Rebecca was eager to find out where her first official adventure as a member of the crew would take her. "So, where to next, Captain?"


    Captain Starforged shrugged his shoulders. "Don''t know, but we do have a few errands to run in the Bartel System. I''m just glad we''re leaving this planet behind. The whole thing is one big sex joke."


    Rebecca was confused by his last comment. "What do you mean?"


    "I mean come on, Sortis, really?" Captain Starforged said but Rebecca didn''t seem to get it. "Never mind. Just look it up in the Latin dictionary." Captain Starforged turned his chair around to face the front of the ship. "Everything on this planet was named by an absolute pervert."


    "I still don''t get it." Rebecca whispered into Morgan''s ear now giving up on trying to understand the captain’s meaning.


    "You''ll never be able to look at this planet the same way again." Morgan’s face was flush as she quietly whispered the meaning of each word into Rebecca''s ear.


    After hearing everything Morgan had said, Rebecca began laughing uncontrollably, and the rest of the crew, besides ANDI began to laugh a little as well.


    Hendricks went into a full belly laugh. "Sounds like she got it, Captain."


    "Yeah, now let''s put this place in our rear-view mirror Hendricks." Captain Starforged said..


    Hendricks started up the Appalachia and flew out of the docking bay toward the warp gate in orbit around the planet.


    As they flew by Sortis, Rebecca took one last look at the desert planet, and saw all three rings orbiting around it. She couldn''t help but laugh at the ridiculousness behind the name of the planet itself, but still felt a little attached to the place. She did hope that she''d get to come back here again. "Maybe it will be for a job."


    As they entered the warp gate, space became distorted around them, and the Appalachia’s speed increased to faster than light. Just like in the movies, everything outside of the ship looked like a white current moving in the opposite direction, then suddenly they saw a big empty expanse before them with several stars in the distance.


    Hendricks pulled up the holo-map to confirm their location. "We''ve now entered the Bartel System. We''re still a few hours from our destination, so we''ll probably have to spend a night in the asteroid belt before we get there."


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "You got it.” Captain Starforged replied. “Why don''t we all get something to eat while the ships on autopilot. I’m starving after all that drama."


    Everyone agreed and piled out of the cockpit toward the living quarters. This was the first time Rebecca really had taken the time to look at the place. It looked like there were four rooms each with a single door, and there were two on each side. The rooms had been built into this section of the ship, but they didn''t match the ship’s architecture.


    The room on the far right as they walked down the stairs was the kitchen, and everyone sat around a table that seated six, even ANDI who, even though he couldn''t eat, decided to hang out with the rest of the crew.


    The room wasn''t anything special and had all the basic necessities along the right wall, including a couple refrigerators, stoves/ovens, dishwasher, sink, and counter space while the other wall just had cabinets and a few extra chairs.


    Rodriguez cooked them a feast with chicken, salad, mashed potatoes, and various other foods they had to eat before it expired. The whole crew had a good time chatting and eating while the ship flew on autopilot toward their next destination.


    After a couple of hours, Rodriguez and Morgan decided to head to bed while the others hung out in the cockpit for a bit.


    After an hour or so they started to approach an asteroid belt, and Hendricks found a large asteroid with a crater they could land the Appalachia in that would give them some cover while they slept.


    "So where exactly are we headed to anyways?" Rebecca asked.


    “There isn''t much in the Bartel System aside from the gas mines on Slovic 5, but there is also a remote orbital habitat controlled by the Bartel Family where you can get a lot of black-market goods." Hendricks explained.


    "Aren''t the Bartel''s a mafia family? Why would a supposed detective agency be operating in their territory?"


    "They’re a reluctant ally for both parties", Captain Starforged said with a disgruntled tone. "Besides, there''s a talented mechanic there that''s working on some stuff for me, and they can retrofit the Appalachia with a few things. They''re the ones who built our living quarters."


    Rebecca got the impression that they probably had a lot of allies like the Bartel''s and AGI who they considered reluctant allies. Who was she to judge thought. Rebecca was a hacker and an information broker. Her entire livelihood was built around hacking into private servers to steal classified information. "Okay I guess that makes sense."


    Hendricks yawned as he got up to walk toward the door. "Alright Captain I''m going to head to bed alright."


    "You got it", Captain Starforged then sat in the pilot’s seat and put his feet up on the dashboard. He then turned his head to look at Rebecca. "You should probably head to bed too kid. I''m taking first watch for the night, and don''t feel like you need to keep me company."


    Rebecca suddenly noticed how tired her body felt. She had gone through a lot, and wasn''t used to doing much physical activity. She yawned and stretched her arms before making her way out, but she stopped for a moment, turned around, and looked at Captain Starforged for a brief moment. "Okay Captain, and thanks for agreeing to take me on."


    "No problem kid. But don''t think it''s going to be easy. You''re going to start combat training tomorrow. You survived this fight, but you might not always be so lucky."


    "Okay." Rebecca lethargically turned around, and started walking to the living quarters.