Faux Realm Ch. 06

Lucian could only gawk at the words that this being was speaking, not knowing about protocol about speaking to a being as apparently important as this one, so he raised his right hand to attract his attention.

"You may speak, young one." The pig said.

"Umm Sir, I do not know how to fly a ship, pilot a boat or where the people's homes are, I just did what needed to be done. I knew my sibling was on that boat and I did that to save her." Silently Lucian spoke.

He breathed several times but continued to make his case, "People on this ship did way braver things that I have, and I just exploited a glitch in the enemy system."

"Radiant One. Lucian is correct he was just a slave himself not even 90 cycles ago." Al'Jafar spoke with reverence.

"And yet here he is, doing what you pledged to do, not even a trained soldier, I think and furthermore the Council shares my opinion, that such actions should be rewarded and encouraged. Not disregarded for simple thing of his career choice."

His bright radiant eyes focused back on Lucian and asked with booming voice, "Tell me, young one, what you did before you were enslaved."

"Ummm, Radiant one?" Lucian asked, while the being on the screen gently nodded his head.

Lucian breathed slightly and continued, "Well, Radiant One, my job was to program, design and draw. It did not matter what, my company had several different projects in gaming, construction and even software development."

Slowly as the radiant being listened to his monologue he started to smile, "And yet you had the heart, courage and motivation to do what needed to be done, to walk on path of righteousness. You are indeed deserving of this reward."

"If you do not know how to fly then you shall get someone to fly with, nothing is impossible if you have faith in the Elements. A silly matter of not having a qualification to do certain things can be corrected."

His gaze never left Lucian's waiting for few moments for him to speak then the Radiant One continued, "Learn how to do things you can't do and hone those skills that you already have."

Nodding his head the screen went black and he was left alone in a room of senior officers that did not know if this was a giant farce. Out of 10 people standing silently, processing previously said conversation only two had been genuinely happy. Ericha and Liza looked at Lucian, both women had smiles on their faces like they knew what just had been said was the whole undeniably truth. But for some reason Lucian was not scared, he nervously expected to get to the things that would allow him to do those things.

Radiant One was right. Al'Jafar knew that, this was the correct outcome when a person, especially a civilian, does something as brave as this. You wanted to encourage, promote and abuse his 'notoriety'.

"Well, Elements be damned, this is something new." He sighed while looking at his senior staff and rest of the people in the room.

Al'Jafar was tired, moving his aching body towards the table he sat in one chair and looked at the dazed room in front of him, "We can only follow his orders."

Strangely Luca still remained silent, but Al'Jafar kept going, taking of his glasses he started wiping them clean, a habit which he often did while considering his options, "Orders aside, I want you to report to me daily."

Watching Lucian's eyes he continued, "Write detailed reports about what you are doing and where you are going, also, we will give you everything you need to learn and apply on at least that rookie pilot license."

Putting back his glasses, he used his fingers to make them stay in place while inspecting Lucian's reaction, with his other hand he took a glass of water, "It will not be easy, but I recommend you start by equipping your ship with people that know what they are doing."

"Radiant Pig never did say how I'm going to do that, I guess you do not need money to buy things in your Star Republic." Lucian said.

Al'Jafar spat water as he was drinking, as he watched Lucian's unintendedly disrespectful remark, "It's ONE do not forget that, you are currently mocking him and what he stands for and I will not allow that on my ship or in my presence."

"Right, sorry, it's just he looks so much like pigs from where I am, kind of funny." Lucian laughed.

Al'Jafar glared at the man and said, "I do not give a damn what you have on your primitive world, you are in our waters now and I suggest you focus. Poking and mocking the wrong people can get you killed."

"He did apologize, you have to remember that this is all new to him." Luca finally stepped up voicing his own opinion on the matter.

"That is just as crazy, why would someone so respected make him do things of that nature. When did you see a civilian getting a permission to fly, and not just that but getting a ship on top of it? It's just preposterous." Al'Jafar said.

Luca did not even break a sweat answering Captain's questions, "This reward ceremony, if we might call it that, is first of its kind, but on the other end you have a man that has done something that most of us here never really dreamed of doing. Or came close to do. Sure we can say that we were close by and we would do the deed first, but imagine if we were pressed by those in bottom levels, as they were doing, we might have destroyed the ship and in the process kill 2000 innocent souls."

Walking for a bit as if thinking his next words, he continued, "I would say that he was lucky, nothing more, but he used that luck to his advantage."

"I hope this alleviates some of your fears about the man, Captain." Luca ended with a hand of Al'Jafar's shoulders.

"This is so amazing, so let me get this straight, you'll give me a ship and I'll be able to fly the stars?" It was not hard to see Lucian's happy face as he questioned the two men standing on in front of him.

"Yes." Luca answered with a simple question.

"Yeah baby! I get first dibs on naming my ship." Lucian exclaimed. People around him flinched when he yelled out his excitement.

"Well you can figure that out later, Lucian, to answer your question, about the money, you'll get a starting capital to make your purchases. Later you'll have to provide your own money for any upgrades you want." Luca said.

"Oh. Okay. So I want lasers, mines AND torpedoes. Forward and back. I mean aft." Lucian was blabbering and could not be stopped.

"What do you call the forward and back here in your space. Forward-O?" Lucian asked people in the room.

Majority of them had a hard time of figuring out what this man wanted from them. "I mean you never know, sometimes shit happens."

He begun to count things on his fingers listing all of the things he would need for HIS ship. Everyone thought this was a bad idea, even Ericha and Liza, who, for their own reasons, did not want Lucian anywhere near a ship that could potentially bring harm to their lover.

"So forever buds, how much coin do I get?" Lucian asked.

He was now seated in a chair, his legs went up and gracefully nestled on top of the table. A large smirk was on his face for this potential windfall.

"Well you get nothing, it's what we call crediting, when you get at our designated shops people will already be paid for their services. Which you have no control of. This is meant to be fast and simple. Your first time doing anything of a sort this is what we like to call a fixed upgrade." Luca explained.

Lucian, finally defeated said, "Ah poo, you are no fun. I wanted my ship to be prime and ready for anything or anyone."

Al'Jafar sat again in his chair and leaned back, as far as his back would let him. Watching the circus unfold in front of him he had to chuckle. Lucian was acting like a boy receiving his pet for the very first time, something this old man understood. He was as giddy if not more when he first got to see his first ship. A man's dream is to fly the stars.

Go on an adventure that never ends.