Reality caught up with Isabella, rather abruptly.

"Wait, did you say 47 confirmed destroyed ships ??? That can't be right!"

"I didn't believe it either when I read the file, but the number checks out, it looks like your uncle was rather good at finding the worst scum there is, and giving them the choice of surrendering to the authorities, or destruction. By far the most took their chances in battle, not knowing how cunning Mr. Banks was. You will see, when we go to the hangar, so you can inspect the ship before signing anything. Either way, yes 47 confirmed destroyed vessels, 5 of which had rescue capsules, that he recovered, the others didn't. Given that most of these were slavers that sold fellow humans across the galaxy, I personally say, good riddance. Barbaric practice."

"Are you telling me that my uncle was some sort of space vigilante that mainly targeted slavers with his weird alien ship, and told nobody in the family what was up ? Last I heard, he had a small asteroid mining operation!"

"Apparently he also did that at the side, might also have been a cover for wherever he got his intel from, however. I can only guess. But his tax returns show him selling a wide variety of metals that are consistent with asteroid mining. His mining vessel is also missing, along with him, but you will need to check his computers to find out more."

Isabella rubbed her temples, this was certainly something, and it was not a story you heard every day.

"Alright you made me curious, let's go to the hangar and see this ship, if nothing else, I need to see how he pulled all of this off, it doesn't sound like chance, nobody is that lucky. And if there is no need for luck to blast slavers to smithereens, I might just get convinced to actually consider this inheritance."

"Certainly Miss Ortega. Let me remind you, that being considered a combatant in space, doesn't mean you are considered one on Tera, nothing would change whenever you are on the planet, and you can take all the time you need to think about this. Selling or recycling the ship will restore your status as a civilian as well."

Sergeant Jackson stood up and led Isabella to a lift, that brought them to the hangar, from there a small cart was used to drive to the hangars that held military grade ships that were privately owned.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, the hangar is paid for another 2 years and 2 months in advance" Sergeant Jackson said when they arrived. "Your uncle definitely planned ahead, either in case of his death, or him being MIA for extended periods of time."

"That doesn't sound like the uncle Simon I know." Isabella chuckled. "Everything else so far, I can picture, but him having his taxes in order and paying the hangar rent in advance, that blows my mind."

The hangar opened after the sergeant gave the authorization code with her wrist computer.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"You'd be surprised, according to the logs, he even fully fueled and restocked ammunition every time he docked, along with numerous small repairs and check ups, this ship has unironically been better taken care off than most ships in the Tera defense fleet." The lights in the hangar flickered on, and Isabella saw the ship her uncle had left her. It was like nothing she had seen before.

"Miss Ortega, this is the "Plan B", the ship your uncle left you." The sergeant smirked a bit, when she saw how confused Isabella looked."

"What am I even looking at? Where did my uncle find this thing ???"

Isabella blinked in disbelief.

What she saw was a vaguely teardrop shaped ship, with a massive spike at one end, which had to be the front, given that the other end had an engine. The teardrop also opened slightly at the bottom for a landing gear. She could not see any weapons, just pure metal, and an airlock at the rear end.

"I have only scanned through the documents for a bit, the documentation is really extensive, otherwise this ship would hardly have been allowed into the solar system. I'll send you the documents per e mail, you can review things while you familiarize yourself with the ship. Weapons and Engine and such will obviously be deactivated, standard law enforcement override, I am sure you understand. Anyways, if you are ready, I would like to give you restricted access, while I get back to my work, is that agreeable ?"

Isabella nodded, if nothing else, she wanted to know more about her uncle now, and having the ship as a reference to the documents would be helpful.

One tap to an earpiece later, feedback to the command center, the law enforcement override was initiated and documented.

"Alright, my job here is done for now, if you decide to accept the inheritance, the documents will be waiting for you at the entry of this secure hangar complex, signing them will give you unrestricted access, since your security check came back clean, and you apparently have experience with armed space vessels."

"Yes, I used to work with the Asteroid Point Defense force, for three years, decided I wasn't cut out for it, after I missed an asteroid and three people died as a result." Isabella sighed, it had been a while, and the asteroid flew directly in the shadow of a huge transport, whose jump drive was cooling down, she had the choice of shooting at the asteroid through the transport, potentially killing more, or hoping that another station had a better firing angle. They did not. The rock strafed a new section of the orbital ring, and frankly it was a miracle that so few people died. But she still didn't want to be in the same situation ever again.

"I understand, I am sorry, but one impact in three years is rather remarkable to be honest. I am sure you know that."

It was obvious that the Sergeant had her opinion of Isabella improved. "Have a nice day, may space be kinder to you this time."

With that Isabella was alone in the hangar, alone with the near miracle that her uncle left her.