When all the injuries were dealt with, Ahaen's arm had been encased in a bio-med wrap filled with gel that sped up healing. I took them back to the spare room and told them all to get inside.

“What?” Uzahne looked at me. “One of the guards...”

“Yes, she might have advised you against your actions; but, she didn't try to stop you and went with you.” I said.

“My job is to protect them.” She said.

“Well, you suck at your job, because you let them put themselves in a ridiculous amount of danger that they wouldn't have survived.” I said, and she sighed. “Everyone inside.”

The five women entered the spare room that only had four bunks.

“I suppose you want our weapons.” The other security guard said and unhooked her laser pistol from her belt to hold it out to me.

“What for?” I asked, and she looked at me in confusion.

“Aren't we prisoners?”

“For now.” I said and smiled. “Having weapons won't help you.” I pulled the lever and hit the button on the panel by the doorway, and the thick security door slid out of the wall from the other side and closed with a loud thunk. The women gasped at the sight and stared at the heavy metal door.

“You don't have to lock them in.” Luxea said.

“Yeah, I thought that before.” I said, and it was her turn to sigh. I put my hand on her lower back and ushered her towards the cockpit.

“I can't believe they thought they could fly into all that debris and start rescuing people.” Luxea said. “You're right. That was pretty stupid.”

“I could understand if we found an intact ship or something, or even heard any communications from survivors.” I said. “It's way too soon for them to risk their lives for an ideal and not have any proof that it would mean anything.”

“Is that what they were doing?” Luxea asked.

“They want to help people they think are in danger of dying.” I said. “They don't even know where to start looking for those people and they tried to go anyway.” I shook my head and let my hand fall away from her lower back. “All they would achieve is putting themselves in the same danger that they think they are saving others from.”

Luxea nodded. “I hope the computer finishes soon.”

“If we can get any kind of route to the closest planet, or even a space station, we can deliver the passengers and get out of here.” I said.

“That's all?” Luxea asked. “You just want to leave?”

I stopped walking and rubbed my hand on the blast shield over my eyes. “I'll tell you the same thing I told them before they decided to commit piracy.” I said. “This ship can't handle rescue operations. We don't have the personnel to deal with more than a handful of injured people, as you just saw, and we definitely don't have the room to pick up more than six extra people before the air filters are overloaded and we are out of room.”

“What if...”

“Even if we had a ship ten times this size, we still aren't qualified to rescue people or have the equipment to support it.”

“Hunter, sometimes just doing it makes you qualified.” Luxea said.

I looked into her eyes and she looked into mine, and I remembered the story she told me about her father. I sighed, because I could tell that she was going to argue that there were a lot of little kids out there that are going to miss their mothers or fathers.

“If... and I really mean this... if you can find somewhere big enough to hold all of the people that might still be trapped, we can discuss with Rhubin how to proceed and if he's willing to try.”

“Thank you!” Luxea exclaimed as she hopped up a little and kissed me, then she ran towards the cockpit. “You won't regret this, Hunter!”

“I already regret it.” I said, which made her laugh.

I walked the rest of the way to the cockpit and Luxea was typing furiously and checking details. I thought about asking her what she was looking for, then decided that I didn't need to know until she found it.

“Hey, how are you doing?” I asked Rhubin. “You look like a limp noodle.”

Rhubin chuckled. “I'm drained, Hunter.” He said, and I could see that the Presence inside of him was pretty low. “Intense flying like that for over thirty minutes straight just took all of my energy.”

“Would eating help?” I asked.

“No, I ate before we exited hyperspace.” Rhubin said. “This is... I'm weary, you know?”

I nodded. “We need to finish assessing the situation, so just relax and take it easy.” I said. “Let yourself recharge for a while.”

“You know, I could use a nap.” Rhubin said. “I doubt I could fall asleep right now, though.”

“Lean back and close your eyes.” I said, and he looked at me with wide eyes. “Hey, you won't know until you try, right?”

Rhubin nodded and leaned back in the chair, then closed his eyes. I reached out with a fingertip and did what Ohazith had taught me by mistake. I had assumed that Presence would always interact with itself, even between people, because I was so adept at its manipulation. She had shown me that most times when people used their own Presence on others, it actually pushed the other Presence out and could hurt them if you weren't careful.

I gathered a little bit of Presence to my fingertip and used that knowledge as I carefully pushed it into Rhubin's forehead. I used my Presence to push his out of his head and down into his body, so he wouldn't lose any of it, and his head flopped to the side as he fell asleep. I had discovered how to do a new technique. Sleep. Of course, there wasn't really any way to practice it without putting someone to sleep, so I was going to have to wait to use it again.

For about an hour or so, we floated in space near the star, and we were just outside the large debris field as it very slowly drifted by. There were thin parts where there were only small bits and pieces of ships and a few bodies, and other parts where halves of fairly large starships floated past with clouds of debris and bodies around them. It was a wondrous... and horrible... sight to see.

“I think... yes! There's movement!” Luxea said and put the image on the display. “Can you see the shuttle flying around the big wreck?” She pointed and traced it with her finger.

“That's about the size of the long haul, isn't it?” I asked, and she nodded. “If it's not a cargo ship, then there's probably hundreds of people on it.” I said. “Is it friend or foe?”

“The markings are similar to the ones on the delegate's clothing.” Luxea said. “I can't get an image of the shuttle to see if it's the same.”

“What's it doing?” I asked.

“If I had to guess, they are surveying the damage.” Luxea said and tapped a few keys. “They aren't going to be happy when they see the back end.”

The display changed to show the real image of the ship and the computer put a wireframe overlay on the real image to show what it was supposed to look like.

“It's lost the whole back third of the ship.” I said.

“The engines, reactor, probably a good portion of the environmental system, and a lot of crewmen.” Luxea said.

“How is it still operating?” I asked.

“If they were lucky, all that happened was the engine room was sheered off and the reactor didn't blow.” Luxea said. “If they were unlucky, it was ejected and blew too close to the ship.”

“There's no way to see which it was, is there?” I asked, and she shook her head. “That means we can't approach until we know we won't get a lethal dose of radiation, right?”

Luxea nodded. “To be safe, yes.”

“Any communications?”

“No, but they might be playing dead like us” Luxea said. “Just in case there's enemies still around.”

“I guess there's no chance for a covert signal.” I said.

“Not with the outdated communications array.” Luxea said. “I'm sorry.”

“Remind me to drop a seismic charge on that station when we head back that way.” I said.

Luxea chuckled for a moment, then she stopped when she saw my serious face. “You're not kidding.”

“I was willing to let the theft go, since I didn't think it was going to matter much; but, now it's putting our lives in danger and that I won't stand for.” I said. “If we still had the original one, we might have even contacted the planet through all that interference and had rescue ships out here for everyone.” I motioned out the viewscreen at the debris field. “Instead, we're just watching everything expire.”

“I don't think that alien knew this would happen or that we would be caught up in a situation like this.” Luxea said.

“I know.” I said with a smile. “Could you keep watch for another hour? If Rhubin wakes up, see what he wants to do. I'll come back then and let you get some sleep.”

“Do you really think that's a good idea?” Luxea asked, doubt clear in her voice.

“We're kind of stuck here right now.” I said. “Of course, we could abandon the job and fly around the star and hope to find a clear hyperpace jump point and not an enemy fleet picking off the stragglers.”

Luxea stared at me with wide eyes.

“Do you want to do that?” I asked.

Luxea shook her head. “What I want is to try to do something besides just sitting here.”

“You are doing something.” I said and pointed to the navigation display. “I know you're not a navigator by trade; but, Cassie pawned the job off on you enough that I'm sure you can try and find a good route through that mess.”

“You're trusting me with that?” Luxea asked, and I saw the surprise on her face.

I put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “I've trusted you to handle a lot of things so far, haven't I?” I asked and she nodded. “What kind of friend would I be if I didn't trust you enough to dump one more impossible task on you?”

Luxea snorted a laugh. “Thanks a lot.”

“You're welcome.” I said and let her shoulder go, then I left the cockpit.

I went to my bedroom and closed and locked the door, then walked over to my desk. On it were four thick cylinders, slightly larger than my own. They were untested, as was mine, since we hadn't visited a planet for me to test it. I couldn't wait until then, so I had constructed four more Light swords with all the different options that mine had, except I used much better regulators with more settings. I had also made the components modular, so that if one part didn't work or burned out quickly, I could replace them easily or remove them and it wouldn't affect the other parts.

I had taken my time and modified my heavy cloth uniform to add four long cloth pockets, one on the outside of each thigh and one on the underside of each forearm. I made sure that it didn't interfere with the heavily modified power armor Luxea had installed and it gave me access to four backup weapons. I was tempted to make the rest of the crystals into Light swords as well, then decided to keep them as backups to replace the crystals when they wore down.

I took off my uniform and tucked the cylinders into the custom pockets, then turned the armor's power off and plugged it in. It would charge faster that way and I liked wearing less clothing when I meditated. I walked over to the bed and climbed onto it, assumed the lotus position wearing just my underwear, then used several mental techniques to enter a meditative and relaxed state. I blocked out all sound as I concentrated on the flow of Presence around me. I focused on my own body first and felt the strong Presence there, then I changed focus to the Presence inside the ship.

My detection range had grown slightly, since the boost that Aphatoris had given me, and I was using it constantly so that let me expand it out further. I turned my head to look at the five women that sat on the couches and bunks in the spare room, and they were hunched over and looked very sad. I looked up at the empty shuttle and saw that it was still in standby mode and was still empty. I looked at the cockpit of my ship and saw that Luxea was hunched over the navigation controls and her fingers typed faster than I thought they could. It made me smile and I looked at Rhubin, who was still unconscious in the pilot's seat.

Satisfied that I could easily see everything in the ship, I changed my focus to feel everything within my detection range. I caught my breath as I felt the deflector shields that surrounded the ship and the strong Presence that the energy had in it. I turned my head when I felt a small wave of Presence flow over the ship and looked in the direction it came from. I was surprised to see that it wasn't from the star that we were fairly close to.

It was from another ship.

We've just been scanned! I thought in surprise and jumped off the bed, turned on my armor as I picked it up, then ran from my room. I thought about calling Luxea; but, I would have to waste time with trying to explain what I felt. I reached the cockpit silently a few seconds later and Luxea jumped a little as I reached around her and hit the button to show the local system on the large display.

“There's another ship here?” Luxea looked at the details. “How did you...”

“No time.” I said and pointed at the markings, now that I could see them. “Those don't match the delegate's clothing.”

“What do we do?” Luxea asked. To her credit, she didn't ogle my near nakedness.

“Hope for the best and plan for the worst.” I said and quickly put on my uniform of power armor. “Can you open a couple of the weapon hatches without it being discovered?”

“Which ones?”

“The assault laser cannons.” I said. “If they come close or threaten to board us, I want them sufficiently discouraged from doing that.”

“What if they just want to know why we're here?”

“It depends on why they want to know.” I said. “Do they want to escort us to a safe haven to protect us from others or do they want to take the delegates hostage to force the locals to surrender?”

“Wh-what? Why would they do that?”

“Because they can?” I asked, and Luxea couldn't refute that.

“Everything's hidden on the ship and the deflector screens cover everything, so I can reveal the laser cannons without giving anything away.” Luxea said and did it. “Okay, we're armed and ready.”

“What about the shuttle?” I asked. “It's docked to the top of the ship.”

“It's small enough to be covered; but, it's going to give their scanners a really weird cross section.”

“As long as it keeps them guessing.” I said and looked at Rhubin. “I'm sorry about this.” I said and gathered some Presence to my hand and pushed it into his head, then used it to boost his own Presence to make it rush to his head. It acted just like I had dumped a bucket of cold water onto his face.

“ARGH!” Rhubin yelled and woke up, then rubbed his face several times. “Dammit! What the hell?!?”

“Sorry, Rhubin.” I said. “We have company.”

Rhubin was fully awake and looked at the main display, and grimaced. “Bad company.” He said. “It's a scout ship.”

“Okay, it's worse than I thought.” I said. “Luxea, still no communications?”

“No, they're staying quiet.” Luxea said. “Maybe they're waiting for us to make a move first.”

“Rhubin?”

“Strap in. One jink coming right up.” Rhubin said and added a little power to the engines, then dropped the ship about twenty feet.

HOOOAAHHHH! HOOOAAHHHH!

The target lock alarm went off and Rhubin rolled the ship as two missiles flew right above us and through the spot where we had just been. I had used Presence to hold myself to the deck and stood there calmly.

“The missiles aren't following us so they must be direct fire only.” Rhubin said in relief as the alarm stopped. He poured energy into the engines and flew down below the enemy ship to get out of its weapon's firing arc.

“Do it, Luxea.” I said.

“Rhubin, give me a good shot!” Luxea said.

“You got it... in three... two... one.” Rhubin said and rolled the ship upside down and flew straight up at the scout ship. Luxea pulled and held the trigger and I wasn't surprised to see and feel the large and highly charged laser bolts as they left the front of the ship. What did surprise me was that they went right through the scout ship's cockpit as if it wasn't there.

Then it really wasn't.

“By the Goddess.” Luxea whispered and let the trigger go.

“I love this ship!” Rhubin exclaimed as he brought the ship around and stopped to give us a view right into the middle of the scout ship. We saw the pieces of two alien bodies floating in the hallway. “Looks like they were already decompressed.” He said. “They would have been blown out into space otherwise.”

“Should we... go and see if...” Luxea was breathing heavily.

I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked up at me. “They were going to kill us if we moved... then tried to kill us when we did.” I moved my hand from her shoulder to rub the back of her neck. “You did great.”

“I... I killed them.”

“No, I did.” I said, and she raised her eyebrows at me. “I ordered you to fire.”

“But...”

“It's all on me, okay?” I said and put a little bit of Presence into my hand and eased it into her neck. She sighed at the tingly feeling and I felt her relax.

“Why don't you go and rest for a while.” I said.

“O-okay.” Luxea said and stood up, put a hand on my chest for a moment, then left the cockpit.

“Her first death.” Rhubin said after a minute. “It's always a bit of an eye-opener.”

“You saw my first casual kill, so what did you think?” I asked and sat down on the co-pilot's seat.

“That thief was the first time you killed in public?” Rhubin asked, and I heard the surprise in his voice.

“Despite my demeanor at the time, I don't normally kill people like that.” I said and used the ship's scanners to check for other ships that might be in the vicinity.

“Are you sure?” Rhubin asked, and I chuckled.

“I don't doubt I'll get to that point, considering all the stupid people that exist.” I said, and he looked at me with wide eyes. “I'm not there yet, so don't worry.”

“I... ah... wasn't worried.” Rhubin said, and I chuckled as the Presence wavered a lot from the lie. The scout ship was well within my Detect Presence range so I checked and couldn't find any other life forms on the ship. I also couldn't detect any large energy sources.

“Do you think there's anything salvageable on the scout ship?” I asked.

“I'd say the missiles; but, we don't have missile launchers, so no.” Rhubin said.

“Can we rig the engines to send it into the debris field or something?” I asked. “I don't want to leave the wreck just sitting here like this. If anyone finds it, they'll know someone else is here.”

“The engines need primary power, which the cockpit controlled, so that's out.” Rhubin said. “We could try and see if we can get the automated thrusters to expend themselves and the ship should drift along with the rest of it.”

“See what you can do remotely. If we can't do it that way, we'll hop over there and patch it physically.” I said. “The last thing we need is to give ourselves away.”

“You don't think they contacted their own people yet?” Rhubin asked. “It was a scout ship, after all.”

“Luxea didn't detect any communications at all, so I think Luxea was right. They were playing dead like us and were waiting for something to happen.”

“Which just happened to be us.” Rhubin said, and got to work.