An Explorer

I tour my new ship. I went with the default frame: The Explorer. It's a Medium starship, two hundred feet long, space for six. I went with the Luxury accommodations, so each crew member will have a private cabin, bathroom, kitchenette, and such: Basically an apartment… not that there's anyone on board besides myself who will care. The ship itself is another bioship (so it's a creature I can enchant). I maximized the engines and shields, the range (but not quality) of the sensors, upgraded the Turret to a heavy mount, and of course installed a Training Interface Module so I can load it with a weapon on the fly and a Consciousness Uplink Drive so I can act as two crew members. I went with very long range budget sensors (including the special materials to make it even longer range), and a few other odds and ends. Of particular note is that I skip the cloak. Why? Because I buff the ship up.

I use suppression of all senses from Spheres of Power Illusion - including using Advanced Invisibility and Selective Illusions. The Protection Sphere grants options for immunity to the basic elements (Lasers deal fire damage…) and Unplottable so that it's really hard to see. Eternal Steel from Nature for Regeneration, of course. Delay Disease, Delay Pain, Delay Poison, Lead Plating… basically my own buff list, plus a few things I'd never need myself. I can even give it personal spells by way of the Share Spells teamwork feat. I even share my Mythic ring with the ship so I can use the hand wearing it to share Undetectable with the vessel when needed just by holding on to something - that just requires contact, not actually wearing it. So I'll have a starship that's visible to anyone I want, and unfindable by anyone else even while I'm firing…

Of course, the ship has six seats, and I only fill one. So I fill the other five with Conjuration Companions handled similarly: Mindless companions (using Gift of Mind from the Enhancement sphere to let them act independently, and Capable Companion to get them infinite feats and skills), then much of my own buff list to boot. They end up with sixteen hit dice, class skills across the board, max ranks in everything, reasonable skill with Spheres casting (caster level of half their hit dice, so eight, Practiced Spellcaster to boost that to twelve, Gift for Magic in each Sphere to boost that to fourteen - Extra Traits and a Magic Exemplar trait lets them take Gift for Magic more than once - a +5 Implement for a chosen sphere gets them to nineteen, and a Manabond from me gets them up to twenty-two for the chosen sphere, vs. twenty-one for all of them for me)… good numbers all around.

I still play pilot, though, as the Pilot sphere is a restricted sphere, and has a lot of goodies for starship combat. Most of them aren't actually worth the level difference (I'm seventh, my minions are effectively sixteenth, so when they're driving, the ship's forty-five percent harder to hit before the boosts from Moving Target and One With the Machine which don't cover it: I'm still one point shy on TL and five on AC), but when I'm piloting, we'll always get the best positioning due to Divine Providence and my Mythic Surge. The extra shield points from Sturdy Pilot are nice, but seven points is a drop in the bucket to the six hundred from our actual shields. The big reason I pilot is the speed: I add one point from a class feature, and another from Speedster: Between the two, our ship hits a speed of fifteen… seventeen, when we divert power to the engines (which will be normal). Combined with the Mark 1 Horacalcum defenses to slow down incoming missiles, we outrun basically everything, except maybe a Tiny starship with maxed out engines piloted by someone with the Racer class archetype and the Sky Jockey feat, supported by a Divert Power every round.

…and the first time I link up to the ship, my curse affects it; but hey: At least this time I have working arms (a Robotic Appendage is a requirement for the Fuel Synthesizer that I want so I never actually need to dock), and nobody can see.

I also chat with my Patron,"So ****….”

“What can I do for you, Dan?” That chill, creepy voice is as kind and polite as ever.

“Will Life know I'm back?” That bugs me a little.

“Yes,” **** confirms, “The power she's using to supply your curse is obvious to her, and you pass through her domain when you revive.”

“So her champion will probably know in short order as well, if not already…” I consider, “...so there's little harm in contacting him directly.”

“You want him to know you're alive?” I can almost hear the raised eyebrow.

“Well…” I consider, “...kind of. You see…”