would be mostly used for its interactive nature and ability to immerse the person or people in whatever visual scene they wished to experience. Alexander had programmed a few natural vistas into the device for people to enjoy.

It was showing The Pit at the moment, devoid of Alexander's targets or anything to mar the natural beauty of the massive canyon.

"Is that from Eden's End?" one of the council members asked in surprise. "It's beautiful."

Alexander nodded at the woman's question. He felt bad about using such a picturesque place to test weapons, but it was the only feature on the planet that fit his requirements. Eden's End was a rather flat planet, being tectonically stable. The few mountain ranges that were present were simply remnants from meteor strikes long in the past. All other features were created through erosion from the scant water the planet contained on the surface.

The Pit was one such feature, its jagged and multilayered walls having once been a small sea. Normally, you would expect the acid rain to soften such features, but the weather worked to weaken the rock. The rock would then break away, exposing newly jagged edges.

The tour continued to a training room/gym. Yulia's Grace used up a significant chunk of Alexander's remaining gravity plates to ensure gravity throughout the vessel. Some had been recovered from the pirate ships, but most of the pirates hadn't bothered with them, and the ones that did spread them out, so it was more like working on a small moon than a planet. Even Harlow's dreadnought only had them in certain places. Considering there were no additional riches found aboard his vessel before it was fed to The Maw, the pirate must have either used up his entire fortune building the ship, or he had hidden his remaining wealth somewhere else.

Alexander knew the man must have a shipyard somewhere, but there were no clues aboard the ship or in Harlow's quarters to point to where it might be.

The man had even wiped the location from the computer. Unfortunately, he didn't wipe the system or direction of travel after that point. Alexander already had the research core crunching possible star locations to help locate that base. Leaving a pirate stronghold out there to spawn another Harlow somewhere down the line sounded like a very bad idea. And he had little faith in the STO to deal with it before it became a problem once again.

The group arrived at the mess hall next, which had been turned into a quiet and comfy-looking restaurant. People could choose to eat in groups or sit in one of the quieter booths for some privacy.

Speaking of privacy, all of the crew would be getting their own rooms aboard Grace. Yulia even had her own bedroom inside Alexander's cabin. That bedroom was probably the most heavily defended spot on the entire ship. Not that he skimped on protection elsewhere, he had just gone a little overboard on his daughter's.

Grace sported three layers of corporate armor. There was very little that was getting through that. Yulia's room simply had an additional layer of stealth composite sandwiched inside the walls and door for an extra bit of security.

Was he being overprotective again? Yes. Did he care? No.

The last stop on the tour was the bridge. The group stopped in silence, and some people had to be propped up as vertigo set in.

Alexander probably should have warned them.

He had covered the entire bridge in the same wrap-around holo that was on the Stingray prototype and his new shuttle. There was also a tac display in the center, but that was currently off.

The effect was like stepping off a ship to float in open space. The effect was only marred slightly by the unobtrusive consoles.

He found it breathtaking, but then again, he was used to seeing everything at once. Some people reacted negatively to feeling like they were untethered from a surface, even if that wasn't the case. With a gesture, he turned off the floor holo to lessen the effect, which garnered sighs of relief from the people behind him.

Mingyu walked up next to Alexander and took in the view. "I may want something like this for the Destiny," he said quietly. "I can already imagine turning off the gravity plating inside the bridge and simply floating there."

Alexander smiled at that. Mingyu understood. "Speak with Pembrooke, I'm sure he can arrange something."