I waited for a week before I secretly arranged for the prisoners besides Ral and her family to be sent off at random times and to different locations, where they could change their identities and receive new lives. I couldn't take Ral and the others until my contacts had finished constructing the small town-like area where they would be living, well away from everyone else.

I tried to call her to tell her what was going on and she hung up on me again. I had to chuckle at her nervousness and decided that I had to go see her in person. Both Simone and Hailey agreed that it was the right thing to do, not that I needed their permission. I appreciated it, though.

I took a normal shuttle, to Monna's disappointment, and flew over to the second planet. Since I wasn't hiding my abilities anymore, when I was two miles above the resort, my Detect Presence technique let me 'see' where Ral was. I saw her shiver as she felt me and her head turned up to look at me. I gave her a wave to see if she could see me and she waved back.

Ral watched me for the twenty minutes that the shuttle took to come in for a landing. She stayed where she was and didn't come out to greet me like I thought she would. I closed and locked the shuttle, just in case someone, namely Liv, decided to take it for a joyride. I waved to several people that were around and walked right over to Ral's room. I didn't even knock on the door, since I knew she wouldn't come over to answer it, and I went inside.

Ral's silver hair waved slightly as a breeze came in through the window she stood near. She wore a nice light pair of loose fitting beige pants and a flower covered blouse that fit her well, and it made her look even more regal than she had in the jumpsuit. I was glad that I had arranged for extra clothing and things for them with the Bogorim Corporation.

I had dressed casually myself in a normal pair of pants and a shirt, which technically matched her outfit, even though I hadn't intended that. “Hello there, young lady.” I said to her and she blushed.

“Hunter.” Ral whispered. “Why did you come here?”

“I came to see you, of course.” I said and walked over to her. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights and stared at me as if I was going to run her over.

“S-stop.” Ral said and I stopped two feet away in front of her. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“I can feel how much you want me to.” I said and held a hand out to her. “Nothing has to happen. We can just cuddle on the couch and I can treat you like the lady you are.”

Ral very slowly reached for my hand, pulled it back briefly, then she intertwined her fingers with mine. “You weren't lying when you said you could have freed us from the planet's surface when we were at the mine.”

I smiled and pulled her in close. “I would have, if I wanted every Order member and Presence user around to feel it when I did.”

Ral used her free hand to brace against my chest and looked into my eyes. “Can we sit for a while? I want to cuddle and feel your mind again.”

“Of course.” I said and led her over to the luxurious couch and sat down without letting her go. I leaned back and she pulled her legs up to get comfortable. “How are you feeling?”

“Your Presence Heal technique removed my arthritis.” Ral said and lifted the hand I held with intertwined fingers. “Doing this doesn't hurt anymore.”

I pulled the hand to my mouth and kissed it. She took in a sharp breath at the tender touch and I let her hand go to caress the side of her face.

“Hunter.” Ral whispered, her need clear in her eyes and thoughts.

I nodded and opened my outer mental defenses just enough for her. She closed her eyes and rested her head against my chest, and we stayed there for quite some time as she basked in the feeling of my mind and I ran my fingers through her hair. When she started to feel guilty about using me like she was, she lifted her head to apologize to me and I kissed her.

A thrill went through her and her Presence responded to the unexpected and very pleasant contact. I used my Presence to encourage hers and she moaned as our energies touched and swirled together inside of her. Her free hand slid down my chest and across my abdomen, then she caught her breath as she felt how hard I was.

Ral broke the kiss and looked at me with wide eyes. “For me?” She asked, genuinely surprised.

“I don't see anyone else here turning me on, do you?” I asked and she blushed.

“Hunter, I...” Ral looked down at herself and the image of all of her old body's imperfections flowed through her mind and into mine.

“I believe you should let me decide for myself.” I said and slid my free hand down her back and caressed her backside.

Ral closed her eyes and waited for me to use her erogenous zone between her cheeks, and I didn't.

“That's cheating.” I whispered to her. “Let me show you that I don't need to use it.”

Ral looked into my eyes and seriously debated saying no. She had 'seen' that she would have the most pleasure she had ever felt in her life, and that scared her.

“It doesn't have to be scary.” I said and gave her a tender kiss. “If it will ease your conscience, I give you my word that I won't show you everything I can do with Presence.”

Ral closed her eyes for a moment as she thought about it and 'saw' the ramifications, then she opened her eyes and smiled at me as her fear receded slightly. I smiled back as I picked her up in my arms, stood up, then I took her to her bed. We spent the rest of the day there.

The next morning, we took a shower together and I gave her one last pleasurable experience. It was being washed by someone that liked seeing them naked and wanted them clean. Of course, Ral couldn't help herself because of my diligence and point of view, so the innocent shower I had started quickly turned into another sex session. I washed us off again and dried us, then took her out into the bedroom. I sprawled her out on the bed and laid down beside her on my side.

“How can you look at me like that?” Ral asked, her face still flushed red from having sex.

“Like what?” I asked innocently as I propped myself up on an elbow.

Ral laughed. “Like you want to do it again and you're just waiting for me to say yes.”

“Should I apologize?” I asked with raised eyebrows and she shook her head.

“Go ahead and tell me the news.” Ral said.

“Oh? Don't you know it already?”

“I've been a little distracted.” Ral replied.

“The little town you'll be staying at is nearly completed.” I said. “It'll have everything set up for you and your family to become completely self sufficient within six months, then you won't have to rely on anything external anymore.”

Ral closed her eyes and she used a calming technique. “You really are going to keep your word.” She said and then turned her head to look at me. “How much...”

“Only another nipple's worth... I meant kiss.” I glanced at her chest and back at her face, then I waggled my eyebrows at her to make her laugh.

“I'm buying a town so cheaply.” Ral said with amusement and rolled onto her side and gave me a kiss. “How many others have you coerced like this?”

“Counting you?” I asked and she nodded. “Just one.”

Ral took in a deep breath when the Presence didn't waver. “Just... just me.”

“You look so surprised.” I said with a chuckle and gave her another kiss, then I rolled off the bed and stood up. I grabbed my clothes and I slowly dressed in front of her. Her eyes roamed all over me as I did and when I buttoned my shirt, she looked at my face.

“Hunter.” Ral said and started to sit up.

“No, stay like that.” I said and leaned over her. “I want this to be the last thing I see.”

Ral's face flushed red as she blushed and laid back down.

“Even naked and after having sex, you still look so regal.” I said to her surprise, then I gave her one last kiss. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Ral said, then she gasped when I disappeared from her sight and perception. “I knew that you were a dangerous man.” She said to the empty room.

I ran to the shuttle and slipped by Liv, who looked like she was waiting for me. I quickly caught her surface thoughts and she wanted to confront me about when they would be leaving and how. She absolutely refused to go anywhere if they had to take multiple shuttles. I didn't stop to reassure her, though. She had her chance to play nice and had played dirty, so I did, too.

I used Presence to make her fall asleep and set her to wake up in twenty minutes, sat her down in one of the nearby chairs, then went to the shuttle and prepped it for flight. It didn't take long, then I was away from the surface of the planet and flew up towards orbit. I turned my head back and 'looked' at Ral and she was staring up at me. She hadn't moved from where she lay, so I blew her a kiss and waved to her. She blushed again and waved, then she was out of my detection range.

I flew the shuttle out of the planet's atmosphere and all the way back over to the space habitat. Now that I had everything important handled, it was time for the prep work and planning for the next round trip, this time in the other direction. Thanks to the experience we gained during the last set of missions, we knew the best... and worst... ways to handle things. There were no focusing crystal factories in our new course data, so none of us had to worry about that.

“It's only a short hop this time.” I explained as I laid out the new course data. “Four months round trip, along the outer edge of the galaxy.”

“There are three spacial anomaly warnings nearby.” Simone chimed in. “We're going to be in and out of hyperspace a lot during this one.”

“Our satellites are dispersed all over that area, and none of them are picking up the same disturbance like in that secondary system with the brown dwarf star.” Sheph said. “As long as you stick to the main travel routes, you shouldn't encounter another one.”

“The secondary paths are clear as well.” I said and brought up the routes. “Even if we do have to divert for some reason, we should be okay.”

Gleas nodded. “I'll be piloting this time.”

“I'm tempted to go as well.” Deborah said. “Beatrice said being the primary the entire time was great... and really exhausting some days.”

I chuckled. “That was probably during the... what was it Ral called it?” I looked at Beatrice. “Observational training?”

Beatrice nodded. “I've never had so many obnoxious people pick apart my flying techniques, and they hadn't operated a space ship in almost a decade!”

Sandy let out a laugh and hugged her. “You handled it like a champion, darling.”

“Sandy.” Beatrice blushed a little.

“What? They all know I love you.” Sandy said. “I'm not embarrassed to kiss you in front of them anymore, either.”

“I am!” Beatrice managed to say before Sandy kissed her.

“Apparently, her opinion doesn't carry a lot of weight on that matter.” Sheph said with a big smile and we all chuckled.

“I'll need Jelly, Isabella, and Simone to go with me this time, too.” I said.

Everyone turned their heads and looked at Hailey and waited for her outburst.

“It's okay.” Hailey said and tapped the spot where the 'H' scar was under her t-shirt. “Hunter's right. He can be all the way across the galaxy and he will always be here with me.”

“That's very mature of you.” Sheph said. “What happened between the two of you when you were alone was pretty significant.”

“I know.” Hailey smiled and looked at me. “Unlike the last time, I don't mind waiting for you to come back.” She walked over to me and I bent down for her. “You are always going to come back to me for as long as you live.”

I nodded and gave her a kiss. “We're not leaving for a few weeks while Adona is being restocked.” I said. “We should have plenty of time to finish catching up on the show.”

Hailey smiled and walked back around the table.

“Okay, let's work on the little details and make sure we have contingency plans.” I said and looked at Isabella. “How did the upkeep on the APC go?”

“It's scraped up from cables and magnetic locks.” Isabella said. “What did you do when you retrieved it that first time? Hang it from a shuttle?” She joked.

“Yes!” Jelly laughed at her shocked expression. “We flew it out of the atmosphere under my shuttle, which also needed extensive repairs, and then we floated it into Adona's shuttle bay.”

“You...” Isabella looked at me. “...you let me drive it on missions without telling me that?”

“It still worked, didn't it?” I asked with a fake smile.

Isabella opened her mouth to holler at me for endangering her, then she sighed. “Please tell me you at least checked it over.”

“We both did.” Jelly said and pat Isabella's shoulder. “The same with the hover car. None of us want to be out and have anything go wrong with our equipment, not when our lives depend on it.”

“I'm glad.” Isabella said. “All right. This is what we should do if the next camp is too tough to infiltrate.” She said and then gave us all a great briefing on a secondary plan that would work just as well as a primary plan.

“Excellent work.” I complimented her and she preened a little. “Make sure we have those plans and the extra supplies and items available, especially if we arrive in the system and our main plan falls apart.”

“Yes, sir.” Isabella said, just to irk me.

I shook my head at her and looked at Deborah. “If you decide to come along, I may have Gleas help me cook when we pick up the other prisoners.”

“She's coming!” Gleas exclaimed and grabbed her arm and shook it, which made everyone laugh, especially Deborah.

“Now I guess it's my turn to have an opinion that doesn't make much difference.” Deborah said and Gleas gave her a hug.

“We should discuss the best paths to take, how long for each leg of the journey, and how much time we can estimate that the businesses have before they'll be notified about all of the other vacancies we've created in their organization.” I said and everyone nodded.

“I've got the surveillance footage from the businesses we've raided so far.” Sheph said. “There hasn't been any physical activity.”

I smiled at the qualifier. “How many electronic inquiries?”

Sheph smiled back. “You do not want to know.”

“Are you keeping track of the potential assassination targets?”

“That and warning them.” Sheph said. “Some have believed the anonymous message and stayed anyway, and some have disregard it.”

“How many took the offer of relocation and new identities?” Simone asked.

“About sixty percent.” Sheph said. “I know that seems low, considering their lives are at stake; but, for that many to accept some unknown person's words as the truth and then follow through on it and leave their lives? It's an amazing number.”

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess it is amazing.”

“We're monitoring the others and we're tapped into the communications in all the places you've raided. If anyone actually takes the jobs, we'll send a tip to the local guard force instead.” Sheph said.

I nodded. “Good work.” I said and looked at everyone. “You all deserve praise for everything you've done so far.” I said and then waited.

After a few moments, they exchanged looks and then looked back at me.

“Hunter?” Simone touched my hand.

“I didn't say I was going to give it to you.” I said with a crooked smile.

“Hunter!” Simone exclaimed and smacked my arm.

I laughed and then used Presence to fill the room. “Hailey taught me this trick.” I said and I gave them all a hug with Presence. “You've all done very well and I am very happy to have you all here to share in this with me.”

“Oh, Hunter.” Several of them said and enjoyed being held.

I kept it for a few seconds, then I let it fade. “Now I can call this meeting to an end.” I said. “Who wants to help me cook supper?”

Everyone put a hand up, except for Hailey. She had put up two.

“That's cheating.” Simone said with a chuckle.

“It looks like Hailey wins for ingenuity.” I said and everyone laughed.

“Okay, that's fair.” Gleas rolled her eyes and then had a bright idea as she gave Hailey a hug. “Hey, can I help?”

“Sure.” Hailey said.

“Hey! You didn't say helpers of helpers were allowed!” Simone said. “I'm helping Gleas!”

“Oh, geez.” I shook my head as everyone became everyone else's helper. “Come on, everyone.” I said and led them all to the large kitchen and we all helped and made supper.

When we were done, my ass was a little tender after being grabbed so much.