“Ginny? Are you okay?” It sounded like Benedict.

I quickly finished my conversation with Bob. “These people risked themselves for me. I’ll repay that debt. Now move it, Bob. And bring the salvage ship around. The vacation was nice, but it’s time to go.”

I let out a moan as I got off the bed. The nice soft bed. It was so comfy. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to carry it out without being seen. There wasn’t time either. I’ll come back someday. I quickly scooped up my dirty clothes and changed out of the clothes they lent me. I crammed everything into my slack pack.

Benedict knocked on the door again. “Ginny? Is anything wrong?”

“Naw,” I replied as I opened the door. “Just heading out. I’ll come to visit again, but my vacation is over.”

“Wait, what? Why?” he asked. “Is this about the monster attack?”

“No no, that was kinda fun. Thanks for taking me out! Never seen an animal that was so terrifying! It was awesome. I just have some things I need to take care of.”

He blocked my path.

“Do you mind?”

“Yes. I do mind. Start talking.”

“Well, if you must know, a Triv Dreadnought is on the way into the system and has probes out to scan the system. So I have to deal with that, but I’ll be back someday. Maybe we can kill that huge sea monster together next time!”

I pushed on his chest gently but he moved out of the way. I patted him on the shoulder. “It was a great first date,” I called over my shoulder.

“W-what? Why you—”

I laughed as I ran for the stairs, missing the last of what he said. He was fun to banter with but I could hear the rumbling engines of my ride.

Allison, Liam, and the boys were all seated at one of the tables. “Seeya guys later!” I called as I ran past.

“What?” Allison asked.

I didn’t have time or the emotional capacity to deal with goodbyes right now so I just waved and bolted for the door.

“Wait, Ginny! Stop her!”

That had to be directed at the two boys. Sure enough, I glanced back to see both of them spring to their feet and race after me. Allison’s words didn’t sound malicious, just concerned and likely she wanted some kind of an explanation.

I exploded out the door and nearly plowed into one of the regulars at the pub. I threw myself to the side and twisted into a flip to land on my feet. Ha! I never used to be able to do that! This ABAT stuff is pretty cool!

“Ginny, wait!” Martin shouted.

“Catch me if you can!” I shouted back.

Jason grinned. He jumped suddenly and my eyes widened as he sailed through the air. Those acrobatics during the volleyball game were nothing! Those cheaters were holding back!

I put on a burst of speed to avoid him and then crouched as I linked with Bob through my scavenger ship. “Bring her in lower and I’ll jump in, hurry!”

I sprang off the ground and landed on the roof of one of the prefab buildings. From there the scavenger ship dipped low and came roaring toward me.

Bob informed me of his plan. “I’ll slow it down at the last minute, but it's going to be tight. Brace yourself.”

“Gotcha!” Jason said, just as his hand clamped down on my shoulder.

“Owi!” I cried out. It didn’t stop me from spinning around and twisting my arm around his to put it in an arm lock.

He grunted as he fought it but my strength was no joke. The angle forced him to either risk a broken arm or let go. As soon as his grip released me, I kicked him in the chest. He flew backward off the roof but he flipped to land on his feet.

Martin jumped out and landed beside me. “Where are you going?” he demanded.

He didn’t try to grab me so I paused. “I'm protecting you guys. You’re my friends.” I paused as my emotions tried to boil over. Then I bolted for the corner of the roof, if I waited another second I’d miss my ride. “Seeya!” I shouted back over my shoulder and then I raced for the edge of the roof.

The ship dipped lower. Blast! Not low enough. What are you doing Bob?! I went for it anyway, the ship slowed a fraction but it was still too high. I formed a force shield and then pushed off with it like I would with one of my force balls. I jumped with all my strength at the same time.

“Aaahh!” I screamed as I sailed through the air. As far as goodbyes go, it was my most epic ever! The jump was almost twenty feet!

I slammed into the edge of the lowered ramp and pain exploded out from around the impact. Ow ow ow! I think I broke a few ribs!

The nanites were already at work, I could tell by the itchy feeling. The ship quickly angled for the sky so all my weight and the force of acceleration bore down on my ribs, but there was no risk of falling. It was still a wild ride of terror. It seemed to last a lot longer than it did, then an SB unit lifted me from the ramp and carried me inside.

“Bob?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m controlling it. You almost didn’t jump high enough, Captain.”

“Someone didn’t lower the ship enough!” I snapped back as I held my ribs.

The internal gravity allowed me to walk to the cockpit despite the nearly vertical climb the ship was making.

“If I’d gotten any lower I might have hurt someone when I engaged the engines.”

“You broke my ribs,” I complained.

“Stop your whining. You wanted to engage the big bad aliens. Broken ribs are the consequences.”

I glared at the metal-faced SB unit but the fight left me. Let's hope that’s the only consequence…

I walked onto the bridge and took the command seat. The salvage ship was on the small side and the bridge reflected that. There were only three stations but everything could be operated by one person. I left it in Bob’s hands for now. My ribs were already mending but it was a simple task to clear the planet and rendezvous with Shadow Hunter.

My eyes were tired, so I leaned my seat back to rest. I’d just closed my eyes to relax when I received a call from the local station's traffic control people.

“Attention, your ship has been flagged for a violation. Before departing, you’re required to pay a fine for entry onto the planet illegally.”

My hand went to my face and I let out a groan. That jerk, surely he didn’t list my ship as having landed illegally! I cursed out whoever the last official was who’d tried to make me land at the spaceport.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“There must be some mistake,” I replied. “I was just visiting my friends.”

“There is no mistake, your ship has been flagged. Adjust course and dock with the station immediately.”

I muttered under my breath. “I’ve got more important things to do, you idiot.”

To the man, I said, “If I had to pay a landing fee, you should have told me when I docked at the station to load up on supplies. Since you didn’t, and the landing sight I chose didn’t charge me, you can take a hike! Maybe take a walk out an airlock, without a spacesuit.”

“Captain Amerson, if you don’t dock with the station and pay the fine, you’ll be barred from the system and be subject to additional fines if you ever return.”

“That’s fine, ‘cause when I return, I’ll be looking for you and that idiot who flagged my ship for no reason and when I find you, I’m going to knock your teeth out!” I snapped back.

Idiots. Their entire planet was in danger and they were prattling on and harassing me over parking? I reached out with my mental powers and linked with their system, checked their duty roster, and found the man’s name who was talking to me. I then looked back at the date I arrived and cross-checked that with the name on file who flagged my ship. Logan Cordel, and Frank Zimmerman. You two better watch your backs.

Frank Zimmerman was nattering about threatening station employees and additional fines. I cut the channel. I had what I needed. If they wanted to play with me, I’d play with them. A few loose teeth and bruised ribs would send a message. No way a planet like this has mandatory regulations to land at the starport. That was just insane. Then again, with all those monsters running around… Maybe it wasn’t so crazy but they never said anything about landing fees. It would be easier to contain the information about the monsters' though… I still thought they were working some kind of scheme, getting kickbacks or something. I wasn’t going to be used like that. No sir.

I brushed it aside. It wasn’t important now. I had a Triv dreadnaught to deal with and a bunch of probes. I reached out with my mind to link with the Shadow Hunter through the salvage ship again. No point in risking someone picking up my transmission.

“Bob, how long until I reach your position?” I asked mentally.

His voice sounded in my mind. “The Triv ship has adjusted course to intercept Shadow Hunter, I’ve already launched a barrage of anti-missile missiles. They will be sufficient to destroy the probes.”

“That didn’t answer my question, Bob.”

“Less than two hours, Ginny.”

“Two hours! Why so long?” I demanded. I was already in space and I knew for a fact that Shadow Hunter was fast. There was no way it should take that long to get here, having already started before I even left the planet.

“That’s because I’m making a pass at the Triv dreadnought first.”

“WHAT?!” I realized I shouted and resent my response via my mind power. “Are you insane? That dreadnought will tear the Shadow Hunter apart!”

“Ginny, you’re forgetting something. The ship is fully operational now.”

“So?”

“So, this ship sat inside the corona of a star for over five hundred years. By tuning the shields to block out the radiation and heat from the star, the shields can provide incredible protection very efficiently.”

“What does that have to do with the Triv?” I demanded. A star was, well it was crazy, but it wasn’t a thinking being who could adapt. The Triv were, and they used weapons designed to penetrate shields. It wasn’t just heat, their energy weapons imparted but an ionized charge that countered shields remarkably well.

“Ginny, as an AI I’m capable of tuning the shields to prevent their weapons from damaging the ship. It’s a simple matter when you have all the relevant information on what the Triv’s weapons are capable of. Thanks to you pilfering their database, I can counter any changes in their weapons output with perfect efficiency. They would have more luck getting through our shields with a squirt gun!”

My mouth fell open. Despite Bob’s words, and his logic, which try as I might, I couldn’t find any holes to poke in it, I was still having a hard time absorbing it. As the information sank in though, new ideas bloomed in my mind.

“What is your plan?”

“First I trick them into chasing me away from the planet, then I engage them and cripple their engines. After that, I’ll pick you up and we’ll fly off into the unknown regions… where we will all probably die.”

I snorted. “Those other people seem to be surviving just fine.” I was talking about whoever it was with the Triv tracking signal, the one who'd rescued them and inadvertently set me free. “Make their quantum communications link your primary target, the engines are secondary.”

“Are you sure, they could still pursue us if their engines aren’t disabled?”

“How did they find us anyway?” I asked.

“Ah, right… That was an oversight by me,” Bob mumbled. He didn’t even have vocal cords, but he mumbled.

“Explain.”

Bob let out a sigh. “Their strike teams were all equipped with communications gear and implants to determine their well-being while deployed. The Triv must have used one of those quantum link devices to track our location. I thought I destroyed them all, but I missed one that slid into a crevasse.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded.

“I only realized my mistake after they arrived. In fact, it wasn’t until you decided to take action that I did another sweep of the ship and found it.”

The Triv were here for me then. I led them here so it was on me to get rid of them. “Bob… when you target the engines, make sure they are only lightly damaged.”

“Excuse me, Ginny, but did you say, lightly? Why would you want to allow them to follow us?”

“Because we can’t let them figure out what this place is. Everyone and their brother would swarm this place if they realized they could get superpowers just from eating the local wildlife! I don’t want to think about what would happen if Triv Enforcers were buffed with this stuff. Those guys are scary enough as it is!”

“Then perhaps I should launch a platoon of WMDs to eliminate everyone…”

“No way! We aren’t cool-blooded killers,” I protested immediately. Bob had a point though. It was the only way to be sure… No, they would probably send an investigation team out then… besides, if they did learn anything, they would send it over the quantum link.

I shifted my attention from Bob and linked with the Triv network. I scoured their database for anything coming from the Star Hammer. It was the same ship we’d faced before. Aside from standard reports, there was nothing. Thank God. I let out a sigh of relief and reconnected with Bob.

“Just damage the engines slightly, but make it look like we’re trying to destroy them if we can. We’ll lose them in the unknown regions.”

“Why are we going there? I was hoping to swing by Yawlikin space so you could retrieve all their proprietary cloning data.”

No way! I was totally not ready to have a flesh-and-blood Bob walking around. It was creepy enough knowing he was watching me all the time, well except in my room now, or the bathroom. The dude didn’t know the meaning of the word boundaries!

“Going to meet someone,” I said. “And don’t ask me who because I don’t know.”

“Draden Walker.”

“What?”

“My logic processors indicate a 79% chance you’re heading for the unknown regions to locate the source of the Triv tracker. According to the Triv database, the inmate tagged with that signal is named Draden Walker. Would you like to know what he was on the Triv Prison ship for?”

“No!” Okay, kinda, but seriously, I’ll just ask him… maybe. Draden Walker, hum… Sounds like a cool dude. “Wait, wasn’t 79% the same percentage as the likelihood of the Triv being here because of me?” My eyes narrowed as I waited for a response.

“Yes. I was wondering how long I could use that number before you caught on.” Bob snickered.

“What do you mean, use that number?”

“Research shows negative emotional impact is related to being the cause of a catastrophe.”

“Bob…”

“It’s emotionally damaging to a person to carry such a heavy burden, the stress from such heavy responsibilities can shorten a person’s life span by several years.”

“Bob!” I snapped. “Stop with the nonsense! This is serious!”

“Sorry… 79%, in this case, indicates a 99.8% likelihood of Draden Walker being the reason you picked the unknown regions for our next stop.”

“He wasn’t the reason! You said there were automated killer fleets and maybe some old ruins of a past civilization! How could I possibly say no to that?”

“My voice analyzers have determined that there is a 79% chance of you deflecting with those reasons. I wonder why?” Bob mused.

“Aaahh! I’m speaking with my mind! How can you possibly annalize my voice?” I screamed mentally.

“I play it as audio once it’s received, Ginny.”

“Fine, I just wanted to thank him or his people. I’d have been subjected to torture if not for them, or dead.” I shuttered thinking about the Triv Breakers.

I also could have died when the ship flew into the sun, or with Bob’s security bots came aboard to alter the ship’s course… but those would have been pleasant fates in comparison to meeting the Breakers.

Bob didn’t respond.

“Right, well, let's go kick some alien butt!” I forced some cheer into my voice to shake off my ill mood.

“There is a 79% chance I’d be happy to oblige you, Captain.”

I snorted and then cut the channel. Only after I disconnected did I realize he would be doing all the butt-kicking without me. I was still stuck on the salvage ship and wouldn’t meet up with Shadow Hunter until after he was done. Blast! I was looking forward to that…