Of the three-hundred and twenty-five humans that were abducted and forced into contracts, effectively rendering them as slaves, only thirty-nine have been released and relocated to Virrion and one to Rapture.
Seventy-three other contracts have been dissolved, yet those people have yet to make their way to either colony.  Contact has been made with the majority of them, either by myself or Orthus, yet there are three who are unreachable.
Two-hundred and six people are still under contract.  One-hundred and eighty-six of them are registered, giving us a location for the being that purchased the contract.  Twenty are in the proverbial wind.
Six people have not signed contracts at all.  They are all five years old or younger and so have been detained in a centre for young beings who will enter a contract once they have the cognitive skills to do so.
There are two-hundred and eighty-five human beings to locate, liberate and give a lift home to.
Not to mention the one who disappeared from Rapture without telling anyone and has not been heard from since.  Not that I am worried at all, however it would be nice to get some sort of signal that Phillip Thomas is not yet dead.  Other than having not felt it at least.  It is the not knowing that is eating away at my thoughts. 
There was the fear that other people may have died, either peacefully or painlessly, meaning that I might not have noticed their energies missing from within me.  The confirmation of names and locations has put me at a little more ease, however, there are still those few unaccounted for that weigh on my mind.
All in all, it is a far smaller number of people in need of liberation than my most initial fears lead me to conjure up.
There are currently fifty-one humans on Rapture, one hundred and seven on Virrion and eighteen on board the Venanth-Nepha, not including myself and Bernard.
On board, there are also seventy-three other beings in the long term holding cells and twelve in cryo-stasis pod, all in the central hub.
These are genuine criminals, either awaiting trial, judgement or transfer.
There is no need to even visit those cells, they are all on an automatic system which keeps them fed and hydrated and with severely limited access to the galanet, which gives them access only to news reports from certain sources and communication with their legal council.
At some point we are going to need to recruit an engineer to monitor and maintain the cry-pods, as well as the rest of the ship, however Ven has assured us that they are more than perfectly functional at the moment.
There are also thirteen beings, in the holding cells of the rings, who were being transported to Eriost Tilten, a prison and rehabilitation complex that has overpopulated an entire planet to the point that they are currently terraforming a second planet in the same system to cope with the overflow.
As such, we have our first destination.
Those thirteen prisoners will be our first bounties.
However, in order to be eligible to claim them, Bernard and myself will need to acquire licenses and Ishni needed to get his renewed having been inactive for more than five cycles.  His was very straightforward, the necessary forms filled out, sent off and responded to in just over an auxe.
Ours, however, require passing a small exam and the installation of dedicated microchips which will give us limited access to certain parts of the archives of Sakoporieme that hold information regarding law proceedings and criminal cases.
The exam we have already taken, after two cycles of nothing but absorbing the relevant laws, laid down by both the Community and various thulai races, and procedures for the hunt, capture, transportation and transfer of criminals.  My brain feels about ready to explode with all that has been impressed upon me by Ishni sensei, a nickname that I called him as an attempt at a joke, which he liked and asked me to continue using.
Usually we would have to wait several days for the application to be reviewed and approved by the various authorities.  Fortunately, Culpin has used the influence that it has as, not only a Community officer, but a trusted name in law enforcement, to speed up the process.
If all goes well, we should be receiving our results within the next few auxes.
The laws that surround the profession of bounty hunting are about as bureaucratic as may be imagined; the amount of hoop jumping that we will likely encounter is going to be interesting.
One part that did stick out was the fact that there is no such thing as a ‘dead or alive’ bounty.
If a target is dead, there is no bounty.  It is a simple, yet I am sure highly infuriating in certain situations, rule which raises the bar when it comes to the skills necessary to successfully apprehend the being in question.
Not that I will ever be putting myself into a position where I will need to take a life.  Whether I believe life to be sacred or not is irrelevant.  To take the life of an undeserving being is simply wrong and to take that of a corrupted being who has done much wrong themselves, not only deprives that being of the justice or retribution they deserve, but eliminates their chance for redemption.
Revenge or vengeance are, in my opinion, paths that can only lead to self-corruption.  How would sinking to their level make someone feel better or restore things to the way that they were?
I remember an old saying; “before you embark on a journey on revenge, dig two graves.”
I also remember it being used in a film where Woody Harrelson’s character thinks that it has the opposite meaning.
I miss human movies.
The few that I have come across so far, all seem to be lacking in romance and adventure.  The majority tend to be overly dramatic, historical pieces which do not have solid endings.
Perhaps, once everything is over and settled, I should think about getting some people together to make something created with a little human passion to see what the galaxy makes of it.  That will likely be in my next life. 
That or somebody else’s.

We are currently two auxes out from Eriost Tilten however, as it transpires, we will not be going directly to the planet itself.
No beings are permitted on the planet itself save wardens and councilors.  All labour and maintenance are carried out by the inmates as a way to give them experience and qualifications to help prepare them for their release.  They can also earn a bit of money which can be saved for their accommodation and transportation upon release, although most tend to spend it on small luxury items that are offered for good behaviour.
The closest that we will getting is the space station, Meneleo, which is in orbit around the planet, used for visitations, official proceedings and processing in and out of the population.
It will be there that we transfer the prisoners and collect the rewards.
That will be after Bernard and I receive our new chips.
We both passed all of the necessary components of the applications and have been granted temporary licenses which will grant us access to the appropriate parts of the station.
The plan is for Bernard, Ishni, Culpin and myself to take one of the ten shuttles that belong to the Venanth-Nepha, to the station with any passengers that wish to visit for a change of scenery.  There are several public sectors, designed specifically for visitors and legal officials and so are fairly commercial, with plenty of places for peaceful relaxation.
Ven’s relaxation facilities had originally been reserved for crew members, however, given the unusual circumstances, we had only to ask, to open the area up for the rest of the passengers.
Above the crew quarters, the top of the hub begins to dome.
The space is the same size and shape as the flight-deck, however it is more like being on the deck of a cruise ship (at least how I imagine that would have been like, never having been on a cruise in my past life).  Various reclining chairs and comfy seating areas scatter the area, broken up by panels of glass (what looks like glass) which can be switched between transparent and frosted.
Three orb-shaped rooms are in a triangle shape, each being a different type of water relaxation pod; a jacuzzi, a calming pool that adjusts to body temperature and a steam room.  They are pods as opposed to being in the open on the off chance there is a problem with the artificial gravity.
In the centre of the room is one giant orb-shaped room.  It is completely empty, however the walls are firm foam and the strength of the gravity can be altered to either make the occupants heavier or lighter.  Whilst it can be reduced to zero gravity, it cannot be reversed past a certain point at which bones begin breaking from the weight.  So far it has been used both for fun and for training; the added weight really helps with strength development.
A walkway spirals around that orb, which leads up to the docking bay where the shuttles and a small vessel belonging to one of previous crew members sit.
The floor of that upper deck extends out over the viewing glass of the dome.  It is covered with lights that fade from being as bright as day to being darker with a smattering of stars to match the sky around us.  The transition goes between day and night in sequence with the units; half day and half night.
Despite the fact that it is a genuinely lovely place to take one’s mind off of things, the habitants of the crew quarters have been stuck with it for several units and will have to stay with it for several more after we leave Meneleo.  Cabin fever is not a pretty thing to go through, so granting even just a little shore leave should help to relax them a little.
Once everyone has dispersed, Bernard and I will finish our bounty hunting applications and get the chips.
We will then begin the oh so fun task of transferring the prisoners from the Venanth-Nepha to the Processing-In department. 
Two at a time.
As there are only three of us with the skills to suppress any escape attempt, taking any more would increase the possibility that one of them could gain the upper hand.
I am under no illusion that the whole process will take a while.  At least it will give the former prisoners of the Venanth-Nepha a good chance to stretch their legs.
Culpin has told me to prepare.
However, he failed to elaborate on what I would need to prepare and my galactic social graces are completely in the dark.
I have been going back through all of the procedures that will be appropriate to know in this situation, as well as the files of the prisoners, so I know if we will need to be keeping a closer eye on some more than others, or if anyone needs any particular treatment (the typical allergies and cultural sensitivities).
Other than that, the only thing I can think of, is to prepare my outfit and overall appearance.
Having gotten completely fed up with my hair looking like it had suffered a bad dip-dye job, I cut it all off at the point where the colour becomes my own.  This took an insufferably long time as I was only doing it a few strands at a time so that I could see the natural shape that it forms.
It is not the most attractive haircut that I have ever had, however I am determined to grow it out in this shape as I have always been curious about how it would look.  Had I the courage, in my past life, I would have shaved it all off for that very reason.
It is painfully short.  The shortest that it has been since I was in my last year of secondary school and I felt that cutting my hair was a somewhat healthier way to express my emotional pain than other methods I had considered.
I pulled it up into a ponytail and simply cut it off.
At the time I had not thought through what shape it would take after the snip and was rather perturbed by the hair that was five or so inches at the front and less than one at the back.
A quick trip to the hairdressers the following day and I discovered my true aversion to having short hair.
However for the following five years, I was somehow convinced by my friends, that it worked for me and I should get it short again on my next trip to the salon.
I eventually stopped going altogether, dismissing even the slightest trim.
Despite only having two haircuts after turning twenty, my hair had only just about grew past my bra-strap.
Now when I catch my reflection in any shiny surfaces, I cannot help but wince at the loss of it.
My face is now slimmer than it was, however it still does not suit me.
I have taken to wearing my scrunchy around my wrist as it no longer serves any other purpose.
That, along with my necklace, are the only physical pieces of my past life that I currently possess.
An itch crawls beneath my skin, begging for the return of my bag and belongings.
They await me on Virrion.
A place which I am certainly not ready to face yet.
Before the kidnapping, I was already dreading the visit.  The thought that I would be under such scrutiny and judgement was enough to reduce my knees to a wobbly mess.
And now…
Now I am the one this that they can all associate with the abduction and forced slavery.  The segregation and incarceration of humanity.
I genuinely do not believe that I will be able to enter the planet’s atmosphere of my own volition, every fibre of my being wills me to turn and run.  Facing them is more terrifying than an army of skillfully trained assassins.
And yet, it is something that I must do.  I owe them… I do not even know what.  A chance to confront me. A chance to take their revenge.  A chance to tell me that they do not blame me, but they still cannot look at my face because it is still too painful.  Which is just another way of saying that they do consider it my fault, yet they plan on forgiving me one day.
I plan on letting the odd person land a punch if it will help them to feel better, however I am determined to keep myself alive and mobile.  I will not let even their retribution stop me from undertaking my task.

The shuttle trip between Ven and Meneleo is only three lals long.
I have acquired some more substantial, darkly coloured clothes from the ship’s collection of “acquisitions”.  Culpin had already divided up what needed to be held for evidence.  There was a free-for-all for what was left over.  I chose my outfit from what was left over.
Only seven passengers have joined us for the outing.  The rest seemingly did not want to venture outside of a place that they know and where they feel safe.
We have arranged times and locations for getting back.
If all goes smoothly (knocks on non-existent wood) we should be on our way again before the next unit.