One unit out from Virrion and I received a video from Phoebe.
She was sat in an office, with a view out over one of the Veroten’s relaxation gardens.
The expression on her face appeared to be the result of continuous emotional breakdowns.
“What do you think of my office?” her voice came out with forced mirth and a barely noticeable tremor, “I think I’ve pretty much finished my decorating, for now anyway.”
A few nods of her head indicated her readiness to break her news.
“Laura,” an exhausted smile spread across her face, “I’m pregnant.”
A few deep, steady breaths later, she continued, “Nathan and I were not, not trying before… well, you know.  I’m currently about two-fifths along.  I’ve figured out that pregnancy lasts about one-hundred and eighty-two units, give or take, so I’ve got just more than one-hundred more to go.”
Her eyes constantly darted to and from her hands and the camera, “I didn’t think it would survive the first twelve weeks, considering all the stress and the unknown factors of artificial gravity or varying levels of radiation or even traveling through the Hylanx or at F.T.L.  It’s the only reason I didn’t say anything sooner, I almost didn’t want it to be true.
“You know me,” she shrugged her shoulders, “without Nathan, I’ve been really struggling to stay positive, and now…  Without him, I don’t know think I can do this.  I had thrown myself into the negotiations and politics here, but it’s getting to the point where I can’t focus on even the simplest of tasks.  I need to find him, I need to be with him.  I’m scared, Laura.  The thought of being a parent always terrified me, but as long as I had Nathan, it was something that I was on the verge of looking forward to.  Without him, I feel nothing but fear.”
Straightening her back, she tapped on her arm and some writing appeared to the side of the video.
“According to the files that you recovered from the Venanth-Nepha, he was one of thirty or so people whose contract was sold to a company called Kemandril, located on the planet Wisuces, in the Jotau Soucor system.  There is next to no information about this company other than the fact that they deal with labour fulfilment on that planet.”
She took a deep breath and stared straight into the camera, straight at me. 
“I have made a decision.  You’re not going to like it.  I am going to Wisuces.  Kemandril’s customer enquiry department is abysmal, to put it bluntly, but I did manage to get a specific location for their offices.  I will find my husband, my Nathan.  My responsibilities can wait.  The fact is that there is only a certain window for me to travel in, before this child,” she placed her hand on her stomach, “becomes too much of a burden.  If I don’t have Nathan…”  She trailed off, unable to speak the words that she was thinking.
“I’m leaving the Veroten in the next auxe, with a Community peacekeeping contingent that are heading over there.  The journey will take six or seven units.  I will be careful, but not at the cost of getting him back.”  Her voice had become stern, “I honestly do not believe that I will need assistance, however, if I call, I know that I can rely on you.  I won’t act rashly unless I’m given no other choice.  I’ll probably see you there.”
Her eyes dipped to the ground as she tapped her arm to end the recording.
I let out the breath that I had been holding since the first moment that I had seen the look on her face.
Of the many couples that I have come across throughout my lifetime, Phoebe and Nathan are one of the most ridiculously sane and aspirational. 
They had only met a few years before the end of Earth and had been so right together that they were engaged within a year, then married in under two.  To begin with, we had all been concerned that they had rushed into it, however anyone, who had spent any time together with them, would be put at ease.  Their symbiosis and affection was evident and the surety of their relationship beyond dispute.
Phoebe was one of the strongest women that I had ever come across, yet without her Nathan, she had definitely become more withdrawn.  She was rapidly disolving into her role on the Veroten.
I had had my concerns, yet I was confident that she would be able to cope until I could find him and bring him back to her.
However, the prospect of single motherhood in space was not something that I had accounted for.  It would be enough to send any rational person to act out of desperation.  For Phoebe there was so much anxiety involved that I could pinpoint her emotions amongst the many, especially now that she was moving.
They were back in the direction which we were heading away from.
Or at least very close to it.
The Jotau Soucor system is the closest inhabited system to Perin Culanis, the star system that houses the prison network.
To head there now would take around three units, whereas if we maintain our current course, we will arrive there no later than one unit after Phoebe does.
If any sudden issues arise, we have enough reserves to utilize the F.T.L from one side of the galaxy to the other and back again, at least three times over.  I am keeping a close sense on any emotions that stream from behind us.
That will become a lot more difficult the closer to other, busier systems we get, however I am borderline confident that I will be able to register any distress that she may experience.  More than she already is, in any case.
If I were to ask Ven to turn around and head for Wisuces, I fear there might be some sort of mutiny amongst the passengers who have already had to wait so long to be brought home.
I trust that Phoebe will act more rationally than most would in her position.
I hope that she will be able to take the time that the journey will afford her to work on some strategies and a whole alphabet of backup plans.
I think that I will make as much haste as possible to get to her before anything untoward can happen.

On the subject of pregnancies, Bernard is constantly reminding me that, according to accurate timing calculations, Leah is due within the next few units.
As almost unbelievable chance would have it, her contract was one those purchased by Kemandril.
Considering her condition, her name was at the very top of our list when it came to priorities, therefore it is likely that we would have been headed to Wisuces after Virrion, regardless of Phoebe’s actions.
Keeping him calm despite the fact that his, currently missing, heavily pregnant girlfriend is on the verge of giving birth, has been a challenge.  Any time that he has not been training, has been spent with the few people that he knows from the cinema, working through his frustrations by talking about nothing else.
As such, those few have come forwards a few times with their concerns for him.
The only words that we can offer are the truth; she will be the next person we actively look for however, for the time being, getting the people that we have with us home, takes precedent.
I have reassured them that, should she go into labour, I will feel it, we will be able to plot a course to where the pain is coming from and jump over there before the baby is even born.
None of that is unlikely to happen.  I am certain that, given what I have heard about the ‘joys’ of childbirth, I will feel it when it begins to happen.  Then using the vague direction that it will come from, we can figure out which planet she is likely to be on.  Once we arrive locally, I will be able to pinpoint a more precise location. 
However, where I should be confident, the voices in my head begin to chant.  The doubts roll in and I struggle to believe that any of it will go as smoothly as I would like.
When it comes to extraction, we will have to tread with extreme caution.
We have the legal rights and procedure to back us up when it comes to retrieving the bound, however the fact is that none of those people were released when the news that the contracts, established by Nesutten and his crew, became void.  It becomes anyone’s guess as to how much resistance we will come up against when we confront the holders.
I have yet to determine how far I will be willing to go in the event that we are denied access.
Legally, I would have the right to break into a place that is withholding a human under a voided contract in order to extract them.  However, it is similar, in a way, to confronting a shoplifter; if you stop someone who has not actually stolen anything then you are guilty of harassment.  The process of forcibly gaining entrance to a place only becomes justifiable if a human recovered.  If there is no one being confined against their will, the action remains criminal and we would risk large fines and suspension of our licenses.
I am able to pinpoint the precise location of any human that I am connected to.  Which is all of them.  Therefore, I should be able to sense, not only if there is someone being detained, but if they are under any kind of pressure or blackmail in regards to leaving the holder’s side.
Once Leah gives birth, a new human will be brought into existence that I will have no connection to.
That prospect in itself is enough to give me some sort of hope.
Then, of course, there is the fact that this child will be the first human to be born this our new age.  I am reluctant to call it the space age, unfortunately I am failing at coming up with anything less basic.
Possibly the galactic age.
Regardless of the name, Leah’s baby will be the first human that cannot be labeled as an Earthling.
She or he, will bear a name that will be remembered and recorded for all future generations to remember.
The thought that my name may suffer a similar fate is a wondrously terrifying one.
Hundreds of cycles from now, how will I be remembered?
Humanity’s saviour or its martyr?
I suppose it depends of those that make the records.
I am sure that I do not want to know either way.
Once this is all over, if this is ever all over, and, by some unforeseen miracle, I survive my own death, I will fold myself into some quiet corner where I cannot have any effect on anyone or anything, and live out the remainder of my existence in ineffectual solitude.  Despite the very fact that it was precisely that kind of lifestyle that lead so many to such suffering, the chances of it happening again are nonexistent.  Even if it were not, I would rather forget and be forgotten, and save them all from such loss, than drag anyone through the same ordeal again.
A part of me still fantasizes about finding Philip and disappearing off into some little love nest.  However, the longer I go without hearing from him or learning anything new of what he is doing or where he is, the less I hope I have for such comforts.
Which, admittedly, does not stop me from wasting my daydreams on him, it simply makes them feel a lot more bittersweet.
In my dreams, or rather the one dream that repeats night after night, I die directly after having kissed him goodbye, therefore I have a rather compelling reason to believe that I will find him sooner or later.
If it turns out that he is staying away because he thinks that it will prolong the event, I will be more than just a little pissed.
There are so many other people present in the vision that have not been found, not to mention that it happens in a completely unknown location.
I would rather die, having spent as much time with him as possible, than not have spent any time with him at all and living longer.
Perhaps he feels differently.
Whatever the case, I am entirely in the dark.
And will continue to be so until he makes himself known.
All I can do is focus on the tasks at hand.
We will soon be arriving on Virrion. 
We will drop off the humans that we have liberated.
We will reclaim the Piti and our belongings from its hold.
We will leave Virrion and head for Wisuces.
I am desperately trying to conjure up a reason to keep myself from having to show my face in Dawn.
There have been a few requests made that I will need to be present to discus as well as a few people that I promised to meet with.
The only excuses I can come up with, leave me with a metaphorically bad taste in my mouth.  I owe it, not only to them, but to myself, to face them head on.
I also have an unprecedented urge to get to my bags.
I have been fine without them and their contents, however the comfort that comes from having those few items within arms reach, is beyond soothing.  The sooner I can get them back, the sooner I feel that I can relax a little more.
I proposed to the others that, of our first bounties, we would give a percentage to Gheetoh for the part that she played in getting our belongings out of the range of our enemies and the human bodies to a place where they could be laid to rest with dignity and respect.
We owe her our gratitude and more, and I plan to show the appropriate thanks, as well as a lift to Rapture, if she does not mind taking the long route with us.

In my mind, I saw our arrival in Dawn happening on a bright sunny day, with a gentle breeze greeting us as we stepped off of the shuttle.  Any images I had seen, suggested as much was going to be likely.
From the outer atmosphere, the island of Erana Mandrilbouxi was clearly visible.  However the further we descended, the clearer the clouds became.
They hung close to the ground making it so that only the peeks of a series of sharp hills and a mountain could be seen.
We landed on top of a central building that was originally a welcoming and entertainment centre.  It was force stories high, the landing pad decorated with local flora and colourful murals.
The moment that the shuttle’s door opened, we were smothered with the oppressively humid fog.
Any time a breeze hit us, it brought tiny smatterings of rain drops.
“Welcome!” a voice cried out from across the landing platform, as the twenty-one human arrivals, along with myself, Bernard, Orthus, Culpin and Desmosa, filed out into the haze.
My left eye adjusted to the mists a lot quicker than the right, as well as everyone else’s.
I could make out four people standing under an overhanging canopy of green and yellow vines.
The tallest of them stepped forwards until we could all make out his face.
With a dramatic flourish of his hands, he spread his arms in greeting.
“Welcome,” Grant Drake repeated then continued, after pausing for dramatic effect, “to Dawn.”