The Star Farer

After deciding on vising the Krister system, Kita quickly got back to his Hotel room and packed his bags. Although he didn't have too many cloths to take with him, he still had the ones that he bought. He quickly packed them and they headed out. He settled his bills with the hotel before heading towards a pod. He got into a pod that would take him to the space ports. He had already booked a passenger liner that would take him to the Krister system.

When he got to the area where all the ships scheduled to depart were parked, he looked for his ship. The Passenger liner he had booked was known as The Star Farer. It was a pretty well known passenger liner company that operated in the Arcorn Empire. They were an interstellar transit company that specialized in taking people from one place to another.

In this Age of Stars, not everyone could afford their own ships. Although humanity had more starships than ever before, But the general population of people couldn't afford to have their own starships. It was simply too expensive to buy and maintain. And there was the economical value of owing a starship just to travel between the planets. It simply didn't make sense to own a starship unless you really needed one.

But people still needed to travel. They needed to go from one place to another. The Arcorn Economy was built upon trade. And trade couldn't happen unless there was a convenient way to travel throughout the vast number of star systems humanity had colonized. That's where the Passenger liners such as the Star Farer came into play. They owned huge passenger ships that could carry upwards of a 100,000 people at a time. Taking the law of economy in larger scales, they built their ships to be as big as possible, while still keeping them under budget of daily operations.

The Passenger liners were affordable options for anyone who wanted to travel to one system to another. They were generally really cheap, and offered options for everyone.

Kita had booked a premium room for himself aboard The Star farer. After he located their counter at the port. He quickly checked in and was escorted to his room.

After settling down in his room, he got out of the room and headed towards the commercial area aboard the ship. Although the Star farer was a passenger liner, in reality it was more like a cruise liner. Traveling from one system to another took weeks on end, people needed something to do during this period. So the Ship had a couple of Commercial Cities that served to entertain the passengers while traveling.

The City offered all sorts of amenities for everyone. One could go on a shopping spree, or maybe watch a movie. Or anything. The City generally had something to offer for all of them.

As Kita walked around the City he noticed a Cat Café. For some reason, he decided to visit it, he had nothing better to do anyway. It would take about 3 weeks for him to reach the Krister System. So it was better to relax for a bit while he was aboard the ship.

After entering the Café, he could see many different cats laying around. They Purred around the other customers and played with them. Overall the atmosphere in the Café was pretty relaxing.

As he was looking around, one of the staff approached him.

"Hello dear customer, would you like to have a seat?", The Girl said in a bubbly voice with smile plastered on her face.

Kita looked at her for a while before nodding.

"Right this way.", The girl guided him towards a free table.

"Here's our menu. Feel free to call me when you're ready to order. Until then, please enjoy yourself."

"I'll just have a coffee." Kita said without taking a look at the menu. He wasn't feeling hungry. At it wasn't really lunch time yet, So he decided to go for a coffee without much though.

"A moment please.", The Girl said before going away.

As he sat there, he looked around the café. Besides himself, there were a few other customers. A few of the cats seemed to have climbed down from their nests in the wall and approached the Customers. Evidently, the cats were trained to do so. This was how the business operated. And it wouldn't be too popular if the cats didn't interact with the customers.

As Kita sat there waiting for his coffee, one of the cats decided to approach him. It was a black shorthair. He didn't know much about cats to identify it's breed. But as he could guess, it's family history could probably be traced back to the cats from the old earth. All the cats in the galaxy was related to the cats from the old earth is some way or form.

When humanity ascended to the stars, they took their pets and companions with them. That's how a small feline species managed to spread all over the galaxy where many other, more powerful species failed to do so.

Although the cats now were much different from the cats back in the old earth. For instance, they were genetically mutated to be more intelligent and much more self aware. Much of them didn't even need basic training. They just instinctively knew what to do in a given situation. Humans took the genetics of the cats from the old earth and genetically mutated them to fit their needs much better.

Each passing day there was one more cat breed in the galaxy that was just that much better.

As the cat approached Kita, They both looked at each other for a minute. After a while, the cat jumped on Kita's Lap. Kita was slightly taken aback by this sudden movement. But he relaxed shortly. He began to pet the cat.

The Cat was Jet black in color. With bright yellow eyes that seemed to have more intelligence in them than one would think. As Kita caressed the cat in his hands and looked it straight in the eye, He felt like the cat was looking deep into his soul. Which was a weird feeling.

"Here's your coffee." The deep soul watching was interrupted by the Server that had bought his order.

Kita thanked him and went back on petting the cat. Something about this cat made him feel calmer.

A lot of things had happened recently. His life had changed to a huge degree in a very short time. He didn't know his path going forward. Although he knew what he wanted to do, But he didn't knew about what problems he might need to face. The Galaxy was inherently a really dangerous place. And no matter what, no one could predict what would happen next. One could guess, but that was as good as anyone else's.

No matter how much bravado one showed outwardly. In the face of sheer uncertainty that was the galaxy, one couldn't help but feel anxious. Kita was no different either. Although he tried really hard to forget about everything or to throw them at the back of his head, He couldn't do so. He knew deep inside him that he would need to face these questions sooner or later. But he wasn't prepared to answer them.

As Kita sat there with a cat on his Lap, he contemplated his life and his path forward.