“The checks are almost done.” Luxea said as I entered the cockpit.

“Can you show me how the chip reader works while we wait?” I asked.

“Sure.” Luxea said, and then she smiled. “It's both complicated and simple.”

“Isn't it always?” I asked, and she chuckled.

Luxea took out one of the ones she bought and started to show me how the chip reader worked, and how it could take credits from either another chip or from a designated and protected computer on larger ships.

“Before you ask, it'll only work with authorized personnel and with a security code.” Luxea said. “I had the authority to handle the transfers on the long haul transport, so that's why it was usually me that handled everything.” She explained. “Rus has his own authority obviously, since it's his ship. Cassie doesn't, and you can probably guess why.”

I nodded my understanding.

“It also has a very limited range.” Luxea said. “Right now, this one can only transfer between credit chips, since there's no dedicated credit computer on this ship.”

“Well, we weren't traders or merchants, so there wouldn't be a reason for my parents to have one onboard.” I said. “Would it be difficult to add one, if I do decide to try and become one of the fast haul transports?”

“There's not a lot of cargo space on this thing, once you take into account personal food storage and the supplies you plan to buy.” Luxea said. “Becoming a fast haul transport wouldn't be a good choice.”

“Yeah, it was just an idea I was thinking about.” I said. “I'm going to need a way to make money, now that I'm going to be on my own. I thought being a quick delivery ship would work in the short term.”

“Not for the cost of wear and tear on the ship.” Luxea said. “I can do up some rough calculations and show you the approximate figures you could expect to get on an average run, though.”

“I'd appreciate that.” I said. “Can you show me how to transfer credits from chip to chip again?”

“I've got to spread out my credits onto more chips, so just watch me work.” Luxea said and took out a blank chip from the handle of the reader.

“Can I see one of those?” I asked.

“Sure.” Luxea said and gave it to me.

Using my Detect Presence technique, I could see the basic structure of the chip and what little electronics it contained. I couldn't see any energy in it, so I handed it back.

“Okay, first chip will have one hundred credits.” Luxea said and did the commands very slowly so I could see her work. She inserted her main chip and took a hundred credits from it, popped it out, then put in the blank chip I just examined and put the credits on it.

“Can I see it again?” I asked, and she handed it to me. I looked at it and saw that it was slightly different. There was a little bit more Presence in it, which meant at least some energy had been used to alter the chip. “Thanks.”

“Is there a reason why you did that?” Luxea said.

“I've been trying to examine electronic things using Presence ever since your first lesson.” I said. “Remember what I asked you a little while ago? The two unmarked chips in my possession have trackers inside them and I wanted to see the difference between an empty chip, and partially used chip, and the ones I have.”

“Is there a difference?” Luxea asked and I nodded. “How big of a difference?”

“Can I see your main chip?” I asked, and she hesitated. “You don't have to hand it over, I just want to see the Presence inside of it.”

“Ullir, I... there's a lot of credits on this.” Luxea said and took it back out and held it up. “I'm used to handling large amounts of money and even I'm nervous with this thing.” She said. “I need to spread it out before something happens to it.”

I smiled and looked at it. “Oh, there's definitely a lot more Presence and energy in that one than in the empty and partially filled ones.” I said. “I'm tempted to ask you how much is there.” It's close to what I detected in the two unmarked chips. I thought.

“It's everything I've made on Rus' ship over the last eight years, minus the little splurges that I give myself when I visit a resort planet to relax.” Luxea said and chuckled. “Which reminds me. I hope Evelyn has everything of mine packed by now.”

“You could have...”

“No, Evelyn was right. There's no way they would let us back onto the ship after what happened.”

I sighed. “I really didn't think it would turn out this way.”

“None of us expected it.” Luxea said and touched my hand. “I really didn't know she was pawing at you like that or I would have stopped her.”

“Thanks.” I said with a smile. “Now start spreading out your fortune.”

Luxea snorted a laugh and did exactly that. She didn't tell me the denominations she was using; but, I could see the small writing that appeared on the chips as she extracted them. She was putting ten thousand credits onto each one. I watched her as she did a dozen of them, made a dozen one thousand credit ones, then five hundred and one hundred denominations. I lost count when she changed to fifty and ten credit ones.

When she was finished, she had several piles of them and pulled several small bags out from one of her jumpsuit pockets. She sorted the chips out and stored them, then put them in different pockets all over her body.

“When Rhubin brings me my things, I'll spread the chips around and hide them.” Luxea said.

“You could easily hide most of them inside that massive hairbrush.” I chuckled, and she laughed.

A light blinked on the console and Luxea turned to check it. “The communications array passed all the tests.”

No sooner had she said that when Rhubin's voice came out of the speaker by her hand.

“Hey, kids! I'm on my way back.” Rhubin said. “Dammit Luxea, you have a lot of stuff!”

We both laughed at that and I checked the navigation console to see how far away he was, then saw the long haul transport go to full burn.

“Yep, there they go.” I said and Luxea looked at the plot.

“Such a waste.” Luxea said. “He'll burn off a hundred hours of wear on the engines like that.”

“Well, he did just lose his engineer.” I said and looked at her. “I can't believe you quit like that.”

“I told you months ago that it was getting boring.” Luxea said. “I was going to leave eventually anyway and this whole thing gave me an opportunity to get away with almost no fuss.”

We waited for a few minutes while the shuttle approached, then it docked to the top hatch. We all helped bring Luxea's things down and put them into the room that used to be mine when I was four years old. I was going to sleep in the room where my parents stayed and I had already dropped my bag in there on the bed. The door was locked and I even put a bit of Presence over the door control panel and made it solid.

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I was tempted to start the ship up and fly it over to the station, and Rhubin warned me that they would probably charge me for docking the ship to the station. I couldn't refute that, especially since Luxea showed me the fees for storing the ship for twelve years. She had been right that I would have plenty of credits to cover it, thanks to working on the long haul transport for three months. Unfortunately, that didn't leave me a lot left over for food and supplies.

We took the shuttle and made a quick trip back to the station, and I let Luxea handle giving the port master alien the payment. He was a little nervous taking it to complete the transaction, then she handed him a five hundred credit chip and thanked him for all of his hard work. The alien had preened and gushed that he was happy to finally meet someone that appreciated his talents, gave her a receipt, and asked her out to dinner.

“I'm terribly sorry.” Luxea said and ducked her head in a clear submissive gesture and wiggled her hips. “I need to leave the system as soon as I get back to the ship.”

“Awww.” The alien said and sighed. “If you happen back this way...”

“I'll be sure to call on you right away.” Luxea said and held her hand up at chest height and wiggled her fingers at him. “Goodbye!”

The alien lifted one of its arms and wiggled its fingers back at her. “Goodbye.” He said, disappointment clear in his voice. We left the office and went back to the shuttle at a fast walk. When we were aboard, Rhubin took off and flew us back to my ship.

“I'm glad that's over.” Luxea said and shivered a little. “That guy gave me the creeps.”

“I thought you handled it really well, considering what he looked like.” I said.

“Yeah, word play is one thing.” Luxea said. “If we hadn't left right away...” She shivered a little. “Imagine trying to eat dinner with that!”

I reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.”

“It got him to complete the transfer and now the ship's all yours.” Luxea said. “Any idea where you're heading to first?”

“I was thinking a major trading hub; but, I'm sure word of me and the bounty on my head has spread far and wide after three months.” I said.

“They won't know you've claimed the ship, so you'll have some leeway for a while.” Rhubin said. “I think it's time you adopted the Hunter persona permanently.”

“Will that work with Cassie and the others knowing it's just a persona?” I asked.

“I know she's angry; but, I doubt she would try to turn you in.” Luxea said and went quiet for a few moments. “We really should jump out of the system as quickly as possible, though.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I agree.” I pat Rhubin's shoulder. “What will it take to secure the shuttle to the ship's hull?”

“I've got securing cables that should tie into the hull plates if there's no safety rings available.” Rhubin said as the shuttle approached the ship. “It'll take a little longer to attach the magnetic locks that way; but, it'll still work.”

“I'll give you a hand while Luxea gets the ship fully operational.” I said, and Luxea nodded. We went about our tasks and had the shuttle secured to the top of the ship and had all of the ship's systems checked out and powered up. There were only two chairs in the cockpit, so I let Luxea keep the one she was in so she could monitor the ship's engines and reactor. Since Rhubin was a pilot, I let him sit in the other seat and I stood behind them.

“Luxea, please tell me there's a class four reactor to power the engines.” Rhubin said as he hit several switches to prime them.

“No, it's only a class three.” Luxea said.

“Damn.” Rhubin said. “That means we won't have a lot of extra power when in hyperspace. If anything happens, like needing repairs and things, we'll have to drop out of hyperspace to deal with it.”

That's exactly what happened when I was born. I thought, surprised. We needed the extra power for the med-bot. That reminded me that I should probably tell them about it. “Oh, by the way. There's a basic med-bot onboard. It works while in normal space...”

“...but, not in hyperspace.” Rhubin said.

“There's a med-bot onboard?!?” Luxea asked, surprised. “Ullir, do you know how difficult it is to get one of them outside of a space station?”

“Not a clue.” I said, and Rhubin chuckled.

“He said basic, so it might not have a high grade AI.” Rhubin said. “It can probably only do the medical procedures and not be able to discuss things.”

“I honestly don't know.” I said. “Should we check...”

“We can do it later.” Rhubin said and then smiled. “Here we go!” He said as he moved a couple of levers and hit a button... and nothing happened. “Hey Luxea, are the engines getting power?”

“Everything looks fine.” Luxea said. “There's no drain on the system and they should work.”

Rhubin reset the controls and repeated them, and nothing happened. “Damn.” He said. “Did we just strand ourselves in an out of the way system?”

Since I use Detect Presence all the time, I looked at the console. “I can't see any breaks in the wires or connections.” I said.

“Do you have the passkey on you?” Rhubin asked as he turned to look at me.

“I put it where it should be safe.” I said. “The ship worked fine the last time it was there.”

“I wonder what the problem is.” Luxea said. “Give me a few minutes to try and work this out.”

“Well, considering we aren't going anywhere until you do, we can afford to give you a minute or two.” Rhubin joked.

“Ha. Ha.” Luxea said sarcastically and started to check over the logs to try and discover what was wrong. A few minutes turned into ten, then turned into half an hour. “I don't get it.” She said as she sat back. “There's nothing that says we need another step to start the ship.”

“Maybe you're overthinking it.” I said, and she glared at me. “I wasn't insulting you.” I said as an apology. “I saw you going over the recent logs and the start up procedures, and I'm wondering if that's the right way to go.”

“Why?”

“Well, there was always someone in my family on the ship. The only time there wasn't was when they were killed and I was kidnapped.” I said.

“Which means... the ship was always in operation!” Rhubin exclaimed. “Luxea! Can you look for the very first log file entry?”

“Assuming it still exists, sure.” Luxea said and did a quick search. “Okay, I have it.” She said and brought it up on the display. “No, there's nothing there about a different procedure.”

“Assuming the first one would be in the shipyard where the ship was built, can you look for the first time it left port?” I asked. “It shouldn't be too long after the first entry.”

“You're not asking for much.” Luxea rolled her eyes. “Do you realize how many startup tests dockyards run on newly-built ships?”

I chuckled and briefly put my hand on her shoulder. “Just do your best.”

Luxea sighed and nodded, then went back to work. It took her another few minutes to scan through the log files, then she let out a little squeal and almost jumped out of her seat.

“I got it! I GOT IT!” Luxea yelled.

“Does that mean you got it?” Rhubin asked with a grin.

Luxea swung at his shoulder and hit him with the back of her hand. “Shut up, you.” She said and turned to me. “You're not going to believe this.”

“Dazzle me.” I said and she laughed.

Luxea reached between the two seats and down under the console, tapped the front of it and pushed. The small panel clicked and then opened up to reveal a palm scanner like The Order had on their electronic doors.

“Good god.” I said as I knelt to look at it, and missed Rhubin's and Luxea's reactions. “I guess that would stop anyone from trying to steal it.”

“It gets better.” Luxea said. “There's only three registered users. Aida Ullir, Lokend Ullir, and... Aaron Ullir.” She had paused when she discovered my real name.

I nodded and put my hand on the scanner. “Hey, Udelis. It's been a long time.”

The sound of something whirring was heard and then the main display changed as several lights on the console started to blink.

Primary user found: Aaron Ullir Voice command 'Udelis' confirmed.

Full defense system unlocked.

Full navigation system unlocked.

Propulsion unlocked.

Med-bot unlocked.

Food processor unlocked.

Small cargo droid unlocked.

Secondary storage unlocked.

Welcome home, Aaron

“Um... thanks?” I said, surprised at the display's information.

“By the Goddess.” Luxea whispered as her smaller display showed her the details for everything. “The ship has a secondary reactor.” She said and then caught her breath. “It's got weapons!”

“Wh-what?” I took my hand from the scanner and the panel closed. “What did you say?”

“I don't know where they are hiding on a ship this small; but, there's two primary pulse cannons and two assault laser cannons.” Luxea said as she read the information. “A seismic charge launcher. A dummy buoy system. Deflector shields all around the ship and not just in the front. It even has an automatic rotating ship identification that changes whenever it enters a new system!”

“Wow.” I said, shocked at the information. “I never imagined that... I just thought my parents were good at running.”

“Really good according to that list.” Rhubin said. “I've got primary engine control now.”

“Then let's get out of here before the station detects the weapons.” I said.

“Don't worry. They're hidden and completely concealed, according to this.” Luxea said and tapped the display. “I doubt they are emitting a strong enough energy signature to be detected through the hull. Even if we were right on top of the station they wouldn't know the ship was armed.”

“That's a relief.” I said.

“Okay, hold on.” Rhubin said and did the same motions to give power to the engines and hit the button.

The ship launched out of the polar region of the super gas giant as if we weren't deep inside the planet's massive gravity well and we were only flying in deep space.

“Whoa-ho-ho-hooaaaa!” Rhubin hollered like a kid at Christmas and steered the ship towards open space. “Luxea, give me some hyperspace jump coordinates!”

“To where?” Luxea said.

“Anywhere! We're approaching the Lagrange point faster than I've ever flown anything before! Ha haha hahaha!” Rhubin laughed.

“Rus said jumping to hyperspace in a small ship will be rougher.” I said. “We should probably slow down a little and...”

“Got them.” Luxea said. “I picked a smaller system that's near the main routes. We should be able to shop there without being discovered.”

“Good enough.” Rhubin said and hit the buttons to enter the coordinates into the computer. “Hang on!” He said and hit the button to activate the hyperspace generator when we passed the Lagrange point and it spooled up in only a second.

I was distinctly surprised when it felt like the Presence around the ship became solid and a tingle went down my spine as we entered hyperspace. Good god! I thought at the intense sensation.

“Wooo-hoooooo!” Rhubin exclaimed and laughed, because the ship hadn't vibrated at all.