Character Sheet

As soon as the universe slid away into the dark bluish-blackish-whitish realm of slipspace, Tala let her self collapse into the pilot's chair.

Two breaths later, she let out a whoop of glee at her own survival, before opening up the menu to view her spoils.

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System Interface

Performance Level: 44

Ship Level: 10 / 44

Available Ship Levels: 34

Experience Markers:

Destroy Enemy Vessel 5 or More Levels Above Current Ship Level - 500 EP x 5

Destroy Enemy Vessel 100 or More Levels Above Current Ship Level - 50000

Survive Outnumbered Combat Situation: 100 EP x 78

Evade Enemy Fleet: 100 EP x 78

Tactical Evasion Combat Kill: 200 EP x 5 Anti Fleet Combat Multiplier, Solo

Total EP For Combat Action: 60300

Pilot Level Multiplier: 1

New Pilot Multiplier: 1.5

Copilot Multiplier: %ERROR%

Total EP Available: 84808

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"Wow that's a lot," Tala gawked a bit at the EP screen. She wouldn't be able to spend it in slipspace, where there was no matter that she knew of to convert, but it was more than enough, she thought, to bump Vicky - the ship not the person - to the next evolution. Right now, most of the EP costs were in the low thousands or hundreds - which annoyed her a bit because that hanging 8 at the end had the feel of eternity to it, since nothing sold for singles or even tens of EP.

She could sense from the cost of the next evolution that the amount she'd made in that one battle was actually rather small compared to what she would need after turning her ship into a proper science vessel. Oddly, she couldn't see past the next evolution, which indicated to her that the System worked in discreet categories to keep those under it focused on-

Wait... where did this knowledge come from? It didn't make any sense for her to have such a feel for the intent of the system... But the information was there.

Suddenly she felt drained. The adrenaline of the fight was clearly working its way out of her system, and she felt like she could sleep forever...

"Computer, how long until we're out of the stream?"

"Five Chimes, Twenty Tocks, Eleven Ticks."

Tala did some quick estimating, arriving at closer to six earth hours...

Looking around the pilot's nest, she saw that her available space had expanded by quite a lot.

"Thank God," she said as she saw the singular cot and its spartan surroundings, which included what looked like a porta-potty-sized bathroom space and some kind of console across from the bed.

Forcing herself to stand, she walked over and collapsed onto the bed face first.

Relaxing felt sooooo good... but a moment later her body decided to remind her that it had needs too.

Forcing herself up, she made her way to the bathroom space, staring at the door when it refused to budge. It took her a bit to notice the touch pad on the right, about where a handle should have been, and she poked at it until she finally got the door to open and she could sit down.

One relieved hour later, during which she'd rediscovered the joys of hot water from the small sink and cleaned her face as best she could, she re-collapsed onto the bed, letting her pilot suit slump on the floor as she elected to stay naked.

As the tension drained from her body, she decided to finally browse her personal menu.

Unlike the ship options, XP was a one-to-one proposition.

Her options were divided into Skills and Enhancements, and each was, at least at her current level, limited to up to ten points in each.

"Good old character sheets..." she muttered, yawning loudly as she scrolled. She had the choice of going down memory lane and remembering tabletop games with her friends, but she decided focusing on the real-life role-playing game keeping her alive was more important.

Especially since she planned to pass out after.

"Hehe... real-life RPG..."

Her current stats were:

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Tala Amihan Sisson

Species: Human - %ERROR% Variant

Homeworld: Dirt

Job: Pilot

XP: 888

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Titles:

Captain - ASNV - XC 1 Vector Free

New Pilot - EP Modifier of 1.5 until 10,000 Flight Chimes Logged by the System

%ERROR% - PILOT RESONANCE FACTOR 9.9999

*NEW* Giant Slayer 1 - Increase of 5% in direct damage to ships, bases, and entities larger than present vessel size. 

*NEW* Astral Fox - (Human Title) - 50% decrease in maneuver response time for physical and neural interfacing.

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Checking the title section, Tala made a note of her new title. A mental flick to select it showed "Destroy a ship or entity 3 or more classifications above current Ship Level" as the reason she'd earned it, and a helpful little tracker had 1/10 displayed, indicating how many more she would need to upgrade it. Simple, straightforward kill reward.

Astral Fox was more interesting. "Through unconventional maneuvers and tactics, cause the deaths of twenty-five or more pilots of equal or greater level without firing a shot." The title itself was a merger of two titles she hadn't even had a chance to see, "Astral Viper" and "Astral Stoat," which were lesser rewards in the same vein given for fewer kills.

Titles were earned, so there was nothing she could do to modify them. She'd just need to be on the lookout for situations where they came in handy. And situations to earn new ones.

She was a little disappointed she didn't get a title like "Ace" for bagging waaaay more than five kills, but hey, new universe, new standards.

She flicked to the next section.

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Skills:

Assessment: Biological - 1

Assessment: Diplomatic - 2 (+1)

Assessment: Tactical - 10

Basic Piloting - 10

Combat Maneuvers - 10

Gunnery - 10

Intercourse - 1

Mathematics - 6

Metacausal Physics - 1

Navigation - 10

Paracausal Physics - 1

Physics - 6 (+1)

Planetcraft Operation - 10

Tractor Beam Operation - 3 (+2)

Voidcraft Operation - 10 (+1)

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Tala tsked her tongue. Skills were a bit more obtuse than titles. On the one hand, she could one-for-one increase them. And having 888 points to spend made her sorely tempted to just max them all out an hope for the best. On the other hand, they also increased on their own if she just performed actions in line with them.

The base level seemed to be 1, and the max was 10. If her Astral Fox title was any indication, her skills might end up merging over time as well.

Some of her skills had come pre-leveled, like Planetcraft Operation. Perhaps it was the System's attempt to reconcile what she knew with what it mapped, but there were definite gaps between what Tala saw and what she considered skills.

She resented having Intercourse shown as a skill, only to have her ranked at a measly 1. She'd done more in the back of a car than most girls could do in bed... But what had she done that was even vaguely sexual since coming to this universe? Nothing that she could think of, unless smiling and waving when she tried to get off at the station counted...

"Oh my gosh... that did count for someone, didn't it?" She vaguely recalled a distant, anemone-like alien that had started fanning its ten arms - each with ten digits - at her from behind the hapless engineer who'd asked her what species she was after the tiny little walk she'd taken at the station.

Shaking her head, Tala focused back on her skills and sighed.

Cooking was absent. Maybe it was because she hadn't had a chance to make a meal since coming to this universe, but she knew she could make a chicken adobo that would make anyone call her Mistress, not to mention her lumpia rolls - which was basically deep-fried crack-cocaine as far as deliciousness was concerned.

Her stomach growled. She decided that she'd level her skills "naturally" and see how she fared for a bit. She'd already maxed the combat-related ones, so she hoped that she hadn't wasted XP.

"Computer, is there anything to eat?" Tala asked.

"Working..."

A moment later, from behind Tala's head, the sound of something hard impacting the inside of someplace hollow alerted her to the existence of the dispenser at the head of the bed.

Opening it, she found a perfectly rectangular bar of grey substance that looked as appetizing as a bar of soap.

Less so, even.

It was sized for two bites.

Taking a nibble, she found it to be flavorless. Not bland. Utterly flavorless. She wasn't even sure she was eating, because the texture was too smooth. It felt like near-frictionless oil paint in her mouth until it slipped down her throat.

"Is this safe to eat, Computer?"

"Working... Yes."

The computer had to work to say 'yes' on that? That couldn't be a good sign.

"What is it?" Tala asked. When she got no response, she added, "Computer."

"Customized Nutrient Packet, meant to maintain pilot performance with minimal risk of regurgitation. Designation - Zero One."

"Computer can you customize me some flavor?"

"Working... No. Pilot maintenance systems are optimized or performance only."

Optimized my ass... this is an abomination of culinary science!

Abomination or no, Tala ate the rest, shuddering as it seemed to self-clear from her mouth on the way down to her stomach. "Solids shouldn't behave like that..." she muttered. Her stomach seemed settled, but she was left with the weird feeling of feeling empty and slightly filled at the same time.

Tala yawned again.

She wanted to sleep, but she knew that she might regret it if she didn't finish out her task of leveling up herself.

She opened up the last section of her "character sheet."

"Enhancements... here I come..." she yawned.