Location: Solar System; Above Venus; Valterion Shipyard; Bay V

So the first thing I do is put the tablet aside and look at my friends. I'm probably wearing a manic grin, but I don't care at the moment. "You know what that means, right?"

Lucy mirrors my grin, and her head bops up and down. "We're keeping it?"

When I nod, it's literal pandemonium. "Hell yeah!" Nick shouts and hugs his girlfriend.

We cheer for a while until Alina asks the million-dollar question. "So, how are we taking the ship with us? It won't fit in our pockets, no?"

"We've got Sara, duh," Lucy replies, still grinning.

"Yeah, but the ship is inside the shipyard, and just teleporting it out would probably cause a lot of problems… I know Sara is good," she turns to look at me. "But are you that good to masterfully form your space bubble around such a giant ship without damaging the shipyard?"

I think for a moment and then shake my head. "Probably not… While it's not a problem to perfectly form my bubble around a smaller ship like the Stargazer, I think I have to take a few shortcuts and aim for a more generic spherical shape for this behemoth here."

"Damn," Lucy replies. "So we have to find a way to get it out of here. Has anyone checked the engines yet?"

"Not yet, but that's where we're heading next!" I answer her and turn around. "Follow me!"

I obviously don't walk back toward the ship, as this would have taken an eternity. So I have a Teleportation spell ready right after turning around, and I grab my friends with it. A second later, we're back on the bridge of the Voidseeker. Now comes the hard part… We must cross the whole length of the ship, mostly on foot, as we've only explored the front of the ship so far, and Clara therefore doesn't have any valid jump points for me close to the stern.

We obviously don't walk the whole distance as there are more than enough open spaces for me to teleport line-of-sight distances through the ship's belly. Still, it takes a while until we've crossed the multi-kilometer distance and arrive at the back of the ship. It's very similar to the bow, actually. The stern module, too, looks like it was completed elsewhere and then added to the main body of the starship.

That's a good sign at least. Chances are good that the engines have already been installed then. We just have to find them… Turns out that's easier than I thought because, well, the engines are big. I should have guessed it after seeing the gigantic exhausts outside of the ship.

Now we're all standing open-mouthed at the entrance of the engine room. The size of it reminds me of the hangar deck back on the Mage Academy Station back in the Estriduros Republic, even when it's not that large. Still, you could fit almost my group's whole Earth Adventure fleet in here. The only ship that wouldn't fit is Jack's freighter. That's just insane.

Sure, the ships would only fit if the engines – I'm counting a total of fifteen – weren't in here, but that's just to get a feel for the size of everything in here. Hell, I feel like an ant!

Still, the good news is that the engines have been installed! Now we just have to power them up and somehow open up Bay V to open space. Then we can fly out the Voidseeker and jump her to somewhere no one can find her until we're done with the Earth Adventure. After that, she's going straight to the Lomali System to be completed!

So far, the theory…

Now, in reality, we have to look for some kind of control panel first. Turns out it isn't here in the engine room at all… Lydia discovers a small room to the side that looks like a small bridge and is labeled as Engine-Control-Room. Exactly what we've been looking for. How it is almost always Lydia who discovers such things, I'll never know.

Anyway, we manage to hook up one of our batteries and turn on some of the consoles. Clara does her thing and five minutes later tells us the bad news: There's not a single drop of fuel! I should have expected this…

Yeah, there goes our great plan on how to secure the starship for ourselves. Time for Plan B!

"Looks like we're finished here for now," I tell the others, and they shoot me questioning glances. I continue to clarify things. "We can't get her out without fuel… But I might have a solution for that problem. We've got to talk with Jack, though. Probably with our whole leadership group would be better, as Maja has to play a part too. And then there's the thing that the first Challenge Sunday is right around the corner."

Tim replies. "Ah, gotcha, so we're meeting at Lisa's?"

"We can also use the Stargazer… She's bigger and I've got to make her mobile again anyway."

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"Alright, how about you do that, and I'll call the meeting in the meantime. I'm more than capable of jumping the five of us to the Stargazer as soon as you've removed the gravity anchor."

I nod at him. "Thanks, Tim! I'll send you a message once you can come over."

With that, I take a deep breath and focus on my magic. It's a tricky thing to aim for the Stargazer when she's anchored and takes a lot of concentration. I wouldn't attempt it at all if I weren't that familiar with my starship. Once Clara has everything locked in, I trigger the Teleportation spell and use a generous amount of magic. Much more than I would normally need. This is to overcome the resistance I now feel, and once I'm past it, I reappear on the bridge of my starship, right outside of the gigantic shipyard.

I walk over to my console and begin the process of deactivating the gravity anchor. Clara informs me of an incoming call almost immediately after. It's from the Andala. Maja immediately noticed the deactivation and wants to know if something is wrong. I tell her no, but ask her to come visit me for a strategy meeting. She confirms and tells me that she'll be there in 30.

After that, I inform Tim that I'm ready to receive him and that I've already invited Maja to the meeting. He acknowledges it, and the others appear a few minutes later inside the jump room.

Half an hour later, the conference room aboard the Stargazer is packed, and ten faces look at me expectantly. For obvious reasons, I start my short speech by introducing Project Voidseeker to Lisa, Vic, Jack, Dave, and Maja. The other five in the room still listen to my every word, not daring to miss the moment I tell them my plans.

Said moment is now! "…Now, as you can see, we're in quite the pickle. It is without question that we're going to take the Voidseeker home with us! That's non-negotiable. I. Want. That. Ship! This means we have to find a way to protect and refuel the starship. That's where you come into play."

I get up, walk over to Jack, and stop behind him to put my hands on his shoulders. "You're playing one of the most important roles, Jack. You'll be getting the fuel we need to fly the ship out of the shipyard."

Before anyone can reply, I'm already standing behind Maja and do the same thing. "You'll also have a very important role to play, Maja. Prince Kai will be back, and if not, someone else will. That means defending our shipyard will be your responsibility. I'm counting on you!"

And finally, I move over to Dave. "And you, Dave, you'll continue what you're doing. Turn this place upside down, find every secret it hides, and most importantly, see if you can find the main power plant for the shipbuilding areas. We still have to open the bay doors if we want to get the Voidseeker out."

Finally, I clap my hands once and return to the head of the table. "That's it, questions?"

The others just look at me in stunned silence. It takes a minute until Jack raises his hand. "Uhh, you know that the Hunchback isn't the biggest freighter, right? I don't know if we can carry enough fuel to fill a starship of that size…"

I nod at him. "A valid point. It's best if you prepare yourself for multiple trips then. But don't forget, we just have to move the ship out of the bay… There's no need for further power consumption for now."

He nods. "Gotcha, I'll do my best!"

"That's all I ever ask, thanks, Jack."

Dave also has a few questions, which I quickly answer and then move on to Maja. She sounds a bit insecure about being solely responsible for securing the shipyard from others, but I manage to address her fears by reminding her that she sent Prince Kai packing on her own.

"… Also, I plan on reaching a new location down on Earth to throw into the challenge Sunday… At best, no one will mention the shipyard, and if Prince Kai does, I'll strongly remind him why this is a very bad idea."

Lisa raises her hand, and I nod at her with a slight chuckle. We're not in school anymore… No one has to be allowed to speak. "How do you plan to do that exactly?"

Raising an eyebrow, I point at myself, red hair, green eyes, and everything."

"Oh," she replies and laughs. "That's going to be fun."

After that, we quickly finish up, and then both Tim and I help the others get back to where they came from earlier. Then we're back at the planning table, and Alina asks the most important question. "So where are we going next?"

I shrug. "I'm open for anything… You guys have any suggestions or preferences?"

"We could check out the next Song Medical research center," Lydia throws in. She doesn't sound very enthusiastic, and everyone else immediately shakes their head.

"Nah, that's boring," Luca replies. "How about some Axtendus stuff? I don't really know much about them…"

This time it's my turn to deliver the bad news. "Something smashed their headquarters into the ground. There's only a big crater left… Well, we could check if there are other Axtendus facilities left on the planet."

"I like the sound of it," Tim agrees. "We've already visited two of the Big Five, why not continue with a third. Or is there some fancy Magicon place?"

I nod at him. "There is… That's where Maja got her body from, but I've got the feeling that the place is very busy already."

"Right… So let's go with Axtendus Agriculture then," Tim says slowly. "Clara, do you have something for us?"

"I have indeed. How do you guys feel about water?"

"What do you mean?" Nick asks, slightly confused.

"Well, have you heard of kelp farms yet? Probably not, as we're well past any kind of food shortages, mostly thanks to Axtendus. But back then, when Earth was vastly overpopulated, they needed ways to produce lots of food without needing that much space. That's where kelp came in. It was mostly used to feed cattle and had one giant advantage. Kelp grows in the ocean, where it has more than enough space to grow! So Axtendus cultivated giant fields of kelp to address the food shortages back then, and we're going to check out one of their farms."

"But isn't that boring? I mean, what can we even see there after 11,000 years? Isn't that just seaweed?" I ask with a slight frown.

"It is. But we're not going there because of the kelp… No, I detected an underground facility close to one of the fields. That's what we're going to check out. It's probably a plant where the kelp was processed, but we'll only know if we go there."

"Huh, that doesn't sound too bad, I'm in!" Lucy shouts across the table. The others voice their agreement too, which means we've got our next destination.

I stand up and clap my hands. "Alright, then let's get going! We need to hurry if we want to make any progress before Prince Kai's first Challenge Sunday begins!"

Tim looks at me sharply. "We're still taking part in this? Even after what he did?"

I grimace a little and nod. "Yeah… We've got to make sure that everyone understands that the shipyard and the Voidseeker are off-limits. And we have to take revenge on the Prince for what he did. I've got a rough plan already, but we'll see how things play out once Lisa and I meet with him and the others."

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