We arrived in the Fogaris System three weeks later and even with five people on board the relatively small ship, it didn't feel cramped. We had pretty much stayed out of each other's way for the most part, except during meals when we would discuss things. As soon as we entered normal space in the outer part of the system, we were hailed immediately and asked what our business was.
“Food delivery.” Luxea said and sent them our documentation, including our salvage rights license. “The Wave sends their compliments to the people keeping Fogaris Space safe.”
“One moment, please.” The man's voice said. After almost thirty seconds of silence, the communication viewscreen lit up.
“You better tell me that Hunter is on board.” A stern looking woman said in a harsh voice.
“Admiral, it's nice to see you, too.” I said and bent down to look into the viewscreen's pickup over Luxea's shoulder. “They still have you stuck on that station?”
The admiral laughed. “Stuck. Refused to leave. Is there a difference if the circumstances are the same?”
I chuckled in response. “I guess not.”
“I see you're not hiding your eyes anymore.” The admiral said and gave me an appraising look.
“I only wear the blast shield when going into battle now.” I said and felt Simone's reaction about me wearing it when I went to meet Aphatoris.
“Are you visiting the station?” The admiral asked with hope in her eyes.
“That depends on if I can leave with my virtue intact.” I said and she laughed.
“I guess that means you're still taken?”
I widened the communication's field of view slightly and put a hand on Luxea shoulder.
“Oh? You finally staked a claim on him, did you?” The admiral asked.
Luxea blushed a little. “Yes.”
“Well, it's about damn time.” The admiral said and Rhubin barked a laugh. “The two of you were making lovey-dovey eyes at each other whenever I saw you.”
“We were not!” Luxea exclaimed and then blushed fully.
The admiral laughed. “I'll pre-clear you through customs.” She said and waved at someone off-screen. “Come on over and see me when you're done with the food rounds.”
“We'll save you a dozen meals for your staff.” I said.
“Thank you.” The admiral said. “We're authorizing the military com channels for you now.”
Our communication display lit up like a fireworks display with all of the incoming communication requests.
“Have fun.” The admiral laughed again and cut the call.
“Wow.” Luxea said as she looked through the dozens of requests. “Which ones do we answer first?”
“Definitely Kitch and the guys from the SAR team first, then see how close they are to our position.”
“Right.” Luxea said.
“You're really popular here?” Simone asked from the hallway behind us. There was room for five people in the cockpit if we wanted to squeeze together a little.
“They really appreciated my skills when we were on a Search And Rescue team.” I said.
“Being able to see through walls and floors saved a lot of people and time.” Rhubin said. “Delivering delicious food and much needed medical supplies afterwards, pretty much made us instant friends with the military.”
“Not to mention Hunter's mobile defense strategy.” Luxea chuckled and turned to me. “Kitch is on leave on the planet, so Tessa's got top priority. She's right here.”
A holomap of the system appeared above the console and a ship was highlighted. Rhubin turned the ship and we flew towards it.
“How are you getting a full system scan?” The hired pilot named Hector asked from beside Simone.
“It's actually just an updated one that we made the last time we were here.” Luxea said. “That one took a week to make while we were floating around the system.”
“Yeah, that was a fun time.” Rhubin said sarcastically and both Luxea and I reached out and touched his shoulder.
“You got us through it.” Luxea said before I could. “Look at us now.”
“Yeah.” I chuckled. “Express food delivery. We can't tell if they are happier to see us or the food.”
“Definitely the food.” Luxea said. “Half of the messages are for food orders and then they include messages of hello and welcome back.”
That made us all laugh.
“Okay, this is a social visit, so casual clothes are authorized.” Luxea said in her business voice. “Get changed if you need to. You've got...” She glanced at the distance counter to the ship they were heading to. “...fifteen minutes.”
We all nodded and left the cockpit to change from our uniforms and into something more comfortable. We stopped at Tessa's ship first. She had been promoted to captain her own SAR training facility onboard a huge freighter warehouse that was full of supplies and replacement parts. It was one of the fleet colliers that maintained the rest of the ships, if they stayed out for long periods of time from the main station.
The ship had a large area for the trainees to practice in and Tessa put the people through their paces. We watched a session in progress while we waited to see her and she was a hard and fair teacher. She praised those that needed it and added in slight critiques when it was necessary. The ones that made mistakes that could potentially hurt people, she slammed hard verbally. When it was over, we met up in their galley.
“Wow, I can't believe you actually came back here after six months.” Tessa said as she ate her reheated meal and we sat around the table with her. “This is so good!” She exclaimed and took another bite of food.
“It's been more like eight months.” I chuckled. “Did you wait for me?” I asked with a grin.
“Bahaha!” Tessa laughed. “Jaset and I got together about a week after you left!”
“Jaset?” I said and thought about it. “Oh! The guy that teased you about your underwear? Really?”
“Yeah, I know.” Tessa shook her head. “Once he got his head out of his ass, he's actually pretty nice.”
That made me laugh. “I'm glad he smartened up and saw what was in front of him.”
“You're not disappointed, are you?” Tessa asked, slightly concerned.
“Is it okay to say that I am, even if it's just a little?” I asked.
“Yes.” Tessa said right away, then her face went slightly red. “Ah... I mean...”
“Take it easy on her, Hunter.” Luxea smiled and touched my hand. “Seeing you without the blast shield has her defenses pretty low right now. Stop dangling the missed possibility in front of her.”
I chuckled. “All right, I'll be good.”
The conversation changed to the system's current operations and how the fleet has been building up. They had come a long way in a very short time, thanks to Hunter's ideas. They had even smelted down half of the debris field of wrecks already and were finishing new ships every week.
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After the visit with her and dropping off a dozen meals as prizes for the recruits, as well as six meals for the crew of the ship, we left and moved on to the next stop. Pretty much everyone we knew had been promoted since the last time we saw them, so they all had their own responsibilities. We had short visits with each of them as well, delivered food, then moved on. It took us about six hours to work through all of the communication requests and met everyone we knew personally.
Kitch made a special trip up to the station to meet us there and we met him at the same dock we had used for SAR operations. “Goddamn, it's good to see you again.” He said and shook my hand. “You got your eyes fixed, too! HA!”
I laughed and he took us all into the station. He gave us a quick tour of the updated facilities and then brought us to the station's command center. After a brief introduction to the staff there and delivering meals to them, we were taken to the admiral's office.
“Hunter.” The admiral said as she stood up and shook my hand. Beside her was a woman that I had been unable to say goodbye to the last time we were here.
“Admiral.” I said and ducked my head briefly. “Hi, Melanie.” I glanced at her uniform. “I mean, Commander.”
Melanie chucked and came right over to me and gave me a hug. “I'm sorry I never got to thank you properly for rescuing me, before I was sent off to help rebuild the military.”
“So that's why I didn't see you in the recovery room when I went to visit.” I said and hugged her back.
“Shanifra told me you did that when I was assigned back here to handle the personnel transfers.” Melanie said, referring to the admiral. “My ribs still ache a little when I think back over what happened.”
I used a touch of Presence to check her ribs and they were fine. None of them were misaligned. “I think we all have pains when we think back on what happened then.” I said and the mood in the room dropped considerably. “We brought food!” I said and made her laugh, which countered the mood shift.
“That's another thing I missed.” Melanie said. “I heard it's delicious.” She smiled. “Hundreds of times.”
I laughed. “I'm glad I brought a ton of it this time.”
“Let's go to my private dining room.” The admiral said and motioned to the door.
We all followed her down the hall to a nice room that was well decorated and both uniformed women took off their suit coats and their hats to let their hair down, both physically and metaphorically. The difference between the admiral that entered the room and the woman named Shanifra that sat down to eat, was almost startling.
“So, tell me what's been going on since the last time we met.” Shanifra said and started to eat, which was the cue for everyone else to eat, too. Her artificial arm worked almost as well as her real one.
“Luxea, you're better at keeping track of those things.” I said and took a bite of food.
“I am.” Luxea said. “She wants to hear you tell it, though.”
That made several people laugh, including Shanifra.
“All right, all right.” I said. “Well, when we left here back then...”
I told the story about what happened with the transshipment business, my bounty hunting, meeting up with Lashina finally, and even hunting down (Undecipherable). I skipped over being summoned away, however. Only my close friends needed to know that part. I ended the story with buying another ship and that was why we were passing by.
“Well, we're grateful for the visit.” Shanifra said and sat back in her chair. “That meal was delicious.”
“It was just as good as the story.” Melanie said and mirrored the admiral as she sat back. “You've done so much and all we've done is sit here and build things.”
“Which one is more important?” I asked and that startled them. “It's hard to quantify, isn't it? Both are important in their own ways. You're giving hope to your citizens and protecting them. Just because you're not gallivanting around different star systems, doesn't mean your story isn't just as riveting.” I said. “So, who wants to tell it?”
The two high ranked officers looked at each other, and Melanie smiled and nodded.
“I guess that's me.” Shanifra said and gave us a much more detailed story than the outline that Tessa had told us, probably because she was at the top of the ladder and knew a lot more about everything. We all sat there and listened to her explain the slow and steady buildup of their mobile forces, as well as rebuilding their infrastructure to handle the enormous costs. When she said almost sixty percent of the planet's production was devoted to the military, Luxea gasped.
“S-sixty percent of an entire planet's gross domestic production?” Luxea asked, her voice full of disbelief. “That's... oh, good god.” She said and Shanifra laughed.
“Staggering, isn't it?” Shanifra asked. “It's only for a year, though. The people voted on it and they want to be protected; but, only at a reasonable cost.”
“Reasonable! Ha!” Luxea barked a laugh. “They can't know... or understand...”
“The government does, so it's okay.” Shanifra said to calm Luxea down. “They've set plans in motion and made proposals that will keep funding us well past the one year deadline. We'll do our best to bring ourselves back up to a good fighting strength.”
“Have there been any incursions?” I asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
“A few.” Shanifra said. “Melanie?”
“It's only been what we believe are tests of our defenses.” Melanie said. “Scout ships and even a few light vessels have tried to penetrate our space over the last few months.”
“How have you responded?” I asked, curious.
“Completely and totally.” Melanie said with a deadly smile. “Any time something shows up that doesn't hit on our friends list, every ship lights their engines and changes course.”
I thought about that. “You're taking my 'paper dragons' strategy to the next level.”
“Exactly.” Shanifra said as she put on her hat and then her coat, to assume her admiral identity. “Both they and we know that it's an overreaction, since there's no way that all of those ships could ever come to bare their weapons against such small ships, before they managed to escape.”
I nodded. “That's not the point, though.”
“No. It's to show that we will send all of our available visible force to meet them.” The admiral said and her smile turned deadly as well.
I chuckled. “Poor bastards.”
“Damn right.” Shanifra the admiral said. “With all of the mobile weapons platforms and ships running silently that we have in our space, there's nothing that can come and go without us knowing about it.”
“Are you using the weapons platforms as both satellite and communication relays?” Luxea asked.
Melanie glanced at her admiral, who shrugged. “We can't officially confirm that.”
Luxea chuckled. “Then I don't have to yell at you for missing the opportunity to use the platforms to their fullest extent.”
Shanifra and Melanie both let out a laugh.
“Are you sure you don't want to join our military?” Shanifra asked me. “You would be sent to officer training right away and can skip both boot camp and basic training.”
“I'd take them both just to prove that I could do them.” I said. “Unfortunately, I have to decline. I have a few things I need to handle before I can relax.”
“You think becoming a member of the military will let you relax?” Shanifra asked and shook her head. “What an idea.” She laughed again. “What other crazy ideas do you have, Hunter?”
“I'm going to strip all of those alien wrecks out there so that you can smelt their hulls down and use them to help build up your fleet.” I said and both the admiral and Melanie froze.
“You... can't be serious.” Melanie said.
“Oh, he is!” Kitch said, his voice full of amusement. “The crazy nut!”
“It'll take a couple months at least, even with the extra help and the second ship we bought, assuming we can get the thing converted for our use.” I said. “You should be through with converting the wrecks of your old fleet by then, too. Hopefully.”
“Hunter...” The admiral started to say.
“Our licenses are still valid and we have the rights for salvage in the entire system, right up until the last hull from that battle is reclaimed or destroyed.” I said. “It doesn't specify only friendly ships.”
The admiral sat quietly for several minutes, then she made a decision. “I'll send word through the fleet to let them know that you and your crew will be working the alien wrecks.” She said and stood. “I'll call off the flight training in the outer rim of the debris.”
“There's no need for that much of a schedule change for your ships.” I said and she gave me a stern look. “No, I'm not exposing my crew to unnecessary danger. It's going to be a few weeks, at least, before we get the spare ship up and running to our standards, then when we do, we'll be back and we can start on the inner ring of alien wrecks. If we do need to approach the outer rim eventually, we'll coordinate rotating the ships through different areas and you only have to divert your flights and not stop them.”
“You really do care about us getting our people trained.” The admiral said, almost in disbelief.
“I'll even give you an idea for free.” I said with a smile as I stood.
The admiral chuckled and waved encouragingly. “All right, let's hear it.”
“My crew and I will leave 'people analogs' in random areas on the wrecks we do clear of salvage and your SAR training teams can go in and 'rescue' them.”
Both the admiral and Melanie took in sharp breaths and Kitch laughed. The two women stared at me and then at each other, then the admiral walked around the table and clapped me on the shoulder.
“Getting experience on rescuing people from battle damaged ships, in relative safety, is a wonderful idea.” The admiral said. “Make sure it's not too dangerous.”
I chuckled. “Don't worry about that. We'll record everything and give that and the ship maps to Tessa. She can disperse them to the team leaders and they can decide if it's too difficult for them to attempt.”
“She'll love that!” Kitch said. “Now I kind of wish I didn't retire and transfer to maintenance!”
“I can always recall you.” The admiral said with a grin and he held up his hands.
“Nope! Not happening.” Kitch said. “I'm well and truly grounded. My wife said that my insane days of mind-numbing danger are over.”
“You're married?” Rhubin asked, clearly surprised. “That poor woman!”
“Ha ha haha!” Kitch laughed. “She doesn't have a clue what I'm really like! Ha ha!”
That made everyone laugh and it also signalled the end of the meal. We transferred the remaining meals to the station and the admiral promised to use them like Tessa was, as rewards for great or outstanding behaviour. She didn't expect them to last more than a couple of days, considering the feats her people were accomplishing every day.
We left the station and Rhubin had the navigation computer calculate the last jump we needed to do to get to the shipyard with our new ship. Well, new to us. It was actually fifty years old and was kind of outdated; but, it was over twice the size of my ship and would quadruple our normal shipping capacity. If Luxea and I constructed the same collapsible metal mesh cargo cages to attach to its upper hull like on my ship, we could extend that capacity to ten times our capacity.
We passed the closest Lagrange point, where the various gravity fields of the planet and the star were negated, and we jumped into hyperspace.