Reroll

I was in a bigger area when the clock ticked over, so I can see the flames roaring ten feet from me: It's still a bit disconcerting… but I'm kind of used to it.

I'm alone… but maybe not.  I pull out the party ship sheet and update the ship's name to: “Kenny: Can you see this?”

A few moments later, it changes: “Ed: Yes, looks like it works.”

It then changes again: “Betty: Nice find!”

I update it, “K: A little awkward, though.”

We go on like that:
K: You two upgrading hull sizes on your personal
K: ships?
E: Yes.
B: Yes.
K: Great! That means we don't need the docking
K: canopies anymore, especially as you're both
K: vacuum-rated and flying without wings thanks
K: to Alteration.
… and so on.

It turns out the mothership isn't at a good tier to go to the next hull size up, so we stick with the Cruiser; we upgrade the power cores and weapons, plus add a minor VI upgrade (the smallest possible that will let us ask it to let us in if I die again…), but that's basically it.

My ship goes similarly: Power, Thrusters, and weapons get an upgrade; I also add the same minor Virtual Intelligence upgrade: Not enough to be useful in actual ship to ship combat at this level… not that we expect any… but enough to do basic flight for the ship, and for basically the same reason.  I mean, if I do reroll, I suppose I could just add the VI upgrade at that time… meh.  Better to just be in the habit of having it.

For my build, I go with another level each of Incanter and Fey Adept, netting me three new magic talents and deeper Darkvision. For those talents, I go with Conjuration, Link, and Otherworldly Audience… not because I plan to use an ‘Al’ anymore, but because of the feat I'm grabbing: Emulation Expert. The combination lets me treat my Create Reality companions as Conjuration companions for purposes of my feats and talents… which means I'll have cross-plane Telepathic speech with all of my shadow minions. That's only “going forward”, however: It costs an extra spell point to use it.

As for my actual companion? It's kind of pointless: My shadow minions last longer, and are generally more flexible. But I have the feature, I may as well do something with it.  I settle on a butler: A Biped with the Lingering Companion form talent to keep her around for hours at a time (I could just resummon her when she expires, but I'd rather not).  For her skill, I give her Perception, and for feats I set her up with Basic Magic Training, Advanced Magic Training, Cantrips, Improved Cantrips, and Extra Magic Talent.  Her magic?  Warp and Warp Storage. It doesn't matter much; I can change her out entirely whenever I rest, but I probably won't bother as I can simply make a new Shadow minion on the fly.

I also take the time to swap out a few talents I'm not using for Spell Conduit from the Conjuration Sphere: With Emulation Expert, that should let me use my newer Shadow minions as relays for spellcasting… from about a thousand feet away.  I'll need a second feat to use my shadow minions as conduits to make more shadow minions… maybe next level.  Eventually I'll want Incursion Link for unlimited range, but that requires a caster level of fifteen, so I have a bit.

For my Pathfinder wealth, I boost my Spheres Implement to the limit, getting it up to boosting my caster level by five in six Spheres.  Then I start nabbing scrolls of various utility spells that I can't readily duplicate within Spheres… plus a Wayfinder. For my Starfinder wealth, I mostly get utility items… but also a Ruby Sphere Aeon Stone (a magic telepathic computer that orbits your head, basicslly), give it many upgrades… and then stow it in the Wayfinder (because an Aeon Stone and an Ioun stone are the same thing by different names, and a Wayfinder lets me do that) so I can have it in my pocket rather than being obvious and easy to grab.

For now… I think I'm done.  I check the ship name… no response.  Okay, I guess Ed and Betty are done.  I go ahead and sign off on my sheet… and I'm back.

Of course, now I need to update all my shadows… oh well.  I suppose it doesn't really matter for the manufacturing team… but I should update the ship crew, and probably set up a manager here at least…

I get to work making more magical manufacturing minions, this time making sure they're Link compatible. When I feel like I have enough, I do some counting; about fifteen hundred of them: Effectively unlimited space is handy. I'm going to be good to put out about a hundred of those amulets in a day… not bad.  I set them all to work… and then go refresh the crew of my ship, actually using the Fusion talent on them: Yes, it takes longer, but with the more limited space it's okay.  I use a Biped with Regeneration for the base creatures of the Fusion, selecting Starfinder weapon (and light armor) proficiencies for all the feats. The secondary creature for the fusion I have set with the Martial archetype, loading them up on Pilot sphere talents from the archetype, using their form talents to boost their intelligence scores for more skill points and their Dexterity scores for better Piloting, using their feats for Shadowstuff Armament and skill boosting. And of course, I buff them up once fused.

The result isn’t worth the effort in an open field when I can simply flood the battlefield.  For limited quarters, though… they are at least a little stronger.

When I'm finally done re-crewing the ships (mine and the joint party ship: Ed and Betty are handling their own) I replace my Library and the Alice brigade to take advantage of my new caster level.  I then check the clock… ah, it's noon college time.  I get on my ship and head down to Earth, hopping out when it's over the right area and sending my ship back up into orbit.

Ed calls on my comm, “We have a download link in Alice's email… were you expecting something from one 'Cameraman Bruce at J5 news dot com' titled ‘Marty to Mary’?”

I smile, not that it's a video call, “I am, yes. Please forward it to me, and send Bruce a thank you note, letting him know I plan to review it soon.”

I get a message notification as Ed continues, “Forwarded; we also have about a hundred interview requests here.  I think you may need an agent.”

I consider, “That's good.  For now, please schedule something with the most popular few.  I'll need to open a bank account at some point for Alice… which means forging an ID under that name. Hmm.”

Ed gets back to me quickly, “Probably a good idea, yes.  I'll pick a few and handle scheduling.  You really need an agent, though.”

Yeah, I do… “I'll have Alice ask Samantha how to get one after I have a legal identity set up.”

Ed pauses, “Who?”

We haven't gone over that, huh? “The hospital contact, Samantha Crowley: She's basically an assigned personal assistant who manages the expense account.  Her job is literally to keep Alice happy.”

“Don't rely on her too much,” Ed advises, “You're not signing her paycheck.”

I consider that, “Joe can always change her job description, can't he?”

Ed adds more, “And you don't know what reporting she's doing.”

Fair points.  “All right.  I'll research that myself sometime soon… for now, I should follow up with Merlin.”

“Cool, talk to you later.”

“Likewise.”

We hang up,  I pull out Merlin's card, pull out an Alice, possess her, then dial Marty's number.

He picks up on the third ring, “Hello?”

“Hi Merlin, this is Alice, how are you doing?”

“Fine.” Merlin's voice is rather flat.

His annoyance isn’t going to deter me, though, “That's good to hear; listen, I got Vlad back up on his feet after our little disagreement….”

“‘Little disagreement’?!” Merlin pauses momentarily,  “You call him biting you, and you summoning an instant army to blow him away, a ‘little disagreement’!?”

I shrug as I answer on the voice only line, “I made sure he lived, and I've had worse.” I've been killed how many times now? Any time I survive, I can say I've had worse, “Frankly, Ralph was more of a challenge, because it was a properly declared fight with rules… if simple ones.”

There's a long pause, “How big is that army at your beck and call?”

As big as I want, pretty much, “I have a lot of friends who are protective of me. Why do you ask?”

“You're stretching terms. ‘Making Friends’ is something you do remarkably well, as they seem manufactured from magic.”

Busted! How do I want to play this… “I'm kind of visually impared; I'm hard to notice if I don't do such things.  Also, of course, my proxies keep getting shot or arrested, so I need to be at least a little paranoid anyway. Is it a problem?”

“Not really, no; proxies are quite common in this line of work, but I would like to actually meet you, rather than just that illusionary avatar you used last time, or that warped dog the first.”

“Well, we can try. Where would you like to meet?”

The wizard gives me an address….