Star Emperor

Lanarine took a deep breath and began her story.

-At the beginning, there were around twenty station masters in the system I was in.

We were positioned much closer to each other than it is here, but everyone minded their own business as the resources were plentiful and there was no need to fight over them.

This all changed after the second visit of the merchants.

One of the station masters bought himself a cannon, similar to the ones you have now.

He then demanded that we surrender or he would destroy all our drones leaving us with no way to gather resources.

At first, we all thought that it was impossible and he was bluffing, but he quickly proved that he was serious about it.

Within the next three days, he took out the drones of anyone who didn't submit, including mine.

When that didn't make us surrender, he started destroying stations, one after the other.

At that point the ten that survived submitted and became his defacto slaves.

I was the last one to resist and he didn't kill me only because he ran out of ammunition.

She sighed, regretting not being able to save the others.

Not that she could even if she wanted to.

-I knew that the moment the merchant returned he would get more ammo and end me, so I took the risk and asked the merchant to become a slave.

It was the only chance I got to survive and I took it.

The idea however was to be bought by one of my people and get my freedom back and then cooperate with them, but then you bought me, and that foiled my plan.

She finished.

-Now you know why I became a slave.

-Thank you.

Andrew said.

-The information that around a dozen station masters are working together is valuable.

As for your freedom, we shall see about it, but for now, you will have to be bound by the chip.

He added and then remembered something.

-Dial down the control to level 1.

He ordered.

Lan immediately felt more of the control returning to her.

It was not much but it was better than nothing, she also knew that it was the lowest setting before fully deactivating the chip and looking at the human in surprise.

-Why did you do that?

She asked before she could stop herself.

Andrew smiled at her.

-I don't see a point in restricting you more than is necessary for my protection, and to be honest, I don't like the idea of slavery any more than you do.

So if I can give back this much freedom to you then why not?

The alien woman was surprised at his words.

-Then why not turn this thing off altogether, I won't hurt you.

She said, before realizing how silly it sounded.

-Would you do that if you were in my place?

He asked, already knowing the answer.

Lan thought about it and she had to admit that he was right.

As much as she disliked the whole idea of slavery, she would not free him, before she was sure that she could trust him and they met just a day prior so there was not enough time to build any sort of trust between them.

She slowly shook her head, a bit ashamed that she even asked for something she would be unable to grant if their roles were reversed.

-Let's forget about it.

Andrew decided to change the subject.

-Right now let's focus on our work, and if you have any ideas that would make our work easier or faster then tell me.

He said returning to his work.

Since there was nothing that she could think of, that would help right now, she also got back to work.

A few hours later, Andrew got up and was about to leave to get some rest, but stopped seeing Lanarine still focused on her work.

-Lan, go get some rest.

He said.

Only after hearing his words did she realize that so much time had passed.

-Can I finish this scan first?

She asked, not certain if he would allow that.

On level 1 the chip allowed her a great deal of freedom but it still compelled her to obey his commands.

-Ok, but that's the last one for now, after that get some rest or do whatever you want.

He agreed and left.

During the day she managed to scan over a dozen asteroids and even if most of them didn't have the materials he told her to look for, she still added them to the list with the reports about their composition and the estimated amount of materials that could be gathered.

She was sure that it would be useful, if for nothing else than to know which asteroids they should avoid.

After leaving the command center, Andrew decided on a bath, followed by a meal, and then sleep.

He was tired, especially after using the fitness module for the first time, and spending the rest of the day overseeing the resource gathering and reading Lanarine's reports.

However, he was determined to use the module every day and get his overweight body into shape, no matter how hard it got.

Other than that, he also had a lot to think about.

Lan's story made him aware that others were already forming groups, either by diplomacy or like in her previous system case, by force, and an opponent who had around a dozen stations was a great threat that he didn't dare to ignore, no matter how far away they were.

Sooner or later, technology would allow them all to travel between the stars.

Once that happened, it was certain that some factions and individuals would want to conquer their neighbors and expand their territory if for no other reason than to secure more resources and thin out the competition.

There was no way to escape this, so the only way he had to deal with it was to prepare for it.

Not being able to figure it all out right now ha finally drifted to sleep.

While he was resting, Lanarine just got the full readout on the last asteroid she was working on for the day.

When she saw the list of materials, she was stunned.

-Just how lucky can this human be?

She asked the empty room not believing that he was sitting right next to such treasure and his mining scanner didn't even pick it up.

Lan wanted to call him over to share her discovery with him, but then remembered that he told her to get some rest and he was most likely doing the same right now.

-The asteroid is not going anywhere, so I will inform him tomorrow.

She thought before finishing her report and also leaving to get some rest.