I found myself sitting in a chair with my head between my legs taking deep breaths at the instructions of Aaron Briggs. The shock at the sheer magnitude of the revelation I had just received blew my mind.

I admittedly knew little of James Malaki, but I had learned enough to glean the insight to understand just how much the man had accomplished. Though it was still rough. With a final exhalation I sat up and wiped my hands hard across my face. "I'm ok now."

"You sure kid? Your face is more red than a possum." Briggs asked

"A possum? What?"

"You know, the fruit from the Delmue homeworld, it's bright red with black spines. Fucking delicious too."

I shook my head. "Anyway, Zeveriah, what does this all mean for me?"

"That is for you to decide. Do you have interest in joining the Aegis Alliance? Or becoming a Templar?"

"I don't even know what those are."

"The Aegis Alliance is a coalition of like-minded individuals from across all races that are sworn to join forces against the Skree. The Templar are the human military component of the Aegis Alliance."

"The Skree?" Briggs scoffed. "That's just ancient myth and legend."

"No Aaron. The Skree are a major threat to all of the races in this region of space. The Aegis Alliance has held them at bay for centuries, preventing them from attacking Earth and other inhabited systems within this arm of the Milky Way." Zeveriah said educationally

I closed my eyes and considered the concept. "I guess I'm not against the idea of joining them, but it's not like I can do much about it, we're stuck here. That little shuttle doesn't have the power to escape the gravity well, let alone make it out of the system."

"Jonathan, this is a Starforge Shipyard. I have the capabilities of constructing a new ship for you. However, to do it I would need to cannibalize areas of this structure. The reason I was initially shutdown was due to a lack of resources. It would also take several months. One moment, ah, a compromise I can suggest."

"I do have one remaining ship in deep storage that I can lend you for a time. The ship is not mine to offer you permanently. That said, you are a Blood Heir and as such I doubt James Malaki would have a problem allowing you to use it indefinitely."

"Really? You have a ship you can let us have that'll take us back to an inhabited system?"

"Yes, the power core is currently shut down, but if you would like to use it I will start the ship up. I will warn you the ship is nearly eight hundred years old. It has had many updates over the centuries; however, the jump drive and weapon systems are only twenty second generation compared to the thirty fifth generation equipment I process and construct currently. The A.F.S Tempest is actually James Malaki's personal pleasure yacht; however, it has been over four hundred years since he has taken her out. So I do not believe he would mind."

Mothballed for over four hundred years, I tried to picture it and could only imagine something covered in dust and corrosion. "Well, as long as it can get us back to civilization, it'll have to do.

"Very well. I am activating the Tempest's Power Core. It will take some time to generate sufficient power to activate the Jump Drive."

"Jump Drive? You mentioned that before. Is that the warp engine?"

"Yes and no. I am aware that most modern ships utilize a warp drive for interstellar as well as interplanetary travel. The ships of Aegis are equipped with a warp engine that can do the same, albeit to a much slower degree. There is a fall off in the acceleration curve after breaking three to four times the speed of light, this makes interstellar travel impractical with the drive."

"The warp engine is however designed to work in tandem with two additional smaller warp engines to produce a bilateral fold in local space that the ship can use to jump directly to the gravity well of a chosen star within range. The whole process takes only a few minutes regardless of range."

I looked over at Briggs and was about to ask him if he had understood that, because I hadn't, but his mouth was hanging open. "You okay Aaron?" I asked him.

He blinked and looked at me. "I think I'm hallucinating because of my leg. The most robust A.I. that I have ever heard about is used to run Olympus Station and it is nowhere near as sophisticated as our friend here. No way you'd be able to have a conversation with it. I've also never heard of a ship capable of moving between stars that fast. I mean the Starforce has a few scout ships and couriers capable of going two to three lightyears an hour. But those are edge cases, highly specialized ships. Most ships are in the ballpark of point two to point six lightyears per hour."

"Somehow this station has variable artificial gravity. Then there is the Skree, and them being a real thing and a real threat. Oh, and don't forget, you're descended from an immortal superhero slash inventor. Two days ago, I was just a pirate in a world that made sense. And now, there is all this. I can't wrap my head around it. I feel lightheaded too. I think I've lost a lot of blood."

Looking down at him I saw with horror that he was sitting in a pool of blood. "You're right, all this conversation can wait. Zeveriah, is there a medbay nearby so we can look at his wounds?"

"There is. I will lead you with the lights." He said

I crouched down next to Briggs and put one of his arms over my shoulder and stood just as Zeveriah reduced the gravity. I was unprepared and nearly launched us into the ceiling. But, I managed to get our legs working and we left Operations turning left. I followed a line of red blinking lights that curved down one hallway after another before stopping at a door with the word 'Medical' written above it. Inside I helped Briggs up onto a hospital bed. As I was trying to figure out what to do next the bed began to move on its own.

It slid across the room to a tall machine. Light pulsed out across his body for nearly a minute before the bed moved to the adjacent corner. A robotic arm jabbed out and injected him in the neck with a syringe. Briggs immediately went limp.

"I have sedated him. His injury is quite serious and he has lost a lot of blood. It will take me some time to repair the bone and close the wound. I will also need to synthesize a blood plasma substitute or he will be bedridden for days. It will take me several hours. In the meantime would you care to inspect the Tempest?"

"Sure" I said with a shrug. I left medical with a glance at Aaron as he was being prepped for surgery by the robotic arms. I followed the red lines again as they led me through the labyrinthine corridors and elevators of the Dawnstar Station. After what felt like an eternity I stepped out into a gantry at the top of a hanger. Below me sat the Tempest. It was gray with a slanting rectangular body. Two massive wings arched out from the sides sweeping both forward and back. It was impressive looking to be sure.

The catwalks of the gantry led to a service lift that I rode to the hanger floor. A large cargo bay door stood open. It was a sloped ramp that led up into the ship. Along the left side of the ramp was a set of stairs with a handrail made of chains linked between poles that dropped into the ramp when it closed. Climbing the stairs, I looked around; I couldn't believe how clean everything was. The deck plating, the walls, everything was spotless; as if the ship was brand new.

The cargo bay was two stories high, and empty. Against the left and right walls were multiple doors. Some were marked as maintenance access for the landing gear and one door on each side was an elevator. Against the back wall was a contraption with a massive round ring set vertically just off the deck plates. I studied it and couldn't figure out what it was.

Inside the elevator I glanced over the options of buttons against the wall next to the door. They were set up in two columns. Top Deck, Operations, Engineering, Hanger; were all lined up with each other. Next to them Port Q1, Port Wing, Port Q3. I pressed Operations and the motion of rising was smooth. The doors opened and I looked around. From where I stood I could see the adjacent elevator, medical, something labeled Rec and the bridge. There were also a couple unlabeled doors.

The bridge had five consoles, three positioned against the forward wall. The center was the largest of the five and had two control sticks. Behind it sat the Captain's chair flanked by the other two consoles. The four consoles on the sides were all identical and after a moment I realized they were probably modular. A small green light blinked on the armrest of the Captain's chair, it was the only motion in the room.

I sat in the chair and found its soft leather-like padding was extremely comfortable. Running my hand across the fabric I could feel the small veins just beneath the outer layer that held some kind of fluid. I looked over the armrest controls of the chair and found the blinking light had something to do with communications. I pressed it and waited. It stopped flashing but nothing else happened for a moment.

Then- "update complete". It was a woman's voice. Similar to Zeveriah, it had a metallic feel, as if she was speaking through a short metal tube. "Greetings Captain Kaine, I am Taimia. Zeveriah has updated me on the situation and tells me that you will be in possession of the Tempest for an undetermined period of time. If you need anything while aboard, simply ask."

"Thank you Taimia. Can you give me an overview of the ship? What are we working with?"

A schematic appeared on the main screen in front of me and various areas highlighted as she referenced them."The Tempest has a length of one hundred and seventy meters and a width of two hundred and two meters with a height of thirty three meters. The ship is broken into three sections. The main body and the two wings. The division line between the sections is placed along the outer walls of the main body where the elevators are."

"To move between the three sections you must use the elevators as they are at staggered heights from one another. The main body has four decks, containing the hanger on deck one and engineering on deck two. The bridge, Captain's quarters, Captain's ready room, medical, armory and conference room within the operations portion of deck three. The aft compartment of deck three is directly linked to deck four, more often referred to as 'top deck'. The top deck and rear section of deck three is purely a recreational area."

"The port and starboard sections are mirrored. Each has three decks with the top and bottom being labeled as Q1 and Q3. The decks contain a total of eight crew and guest quarters. Q2 is wing access and runs out to the wings as well as the various engineering components on them."

"There are two power systems. Both are on the engineering deck. The fusion reactor is capable of generating sufficient fuel to propel and operate the ship at sublight speeds; however, doing so is only an emergency measure. It typically runs at a power deficit. The reason for this is the immense amount of power generated by the Power Core. At this time it is currently producing twelve peta joules per second."

My eyes bugged out. "That's a lot of power."

"I apologize Captain Kaine, but the power generated grows over time. A Star Jump requires us to be producing at a minimum, five hundred exa joules. Standard running operations power is at minimum, that level, up until fifty sorta joules. It takes roughly ten years to reach that level of power. When it does the power core must be ejected and replaced with a new one; at higher power levels the Power Core is unstable. Around the thirty year mark the Power Core is typically generating over sixty minga joules."

"That's more than a star." I gasped with shock.

"More than some small stars, yes. As you can imagine it becomes extremely unstable and dangerous as it ages. That's why James Malaki limited the effective lifespan for the Power Core to ten years. The core is then dumped out in deep space far away from shipping lanes and detonated with a timed trigger. If the Core were to go critical while on a planet's surface the resulting explosion would render the planet inhospitable at the very least, if it were allowed to age and detonate after thirty years, the planet itself would most likely shatter."

The amounts of power this ship generated were astronomical. "Is it really necessary to generate that much power?"

"It cannot be avoided. The process used to generate the power cannot be stopped once started and its power generation follows an accelerated scale. Conventional fusion, matter-antimatter and Kugelblitz methods of generating power simply do not generate enough to perform a Star Jump."

I needed to change the subject before my head exploded. "Zeveriah said this was a pleasure yacht but you mentioned ship mounted weapons and an armory."

"This is indeed James Malaki's personal yacht. He has equipped it with four turreted platforms, two above and two below each wing. Each turret holds two heavy plasma cannons and a hyper ion pulse beam. Each turret can be individually aimed at separate chosen targets. Additionally, there are four forward facing Mag-Rails and two forward facing Plasmoid launchers."

"The armory on deck three can equip you with a modular Templar armor. You can use it to create loadouts and modifications as you see fit."

Well, I'll definitely be doing that. "Are you only on the bridge or can I talk to you from anywhere on the ship?"

"I am fully integrated into all of the ship's systems and I can interact with you from any location on the ship, or even externally via radio."

"Cool". I stood and left the bridge. The Captain's ready room was the next door over and the door in the back of it led into the Captain's Quarters. It had three rooms, an outer living room, a bedroom with walk-in closet and a massive bathroom complete with a jacuzzi tub large enough for four people enclosed in glass. All three rooms had huge windows that faced out the front of the ship. But, there was one problem. All of the furniture was missing. "Taimia, where is the furniture?" I asked

"What type of furniture would you like?

"Just the usual." I laughed

"Would you like me to set the quarters up according to James Malaki’s personal preferences?"

Unsure what she meant, I agreed and to my surprise a huge bed appeared in front of me. I jumped back in shock, right into a chest high dresser. I ran back and forth between all three rooms to find them fully furnished, and in elegant style.

I put my head in my hands and screwed up my face. Taking a long deep breath I made the decision right there and then, I would not be telling Briggs anything about this ship and after we got back to somewhere we could part ways, we would be.