Ray’s focus was as sharp as a razor’s edge.

“Ray! Slow down! Raaaay!,” Dreagar yelled from the passenger seat. He was always such a funkill, how did he ever expect to become a pilot if he couldn’t even drive his own vehicle to the limit?

“Yeeehaw!” yelled Jimmy from the back seat. The cargo skid rumbled down the moon-dusty road, a cloud trailing it. It had taken some doing but this this was actually a pretty stellar ride. Sure the motor had been shot but the retrofitted unit she had salvaged from a lift loader had fit in nicely, and it was far more powerful. She came to the next turn. It was the big wide right-hander that she loved so much. She entered the turn and tromped the throttle to the floor, the engine stuttered a tiny bit and then came to life with a roar. The treads broke traction and the tail end of the skid swung out. Ray feathered the yoke, turning into the slide and pointing the front skiels where she hoped they would grab.

“Oh Shiiiiiiiiiite!” Yelled Dreagar while Jimmy laughed hysterically.

She lifted the throttle just a fraction of a second and then mashed it again. The treads found some traction and the vehicle shot down the road.

“Ray please don’t break my ride again, I need this thing.” Dreagar whined.

“Don’t worry about it, Drea. If I break it, you know I’ll just fix it again.” she reminded him, not taking her eyes off the road. There was no way she was slowing down. This was a big day. The results from her last space agency exams were coming back, hopefully with her StarGuild membership datawork. She knew she had answered enough questions correctly to have passed the tests but a few had actually been trickier than she had thought and she had had to guess. Ray hated guessing. She knew for a fact that some of the questions hadn’t been covered in the study materials, she had read through everything and watched every instructional video multiple times. She had wrung every little bit of knowledge she could out of them. She couldn’t afford not to if she was going to pay back Jimmy in a timely manner. She really hated being indebted to anyone at all.

The only thing she had been a little wary of were the apprenticeship forms. Flynn had provided her with a semi-valid Star-Biz license number, but it wasn’t technically his. Flynn preferred to keep his little operation free from “government entanglements” and thusly had never registered with them. Out here in the boondocks people rarely minded such things but Ray was learning that it was a different story the farther coreward you went in this galaxy. They were so focused on rules and red tape. Rumor was it was the same in most “advanced” galaxies. The inner systems controlled pretty much everything, but their influence also faded the farther out you got. There was a dividing line between the two somewhere and Ray felt like she had finally reached it. Or at least she was close.

Flynn had said not to worry about it, they did this stuff all the time and it should be no problem. Plus the current GIC (guy in charge), Mr. McRackin had an old friend in the local government who made sure all his datawork got put through with minimal unwanted attention. Ray had only been partially assured by this. Nepotism could be quite a powerful tool but it could also be a double bladed bludgeon. She had seen it at work many times but never in her favor, she just had never had any family or friends with anything to offer her.

The only family she had ever had was her little brother Quasar and she had cared for him since before she could remember. That is until they had taken him away from her. She had some vague memories of other people back before… Other people, other names, other places, other feelings. If she tried to hone in on one of them they all just flittered away much as they had the first time. She remembered her brother well however, she had known and loved him. She hoped he was ok, wherever he was. There were a lot of really nasty places where this awful universe ate up little kids.

She tore into the outskirts of town and Ray finally relaxed her merciless grip on the controls. The skid screeched to a halt in front of the comm building and Ray was through the door before the dust had settled. Dreagar took advantage of the situation to reclaim the control seat of his cherished vehicle.

Less than two minutes later she came out, stuffed some folded up printouts in her back pocket and hopped in the passenger seat.

“Well!?” said jimmy. “Did you pass or not?”

“Of course I passed, more importantly they let Flynn’s slick paperwork right through, so it’s all official. I’m a tier I starsystems engineer, or I will be in another half phase when my apprenticeship ends and I can start working for myself.” She let out just a hint of a wry smile.

“Well that’s great Ray.” “Awesome!” came the boys replies.

“We need to go celebrate!” said Dreagar

“Ah no need for that, I got work to do tomorrow”

“Nonsense Ray, tomorrow is Saturnday, you’re supposed to be off. That is if you ever took days off.”

“Seriously, you work so hard ALL THE TIME, you need to loosen up a little and relax.”

“Yea Ray, you should have some fun, you earned it.”

Ray allowed the smile to escape the rest of the way. She was pretty proud of herself, it was just one step, but it was in the direction she wanted to go and finally under her own power it seemed.

“Yea, alright!” said Jimmy. “Let’s go up to Widower’s Peak!”

“I’ll get the berrs!” said Dreagar. “And we can pick up the twins on the way.”

“Yes to the berr, no to the twins and we’re not staying too late, and you better not drink too much again Dreagar because I might and then you’re gonna have to drive us back.”
________
It ended up being a beautiful night. The three of them polished off a 12 pack of Budtilda’s Brew. It was nasty stuff, but after the second or third it improved greatly. They sat around and talked about life and the universe and just about everything.

“I think Ray’s got the right idea.” Said Jimmy. “I’m gonna have my Jr. Astrogation diploma by next phase. How are you doing on your orbital craft certs Drea?”

“Uh ok I guess, have a couple. I can only get about half of ‘em done around here. I really want to get up to the bigger system craft though.”

“You know if you were to do something something something I bet you could jump right to your starcraft pilot’s license, you’d be a full blown star-jockey then. And with Ray’s engineering, we’d only be short communications and science for a bridge crew. And I can probably get the Science certs myself, there’s a lot of common material between that and astrogation.”

“Wait what exactly are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about crewing our own starship, then we can go wherever we want, whenever we want.”

This was all uncharted space for Ray who had figured on hopping the first ship out that needed her. Space could be a rough place and ships often passed through that had lost one or sometimes more crew members. But their own ship, now that was a very interesting idea.

“What would we even do with our own ship? She asked Jimmy.

“Whatever we want to! We could run some cargo out of the Delphonic system or go see what’s happening closer to Bluranous Maximus. You know a lot of ships are still afraid of jumping the gap, but we see ‘em come through all the time. As long as you can make the jump, it’s really no big deal.”

Jimmy was right, only the most moronic captains missed the jump due to miscalculation. It still happened a fair bit in addition to the less frequent but much more perilous random failures and break downs. The couple small local recovery operations had a hard time keeping up with them all and the problem was only getting worse. Ray knew that was where Flynn got most of his ships from. She had even done quite a few repairs (unofficially and paid for in goods or moon currency) up at the space dock already.

“We could just stick to the few waypoints around the rift and get in on some of the recovery and salvage work around here. At least long enough to refit for long distance and then we really can go anywhere.” Ray’s gears were turning now, possible futures swirled through her mind.

“Yea totally Ray!” said Jimmy excitedly. Poor kid wasn’t used to others taking his optimistic ideas seriously.

“Now wait a parsec,”* Dreagar decided to chime in finally. “What ship? Whose ship? I can’t afford a ship and I’m pretty sure neither can either of you. Where are we going to get this mystery ship.”

Jimmy maintained his optimism. “Flynn runs all sorts of ships though there all the time. I’m sure we can work something out with him for a ship. He’s a pretty reasonable guy, yea money is the only thing he’s interested in but he’s gotta know he owes Ray something for all the work she’s done up at the dock.”

Jimmy might actually have something there. Flynn would take a deal as long as it was to his benefit as well.

“Ok, I’ll work on Flynn.” Ray looked Jimmy directly in the eyes. “How hard will it be to get him through pilots training?” she asked gesturing toward Dreagar.

“Um, I think he can do it. It will be tough, he’ll have to cover as much material as you did in less time but he’s not dumb or anything, just kinda lazy.”

“Hey guys, you do realize I’m sitting right here right?”

“Shut up Dreagar, we’re thinking here. How would we pay for it though, you’re already paying for most of my training, you can’t cover Drea too can you?” she asked Jimmy.

“Yea, that would be the main challenge, my mom likes you Ray, but I don’t think she’d do the same for him.”

“Hey! You’re mom likes me just fine, don’t she? And I’ve got money, not a whole lot but I’ve been saving.”

Jimmy and Ray exchanged inquisitive glances and then both turned to Dreagar.

“How much money exactly do you have Drea?” Jimmy asked and matched Ray’s stare.

“Oh crap, you guys have got to be kidding me!” Dreagar complained but the beams only increased in intensity.

He exhaled. “I’ve got about 1400 GalFed creds and around 300 in moonbucks.”

“Stars alive! How did you manage to get that much Fed-cred?”

“Well, I been saving you know, and I always trade out the moonbucks for real money every chance I get.”

Maybe Dreagar had some sense afterall, Ray pondered. Jimmy was the first to recover from the shock.

“Hmm, that’ll cover the bulk of it, I bet Ray and I can cover the rest. Wha’d you say Drea, wanna be a starpilot?”

Dreagar’s face went through the full spectrum of expressions. “I can’t study like you guys, I’ve never done any of that stuff. I mean maybe one day, but not now.”

“Yes, now! Why not? What better time will there ever be? What have you got to loose Dreagar?” Jimmy could be quite insistent when he wanted to. Perhaps Ray could tip the scale slightly.

“Seriously Dreagar, just think about it for a parsec. Jimmy and I can help you with the training, I’ve got more time now that mine is done, and plus Jimmy is pretty much a genius, he can get you through any of the tricky parts.” She gestured to Jimmy who nodded in agreement. Ray continued.

“You can do this, I know you can.” She put her hand on his arm. Dreagar looked at the arm then at Ray then at Jimmy and back at Ray.

“I wish I was as confident as you guys. What the hell? Sure, fark it, I’m in!”

“Yea! This’ll be awesome. You know I’ll bet a Vandiluvian cruiser would work well as a recovery craft.” Jimmy carried on excitedly. “No wait, a Gullarkian cattle barge! We could clear the inner partitions and turn it into one big hangar bay.”

Now this conversation was right up Ray’s path. She jumped in heartily. “That would limit us to only smaller craft. I’d like to be able to take on whatever recoveries we can, plus we can always tow big jobs to Flynn’s space dock. Hell, he’ll probably want in on the action. I bet we can make it work for everyone.”

“You guys are still nuts,” said Dreagar before even he started to get excited. “But If I’m gonna be flying it, I want it to be something with at least a little style.”

“Style!? You wouldn’t know style if it landed in your lap.” Said Jimmy and they all cracked up. They carried on long into the night, discussing plans and daring to dream.
————————————————
I’m trying to type here, I’m trying to type here. Leave me alone, Ray screamed at the top of her lobes. That was how it was trying to do anything at all to better one’s situation in life. Attacks seemed to come from all angles, but she also knew they were mostly from within. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Where, am I right now? She asked herself. In her mind’s eye the universe fanned out around her, uncountable points of light coalesced into larger shapes, spiraling, always spiraling. Everything spinning, drilling, moving, tunneling? Going where? Too much, unknowable. Unknowable? Where was she specifically?

She was in a small communications room on a small moon orbiting a lifeless gas giant in a massive solar system consisting of 27 (was it?) planetoids and multiple asteroid rings. This system was located approximately half way down one arm of a galaxy that itself was one of thousands of galaxies that comprised what the majority of it’s residents called “the universe.” She knew it was not her native universe.

What was she specifically? She was a female human approximately 17 GalFed standard years old, who wasn’t sure of her exact age as she didn’t know her birthday and had spent so much time at high relativistic speeds. She had no idea who her parents were but knew that they had loved her and her brother before they had been taken from them. She hadn’t known many kind people since that time. She was smart and she was tough.

What was her goal? She needed to get to the galactic center of the spiraling mass of stars that composed the galaxy she was in. Folklore had it that the centers of all galaxies were somehow connected and travelers could flit about amongst the known and unknown galaxies. That was ultimately where she needed to go. Somewhere out There, past all that the residents of this grouping of galaxies considered “known” space. And hopefully she’d find out what happened to her brother along the way.
Next to her were at least 4 small children (3 human and a Gamarian, and she thought she saw a fifth around here somewhere) playing “space monster” rather noisily while their what? mother? used a terminal on the opposite wall. Evidently Ray herself was the space monster. She was well used to this sort of thing, by now. Her skin was significantly darker than that of most the peoples out here. Not dark at all really compared to some of the VS stars she had seen, but probably darker than what most locals had seen recently in person. It seemed like the skin colors of all the dominant races got gradually darker the closer in they were to galactic center. It sorta made sense, it was just so much brighter there.

She was trying to get these competency tests completed for her Guild examination and she simply couldn’t focus with all this noise. She hadn’t known there was such a thing as a “Guild examination.” Evidently she couldn’t earn the “privilege” to give a chunk of her earnings to some group just so she could legally work, without taking some ridiculous tests first. Flynn was right, it was all a load of shat.

Two of the kids dashed out around the counter behind her. “There it is!” “Get it!” they yelled followed by mimicked laser gun sounds. “Pew, pew, pew!” Ray shot back at them with her eye beams at full intensity and they ran for cover.

There was the memorization of dozens of motto’s and guild creeds. She had to know the history of the guild and the founding members names and the dates of certain events and all sorts of stuff that she really didn’t care about. Some of it made sense, how the guilds were set up for the benefit of tradesmen everywhere. But she had lost interest with all of the special traditions and ritualistic stuff.

Unfortunately that was the stuff they tested on and it was a live “in person” test. She was going to have to travel to Beta Centurini all the way in by the Gosling nebula. That was the closest one in the sector. Not that it was close at all. It was actually backtracking a little from where she had come from, but the only other one was at Farpoint Station which was much farther away corewise. If she ever found herself that far in she probably wouldn’t be coming back out here.

She had been thinking a lot lately about the starship idea. Well in honesty she had been pretty much obsessed with it. She wondered why she hadn’t thought of it herself. That really would be the fastest way to get where she needed to go, wherever that might be. But if they all went in on a ship together then it would hardly be her decision as to where it was going. Jimmy would probably have them running highly lucrative but monotonous cargo runs for the rest of their lives. No, there was only one way this was going to work. It had to be her own ship. They could come along if they wanted but if not, she’d find some other crewers. But she was going to be the boss this time, nobody else.

With that in mind, this application really wasn’t that important. She still had 6 months left on her apprenticeship at Flynn’s and she needed to stick that out to make her GalFed engineering cert legitimate. She’d come back here at night and do this when it was peaceful and empty. She braced for the next attack, this time she was ready for them.

“There she is!” came the expected battlecry. Never let ‘em know you’re coming, thought Ray before launching her assault.

“Guuuuuuuwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!” she yelled and chased them around the small room, mind lasers flying from her fingertips.

They regrouped and she got caught in the crossfire. They pushed her toward the door where they pulled out their big guns and finished her off. Her death struggles carried her out the door and into the mid-day light. A few startled passersby hurrumphed and then continued on their way.

So her first priority really was a ship then. She had already made a nuisance of herself with Flynn offering everything short of her first born child (Gods forbid that from ever happening) if he came across anything that could be made spaceworthy. There was not much on the ground that hadn’t already been at least partially stripped. He had said he would keep his eyes open for her but she shouldn’t expect anything anytime soon.

She didn’t have much else to do this afternoon, work was actually slow due to some local police activity that was impeding the growing popularity of the long distance jump. Mr. McRakin had supposedly traveled out there to “make sure the proper wheels were adequately greased” according to Flynn. They had already done as much busy work as Flynn could give them. The place was better organized than ever and pretty much all the semi-valuable scrap had already been or was in the process of being sold/traded/processed or whatever the case may be.

Ray walked down the street toward the auto-trans station. There weren’t any new movies out and she had already seen all the ones currently playing at the cinema several times over. She decided she might as well head back to Flynn’s and see what trouble she could get into there. Maybe he’d let her use his datapad to peruse the auction listings. Or maybe there was something she could convince Flynn was worth the cost of boosting her up to the orbital platform for.

As she got close to Flynn’s she could hear the sound of the large anti-gravs and saw their boom crane moving. What could Flynn possibly be moving by himself? Whatever it was, it was big.

“What are you doing?” She yelled at the short man hunkered over a pile of controls.

“Ray! What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until later?”

“Uh yea, comm room was crowded, I’m early, what are you doing?” One end of the massive Vogonian cruiser carcass was precariously perched on top of a couple badly placed anti-grav units.

“Damn it! Oh well, now that you’re here give me a hand with this damn thing!” he yelled frustratedly and glared at the pile of controls.

“Alright, alright. Take it easy there gramps. Why would you even try something like this on your own?”

“Kiddo you aught not be givin’ me a hard time until after you see what I’m digging out here, it may be in your best interests. You know that thing you keep bugging me about?”

“A starship?!”

“Here, help me move this old hulk away from the hillside, there’s a hollow spot under there and I’ve got sumptin’ in it I don’ want ta be dropping anything heavy on, get me?”

Ray was all over it. First she lifted the massive spaceframe with the boom crane and reset the antigravs, properly bolting them into place this time. Then it was just a simple matter of balancing out the push vs pull. Once properly lifted she used a tug truck to drag it aside before setting it down again.

“Good good,” Flynn was saying as he peered into the huge hole that the spaceframe had only been partially covering. Strange that she had never noticed it before, Ray pondered. She had been over every nook and cranny in this place, or so she thought. She wondered what other hidey-holes Flynn had tucked around here.

Out from the center of the cave (or was it a tunnel?) protruded something large and bulbous. It was shrouded in tarps. Flynn stepped into the cavern flipping on his helmet light. The beam illuminated the tunnel showing it and the object at it’s center to be much larger than she had first thought. It didn’t look like it should be able to fit in there, or rather it looked like the tunnel had been cut exactly large enough to fit the bulky yet sleek shape. As Flynn walked around it, his light outlined it’s gracefully curved twin tail sections. The light passed through the draped tarps occasionally glimmering off the landing gear. The beautiful landing gear, rather complex actually for a ship of this size…

“Oh my,” Ray gasped as her mind wrestled with the shape of the hull… the placement of the intakes… the dully reflective stainless hyper-alloy body. “Wait? Is this a Mandelorian?”

“Ha ha! I knew you were sharp girl.” Said Flynn. “Yep, Mandelorian built, schooner class starship. But this isn’t just any Mandelorian.”

He grabbed a hold of the bottom of a large tarp at the front of the vessel and pulled. The tarp slid off slowly at first and then accelerated crashing in a heap of dust. As the dust settled a shape emerged, the dirt covered yet still shiny nose section glinted in the sunlight. Below it, a painted on mouth snarled a wide toothy grin. On the side of the cockpit was painted a scantily clad green alien of unknown species and voluptuous proportions riding a comet. Next to that was a mostly rubbed off inscription.

“I give you ‘The Widowers Way’ and before that it was ‘The Spacewench’ and before that it was ‘Suzie’s Little Sister’ and way back before that it was ‘The Gambler’s Pride’! Let me tell you, if this old girl could talk…” he seemed to drift off into a daydream.

It was the single most beautiful thing Ray had ever seen. “Flynn! Where did you get this thing? It’s ancient isn’t it?”

“Yea, she’s one of the old ones for sure. Let’s just say I won her in a poker game. Anyway, it looks like she’s in good shape, no cave-ins or any damage that wasn’t there already.”

“Why did you hide it, her, here?”

“Well, I had been planning on fixing her up at some point and putting her back into use, but I think those days are behind me now. It’s time she had a new owner. Someone who will appreciate her and take good care of her.”

“Wait you can’t possibly mean me? You’re not giving me a starship are you, Flynn?!”

“No, no I’m not! I’m offering you a business opportunity. Look, you’ll be done with your apprenticeship in less than a half cycle and whereas I really think you’ve blossomed and learned a lot under my tutelage, I have to admit this place has never been in better shape. I don’t know what I’m going to do when you leave. I’ll never find another apprentice like you, that’s fer damn sure.”

“Flynn, that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me.”

“Oh I doubt that very much my girl, but anyways here’s my proposal. I’ll trade you the ship in exchange for two more years of service after the term of our current contract expires. And you can still live here at the yard, and I’ll still give you the same allowance you have now.”

Pitiful allowance aside, Ray’s mind was reeling. This was incredible. She never thought she’d have an opportunity like this. Still, if she was sure of anything it was that Flynn was a shrewd negotiator and almost always got the better end of a deal. On the other hand, HER VERY OWN STARSHIP! “Careful girl,” she muttered under her breath. “Be smart about this.”

“What can you tell me about the ship? And how in the worlds did you get it in here?”

“Well I flew it in of course. She’s got a few bumps and scrapes that’ll need to be mended and probably need some updating after sitting in storage for what, almost 30 years?”

The fact that it was parked under it’s own power was amazing. These old Mandelorian ships were built like, well “built like a Mandelorian” as the saying went. Still, 30 years of disuse… sitting in atmosphere… it could also need some serious attention.

“How long since it’s been fired up?” she asked off-handedly trying to mask her excitement.

“30 years, my girl.” Flynn fired off a burst of his maniacal laughter that she suspected had earned him the nickname “Crazy”.

“Oh yea and the stardrive is totally gone, core fused solid straight through to the bulkhead. I was gonna just cut it out and use her as an intra-system craft or something of the sort. But you’re smart, I bet you can find some way to get her going again.”

That was bad, the stardrive was the single most expensive part on a starship and replacement parts hadn’t been made for this model for hundreds if not a thousand years or possibly more. She would have to retrofit it with something and that would be difficult. Stardrives weren’t really made to be swapped, the entire ship was usually built around them. She frowned as her mind spun through the options at hand. Flynn must have noticed her expression.

“Hey now, don’t go getting all stoic on me now, she’s still got a lot of life left in her I thinks. And wha’dya expect for only 2 more years, I could probably still sell her for a lot more on the open market even with the fused core.”

Ray doubted that very much, these old ships had mostly been scrapped by now. They had just been replaced by faster and more efficient models better suited to combed spacelanes. What this was, was a ship designed for the rugged frontier, for running blind out in unknown space. It was built for exploration. It was also ‘sub-orbital’ which meant it could cut atmosphere and the advanced landing gear would let it touch down and take off again just about anywhere. It was exactly the kind of ship she would want.

But she’d also listened to Flynn make sales pitches many times. If Flynn could make more on a deal somewhere else he usually would have already. Flynn could sell shoes to a Tramphibian, and the old miser never ever paid market value for anything. He cut his deals right to the bone. Flynn was right about one thing, she had learned a lot in her time here.

“Sheesh Flynn, 30 years without being started. I’m gonna need to see her power up at least before I can make a deal like that. Plus where would you even get parts for something like this?” An idea was starting to come together in her mind, she started walking the length of the ship silently counting her strides. She pointed out whatever flaws she spotted along the way.

Flynn was obviously hurt. “Now it’s not quite that bad, these ships were designed and built by the masters of the art, they made ‘em to last. She’s definitely gonna need some work, but she’s got the most important thing. She’s got a valid GalFed registration number, never been wrecked, never been decommed. She’s also the only ship I have with one of those, not to mention a bit of a sentimental attachment as well, but I really want to see her go to a owner that will take care of her and treat her right. And girl, you’re the only person I’d even consider turning her over to.”

He was pouring it on thick now, here came the pressure sale.

“You know now that I see her out in the light again it makes me think about maybe fixing her up for myself afterall. You might wanna jump on this deal before I change my mind.”

She knew it was a gamble either way. Two and a half more phases on this moon was a long time. She already had been here far longer than she had stayed in any other place before. Still that would give the guys plenty of time to finish their training, and her to get the stardrive replacement sorted out. Ray also knew that you had to strike while the alloy was superheated.

“Ok, so provided she powers up at least and you have all the necessary access codes for the main computer,”

“Oh let me interrupt you right there, I forgot but the main computer was long since destroyed, err.. pulled & scrapped. So that’ll have to be replaced as well, but you can take one from the yard, your choice.”

“Hmm, ok well then without powering up, as she sits right now… I’ll give you two more cycles from today, and you’ll let me use any and all parts I need from the yard including a computer and a stardrive of my choice.”

Flynn had a confused look on his face. Had he really not expected her to negotiate at all? Surely he knew her better than that by now.

“Well of all the carnsarned… I just don’t believe… Alright little lady, you can take the parts, whatever you need and you can use all my tools and equipment to do the work, but the two cycles start AFTER your current contract is up, not a day before and that’s not negotiable. Plus you can only work on the ship on your own time and I don’t want you staying up all night and then being wiped out for your work duties the next day. I want two and a half more phases of your best work. I think that’s a damn good deal and the best you’re going to get. Take it or leave it.”

“Flynn, you’ve said repeatedly that I’m the best worker you’ve ever had. I always give my best work, it’s the only kind I do. You and I both know that my labor is worth at least double if not triple what you get from any of those other guys. I’ll give you 1 and 3/4 phases after my current contract and not a day more. Plus you’ll have my appreciation and friendship which one day will be worth a lot more than another quarter phase of labor. That is MY final offer, take it or leave it.”

She may have pushed her luck a bit with that last one so she quickly followed up in a soothing tone. “Plus I think you’ll like what I have in mind for her, I think I’ll be able to bring in some good profit for both of us.”

“Girl, you are without a doubt the toughest negotiator I’ve ever dealt with… Yes, ok it’s a deal but you’re not even going to touch this ship until all the palladium conduit is out of that Thrawackian freighter in the east lot, alright?”

Ray couldn’t believe her ears and could no longer hold in her excitement. She bounded over to Flynn, wrapped her arms around him and gave him a big kiss on the forehead. “Flynn you’re the best!”

Flynn retreated awkwardly from her assault and muttered something about getting back to work. Sometimes life really could surprise you after all. Jimmy was going to flip out. Her very own starship! Nothing would be able to `stop her now!

*parsec – A parsec is actually a measurement unit of distance used in some parts of the known universe, however due to an early and unintentionally incorrect usage by a popular entertainment franchise whereby it was referred to as a measurement of time (which it is not), it’s usage has changed over the millenia, especially as that ancient measurement system has gone out of use. It is most commonly now used in slang form to refer to a small insignificant amount of time.