The engines of Odyssey were winding up. Dust from the landing platform was being sprayed in all directions as the pilot began to move the throttles forward. Everything looked good and then…

Kane needed a pilot. He had had one, but they left over a personal disagreement with Captain Kane. The personal disagreement was that the pilot thought Jade (Kane’s wife) should be available for ‘entertaining’ the crew and Kane thought the man should learn to breath hard vacuum. Fortunately, the former pilot was able to get off the ship before Kane could give him his first lesson.

Kane was a pilot, but of very basic ability when it came to space craft. He had no delusions about that and did not put up a front to the contrary. Oh, he could take off and land, even fly from place to place without much danger, but beyond basic flight, he risked his ship and his crew.

So, the idea had come to him to set down on a well traveled rim or core world and see who he could attract. He knew what he had to have. The candidate had to be confident and competent, but also had to keep their head in pressure situations. Of course, most of all, they had to treat Odyssey as if she were the love of her life—no banging into the ground on landing or sloppy take offs. Hot Roding, when needed (which was rare), is fine, but for this ship fine control and solid temperament was important.

So, he brought Odyssey and crew to Persephone. The planet was popular and a hub for all manner of space travelers. In addition, fuel and maintenance tended to be relatively inexpensive there. He figured he could afford to be there for a long layover until he secured a new pilot.

He did not expect it would take as long, but it did.

Kane had already tried out several potential pilots over the past twelve days. While they each had something to offer, there were too many negatives with each to even consider turning Odyssey over to them. Fortunately, none of them had done any damage to her…fortunate for them, that is. But he was beginning to become conc