Today was the big day, the day I went back to that drop carrier. I was already standing outside an uplink pod, staring at the glass door. My black player Card that I had come to call the rig Card. It was in hand and I knew I was procrastinating, unsure If I should be leaving now with the England Clan already on their way up to the orbital station schedule to arrive while I'm in the rig.

  The clan had accepted the deal and transferred enough credits To start construction on enough housing for their entire clan. Which I had queued to ensure it was completed, luckily I didn't need all the resources for it until it came time to build it. A slippery slope, purchasing without the funds to pay for it. They had also paid the asked prices for the scout ships and another ship. They were also launching rockets full of resources into space for us to build a specific freight barge they had selected To do resource collection from the planet. Which was currently being built in the dry Docks, using resources we had on hand, and would be replaced once The rocket was collected by the mining barge on Its way in.

  My uncles and aunts had stopped arguing long enough to start helping again. My aunts had thrown themselves into the parks and their designs, spending their own money to blueprint a design with trees, flowers, grass, and all sorts of fields for games like football, basketball. I had even heard them talking about an ice hockey rink. My uncles had thrown themselves at the automobile factory designing cars, trucks, and even some bikes. I didn't understand the importance Of a panhead versus a shovelhead engine, but my uncle was insistent. There was a very good one. I had decided to leave them to it.

  I walked into the uplink pod and waved at the sensor to close and lock the door. A moment later, I was standing in front of the card plate. I pulled out my black rig Card and slid it into the plate. A few seconds later I was standing in that little room on the drop carrier and was lifting an arm sluggishly as I rotated it. The man from last time suddenly walked into the room, looked me up and down, then frowned.

  “Ah, yes we are still calibrating the mech its new skin is slowing it down. Should take a bit longer to finish the calibration. But on the bright side, it looks exactly like you, even has your tattoo.”

  Without even stopping to let me process that, he continued.

  “Okay, so, update time, I have been informed that you will not be allowed a clone body, something about complaints and worries to do with insubordination or something, I'm honestly not sure. Scuttle bud is the commander even went on a tirade complaining that he couldn't transfer you to another carrier until he settled down and remembered you wasn't even logged in. He began to investigate how you got those complaints without even being here. “

  He eyed the mech as if that would give him the answer to how that had happened, so I made the mech shrug its shoulders. Before responding to him.

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  “I wasn't, a carrier arrived in my solar system, and I was at the command table when they hailed, and I got labelled insubordinate for saying I was the guild mistress, owner of the orbital station and Solar system twice.

  “What? That is your civilian life and has nothing to do with your void career.”

  “Yea, I guess he wanted me to say I was logged in and stationed there and acted like it was true”

  “Alright, I’ll make a note of that and forward it to command to help them with their investigation. Now, since the commander has had to follow through on the punishment since the complaint is on your file, here is what you do get. There are currently six of these mech bodies on board drop carrier 204. So don't brake them if you do, you will have to pay for their replacement yourself, and they are expensive!”

  He opened and closed his mouth a few times before frowning and quickly tapping away on the glass screen that suddenly appeared in his hand before looking up at me and smiling.

  “Okay, according to the specs, the mech’s do have the ability to repair themselves in the field, you could use materials lying around to perform field repairs to the mech, get it in enough shape to limp on and hopefully back to the ship where it can undergo maintenance, an option that is a lot cheaper but unfortunately still a lot more expensive than a clone body. I'm sorry.”

  I saw the sympathy in his eyes before he glanced off to the side at his hud and got a look like he was now in a hurry to explain and get out of here.

  “Alright, the mech is dressed in the normal black grey camouflage pants and black boots, but it has this cool jacket to set it apart from every other soldier on the field or in a ship. You know, to help identify a drop carrier pilot. The dark blue material that goes up the arms and across the shoulder blades, coupled with the light blue wrapped around the torso. Its beautiful right?”

  He glanced at his hud again, and I could see him starting to get antsy, like he really didn't want to be here anymore.

  “Aah, I have to go, I don't have time to explain how to pilot the drop carrier by thought and feel anymore, you are being deployed in a few minutes and I need to get the hell out of this hangar before they vent it to open space. So here is the quick version of your mission.”

  He quickly pulled something out of a pocket that looked like a coin and activated it, showing me a map of a solar system.

  “Alright, the Terance is about here now, and you will be deployed from there. You need to fly to this planet and aim for this side of it. Head down towards this continent that is shaped like a feline pintura from the planet Seclurit. Once you are over this area, you are to think ‘Deploy drop-ships’ and wait for all of them to fly away before thinking ‘Close hangar doors.’ then head for this valley here and land the drop carrier. Make sure it is properly landed and powered down before mentally announcing ‘Initiate Foothold Base Deployment’ that will turn your drop carrier into the foothold base. Okay, I'm sure you will figure it out and get it done, so good luck and safe flying!”

  He turned and ran from the room, I could hear his footsteps running away as fast as his legs could carry him. I was about to disconnect the mech from its cradle when I heard an announcement.

  “All hands to battle stations, I repeat. All hands to battle stations. Pilots prepare for deployment!”

  I quickly abandoned the idea of taking the mech for a spin and thought about disconnecting from it. I was not prepared for the information overload that came from all the cameras and microphones that were spread though out the entire drop carrier ship. Including the connected ones from the drop-ships that were somehow plugged into the drop carrier for oxygen and power purposes. I could see everything inside me and around me, including every single person and what they were currently doing.

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