My assumption about the others being more strict about me spending alone time with Hailey was a bit of an understatement. When they all saw the matching 'H' mark above Hailey's heart, I had to cover my ears with Presence until the yelling stopped. The only one who didn't overreact about the whole thing was Isabella. I was glad that I had asked Hailey to stay quiet, because they had called the others on the station to tell them and they added their voices to the throng.

Of course, none of them really believed that it had all been Hailey's idea, except for Simone. She knew it was true and tried to push her own feelings aside to explain it to the others; but, she was quickly drowned out and then she gave up and joined Isabella and Hailey off to the side to watch the spectacle.

It took nearly half an hour for them to finish ranting and raving at me and I didn't try to defend myself, either. I knew there wasn't much point and let them get it off of their chests as I read their surface thoughts and felt their emotions. They all felt righteous indignation on Hailey's behalf and I completely understood it. There was nothing to be done about it however, since it couldn't be undone, and they all knew it.

“Are you all finished ranting?” I asked and they all looked at me with variations of the same scowl, even the three women on the large vidscreen. “Is that a yes? You've said your piece and that's that, right?”

They all reluctantly nodded.

“Good. I don't want to hear anything else about it.”

“Now, wait just a minute...” Jelly started to say.

“I said that's enough.”

“Hunter, you can't just ignore what this means.”

“I'm not ignoring it. I accepted it and I'm moving on.” I said. “I suggest you all do the same.”

“Hunter, she's an impressionable young woman and...” Sandy started to say.

“I know that, and so does she. This last thing proved that without a doubt. All we can do is help guide her to the best of our abilities. Even with how vigilant we all were, we still needed to be careful of those outside of our control. I hadn't taken that into account and Hailey almost lost control.”

Jelly let out a sigh. “Hunter...”

“I want you to consider something very carefully.” I said to them. “I want you to ask yourself what would have happened to Hailey if I hadn't been there when those thoughts appeared in her head.”

They all fell quiet at my words.

“Yeah, you know it would have been bad.”

“It was because she was with you that those thoughts appeared!” Jelly said, accusingly.

“This time, yes.” I said. “What if she was out shopping with any of you while I was off on a mission, and she mentioned buying something nice to wear for her future husband?”

Jelly opened her mouth to say that wouldn't happen, then closed it. She couldn't say that it would never happen, especially with Hailey getting older and bolder in her words and actions.

“But, that doesn't matter now.” I said and looked over at Hailey. “She won't lose control again.”

“How do you know that?” Sandy asked, because she remembered Hailey's sudden Presence outbursts when she felt strong emotions.

“She doesn't have to prove herself anymore. Not to me and not to anyone else.” I said and they all looked at me. “She is who she is and that's all she has to be.”

No one said anything, so I walked over to Hailey and knelt in front of her.

“All we can do is live with her decision and move forward. There's no point to berate me, or her, over this, because it makes no difference. It happened and that's that.”

“You make it sound so final and that you don't have a choice.” Simone said, then she caught her breath when the Presence didn't waver. “H-Hailey!”

“I won't let him go.” Hailey said without looking at her and reached out to take my hand. She knew she shouldn't kiss me in the current atmosphere of everyone's thoughts. “He's mine and no one can take him from me.”

“Hailey, that... it's not realistic to expect...” Simone stopped herself before she said anything else, because she could read Hailey's surface thoughts, just like I could.

“It wasn't realistic before; but, it is now.” I said. “I also told her that we would be supervised from now on.”

“You need to be.” Sheph said from the vidscreen. “It can't go any further than this.”

I chuckled. “I hadn't intended it to get this far, so that's a fair statement.”

“It's true.” Simone said and we all looked at her. “He really has been trying to keep everything at as slow of a pace as he could.”

“It's been difficult to keep things under wraps for this long.” I said and let Hailey's hand go. “Of course, now it's all going to to be fine.”

“You keep saying that.” Jelly said. “How is marking her going to change things for the better?”

“She can use my Presence to guide hers now.” I said and nodded to Hailey, and she formed ten slightly blue Presence Hands around us and clapped them together a few times. The five sets of hands made the sound of applause for a few seconds, then she absorbed them.

“By the Goddess.” Isabella whispered and I gave her a crooked smile.

“We've only got a few days left to travel to get to the system with the focusing crystal factory.” I said to change the subject. “We all know the details; but, I want to go over them once more, just in case a part of them slipped your minds.”

The others exchanged looks and didn't comment that they had all forgotten about the current mission.

I went over to the holographic table and started to go over the details, then put emphasis on Jelly's role as the cargo shuttle pilot and how important it was for her to be concentrating on that. She took the not so subtle hint and joined in on the briefing. With Isabella decked out in her chosen weapons, we were all reminded about how dangerous it was going to be.

“And that's it.” I said.

“We estimate little resistance, considering we know the people posted and their scheduled shift rotation.” Isabella said. “It doesn't hurt that we've prepared for visitors and people not registered in the system.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Are there actually locals living there?” Simone asked. “That's not in any of the data we have.”

“I don't know if there are indigenous people living there or not.” Isabella said. “We've planned for it, anyway.”

“I've also loaded the broadcast signal into our satellite system.” I said. “Since it's only a small world, if we need a distraction, we hit it and escape.”

“What about the prisoners they use for mining?” Hailey asked.

“That's why I'm going into the mine first.” I said. “Although, I can't let them go until after the raid.”

Hailey nodded and took my hand and I smiled

“I need a shower and then I'm going to bed.” I said to her.

“Okay.” Hailey said and pulled me down to give me a kiss. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” I said and she let me go, then she walked over to Sandy and Beatrice.

“I hope you don't mind me staying over tonight.” Hailey said.

Sandy and Beatrice exchanged surprised looks, then Sandy smiled.

“You can stay over whenever you want. You know that.” Sandy said, then the three of them left the meeting room.

“What just happened?” Jelly asked.

“We can't sleep in the same bed anymore.” I said and everyone looked at me. “What? She knows what 'hugging' like an adult means now.”

Jelly let out an exaggerated sigh. “You let us rant and rave over what happened and where it was going to lead, and yet you weren't planning on taking her to bed with you, even just to sleep?”

I shook my head. “Both Hailey and I know that we can't do certain things, now that we can't keep it innocent anymore.” I said. “That's why she stayed quiet when I asked her to.”

“You asked her to stay quiet?!?” Sheph asked from the vidscreen.

“You weren't going to listen to her try to defend me anyway.” I said and no one responded. “Well, thanks for calling and we'll talk to you again at the next hyperspace exit.”

“Hunter...” Sheph and Gleas started to say at the same time and I cut the call.

“That was mean.” Simone said.

I shrugged. “They'll get over it.” I said. “See you in the morning.”

Simone opened her mouth to say something and Isabella touched her arm to stop her. I gave Isabella another crooked smile and left the meeting room to go to what was now my room. I took a quick shower and changed for bed, then laid down and used several mental techniques to meditate, continued to gather Presence to reinforce myself, and set an alarm in my head.

I went to sleep and didn't worry about anything. I knew that with Hailey as my anchor, my plans for The Order were going to progress much faster than I had originally allotted for. With the additional help that Isabella provided to keep me grounded, especially in executing those plans, I had a feeling that things were going to be a lot better from now on.

*

Kara wasn't surprised to receive an audience with The Wise One upon her return to The Order's headquarters. What did surprise her was the number of other people in the room with him. Her message to him had been vague, per his request, and when she entered the room, the door shut behind her and a hush fell over the crowd as The Wise One raised his clawed appendages.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice and I'm glad you all made it just in time.”

“In time for what?” Someone asked.

“I'm glad you asked that.” The Wise One said and waved at Kara. “The triumphant return of my Task Master.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at her and she felt several mental probes and a few others that tested the strength of her Presence. She blocked them all, since she couldn't tell which person was doing it in the crowded room.

“Please come forward.” The Wise One said and the crowd parted for her.

When Kara reached him, she saw a small pedestal and steps up it, and he motioned for her to climb them. Kara held in her sigh at being put on display like this, then she turned to face the crowd with her head at nearly the same height as The Wise One's.

“I sent her on a secret mission to clear out a nest of vipers that had started to grow, and she was almost completely successful.”

“Almost?” Someone replied.

The Wise One chuckled and it sounded like he was coughing. “Unfortunately, she didn't manage to retrieve the data on who was behind the various crimes being committed.” He said and held out a clawed appendage to her and she put the partially melted data device into it. Almost immediately, several faces lost their tension and she noted them.

“It was a terrible tragedy, wasn't it? A booby-trapped main computer. Despicable means for despicable people. Wouldn't you agree?” The Wise One asked and several people nodded, some of which were the relaxed faces.

“Master Moor, would you please tell them about what happened?” The Wise One asked and tucked the melted device and his appendages into his robes and moved back slightly.

Kara gave him an appraising look and couldn't tell if he was being smug or not. It was very difficult to read emotions on a giant fly face and he was blocking as much as she was. Once again she held in her sigh and faced the crowd as she told her tale to the assembled men, women, and aliens.

“...it wasn't until I saw the data with my own eyes that I discovered who was behind it all.” Kara said and saw a flash of panic on six faces.

“You said the data was destroyed.” One of the panicked people said.

“It was.” Kara responded, and then smiled. “I memorized it before the computer was destroyed.”

Three laser bolts shot across the room and suddenly there were four Light swords in front of Kara to deflect them. The room erupted in a false and structured panic at the laser bolt fire from seemingly nowhere, then suddenly the entire room filled with Presence and pushed everyone down, including Kara. They all dropped to their knees from the overwhelming feeling and could barely keep their heads up to see a Light sword fly across the room.

“ARGHH!!!” A man yelled out as his Stealth technique faded and he dropped the laser rifle. The Light sword was just off-center in his chest and he died looking down at it.

“Master Moor, if you would be so kind, please tell us the names.” The Wise One said and used Presence to pull the man to the front of the room and retrieved the Light sword.

Kara took several breaths and recited the names in the same order they had been on the screen, and as she said the name of a person in the room, they were covered in Presence and their weapons were removed. All six of the faces she had seen react were on the list. Unfortunately, there were ten names and the missing ones would have to be hunted down. The pressure disappeared and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Most stood up and glared at The Wise One, who just chuckled his coughing laugh.

“I didn't know who was involved.” The Wise One said. “All of you were presumed innocent until Kara said the names.”

“What if she lied?” Someone asked.

“Did you detect a lie?” The Wise One asked.

“No, but... if she misread the name...”

The Wise One chuckle coughed again. “We have a long trail of evidence leading up to this and Master Moor was completely dedicated to completing this task, no matter who was involved.”

“What if you were named?” Someone else asked.

“Then I would be exposed for a fraud and you all would have attacked me, wouldn't you?” The Wise One said.

“None of us would survive fighting you.”

The Wise One laughed and it sounded like he was throwing up. “Then don't ask stupid questions! Ha ha!”

Everyone exchanged slightly worried glances, then slowly left the room. The six named people were subdued and shackled, their Presence drained, and led from the room.

“Excellent work, Kara.” The Wise One said when they were alone. “I am impressed you managed to read so many names and then memorize them that quickly.”

Kara didn't want to accept the praise, mainly because she did fail in the data retrieval.

“You found the most important part, so the loss of the rest is negligible.” The Wise One said and waved her concerns away. “Go and rest for a few days and then come and see me again.”

Kara raised her eyebrows at him. “Do I have another months-long mission to start?”

“Perhaps.” The Wise One said with a chuckle cough. “Why don't you visit with your old guardian? I'm sure she would like to see you again after so long.”

“I think I will.” Kara said and gave him a respectful bow, unlike all the other people that had been in the room, and she left. She was barely out of the main building when she felt a very strong Presence enter her detection range and she turned to see a fast running figure come to a stop five feet away. Her long white hair was tied up in a fancy hairdo on the top of her head and added nearly a foot to her normal four foot height.

“Tell me about Hunter!” Lashina demanded, her pink flesh had flushed a darker pink because she had expended a lot of Presence to get to Kara so quickly from the East Forest Glade.

“I was going to see...”

“She can wait!” Lashina exclaimed and grabbed Kara's hand, surprised her by using Levitate on her, then used Presence Run. The pair disappeared from sight and weaved through the compound to head towards the East Forest Glade. It was the best place for them to have complete privacy. Kara was surprised again when not one branch hooked her robes or a leaf hit her face, even though she was being essentially dragged through the trees and underbrush.

Lashina ran out of the trees into the clearing she had been spending more and more of her time lately. “I want you to tell me everything.” She said and gently sat Kara on the large rock by the stream, then she sat down beside her. “All of it.” She looked into Kara's eyes with a stern expression. “Don't leave anything out.”

“I don't have that kind of time, Lashina.” Kara said.

“I am exercising my authority and relieving you of any and all duties for the next few days.” Lashina said, then her expression softened and she looked to be on the verge of crying. “Please.”

Kara let out a sigh and nodded, then adjusted herself to sit in the Lotus position. Lashina did the same and took both of her hands, then closed her eyes.

“It all started when I finally tracked him down at (Undecipherable)'s secret base...”