I worked like a dog for two weeks and learned the ins and outs of the navigation console. I also learned that most consoles were generic and had certain functions in common, so that no matter what console I was using, I could still do certain things and still get the same results. The best part was how you could get the smallest details out of even the old system that the long haul ship used.
“It still works, so...” Cassie started to say.
“...why buy newer.” I completed for her, and she chuckled.
“You could get higher resolution or even a slightly faster processing speed; but, why bother doing that when it takes so long to work with the information anyway?” Cassie asked. “It's just pouring credits into something that doesn't really need it.”
“What about the fast transports?” I asked.
“They have different operating requirements than us and still don't need a top-of-the-line navigation computer or gravity sensor relays.” Cassie said and laughed. “Some people just open a crew hatch and let their droids scan for them!”
I laughed, too. “I guess buying a droid would be cheaper than overhauling a spaceship.”
“Oh, definitely.” Rus said. “My first captain strapped the droid to the hull and left it out there.”
“That... can't be good for a droid.” I said, and Rus laughed.
“It was an early model and he removed the basic personality before subjecting it to that.”
“What about micro-meteorites and radiation?” I asked.
“All ships have radiation and deflection energy shields.” Rus said and I looked at him with inquisitive eyes, and he pointed at Luxea. “Talk to my first officer and engineer.”
“There's not much to engineer on a long haul like this.” Luxea said. “Everything runs at about forty percent capacity to keep wear and tear on parts to a bare minimum.”
“Only forty percent?” I asked, surprised.
“Any higher and we would have to upgrade the fusion reactor to handle the extra load.” Luxea said and looked at Rus. “Despite me asking every day for eight years, it still hasn't happened.”
“Luxea, it's just not economically viable.” Rus said, and she laughed. “Do you really want to sit in dry dock for up to six months to get a new reactor?”
“It would only take a month if you went to a more prominent shipyard.”
“Which costs a lot more.” Rus said. “I've worked hard for a long time to get to this point. This is the easy life I've always wanted.”
“Ha.” Luxea said.
“Look, we make money. Lots of money.” Rus said. “I pay you all really well, even more than the shipping companies pay their contract workers.”
“Yeah, but it gets really boring.” Luxea said.
“It sounds like the army.” I said, and the three of them turned and looked at me.
“How?” Rus asked.
“The way Luxea talked just reminded me of a saying I heard.” I said. “The army is ninty-nine percent boredom and one percent sheer and utter... excitement.”
“That wasn't what you were going to say.” Cassie chuckled. “What's the last word supposed to be?”
“Terror.” I said, and the three of them fell silent for several minutes.
“You know, this job isn't so bad.” Luxea said, and both Cassie and Rus nodded their heads.
“We'll be arriving in a few hours.” Rus said. “Ullir, want to take us in?”
“What? No.” I said. “I'm not ready to handle a ship yet.”
“Are you sure?”
“I'll stand right here and gaze lovingly over Cassie's shoulder at the console and watch the expert do her magic.” I said and saw Cassie's blush.
“M-maybe not r-right over my s-shoulder.” Cassie said a little nervously, so I took a step back and she sighed in relief.
“Mind on the console.” Rus said and she nodded. I stood there and waited as the ship approached the point where we would exit hyperspace. I watched Cassie perform all of the checks she had me do during the last two weeks, then Rus reached for the ship's main controls.
Luxea pushed the button for the ship's speakers. “All hands, we're about to enter normal space.”
It was the first time I had been on the bridge for this to happen, so when Rus hit the button to cut power to the hyperspace generator, the spectrum-shifted starfield in the viewport of the cockpit warped and became just a complete blanket of stars as far as the eye could see. They glowed with both light and Presence... and I was very surprised that I could detect it from so far away.
“Oh, my god.” I whispered.
Cassie whipped her head around to look at me, then realized she needed to work and turned back just as quickly. Now that we were in the system, she had to let the computer update its navigation software to reflect the current situation, then she plotted a course to the small moon. I tore my gaze away from the spectacular sight through the viewport and watched her work. If I guessed right, she was going to test me later on it and might even ask me to get them onto the proper heading to leave the system when their impromptu vacation was over.
“Course plotted and locked in, Dad.” Cassie said.
Rus checked it and nodded slightly, then changed the ship's course to reflect the new data. “The system's pretty empty, so we can make a fast approach.”
“Thank the goddess.” Luxea said. “I really hope they got the holoprojector working in the guest suite this time.”
Rus laughed. “You're lucky I booked the whole floor for a week.”
Luxea laughed, too. “I'm sure at least one of them will have a working one.”
“You can always come over and share mine.” Rus said and waggled his eyebrows at her.
“We'd be swapping suites before that happens.” Luxea said and stood up. “I've only got an hour to pack and get ready, so I better get to it.”
“You need to check...” Rus started to say.
“I'll have it done before we hit orbit.” Luxea cut him off and left the cockpit.
“What about you?” I asked Cassie.
“I need to stay and maintain the ship's course.” Cassie said. “It's just watching the monitor and keeping an eye on the other ships; but, it's still really important and vital to the ship's operation.”
“I can do that.” I said, and she looked up at me. “If anything happens, I'll call for you right away.”
“But...” Cassie looked over at her father.
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“Go ahead.” Rus said in a defeated tone.
“Thank you!” Cassie exclaimed and hopped out of her seat and hugged him, then she turned to me. “If anything shows up in the plot, you let me know instantly!”
“Yes, Ma'am!” I said and gave her a guard's salute. She looked surprised for a moment, then she nodded and left the compartment at a run.
“That was nice of you.” Rus grumbled.
“It sure was.” I said and smiled. “I figured I'd save you from listening to her sigh and moan for the next hour while we headed for the moon's parking orbit.”
“Hey, you're right.” Rus sat up straight and looked at me. “I usually have to listen to her complain the whole time.” He smiled back at me. “Thanks, Ullir.”
I gave him a nod and sat down in the navigator's chair and watched the plot and the other ships floating around in orbit. Nothing came close to our plotted course, so Rus eased the enormous long haul ship into a high orbit around the small moon.
“Okay, we're locked in.” Rus said and looked at me. “Get your ass down to the cargo hold to help Donny and I'll let our customers know that we're here and have their orders.”
“I'm on it, captain.” I said as I stood. Rus smiled at me and I left the cockpit to do as he asked. I joined Donny in the cargo hold after putting on a spacesuit and we handled the cargo like a pair of old pros. It really was pretty easy to do the job with someone else that knew what they were doing, and a heavy cargo droid that we could tell what to do. We successfully transferred over everything into the pressurized area so that the customers could take possession of their goods and didn't have to work in vacuum like us.
Shuttles from the moon's surface started to arrive and suddenly Luxea was there. She wore a very stylish dress that had a slit all the way up her thigh and the blue color of the cloth highlighted her blonde hair nicely. The people that came off of the first shuttle were surprised to see that a beautiful and stylishly dressed woman was there to process their order.
Luxea handled the stares and whispered comments like a professional and only acknowledged the ones that she was interested in responding to. The people paid for their goods and they had their own heavy loader transfer the cargo container to their shuttle. They left and the next shuttle docked almost right behind the other one when it left. There wasn't even a pause in the work as we kept processing their orders and confirmed the goods. It took about two hours for the shuttle train to end, and Luxea went to the hatch and hit the intercom button.
“Hey, Rus. Are there any more shuttles coming?” Luxea asked.
“Nope. According to the manifest, we delivered all the orders that were requested.” Rus said over the little speaker. “All that's left are incidentals that we can peddle while we're down on the surface.”
“Are we taking the pods this time?” Luxea said.
“Actually, Rhubin offered to take us all down in the shuttle.” Rus said.
“When is he leaving?”
“As soon as we load our things onto the shuttle.” Rus said with a laugh.
“I'll be right there!” Luxea exclaimed and let the button go and tossed me the chip reader. “Stash that in the maintenance locker and let's go!” She nearly yelled, then she ran from the compartment.
“Okay, now I know why there's a dozen of these things all over the ship.” I said, and Donny laughed.
“Come on. Rhubin said he'd wait for us if we wanted to shower first.”
“Good idea.” I said and we secured everything, locked the external hatches, then went to get cleaned up. We were at the shuttle barely ten minutes later with our small bags of personal things.
“Come on, come on, COME ON!” Luxea yelled and shoved us into the umbilical to Rhubin's shuttle. “We're all anxious to relax!”
“Yeah, relax.” Donny said and she slapped him on the back of the head. “Ow. Okay, I deserved that.”
“Damn right you did.” Luxea said and secured the hatch, then pushed by us to get to the shuttle. We followed her and she shut the door right behind us, secured it, and used her datapad to vent the umbilical and then disengaged it. “We're free.”
“You're lucky I unhooked the clamps on the landing gear already.” Donny said as he sat down.
“That was the first thing I checked when I got here.” Luxea said and hopped by us and went to the cockpit to sit in the co-pilot's seat.
“I guess I'll sit back here, then.” I said, and Donny laughed.
The shuttle took off with all of us in it. I thought it was a little odd to leave no one aboard the ship; but, I knew I wasn't experienced enough... or trusted enough... to be left on my own. Rus had locked everything down on the ship anyway, so there wasn't much point in staying aboard. I would have liked to be left alone for a whole week, though. I've always had someone around me for one reason or another my whole life. Being completely left alone for a while would have been such a nice breath of fresh air.
I knew I wasn't going to get that air, even on a small terraformed moon.
There was a ton of information about the place in the ship's database and I had read some of it; but, I honestly didn't care about how a few choice people had decided that they wanted somewhere to live and then built it.
I mean, doesn't everyone do that? You grow up, find somewhere to go, then make a place to live. It's not that great of a story. I thought. The details may change and those can be interesting sometimes, like taking a hundred years to make a lifeless moon into a habitable place; but, once you've heard it, what else is there to listen to? How long they worked? How hard? Anyone with half a brain would already know those things. That made me chuckle, because even to myself I sounded like an asshole.
“What's funny?” Donny asked.
“I just called myself an asshole in my head.”
“Bwahahaha!” Donny guffawed. “He finally admits it! Ha ha ha!”
I distinctly heard a few chuckles at my expense from the others, and I smiled. I could have made something up to be funny; but, sometimes the truth itself was funny and it didn't even need a punchline.
The shuttle came in for a landing and had barely touched down when Luxea had passed by us, grabbed her bags, and was out through the hatch and down the ramp to disappear from our sight. The two people waiting for us had barely seen her pass and looked from her retreating figure and back to the shuttle.
I picked up my small bag and walked out of the shuttle. “Luxea is a little excited to be here after so long.” I said to the greeting party.
“I think I saw that.” The older man said with a huge smile. “Welcome to Esyndae.”
“Thanks, but I'm not the captain.” I said and stepped aside for Rus and pointed to him. “He's the captain.”
“Rus!” The older man exclaimed and gave Rus a quick hug and let him go. “You know, you're the only person I'd let book a whole floor without a down payment!”
“Hey, you know I'm good for it.” Rus said with a laugh. “I just sold...” He stopped talking and laughed again. “Privately, my friend. Privately.”
“Of course.” The older man said and looked at everyone. “I'll have Ohazith show you to your rooms.”
“Right this way.” A slightly high pitched voice said and I looked at what I thought was a woman, who stood beside the older man. She looked human as far as I could tell, with long black hair and a pretty face. I couldn't see anything special about her with Presence, except that she had what looked like two long bundles of something wrapped around her waist under her baggy uniform.
“Lead the way.” I said, and she smiled at me and walked towards the large building not far away. I concentrated on her and focused my attention on trying to figure out what it was she was hiding. To everyone else, especially Cassie, it looked like I was watching the woman's backside. I found this out when she poked me in the side.
“Why exactly are you staring at her ass?” Cassie whispered angrily. “Mine looks better than that.”
“How exactly would I know that if I'm not allowed to look at yours?” I asked and didn't bother trying to keep my voice down.
Cassie widened her eyes, squinted them, sputtered a little, then crossed her arms and grumbled something that sounded like 'you're supposed to look anyway'. I held in my laugh and kept following Ohazith into the building and into a very large lift. It fit us all and our luggage easily and we went up to the top floor.
“He really did book all the suites.” Donny said in amazement as the lift opened and we stepped out into a huge lobby.
“There are no set rooms, so feel free to choose one that suits you best.” Ohazith said in her high pitched voice. One of them already had a 'do not disturb' sign hung on the door handle.
“Except for that one.” I said and pointed. “That one's Luxea's.”
“Hm?” Ohazith turned and looked. “Oh, so it is.”
“I claim the middle one!” Cassie said and ran over to the door. I was wondering where her luggage was, then Rus lumbered by with his arms full. He put them just inside the room and shut the door before his daughter asked him to help her unpack.
“You all have fun.” Rus said and quickly walked back into the lift and the doors closed.
“I'll take the one between them.” Rhubin said and carried his large bag over to the room and went inside. A moment later, he also put out a 'do not disturb' sign. Evelyn didn't say anything and took the room next to Cassie's and shut the door.
“Process of elimination means I get that one.” Donny said and walked over to the one beside Evelyn's and went inside.
“Then the last one is yours.” Ohazith said and motioned to the door.
“Thank you.” I said and didn't move.
Ohazith turned to me and looked me in the eyes. Have you figured it out, yet?
Surprisingly, no. I thought back. You must be using Presence to disguise it, because all I can see is two long bundles of Presence.
Ohazith chuckled, and the sound wasn't grating on my nerves like I thought it would be. I can show you if you like.
I wouldn't want to impose on you. I thought to her.
My secret will eat you up inside... at least, until you drop your shields and let your anger loose. Ohazith thought. Then you might just tear off my clothes to see for yourself.
You... are very turned on by that possibility. I thought in surprise, and she laughed. I really like your laugh.
You really do. Ohazith thought in surprise as her hand touched my chest. Her skin was very warm against the jumpsuit's fabric. It reminds you of someone.
Lashina. I thought and brought her image to my mind. I'm saving myself for her.
You're assuming I need to touch you physically to give you pleasure. Ohazith thought smugly, then I felt her Presence touch the back of my head and it pulled the tie out of my hair. Almost like magic, she ruffled through my long dirty blonde hair using Presence, spread it out, and it cascaded over my shoulders and down my back to touch my backside. You are very handsome.
Can I do the same to you and give you a similar compliment? I asked.
Why do you ask when you can just do it like I just did? Ohazith smiled and walked over to my room. I followed her and we both stepped into my room and I shut the door.