Chapter 43: Uncollared?

Location: Estriduros Republic; Puertu System; Prival; Drogunio; Jack's Apartment

“Hey Jack. You look good!”

I release him from the hug, and we all sit down on the couch in the living room. Jack still stares at me with wide eyes, clearly trying to figure out how I'm here. His hair is still brown and kept relatively short. But he lost weight! His prominent belly is now almost gone. Finally, he gives up and asks. “How are you here? Why are you here?” He takes a closer look, then his eyes go even wider. “Where the fuck is your collar?!”

I chuckle. “Took you long enough to notice… It’s a long story actually.”

“Wait, you’re a Mage too?” Alex asks in confusion and before I answer I look at Maja.

“Are we secure?”

She nods. “We are. I didn’t find any bugs, but I’m scrambling all outgoing signals just to be sure.”

“What’s happening?” Alex asks with a frown on her face.

I quickly answer her, before she starts worrying too much. “Sorry about that. Yes, I’m a Mage too, I actually met Jack at the academy. As for the other things, let me explain.” I look into both their eyes. “What I’m about to tell you can’t get out. This is serious stuff.”

They both nod their understanding and I continue. “It all started when I was kidnapped by pirates of all things…”

There are sharp intakes of breath from the two, but I quickly continue and tell them a slightly edited story about the things that happened in the past few months. For example, I leave out that Maja is the super powerful AI, I got after escaping the pirates, but I still tell them about the republic’s plans with her. That earns me some shouts of outrage and disbelieving faces. I also leave out, that I can now use Utility magic, as something like this is unbelievable for a Mage of the Estriduros Republic, and I don’t want to lose believability right away.

Our trip to Earth is met with even more disbelief, as they too learned in school about Earth’s destruction. Maja has to show them a picture of the planet that we took before leaving, to make them believe it. I also leave out everything about me being a Valterion and only hint at the mission Conor assigned to his descendants. What I do show them is the shield-watch, I got from Armortec, and especially Jack is very excited about the little piece of Magitech.

Lastly, I start to tell them about the Stargazer. “You see, after all the discoveries down on Earth, we were still missing the most important thing: A way home! There was not a single wormhole in the Solar System, and we were starting to get a bit desperate. Then finally, deep down in the Valterion island, we found something: coordinates to a starship that was left behind for a purpose. We managed to fly out there and find the ship. The VS Stargazer. She is very nice and with her capabilities, the super AI, and a dose of magic from me, we somehow managed to jump back to the Estriduros Republic.”

I take a deep breath and smile at them. “That’s pretty much it, what do you think?”

They exchange a quick look, then Jack starts to speak. “That’s quite the story, Sara. I’m not sure if I can believe everything, even after seeing the evidence… I mean, it’s just… Earth! Crazy, when you think about it.” He shakes his head. “Still, it doesn’t explain why you are here.”

“True, I did mention the mission from the Valterion guy back on Earth. It’s bigger than I let you know, but that must suffice for now, I’m sorry. What I can tell you is that I’ve got a ship and I need a crew to travel to The Empire on the other side of the galaxy. That’s why I’m here. You are the first guys I’ve managed to find.” I offer them a slight grin. “Well, actually I managed to find Jack. You Alex are the cherry on top, being a helmswoman and all.”

That earns me a laugh from her before Jack starts to ask another question. “When you say we are the first guys, who are the others? The ones that I’m thinking?”

I nod. “Exactly. I need people I can trust. Especially after everything with the AI. That leaves my friends, and they are frighteningly fitting for a starship crew.”

“I can see that, Simon, Lucy, and Greg all can fill up important positions on a ship and I guess you met a few more people over the years?” Jack scratches the back of his head, clearly considering my offer.

“You’re right, I’ve also a few people to find from even before the academy. So what do you think?”

Alex looks at me thoughtfully. “How long of a mission are we talking about?”

Dang, that’s a question I don’t have an answer for. I shrug. “I don’t know exactly… But if you want to know when we will return, I can tell you at least that. I don’t plan on returning to the republic at all. There is so much out there, that we don’t even know about here. Magic is so vast you wouldn’t believe it… Also, there are some other reasons why I probably won’t return, but I can’t tell you that right now.”

Alex nods slowly. “I understand… not that there is much holding me here, I followed Jack here after all and as long as we are together, I’m happy. I miss steering a bigger ship though.”

This is when Jack chimes in again. “You know how I feel about ships… but reuniting with the others does sound good. What about the collar?”

This time Maja answers. “I could remove it right now if you want.”

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His eyes go wide. “Deal, I’m in. Do it, please!”

I can’t help myself but laugh and even Alex cracks a smile.

“He’s always complaining about the collar… You should have started with that, and he would have followed you anywhere.”

Maja and I both chuckle at that. Maja then beckons Jack over and puts a hand on his collar. Two minutes later it opens with a click and Jack takes his first breath of freedom. I see Alex narrowing her eyes a bit and I frown slightly. Maja just revealed that she is more than we told them… It doesn’t matter much, as I plan to tell them once we are underway on the Stargazer, but still. I look at Alex and mouth “Later.” She nods her understanding.

Jack throws the collar in one of the corners of the room and jumps up in jubilation. Then he grabs all of us in a hug with tears of joy streaming down his face. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” I reply before stepping out of the hug. “Now, do you want to pack up your stuff, or do you want to check out the ship first?”

“Uh,” Alex starts. “It’s probably better when we check the ship before packing… Then we can see how much of our stuff will fit.”

I look at Maja and see amusement on her face. She gives me a slight nod. We have more than enough space!

“Alex, I think there is a misunderstanding.” She looks at me in confusion and I quickly continue. “The Stargazer is a 120-meter-long ship with six decks… And almost everything is currently empty. There won’t be any problems with your stuff.”

Now they both look at me like I've grown a second head. “The fuck,” Jack blurts out. “Do you have any idea how expensive a ship like this is?”

I shake my head and he continues. “When you said ship, I thought something like a pleasure yacht… 50 meters or less. This is insane… And they just left it there for 11,000 years.”

“Well, we have one of those yachts too if you’d rather stay there,” Maja chimes in laughing and Jack almost sputters his disbelief.

“Crazy,” he mumbles into his non-existent beard.

Alex is the first to compose herself. “So we can basically pack everything up and we somehow move it to the ship?”

“Yeah, do we have to do that by ourselves, or can we hire a company?”

Alex thinks a bit, then moves to grab a tablet. “Let me see… Yes, there are several but there is a waiting list as the space elevator is tightly booked for cargo.”

Maja frowns. “Well, I could technically move us up in the queue, but someone might take notice and get suspicious. Hmm, are there any airfields close by? We could just hire someone with a truck to move your stuff on the ground and we take the yacht as a shuttle.”

“There’s an airfield right outside the city,” Jack says after finally composing himself.

I nod. “Good, then let’s do it that way.” Then I grimace, remembering one of our problems. “We actually have a favor to ask of you… You see, we both don’t have any IDs and so we don’t have any money right now.”

“That’s no problem at all,” Alex reassures. “We have a bit on the side and considering your destination, Estriduros currency probably won’t be worth much anyway.”

That’s a relief… One of our problems is temporarily solved. “Thanks, should we start packing right away? We can help if you want.”

“Sure, let’s start. The earlier the better. Who knows if they can track Jack’s collar.”

Maja shakes her head. “They can, but not right now. So take your time… I’m going to order us a truck for tomorrow morning.”

With that, we start packing while talking about random stuff. Jack actually met Greg a few times when his security company had a job in the Puertu System. Unfortunately, Lucy, his twin sister didn’t get a single day off in Star Force and so even missed his marriage. Same with Simon. Good thing we are looking for both of them. It’s way past time for a reunion.

The best thing is that Jack and Alex kept their cardboard boxes, as they moved here not too long ago. This makes things way easier as we simply have to stuff their things inside. Time goes by quickly and we finish packing everything in the late evening. Maja orders pizza for the three of us and I simply ignore their questioning glances at Maja who doesn’t eat anything.

The next morning comes quickly, and I am to witness another wonder of non-backwater technology. The truck, that Maja ordered simply floats up to our floor and stops before the big living room window. Then with a few clicks on his tablet, Jack makes the window slide open and the guys from the truck extend a loading ramp into the living room. Half a minute later, two strong-looking men exit the vehicle and begin loading the truck.

That’s our clue. Jack stays back to oversee the loading process, while Maja and Alex accompany me back to the space elevator. We’ve got a yacht to fly down here. The trip back up goes smoothly and before long we stand before the airlock of the Stargazer. As the docking arms are made of tristanium, Alex actually can’t see the ship right now, so she goes in blind. This is going to be fun!

The airlock opens and in we go. Alex has to pick up her jaw from the floor when she sees the inside. I have to admit, it’s quite the sight.

“Didn’t you say the ship is 11,000 years old? It looks like it was built yesterday, how is that possible?”

“Well, that’s proper magic for you,” I laugh. “Come on, let’s head for the yacht, I can give you a tour later when Jack’s here too.”

She agrees and we take a turn at the middle corridor and walk toward the hangar in the back. The hangar bay and the yacht within is another shocking moment for Alex, but we quickly board and Maja turns it on. The big hangar doors begin to open when the yacht starts to float on its own power. Then we fly out and head for the planet below. Luckily, Maja takes care of all the communication with flight control and it’s a very relaxing flight for Alex and me.

We both sit in the living room and eat a little bit of rice out of a can. That reminds me. “We should probably buy some supplies as well if that’s okay for you. What you can see here in the kitchen is all I have…”

Alex quickly agrees and so we have one last thing to do down on the planet. We land soon after and Jack waves once we emerge from the yacht. The truck has already left, and Jack is standing next to a lot of cardboard boxes near our landing slot at the airfield. Alex and I leave to go shopping in the mall next to the airfield, while Jack and Maja start loading the boxes.

Shopping actually takes a while and the others join us about an hour later, stating that they are already done with loading stuff into the yacht. We finish another hour later, having bought a variety of random things that we might need and a lot of fresh foodstuffs. It looks like we will be finally able to use the kitchen on the Stargazer.

After that, we return to the yacht and load in the supplies. It’s quite stuffed in here now and so we all gather on the bridge.

“Do you want to fly up?” Maja asks while looking at Alex, but she declines.

“Nah, I’m good… I’ve got enough chances to fly later on, I think. Better to familiarize myself with the controls when we aren’t inside the gravity well of a planet.”

Maja nods her understanding and starts the yacht soon afterward. After getting the green light from flight control, we are soon on our way back to space. This time we are heading toward the Stargazer and our front-facing window shows her in all her silver-grey beauty. Sleek lines and black and purple accents complete the look. Even with our cloaked main guns, it is clear that going against this ship would be a very bad idea. Railguns and laser emitters cover every angle of the Stargazer.

Jack audibly gasps. “Holy shit, is this it?”

Now I finally have enough, I turn to him scowling. “Yes, it is, but please stop swearing.”

“Sorry, it’s just… Wow Can’t wait to get inside.”

Alex just looks speechless, and we get closer and closer. Soon after the hangar bay opens again, and we fly inside. Maja sets us down safely and turns off the yacht. The hangar bay closes again, and I am more than ready to show them the ship.

First crewmates? Check!