My estimation of needing a week of rest was a little short-sighted. When I woke up, I found the med-bot had been taking care of me for almost two and a half weeks, which severely put me behind in my plans. On the plus side, I felt recharged and full of energy, now that my body had enough time to recover from my ordeal. When I climbed out of bed, the bot beeped and a few moments later, Rhubin, Luxea, and Simone were in my room.
“How are you feeling?” Rhubin asked.
“Like I've been wasting my time.” I said and the three of them gave me odd looks. “Simone, any luck?”
“Yes.” Simone said. “I've traced the organization you told me about and found a few of their agents, as well as two of their branch offices.”
“How reliable is the information and how long can we sit on it and have it still be viable?”
“The agents and their whereabouts is fleeting, since they move around a lot. The offices are hidden but stagnant.” Simone said. “I'm sure when you decide to go after them, I can find a few more agents.”
“Thank you.” I said and looked at Luxea. “You and I need to talk.”
“Hunter, I'm sorry.” Luxea said. “It's my fault that...”
“No, it's mine.” I said and her eyebrows raised. “Instead of staying and working things out, I left you alone to let you come to grips with what happened.” I said. “I hadn't realized at the time that I didn't see us for what we really were.”
“Wh-what were we?” Luxea asked in a soft voice.
“We were in different relationships.” I said and she caught her breath, then I started to explain about the revelations I had while on the planet, thanks to Kris and what we had talked about. I left out the part about being drunk at the time, since it didn't impact my conclusions at all. By the time I was done talking, Luxea had tears in her eyes.
“We... we were...” Luxea tried to say we were a couple and were together in a committed relationship, and she stopped herself. She knew that if she said that, then what she did with Hector would be the reason for us not being together anymore and that it would be completely her fault. She fought her instincts and she hated herself for it, because she had to admit to herself that she didn't want to accept the entire blame. I reached out with my right hand and she flinched, then she berated herself for it.
“Trying to have a monogamous relationship with you was a mistake.” I said. “We had fun, and that's all there was to it.”
“You did not just say that.” Simone said and glared at me. “She loves you.”
“I know, and I love her. She knows I do.” I said. “I wanted her to be mine and mine alone, and she doesn't want that. At all.” I looked at Luxea. “Before you accuse me of reading your mind, I didn't. You asked me not to, and I only recently saw that for the mistake it was.”
“What do you mean?” Luxea asked.
“You didn't love me enough to share your thoughts, which meant you wanted to keep yourself completely to yourself, and all I wanted was to have a deep sharing connection with the woman I loved.” I said. “I thought you would eventually come around and want to share things with me, your thoughts and feelings, and it didn't occur to me that you were never going to do it.”
Luxea opened her mouth to respond and I held a hand up to stop her.
“Don't try to lie and tell me you were going to, because we both know you're not comfortable with it, and I'm sorry I expected you to change and accept me for who I am.”
“Hunter, I... I do accept...”
I felt the Presence waver and sighed. “Luxea, you were right. I'm a killer. A murderer. I'm also going to go and find a bunch of people that had nothing to do with what happened to me and I am going to give them lobotomies and destroy their organization.”
“H-Hunter, you...”
“I'm not going to claim righteousness or anything like that. They are connected to The Order, and I am going to use everything I can to dismantle them.” I said. “I'm done sitting here and relaxing. I'm going to strip these ships, sell the weapons and components I don't need to gather enough capital to create that satellite network, then I'm going to start stripping each and every outpost, ship, and person from The Order, from the outside in, starting with all of their little side operations.”
Rhubin, Simone, and Luxea stared at me and didn't know what to say.
“Yeah, you're starting to see the scope of it.” I said. “It's going to take years, probably decades, to do it. I'm going to do it. I thought I had plenty of time, and then I discovered that no, I don't have any time to waste. I need to get to work as soon as possible.” I looked at Rhubin. “Any luck finding a replacement pilot?”
“I have a list that...”
“Remove all the men from it, and I absolutely forbid you from sleeping with any of the women.” I said and he frowned at me. “I told you before that I don't want my company to turn out like the long haul transport.” I said and glanced at Luxea. Her face was bright red and she looked angry. “If any of you want out, now is the time to say so.”
“I need to stay, at least until we make our money back.” Luxea said.
“That's fair.” I said and looked at Rhubin. “What about you?”
“I'm trying to decide if you're being an asshole on purpose.” Rhubin said.
“It's definitely on purpose.” I said, which surprised them. “I'm done being nice about accepting everything as it is and letting things slide. That time is over.” I rubbed my hand over my head and the fuzz there bothered the hell out of me. “I want two female pilots, preferably one with combat experience. I want her to fly a shuttle and the other to fly the second ship.”
Rhubin relaxed a little, because he thought I wanted a replacement pilot for him.
“I need them here as soon as possible.” I said. “If there are multiple prospects, hire them for a month and I'll rotate them through piloting duties once a week. There's lots of passenger space on the new ship, so there's no problem housing them for that long.”
“Except for food.” Luxea said. “There's not enough for too many people for that long.”
“Can you order up enough basic rations for the other meals, say for ten people, and fresh food for one nice meal a day for a month?” I asked. “Coordinate with Rhubin and the delivery ship can bring the pilots out as well.”
Luxea was about to say something, then changed her mind.
“No, I won't be sleeping with any of them, even if they are naked and jump on me.” I said. “I'll catch them with Presence and put them right back on the transport to send them to the planet. They are here to work, not to goof off.” I looked back at Rhubin. “Make sure to check their references and I'll meet with them and make the final decision if they can participate in the trial or not.”
“What if they work out?” Luxea asked. “Will you hire them all?”
“It depends on how many qualify and can handle the work environment.” I said. “I wouldn't mind having two pilots to fly the ship, that way they can split the duty and there wouldn't need to be any down time. The same goes for the shuttle.”
“How are you going to pay for them?” Luxea asked.
“I've got lots of personal credits left.” I said.
“You can't keep funnelling your money into the business.” Luxea said. “You need to...”
“What? Take a job?” I asked and she sighed. “Yeah, we need to finish this one before I do anything, unless there's something local that needs to be taken care of.”
“There is something...” Simone said and Luxea glared at her.
“What is it?”
“It's an escort mission.” Simone said. “A dignitary from the local population needs to visit one of the places damaged by the last war.”
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“It's stupid and unnecessary.” Luxea said. “Going into a place like that is just asking for trouble.”
“What's the pay like?” I asked.
“It's substantial; but, Luxea's right. No one's taken it because of the high risk.”
“Then respond and say that The Wave will accept the escort mission.” I said.
“Hunter, we don't have the personnel to handle security like that.” Luxea said.
“Considering I'm the only one going, we have enough personnel.” I said.
“The last time you left the ship, you almost died!” Luxea said, angrily.
“Don't worry. I won't subconsciously handicap myself anymore.” I said and looked down at myself. “I need to clean up if I have a job.”
“Are you really going back to Chofaris after what happened?” Rhubin asked.
“There are no more agents on the planet, they don't have a ship in orbit, and there's no official bounty on my head.” I said and walked over to the bathroom. “Even if someone does show up, I'll be wearing my full kit when I go to the planet.”
“Your full what?” Rhubin asked.
“It's an expression that means I'll be wearing everything I need to protect myself.” I said. “Simone, let me know when the job starts.” I closed the bathroom door and stripped the jumpsuit off and hopped into the shower. It didn't take me long, especially since I had no hair to wash, and I felt the loss of it again. Both I and the women in my life had spent so much time bonding together over my hair that it almost felt like I had lost a limb.
I stepped out of the shower and saw that they had left my room, so I grabbed a towel and dried off, then grabbed another towel to dry my hair. I sighed at the automatic movement and tossed the towel back onto the rack, then I left to get dressed. I put on socks, underwear, a long sleeved t-shirt, the uniform pants and left off the coat. I grabbed my belt and tossed the damaged Light sword onto my work bench. I was tempted to repair it, except I had lost all of the electronic components I had bought.
I had also lost the present I had bought for Luxea, so I walked over to the console and checked to see what kind of warranty the shop had. I messaged them and told them what happened and they responded right away and said that they had replacements for me, free of charge. I wasn't going to refuse the generous offer, considering how much I spent on the items.
Simone came over to my room and I used Presence to open the door before she reached it. “The dignitary said they want to leave as soon as possible. All the arrangements have been made already and you just need to show up.”
I nodded and messaged the electronics shop and told them I would be there soon to pick up my things. “All right.” I said and stood up and hooked my belt around my waist, and only left the one bag of holding on it. I was tempted to take more; but, I didn't want to risk loosing even more irreplaceable things. I opened my hidden safe and took my father's laser pistol out, checked it, then hooked it to my hip.
“You can use a gun?” Simone asked, surprised.
I smiled and pulled out a large double quiver full of arrows from one of the bags of holding in the safe and put it on the bed, then I pulled out the green cloak I had gotten from the elves and put it on the bed as well. Simone's eyes widened at the things she had only seen pictures of in historical records, because no one used a bow and arrows when you could use laser weapons, then she realized I wasn't taking a bow out and that made her wonder even harder about what I was going to do with the arrows.
I briefly caressed my mother's locket inside the safe, very thankful that I hadn't been wearing it, and I took out another personal shield amulet and hung it around my neck. It was the last one I had and I would have to make more, considering I've used up and lost two of them so far. I adjusted it to my personal Presence instantly and closed the safe, then I put on my uniform coat and attached the company patch onto the chest and shoulders. The cloak was next and I pulled the hood up to cover most of my face, which plunged most of my face into shadow.
I slipped on my blast shield and then put the quiver into my bag of holding, then I walked over to the wall of my room and placed my hand on it as I silently spoke the code phrase. The wall popped open and slid aside to reveal the racks of weapons that Luxea and I had concealed.
“Oh, god.” Simone said as she saw them. “Where did you get military grade weaponry?”
“Salvage.” I said with a grin and picked up a heavy assault rifle with grenade launcher and slung it over my shoulder, then I dropped a dozen stun and fragmentation grenades into my bag of holding, then added extra charges for the rifle.
Simone didn't bat an eye as the things disappeared. “I want one of those bags.”
I chuckled and closed the wall, then walked over to my safe and took out one of the empty bags.
Simone's eyes widened as I walked over to her and tied the bag to her belt. “I was joking.”
“I know.” I said. “You put anything inside and the bag expands to fit it. The only thing you need to be wary of is the weight. It significantly cuts the weight down; but, it doesn't eliminate it. Be careful that you don't overload it and hinder yourself.”
“But...”
“It's not indestructible, though. It can be torn if it suffers enough damage and you'll lose whatever you have inside it.” I covered it in Presence and made it invisible. “Be careful of who you use it in front of.”
Simone nodded and her hand stroked the invisible bag. “Hunter, thank you.”
“As long as you don't smuggle anything bad.” I said and tapped my temple. “Unless it's for us, then that's okay.”
Simone let out a bark of laughter. “That's a weird restriction.”
“Yeah.” I said and gripped her shoulder for a moment, picked up my wrist communicator, then I stepped by her and went to the cockpit. “Hey, Rhubin. I'm taking the shuttle, so send the landing coordinates to the onboard computer.”
“You could ask for another ride from...”
“No, I've abused their hospitality too much already.” I said. “Plus, with us so far behind on this salvage operation, my down time isn't going to match with Kris' anyway.” I reached down to the console and pulled up her ship and sent her a message. I told her that I had finally woken up and that I was going to miss our scheduled date. I also told her that I would call her as soon as I had some free time.
With that done, I walked through the ship to the main hatch and into the second ship. I walked to the back of the ship and went down the stairs, then all the way back to the other end of the ship and entered the shuttle bay. I laughed at the two shuttles that hung on the walls of the shuttle bay. They still looked like alien shuttles, so I took the one that looked normal. I climbed in and did the startup procedures, remotely opened the bay door, then took off and the bay door closed behind me.
It was the first time I had flown a shuttle solo, outside of practice runs with Rhubin monitoring. I entered the course to take me to Chofaris, then sat back and looked out at the stars as I let the computer handle all the heavy lifting that concerned all of the other ships and avoided their scheduled routes. I was sure that Rhubin and Luxea were watching me very closely as the shuttle made the half hour trip to the planet.
I on the other hand, used several mental techniques to calm myself and to check myself over fully, which included my master's technique. I was quite relieved to find that I was fully recovered, both physically and mentally, and my energy hadn't splintered after my body had suffered so much trauma.
When I reached Chofaris space, I had a short conversation with the traffic control tower and told them where I was going, then waited for them to give me the proper route. They provided it and I entered it into the computer.
I double checked it and made sure to run it by Rhubin before I executed it, then flew the shuttle down to the surface of the planet. As I was coming in for a landing at the designated coordinates, there were several government vehicles and two APCs, or armored personnel carriers, inside the compound. If I'd known that was a requirement, I could have offered to bring the one I had hidden in the capital city. I didn't have any troops to fill it, though.
I wonder if I can claim the government vehicle I left at Uzahne's office, too? I asked myself with a laugh as I landed the shuttle. I shut everything down, locked it out using my command codes so that no one would be able to access it, even if they somehow got the hatch open to get inside, and then I covered the controls in a thin layer of Presence and made it solid. I left the shuttle and walked down the small ramp to greet the delegate. The military people became instantly alert when they saw the assault rifle over my shoulder, and I held in my laugh at their reaction.
I'm glad my distraction is working. I thought. They're more concerned with the rifle than with me.
One of the men in suits stepped forward and held a hand up. “Credentials, please.”
I smiled a I flipped the cloak over my shoulders to show the shoulder patches for The Wave, then I reached up to pull my hood down to reveal the blast shield that looked like it was embedded into my face. The man winced at the fuzzy hair on my head and berated himself mentally at his own stupidity. He stepped back and waved at one of the government vehicles and another suited man opened the door of the hover car. I was very surprised when the prettiest woman-fish I had ever seen stepped out.
She had what I considered to be the best of both species. Her hair was a nice reddish brown that reflected the light and it was styled well. Her lips weren't too large like the fish people's were, and yet they were puffy and looked very soft and quite kissable. Her eyes were slightly larger than a normal human and not nearly as large and round as a fish person, which made them all the more appealing. She wore a stylish white dress that went from her neck to her knees and had slight slits in the side for easier walking. She also had small and delicate gills on the sides of her neck and she had a smattering of rainbow colored scales at the top of her forehead, just under her ears, and at the sides of her neck.
It made me imagine that she had a row of scales all the way down her back, so I 'looked' to see that not only did she have that, she also had slight fin protrusions all along her spine. My fingers itched to flick them and then I realized what was going on. I blinked my eyes and smiled as her enticement faded from my perception. Her lips weren't as kissable and her hair was styled nicely; but, it was a dull brown and not the shimmering reddish I had first seen, and I noticed that her eyes were a little too far apart for a 'normal' human face.
That's pretty slick. I couldn't feel her using Presence as a compulsion right away. I thought with slight amusement and concentrated on her Presence flow and saw she had a small core of energy in her head.
She walked over to me and gave me a beaming smile. “The famous Hunter.” She said and held a hand out to me. “I'd tell you my name; but, it's not pronounceable in the common tongue.” She chuckled. “My mother is a traditionalist of her ancestors and doesn't accept adopted naming conventions.”
I took her hand and that contact let me 'hear' her name, so I leaned in close and put my lips by her ear, then used Presence to reproduce the sound. She took in a sharp breath and her body stiffened for a second. I leaned back and she had a shocked expression on her face as she stared at me.
“So, am I riding in the car with you or in the lead APC?” I asked.
“You are her personal guard.” One of the men in suits said.
I nodded and looked at the closest military man. “What's your com frequency?” I asked and showed him my wrist communicator. “Just in case.”
The man shrugged and gave it to me, then he made the mount up motion and we all climbed into our respective vehicles. I sat down beside the woman-fish and she kept staring at me, then the caravan pulled out of the compound and sped off towards our destination.