The Impulse Purchase

Barreling through space towards his goal, he'd had a hell of a time the last few weeks. On the bright side, he was nearly there, and he hoped things would start getting better again.

Marston had reached the Upgrade Facility. It was nothing out of the ordinary, as about one in 30 stars in the Black Eye Galaxy had one.

After submitting his Ship ID# and Registration, he requested to land and was just waiting for a response from the Facility.

He had been saving up for this day, attacking many other pirate ships and plundering them for "Scrap." He had focused solely on scrap collection that

his crew was gone... but it was for the greater good... for scrap. Scrap was the chief currency throughout the Galaxy, but could also be used to upgrade your ship. It could even increase your ship's power supply or improve existing systems on your vessel. It was a truly precious commodity.

Having amassed an impressive amount of scrap. Marston intended to stock up on food, fuel cells (Used for traveling from solar system to solar system), and to see if they had a lower power laser, as the Omni Laser 3 had high power but was his only weapon. It also was a resource hog power-wise, so having a backup gun that required less could be a lifesaver.

He figured he already had plenty of power supply and his Oxygen system was adequate, he would not be wasting any resources on improving those aspects. Plus, he could always upgrade them later, without an Upgrade Facility.

He possessed a Federation Vessel, a reasonably common ship. He got substantially upgraded.

Equipped with;

-Level 2 Force Shields.

-Armored Blast Doors.

-Standard Medical Bay.

-Full Ship Sensors.

-AutoPilot (Evasion level 1).

-Ore Recovery Arm (which aided greatly in harvesting broken down ships or asteroids).

-Omni Laser 3 (which replaced his faster/weaker Omni Laser 2).

He was far better equipped than the average pirate.

Typically (when encountering enemies), two shields were enough to keep him undamaged. Most of his attackers just had single-shot Lasers, which could not shoot fast enough to take down his shields and reach his hull. (Shields reformed about 5 seconds after intercepting an energy attack or most asteroids)

After waiting for a little bit, he received a transmission from the Upgrade Facility.

"Captain Marston cleared for landing."

Marston chuckled, as "Marston" was his first name, but decided not to say anything. He initiated the Ship Connection Sequence, prepared to board the Upgrade Facility, and see what they had for sale.

Upgrade Facilities did not announce what they had available due to piracy (literal Space Pirates), and customers had some form of background check done before admittance.

His ship had connected to the Facility, and a secure seal formed after which the sizeable mechanical bay doors of both ships slowly opened. Marston walked through and Greeted the facility Manager.

"Welcome to the Upgrade Facility, Captain Marston, please have a look at the selection."

Even though this guy kept calling him "Captain Marston" when his name was "Marston Jones," as annoying as this was, he let it slide because they had some excellent selection. He was not disappointed, would be a significant understatement. This was something straight out of a goddamned science fiction novel.

The security was what he'd expected (mostly Anti Personnel Drones, but for any Upgrade Station that was a bare minimum) and while they had the standard Hull Repair, Fuel Cells, and food. It was the available upgrades and sub-systems that had his interest.

There was a Drone Bay that included a repair drone, convenient but ubiquitous among the Upgrade Facilities. Listed as costing 1000 scrap, which was borderline insane, but Facility Directors tended not to make any deals.

An Omni Laser 2, a weapon with decent damage output and speed, was listed at 750 Scrap. It was a very efficient weapon, not requiring much of the ship's power, and while he did regret losing the one he replaced with his Omni Laser 3, the other notable item was the upgrade he wanted more than any other. It was too good to pass up. It was here and available.

His dream upgrade, the ultimate insurance policy, a Cloning Bay.

Not just some machine that simply produced a fetus with the same DNA, it created an exact fully grown replica of the programmed individuals who had died. Due to Galactic Regulations, the machine would only clone a person once they had died. The last time he'd had an opportunity to buy one was seven years ago, but he did not have enough scrap back then. He had wanted one ever since. He simply could not pass up this chance, he told himself.

He muttered and thought to himself, "Man, that wouldn't have been as big a loss, not at all...."

He was trying to justify the purchase as just two weeks ago, the other two members of his crew had died while they were scavenging an abandoned Cargo Ship. Pirates rigged it with explosive traps (most likely to plunder any other dead teams caught in their trap) his men got torn apart and were not even recognizable after the bombs had set off. If he had a Cloning Bay back then, they would still be here.

"How much for the Cloning Bay again?" The facility director looked him over and said, looking slightly irritated. "As the listing says, it's 1500 scrap."

Marston made an audible grumble and said, "How about 1000? I mean, I could get a Weapons Pre-Igniter for that much!!"

The Facility Director laughed and slowly shook his head "No one ever sees any Weapon Pre-Igniter's, I know I haven't. And the price is, take it or leave it I'm not going to bargain."

Marston paused for a moment and said, "How about I pay 1500, and as a side deal, I give you my Omni Laser 3 for your Omni Laser 2?"

"I'm not interested in your Omni Laser 3; if you want my weapon, you'll have to buy it." He had a smug look on his face that pissed Marston off.

"Why not!? It's an Omni Laser 3!" Marston had a bad feeling when he'd bought the weapon. The goddamned thing took so long to charge; you could get shot at two or three times before returning fire once. He realized it was his albatross.

"No one wants them, so I don't want them, even you don't want your own." Marston only had 1900 Scrap; he couldn't afford both The Omni Laser 2 and the Cloning Bay. He also had to buy Fuel and Food.

His visit had cost him everything,( He also bought 15 new fuel cells along with three months of Sealed Nutrient Rations in a storage crate) Marston had given in to his desire, he purchased his dream system.

Once the Facility received payment, they aided in the installation of the technology with various worker drones, which had to remove and replace his Standard Medical Bay. It completed remarkably quick, taking only 6 hours. The Director helped program Marston's DNA into the system and showed him how to program in new members when he eventually hired them.

He also explained how the machine required one power unit from his ship, and if he ever had to use it, the process took roughly an hour and would be quite painful. Marston thanked the Facility director and prepared to leave for his new plan to earn funds. While the drones had been installing the Clone Bay, Marston had been searching for some remote Asteroid fields in far off star systems on His Captains console. He located one and began to plan his journey.

Marston couldn't shake an uneasy feeling but figured it was probably just the fact that he'd spent so much. And even if something happened, he possessed technology that could defy death now.