Some of Simone's people had a hard time adjusting to life in such spacious living areas. A lot of them complained that they didn't know what to do with all the space. A few family groups had even gathered together and lived in a single family residence, just so it was familiar and more cramped like they were used to. It didn't take long for everyone else to figure out that they had some agoraphobia, so a few discrete modifications were made to a lot of the Visidern apartments to allow more people to live closer together.

The ship made the month long journey to the open part of space they had plotted a course to, then initiated another power down test, so that everyone stopped what they were doing to wait for it to be over. Nearly everyone was put into stasis after the lights went out... except for two people.

Hunter and Kara.

They were members of the same long lived race and being put into stasis was kind of pointless to save them time. Lashina had been asked if she wanted to stay awake and she looked at her daughter.

“No, not if I have to wait to watch her grow up.” Lashina had said. “I want all my time to be with her.”

So, only Hunter and Kara had stayed awake. They had free roam of the ship, and yet they didn't go far from their living area and the main bridge, except to perform maintenance that the robots needed supervision for. Luckily, it didn't happen a lot, because Hunter and Daniel had over-engineered the ship with redundancies upon redundancies and it only had to be monitored.

Hunter also went to the main shaft and spent time inside each of the warships, just like he had promised. In between those visits, he took it upon himself to train Kara in the proper use of Presence. She didn't like that idea very much, even though it meant she got to spend a lot of time with him. She didn't believe his view of the proper way was actually the proper way, so her reluctance was both vocal and stringent.

Hunter just laughed at her and taught her some of the basic mental techniques that he knew. Of course, once Kara started to use them and tried to master them, she started to understand Hunter's point of view. His way of compartmentalizing his mind was unlike anything she had experienced before, and she had no idea that someone could do training techniques with their mind and at the same time gather Presence and sleep.

It took Kara almost six months to adapt to the techniques and master them. By then, she had convinced herself that Hunter actually had something to contribute to her training. He laughed at her thoughts as they met in the sparing arena and she frowned at him.

“Stop that.” Kara said and took a fighting stance.

“Stop thinking about me so hard.” Hunter joked, then he activated his Light sword. “Now attack me.”

Kara smiled and activated her Light sword, then threw it at him. Hunter swiped his Light sword at the energy blade to bat it aside, and Kara rushed into the opening the move had given her. Her fist slammed into his gut and Hunter grunted from the impact. He didn't move, however. Kara turned around to backhand him in the face and reached for her Light sword with Presence at the same time.

Hunter caught the backhand and pulled as he slid his Light sword in front of her body and deflected her returning sword. Kara pivoted on her foot and used Presence over her arm, expanded it to break his grip, then she kicked his leg to knock him off balance. Hunter's knee bent and did just that, so she grabbed his head and pulled his face down onto her knee.

He used Presence to cushion the impact and Kara changed tactics and grabbed his Light sword. Rather than pull it from his hand, she did his own trick against him and decoupled the focusing crystal. The Light sword died and he chuckled as he tossed it aside. Kara grabbed his braided hair and pulled his head back, then tried to do a karate chop to the front of his neck to incapacitate him.

“You lost.” Hunter said as the blade of a Light sword appeared in front of his neck.

Kara was breathing a little heavily and she sighed with a long exhale as she let his hair go. “Dammit, I forgot to disrupt the Presence on your sword.”

Hunter nodded and turned it off, then hooked it to his belt. “You could have bought yourself another few seconds to get your own sword if you had.”

Kara nodded back. “Although, I don't really see much need to practice like this.” She said. “What are the odds that I'm going to be fighting against someone else with a Light sword?”

Hunter let out a bark of laughter. “You do realize the first batch of my kids are getting close to reaching their sixteenth birthday, right?”

Kara thought about that for a few moments, then her eyes widened. “You're giving them the trials?”

“In a sense.” Hunter said. “It won't be like The Order's graduating trials, at least not in such a cold fashion.”

“You know it's done that way to keep any outside influence from changing the results.” Kara said.

Hunter nodded. “I didn't say it wouldn't be difficult, just that it would be less cold and calculating. It's going to be an actual skill test and not set parameters that some will blow through and others will struggle with.”

Kara gave him an odd look.

“Yes, Kara. The Order discriminated between people by their ability, even though they never fully tested those abilities.” Hunter said. “How many people were shuffled off and stuck doing grunt work when they could have excelled at other things, all because they 'failed' the final exam?”

Kara didn't respond for a moment, then she sighed. “A lot.”

“Oh, I know.” Hunter smiled. “I had access to their databases, thanks to The Wise One's personal secretary.”

“Whom you killed.” Kara said.

“Yes, and she was grateful for it.” Hunter said and Kara gasped, because the Presence didn't waver. “It's surprising, isn't it? None of The Order members that my ships come across try to negotiate surrender or try to convince them to stay their hand. They would rather face their goddess than see The Order being dismantled.”

“I... I thought...” Kara stopped and turned away from him. She ducked her head and several tears came to her eyes. “Why can't I have such conviction?”

“Because you've seen the truth. You know she's not benevolent, or caring, or misses any of the people that have died in her name. Not one.” Hunter said and stepped close behind her, then put his arms around her. “Did you know that it was the goddess herself that ordered our quick expulsion and unsummoning from Relique?”

Kara took in a sharp breath, because once again, the Presence didn't waver. “W-w-why?”

“They had already found the source of the portals and didn't want us interfering.” Hunter said and she turned around in his arms.

“But... it was us that...” Kara started to say as her arms went around him, almost automatically.

“Even though our task was done in First Sothen Kingdom, she wanted us out of the way.” Hunter said and then smiled. “I definitely became a bit of a nuisance after that, because my party and I travelled all over the whole world... for years... and closed all of the portals.” He chuckled. “Of course, showing up at the end and being a crucial part of the final battle must have been a huge thorn in her side.”

“Hunter, you... you can't...”

“What? Defy her?” Hunter asked and she nodded. “I've made it my life's work to do just that.” He said and kissed her.

Kara didn't want to resist him when he was this assertive, so she accepted his attention and melted into his arms. They kissed for several minutes, then she quickly took off her clothes. Even though they were still in the sparring arena, she wanted him and didn't want to wait until they went back to her room. They hadn't been together like that for several years while the ship was being prepared and his children were being born. However, as they joined together, it was like they had never been apart.

Kara cried out as her Presence merged with his and her mind and body were lost to the physical and mental sensations. She hadn't imagined having him all to herself like this, not since she was a young girl. Hunter's life was so full of other things and she couldn't quite fit herself into it like she wanted to. She had been more of a bystander since she arrived and had watched everything from the sidelines, despite wanting to be included in everything more than she was.

Hunter caught all of this as he made love to her, because Kara was too distracted by his body and his Presence to protect her inner thoughts like she was supposed to. He felt bad that she hadn't felt like she was included, even though he and the family had done their best to welcome her. He knew it was more his fault than it was anyone else, so he accepted the responsibility for the mistake. He had been wrong when he thought that Noma was the last woman that wanted to have a child with him. Kara was.

So, Hunter did his best to try and fix that during the next two months. They would be exiting the blank space soon and everyone would be out of stasis, so his and Kara's free roaming on the ship would come to an end. It would be another three months before they reached the next stretch of emptiness, so he promised Kara that he would spend that time with her, assuming she wanted him to. She did and they met up again during the next jump.

Kara thoroughly enjoyed both the endless hours of training and the love making sessions afterwards. They were like the ultimate rewards for her. She became more powerful and stronger as Hunter taught her the things he thought she would need in the future. She never questioned him about why he was teaching her so much, mainly because she didn't want it to stop.

They spent over a year together before she felt something shift inside of her. It was only subtle; but, she felt that there was a definite change in her Presence center. When she mentioned it to Hunter, he rushed her to the medical bay and gave her an extensive medical scan. With Herbie's help, he found out what was wrong. She was pregnant.

“WHAT?!?” Kara gasped and looked at the datapad herself to confirm the information. “But... but it's supposed to be... difficult to conceive for us.”

Hunter chuckled. “I'm pretty sure it has been difficult, considering how many times we...”

Kara covered his mouth. “Don't say it.”

Hunter moved her hand. “...made love.”

Kara's heart beat faster, because she thought he was going to be vulgar about it, and instead he was sweet. “Who are you?”

Hunter chuckled again. “Believe me, if I had been using you just for fun, you would know it.” He said and touched her forehead. “You know you would have felt the difference.”

Kara opened her mouth to respond and then closed it. “Not if I didn't want to admit that's what it was.”

“Kara.” Hunter said and took the datapad from her. “Now that you're pregnant and we don't have to worry about it anymore, do you want me to show you the difference?”

Kara looked into his eyes and wasn't sure if she wanted to know, in case it was too similar to what they had been doing.

Hunter took her hand and led her over to a secluded spot in the medical bay near one of the supply closets, then he had his way with her on one of the stretchers. He performed as if he wasn't concerned at all about how she felt. Even though she enjoyed it and it felt great, he hadn't used Presence and she definitely felt like she had been used afterwards.

“Now you know the difference.” Hunter whispered into her ear as he cuddled up to her.

“Don't.” Kara whispered and tried to push him away. “You... how could you...”

“I wanted to prove that wasn't how I've ever treated you, even when we were openly hostile.” Hunter said and rolled her over to look into her eyes. “Do you remember what I did to you when you dropped me off at the sacred site prison planet?”

Kara's face flushed red as she remembered him using Presence to give her an orgasm. “Yes.”

“Even then, you felt that I wasn't trying to use you and I felt bad for doing that to you.” Hunter said and dropped some of his mental shields. “You can check and see for yourself.”

Kara gasped as he opened his considerable mental shields, which he had never done before. “Hunter.”

“I know.” Hunter said. “Go ahead.”

“But... you...” Kara only did a small mental probe and checked that one time, then checked this last time. “You didn't like doing that, either.”

“Of course not.” Hunter said. “It's the first time I've ever...” He shook his head. “I've always used Presence to make sure my partner enjoyed it. Always.”

Kara retracted her mental probe and she was surprised when he didn't put his shields back into place.

“Now, I'll make love to you and I won't block my mind, so you'll know for a fact that this is how I always feel when I'm with you.”

“H-Hunter.” Kara whispered, then she gasped when his Presence filled her up and touched her all over, both inside and out.

“I hope you're ready for this.” Hunter said and kissed her.

I've always been ready for you to love me. Kara thought as her mind started to flood with ecstasy.

*

The ship popped out of hyperspace to begin the long journey across a galaxy that was almost on its end, practically horizontal to our flight path. A good portion of it had to be crossed in real space, because it had several spacial anomalies. By Zoe's calculation, it would take close to two years because of that. It was discussed with everyone onboard to see if they wanted to try and navigate around it, with the majority of the time spent in hyperspace.

A resounding 'we are along for the ride' came back from the ship wide poll with only a few thousand wanting the hyperspace option, even if it was longer, just to keep us away from the potential dangers.

“Well, I think that means we can relax and not worry if the passengers are happy or not.” Sheph said at the meeting to discuss the results. Everyone laughed and nodded in agreement.

“I'm sure if we jumped into a hostile system and had to fight our way out, they'd probably start complaining.” Admiral Shanifra said.

“Yeah, don't do that.” I said and she laughed.

“We've got the scouts and automated warships scouring everything in front of us again, even though the warships have been through this sector already.” Shanifra said. “You never know what might pop up since the last check, though.”

“I'm glad we are in such good hands.” Simone said and lifted Markus up. “Isn't that right, sweetie?”

“HANDS!” HANDS! Markus yelled, both physically and mentally, which made everyone wince.

“Here, take this.” Simone said with a laugh as she handed me our son.

“Thanks a lot.” I said as Markus proceeded to smack the hell out of my face with all four his hands. Everyone laughed at the sight and the sounds of smacking flesh.

“You really should make him stop that.” Tish said for the hundredth time.

“I've made it perfectly clear to Markus that he can only do it to his father.” Simone said with a grin.

“At least he's getting lots of practice.” I said between slaps.

“His hand to eye coordination is fantastic, too.” Hen said and cuddled the feathered little girl in her arms. She was pitch black, just like my other avian children, and she was the cutest little thing I had ever seen. Hen had a Tiercel, so I hadn't been legally allowed to attend the birthing ceremony. I regretted that I wasn't right there to see her born; but, I had watched from the next floor and made sure that the baby knew I was there and used an invisible Presence Hand to give her head a quick grooming.

The thing was, unlike her brothers and sisters with the same mother, she hadn't been a holy terror after her birth. She had been calm and collected and watched everything with a keen eye and patience. I had visited her a lot and she knew I was her father, mainly because her feathers didn't match anyone else in her family. Since I was the only one that was in all black around her, her eyes always found me in the room when I was present.

“So, do we go normal space for a couple of years and let everyone grow up a little together, or add another few years to the journey and go into hyperspace around it?” I asked and everyone exchanged looks, except for Tish.

“Normal space.” Tish said. “I want to spend more time on this trip with my family than I spend in stasis.”

“Then it's decided.” I said and Tish gasped. “What?”

“Dad, I... I mean... I thought you were asking for our opinions!”

“I was.” I said with a smile. “You just happened to be the deciding vote.”

Tish looked around the table and saw everyone's smiles, so she looked back at me. “Dad, you can't...”

“You can't change your mind now. It's part of the official record.” I said and pointed to the display that showed Tish's name and the decision to take the normal space route. “This meeting is adjourned.”

“Daaaad!” Tish said, exasperatedly.

“I love you, too.” I said with a laugh.