Hailey and I had a wonderful time during the rest of the week we had for our honeymoon. When we did have sex, we made sure to be well away from... well, everything... and we repeated the same phenomenon. We knew there was an external component and completely enclosed ourselves to stop any more accidental love making sessions. We kept trying to just include the mass healing effect and it wouldn't change. So, we had to make sure we were always alone and segregated when it happened.
Hailey's estimate was pretty close to what the actual damage total was and the clerk was embarrassed when she presented us with a hotel bill for one million, eight hundred and thirty-five thousand, two hundred and ten credits.
“I think we should do a direct transfer from one of the personal accounts, rather than try to pay with chips.” Hailey said.
“Yes, that will save us a lot of trouble.” I said and I motioned to the clerk's console. “May I use that for a minute?”
“Um... I think...” The clerk stepped back. “Just a moment. I'll get the manager to confirm the transaction.”
“Of course.” I said. You don't have to be nervous about handling so much money. I thought to her and she nodded and went to get the manager.
She came out of her office and walked over to us with the clerk, then they both smiled. “Please come around the counter and I'll observe to confirm.”
I walked around the counter and made a chair from Presence. I sat down, so that both women could see me working, and I brought up one of the many personal accounts Sheph had created as slush funds for emergencies and for damages incurred by anyone working for the shipping company. I transferred the credits to the hotel and the manager nodded and pat my shoulder.
“Thank you for paying in full and not trying to stretch it out with multiple smaller payments.”
I chuckled. “I know the little bugger that runs the Borgorim Corporation. He'd laugh in my face if I tried to do that to one of his subsidiary companies.”
“You... you know...” The manager's face drained of its color.
“We've been doing business together for years.” I said and Hailey laughed. “Hey, no laughing!”
“I'm sorry.” Hailey said and covered her smile with a hand. “It's just... he's been making billions of credits from your satellite network. That's not technically doing business together.”
“He makes more and more like that every day that I add another hundred satellites to the network.” I said and stood. “We buy a lot of things from him, so we're technically in business together.”
Hailey rolled her eyes. “We're also one of his primary clients.”
“WH-WH-WHAT?!?” The manager yelled. “Wh-why didn't you tell us?!?”
“I didn't think that was required.” I walked around the counter and put an arm around Hailey.
“There... there are discounts... and extra services... and perks that...” The manager stammered.
“We were here on our honeymoon, not a business trip.” Hailey said and used a calming technique on her. “So, relax and report to the home office that Hunter and his new bride had a wonderful time at your hotel and that we sincerely regret that he couldn't attend the wedding.”
“You invited him to your wedding?” The manager asked, shocked.
Hailey laughed. “Of course we did. Despite my husband's slight exaggeration, we really do share a lot of business interests. He was much too busy to indulge in a polite invitation this time.”
“I bet when he sees the report of the damages, we'll hear from him.” I joked and Hailey laughed again. “Thank you for giving us another room and for not just kicking us out.” I said to the clerk and the manager. “Have yourselves a great day.”
“We will.” They said and Hailey and I left the hotel.
Once we were out the door, we walked over to Monna and climbed aboard.
“I'm glad you two had so much fun.” Monna said.
“Thank you, Monna.” Hailey said and powered Monna's engines up while we waited for a flight plan from the air traffic authorities. I laughed when we received it, because it was convoluted and took six times as long for us to get back up to orbit. We probably scared the hell out of them with how we had landed a week ago that Hailey and I didn't mind the pettiness. We docked Monna inside Hela's small shuttle bay and then went to her cockpit.
“Are we really going to do this?” Hailey asked and prepped Hela for departure.
“Are you doubting your stolen abilities already?” I asked and she winced as the Presence wavered hard. “Sorry, not a time for jokes.” I said and gave her a kiss as an apology. “I meant, do you want to test yourself first before we do this?”
Hailey had to think about that for a while. We left orbit and flew Hela out of the system and jumped into hyperspace. We weren't going home, however.
“Hunter, do you... I'm sure that you could do this...”
“Hailey.” I said and she turned away from the pilot console and looked at me. “Not only do I trust you with my life, I trust you with your own.” I said. “You know how much more I value yours than my own.”
“I...” Hailey started to say that I was crazy for thinking that, because she felt the same about me, then she leaned over and gave me a kiss. “I love you.”
“I like you a little, too.” I said and she winced again as the Presence wavered a lot. “How am I supposed to joke and tease you about how much I love you, if everything I say that's not completely honest warns you immediately?”
“Stop. Trying.” Hailey said and glared at me.
I sighed and cupped the side of her face. “I love you more than I ever thought was possible for one person to love another.”
Hailey gave me a beaming smile. “I suppose that's me, too.”
“Ow!” I said as the Presence wavered a lot again. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
“Good.” Hailey said. “Now let's get back to the briefing room and go over the plans again.”
“They're only tentative, because we can't get accurate scans through the planetary satellite grid.” I said and we left the cockpit and entered the small ten foot by ten foot room with a hologram display table. “We've tried using our stolen Order pass codes and nothing is allowing us access to the thing.”
Hailey turned on the table and loaded up the defense plans for the planet we were heading to. It was going to take us nearly a month to get there, even in one of our fastest ships. It showed strategically placed asteroids, mine fields, patrol ships, laser cannon remote platforms, and three Order assault class spaceships.
“Can we make a dent in any of this?” Hailey asked.
“We're going to tear through that as if it didn't exist.” Hela said, confidently. “Look at the ship designs.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
The designs popped up on the holographic display and several things were highlighted on them.
“They will get off two shots before we burn through their deflector screens and hit their reactor core to cause a shutdown.” Hela said. “It will be more shots than that if they go full offense. If they go full defense, then we need to worry about concentrating fire to get through their full power shields.”
I reached out and put a finger on the reactor. “They're using the main reactor for power, the weapons, and defensive systems.”
“Yes. If they concentrate on either thing, we will have some difficulty. I predict they will split their power and weaken both their offensive and defensive capabilities.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked, just to make sure.
“Because they are The Order. They are arrogant and overconfident in their ship's capabilities, even though they have only fought enemies of similar ship design or smaller.”
“Hela, you are a little smaller than one of their assault ships.” I said. “If all three of them happen to be on the same side of the planet when we enter the system, will you be able to handle it?”
“I do not boast when I respond with 'easily'.” Hela said. “We could take out a dreadnought as well, even in a straight up and fair fight.”
I chuckled. “Which we would never, ever give them.”
“Why lose the advantage?” Hailey said. “Surprise and quick action will give us the win, even if there are more ships there than the last report indicates.”
“Well, I've planned for heavy resistance, considering who we're going after.” I said.
“Will this really work?” Hailey asked. “The focusing crystals trick, I mean.”
I chuckled. “I was tempted to just ship them normally and then have them explode; but, there was no guarantee that he would be anywhere near them when they were opened.”
“The only way to be sure is to be there and see that it actually happens.” Hailey said and I nodded. “Well, then. We just have to hope that we can get a little more information at the last hyperspace jump point before we hit the system.”
“We'll have two hours to see if the satellite gets anything new.” I said. “Otherwise, we're pretty much going in blind.”
Hailey took my hand. “Remember our vows. Our enemies will tremble before our might.”
“If they know what's good for them they will.” I said and leaned in to kiss her.
“I suggest a preemptive strike at these locations.” Hela said and the hologram changed to a view of the system that was our target and several asteroids and platforms were highlighted. “If we launch as soon as we exit hyperspace, none of them will be detected or avoided.”
I chuckled. “Nice one, Hela.” I said. “We can dead shot them and won't even need to adjust the trajectories.”
“I reserve the right to go active with the missiles at the last second.” Hela said.
I laughed. “If you need the manoeuvrability, go for it. In fact, why don't we double the launch and stagger them?”
“Oh, that's brilliant!” Hailey said. “If they manage to somehow block the first stealth missile, they will be so relieved that the second will get through their defenses completely uncontested.”
“That is a sound strategy.” Hela said. “Updating database.” After a moment, the hologram projection changed and showed the doubled targets. “All attacks have been given double priority and energy allocation has been changed to accommodate the new attack pattern.”
“Nice, Hela. Thanks.” I said. “Now, if they have any inner-system attack craft...”
Our brainstorming session lasted several hours, and then we took a break and cooked a meal together. Hailey fully appreciated what couples cooking meant now and she liberally grabbed and played with me as I tried to cook the meal around her efforts to distract me.
“Hey, how would you like it if I did this to you while you're cooking?” I asked when I finally put the meals in the processing heater to finish them.
“Next time, beloved.” Hailey said and kissed me. “Unlike you, I'll completely ignore the food and make love to you like you so desperately want me to.”
I gave her a surprised look, then laughed. “I don't want to wreck Hela, okay? We need a lot more space if we're going to have fun like that.”
Hailey grinned and reached for my crotch. I didn't try to avoid her and let her grab me through my pants. Her fingers tore through the cloth as if it didn't exist and she stroked me as she looked into my eyes.
“I love you so much.” I said and kissed her briefly.
“You really will let me do whatever I want.” Hailey said, a little surprised.
“I've been waiting years for you to understand what it meant to be with someone you loved and to give them your all.” I said. “The thing is, I didn't realize that I was waiting for the same thing for myself.”
“Hunter.” Hailey said as I turned away from the food prep counter.
“You are my heart and my soul.” I said to her. “I've told you several times that I was yours. I didn't mean just for now or only when we're alone.” I put my arms around her and she didn't stop stroking me. “All of me is yours and I've never said that to anyone. Ever.”
Hailey's eyes teared up. “Hunter, I... all of me is yours to do what you want, too.”
“Well, considering I married you and made you my wife, I'd say you're head and shoulders over everyone else in existence.” I said. “Besides loving you for the rest of my life, what else would I want to do with you?”
Hailey let a few tears escape and kissed me. I wiped off her face and she looked down at what she was still doing. “Hunter, I... I started this and we're in the kitchen.” She said. “I'm not sure how I'm supposed to stop.”
I put a hand on her hand to stop her movements. “You don't have to make me make a mess every time you touch me with love, Beloved.”
“But...” Hailey looked down again at my hardness. “I did start it, so shouldn't I finish it?”
“If you want to, or we can wait until after we eat.” I said and opened the processor to get the two meals out, then I gave her an award winning smile. “Go ahead and chose which one you want to eat first.”
Hailey looked at my face to see if I was joking.
I wasn't, because I had left it up to her.
“I love you.” Hailey said and knelt, then she kept looking up at me as she pleased me. It didn't take long for me to finish, not with such a beauty doing what she was doing. I felt her pleasure at making me go so quickly with such a simple act, and she felt how much I loved her for it.
We sat down and had a nice meal as we discussed normal things. Well, normal things for us, like how many missiles I had modified, and how much of a power drain would it be if the laser weapons and the physical projectiles all fired at once. Those kinds of things.
Over the next few weeks, we did a physical inspection on everything in the ship, again, to make sure everything was working properly for the mission to come. We both knew it was going to be one of the most harrowing things any of us had ever done, and we were sad that we couldn't bring Simone and Isabella with us, since their expertise would have been invaluable. The only problem with bringing them was that they wouldn't have survived, so we left them at home.
It was bad enough that we were tossing ourselves into what could potentially become a perpetual meat grinder if things didn't go right. Bringing others into that was just throwing their lives away for no real gain, except for the fact that they would just be a casualty, and that was not what we wanted.
With a month left, Hailey and I met in the small living room and I took out a Light sword. She didn't question me as I handed it over to her and she turned it on immediately. Her Presence was synced with mine and the Light sword felt right in her hand, so she didn't need to attune it to herself. I took out another Light sword and smiled at her. She smiled back at me and took a fighting stance.
Then we fought.
Hailey needed the practice, because even though she knew all of my moves and techniques, she had never actually used them before, except in the limited capacity she had before we married. She divided her mind like I did to gather Presence, to meditate, and to be aware at the same time. It slowed her down significantly; but, that was only because she wasn't used to having her body react to her mental commands and not just from muscle memory.
I didn't waste any time trying to get her up to a proper level to use my abilities... now her abilities... to their full potential. She already had a basis in a lot of my techniques and Presence use, so getting her to adjust to having so much more Presence to do the same tasks didn't take long. The only problem she had was with scale.
Unlike me, she didn't eventually grow into her abilities over decades. I had essentially thrust them upon her and increased them to full power. She needed a bit more mental discipline and fortitude to make the abilities and skills she now had her own. She didn't resent me for doing it and she didn't hate me for trying to cram as much practice as I could into so short of a time.
Hailey knew I was doing it to save her life, because we were going up against someone that was scarily powerful. She needed full awareness of her current capabilities, so that when we were in the thick of battle, neither of us would have to worry about the other because we would know the other could handle themselves.
When our training time was up and we stopped at the nearby system that was a short hyperspace jump away from out destination, we waited for the two hours to get the updated information on the target system. We were both confident that Hailey was everything that I would need and we both armored up in similar outfits.
I donned my classic tristeel powered armor suit and Hailey put on her custom made suit that was nearly identical to mine. We hooked two Light swords to our belts and tucked two more into our bags of holding.
“Any new info?” Hailey asked as I looked at the computer console and read the information that the satellite connection to the next system gave us.
“It looks like Hela's going to have her proverbial hands full. There's a dreadnought visiting the system.”
“It's an Order ship. We won't have any trouble.”
“Unless they get their full defenses up.” Hailey cautioned her.
Hela let out a deep laugh. “I'll tear through them with Hunter's missiles in ten seconds.”
“Don't be overconfident.” I warned her.
“Do you want me to re-prioritize my firing solutions?” Hela asked.
“No, we keep to the plan. We need those defenses destroyed before we can take Monna to the planet's surface.” I said. “Make the dreadnought your next priority after the initial launch.”
“Understood.” Hela said. “New orders given priority and jump coordinates have been updated.”
I looked at Hailey and she looked back at me. “Are you ready for this?”
“As long as I'm with you, I'm ready for anything.” Hailey said.
“Then jump.” I said, and we disappeared into hyperspace.