not afraid of you like everyone else is._

Jason gave them both a dark scowl, but, he had to admit... she had a point. They _did_ try to kill Kumi and everyone else, and if it helped get back at those individuals, then Meya and Myra would help. And he did feel that he could trust them in that regard. They were already in this.

Jason grunted audibly, then sighed. "Find a seat. And no molesting the Doc," he ordered, which made all three of them laugh. They pushed their way up front, but there were only two seats. Myra claimed one, Meya the other, and she quite deliberately grabbed hold of Rann and pulled him into her lap before her sister could get hold of him.

"They coming?" Luke asked, in a low tone.

"Yeah, they want to help us set up over on the other side."

"Me and Meya are pilots too, in case you get tired," Myra added aloud. "That way you two can get some sleep."

He wasn't sure about giving the skimmer to those two without supervision, but he could split them up so one of them could fly with Luke. That way they could at least sit out one run and get a quick nap in.

"Retracting the stairs and closing the hatch," Luke reported. "I'm done with the engine start checklist, Jayce. Starting the engines." From behind them came that familiar high-pitched whine rev up, getting higher and louder, then it leveled off. "It shows green for bringing up stealth." He flipped on the external speaker. "Stand clear!" he barked, and a few people outside scurried away. Luke's finger punched the buttons to bring up the stealth screen section by section, then activated it. "Stealth matrix is up and running, showing green," he reported.

_Why have people stand clear?_ Meya asked.

_There's an ambient static charge on the hull,_ Jason answered. _It's part of the system we invented that hides us from sensors._

_It's in the _hull_?_ Meya asked in surprise. _Most stealth systems are an external shield that's projected out from the ship. A stealth screen that scatters sensor energy and reflects internal energy signatures back towards the ship, containing them. They can't hide the physical appearance of the ship though, that's why Faey use visual systems to look for ships too. That's why there are so many cameras. They're _looking_ for ships that the sensors can't pick up._

_I thought about trying to do it that way, but I wouldn't have been able to come up with it alone in the time I had,_ he answered. _The one we built works, and it does hide the ship visibly. The matrix absorbs light energy. From outside, right now, the ship looks like nothing but a black shadow with no depth. A silhouette._

_Ah, no wonder they can't find the ship, and why you only fly it at night,_ Myra sent, her sending tinged with admiration. _Damn clever, Jason. There are some new stealth shields that just started coming out that reflect and scatter light along with sensor energy, but it always leaves a telltale visible shimmer that cameras can pick up, so it's really not useful on anything bigger than a fighter, and only as long as the fighter isn't close to the camera. Your idea works as long as there's no light behind you backlighting the ship's silhouette._

_Exactly,_ he affirmed with a nod.

The ship lifted up from the ground, and Luke retracted the landing skids. "Gear doors are green," he relayed as he pointed the ship down the valley. Because of the charge on the hull, the skimmer couldn't fly through the hologram or it would disrupt it. So, the ship flew down the valley to the edge of the hologram, then flew out from under it before gaining any altitude. They could fly the skimmer through the holographic image if they didn't have the stealth matrix running... but that's something that they weren't going to be doing. Luke tuned in to the air traffic channel and listened for anything out of the ordinary as he punched the ship into a nice arcing course that would bring them right down into Lincoln.

_How long is it going to take to get there?_ Rann sent.

"Oh, a bit over an hour, maybe," Jason answered absently. "We can't break the sound barrier, or our wake'll be picked up by sensors."

"Why do I feel like an American walking the streets of Tokyo," Luke chuckled.

"Oh, I apologize, Luke," Rann said with a sheepish smile. "I'm afraid it's become quite the habit already for me to send to Jason. I'm surprised at myself how quickly I came to accept the idea of humans with talent."

"Well, that's alright," he said with a glance back. "It's been kind of interesting to see for myself what the few people in town have said about the Faey. Most of us had never seen a Faey before 'til Miss Symone came here."

"So, what do you think about us?" Rann asked curiously.

"Well, seems to me that you're just _people_," he answered. "You can do something we can't, but outside of that, you don't seem all that different. You act a lot like us, your government is just as screwed up as ours was, you know, there are good Faey and bad Faey just like there are good people and bad people, stuff like that. Some folks call you _aliens_, well, I can't right likely see why. Miss Symone didn't ever seem like an _alien_, to me she was just Symone. I thought that I might think differently about that when Miss Jyslin and you folks came, but so far I ain't seen nothing that made me change my mind." He glanced back again. "Not everyone thinks as kindly of you as I do though. Some people don't like you just because you're Faey."

"Well, I'm sure there are Faey who don't like humans just because they're human," Rann noted.

"Just my point, Doc Rann. Faey ain't all that much different from us. You just have bigger toys and can do the telepathy thing. Take those away, and we're kinda similar."

"I'm sure if Yohne was here she'd be screaming Gora's Law," Rann laughed. "But I think you're right, Luke. I've noticed that humans are very, very similar to us. We're not just genetically similar, we're psychologically similar. We can really relate well to humans because they're so much _like us_. If it wasn't for our talent, I think we'd have a much better relationship with humanity, but so many humans are afraid of us because of our talent, they never give us a chance."

"Well, it's a mighty big club you're holding over a fella, Doc Rann," Luke told him. "If I didn't trust Mister Jason, I'd be afraid of him. And if I didn't trust that you all would keep your word, I'd probably be afraid of you too."

"Well, might I ask why you came out here, Luke?" Rann asked.

"Wasn't nothing but the lottery, Doc," he shrugged. "My wife got assigned to a farm in the lottery, and they were going to split us up. Neither of us wanted that, so we packed a truck and headed for the hills."

"What? They weren't going to let you stay together?" he asked with surprising heat.

"No sir," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm a mechanic, Doc Rann, and they wouldn't let me leave my work assignment, they said they had enough mechanics on the farms, they didn't need any more. They wouldn't even let me volunteer to move to farming, cause mechanics are a critical need skill. We tried everything we could think of to stay together, but the Employment Bureau wouldn't keep us together. So we ran away."

"I do not blame you at all," Rann said vehemently. "I'd _never_ let them separate me and Songa." He looked at Jason. "I have a much better understanding of why you're out here now, Jason," he said. "Your people are being treated _most_ unfairly. You have every right to fight for the rights that they'd afford a Faey. You're not being treated as Imperial citizens!" he said with surprising outrage.

"Well, that's good to hear, Doc," Jason told him.

"Separating a family! They'd _never_ do that if you were Faey!"

"I think that's the whole point of why we're here, Doc Rann," Luke told him.

"Why doesn't the Imperium step in and put a stop to this?" he demanded.

"Because as long as the food gets delivered at the set quotas, they probably don't care," Jason said simply. "They'll start caring when we start cutting into that quota, though."

"That they will," Rann agreed with an enthusiastic nod.

They arrived at the warehouse about an hour later. Jason opened the doors via remote and allowed Luke to maneuver the skimmer into the empty warehouse, letting him get some experience with a pinpoint drill. It was good practice for him. He landed the skimmer with a light touch, then started the shutdown sequence so the cloaking matrix was the last major system still running, being powered by the backup PPG after the main engines and power plant were taken offline, then he shut that down.

"Aren't the sensors going to detect the ship with the matrix off?" Meya asked.

"Why would it matter if there's a dropship or a skimmer here, Meya?" Jason answered. "This is a warehouse in Faey territory. It wouldn't look out of place at all for there to be a dropship here, or for us to be using PPGs. The only thing that might tip someone off is if they actually saw the dropship _appear _on the sensors, but this building is made of steel. That partially disperses the dropship signature and makes that much less likely. Alright, let's get this thing unloaded."

They unloaded everything, and Rann took charge of organizing the gear, having some of it stored and having the sleeping bags and mattresses laid out so they'd be ready for people. Jason moved to get back on the skimmer, ordering Luke to sit this flight out and take a break cause he'd be flying the next three. He took the pilot's chair and brought the computer back up, starting the preflight, when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He looked back to see Meya step through the hatch and move towards the front. _Show me,_ she sent. _We have three pilots here, Jason. You don't have to run every leg. Hell, Luke did so well, I wouldn't bat an eye at sending him up solo._

_I was planning on doing that,_ he sent with a nod, motioning at the copilot's chair. _The only thing different on my skimmer is the stealth matrix,_ he told her. _It's controlled using the keyboard. It's the CMS module on the display._ He activated the holographic display over the dash between the two seats and pointed to it.

_CMS?_

_Cloaking Matrix System. We put in a few shortcut keys for it so it'll activate and deactivate with just a couple of keystrokes. It runs off the backup PPG._

_It doesn't take much power at all, eh?_ she mused. _Most shield cloaks require the main engines to come up._

_This one is very low-power,_ Jason answered. _I'm sure those cloak shields you talked about are very advanced and very hard to penetrate, but ours works well enough, and it was something that we could do ourselves._

_How does it work?_

Jason felt hesitant about divulging that kind of information, but then again, this was Meya. Miaari had vouched for her, and if he couldn't trust Miaari, then he couldn't trust anyone. _It builds an energy matrix in a layer of Neutronium we put on the outer hull, a matrix that absorbs active sensor energy and also absorbs the ambient plasma power signature of the systems inside it. If we adjust the matrix a little, it can even absorb light, making the skimmer almost impossible to see when it's dark. Of course, it's useless in the daytime, but at least at night the skimmer can move without being seen or detected._

_That's what all those shield emitters were for!_ she realized, then she laughed. _Jason, you have any idea how nuts Miss Kumi went trying to figure out what you were going to do with them?_

_I can imagine, she's too curious for her own good,_ Jason agreed mildly. _Now, I'm going to bring up the CMS, so watch._

Meya observed as he brought up the cloaking matrix, then started the engines once the matrix was up and running. _We'll be back in about two hours,_ Jason sent.

_We'll do what we can to get everything ready,_ Myra sent in reply.

Spending an hour alone with Meya wasn't as awkward as the thought it would be. Meya and Myra were twins, but they were actually quite different personality wise. Myra was more fun-loving and impulsive, and Meya more serious. But Meya had a dry sense of humor, a subtle wit that made her a pleasure to be around. Much to his surprise, they didn't spend the trip talking about the rebellion or his skimmer, Meya spent the entire time describing Dracora to him, from the buildings that reached thousands of feet into the air to the grassy parks and gardens between them. It was a huge city, five times larger than New York, but did not have a single road or street, only sidewalks and paths for skipboards and small one-seat hoverpods. There was mass transit and plenty of vehicles, but the vehicles were all hovercars and other flying transports, as well as an underground mass transit system. It was a city of over 100 million Faey, and it was the seat of the Empress, who ruled from a compound at the center of the city, on a high hill that caused the Imperial Palace's spires to reach higher than all other buildings. Arcturi Manor, the personal estate of Kumi's mother, sat on a bluff overlooking the center of the city, giving the mansion an amazing view of the Imperial Palace. She shared her knowledge of Dracora not just with words, but with images, memories, sending to him the _experience_ of Dracora, not just a _description_. Thanks to her sending, he _saw_ the three spires of the Imperial Palace, rising over all other buildings in the wide, shallow valley by the azure sea known as the _Trellei Sumaderi_, or Trelle's Beauty in English. He saw the numerous manors and estates on the bluff around Arcturi Manor, he saw the magnificent Meydaja Building, which was over a mile in height and took up twenty city block at its base, so high that its pinnacle was only a hair's breadth under the spires of the Imperial Palace, so huge that its shadow covered a huge swath of the city in the morning and afternoon. That was the tallest structure in the Imperium. He saw the two moons of Draconis hanging in the air on a lazy summer night, and the Paladin, a space station so massive that it affected the tides and was easily visible from the ground with the naked eye, the main hub of all material transport to and from Draconis. Paladin had been a military installation at first, but it had been converted to a supply and industrial station when the Imperium grew and Draconis became further from the edges of the Imperium's territory and less likely to be attacked by enemies. Not only did it handle cargo, it also had a small shipyard for building three types of small and medium freighters, as well as the new Meara class cargo transports. The shipyard was originally military, but it was now owned by Thrynne, and it was where they built some of their larger ships. About half of the food that left Earth on transports went to Paladin, and from there it was redistributed throughout the Imperium. There were four other stations similar to Paladin, but they weren't as large. Two were orbital space stations, and the other two were on one of Draconis' moons. When Jason wondered why everything wasn't done from Paladin, Meya responded with a memory of an attack on Paladin by a separatist movement about a century ago that left much of it crippled, and which summarily caused chaos in the Imperium's supply networks. To run virtually everything through only one chokepoint was a weakness, and if there was one thing Jason could say about the Faey, it was that they weren't stupid, and they learned from their mistakes. They wouldn't make that mistake again.

It surprised him that Draconis was so beautiful, given that the Faey were a heavily industrialized society. _I wouldn't mind seeing it with my own eyes,_ Jason mused as they approached Charleston.

_Well, that dropship you bought is registered to a _corporation_, Jason. You could take it though the stargate, without stealth, without it attracting too much attention. Dropships and personal transports _do_ go through the gate. Talk to Miaari about having one of those fake identities set up with a class three, and employ that identity at VulTech. That way a legal pilot operating a legal dropship is all any controller is ever going to see._

_I'm sure they scan ships that go through the gate, and I'll be doing too much customizing to the dropship for it to escape notice._

_Maybe. But if that bothers you, well, you also said you were going to buy another dropship. Just buy one and _don't_ modify it. That way you have a legal way to move back and forth. Get a used one, they're cheaper. Why did you buy a brand new one anyway?_

_I wanted to make sure it was in perfect condition, because that dropship might enter combat,_ he answered immediately. _I didn't want to take a chance on a used dropship that might have problems I overlooked. But I have to admit, that's a good idea. I can get a cheaper used one for that, that's for sure. I could even use it to pick up certain sensitive things I wouldn't want to have shipped. Hmm,_ he pondered, scratching his chin. _I definitely should talk to Miaari about that. But the question is, how much attention would I attract walking down a sidewalk on Draconis?_

_Oh, I'm sure you'd attract attention, most Faey have never seen a human before. But as long as your thoughts match the name and occupation on your ID, what can they say? A class three gives you the legal right to fly a dropship through the gate. Nobody could really say anything._

_Then I should get a new ID that says I'm a pilot by trade._

_That works._

_So, while we're loading people up, you can call Kate and relay that to Miaari._

_I would, but my panel's back in Nebraska,_ he sent with a smile at her. _But I'll take care of that as soon as we get back._

It took them about fifteen minutes to load up ten people and more gear, and then they took off and returned to Nebraska. Jason slipped the skimmer into the hangar with practiced ease, and he came down and immediately went for his panel. He called a contact number that he had for Kiaari, which basically was just a beeper warning her that Jason wanted to talk to her. Now all he had to do was wait for her to call back.

That took about ten seconds. His panel beeped before he could even get up, and he answered it immediately. A Faey face appeared on his monitor, which almost made him hang up quickly. _"It's me, it's me,"_ she called in Kate's voice. _"I didn't change clothes, that's all. What did you need?"_

"I need to see you," he said.

_"I'm kinda busy at the moment, hon. Give me fifteen minutes and I'll call you back,"_ she told him. _"And we can talk about when we're going to go out."_

"Alright then."

He terminated the call and went back to help them unload some of the gear they were going to need, then looked at Luke. "Luke, you're up," he said. "Myra, go with him, but he's flying."

"Sure, Jayce," Luke said with a nod. "You ready, Miss Myra?"

"Let's go, cutie," she told him.

"Luke, show Myra how to operate the CMS," Jason added, calling after them.

"I'll teach her," Luke said, waving a hand to him without turning around.

"And behave, woman!" Jason shouted after Myra.

"Killjoy!" she shouted in reply as they entered the skimmer.

_I hope she listens,_ he sent absently to Meya.

_About as much as I do._

_God help Luke then._

Meya laughed. _I think they'll be alright. Myra plays too much, but she knows when to separate it from business._

Kiaari called back right on schedule, and when Jason picked up the call, he noticed that his panel shifted into an encrypted mode that he had never seen before. It was something similar to the protocols that Kumi used to use, but it was not the same. _"Don't speak yet,"_ Kiaari said in Kimdori as her image appeared again on the monitor, this time in her _natural_ shape. _"Jason, it's important that you only speak Kimdori right now, or I won't hear what you say. Do you understand?"_

"I understand. What is this?"

_"I can't answer that, I'm sure you understand. Let's just say that it's necessary for me to use this. What did you need? You can talk freely, no one is going to pick this up."_

"I need you to get in touch with Miaari," he told her. He told her about the conversation he had with Meya. "I think it's a good idea."

_"Of course it's a good idea. That's why you'll find a set of ID cards for Max Sterling in the desk in the office."_

"What? You _already_ did it?"

_"Hon, you're not working with amateurs,"_ she told him with a toothy grin. _"When I told Miaari that you were getting ready to start leaving the preserve, she had an identity set up that has a class three license. Remember that key that the Ministry woman gave you? Do you have it?"_

"I carry it with me at all times."

_"Make sure you always do. Anyway, that key will let you start any dropship or hovercar, but if you use it on a skimmer or dropship, you'd still get picked up on traffic control because you'd be flying without broadcasting a pilot ID over your transponder. Miaari set up that identity so you can have a legal license ID going on any ship you _do_ steal, which wouldn't cause traffic control to try to remote override your ship, or call in interceptors to bring you down for illegal flight operations. She set it up as an emergency option in case you ever had to ditch your skimmer in Faey territory and needed to steal a way to get back to the preserve, one that will work now because the Imperium thinks that you're dead. We didn't exactly intend it in the way you described, but it _will_ work that way. Actually, it will work rather well, because the Imperium now thinks that Jason Fox is dead, and wouldn't be immediately suspicious of a human with a license. They'll never jump to the next rock and make the connection between Jason Fox and Max Sterling. Just update the photo and employ Max Sterling at VulTech, and he can fly company dropships without the system taking notice of it. Oh, and get used to answering to the name Max. If Jason Fox is dead, then you need to be ready to _be_ Max Sterling when you're out among the Faey."_

"That's an odd name."

_"Blame Miaari. It came from some ancient television show on Terra. He was some kind of pilot."_

Jason had to admit, he saw the wisdom in Miaari's action. By giving him an alternate identity that had a class three, he _could_ use it in conjunction with the master key in order to steal a skimmer or dropship and not set off alarms in traffic control. That Jason had the idea to use it to legally fly a dropship within the Faey traffic system was simply a lucky coincidence. He'd just have to be careful, because quite a few controllers knew his voice. They'd recognize Jason Fox, no matter what name their consoles told them was behind the controls of a dropship. And she was also right about telling him to get used to using a different name. To the Imperium, Jason Fox was dead. There would be times later on when he might have to go out into Faey territory, like when he and Temika had gone to New Myrthan... and they were going to need food while converting the dropship.

_"I was going to tell you about it the next time I came in."_

"When will that be?"

_"A couple of days. They've been changing the codes on the Trillane communication system every three days. Right now I'm trying to gain access to the update schedule and encryption master algorithms. Once I have that information, we can crack their encryption and gain access to their systems. They're using a dedicated encryption protocol for Terra, or I'd just have sister use her connections on Dracora to get the data we need."_

"Alright. I wasn't sure if you were working on that or helping Miaari track down the people who hurt Kumi."

_"I've been doing a little bit of both, as well as trying to ferret out some of the nobles behind the human slaving. No luck yet though. When you stumbled over their freighter, they buried the program. We suspect that the nobles probably had anyone with _any_ knowledge of it killed. Slave agents, workers, guards, hackers changing files, pilots, random civilians that might have seen any humans offworld, probably also any kidnapped human they could possibly reach. Kumi told you that the Empress could revoke Trillane's charter if it comes out they've been engaged in illegal activity like this. Well, odds are, the people doing it are making _damn_ sure that there's nobody left alive that has any knowledge of it."_

"That's a depressing thought. Those poor people," he sighed.

_"I know, but there's little that we can do to help them. We've got some kin trying to find where some of the humans were sent, but so far there's no information I can give you. I hate to cut it short, but I need to go. I'm working right now."_

"Oh. Alright. Thanks, Kate, and thank Miaari for me."

_"I'll tell her when I see her again. I'll see you in a few days, okay?"_

"Be careful out there."

_"Always. Bye."_

"Bye." Jason cut the connection, and watched as his panel purged its active memory by itself, did a thirty second scan of its permanent memory crystals, then _shut down and restarted itself_. Jason had to admit, that Kimdori encryption protocol was pretty damn thorough.

In the small, cramped office that opened to both the outside and to the main warehouse, there was no furniture except a bare light bulb on the ceiling, a metal filing cabinet in one corner, a small corner table in the opposite corner, and a simple sheet metal desk with a plywood top. Jason leaned over the deskthere was no chair for itand opened the top drawer, and sure enough, there was a small white envelope made of a soft, pliable kind of plastic that the Faey often used as heavy duty paper, an envelope holding small objects. He poured the contents of the envelope onto the desk, and found himself looking at three standard issue Faey ID cards. The first was a native ID, something every _legal_ human on Earth possessed, that had room for a picture, name, address, and Native Control Number. The picture field of the IDs were blank, able to be dynamically updated by hooking it up to a panel and downloading that data into it, but the name on the idea read [Maximilian Quincy Sterling], and it showed his date of birth as being identical to Jason's own. The listed occupation on the ID was blank, but that field he could add in with his picture. The listed home address on the ID was the address of the warehouse itself. The second card was a class three license, which was absolutely complete and correct. It wasn't a fake license, though it was certainly attained by less than honest means. It too was in his name, with the hangar being his home address, and it had a pilot's registration number. The third ID was a duplicate of the native ID, a spare in case he lost one.

"Clever girl," Jason mused aloud, turning the class three over in his hand and looking at the back. Miaari certainly did think ahead, and much to his delight, her forward thinking was going to help them a great deal. "Maximilian Quincy Sterling," he said aloud, getting used to the sound of it.

It certainly had possibilities. More and more possibilities, and the more he thought about it, the more possibilities he saw. Jason Fox was dead, but the world was open to Max Sterling. Jason Fox was a fugitive, a wanted man, but Max Sterling was a cog in the Imperial machine, a working stiff that could move silently through the Faey world, a quiet fellow who flew a cargo dropship for a Terran-based company and went where he was sent, picking up and dropping off, and _learning_. In his own way, he could be just as effective a gatherer of intelligence as Kiaari, if he just kept his mouth shut and his ears open.

Jason Fox was dead. He would remain dead until the resistance struck its first blow and announced itself to the Imperium. But until that day, there would be Max Sterling.

"Who's that?" Tom Jackson's voice called from the door.

"Well, I guess it's going to be me," Jason told him, collecting the three cards and putting them in his pocket. "Kate left me some fake IDs I can use while we're here in Lincoln," he explained. "Since everyone thinks that we're dead, the fake IDs will let us move around without anyone the wiser. The name on this ID is Max Sterling."

"Oh. I'm still getting used to the idea that she's not who we thought we were."

"I know. Sometimes even I don't."

"Where did you find her?"

"Actually, she found me," he chuckled. "She's very good at what she does, Tom. She's going to be a great help to us."

"I don't doubt that, but it's still weird. Anyway, we need your help out here, and Jyslin was looking for you."

"Alright. Let's see what needs doing."

                                        * * *

It took all night to get everyone to Lincoln, including one unplanned run back to Charleston to pick up some equipment that they'd forgotten, as well as pick up a few unplanned passengers; Temika, Jyslin, and to his surprise, Fure. They flew in pairs for the most part, except for the final planned run, which Jason had Luke do solo. The look of appreciation on Luke's face showed how proud he was that Jason would trust him with his precious skimmer, and he took almost five minutes getting it out of the hangar, he was so afraid of so much as scratching it. That amused Jason quite a little bit, watching him creep the skimmer out the hangar doors at about an inch a second. Jason managed to grab a quick nap between flights, sleeping on a bedroll near the hangar door so the sound of it opening would wake him up. Everyone else was bunked in on the far side of the warehouse, on top of a narrow platform of sorts created by a very small open second floor, basically just a platform erected on the far wall to provide a little extra storage space. It did put all the sleepers out from underfoot on the ground floor, and the covered area under the platform was a good place to store gear and equipment.

Everyone was nervous, and they got more and more nervous as the appointed time, eleven local time, approached. Jason and the other Faey had to calm everyone down more than once, and they also had to correct some people who were losing their false fronts of thought, as they all roamed the warehouse actively listening to those structured trains of thought, structured to throw off Faey, doing what Symone and Jyslin trained them to do. Strangely enough, the one that made everyone most nervous wasn't the twins or the docs, it was Fure. Then again, Fure had this cold demeanor and creepy aire that 