Destination: Ashes

My passenger stays clear after that; I prepare his meals (with polyfluid…), and keep it fancy, but he largely loses his arrogance… at least with me.

For my part in the trip, I quietly switch out my Mythic Tradition… by kicking myself out of my high priest position, dropping down to just a Favored Worshipper (single rank) for a day, and giving my high priest position back to myself. Why? Because I get most of what I really want from an Astral Suit from Mythic and spells, while I can use a Solar Connection to activate a Training Interface Module for an arbitrary weapon for my ship. The TIM costs three build points, and I can provide a twelve point weapon - more as I level - netting me nine… and as a bonus, scans will say the ship is unarmed. I kept the cloak for when I want to hide… but for the most part, I'm after the experience: I only want the cloak when I'm worried about biting off more than I can chew.

The trip goes smoothly, unfortunately. The drift transition works fine, we don't encounter anything of note…

Johnas Albright does notice something, though: “How did you refit the ship without stopping?” He asks me one day at a meal.

I chuckle, “Trade secret.” Don't worry about it. All you need to concern yourself with is that remaining half when we arrive.”

“Electronic transfer OK?” I nod, as I don't really care, “I'll transfer when we're there, then.” We're largely silent for the rest of the trip.

We exit the Drift over the destination, I look through the sensors, and I call him through the ship's comm to give him the bad news, “There's no military outpost here.”

“What?” He frowns (yes, I'm linked to the ship, and can use the cameras to watch as he comes up the stairs), “My information is…” he trails off as he sees the screens.

“...out of date,” I shake my head at the giant smoldering crater where I suppose a military base used to be. “Sensor readings suggest it took a couple of orbital nukes about half a day ago. Had we arrived yesterday, you'd probably be dead.”

He just stares at it, so I continue, “Do you have any other safehouses?”

“Not really…” he just stares at the screen.

I nod, “I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you probably don't have the half on arrival.”

“...my accounts were here…” he confirms.

Good thing I don't actually care about the money. I can now conjure up tenth level gear for weapons, armor, armor upgrades, and non-disposable technological items; level twelve for cybernetic augmentations. Any other item I can still get, but I need to go through some hoops, and my Conjuration Companions are limited to making ninth level gear… which is why I picked up Fabricate Arms and Instant Upgrade this level, so I could stay at tenth level gear. Hmm... I could probably add a few buffs to improve that...

“Well…” I consider, “what are your plans?”

“Doesn't matter…” he isn't taking his eyes off the scene, “...I can't pay you for this trip, much less another. And it doesn't matter: Anywhere I go, I'll be hunted.”

I think for a bit, “How would you like to be a hologram?”

He turns and looks at me, “What?”

I chuckle, "Give me a couple days to prepare, and I can transfer your mind into a Hologram Core. You'd lose the symbiote,” along with the associated magic, “but could collect the bounty on your own head by turning in your old body. You'll be dead in their eyes, and you'll have money… of which I'll take half.”

“So I'd keep five million…” he considers.

“And get a new face, which you could change.” I shrug, “Invest well, keep your expenses down,” which should be easy, given that he won't need to eat, “and you could live well for a long time.” Potentially forever: Holograms don't have a maximum age, unlike his base race.

“I…” he considers, and shakes his head, “...yeah, sure. Best offer I have.”

I nod, “Great. Where do you claim it?”

We go over the details, and I plot a new course. While traveling, I build the hologram core, swap a few talents known out overnight, and run the transfer.

After several days, we arrive in orbit around our destination….