Chapter 57

They soon had the people going to Terra on the Endeavour aboard.

Dusty and the Wizards lifted the ship into the air and basically threw it into the higher atmosphere. Michel started the engines, and as soon as the ship had cleared a klick from the ground, he had them running at full bore.

With the boost from the wizards, he soon had the ship heading into space and on its way to Terra.

Chris and his crew mounted up and were soon following the settlement ship in Striker One.

They would shadow the ship all the way to Terra. They believed it would take them close to ten days to get there rather than twelve, especially with the modifications to both ships. Dusty knew she and James could get there in less than half that time, even if they didn’t blink the ship.

They decided to take the leisurely trip, as they needed some time to consolidate what their plans were. They said goodbye to the wizards and blinked their ship into space above the planet Haven. They set course to Terra.

The Ais, Ada and Zed were more than happy to monitor the ship’s progress while their hosts went to recharge.

James and Dusty had no problems filling in five days.

They needed the time out from everyone else’s problems. They had some life-altering decisions to make. Dusty’s pregnancy would change things. They were going to have to either set up house on a planet or live on the ship.

With only the two of them and even with a baby, the second option was very viable for some time to come. After all, they did have two planets to monitor. With the protections that Dusty now had on the ship, it was a veritable fortress.

About the only way to kill the ship was to drive it into a sun. A small child couldn’t get into too much trouble. They could even organise a nanny since the Gunna was roomy, having been designed for a five-person crew.

They had even left the ‘Tunnel’ as they called the room that had eight berths, four on each side, two up and two down. It was a room you could walk through into an ablutions block. It was designed for an Enforcer team or shifting another crew that only needed short-term accommodation.

They had already joined two of the smaller cabins to make a larger bedroom, and it had plenty of room for a cot. Later, they would do a room for the baby, and they still had two rooms spare for guests, a nanny or even more kids. It made sense to allow for growth.

Dusty was well aware that James wouldn’t be happy if they only had one kid. They had both grown up in single-child families and had wished they had siblings. She snickered and told him he could have the next one since he was the paramour.

To her surprise, James agreed that this was only fair, but she would be stuck with him in female form for a while.

Dusty pondered this and decided that in the scheme of things, this was acceptable because, for them, they would only be pregnant for about seventeen to eighteen weeks in Earth time, so she agreed.

James also reminded her that pregnant wizards tended to get very horny, so she would have to keep him satisfied. She promised that she would do this for him, but he had to keep her satisfied first.

This kinda put a stop to the conversation as James decided to comply with her command.

Dusty and James pored over the new and old intel they had on Terra.

Major John Carmichael, James’s stepfather, had been sending them regular updates. They had also been sending him reports. The new magically enhanced satellites and stationary space beacons they had dropped along the way had significantly improved communications.

John’s messages were only an hour or less old when they got them. He confirmed that he had gotten the communication from Josh, and he was delighted that the young man had survived, as he was very resourceful.

He agreed that all things considered, leaving Josh to run things on Haven for UNSEC was a good thing. He and UNSEC weren’t stupid enough to argue with a wizard, let alone one whose boyfriend was the local Lord Wizard.

John had already organised three ships and the additional crew to be sent to Josh and had told the higher-ups on the other nations that while UNSEC would have a presence on Haven, they couldn’t claim any of the planets in the Dos system since it already had Keltrians living in that system.

UNSEC was happy that the locals had agreed to a base, support for stranded ships and at least limited immigration. They would leave it up to the locals to choose who went there to live.

The governments of Earth were not as happy about Sheldon. Whitney declaring the largest continent as an independent nation hadn’t gone down well with some nations or big businesses.

However, UNSEC had to approve her declaration since she had so many nations listed as being represented. Plus, Lee’s map said it was claimed. The fact that Whitney was also willing to host a base for the MPs and allow limited immigration and exploration calmed some feathers.

Knowing a wizard as powerful as Queen Lee now owned one of the other continents dampened the excitement of more land to claim for some people. Quite a few people on Earth were still rhabdophobic. (People who are extremely scared of spell casters, magicians and witches).