“It's really gone.” Hailey's mother said as I flew the shuttle around a huge exposed area that used to be the main government building. It was surrounded by both military and rescue vehicles and the people looked like they were just standing around and doing nothing.
“The government's money being well spent.” I joked and flew the shuttle to the prison. “There's no way I can land inside the prison like I did at the holding facility, so I'll be landing nearby.”
“You're breaking everyone out of the prison, too?!?”
I chuckled. “No, just two that suffered from trumped up charges.”
“There's a lot more than two of them in there.” Hailey's mother said.
I gave her a discerning look for a moment. “I only know two of them, so I can't go freeing everyone. There really are guilty people in prison.”
“You let all the terrorists go.”
“Just as a distraction... and their families were being held, too. I couldn't let them stay confined when I could get them out.”
“Are you going to do the same thing at the prison?”
“No, that would only cause chaos and not help me.” I said. “Plus, I'm pretty sure a building complex that large has more than one redundant power reactor.”
“What are you going to do?” She asked.
“The only thing I can probably get away with.” I said with a smile as I landed several blocks away from the prison. “Stay here. I'm locking you in and I'm covering the shuttle to hide it.”
Hailey's mother nodded and I left and concealed the shuttle, then I ran over to the prison in Stealth mode. I easily floated over the high concrete wall and made my way over to the administration part of the prison. It was fairly crowded with people and guards, so it took me a few minutes to get inside and to find my way to the warden's office. Instead of sneaking in, I used Presence to deflect sound from the secretary's ears and knocked on the door.
“Come in.” The warden said and I opened the door and slipped inside as I dropped my Stealth and shut the door. “What? Who?” He asked for a second, then I pulled off my hood and he recognized me. “Hunter! The Hero of Chofaris!”
I nodded and walked over to him. “I have a bit of a favor to ask.”
“If it's within my power, I'll give it to you.” The warden said.
“Can you release two prisoners into my custody?” I asked.
“That would depend on what you want them for.” He said, warily.
I chuckled. “They were accused on trumped up charges and sent to prison. I want them out on early parole.”
“Who?”
“Uzahne and Ahaen.”
The warden nodded. “I thought their trial was a little speedy.”
“So, can you do it?” I asked.
“It would need to be put in front of the parole board and their cases would need to be reviewed.” He said. “How long can you stay?”
“I'm leaving the system in about an hour.” I said.
“Then I'm sorry, I can't help...” He paused for a moment and then smiled. “Wait a moment.” He said and quickly typed up something on the console in his desk. “Okay. Yes. That's good.” He said and hit a button, then two pieces of paper popped out of the desk. He grabbed them and stood up to hand them to me. “There you go.”
I took the papers and read them, then my mouth dropped open a little. “Are you serious?”
“It's all I can grant on such short notice.” The warden said with a huge smile.
I laughed and dug out a credit chip and shook the man's hand. “Thank you very much, sir.”
The warden looked down at the chip and his eyes widened. “What...”
“Just in case someone decides to hold you responsible and you want to retire in shame.” I said with a grin. “Have a great day, warden.”
“You, too.” The warden said without looking up from the credit chip in his hand. A hundred thousand credits. He thought in shock. A hundred THOUSAND!
I held in my laugh as he shouted in his head and didn't let anything show on his face. I left the office in Stealth mode and absorbed the Presence around the secretary's ears, then made my way all the way back to the prison's entrance and floated over the high concrete wall. I made myself visible and walked up to the gate.
“Hi, there.” I said to the two startled guards. “I'm here to see two prisoners.”
“Of course, sir!” One of the guards said and opened the gate. “I'll take you right in personally!”
“Hey, wait!” The other guard tried to come after us, then decided to stay at his post. “I wanted to take him in.” He said sadly.
I chuckled and was led into the main administration building and I handed the two papers to the clerk there. She looked at them and at me, then back at the papers. She knew they weren't fake, since they had the warden's personal digital signature on the corners, and that couldn't be duplicated. She had to call the warden and confirm anyway.
“Oh? He's here already?” The warden asked. “Well, let him in and get the two prisoners ready. The Hero of Chofaris can't stand around waiting all day, you know.”
“Yes, sir! Right away, sir!” The clerk said and hung up, then quickly had the day passes processed and had the two prisoners brought out to the visitor's area. Uzahne and Ahaen were quite surprised to be brought to the area so suddenly, since they didn't know anyone at all that would want to visit them... then they saw me.
“YOU!” Ahaen yelled and ran at me. She tried to swing and punch me, and I easily caught her hands.
“I missed you, too.” I said and pulled her into a hug and shared a calming technique with her.
“Let me go.” Ahaen said as she lost her urge to fight me.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked and looked at Uzahne. “They don't give out day passes all the time and we've already lost most of the morning.”
“Wait, that's true?” Ahaen asked. “But... but...”
“Come on. I'll explain on the way.” I said and held a hand out to Uzahne. She only hesitated for a moment and took it, then the calmness flowed over her, too. I led the two women out of the prison and passed the front gate.
“We're outside.” Ahaen said, surprised. “We're really outside.”
“It gets better.” I said and used Levitation on them and Presence Run. Both women screamed a little and then it was over and we were beside the concealed shuttle. “Who wants a ride off this stupid planet?”
Both women gasped as I removed the concealment and opened the shuttle. I put them inside and strapped them next to Hailey's mother.
“Uzahne, Hailey's mother.” I said and pointed. “Ahaen, Hailey's mother.” I said and stepped by them and sat in the pilot seat to start the shuttle up. “Hailey's mother, that's Uzahne and Ahaen.”
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“My name's Monica.” Hailey's mother said.
“I know.” I said. “Okay, hold on.” I fed power to the engines and the shuttle took off. I observed the traffic and avoided it all, then flew the shuttle up into orbit. “Docking to top hatch.” I said and brought the shuttle in and watched both the instruments and the physical dock, then the magnetic lock clamped onto the shuttle. “...and we're solid.” I said and shut the shuttle down. “Beatrice, take us out of here.” I said over the ship com.
The three women unstrapped as the ship eased out of planetary orbit and I used Presence Hands outside the shuttle to tie it down with cables and secured it. Once that was done, I opened the hatch on the bottom of the shuttle and opened the top hatch on Udelis.
“Hailey's mom, you first.” I said. “I think someone is eager to see you.”
“Please stop calling me that.” Monica said.
“I can't. You're my future mother in law.” I said and took her hand. “I need to keep paying you the proper respect.”
“By being impersonal?” Monica asked.
I opened my mouth to say that I didn't want to be too familiar with her before we became family, then I heard her thoughts. She really didn't like that I was distancing myself from her, which in turn could possibly distance myself from Hailey. I didn't want her to think that, so I let her hand go and stepped close to give her a hug.
“I'm sorry you see it that way.” I said and let her out of the hug. “I didn't want to insult you by calling you by name, especially since we won't be official family for years.”
“That's not going to matter now, will it?” Monica asked. “We're both fugitives now.”
“Who, me?” I asked. “No one is alive that knows I did this.” I said with a smile. “Oh, and the government's main computer banks were in the basement I exploded. Ah, I mean, that the assassin's explosives destroyed.”
Monica just stared at me.
“He means that a lot of the records are gone and you probably won't be missed.” Uzahne said. “Unlike Ahaen and myself.”
“That's okay. Now that I've got the most relevant people away from here, I don't plan on coming back.” I said and looked at Hailey's mother. “Monica, can I help you down the ladder?”
“You may.” Monica said with a smile and took my hand, and I eased her down onto the ladder. There was a loud squeal and several happy yells when she reached the bottom.
“It's too bad we won't get the same reception.” Ahaen said and reached for my hand.
“Only because of your behaviour and how you mistreated me.” I said with a smile and helped her onto the ladder. She gave me a squinted eyed look, then sighed and went down the ladder.
“We can't apologize for how we handled things.” Uzahne said and took my hand.
“I didn't ask you to.” I said and helped her onto the ladder. “We all have to live with the things we've done.”
Uzahne nodded and went down. I waited for them to step away from the bottom and then floated down myself and closed both hatches with Presence. I walked over to the intercom and pushed the button.
“Okay, Simone. Send a message to everyone on the list. Tell them what happened and let them know that it might be a good idea to take nice long vacations, probably with their families. Oh, and that I'll pay.”
“Should I wait for a response?” Simone asked.
“Yes. If they agree, transfer the proper credits to their accounts.” I said. “You better contact our own people's families back in the Dizahl System and let them know, too. Maybe they'll want to extend their vacations for a while. A long while.”
Simone chuckled. “Beatrice already did. The cruise ship has no problem taking them anywhere you want them to go, since you're paying them so much.”
I chuckled, too. “Let's send them to the Granis System.”
“That's a great idea!” Simone said. “I can contact Aphatoris and see about her taking some of our satellites to the less reputable systems of the galaxy.”
“That's a great idea, Simone.” I said. “Get Sheph to send a shield pendant to her, too.”
“Hunter, you know how expensive those things are.”
“Yeah, and so will she.” I said.
“Good point.” Simone said. “I'll get right on it.”
“Thanks.” I said and let the button go and turned to the people around me. “Let's go home.”
Uzahne and Ahaen gave me sad looks, so I put a hand on their shoulders.
“I have some contacts in a fairly large corporation. I'm sure they can find something for the two of you to do, assuming you want to stick around.”
Ahaen opened her mouth to say no and to reject the offer, then Uzahne slapped her face.
“That's enough!” Uzahne said angrily, then she looked at me. “We'll take any job we can get.”
I smiled. “I can smuggle you away and give you new lives and identities if you want, too.”
“I want that!” Ahaen said and pointed at me and Uzahne slapped her again.
“None of the decisions you've made over the last three years have been good ones!” Uzahne said loudly. “For once in your life, you are going to listen to what I say and you are going to like it! Is that clear?”
Ahaen rubbed her face where she had received two hard slaps. She glared at Uzahne for a second, then sighed. “Yes.”
“Good.” Uzahne said and looked back at me. “Hunter, please take us back with you and we will work wherever we can get a job.”
I nodded and waved towards the side of the ship. The two of them walked over to the cell with four bunks in it and entered. “I was taking us all to the kitchen, actually. It's time for lunch.”
“Ooo! Mom! You have to help Hunter cook!” Hailey said excitedly.
“Hailey...” I started to say that wasn't a good idea and saw the expression on her mother's face. “You have to help, too.”
“Yay!” Hailey exclaimed and dragged her mother towards the kitchen.
“Is it that fun to help cook?” Ahaen asked, confused at Hailey's enthusiasm.
I sighed and waved for Uzahne and Ahaen to follow, then we all went to the kitchen. I had Uzahne and Ahaen sit at the counter to have the best view, then Hailey, Monica, and I started to cook. Hailey and I successfully ignored Uzahne and Ahaen's shock at the spectacle we provided. Not long after we started, Simone ran into the kitchen and grabbed an apron.
“I'm helping Hailey!” Simone said with a laugh and joined in. About ten minutes later, the ship jumped to hyperspace and Beatrice and Sandy came into the kitchen.
“Oh, dammit! We missed it!” Sandy said and you could hear the disappointment in her voice.
“I swear I'm spoiling you all.” I said and finished preparing lunch for everyone. Hailey added the final garnish and Simone and Monica carried the plates over to the table. Monica had a bright red face and she couldn't believe that such a thing as 'couples cooking' existed. She also thought that it wasn't something that a mother was supposed to do with her future son-in-law.
“Now you know one of the reasons I was trying to maintain a respectful distance.” I whispered to her.
Monica nodded her understanding and when she sat down to eat, she turned and put a hand on mine. “I'll just watch from now on.”
Sandy and Beatrice laughed. “Good luck with that!” They said at the same time, which made the both of them laugh.
Hailey took a bite of food and sighed happily. “We can all cook like magic when we help Hunter.” She said and the new arrivals tried the food. They couldn't help but agree that it tasted fantastic and gave me longing looks.
“I think I'm going to be busy giving cooking lessons during the trip home.” I said with a sad voice.
Simone laughed. “On the bright side, it's only a three week trip!”
“Yes, that's the bright side.” I said and rolled my eyes to make everyone laugh.
Needless to say, the next three weeks passed fairly quickly. Hailey and her mother caught up on everything and Hailey was very happy that her mother was no longer being held for terrorist acts, Uzahne caught up on all the goings on she had missed while in prison for four months, and Ahaen still hated me with both justification and a lot of irrationality. On the other hand, she really enjoyed her cooking lessons with me. She would never admit it out loud, though.
We arrived back in the Dizahl System and flew over to the space habitat. Sheph told us that Kara had been seen in two more of the businesses and each time she left with nothing physical. All she seemed to be doing was following my trail. Fortunately, she was following it in the wrong direction, and none of us wanted to correct her and left her to keep going farther away from us.
Both Uzahne and Ahaen signed contracts with the Bogorim Corporation and were almost immediately whisked away to learn about their new jobs and responsibilities. Uzahne had said goodbye to me and gave me hug as she thanked me for rescuing her. Ahaen only said goodbye and held a hand out for me to shake. I raised my eyebrows at her offer and she frowned.
“Fine.” Ahaen spat at me and turned around to step into the shuttle. I caught her arm and quickly turned her around. She gasped at the sudden movement and looked completely shocked, so I kissed her. She hit me a few times and tried to push me off, then she realized it was fruitless and stopped resisting. As soon as she did, I stopped kissing her and pushed her into the shuttle.
“Buh-bye!” I said and waved as the shuttle hatch closed.
“GODDAMMIT!” Ahaen yelled at me. “You ASSHOLE!”
I laughed at her indignation and we all watched the shuttle take off to take them to the second planet.
“You're so mean!” Simone purred from behind me.
“You're welcome.” I said to her and gave her a quick kiss. “Come on. We have some other things to take care of.”
Simone nodded and we all went to the Sheph's office to find out what else we had missed while we were travelling. We found out that the cruise ship had left two weeks before and everyone on board has been ecstatic about getting to see such a great tourist attraction like the twin stars in the Granis System. Hailey's mother Monica did not regret missing it, since she got to spend a bunch of extra time with her daughter.
We all agreed to let Monica move in to the last free spot on the top level, so that she could be as close to Hailey as she could be, without them actually living together. It only took a minute for Monica to move in, because she didn't have any possessions, which meant we had to have another shopping day trip at the station.
Of course, since I was paying, everyone wanted to go. We had to take Monna, after adding a bunch of temporary seating in her cargo area for everyone, then Jelly flew us all to the station on a low traffic day. Needless to say, nearly every shop bent over backwards to accommodate us, especially our favorite restaurant that we visited at the end of the day.
They greeted Hailey's mother Monica as the Queen's Mother, and she received a crown of fried onions along with Hailey, who was their Queen of the Restaurant. Both of them were very happy because of that and we all had a great time. We ate our fill and left with all of our packages, then flew back to the space habitat. We all helped Monica unpack everything to get settled and when we were done, Monica started to cry.
“We know.” Sheph said and took her into a hug. “Believe us, the shock will fade.”
“We're all here for each other, too.” Sandy said. “We all gave up our lives back there to make a home here.”
“And it is a home.” Hailey said. “Our home.”
Monica wiped at her face and looked at her maturing daughter. “You're growing up so fast.”
“Not fast enough.” Everyone else responded, since that was what Hailey always responded with when someone said that to her, then everyone laughed.