“Alfred!” Rex cried out as he regained consciousness. Struggling against the glowing restraints, he inhaled a deep breath. “We-” The constraints glowed brighter. “Need-” They bugled out as his body glowed in its light. “To talk!” It shattered as he stumbled into the room, his light dying out. A noise behind him made him twist around, putting up his guard while hoping to hit Alfred. “You two aren’t Alfred.” Two girls looked similar, sitting among empty boxes, looking worn out. “Where is he?” Rex lowered his hands, but his anger was still simmering.

“He-” The smaller one slapped the one about to speak on the mouth, keeping her from talking. The girl glared at her while pointing to her ears, and the woman nodded her head after understanding. She bowed towards Rex in an apology.

“Did he not take care of the noise problem?” Rex moved past the two and out into the hallway. Looking both ways before he turned back around. “Just point me in the right direction then.” They both pointed the same way instantly. “Thanks for the help.” He left them to find his target. He found some stairs leading the top side, following his direction.

“Alfred! Where are- oh wow! Now that’s a sight I never saw.” Upon exiting the doors, significant glowing links of chain larger than himself were slowly inching into a cranking device. It was the chain attached to his old wrecked ship. “Is that magic?” His eyes widened when the prominent link began to visibly shrink upon itself down to a chunky yet handheld size before lowering itself into a bow with colorful glowing lines and patterns on its surface.

“Heavy!!” “ YA! ” A deep voice called out to a chorus echoing him. Others were pushing solid metal rods around a large crank sort of device. While they continued their chanting and hauling in the chain, Rex decided to head up some stairs leading further up the ship.

“What is he planning to do with that junk?” Rex watched the wreckage creep towards the ship ever so slowly. A few others were gathered in the center on the main deck, where he landed from his reckless leap. “Now what?” Since Alfred wasn’t around, he bypassed the group while searching.

“All set? Good! Bing it down!” Someone in the group yelled while waving upwards. Rex turned to watch for a moment on the stairs.

“Falling! Clear out!” A shout from above drew his eyes up. Some workers were on the mainmast, dropping down the sail he tore on his fall. “Cutting loose! Watch out!” A worker up top shouted a warning. The large rolled-up sail was dropped.

“Oh shit!” Rex ran up to the upper deck to dive for cover once again. He watched as it plummeted to the deck or for its fall to halt. “Huh?” He sprung up as it glowed slightly and settled softly on the ground with a dinging noise; the light was gone. “Can’t lie, that was cool.” He dusted the embarrassment off himself as he found Alfred waiting for him.

“This ship has a safety feature that stops all fall damage.” Alfred motioned towards the sail now being rolled out on the main deck. “It was the thing that stopped your fall when you jumped. Magic, can you believe it?” Alfred walked over next to Rex and watched the workers fix the sail. “Turns out you didn’t need to stall your fall with such destructive methods. Which leads to some bad news; we can’t move without it.” Alfred sent a little light from his fingertip floating towards Rex.

“What is that?” Rex tried to block it with his hands, only to merge with the green band on his left wrist. “Alfred! What is this!” He angrily pointed to the now softly glowing bracelet he just noticed was on him. A small holographic digital timer appeared with a countdown.

“The timer estimated till repairs are completed.” Alfred then pointed up to the wreckage. “Can we use the old wreckage to improve this ship, Captain?” Alfred avoided eye contact as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. A hand clamped down onto his shoulder, a glowing green band that matched his eyes was presented to his view.

“I mention this….” Rex lowered his voice to a hiss as he kindly showed Alfred his new shiny bracelet. “What the hell is this, and how do you remove it?” He spun Alfred around to face him. Since he could now physically interact with him, it made questioning him easier. “I need you to answer me soon, or I will lose it. You hear me?” Rex’s voice had slight hints of a low growl behind his words.

“You mean the Captain’s Ring? It is a magical device to allow you to survive on the ship. As well as translation functions, map features, and-” Rex held up a hand to stop Alfred from talking. He took a few deep breaths while releasing the shaking guy.

“So it is some kind of magical life support slash magic tech?” He held up his arm to inspect the device. “What makes it so magical? Besides the glowing bit.” Poking it didn’t seem to produce any response.

“I don’t have too much information, but it seems to be a common item worn on all starships. When I became the ship’s Spirit and fully took over the core, I had to make at least one.” He pointed to the bracelet Rex was wearing. “This one is special; I made it so instead of the Captain serving the Spirit; it’s the other way around.” Alfred saluted Rex. “I’m ready to serve, Captain!” Rex just stared at him in stunned silence.

*Ding* A chime rang out, breaking the mood. A screen popped up in Rex’s vision. “Not funny, Alfred, put the screens away.” He tried to look around, but it hounded the middle of his sight no matter what. Even closing his eyes didn’t work. “I’m not in the mood for jokes, AL!”

“This isn’t me, sir. It’s the System, magic hologram, basically. Not too user-friendly.” Alfred replied, dealing with his own screen problem. “Best to go with the flow, then fight the current, sir!” He called out as Rex tried to calm himself.

“More like magically pop-up ads….” Rex grumbled as he read the screen. “Is it voice or touch-activated?” He asked Alfred while taking his time to reread it. It blinked out of his focus as he blinked a few times, wondering if he saw it.

“It’s magic, so it’s more intent and thought-related than a touch screen.” Alfred opened the door to the room Rex had previously jumped through. “Watch your step this time.” Leading the way in, Alfred’s body began to float into the center of the spacious room.

“How come you can float, but I need stairs?” Rex cautiously descended the slim steps. “Where’s my weapon pile? They were right here. Did the crew move them? Did you hide them from me?” Rex mad stomped underneath Alfred’s floating avatar. Many screens and magical lights began to swirl around him.

“Chill out a moment, will you? So many questions.” Behind Alfred was an ever-shifting, constantly glowing, crystalline structure. It moved in ways Rex didn’t think were possible, except with magic. “This beauty you see behind my avatar is my new Star Spirit Core!” Alfred posed all proudly. “This is the Core Room; for obvious reasons, its access is tightly restricted.”

“But I got in no problem, and those goblins were right after me.” Rex examined the spot where there was supposed to be a large hole. Knocking on the area with some force to see if it was really solid. “Wait, don’t tell me, magic.” He gave up and refocused on Alfred’s avatar as it joined him with a screen in tow.

“Accept this prompt, and the ship will fully acknowledge you as owner. But, of course, this couldn’t be done until you were at this magical level.” Alfred held out an important-looking magical screen. Rex glanced over the text to stare at the large buttons with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ “You sure you don’t want to read the fine print before accepting something like this?” Alfred was dumbfounded as Rex accepted so quickly.

“Why not. So what now? Did I sign away my soul or something?” Rex tried to joke around but had to suppress a memory of him blindly signing away his life ages ago. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he could have sworn he misheard Alfred. “I’m sorry, one more time, please.” Rex focused a bit more.

“Not exactly away, more of a bonded situation.” Alfred was going through some more options on his magical screen, his eyes rapidly shifting as he read. “Please accept this one as well. This is for the Captain’s position.” Another prompt popped up for Rex to quickly agree to. “Did you even read the title of the?” Alfred was left bewildered that he wouldn’t read it before saying yes.

“I’m trusting you, AL; better not screw me over with this.” Rex sat down against the newly fixed wall. “So! What did I just accept, and what is our situation?” Even though he was sitting and breathing to rest, he was tense and ready to respond. Alfred dramatically sighed as he slumped next to him.

“Since you didn’t read anything, do you want the long or short version?” Alfred held his head with his glowing emerald eye shut. “Let me guess. Short and sweet?”

“Just how I prefer it.” Rex eased up his tension some. “Essentials firsts, please.” He tried to relax a bit more against the wall.

“You accepted ownership of the vessel and my core, which comes with pros and cons listed but was ignored.” Alfred finally looked up at his core, hovering in the air. “You are the proud new Master of a Starship and its Star Spirit. This was a captured vessel that was part of a pirate’s fleet. There was struggling; the ship’s spirit core was emptied and sealed. The shields on this ship torn our craft in half, you know the rest.” A video screen turns on against the far wall. “With your permission, I’m hoping to use the wreckage to fix up this ship so we can get moving.”

“How are you going even to do all that?” Rex watched as the crew toiled away as the wreck was almost in range. “Damn, I didn’t realize just how large that vessel was.” It seemed more extensive than the ship he was on.

“It’s barely the size of this ship.” Alfred corrected him. “Magic plays a huge part in that aspect, so don’t ask how unless you understand the workings of magic itself.” He glared at Rex, stopping a whole new line of questions from forming. “If it doesn’t make sense, just assume magic for now. Details will come to you if you search for them, otherwise don’t waste your time.” Alfred waved his hand around like he was fanning the smoke away. “I just need your approval to get started.”

“You have it. I want you to work your green ass off. Repair, remodel, fix up, upgrade. Do anything you can to get my new ship working properly.” Rex just decided to go with it all; why not live a bit more. He was not expecting a second chance like this. “I’m counting on you to fix me up a nice captain’s quarters with luxury comfort.” His stomach grumbled aloud to feed it. “Speaking of comforts, I hope you got a chef with this crew of yours.” Rex headed up the stairs, hoping to find someplace to eat.

“Hold up a moment!” Alfred rushed after him. “You should start with this.” He held out a weirdly shaped glass bottle with a cork stopper. “Yes, it’s a magic potion. No, it won’t hurt you. No, it doesn’t taste bad. And yes, it is good for you.” He shoved the potion into Rex’s hands.

“I’m supposed to drink this glowing yellow gooey stuff?” Rex turned the bottle around, watching it goop around. “It’s glowing.” He uncorked it, and he took a sniff as he braced for something gross. “Seriously?” Surprised by the pleasantly tantalizing-smelling potion, he downed it in one go. “Not too bad either...Sort of like drinking a meal with a beer after-taste. It does fill you up.” Rex was impressed with his first magical potion experience.

“That’s a meal potion; according to our Medic, any new Tier 1 being should stick to potions for sustenance until their body stabilizes. Then they can have magical cooking. Yes, that is a thing.” Alfred took the empty bottle back, making it vanish with a flash.

“Can I do that?” Rex’s eyes were wide, realizing Alfred was using magic, not his holograms. Maybe he could learn to make things vanish too. “Can I vanish things like that?” Alfred had to hold his mouth shut for a while. He eventually caught his breath before looking at Rex.

“This is special magic. I just know because I’m a certain type of spirit. It is very limited in its uses, so you should forget it.” Another chime sounded out as Alfred clicked on new screens before they disappeared. “Magic is more complicated than you think; if a spell finds you, be happy and just use it, I say.” A rumble shook the ship while a green glow slowly covered the surface. “This is another magic trick I managed to pick up.”

Once it met the glowing chains, they shifted to match the green wave’s color. The light twisted its way up the links, steadily making its way to the wreck. The light spread like fire when it hit the broken space vessel. The light enveloped it all without any magical source to slow it down.

“This is good news, Captain!” Alfred pulled Rex’s attention away from the light show. “It seems this salvage can significantly upgrade our current ship, as well as get us moving again.” He was smiling at the good turn of events. “With your permission, I would like to start right away!” Alfred was eager to use his newfound powers to make something new; his crafting passion was burning.

“Get me a workable weapon first, then max the hell out of the upgrades. You got some new magical powers, right? Use them all to make me a new, improved ship.” Rex decided to let him have his fun. “I have some high expectations of you.” He had no clue what to expect. “Permission granted! Now get working.”

The wreckage began to turn into magical light motes that swirled in a twister of shades of green. They funneled along the chain, and the workers had evacuated the moment it all started, so it harmlessly washed over the ballista and crank. Then, as they disintegrated into light particles to join the swirling mass, a giant circle of patterns lit up beneath it. All the light funneled into the center of the circle to disappear elsewhere.

“This should take a few hours to process, and I’m glad nothing went wrong.” Alfred stretched out, letting a worried breath out. “We should be mobile in less than two days at this rate.” Turning around, he found Rex giving him a looking. “What?”

“I can’t believe you just jinxed us. Go get me my gun!” Rex pointed randomly in a direction. “Thanks to you, I’m going to need it sooner than later.” Alfred was confused about his behavior.

“I don’t s-” Magical screens that weren’t his own took up his view slowly. “I see now.” Alfred quickly reread each message a few times over. “I’ll go get you that gun now, sir, while I hold up in the Core Room.” Before he could escape, Rex grabbed his back collar.

“Get me the weapon first, then hold up with defenses raised. Oh, and a proper bag with tons of ammo would be appreciated.” Rex let him go. “So, where exactly am I supposed to go now?” He looked around, a little lost.

“The Core Room seals itself closed while in defense mode.” Waving his arms around, fingers dancing about on glowing screens, they all close when he snaps. “Magic makes things a bit easier, and I like to think. Head to the lower main deck, then head below. There’ll be a worker waiting to escort you to the armory. It should be ready soon.” He held out his hand to Rex. After shaking hands, he retreats to the Core Room door. “Try and keep some of the workers alive. We’ll need to hire a crew shortly!” Alfred called out as he shut the door; it magically vanished into light.

“That doesn’t look good.” Rex paused on his way to the lower deck. A giant crack in space shattered nearby within visible and audible range. “Magic sound travels through space, got it. Giant magical crack in space, probably not a good sign.” He picked up his pace. Just as he made it to the top of the stairs, a force wave of rolling thunder passed over the whole ship. He rolled down the steps with a loud curse as he felt something snap. “Not now!” He held his ankle as his foot was slightly bent at the wrong angle.

“I can help, sir! Medic on duty!” The woman from earlier was on the ground crouching at the bottom of the steps from the sudden thunder soundwave. She bent over by his injury; her eyes glowed a deep violet color, while her hand had a soft icy blue to them. He gasped as he felt his bone mend at a fantastic rate. In seconds she fully restored him. “The Spirit said to guide you to the armory; it’s this way, sir.” She began to walk down a hallway that looked similar to the rest.

A warning siren blasted throughout the ship with Alfred’s voice. “We are under attack! Brace for defensive fortifications!” The two fell to the ground as the hallways and ship started shaking. “Castel formation is activating. Prepare to fight for your lives.”

“What is happening to the ship?!” Rex yelled to be heard over the loud grating noise.

“The ship is turning into its defensive castle mode. Hold on until it finishes changing!” The woman laid flat on the ground, bracing for whatever was about to happen. Rex stood up, spinning around. He could see hallways and roos shifting and moving about.

“My ship is becoming a what?” Rex falls over as the hallway he is in starts to rise.