"Poyekhali!", “Off we go!” as a notation said, translating the words of the first human in space, those were the first words of the actual legacy. But before I could even read further than the speech that man had given after returning to the Earth, I realised that I wouldn’t be able to read the legacy, maybe not even in a lifetime, if I simply started at the beginning and went from there, instead, I would have to look at an index or something like that. Or I could start from the end and go from there. But was a lesson more worthy, just because it was newer? In a tactical sense, if I was looking at thoughts on starfighter-combat, then yes, it would be more useful as the technology was closer to what I was working with, but when it came to more fundamental lessons? Those could be scattered all throughout the legacy, hidden in a small sentence that I might overlook while skimming.

I managed to get my head back into the game for the rest of the simulator-runs of the shift but I noticed that I was distracted by what I knew was on the reader I had received. That would just not do, the idea behind the legacy was to help a pilot develop not distract them, so I forcibly pushed the thought of it from my mind until the shift ended.

Once again, Wildcat joined me in the mess after we were done for the day, sitting across from me and glancing at the reader I had been carrying with me.

“So, he gave you one.” she muttered before giving me a serious look. “The Commodore explained just what you have in hand, didn’t he?” she asked, before shaking her head, continuing to speak but in a soft manner, almost as if she was talking to herself.

“Of course he did, he’s responsible that way and if not, the Dragonlady would gut him.”

“Yes, I was told what it is and I will honour it.” I assured her and she nodded, a wry smile on her face.

“I shouldn't be so surprised. You show on a daily basis that you can keep up with pilots who’ve been on active duty for years, beating their experience with talent and your hard work. If you don’t deserve to read what’s on there, I wouldn’t either.” she paused for a second, still looking pensive before continuing, “Would you do me a favour and meet me in the forward observation deck before we go on shift tonight? I’ve got something I want to give you, call it a celebratory present?”

“Yes, of course I will.” I answered, wondering what that was about. It might just be the first time, at least outside of official duty-assignments or the trouble with the interview, that Wildcat had sounded so serious, like the superior officer she was.

“Try to get some sleep and not stay up reading all day.” she smirked, with a soft chuckle, knowing what I would want to do with the trove of information I had been given.

“Yes, mom, don’t worry. Want to tuck me in?” I snarked back, causing her to laugh before she suddenly gave me a seductive glance, licking her lips and asked in a smoldering voice, “Why, I never knew you cared…” she trailed off, her voice promising all sorts of interesting things and I felt myself blushing hot enough that I feared the fire-suppression system would be triggered. She let me hang for a second, as I was desperately trying to find the right words. Finally, while I was stuttering incoherently, she cut in, “Don’t worry about it, Twitch. While you are cute, I’m married and my wife wouldn’t want me to bring home a souvenir from a tour of duty.” she winked and I managed to get my sputtering under control by holding my breath for a second before I broke out laughing and she joined it.

Ultimately, I listened to her, despite the lure of knowledge saved on the tablet and I managed to keep myself to reading just a bit, picking the second-to-last person to add their memories to the index. It should be the one who gave the legacy to Commodores Ming and Ryker, so I should be able to understand the context, both technologically and historically without too much trouble and it wouldn’t feel like reading Commodore Ryker’s diary. I wasn’t quite ready for that, yet.

The person who had recorded their memories was named Kianna Howe and she had received the legacy as a first lieutenant, after a particularly vicious battle against a group of pirates. What made the account truly interesting was that the pirates hadn’t been humans, they had been Tellurians, meaning that the tactics described and the technology witnessed was something I only had superficial awareness of. Sure, there were classes at the Academy but the knowledge we had received was filtered down and dissected by so-called intelligence experts, who were trying to collate information gathered in thousands of reports into a logical picture that was supposed to show how the Tellurian Doctrine worked. In contrast, the writings of, at the time, Lieutenant Howe were simply the recollection of a simple person and her observations based on that.

When I got to the forward observation-deck, Wildcat wasn’t there, yet, so I walked to the window, looking out into space. Or hyperspace, as the strange flickers of energy at the edge of our shield told me. It was fascinating to look at, a maddening swirl of colours, light that did not behave as it would in normal space. While there were physical laws that worked the same way in both hyperspace and normal space, the vast majority did not.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Wildcat asked from behind me and I managed to keep myself from reacting despite being surprised.

“Yes, it is. I love to read the studies on hyperspace and hyperspace navigation, trying to comprehend what laws govern it. But just seeing it, seeing what we, as humans, were never meant to see, were never meant to comprehend, it is…” I paused, searching for the right word, finally finishing with, “inspiring.”

“I never took you for a religious person.” Wildcat said, sounding as pensive as I felt.

“I wouldn’t call it religious, not really. In this case, philosophical would fit better. But no matter whether you subscribe to one of the old religions of Earth or something newer, or if you just live your life, I doubt that there is a claim to the comprehension of hyperspace-physics in any of them.” I answered her statement, smiling to myself.

“You would be surprised, I’m pretty sure that a few of the newer religions incorporated a claim that you could reach into hyperspace by achieving a higher state of mind. Not that any of them bring anything but strange, psychedelic claims and apparently quite a few hallucinatory drugs but that’s neither here nor there.” she chuckled and I heard her move up behind me, so I turned around.

“Anyway, that’s not why I asked you to meet me here.” she continued and paused, reminding me that she had told me I would get a celebratory gift from her. It made me wonder what she had in mind, it wasn’t like she had been able to go shopping out here, with nothing around but the vacuum of space.

“You said that you don’t carry a weapon, that you want to fight with your Starfighter.” she began, causing me to blink in surprise for a moment, my mind making a quick, mental leap back to the talk we had shared in this room after the interview. I had told her that but why was she bringing it up? Unsure, I simply nodded, waiting for her to continue.

She did but not verbally. Instead, she reached behind her back and handed me a small, black case, maybe twenty on fifteen centimeters and ten centimeters high.completely made from matte metal with a lock at the front. It was surprisingly heavy and as soon as I had hold of it, she pulled out her tablet and typed in a few commands. After a second or so, the case clicked open, the lid rising just a few millimeters as the lock disengaged.

“I want you to have this. And not only have, but also use it, if it is ever necessary.” she paused, waiting for me to open the case. When I did, I had an idea what to expect, obviously a weapon of some sort, but I was still surprised at the simple, elegant beauty of the content. It was a small pistol, made from the same matte-black material as the case and as I looked at it, Wildcat started to explain.

“This is a Kelram Custom Defender, a needle-pistol. There are two magazines in the case and you should easily be able to buy ammunition for it. The magazines also function as a powercell for the coils so you don’t have to worry about it. Do you have experience with needle-guns?” she asked, her voice almost insecure, as if she wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing.

“Some, not a lot. And not with a pistol like this.” I admitted. Needle-pistols were quite simple, they used electro-magnetic acceleration to fire flechette-like projectiles, great for their stopping-power not so much for their penetration. But that was all I knew about them. Given that there was no way I would return the gift I had been given, I would have to learn.

“Thank you. I’m not sure why you are giving it to me but thank you.” I said, not quite sure what to think of the gift.

“It is my backup pistol. There’s an ankle-holster so you can carry it concealed under your pants, and have it, if you ever need it. The magazines are loaded with shattering glass needles, so if you hit someone with it, that person will go down and stay down.” she started to smile, showing clear enthusiasm, sounding like a proud collector, boasting about something dear to them. I simply smiled and mentally settled down to listen to her enthuse about the gun. Well, it wouldn’t take more than an hour, at that point we were required to be on shift.