Despite protests from my pilots, I used the main cargo hold as my launching point for salvage. It was quite a bit more dangerous to do it this way, because I had to travel so much farther in just a space suit. I didn't mind it for the most part; but, not having a close place to get back to was a bit daunting, even for me. Needless to say, I took every precaution I could to ensure my own safety and that made the others relax. I worked hard and diligently all morning as I gathered as much salvage as I could before heading back to the ship each time.

*

“Am I actually seeing this?” Deborah asked with surprise an hour later. She sat in the co-pilot's seat. “He's even moving it by himself!”

“Yes, that is a power coil from an assault laser cannon.” Gleas shook her head. “I have no clue how he managed to get the thing out without damaging it!”

Deborah chuckled at the sight as Hunter easily tucked the gigantic thing into one of the large metal cages on the hull. “I've seen them working on a ship at a docking slip and it took a dozen men and two zero gravity cranes to get the massive thing into place.”

“I can't believe we didn't hear it hitting the hull.” Gleas commented. “How can he do such precision work in a standard space suit?”

“I don't know.” Deborah said. “I'm just glad I decided to accept the job.” She smiled. “What else is he going to do to surprise us?”

Gleas turned her head to look at the other woman and she turned to look back.

“He's going to flash us!” They both said at the same time, then they laughed.

*

“This place is great!” Sandy said as she sat down on the huge bed in their room.

Beatrice was still tucking little things all over their room to make it more like home. “Are you sure you're okay with all of this?”

Sandy stood up and walked over to her. “As long as I'm with you...” She put her arms around the other woman from behind and tucked her head under her hair and lightly kissed her neck. “...I don't care where we live.”

“I don't deserve you.” Beatrice said and turned around in her arms.

“Of course you don't... and that's why you do.” Sandy said with a smile and Beatrice laughed.

“I don't have to take the next shift until tomorrow.”

“You mean I have you all to myself for another sixteen hours?” Sandy asked with a wicked smile.

“Don't be silly.” Beatrice combed her hands through the other woman's hair. “You have me all to yourself for the rest of our lives.”

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, then leaned in to share their first kiss in space. They both felt the thrill of them starting their lives together and not hiding who they are or what they are doing, and that made them a little frantic in their emotions. Their clothes were off and scattered over the floor and the two of them climbed onto the bed.

*

I spent all six hours in space and didn't take a break until lunchtime. I came back onto the ship and joined the others in the kitchen. All talking seemed to stop when I entered.

“What?” I looked down at myself and pat my crotch. “I didn't leave my zipper open again, did I?”

I heard a snort of laughter and looked up to see Gleas and Deborah with their mouths covered and holding back laughs. I could hear their thoughts of amusement, too.

“We were just talking about one of us taking the shuttle out to help you.” Kalina said. “We can fly the thing; but, none of us has practised on a ship that small in a long time.”

“If that's the case, I can fly it.” I said with a smile. “What I can't be is in two places at once.”

That made her laugh. “Now you know why we stopped talking.” She said and pointed to a food tray. “We took the liberty of getting your lunch ready.”

“Thank you.” I said and sat down. “I've got your flight suits on order and another shuttle pilot request sent out.”

“What? How can you order a custom flight suit for us?” Beatrice asked. “None of us have been med-scanned in months!”

“Whose fault is that?” Sandy asked with a grin.

“Yours.” Beatrice said. “Monopolizing all my free time! It's scandalous!”

That made everyone laugh.

“Don't freak out about this; but, I've got fantastic spacial awareness.” I said and they all stopped eating and turned to look at me. “Thanks to my extensive use of Presence, I can see the shapes of everything within my detection range.”

Gleas turned her head and looked at Beatrice to see that she had a datapad in her left thigh pocket. “What does Beatrice have in her pocket?” She asked and looked back at me.

“Which one?” I asked with a smile. “She has a couple credit chips in her left front pocket, Sandy's hand in her right front pocket, and a datapad in her left thigh pocket.”

Gleas', Sandy's and Beatrice's faces flushed red and Sandy took her hand out of Beatrice's pocket.

“I didn't mean to embarrass you.” I said to console them. “Please, don't stop on my account.”

“It's not much fun knowing you can see us sneaking around.” Sandy said and I laughed.

“I honestly didn't look until Gleas mentioned Beatrice's pocket.” I said. “I don't make it a habit to look at people too closely, in case it makes them uncomfortable.”

“What about... you know.” Kalina said.

“Two unknown men coming onto my ship uninvited? I checked inside every pocket and hiding place they had.” I said and shivered exaggeratedly. “Good god, they were hairy!”

Deborah laughed out loud. “They really can be!”

Kalina laughed, too. “I dated one guy that looked like he was wearing a gorilla suit.”

Sandy and Beatrice made gagging noises and that made everyone laugh.

We finished up lunch and Kalina stood. “I'll take primary if Gleas wants to co-pilot.”

Gleas nodded and both women dropped off their empty trays in the slot and left.

“I'm going to relax in the small living room.” Deborah said and left.

I walked over to stand behind Sandy and Beatrice. “Ladies, I really am sorry if I embarrassed you.”

“No, it's our fault.” Beatrice said.

I chuckled. “There's no real fault here. You didn't do anything wrong.”

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“But... you said...”

“If you were working and that was happening, then yes, I'd have to reprimand you for it.” I said. “Off duty?” I smiled and started to walk away. “Try not to prance around naked in public areas.”

*

Sandy and Beatrice stared at each other for a full minute, then the two of them scrambled out of the kitchen and ran to their room. They barely had the door shut when their clothes were on the floor and they pranced around naked while they laughed happily like little kids.

*

The next week passed by fast, just like the testing week did, and Gleas asked for a ride to the planet. She wanted to pack up her things and do a few things, so I flew her down in the shuttle. I dropped her off and asked if she needed me to take her around anywhere, and she said she could handle it and would see me in the morning.

I handed her a wrist communicator and told her to call me if she needed anything, then I flew to the capital city to pick up the custom flight suits I had ordered. Perginia's was a waste of money and I paid for it anyway. It wouldn't have much use as a spare; but, I wasn't going to discard it, either. I packed the large boxes into the shuttle and flew it towards the place I had stored the armored personnel carrier I had taken from the surveillance squad. It was still there and hidden, so I left it there and landed near a random hotel.

I only wore normal clothes and I didn't have any extra hair to hide, so I put on my green cloak and used a bit of Presence to distort my facial features. I rented a room with no trouble and thought about doing a little shopping, then decided I didn't need anything. I used the console to check the local jobs and saw several prospects. None of them could be done in a day, though. Just the background checks would take several hours and by the time I vetted the clients and accepted the job, I'd only have half the day and the night to complete it, then I'd have to leave.

I went to the bed, sat on it in the lotus position, and meditated. I should have brought some things to work on.

The day passed and then the night passed, and in the morning Gleas called me. I checked out of the hotel and flew the shuttle to meet her and saw that she had quite a pile of things to take. I didn't comment on the amount and loaded it up for her. When I had everything stowed and secured, I went out to see her saying goodbye to two slightly elderly people and a very tall and spindly brother.

“Make sure you message us every week.” The elderly woman said and hugged her.

“I'll try.” Gleas said. “We might be in transit and you won't hear from me.”

“That's fine, dear. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters.” The elderly woman beamed a smile at her.

The elderly man gave Gleas a quick hug and didn't say anything, and the brother barely put his arms around her before he let her go. It wasn't that he was reluctant to see her go, he just didn't think hugging his sister was something he wanted anyone to see.

“Good luck.” Her brother said and Gleas nodded.

I stood there and waited for her to finish and then let her enter the shuttle first. I nodded at her family and followed Gleas inside, then closed the hatch.

“Should I even ask why you said your final goodbye to them just now?” I asked and lifted off with the shuttle.

“There was no point in delaying it.” Gleas said. “I'm not intending to come back.”

I gave her a glance and then looked back at the controls and then out the cockpit window.

“Before you start asking, yes I did. I gave up my friends and family and my tiny little apartment.”

“If you'd asked, I would have recommended keeping it for at least the next two months, just in case you change your mind.” I said.

“It doesn't matter if I change my mind.” Gleas said with conviction. “I'm choosing to make a new life for myself and this is going to be the start of it.”

I used Presence to maintain the controls and turned my chair to face her as I pulled my hood down to reveal my face and absorbed the Presence I was using to distort my facial features. Gleas was startled by this and turned towards the console to put her hands on the controls and took over.

“What are you doing?!?” Gleas asked and checked the instruments and for any cross traffic in the flight path we were using. I reached over and took her hand briefly. She looked down at it and then at me.

“Welcome aboard.” I said as I shook her hand, let it go, then faced forward again.

“W-was that a test?” Gleas asked and sat back.

“No.” I said and increased our speed. “You automatically assumed piloting control all on your own when you thought I was ignoring it.”

Gleas looked at me and saw my smile. “You mean you weren't?” She asked, surprised.

I chuckled and we left the atmosphere and flew for half an hour to get back to the ship. I wasn't anywhere near as graceful landing the thing as a normal pilot; but, I got the job done and the shuttle bay doors closed.

“I am definitely getting spoiled by this shuttle bay.” I said and put the shuttle into standby mode and opened the hatch to lower the ramp. “Is all of this going to your room?”

“Is that okay?” Gleas asked.

“It's your room.” I said and picked everything up with Presence Hands and carried it behind us.

“How are you doing that?” Gleas asked.

I stopped making the hands invisible and showed her that there were two hands on every box, suitcase, and container.

“Oh.”

I chuckled. “I could levitate it all, too.”

“It's so odd that you can do all of these things.” Gleas said. “It's... it's like... you're special.”

“Well, I've had a long time to develop my abilities.” I said and she gave me an odd look because I only looked like I was in my late twenties. “I've been using Presence since I was four.”

“Ohhh.” Gleas said in understanding as she greatly overestimated how much power a person could develop in twenty years.

I didn't correct her assumption. “Most don't practice as much as I do, though.”

Gleas nodded. “I've met a few people from The Order, and you're right. They are nowhere near as powerful as you.” She gave me another look as I dropped off her things in her room and spread them out to where she said to put them.

“Go ahead and say it.” I said and brought in the last large box to put on her bed.

“I doubt any of them would be crazy enough to float through space in just a space suit and cut their way into a wrecked ship.” Gleas said with a smile.

“Most of them refuse to leave the comfort of their assigned planets... then they complain when they need to make a long space journey.” I chuckled and put a hand on the last box. “This is your custom flight suit, so you can wear this instead of the space suit when you go on duty.”

“You got them already?” Gleas asked and came over to the bed. She opened the box and caught her breath at the sleek dome of the helmet and then her fingers touched the fabric of the suit. “Hunter, I... thank you very much.”

“Nothing is too good for my pilots.” I said and pat her shoulder. “Get changed. I'm sure that since you were the only one that left this time, you'll have first shift.”

Gleas laughed. “No doubt!”

“I'll deliver the other suits and meet you in the kitchen for breakfast.” I said and she nodded, so I left her room and picked up the other four suits and dropped Perginia's into the closest storage locker. I walked to the next room and knocked. Kalina was very happy about getting the suit and tried to hand me one of her credit chips.

“No, this is standard equipment for your own safety.” I said. “We'll have to wait until we get to the Dizahl System to get you a company uniform.”

“Like yours?” Kalina asked.

“Like Rhubin's and Luxea's, actually.” I said. “The vest is optional.”

“I like the vest.” Kalina said and then she looked down at the box with the custom flight suit. “Hunter, this... it's too expensive to waste on a temporary hire like me.”

“Only if it's never worn.” I said and she looked at me. “Wear it. Use it. Show me that it was worth every last credit of its value.”

Kalina opened her mouth to explain about her boyfriend, then she closed her mouth and nodded.

I reached out and touched her shoulder briefly. “If you need someone to talk to...”

Kalina took a deep breath and let it out, and she was going to refuse.

“...call someone else.” I said and stepped back with a grin and shut her room's door.

“Wh-what? What?!?” Kalina almost yelled.

I laughed and went to the next room, then decided I could give Beatrice her suit later when I saw what was going on. I kept laughing softly and walked over to Deborah's room and knocked.

“Hunter? I thought you were Gleas. She's on first shift.” Deborah said and confirmed my assumption.

“I'm just dropping this off.” I said and held out the large box.

“What is...” Deborah stopped talking as she opened the top. “Oh, Hunter.”

“Enjoy.” I said and handed it to her.

“I will.” Deborah said. “I've always wanted...” She took a shallow breath and let it out. “Thank you.”

“See you at breakfast.” I said and she nodded. I left there and went back to Beatrice's room and knocked. There was a short scream and then tumbling bodies, so I turned away so I could hide my face. After a few minutes while they untangled themselves and put on robes to cover themselves, Beatrice came to the door.

“Hunter?” Beatrice looked down the hall where I was looking and then back at me. “What is it?”

“I just wanted to drop this off.” I said and held out the large box.

“Is that...” Sandy said from behind Beatrice and leaned her head on her shoulder to look. “It is!”

Beatrice opened the top of the box and I heard her surprised thoughts.

“You can give your other space suit to Sandy.” I said and both women looked at me with wide eyes. “I can't have her on the ship and not keep her protected during an emergency, can I?”

“Hunter.” Beatrice whispered. “I... I didn't think...”

“I'll tell the others that you're skipping breakfast.” I said and gave them a crooked smile, then walked away. Both women leaned out of the room to watch me walk away, then they went back inside their room and shut the door.

I prepped breakfast for myself, Deborah, Gleas, and Kalina, and Deborah and Kalina showed up a couple of minutes later. We sat down to eat when Gleas showed up.

“Holy hell.” Deborah whispered.

I turned to look and saw Gleas wearing the new custom flight suit like a second skin. I was very surprised that the suit was so form-fitting. The fabric was thick, because of the protective layers and electronics needed for body temperature regulation and other things, and yet... it was very snug and it hugged all of her curves and made it look like she wasn't wearing anything at all.

Gleas walked over to the table and her breasts jiggled a little with each step, which was quite the enticing sight. She sat down without saying a word, her face slightly red that highlighted her short blonde wavy hair, and she started to eat.

“I am in so much trouble.” I said.

Gleas' face flushed to a deep red. Deborah and Kalina exchanged looks, then they laughed.