[b]grounded[/b]

      Jeremy leaned on the railing, looking at his ship. From where he was, he could see the three aft decks that had been destroyed, two sections deep and twenty long, six guns. Fortunately, the casualties had been minimal, but that didn't make him feel any better.

      He hadn't wanted to look at the damage while being on Paradise, he knew it would have ruined his stay there, and he had dearly needed a respite. The two months there, helping the settlers buildup their infrastructure had been a balm on his aches. He had been tempted to stay there longer, just so he wouldn't have to see this sight, but he had a duty to his crew, who had taken that time to make as many repairs as they could. Still the two months trip back to Kelser took them eight.

      And now his ship was at dock, to be repaired and refitted. No one knew just how long that would take, so he was grounded until then. If he still had his ship by then.

      He could just imagine how those who wanted to take it away from him would use this incident to justify it.

      "You don't have to be so gloom," Toom said, as he stopped next to him. 

      Toom was the only one of the crew left on the station, as far as Jeremy knew. Korfas had been the first to request permission to leave, which Jeremy had granted. There were no reasons to keep anyone on the ship once docked.

      "We only retrieved twenty of the twenty-eight dead," Jeremy said.

      "The families understand."

      "I know, but how can they be properly mourned, if they aren't burned? Are the Gods going to honor them, if their bodies are floating in space, somewhere?"

      "Of course, the Gods are going to honor them," Toom said with a chuckle, "you'll see."

      "Will I?" Jeremy let out a long sigh. "Will the Gods honor me?"

      "Why wouldn't they?"

      "Look at me Toom, I'm human. I hate it, but I am human."

      Toom did look at him. "You're not human. You body might be, but you have Gralgiranselhelrarvnir's Heart, that  makes you kelsirian, and that is what the Gods will see." He put an arms around Jeremy's shoulders, and pulled him close. "I think we should head out, staying here is making you morose, and they should be arriving to get us soon.

      Jeremy let Toom lead him away, and he did start to feel better once he could no longer see the sorry state of his ship.

      As soon as they got to the shuttle docks, someone yelled his name. Jeremy looked in the direction the yell had come from, and Toom stepped away from him just in time for Roumalger to hug Jeremy and spin him around.

      "I'm so glad you're back," He whispered, while nuzzling him.

      "I'm glad to see you too," Jeremy replied, as he was put down. "Are you finally mated?"

      "Ah! No, I'm not."

      "When are you going to finally settle down?"

      "As soon as you agree to be my mate."

      Jeremy's smile cracked a little. "You do know that's never going to happen, right? I like you, but I can't be your mate."

      "You're just being stubborn," Roumalger said, going to hug Toom. "It's good to see you too." He nibbles his neck. "Do me a favor and talk some sense into that mate of yours."

      "Why are you so damn interested in me anyway?" Jeremy asked, before Toom could say anything.

      "Because you're exotic, and a the most fantastic lover I've ever had."

      "He does have a point," Toom said.

      "You don't get to say that," Jeremy said, pointing at his mate. "You've had sex with Xenial, so you know I'm not the best out there." He put an arm around each of them. "You know Roumalger, if it's exotic you like, you should take a trip to Paradise, there are a lot of humans there."

      "Really? Maybe I will, that way I'll be able to find out if it's humans who are such great lovers, or just you."

      Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Let's go join our parents, I see them, and I'm pretty sure they are getting impatient."

      "No, they just didn't want to follow me and be witness to all the embarrassment I put you through."

      "At least they are considerate," Toom commented.

      Parkiler and Marsef hugged and nuzzled both of them.

      "Welcome home," Marsef said, ushering them inside the shuttle. "I'm sorry it was under such circumstances, but we're happy to have you over. Do you know how long you'll be staying?"

      "No," Jeremy replied, "but we won't be spending all our time with you, we'll be visiting Toom's family also."

      "That's good," Parkiler said. "I don't remember seeing them at the cremation."

      "My father couldn't make it. He couldn't afford to close his shop, and my brothers didn't come, they don't agree with me becoming a spacer, they believe I should have stayed and help father with the shop, just like they did."

      "But you're father is fine with you being in space?"

      "Yes, he's happy for me. He knows I couldn't stay limited by the atmosphere."

      "Where is your family from?" she asked, turning to look at them, in the back. "Roumalger! What have I told you about having sex in the shuttle?"

      Roumalger had been nuzzling Jeremy, with hands roaming all over his body, and he had turned toward him so he could grind against him. Roumalger let out a sigh, and seated himself properly, but he didn't do anything to hide the tent in his pants. 

      "Don't you have any self control?" she asked him

      "Not around Jeremy, I don't."

      "I'm sorry," Jeremy said.

      "Don't be," Marsef replied. "It's isn't your fault. It's that son of mine. He has sex with anyone willing. Although in you case I can understand his lack of restraint."

      Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were interested."

      "Who wouldn't be?" he replied with a chuckle.

      "Why haven't you initiated anything then?"

      "I'm forty years older than you. I couldn't see you being interested."

      Jeremy smiled. "You won't know unless you try it."

      Parkiler slapped her mate's lap. "See, I told you he wouldn't mind."

      "Mom, Dad. If you want me to keep my mind off sex, could you not talk about dad getting it on with Jeremy, that isn't helping."

      "What's in the crate?" Toom asked, to change the subject.

      "Oh, that's just something Marsef picked up while we were waiting for you," Parkiler said.

      "Yeah," Roumalger added, "I think it was delivered by someone from your crew."

      "My crew?" Jeremy asked, and then realized something. "Okay, no one say anything about the crate. As a captain, I'm required to report any contraband."

      "Except," Toom said, "that technically, you aren't currently a captain, you sort of need a working ship for that."

      Jeremy thought it over. "You know, you're right. So, Marsef. You finally got your hands on some coffee plants?"

      "Yes, the contact you gave me all those years ago finally came through. There's a one year old plant, six seedling, seeds, and also some coffee grains. He said I could use those to bribe your silence."

      * * * * *

      Jeremy was standing before the council table. He and the four members seated behind it were waiting for the fifth person to arrive. He wondered if she was doing this on purpose, making him wait.

      At least, they had had the courtesy to tell him a month ahead of time when the meeting would be. He didn't have to stress every day, wondering when he was going to be called. It also gave Toom time to look into who would be there. 

      He knew the two on the right, Turkamilrir and Snifurnolkah. The general and politician who had been present at the last meeting. Both were looking to take the ship away from him. The two on the left were new. An admiral Tirak, just that. He had the shortest name Jeremy had ever come across among kelsirians, And a general Lancasgirakil. Toom couldn't find any indications that they had any sort of agendas toward the ship.

      So it was two against him, and two who might see reason, plus her. This wasn't going to go well, but if she was expecting him to just give up the fight, she had another thing coming. He was going to fight her as hard as he could.

      The door at the back finally opened, and admiral Oturslgirnal entered, to Jeremy, Turkamilri and Snifurnolkah's surprise.

      "Please forgive my tardiness, there was a last minute change. I came as quickly as I could." He put his datapad on the table and sat in the center seat. "This meeting is to go over Captain Jeremy's initial two year, well, almost three now, as captain of the Viper's Bane, to find out if he will remain captain. Who wants to start?"

      "Why don't we just retire the ship?" Snifurnolkah asked.

      "Why would we do that?" Tirak countered.

      "Have you seen the list of repairs it needs? It might be best to just give him a new ship."

      Jeremy kept his mouth shut, but the moment he was allowed to speak he was going to argue against that. He wasn't going to captain a different ship, this was his last tie to Gral, he wasn't going to lose it.

      "Really? I don't remember you saying that when the Revenge came in for repairs. I remember seeing you there, you were awake, weren't you?"

      "Of course I was."

      "It's damage was more extensive, and you let it be repaired. The Bane is about the same age, a little younger actually," he corrected after checking his pad, "Is there something I don't know about it that makes it unsuitable for repairs?"

      "I'm just not sure continuing to spend money on repairs is wise, that's all."

      "That's what the military budget is for," Lancasgirakil said. "Maybe you need to stop trying to tell us how to manage our fleet. And focus on keeping your promises, that station is still waiting for you to approve those expansions you promised them."

      Snifurnolkah didn't reply.

      "I don't particularly care about the state of the ship," Turkamilri said. "I'm more concerned about the deaths."

      "Really?" Lancasgirakil asked. "Why?"

      "Twenty eight deaths, of which . . ." Turkamilri checked his pad.

      "Twenty seven hunters and one crew," Jeremy provided.

      "Ahh, yes, and I see there was a human death."

      "That was the crew member. He was a structure tech, and chose to continue the repairs he was doing, instead of evacuating, as ordered."

      "You had a human as part of the crew?"

      "I have forty six."

      "That is unacceptable, we can't have humans getting access to our technology. What's to stop them from sending the information back to Earth?"

      "Those are my humans, not part of the passengers we carried to Paradise." He didn't mention Alix's Heart, that was none of their businesses.

      "I don't care. You don't have the authority to make a decision like that. You should have contacted us."

      "Jeremy did contact the council," Oturslgirnal said. "He spoke with," he glanced at his pad, "Councilor Querikdarfingalse, who approved his decision."

      "How can he have approved such a thing?"

      "You'll have to take that up with him. All that matters right now, is that Jeremy proceeded as expected."

      "Fine. There's still the matter of the deaths. 

      "I don't get what you problem is with that," Tirak said. "They are hunters."

      "We die, so our people live," Jeremy said, by reflex.

      Tirak looked at him. "I didn't know anyone still knew the creed."

      Jeremy just nodded.

      "So?" Turkamilri asked. "It isn't because they are hunters that their lives should be thrown away."

      "Thrown away?" Tirak eyed Turkamilri. "Exactly how do you define throwing away a life? Captain, how did your people die?"

      Jeremy took a deep breath. "Nineteen gunners died when we took fire during the pursuit, after the ambush. Eight hunters died in the aft breach."

      "Where the gunners needed?"

      "Yes, we were firing on the pursuing ships, trying to disable them enough to make it to kelsirian space alive."

      "The hunters?"

      "The hunters were keeping fires under control. Those fires occurred when a missile breached a section, early in the pursuit. The electrical system overloaded, and the fire suppression system didn't respond. If I hadn't sent them there, fire would have spread along the power conduits, without any way to know how extensive the damage would have been."

      "And you said the tech had been ordered to leave."

      "Yes."

      Tirak looked at Turkamilri again. "You call that throwing lives away?"

      "You find twenty-eight deaths acceptable?"

      "Are you serious? Are you telling me you didn't have any deaths during your career? Never mind. I don't want to know how you went up in ranks. Lancasgirakil, you read the report about the ambush, and pursuit. How many deaths would normally be expected in such a situation?"

      "Considering the opposing force the Bane was up against, and the sabotage they had been subjected to," he paused for a moment, "at the very least, I would have expected a third of everyone one on board to have died, and if I was running this as an evaluation scenario, up to half would still be acceptable."

      "So, how would you judge twenty-eight deaths, all crew, no civilians."

      Lancasgirakil chuckled dryly. "We don't have enough medals to show just how amazing that was. And to address general Turkamilri, no, that does not constitute throwing away lives. That is exactly the opposite. Now shut up, you're making the rest of us look bad."

      Turkamilri glared at Lancasgirakil, who ignored him.

      "What does concern me," Lancasgirakil continued, "is this human hunter squad you formed. Twenty-two humans, who were trained in our hunting ways. I understand they are trusted, but they aren't kelsirians, would they really do our ways proud?"

      "The squad was formed for the purpose of infiltrating the passengers. By that time it was obvious we were the subject of sabotage, but we couldn't get those humans to trust us, they would only open up to other humans. They didn't get full training, and I made them hunters so they would receive the protection accorded to us should things escalate. I didn't want them to be abandoned, if it came down to that.

      "Before you bring them up, six of them were cubs. We chose them because they were old enough to be responsible, but looked young enough for other humans to feel protective of them, humans have a tendency to open up more to cubs than to adults. The cubs volunteered, and their parents gave their permission. Also, everyone was under strict orders to keep them away from the worse of the dangers. The use of the human hunter squad led to the capture of four of the six saboteurs."

      "What happened to the other two?"

      "They chose suicide over capture."

      "And the squad?"

      "I disbanded it once the mission was accomplished."

      Lancasgirakil nodded. "I still question the use of cubs, but none of them were hurt, and only six of the human hunters were hurt. They can't be considered civilians at the time of the mission."

      "Do we know that Jeremy didn't force them to join the squad?" Snifurnolkah asked.

      Lancasgirakil sighed. "Did you actually bother to read the reports? Or are you too busy repeating what you're handlers tell you?"

      Snifurnolkah opened and closed his mouth, trying to say somethign, but failing.

      "Each human on the squad wrote a report describing what happened. While the translation makes for something of a funny read, there is no indication they were under duress at any time." He looked at Jeremy. "Thank you for answering my questions. I'm satisfied you showed good judgment in your decision."

      There was a moment of silents. "Does anyone have anything to add?" Oturslgirnal asked. Lancasgirakil and Tirak shook their heads. Snifurnolkah and Turkamilri remained silent. "Then, I'm happy to say that the ship is yours, Captain. As soon as it's fit to fly, you're free to go back where you belong."

      "Thank you admiral." He nodded to each of them, in turn, left, and almost walked into someone as the door closed behind him. "Kosfas, I wasn't expecting you here."

      "I wanted to make sure things went well."

      "It did, your mother wasn't there."

      "Good."

      "I take it you had something to do with that?"

      "I told her to stop meddling in my life. She not the Gods, so she doesn't have the right to do so. I'm happy she listened."

      "Thanks."

      "No, I'm the one who needs to thank you. Until you took me in, I had no idea that I wanted this. I was just doing what mother told me. I'm actually terrified to think what would have happened if she had succeeded in getting me a captainship." He surprised Jeremy by giving him a tight hug. In all the time he'd trained him, they had never hugged. "I won't be returning to the ship. I've been accepted the to Command Academy. So this is goodbye."

      "Congratulation. I'm certain you'll excel."

      "Thank you." Korfas turned and left.

      Before Jeremy could also leave, the door opened and admiral Oturslgirnal stepped out. "Captain, I'm glad I caught you before you left."

      "Korfas was just informing me he was accepted in the Academy."

      "Yes, I saw his application, and pushed it through. I also saw that your daughter applied. Do you want me to push hers through?"

      Jeremy shook his head. "No. I appreciate the thought, but she will be accepted by her own merits."

      "Very well. What will you be doing while your ship is being repaired?"

      "I have no idea. I've never been groundside this long. At this point I'm counting on Toom to keep me from going stir crazy."

      Oturslgirnal put a hand on his shoulder. "If you get too bored, you can always consider spending some time at the academy, teaching."

      Jeremy looked at him in horror.

[b]time passing[/b]

      Jeremy walked through the ship, alone. He was the only on in it. The repair crews had left now that they were done. On top of repairs, upgrades had been done. The two generators had been replaced with the newest models, more powerful, more efficient. He could already hear Alix cursing.

      One of the cargo bay had been modified to house twelve fighter ships. He'd need to find pilots for them. They were turning his ship into a full military vessel, not just a patrol ship.

      Probably the most galling thing they had done, was to put a captain's chair on the bridge. He wasn't *that* old. When he could no longer stand on his own two legs, he'd pass the captainship on to Tamirik. As soon as his crew was back on board, he'd get Sayane to remove it.

      The walk through confirmed what he'd suspected. The ship didn't feel the same. It wasn't just the modifications, he no longer felt Gral walking the halls with him. 

      He step into their room, currently empty. He hoped that when their things were back in, he'd feel Gral again, at least here, because, as far as he could tell, the ship's Heart was gone.

      * * * * *

      "You don't have to do that, Pa," Tamirik said, standing in the doorway.

      Jeremy looked up at her, while continuing to pack the few things on the desk. Gods, she looked amazing, she was tall, proud, a captain.

      "I don't mind going back to being communication chief, until you're ready to hand over command to me."

      "And demote Rasilin? I don't think so, he worked hard to get there. It wouldn't be fair to him."

      "This isn't fair to you either, this is your ship."

      Jeremy shook his head, and paused. "To tell you the truth, the ship hasn't felt like mine since the repairs. Those last six years have been, difficult." He ran a hand through his hair, which was now more gray than not. "I'm happy to hand it to you."

      "What will you do now? Retire groundside?"

      Jeremy laughed. "Groundside? Me? Can you really imagine me just lying in the sun days in days out. No, I belong in space. Anyway, unless you're kicking Toom off the ship, I'm staying with him."

      "Gods no, I'm not kicking my near father off. He's still the best pilot I've ever seen."

      "Good. And I can be useful, I can watch over your cubs, I can't believe you managed to raise three of them, and still left the Academy with the highest honors. I can't remember getting much sleep when you were that young."

      "Rostol helped, as did Xenial, before the ship was ready."

      "Xenial helped with cubs?" Jeremy asked, surprised. The male had never mentioned that.

      "He was quite good with them. He would have been near father to them, if he'd been willing to stay groundside with us."

      Jeremy sighed, and missed his friend. "The Gods honored him," he said. 

      "Only until he made off with their possessions," She added, with a wry smile. "He is going to make their lives interesting."

      Jeremy smiles wistfully. "No, your father is going to keep him in check." He forced himself to back to the present. "I can also help with dealing with the humans on Paradise, if you're planing on keeping the patrol route I had."

      He'd been offered, and had accepted, a new patrol route, which included Paradise. It allowed him to be back there every year, and he saw their settlement grow and prosper. The patrol had become vital when the Human government realized that not only were the leafers on Paradise surviving, they were thriving. Building an economy and trading with the federation.

      The humans had complained that they had been tricked, but that didn't last long, since they would have to reveal their own trickery to explain it. They settled on discreetly trying to disrupt trade, which had lead to putting more ships to patrol the trade routes.

      Jeremy had smiled when he learned that Patrick had been made leader of the settlement, much to the male's bafflement. Jack had outright refused. He was done with politics. He spent what time wasn't taken up with his mate advising Patrick, but that was the extend of his involvement.

      "I'm keeping it. I don't trust the humans not to do something stupid."

      "At least they aren't part of the Federation."

      "Yet. The Federation council is still seeing the exodus as a good gesture. Talks, to restart the process, are on again."

      "Gods," Jeremy sighed. "Nothing good will come of that."

      "I agree. That's why I'm keeping the patrol route. The Leafers are about the only good thing to come from the humans, they need to be protected."

      Jeremy agreed.

      * * * * *

      Jeremy settled quietly into retirement. As he'd promised, he looked after Tamirik's cubs when needed, as well as anyone's cubs. He still took the bridge, when she needed him to, and he found himself regretting having the chair removed. As he aged, remaining standing became more of task than it had been.

      Over the years, his title went from captain, to grandfather, and he found he enjoyed it. He and Toom became the ones to take care of the cubs, entertaining them with stories of their lives, bringing Gral back to life for them.

      The humans eventually left the crew to settle on Paradise, first the unattached ones, and eventually even those who had built relationships with kelsirians. Alix's Heart was the last one to leave, when one morning, Alix didn't wake up.

      Jeremy didn't hold it against any of them. The crew had never been their family, like it was his. Even with the change in personnel, he could never leave them, and they wouldn't want him to.

      One day, Toom fell sick, and none of the wonders they possessed made him better. Jeremy almost lost his will to live then, but the crew rallied around him, and he remembered that he wasn't alone. He was even more surprised when Roumalger joined the crew. Jeremy still wouldn't be his mate, but that didn't stop the male from moving in with him.

      Jeremy found another reason to live when he learned that the Federation was considering making Paradise a member colony. He found that he needed to be there to see that happen, no matter how long it took.      

[b]A reunion[/b]

      Jeremy looked around the meeting room, as he was being wheeled in, and started worrying. Were they going to try to take away his ship again? He frowned, no, that wasn't right. This room was too big, there were too many people, it wasn't a meeting room on Kelser. Was this when he had been accused of murdering those two taournians? No, that couldn't be right, he'd been seated to the front, not an elevated balcony, like he was now.

      He stopped moving, and a female moved in front of him. "Are you certain you want to be up here, grandfather? You should be down there, you were part of it."

      He snorted, which probably looked silly on a male his age. "I just helped a little," his voice was weak, and trembling. "It's their time, I don't want to intrude."

      The female took a blanket out of her bag, and spread it over his legs. "There, you won't get cold now."

      "Thank you Tamirik, that's very nice of you."

      Her smile dropped, just a little, and Jeremy cursed internally.

      "I got it wrong, didn't I?"

      "I'm Shimilion," she told him, "I'm Asheter's daughter."

      Asheter, that named sounded really familiar, where had he heard it before, then it came back to him. "That's Alix's son."

      She smiled at him.

      "That makes you Alix's grand daughter." He patted her hand. "That's good. You should probably sit down now, they're about to start." He could tell, because a holographic projection of the table, and its occupant had just appeared in the air, at their level, much larger than normal.

      She sat next to him, and he noticed that there were many other kelsirian on either side of him. For a moment he worried that he was in the wrong section, but before the panic could set in, he remembered they were his family.

      The people around the table started talking, and their voices were projected so he could hear them, not that he was paying attention to what they were saying, this was just ceremony, the important event had happened an hour before, behind closed door. That's when Paradise had become the only human settled planet to become a full member of the Federation.

      This show was for the vids. They never liked the simple signings, they wanted something bigger than life. So every current members were now giving speeches, probably about how an asset the new member was going to be. What he wanted to hear, was the taournians. He really wanted to find out what they were going to say, considering they had allied themselves with the humans, and had tried to ruin Paradise.

      Oh, the humans had been livid when they found out that the Leafers weren't just surviving, they were thriving, building trade with the kelsirians, and anyone else willing to do business with them. Paradise had turned out to have very fertile soil, and the area near the black storm proved particularly good to grow coffee.

      They hadn't been able to say anything when they found out they had been conned into believing the planet was mostly inhospitable, since they had turned around and spun a story about how the planet was rough, but habitable.

      And now, with Paradise being inducted, more human colonies were breaking away from their government, in the hopes of joining the Federation.

      Jeremy yawned and looked around. Why was everyone looking at that projection? He wondered. He thought about asking the male to his right, but he was watching intently, so he decided not to bother him. He just settled in his chair comfortably, and watched, maybe he'd figure out what it was about on his own.

      * * * * *

      "It's time to leave, Jeremy," someone whispered in his ear. He opened his eyes, not having realized he'd fallen asleep, and before him was a hand, covered in chocolate brown fur. He took it, was pulled up, and found himself gazing into deep amber eyes. He sighed, it had been so long since he'd been able to lose himself in those eyes.

      "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be on the bridge?"

      Gral tilted his head at him.

      That wasn't right, Jeremy realized. Tamirik was captain now, she'd taken over when he'd retired, and he'd become the captain when Gral . . . 

      Jeremy pulled away slightly, and looked at his Heart's face. He looked younger than he remembered, younger than the first time he'd met him even. Jeremy turned, and looked at where he had been sitting. In the hover chair, his body looked like he was sleeping. He raised a hand, it looked young, no wrinkles, no blemishes.

      Gral wrapped his arms around him. "You really lived up to being my little warrior," he said. "Tutecamongartin tried to bring you home three times, and you fought him each time."

      Jeremy could hear the pride in Gral's voice. He tried to recall the last time he'd been sick, didn't he remember a male standing there, completely black? Yes, he thought he did, and he also thought he remembered feeling angry, and a little bit afraid of him.

      "Why are you here?"

      "Tutecamongartin didn't want to have to deal with another fight with you. He though you might be more receptive if I was the one asking you to come home."

      Jeremy turned to face Gral again. "Home?"

      Gral nodded. "The Gods honored you."

      Jeremy's eyes grew wide.

      "You didn't think they wouldn't, did you?"

      Jeremy wanted to tell his Heart that he hadn't, but it had been one of his deepest worry, that he'd never be honored by Them, and therefor kept away from his Heart.

      "There wasn't even any argument, not that I was going to let any one of Them refuse you. So, my Heart, a you ready to come home?"

      Jeremy looked at him, eyes wet, then looked behind him, at the projection, where Patrick was now standing and talking. His gaze dropped to the kelsirians seated on either side of his body.

      "What about them?" he asked. 

      "They are going to go on living, until the Gods honor them."

      "Will I see them again?"

      "Possibly, that'll depend on what they decide to do."

      "Do?"

      Gral nodded. "The life after the Gods have honored us is what ever we want it to be."

      "And what is our life going to be?"

      Gral smiled, and stepped to the side. Behind him, there was an open doorway, hanging there, in the middle of the lane. In the doorway, he could see the Viper's Bane's bridge.

      "It's going to be space, hunting down pirates, being in the way of the taournians, and the humans."

      The male in the pilot's seat turned, and smiled.

      Jeremy's heart swelled. "Toom's there."

      "Of course he's there. He's been waiting for you to come home as much as I have. Most of the crew's there." Gral stepped through the doorway and extended a hand to him.

      Jeremy took it. "How long will this last?"

      "As long as we want it."

      "What happens afterward."

      "Once we're tired of the hunt, we come back."

      Jeremy looked at him, worry in his eyes.

      "Don't worry, we'll come back together. We will never be apart again. I exacted that promise from Them."

      Jeremy nodded, and stepped through the doorway, which then disappeared.

      * * * * *

      As the ceremony ended, and everyone stood and applauded to welcome the new Federation member, Shimilion noticed that grandfather didn't stir. She touched his cheek, when he didn't move she placed a finger against his neck. Not feeling a pulse, she shed a tear and kissed his head. "Goodbye grandfather, Good hunting."
      
      [b]End Book 3[/b]
      
      [b]End of Jeremy's Story[/b]