A few days ter Alexander got a essage from Fidelity Properties. They had found a suitable location that met his criteria. They just wao discuss it over video at his earliest venience. He supposed that made sehey couldn’t know what time it was where he was located and they were avaible at all hours. He was holy surprised they had gotten ba so soon.

  Alexander waited until Yulia was asleep before he walked to the erminal to tact Fidelity. He hadn’t splurged for a that allowed holo video as he didn’t see the point.

  His daughter – he was still having a hard time ceptualizing that – had bounced back rather quickly from her ordeal. She still asked about her friends, and Alexander really wao let her just go py with them during the day, but he was finding it hard to let her out of his sight after his promise. He khe girl would likely be fine and that he would have to get over the idea that as soon as she left his sight, she was going to get hurt again. That wasn’t a healthy mi for a seemed they both had things to work through.

  This little excursion while she was safely in bed was a test for himself. So far he only wao go bad che her five times siing the apartment. He was going to call that an improvement. Soon he arrived at the terminal that was visible from the apartment door. It was a small promise.

  Wheivated the terminal, a familiar face greeted him oher end. “Mr. Kane, how o hear from you again. We weren’t expeg your call so soon, but this will certainly speed things up.”

  “You as well, Violet. I wasn’t expeg you to find something so soon. What do you have for me?”

  “To be fair, we weren’t ing up with many prospects. The lucky. Ae sale popped up over oh and one of the items up for sale is an abandoned research facility that was established in 2201. It’s probably bigger than you wanted, but the price will probably be quite a bit cheaper sidering how far from Earth it is.”

  That made this piece of property almost y years older tharov station. It robably going to need a lot of repairs and updates, but those he could ma was the other issue he was uain about.

  “It’s not too far is it?” He didn’t want to impose on Jasper for multiple months just to fly him out to some dead research outpost.

  “Well, you did ask for something outside of STO-trolled space. This pce definitely falls into that category. But it’s not as far out as you might think. There are four systems between the closest STO station and the facility. So a few weeks of travel depending on the ship.”

  That wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t the worst either. Close enough to purchase supplies, far enough out that they shouldn’t be bothered. “It's been almost a hundred years, why hasn’t the STO expaowards the facility?”

  “Hmm, I ’t say for certain,” Violet stated, “but if I remember my history correctly, that was the dire that humanity entered the Shi in. I believe the STO decided not to expand in that dire to ensure no further hostilities broke out.”

  “… A home inside a possible warzone doesn’t sound like a good proposition.”

  The woman oher side of the video ughed. “No, it certainly would not be. But I don’t think you’ll o worry about that.”

  “Why?”

  “No Shi vessel has been spotted in my lifetime as far as I’m aware. There are still some human ships that fly through that sector of space. Someone would have reported if the Shi had returned.”

  That still didn’t sound ideal but he had limited options and limited time. With the additional money he might save, he could install defenses. sidering what he po do there, he would probably have to install them at some point anyway.

  “Ok, sider me ied. How much do you think it will cost?”

  “Excellent, Mr. Kane. And we don’t o specute. Your timing is impeccable, there is a live au going on now. If you would like I add you to the call and as your representative, I will try to get you the best deal possible.”

  “Ok, let's do it.”

  The terminal he was using fshed and a hologram formed above it, showing all the items on sale in the au. He watched as prices flickered up oain items, but others barely moved. Violet did something on her end and the property iion spun towards the front of the image. The current bid on it was only twenty-five million.

  He heard the girl chuckle over the . “Well, this is eveer than we hoped.”

  She pced a bid, upping the price to thirty million.

  It stayed that way for minutes before it rose again in another five millio i.

  Alexander soon grew bored of watg that single au and scrolled through the other items listed for sale. Whoever this person had been, they had been filthy rich. There were at least a dozen ships being bid on, starting from single-pilot intersystem ships, all the to a Css 4 hauler simir to Jasper’s ship. He must have been missing something though because the prices were going insane on these ships.

  “Why are the ships going for so much?”

  “Mr. Woodrow, the gentleman who passed away, was an avid collector of rare items. Some like the ships are extremely sought after as collector's items. Others like the research facility, not so much.”

  “Who collects research facilities?”

  Violet chuckled. “Anything that was rare or u didn’t matter to Mr. Woodrow if it was valuable.”

  “What makes a research facility unique?” It didn’t make seo Alexander.

  “Oh, that’s all iached dotation,” Violet said as she opened up the dot so Alexander could read it.

  “Last standing remnant of the great expansion?”

  “Not a fan of history, I take it?” Violet asked.

  “Yes and no. I must have missed that ohe fact that she seemed to accept this excuse just showed how muformation had been segregated over the decades.

  “The Great Expansion happened shortly after humanity cracked the secret to FTL. I think that started around 2130 and ended in 2212.”

  “I assume it had to do with humanity poputing other ps?”

  “It did. Humanity kept spreading out until they realized there were more habitable phan they knew what to do with. Then they ran into the Shi. I don’t know much about the war, most of it is still cssified even to this day. But soon after entering them, humanity stopped expanding. While we were evenly matched with the Shi as far as teology, I think the people in charge back then must have been afraid of running into a more teologically advanced race. sidering the hypergates, I ’t really bme them.”

  While they chatted, the au tinued. Occasionally some other buyer would bump up the price of the research facility, but he noticed it had slowed signifitly.

  “I’ve heard of these hypergates. Never used one myself,” Alexaated.

  “Me either,” Violet sighed. “I’ve never left Ganos. I’ve heard they are massive though.”

  “Not ied in space travel?” he asked.

  The woma out a wistful sigh. “I would love to travel the stars but I get motion sick. I barely even stomach the fliers that stay sub-orbital. The oime I tried taking a holiday to Haja, our local satellite, I ended up spending my eime ihroom. Even with the artificial gravity, my body just couldn’t cope.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “That’s kind of you to say. I’ve learo be happy where I’m at.”

  There was a ding and Alexander looked at the holo-s.

  “gratutions, Mr. Kane. You are now the proud owner of your very own research facility. And you got it for quite the steal.”

  He didn’t quite sider spendiy million a steal, but sidering he was willing to spend nearly two hundred million, he should probably be happy.

  “Now, there are a few things to go over before we finalize our end of the deal.”

  “Such as,” Alexander asked, happy that he now had a pce to go and a ride to take him there.

  “First off, we reend hiring a merary pany to clear the pce.”

  “Huh?” He thought he had misheard her.

  “Oh, that is just standard fare for buildings left alone on ued worlds. Sometimes pirates like to use them as bases. But most often, we just find squatters there. The meraries will also verify the habitable iy of the location. You wouldn’t want to buy a property on a world with poor air quality just to learn it leaks atmosphere from every entrand seal.”

  He certainly didn’t want to arrive at his new home to fiher pirates or faulty life-support. But he also didn’t want to just evict people who were trying to survive.

  “ the squatters remain?”

  Violet paused. “… It's not normal for people to want to keep illegal squatters in their properties, Mr. Kane, but it's yours to do with as you please. I would still reend having the meraries at least s ahere for warrants.”

  “That’s fine, let's do that. How much is this going to e? Also, I haven’t had the best luck with meraries, you vouch for the ones you’re hiring?”

  “I’ll make a note of your preferences iio. The cost will be an additional five million. Normally this is covered by our fee, but sihis location is so far out, and se, it's going to require a much rger iment. And yes, we vouch for The Hawks of Ganos. They are one of the premier merary panies on Ganos and have a stelr reputation dating back to its founding. They are more like a private army, instead of the rag-tag outw type of merary teams you might find ier systems.”

  He was still iffy about this, but he hardly had any other choice. “Fine. As long as you vouch for them, let's do that.”

  “Excellent. I will get the a report pleted and someone from the Hawks will be in touch to coordinate. I just need your firmation, and then you will be given the deed to your new property, Mr. Kane.”

  Alexander sent over the digital certificate that was used in pce of signatures in this tury. After a few minutes, he got firmation of the payment and the deed to his new property.

  “And that pletes the transa, is there anything else we assist you with?”

  “There might be.”