With access to a large ship's mechanical workshop, Luxea had designed a collapsible cage with wire mesh that we could attach to the hull of the ship. She knew the shape and dimensions of the ship by heart, so she made each cage the right size to fit five of them on the hull, which I thought was amazing. Two would fit behind the shuttle, one would go beside the shuttle, and two would be in front of it. They were all the same size and could hold pretty much anything, except for something smaller than the holes in the wire mesh. Those things we would store in the actual cargo holds on the ship.

“Luxea, you're fantastic.” I said as we loaded the collapsible cages onto a large trolley. “These things take up almost no space and we can keep them after we use them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I expected to get a one-use container that we would have to leave or cut up when we were done with it.” I said with a chuckle.

“You expected me to make something each time we came here to salvage?” Luxea asked, surprised.

“Well, yeah.” I said. “I like giving you nearly impossible tasks, remember?”

That made her laugh while we took the cages she made back to the ship. Rather than try to deploy them right away, I had another suggestion.

“Hunter, you're crazy.” Luxea said when I told her.

“Hey, the living room is a huge empty space that we've only used twice so far.” I said. “Why can't we convert part, or even all of it into a workshop?”

“Because it's damn messy?” Luxea asked, and I chuckled.

“Okay, I can't argue with you there.”

“Damn right you can't.” Luxea said. “Most of my room is a mess, and I only have basic tools and equipment there.”

“Hey! That's it!” I said, and she looked at me. “We can convert your room into a machine shop.”

“But... what about...”

“When was the last time you didn't spend the night in my room?”

“Hunter, that... you can't expect...”

“It's just an idea.” I said. “For now, we can take all the equipment and put it into the secondary hold.”

“I... all right.” Luxea said, and we went back to the machine shop and took all the easily removable equipment that we could and put it on the large trolley. We had to make several trips and we easily filled the secondary hold with everything, including spare parts, accessories, and all of the tools we could get. When we closed the compartment, Luxea had a huge grin on her face and looked at me.

“I can't believe we took all of that and fit it in there.”

“That was just the beginning.” I said and smiled. “How many maintenance lockers do you think are still intact on that wreck with portable airlocks in them?”

“Ha ha!” Luxea laughed. “There's still power, so probably a lot of them.”

We went back into the wreck, went to every floor, and found all of the available maintenance lockers and stripped them of everything. They were all intact, so we got six of everything. Six portable air locks, six power packs, six small plasma cutters, six tool boxes, six electrical kits, six bundles of replacement wires of various sizes, and six boxes of generic electrical components.

“Maintenance lockers are a scavenger's dream!” I said, and Luxea had to agree. Since it was a large fleet ship, all of the things we found were of the highest quality, so none of the parts were worn out or old, and the tools and equipment hadn't been used before.

We actually managed to get everything stored inside the ship in storage compartments, except for the portable airlocks. They were just too big to keep in normal areas, so they went into the cargo hold. We went back into the ship and I asked Luxea a very important question.

“Do you think this ship has an armory?”

Luxea turned her head to look at me with her mouth hanging open, because I could clearly see it through her helmet visor. “Hunter, we... well, I guess we could...”

“Salvage rights.” I reminded her. After a few moments, she nodded.

Luxea took out the datapad that she had loaded the ship's schematics on and found what we were looking for. We went there and saw the huge security door. It was also welded shut. I used Detect Presence to look past the door to see that it was booby-trapped as well, then smiled.

“The poor fools thought we would use the front door and set a trap.” I said and led Luxea around to the other hallway and along the large blank wall.

“I still think it's weird that you can see through tristeel like it was nothing.” Luxea said as I took out my Light sword and changed the settings back to normal.

“The blast shield is tristeel, too.” I said and she looked at my face to see that I was still wearing it.

“You don't have to wear it all the time, you know.” Luxea said.

“I know. I've just gotten into the habit of wearing it.” I activated the Light sword and slowly slid it into the wall, then moved it to the side about two feet, then cut it down to the floor. I went over four feet and then pulled it up to just over my head, across four feet, then back down to meet the first cut. I used a Presence Hand to push it from the other side and caught it on this side with another Presence Hand, then moved it off to the side.

Luxea gasped as she saw the racks and racks of laser rifles, laser pistols, armor pieces, cases of grenades of all kinds, and even a couple of the large heavy weapons that needed crews to operate.

“What the hell does a starship need with heavy ground-based assault weapons?” Luxea asked.

“Well, depending on the situation, like well defended targets and...”

“We are NOT taking the heavy weapons!” Luxea exclaimed loudly, and I looked at her with wide eyes. “We're not.” She said in a more normal tone.

“We're taking the custom power packs.” I said, and she didn't argue, because that would make them inoperable without replacements and she was okay with that. We loaded up two large trolleys with crates of charge packs, grenades, and stacks of weapons. I made Luxea promise to help me convert part of my room into a weapons locker so we could store them safely. Before we left the armory, I made her very happy and used my Light sword to cut up the heavy assault weapons into pieces and melted the mounts to make them completely unusable.

We brought our salvage back to the ship and left everything in my room, then we discussed what else we could take. Luxea said she wanted to examine any computer-based system on the ship to see what information might be on them, so we went and found a console first. She tried booting it up and nothing happened. She popped it open and checked that everything was connected, then tried again with the same result. Nothing.

“It's wiped.” Luxea said, sadly.

“Well, they said the same thing happened with the enemy ships.” I said. “I guess it's standard procedure to wipe computers when abandoning a ship, no matter who you are.”

“Now what?”

“Well, what about the power converters for shipboard weapons?” I asked, and she stared at me with wide eyes. “What?”

“Hunter, those things are huge!” Luxea said.

“Are they much bigger than the laser cannons themselves?”

“Yes!”

“Then we'll just take the laser cannons.” I said, and her mouth dropped open. “You know, you don't have to keep looking so surprised every time I say something.”

“They... we can't... it's a lot of... by the Goddess, can we actually take starship weapons?”

“What else can we salvage?” I asked. “Thrusters? Sensors? Oh! What about a communications array?”

“Hunter, it'll take hours to... we can't actually... you aren't even listening to me, are you?”

“I'm sure some of the smaller ship pieces have to have a good missile rack or two.” I said with a smile. “If we harvest a few empty consoles, we can do what I told the captain... well, admiral now... to do with the salvage ships and give them temporary missile firing capabilities.”

“We can't store reloads for missiles, even with the new outside storage cages.” Luxea said. “Not that you would want to store live ammunition outside of a ship's hull anyway.”

“We could store them under the shuttle.”

“Under the... are you crazy?” Luxea asked. “You want to give the shuttle missiles?”

“It was just a thought.”

“It would be shot and destroyed faster than we could launch it from the ship!”

I shrugged. “Well, let's go looking for other valuable things.”

“Hunter, we... are we really...”

“Only if you think we can.” I said. “I won't ask you to endanger yourself to salvage ship weapons; but, if we can do it safely, we have a lot of storage space now.”

Luxea sighed. “Yes, dammit. I can do it safely.”

“Then let's finish our survey of the inside and start on the outside.” I said, and she followed me down the hallway to the first door. It took us about six hours to search and get everything of potential value from the inside of the wreck, then another six hours to scavenge two large and fully functional laser cannons from the outside. Luxea had been right and the power capacitors for them were too big to take out of the ship and store on mine.

We moved on to the next wreck and did the same thing. There wasn't much inside, with only one maintenance locker, and there were no weapon hatches. We went to the next wreck and found the bridge of the ship. Luxea was hesitant at first, until I told her that there was no one there, not even bodies. She relaxed and we entered the airless and powerless bridge, then she saw all of the modern consoles.

“Hunter, I think we just hit the jackpot!”

“It's a good thing we brought extra power packs, then.” I said and she nodded.

“Without power, I can cut the physical links to the safety mechanisms that protect the computers.” Luxea said with a grin. “It'll let us have access to the computer's data without having to use their command programs, which would ask for command codes and proper authorization and everything.”

“Then get to work, oh great chief engineer.” I said and handed her the small plasma cutter. She chuckled and unhooked her tool belt, then she pulled herself down under the main flight console. I wasn't surprised that she was done barely twenty minutes later, then I helped her hook up the power packs. The console powered up and she pulled herself onto the seat in front of it and started checking everything. I watched her face grow happier the longer she was there, then she grinned and took out a fresh datapad and started to transfer all of the information from the computer to it.

“I assume you were successful?” I asked, and she laughed.

“We've got it all, Hunter.” Luxea said. “Weapon software, engineering schematics, computer programs, everything.”

“What can we do with that?” I asked, and she put a gloved hand on my hand.

“We don't have to search for things we want anymore.” Luxea said. “This has a list of everything and their locations. We just need to go there and get it.”

“You don't just mean on this ship, do you?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“This is the bridge for a fleet collier.” Luxea said. “It's job is to coordinate with all the other ships and make sure they have the proper supplies to keep fully functional.”

“Then we lucked out and missed the best opportunity at the same time.”

“What? Why?”

“Most of this ship is gone. If it's job was to keep the fleet full of supplies, the cargo hold would have had everything we ever would have needed.”

Luxea opened her mouth to respond, then she closed it. “Well, damn.”

I laughed and gave her hand a squeeze. “When the information finishes transferring, we should salvage the computer components, too.”

Luxea nodded and we waited for it to finish, then we disassembled the main computer and removed the consoles and took them as well. We loaded them onto the ship and went to the next wreck. Thanks to our own computer being able to match the wreck to a known ship, and the new data to tell us where everything was, we made short work of salvaging it and storing the valuable materials in one of the new collapsible cages on the ship's hull.

We stayed at it for over a week and we picked over nearly everything. We actually started bypassing and noting where the things we couldn't take right away were, and we filled all of the wire cages on the ship's hull with the most expensive things we could salvage. Shipboard weapons and hyperspace generators, mostly. Luxea had the brilliant idea to place beacons all over the new debris field, that had a short range broadcast with the company name and logo to claim the salvage as ours, with our license and authorization from the new government of the Fogaris System.

After a long discussion, we decided that we needed to rest for a day before going anywhere with our salvage and to go all the way back to the Drizahl System to buy an orbital transshipment container to store it all in. I thought going all the way back there was a bit too far for the first trip, then Rhubin convinced me that we needed to eat some more of that restaurant's great and cheap food. Luxea didn't argue, so that was what we were going to do.

The three of us relaxed and lounged around for half of the day, then we slept for almost twelve hours. None of us were surprised by that long of a sleep, considering how hard we had been working the last couple of weeks. I told Luxea and Rhubin that I wanted to set up a couple of the automated weapon platforms that the mechanics on the station had designed, so we could protect our claim; but, they thought that was a bit too excessive and I was voted down.

Luxea had the navigation computer spit out a reciprocal course to the clear jump point that was a week away, since it took us far from all of the hazards of having to explain to other system governments why we were hauling shipboard weapon salvage. I was tempted to message the station to tell them that we were leaving the system, and Luxea reminded me that no other ship had shown up in the system the entire time we had been salvaging parts.

That got me to thinking about what Uzahne had said about ordering ships back home, so I went to the console in the living room and checked the local net for information. There was a lot of speculation and rampant rumors, and lots of notices that their warships would be returning in a few days. That was a relief, so I was about to turn off the console when I had an odd thought. I checked the local contract jobs on a hunch and looked at the listings.

Sure enough, there was a posting for a quick delivery job to the enemy's home world. I shook my head at that and thought about adding a warning about dangerous cargo. I shrugged and kept looking, then saw several contract jobs for pest removal in the same system.

No, they didn't. I thought and checked out the first one. Ten thousand credits to kill vermin? I looked at the picture and it was one of the aliens wearing a business suit, and I read the short sentence below it. President Vermin pictured at his home. I shook my head and closed the connection. Now I'm wondering if his name actually is 'Vermin'.

I went to the cockpit to tell Luxea about the job postings while Rhubin flew the ship out to clear space. We jumped into hyperspace to begin the long journey back to the Dizahl System.

*

“We can't stay here much longer.” The pilot said to a very unhappy Master Kara Moor. “Our supplies are running low and we need to resupply.”

“I can't believe they are still in that system.” Kara said, her voice full of disbelief. “We could have been there over a week ago to confront them if I'd known they were staying!”

“I can't argue that.” The pilot said. “You made the right choice considering the information you had.”

“And now?” Kara said, without getting angry that the pilot just insulted her.

“We've got a day, maybe two, before we have to head back to the closest system to restock.”

“You're allowing for the trip and a bit extra, in case it takes longer?”

“Barely.” The pilot said. “I'd rather leave right now, actually.”

Kara sighed. “We'll stay one more day, then head back.”

The pilot nodded and Kara went into the back. The air filters were still working at their best capacity, and yet the sweat smell just would not go away. It irritated her a lot, since it disrupted her ability to meditate for more than half an hour, and her sleep had been fitful the last few nights. The other two Order members had stopped talking the day before and just sat in their seats without moving. If she wanted to delude herself, she could tell herself that they were meditating constantly and were training their minds, when in fact they were just bored and listless.

She resumed her seat and tried, once again, to meditate. Half an hour later, her nostrils were filled with the stench and she couldn't take it. She thought about using Presence to cover her face, then remembered that it hadn't worked the last time she had tried it. Even cloths weren't able to stop the smell, so she used a mental technique to calm down and relax.

A loud beep broke the silence and she nearly jumped out of her seat. She dug the specially configured datapad out of her pocket and looked at the screen and saw that Ullir's ship was no longer in the Fogaris system.

“They jumped!” Kara exclaimed. “Pilot! Take us back two jumps to the closest system!”

“But...”

“We have a week of time and I want this damnable smell removed from the ship!” Kara said and stood. “If we hurry, we can be back here with plenty of time to catch them!”

“Yes, Master Moor.” The pilot said as he turned the ship around and brought it up to speed. He already had the coordinates loaded and the ship jumped into hyperspace.

The fast courier ship made it back to a habitable system in just under three days. When they docked, the fresh air was as refreshing as the fresh food was. Kara had been surprised that she had become tired of eating the basic food rations, which was something she never thought would happen. She couldn't stop a nagging cough, though.

It took about an hour for the small ship to be checked over, and she held in her anger that it was contaminated air filters that were the culprit for the smell. It started out as just one and had spread throughout the ship with five people breathing it in. They were immediately taken to the medical bay and examined, and all of their lungs were full of the infection.

“How long?” Kara asked.

“You've been exposed to it for over two weeks and...” The medical professional started to say.

“No, how long will it take to cure it?” Kara asked and interrupted him.

“About six hours in a bio-medical tank.”

Kara closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm down. “Do it.” She said. “Also, have the ship cleaned, restocked, and ready to disembark by the time we're done.”

The five of them spent the next six hours in breathable bio-gel that cleaned their lungs from the inside. It wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone, and they were all irritable and sore afterwards. They cleaned up and dressed in new clothing, since the others had to be destroyed, then they went back to the ship.

Kara checked the datapad and saw that Ullir's ship was still missing from it. “Take us back to the same spot.” She said, her voice hoarse from the bio-gel.

The pilot undocked the ship and they flew out to the Lagrange point, entered the coordinates, and jumped to hyperspace. They made another jump after that and appeared back at the same spot that they had spent over two weeks floating around and waiting. Now they were going to wait again.

“Release the sensor drones and make sure to cover as much of this open space as possible.” Kara said, and the navigator followed her instructions. I will have you, Ullir. She thought with a predatory smile.