The next morning I had difficulty waking. The bed was just too damned comfortable. But Taimia managed to talk me out of bed with promises of a delicious breakfast. I showered, shaved and dressed before making my way to the kitchen area of my quarters. Awaiting me in the magic box on the wall was a breakfast that was not disappointing.

I savored the bacon, eggs, sausage links and fruit flavored oatmeal. While I ate I had the suit's visor lowered across my eyes and spent the time reading about the armor and discovering just what it was capable of. Time and again I was shocked at what I discovered and the mental interface made navigating the documentation a breeze as it would advance, search or back up whenever I thought about it. Occasionally this would lead me down a rabbit hole but I learned a lot very quickly. The armor was capable of many incredible things, many of which I'm sure would come in handy.

As the time for the jump closed in I called Briggs and had him meet me on the bridge. I sat in the Captain's chair and he stood next to me when Taimia informed me that she was ready to make the star jump. "Proceed" I told her. As the building humm of the three charging warp drives built toward a crescendo I watched Briggs hand grow tighter and tighter on the armrest of my chair, betraying his nervousness against his placid face.

As the humm hit its peak the view screen flickered momentarily and then a breath later we were there. Two small red stars burned before us. One of the smaller screens displayed a top down view of the ship and was zooming out rapidly. I could tell this was the ship mapping the system in real time as the first planet and the two suns were initially present, and as I watched a large blue gas giant appeared.

"That's it." Briggs said, pointing. "I can't believe we're already here."

The gas giant was partially obscured by one of the suns so Taimia plotted an arcing trajectory around them to the planet. The RCS thrusters fired with flickering bursts, orienting the ship to the new heading and when the main engines fired the ship lurched forward with tremendous acceleration. Despite the incredible amount of g-forces we must have been under there was hardly any feeling of motion and when the warp engine activated and wrapped us in its protective bubble, even that little sense of motion disappeared.

"Unbelievable" I heard Briggs say to himself and I nodded in agreement.

Less than ten minutes later we were entering the local space around the gas giant and Taimia dropped us out of warp. "There," Briggs said, pointing "the moon that's raised just above the rings." Taimia adjusted course automatically.

As we approached I could clearly see traffic moving around the moon. Ships of all shapes and sizes were entering or exiting an opening on the side of the moon and those that weren't, just orbited. I was so focused on the sight that Taimia startled me when she said "warning, two fast attack craft closing on our position." Before I could reply to her a stream of fire shot across the nose of the ship. "We are being hailed."

I forced myself to recover my composure and said "on screen". The view of the moon was replaced by one of the patrol pilots.

"Unidentified ship, this is station security. Who are you and what is your purpose here?" The man said into his breathing apparatus.

"I am Captain Jonathan Kaine on board the Tempest. I am here for business." As an afterthought I added "I have Arron Briggs on board with me."

There was a pause as the pilot scrutinized Aaron. Then he said "Two suns burning together."

To which Briggs replied "two suns of flaring shelter".

The pilot nodded and addressed me with a much more jovial attitude. "Welcome to Brigand's Hold Captain Kaine. Please proceed to the station and traffic control will direct you from there." He gave a small salute, made difficult in the patrol craft's cramped confines. I nodded and the screen returned to a view of the moon as the two fighters peeled away.

"Is that some kind of code, two suns?" I asked

"Yeah, it's to make sure you haven't kidnapped me. Not to worry, I gave him the 'all is well' answer."

I nodded and Taimia slowed our approach as we closed on the moon and other ship traffic. Once in line to enter the moon we were hailed. "This is Brigand's Hold port authority, please identify yourself, the nature of your business and the intended duration of your stay." A woman inquired politely.

"Greetings, this is Captain Jonathan Kaine of the Tempest. I am dropping off Aaron Briggs to see his brother. I should be less than twenty-four hours on station." I said

"Understood. You have authorization to land, please maintain port speed and make your way to landing pad twenty-two, that's landing pad two-two."

"Landing pad twenty-two, understood." I said and Taimia closed the coms. The moon spun around the axis the port opening was on to create artificial gravity and it was roughly the same size as the Dawnstar station but the interior was much more developed. Once inside the port opening we were surrounded by city on all sides. Buildings reached out from the internal walls of the moon, some almost blocking the traffic lanes. The layout of the city and its design were fairly haphazard and advertising was everywhere. Everything from ships for sail to prostitution to restaurants.

Our RCS thrusters fired and spun the ship, aligning us with a landing pad that had previously been above us. We landed and an air bridge extended out from a structure to the left and connected to the airlock in the center of the port wing." Hull bleed suspended, Airlock secure, we have a good seal." Taimia said

Briggs and I made our way towards the exit and I had him wait just a moment so I could leave Taimia orders. "Taimia, while I'm off ship, nobody gets on board, not without me. Do whatever you need to do to make sure of that." I looked at Briggs while I said it so he'd know I was keeping him in mind.

"Understood Captain." She said

"Ouch kid, nobodies gonna mess with your ship." Briggs said as he stepped into the air bridge. The material was a stretchy plastic and bounced as we walked. Each bounce causing the walls to shake a ripple like a rope bridge. He clung onto the shield generator with one hand and used the other against the white opaque wall to maintain his footing.

"Sure" I said as we came out of the air bridge into an airlock that quickly cycled open onto a mostly empty concourse. A girl my age with short black hair stood at the window and looked out at the Tempest in obvious quiet thought. I wanted to look around but I just couldn't tear my eyes away from her.

"Bruiser knows we're here. That's his witch." Briggs whispered to me and I saw him gesture at her with his jaw. The girl was perhaps sixty feet away but she stiffened noticeably when he said it.

Then what he said hit me and I looked over curiously. "Witch?" I whispered back questioningly. I turned back to look at her but she had vanished. I looked up and down the concourse but she was nowhere to be seen and there was nowhere to hide. It confused me.

Briggs grunted "yeah. Look here kid, you leave her alone. You piss her off and you're likely to wake up dead. I've seen her kill quickly and without any remorse. She's also spoken for. So just, leave her alone. Pretend she doesn't exist. It's the best thing you can do." He said with a surprisingly stern voice.

Aaron led me through the station until what I could only call a throne room. The large man seated in the throne stood as we entered and I could see a resemblance between the brothers. As the distance between us shortened I realized how big he was. The man stood a full head taller than me with shoulders twice as wide as mine. He was solidly built with little fat on him. "Jon Kaine, my brother Benjamin Bartholomew Briggs."

"Welcome, welcome." The man bellowed with a deep booming voice. His attitude was jovial and carefree. And he gave Aaron a hug that lifted him off the ground before giving me the same treatment. "Please call me Bruiser." He said. "My baby brother is the only one that gets away with calling me by my real name."

His natural voice was like a loudspeaker and coupled with his size I found I had to take a step back. Being this close to him was actually giving me claustrophobia. He seemed to take up the entire space of the massive room. "Uh, sure. No problem." I mumbled.

"Is this what I think it is?" Bruiser asked Aaron "The message I got from Casey said the Albatross wouldn't be back until tomorrow."

"Oh do I have a story for you big brother." Aaron said.

"Well let's hear it. We'll talk in the back here." Bruiser said with a wave and led us to a room just off the throne area. I was last and closed the door behind me. The small room was mainly occupied by a long table with chairs on both sides. "I typically use this room to arbitrate disputes or grievances, but it's quiet and private so it will do. Feel free to sit anywhere."

I sat in the first chair I came to and only after sitting did I realize the three of us weren't alone. Bruiser sat at the head of the table with Aaron to his right. "This is General Ford, "Bruiser said waving at a middle aged man in uniform with dark hair on his left. "He is responsible for the security of Brigand's Hold and surrounding system."

He then waved at a wiry man slightly older than me sitting next to Aaron. The sides of the man's head were shaved and his hair was done up into a spiky mohawk, blond at the roots and pink at the tips. A silver ring pierced his septum and three through one of his eyebrows. "This is Captain Steiner. He and Aaron are my right and left hand when it comes to handling Brigand's Hold business.

"And this" he continued the wave toward the chair next to the General that I had thought empty until my attention was drawn to it. "This is Shade." He offered up no additional information and honestly I probably wouldn't have heard him if he did.

Sitting in the chair was the girl from earlier. She was gorgeous in her red and black dress but I didn't even look at that. My eyes locked on hers and I couldn’t look away. Some kind of sensation beat at me. It was almost as if I knew her or recognized her. Which was impossible as I knew I had never in my life seen her before today. Even still, my heart hammered in my chest. There was something there, I just couldn't put my finger on it. And apparently the sensation was entirely one sided. I stared at her without blinking for so long she blushed and looked away uncomfortably.

I stammered a mumbled apology but nobody seemed to be paying attention as Aaron had started explaining the story from just before they attacked my prison transport. The only one who seemed to have witnessed the embarrassing moment was Steiner who gave me a sneer when we locked eyes for a moment, then turned his attention to Aaron.

Aaron was a true charismatic story teller and as he explained the story his audience's emotions rose and fell. He even enraptured me and I had lived the experiences. When he explained what Wilks and the Starforce had done to me Bruiser rose from his chair, walked to my end of the table and laid a hand on my shoulder. After a pause for consideration his voice rumbled out "the Starforce is a force for the survival of earth and little else. I deeply regret you had to experience the malicious nature of it's greedy leaders. I am, however, glad the experience did happen. As now your eyes are open. From this day forward you may consider Brigand's Hold a home. You are welcome here at any time, no questions asked."

I looked up into his eyes as he spoke and he was being sincere. I covered his massive hand with mine and said "thank you". He returned to his seat and Aaron continued. The exchange had been so filled with emotion that I honestly almost teared up.

A moment later very different emotions filled the room when Bruiser leapt to his feet. "She did what?" He bellowed. It wasn't a yell, but it was still loud enough Taimia could probably have heard it.

"Instead of fighting the Fajani, Casey sold us out. At gunpoint she forced the rest of the crew to give us to them, and with my gun. She took the money and the old school shield generator in exchange."

Bruiser's face was the color of a cherry and he brought a meaty fist down on the table so hard it broke, a huge crack ran the length of it and General Ford jumped to his feet, grabbing the shield generator off the table before it could fall. The man's expression was clearly unsurprised.

Bruiser's low growl was like two rocks grinding together when he spoke. "When the Albatross gets here tomorrow, Casey and I will be having a little talk."

"If she has the shield generator, what's this?" Ford asked. He was very obviously experienced at using diplomacy to curb Bruiser's quick temper.

Aaron immediately knew what he was doing and as the rest at the table stood he answered the question. "Well once Jon and I were aboard the Fajani's ship we took it over, stole the shield generator the ship was using and sent it plunging into a star to erase the evidence. So that shield generator you're holding is modern whereas the one Casey has is probably about six hundred years old."

Ford let out a low whistle and everyone in the room looked a little impressed. Steiner looked almost giddy with excitement. "If you tanked the ship how'd you get back here so fast?" Ford asked.

"Jon". Aaron said with a nod towards me. "Turns out he's a wizkid. He stole a shuttle from the Fajani while I was going after the shield generator. Once the ship was on track to burn, he used the shuttle and flew us to an abandoned shipyard in the system. I'd been shot in the leg pretty bad but he managed to get me patched up, probably saved my life and he got one of the relics of that place to work. And, it just so happens the ship has a special drive that lets you jump from one star to another; as in jump into the middle of a star system from outside of it." He looked at Bruiser intently

While I'd been thankful that Aaron's retelling showed me in a good light and glossed over some things; I wasn't happy he was explaining my ships capabilities. The look that passed between the brothers was telling though, this was a significant feature for a reason. Then Bruiser turned to me and asked "how'd you like to do a little job for us?"