In the middle of eating, we received the notification that our dock time was about to expire. Rhubin came into the kitchen and asked if we were staying or going.

“Let's jump to the next system and track down that loan defaulter.” I said. “We can test out Luxea's new cell, too.”

Rhubin nodded and went back to the cockpit, then after a moment, we felt and heard the docking clamps release, then nothing.

“This ship is really something.” Luxea said. “I can't feel the acceleration, and you know Rhubin is flying us out at the ship's best speed.”

I chuckled. “We need to show off a little, so it's okay for now.” I said. “I'll warn him not to get too cocky with his piloting before we come back, just so he doesn't make the port master angry.”

Luxea nodded and kept eating. I felt the distinct feeling of entering hyperspace and looked at Luxea with wide eyes.

“We just entered hyperspace, didn't we?” Luxea asked, and it was my turn to nod. “I'm finding it hard to believe you can feel things outside of the ship like that.”

“Think of it like that first time I showed you what your belly button did with Presence.” I said, and she raised her eyebrows at me. “I didn't need to touch you on the inside to make you react like that.”

“You... you're saying the ship is like my body...”

“...and I'm the belly button.” I said.

Luxea went quiet as she thought about that and we finished eating.

“We're here.” Rhubin said over the ship's internal communication system.

“That really was a short hyperspace jump.” I said and we cleaned up, then went to the cockpit.

“What have we got?” Luxea asked and sat in the co-pilot seat.

“A couple of scattered ships, mostly system only and no hyperspace generators.” Rhubin said. “There's only one hyperspace capable ship active, according to the preliminary scan.”

“The programmed route doesn't need to be changed.” Luxea said and looked at the navigation display. “It's clear all the way in.”

“Any chance we know which planet he's on?” I asked.

“There's three habitable planets and a space station.” Luxea said. “I doubt he would be on the station, especially if he knows people are looking for him.”

“Any population numbers for the planets?” Rhubin asked.

“You're kidding, right?” Luxea asked and laughed. “We're lucky to get the planet names!”

“Good point.” Rhubin chuckled. “Should we stop at the station?”

“If he's not on the station, do we need to?” I asked.

“It might be a good idea.” Luxea said. “We can see if there's any jobs for quick deliveries or pickups.”

“I didn't see any in the last system; but, we can give it a shot if you want.” I said. “Rhubin, take us in. Luxea, you've got communications duty. See what the difference in fees are between a ship dock and a shuttle landing.”

I took out a datapad and accessed the information I had saved on the bounty and read it all again to familiarize myself with what the guy looked like and his body proportions.

“It's cheaper for the ship dock.” Luxea said, surprised. “I've even got an offer for a delivery job.”

“Ha ha!” Rhubin said. “Things are working out already and we barely started!”

“All right, let's dock and go meet our new potential client.” I said.

“You can get changed.” Luxea said. “Your uniform is on my bed.”

“Is that what you were working on?” I asked, and she nodded.

“I hope you like it.”

“Please tell me it doesn't light up or creates a beacon or something.” I said, and she laughed.

“I'm an engineer, not a sadist.” Luxea said. “Go put it on and see for yourself.”

I left the cockpit and went to her room and opened the door. She had left it unlocked and I walked over to the bed. I didn't see anything special about the uniform until I was close enough and my Detect Presence technique let me see the subtle differences in the fabric thicknesses.

Did she reinforce some of the cloth panels or something? I asked myself and touched it. “It's metal!” I said out loud and looked at the rest of it. She had expertly trimmed and cut half inch thick metal and put them into all of the slots that were prepared to hold them on the uniform. When I looked closer, I saw that the panels of metal had wires attached to them, very discreetly, and were carefully sewn into the seams and folds of the cloth to hide them.

I followed the wires back to their source in the thick shoulder pads. I didn't have to open up the hidden compartments to see the electronics there and battery packs similar to the ones I had installed in my Light sword. I had no clue what the thing did, however. Nothing was marked and all I could see was a switch in the armpit that would turn it on and off, and a port to charge it up.

I was tempted to go and ask Luxea what she had done, then decided I didn't have the time to do that and get dressed before the ship docked to the station. I took off my clothes down to my underwear, then picked up the pants. I had to struggle slightly with the weight, and that made me smile. I put on the long sleeved t-shirt and then the uniform coat. The added weight of the metal sewn into the fabric was quite a burden. I was in very good shape and was quite strong, so I was surprised that it was affecting me that much. The blast shield on my face weighed nothing in comparison.

What kind of metal is it to be so heavy? I asked myself and put on the boots. Even those had large curved metal plates on the sides, front and back, two pieces on top of the foot, and thick pieces in the soles. I was chuckling almost constantly as I put on the gloves and they had metal on the backs of the hands and smaller pieces on the palms. Once I was completely dressed, I stood there and I was sweating quite a bit. It even beaded up on my forehead. I walked out of her bedroom, with some difficulty, and went to the cockpit.

“Hey, you look... what the hell are you doing?!?” Luxea almost yelled as she saw me struggling to walk. She jumped up and quickly slapped me under the right armpit to hit the switch there. “It's powered armor, you idiot!”

The weight of the metal magically disappeared and I felt energy cover the metal. My mouth made that little 'o' of surprise as I saw it with Detect Presence and it glowed slightly blue.

“Didn't you see all the wires and the switch?” Luxea asked me.

“I did, but...”

Luxea sighed. “You wanted to ask me about it first.” She guessed correctly.

“Yes.” I said. “How did you do it?”

“In simple terms, it's a modification of the artificial gravity theory that allows us to reproduce standard gravity.” Luxea said. “You could seriously hurt yourself if you walked around with all that tristeel sewed into your clothing unaided!” She closed her eyes for a moment to calm down, then glared at me. “You're lucky I didn't slap your face for being so stupid.”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“I thought it was funny that you made me clothing that I had to struggle to put on.”

“Yes, funny.” Luxea rolled her eyes at me. “You were supposed to turn it on before you put it on.”

“How does it work?” I asked and refrained from trying to touch the energy over the metal.

“It's a small electrical field that makes the metal ten times lighter than it actually is.” Luxea said. “It still has the same mass, so you still need to be careful with moving around, just like you would in zero gravity.”

“How long does the charge last?” I asked and bent my arms, then my legs, and turned my torso from side to side to test it. It didn't impede my movements at all.

“I doubled up on the main batteries and added secondaries in the heels of the boots.” Luxea said. “You can wear it for twenty hours straight before the charge starts to die, then you've got about twenty minutes to either start charging it again or take it off.”

“I saw the charge ports in the shoulder pads.”

“You can plug it in to a standard power port or you can just hang it in the closet when you're sleeping.”

“You put in a wireless charger?”

“Why only go halfway when I could make it completely awesome?” Luxea asked and smiled.

“Money?” I asked, and she chuckled.

“I was tempted to add stun emitters; but, they are energy hogs and would only work at the detriment of the armor.”

I smiled and lifted my Light sword to show her the stun emitter under the lens in the handle.

“You set it back from the lens to let the stun effect spread out!” Luxea said, surprised.

“It can work on contact or as a distance weapon.” I said. “You're right, though. It's only one use and then I have to charge the separate battery.”

“You were smart to add its own battery.” Luxea said. “That's why police and guard guns only have settings for laser or stun, and never both.”

“It can't handle doing both at the same time.” I said, and she nodded.

“The gun would have to be about thirty percent larger if they want the stun emitter to have its own power supply to function as an effective weapon.”

“Which is why they've never redesigned it.” I said.

“Why change what works?” Luxea asked.

I wonder if that's why things haven't advanced after they had advanced so far. I thought to myself. I guess there's no drive to innovate when they believe they already have everything they need.

“Anyway, you look great.” Luxea said. “How does it feel?”

“Light.” I joked, and she swatted my shoulder without hitting one of the metal pieces.

“Don't make me hurt you.” Luxea said with a crooked smile.

“Sorry.” I said. “When will...”

There was a loud clang and the ship stopped moving.

“...never mind.” I said and turned to look at the main hatch. “No one's waiting for us.”

“We're meeting them in the security office.” Luxea said.

“Okay, we're powered down into standby mode.” Rhubin said. “I'll stay aboard and keep watch.”

“You just want to prove that you don't need to wear the uniform.” I said with a smile, and he chuckled.

“We're coming back, so you still need to be presentable.” Luxea warned him. “Hopefully, we won't be long.”

Luxea left the ship and I followed her. “I wonder how long it's going to take to search three planets for one person that probably doesn't want to be found.”

“Hopefully, less than a week.” I said, and she nodded agreement. We went to the port master, paid the docking fee, then went to the security office. She had accessed the station's plans before we docked and took out her datapad.

“Okay, make a left and it's the first door.” Luxea said.

“There's three people in the room.” I said. “All humanoid. Two male, one female.”

“You know, seeing through walls can be a very handy skill to have.” Luxea said. “Try not to give yourself away, though.”

“I'm shutting up now.” I said and she chuckled, then she knocked on the door.

“Enter.” A man's voice said, and Luxea opened the door and we entered the room. “Ah, there you are.” The man dressed in a stylish uniform said and stood up from behind his desk. “Thank you for seeing us on such short notice.”

“We were coming here anyway, so it was just good business sense to see you first.” Luxea said with a sweet smile. The uniformed man returned it and then looked at me. “You're an odd fellow.”

I had the blast shield that covered my eyes and had spread my hair out with Presence. “I want to correct you and say that you meant odd-looking; but, I really am odd.” I said without smiling.

“O-kay.” The uniformed man said and motioned to the two people that stood off to the side of the room. “This woman claims that she's a bounty hunter and found this man hiding on the second planet.”

Luxea and I turned to look at them and I got an up close view of them and held in my sigh. The man with her was the one we were looking for.

I guess it's not going to take very long at all to find him. I thought sarcastically.

“Can you believe this little thing? A bounty hunter! Ha ha!” The uniformed man said.

“Considering he's the man we came looking for, she could be a bounty hunter.” Luxea said.

“You are NOT jumping my claim!” The woman said angrily and stepped in front of her prisoner.

“Relax.” Luxea said to placate her. “It was only a venture that we were going to do while we were looking for work.”

That's a nice twist of the truth. I thought, and the woman visibly relaxed.

“Azora, don't do this.” The prisoner pleaded. “I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you; but, I need the money more than I need you.” Azora said.

“I can give you...”

“Quiet, Ernas!” Azora exclaimed and turned on him. “You led me on and I thought you were a legitimate business owner who was on vacation!”

“I am.”

“You stole money and ran! You're just some lowlife criminal! You don't deserve to be happy!”

Ernas opened his mouth, then closed it. “Will you wait for me?”

“Wait for...” Azora closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “You could be sentenced to jail for life. I'm not waiting for you to get out.”

Ernas sighed, too. “I guess that is too much to ask.”

“Damn right it is.” Azora said and turned back to us. “How much for quick passage back to the Dizahl System so I can claim the bounty?”

“Five hundred credits for a one way ticket.” Luxea said. “For each of you.”

“How long...”

“About ten minutes.” Luxea said with a smile, and the three of them stared at her.

“Did... did you just say the jump will only take ten minutes?” The uniformed man asked after a few moments.

“Including normal space flight.” Luxea said and her smile grew into a grin. “The Wave has a very fast ship.”

“Amazing.” The uniformed man whispered.

“I'll buy passage for myself and my prisoner.” Azora said and dug out a credit chip from her pocket.

Luxea took out a chip reader and popped the chip into it, hit several buttons, then passed the chip back. “Welcome aboard, Azora.”

“Thank you.” Azora said. “Let's go.”

“It was nice meeting you!” Luxea said to the uniformed man and gave him a little wave. “Keep us in mind if you have any quick shipping needs in the future.”

The four of us left his office and walked back to the ship.

“You're going to really enjoy this trip.” Luxea said, then she chuckled. “Well, for the length of time you'll be on the ship, anyway.”

“That wasn't an exaggeration?” Azora asked. “You can get me to the next system in ten minutes?”

“You'll see.” Luxea said. “Here we are.”

The main hatch opened and we stepped through. Azora and Ernas stopped walking when they saw the inside. I pushed them gently to move them all the way into the ship and closed the hatch.

“Don't worry, the shock of seeing such a beautiful ship wears off after a while.” Luxea said and touched the intercom button by the hatch. “Rhubin, we have the client and we're going back to the previous system.”

“I'm taking off now and reversing course to the Dizahl System.” Rhubin said.

Luxea waved for Azora and Ernas to follow her, so I walked behind them and we all went to the spare room that was now a cell.

“You're just putting us into a normal room?” Azora asked, surprised. “What if Ernas tries to escape?”

Luxea chuckled and hit the button to open the normal door. “You can go into the holding cell with him if you want.”

“No, I... I'd like to see more of the ship, if that's okay.” Azora said and put her hand on Ernas' back and eased him into the room.

“It will be a short tour.” Luxea said and pulled the lever, then hit the button to have the security door close. Azora's eyes widened at the thick heavy door. “It's not that big of a ship and we're not going far.”

“Th-that's fine.” Azora said and looked up at me. “I like your hair.”

“It needs a good brushing.” I said.

Azora's eyes drifted down to my waist, where the end of my hair was.

“I used to keep it tied into a ponytail.”

“It must get everywhere now.” Azora commented. “It's quite distracting.”

I gave her a crooked smile, and she took a shallow breath and let it out.

“The cockpit is this way.” Luxea said, and led Azora down the hallway. “That's the living room. That's the kitchen. That's miscellaneous supply storage.” She said as we passed each room. “Here it is! The cockpit.”

“We're already in hyperspace!” Azora exclaimed as she saw the shifted star field through the cockpit's viewscreen. I had felt the ship transition into hyperspace and hadn't let it show.

“This ship is fantastic.” Rhubin said. “Hi, there. I'm Rhubin.”

“Hi.” Azora said absently as she kept staring out through the viewscreen. “How fast are we going?”

“Twice light speed.” Rhubin said.

“That's not possible!” Azora gasped. “It's not, right?” She asked. “You're joking, aren't you?”

Rhubin chuckled. “I didn't believe it the first time we jumped, either.” He said and pointed to the readout on his display.

Azora looked at it and shook her head. “No, it's some kind of trick.”

“Well, we'll be dropping out of hyperspace in about three minutes, so you'll see it for yourself.”

Azora nodded several times and sat down in the co-pilot's seat and looked stunned. The three minutes went by and the ship entered normal space, and she caught her breath. Rhubin flew the ship over to the station and Luxea helped Azora place the call to the company that had issued the bounty for Ernas. They were ecstatic to hear he had been caught and gave us landing coordinates on the only habitable planet in the system.

We diverted our course and Rhubin parked the ship in a low orbit. He was going to land the ship on the ground, and I told him that he might as well use the shuttle, since that was its primary use, and it would save wear and tear on my ship. He agreed and we disconnected it from the ship after a short space walk, retrieved Ernas from the holding cell, then we all boarded the shuttle through the ceiling hatch in the middle of my ship and took off for the planet.