I huffed in disapproval, and turned my attention to the passing city streets. Georg's mind was far away from the carriage we rode in, seemingly uninterested in clarifying his ambiguous musings. What was the military's deal with droids? There were plenty of them to be seen in the city. I didn't particularly care to speculate on it, so I took in the sights of the city while I still had the chance. After all, from tomorrow until five years from now, the majority of sights to be seen from looking out of windows would be the blackness of space. Unfortunately, my attempts to take my mind off of everything only brought me back to the events of last night. I shuddered thinking about Georg's perverted orders; stripping for him, pleasuring him, submitting to him... the worst part of it all was how little he did besides issue his commands. He told me what to do, then left me to do the... 'work', making the whole affair look like it was driven by me. And no matter how much I cursed at him, or tried to force my body to resist, it not only defied me, it enjoyed it. It felt better than anything I remember feeling in my past life, and that only added to my revulsion. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl. This artificial body's fake sensations suck, and I... I found that upon returning from my reminiscing, my hand was eagerly massaging my soft, stocking-clad thigh. I quickly grabbed the double-crossing hand's wrist, and hoped Master hadn't noticed. About ten minutes later, the carriage pulled through the Navy dock's gate, approaching its sole ship; the arrowhead-shaped Sieglinde. The gargantuan vessel had looked massive when seen from the Commissariat office, but it took up the entire horizon from up close. It was breathtaking, to put it lightly. Godzilla wasn't shit to this titan. Though it seemed obvious in hindsight, I didn't realize when I first saw it that it was too large to be properly landed on the ground; rather, it was held high up by a series of high towers and huge cables, enhanced with a strange blue light - some type of gravity technology, I imagined. Passing further under the ship's shadow, I found that the final boarding was already well-underway. Crowds of mechanics and soldiers wearing clean white-and-blue uniforms filed onto dropships, which took off to deliver them to the gigantic vessel. Other ships loaded up on the last few shipments of supplies that would be needed for the initial part of the voyage. The sheer amount of buzzing activity this early in the morning made my head spin. I gazed back up at the spacecraft that now formed a heavenly ceiling above us. I was never good at estimating sizes, but this thing had to be more than a thousand, no, two thousand feet lo- "850 meters long." I said out of nowhere. Georg glanced at me. I blinked in confusion. "...Indeed. Information about the Sieglinde will come naturally to you." He returned his attention to the ongoing boarding process, seemingly focused on ensuring no mistakes on Day 0. I sheepishly looked in the opposite direction, at nothing in particular. Shortly afterwards, the carriage pulled up to another transport ship, this one more compact, and seemingly focused on carrying personnel and looking stylish while doing it. A half-dozen soldiers in the navy blue uniforms of elite guards formed up in lines on either side of the carriage's door. One of them opened it, and Georg smoothly strode out. I awkwardly followed him, leaving another guard to get the luggage. "Good morning, Captain Von Leisestaufen." A man in a more fancy uniform awaited at the end of the line. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, with shiny black hair and a well-groomed mustache. He smiled politely... and then his eyes fell on me. His gaze narrowed. "...and, who might this be, Captain?" "This is my new droid assistant, Hildegarde. I mentioned her in my message yesterday." Master explained. I was somewhat unsure of how formal a greeting I should be making, so I settled on the bare minimum of politeness, and gave a slight bow. The man gave a silent grumble. "I see. Well, if you give her your approval, then I trust there should be no problems." He let that last bit hang in the air for a moment, and then turned to usher his superior to the private ship. I examined him more closely; as I did, my HUD conveniently displayed info on him. Wolfsherz von König, Chief Officer (and thus second-in-command) of the Sieglinde. Earned the role based on more than a decade of good active service. His name turned up frequently in Georg's Netzschaft inbox. Among the sent messages were topics like "RE: Infantry Drill Schedule Issue" and "Need Clarification on Coluber System Diplomatic Visas, Respond ASAP". Seemed competent. An annoying stickler, but a competent annoying stickler. As we got onto the ship, I suddenly noticed that I was getting suspicious glares from everyone - Von König, the pilots, the crewmates, everyone would eye me apprehensively whenever they thought Master wasn't looking. I'd have to get some answers from Georg later, this was seriously weird. The next forty minutes passed like this; Master discussing various matters with his first mate during the flight up to the Sieglinde and subsequent walk through the battleship's hallways on their way to the bridge, and me following along and trying to ignore the scowls from everyone. I did notice the wide variety of crew types aboard, though; soldiers, engineers, medical staff, laborers, diplomats... huh. No droids. There were a few obviously-robotic spherical maintenance robots, but next to nothing humanoid. I mean, given the reception I was getting, it made sense, but did the hatred of droids really go to such an extent? Which meant Georg could only bring one along by virtue of being the Captain, and nobility to boot. I chuckled to myself at the mental image of a 21st century Captain Georg bringing a dakimakura aboard a carrier ship. My mirth soon died down at the sobering reality of the fact that I was that dakimakura. It was also expected, but disheartening that I was the only female on board, technicality it may be. Everyone else towered over me with my reduced height. I hadn't exactly loomed over everyone when I was human (I had been of average height), but being easily the shortest out of almost five-thousand people made the stares that much more piercing... and some of them weren't stares of scorn. I futilely tugged my dress down and hurried to keep up with Georg. Finally, some fifty minutes from our initial arrival at the dock, our entourage arrived at the Sieglinde's bridge. Various technicians were already performing check-ups on the various terminals, and there was a congregation of more officers in the center of the room. Upon noticing Master, they dispersed into an orderly line and stood at attention. "Welcome aboard, Captain Von Leisestaufen", a well-groomed man welcomed. He was about Georg's age, but was taller, with combed light-orange hair and a monocle in his right eye. Or rather, a monocle-style personal computer. "At ease, gentleman." Master looked upon his officers approvingly. "This will be our first time meeting face-to-face, I recall." "Right you are, Captain", answered Monocle Man. "So, let's get the introductions out of the way. Fritz Ohme, Helmsman." Georg and his helmsman shook, and the rest of the officers introduced themselves one-by-one. Gerold Blumstein, Chief Weapons Officer. A middle-aged military man with graying brown hairs and a sturdy build, who proclaimed his galactic worldliness with the scars on his cheek and the gold ring on his finger. In charge of directing the Sieglinde's weapons in combat situations, and third-in-command in case of Georg and Wolfsherz's unavailability. Karl Weiss, Chief Engineer. A rugged, cleanly-shaved man with short, dark hair. Came from a lower-class family, but got his position through hard work. Has the job of overseeing ship maintenance and operation of equipment and machinery, so he'll be spending most of his time off the bridge; his introduction right now is mostly a formality. Eckehard Hammerschmidt, Chief Navigator. On the more stout side, but otherwise the picturesque blonde aryan the Empire strove for. Came from an upper-class background, but not nearly approaching Georg's status. He'd be managing the Sieglinde's routeing, hazard avoidance, and keeping the maps up to date. And Lukas Hoffman, Chief Communications Officer. A gentle-looking man with caramel-colored hair, he looked almost American. Will be directing the ship's PA system and external broadcasting. Very well-learned, my HUD mentioned that he spoke multiple languages currently unused by the Empire, including French, Russian, Chinese, and... ...English? Wait, how could English be unused? It's what we're... speaking... gerade... nicht wahr...? Was denke ich gerade was wAS WAS WA- SMACK I abruptly clapped my hands on my cheeks to snap myself out of it, and thought things over. The history briefing I'd received upon my revival DID mention that German was the new universal language of the Empire, but I hadn't thought about the implications of that until now. But okay, I guess that I've been speaking... AND thinking German, since I first woke up. And I hadn't even realized it until just now. And... ...and everyone's staring at me now. All of the chief officers are giving me accusatory glares. Georg, meanwhile, is simply giving a look indicating he's feeling something beyond exhaustion. I meekly bow, and brush my bangs out of my eyes. "E-excuse me, I was, uh..." Georg coughed to shut me up. "Right. I suppose I'll introduce my new adjutant. This is Hildegarde; she'll be serving as my personal secretary, bodyguard, and general aide from now on." "Actually, yes, this is a good opportunity to address this." Gerold stated. "Why DID you decide to bring a gynoid on this campaign, Captain?" "A potentially defective one, at that," Karl added. Master sighed deeply. "If she wasn't fit to be my adjutant, I wouldn't have brought her. She's every bit as capable- no, more capable, than a human assistant would be." "Oh?" "Hildegarde, send a message to Chancellor Grossakran, giving him my regards before I set out. Template 5." "Sending... done." "Reserve the Solo Combat Training Room for a session tomorrow at... hm, what's available?" "0900, 1300, and 2000." "1300." "Done." "And lastly, search for news headlines from Planet Tualia's Zenithian Bulletin, topic: 'councilor'." "Hm... 'Zenithian residents meet with councilor to discuss housing law'." Georg looked back at the officers for a rebuttal. Their expressions displayed a spectrum from genuine admiration to frustrated disappointment. My internal Internet connection was a bit obnoxious, but at least it was useful. Gerold huffed. "Well, as long as she does her job. You better ensure she's brought to heel." This elicited a laugh from Maste- no, Georg. "But of course. That won't be an issue in the slightest." I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from exploding at him, but I could feel my face turning beet-red regardless. The officers all laughed. The next few minutes passed somewhat uneventfully; Georg finished up initial introductions with his subordinates and dismissed them, asked me to take some mental notes and reminders for him, and observed the progress on final boarding while I tried my best to blend in with the wall. Master finally stepped back from the bridge's window, and addressed me again. "Send a message to all crew members actively involved in navigation. I want to have a final meeting with them regarding the Sieglinde's initial route, at about... hm, 1330. Want to give them some time to confirm the state of their belongings and stations. And I should still have some energy left by that time." "You have a messaging device. Can't you do it yourself?" "This is easier." I grumbled, and mentally created and sent the Netzschaft message to the two dozen crewmates. I then remembered something that had turned up during the earlier officer introduction. "By the way, Ma- Georg, why do you want a solo combat training session? I didn't know you could fight." "Oh, that's not an appointment for me. It's for you." "...Eh?"