A/N: I just got done with this chapter and my initial reaction is: "Wow." It's a powerful chapter, and I almost don't like it, but I think it's necessary to drive the story in the direction I want it to go.

Alleycat1312- Yeah, I plan to take Mera and Jed as far as I can. You'll see more in this chapter.

Warior- They're human. They're just really good at what they do.

Pixiegirl13- You got a motorcycle? No fair. '--

That's about it! Enjoy the chapter, and please review. I really want to know what you think about this chapter in particular.

A New Threat

"Sir, we have reason to believe that the pirates are amassing a military force large enough to conquer a large part of the Wyvrn Rim. They're more than just a severe annoyance anymore: They're a new threat to our livelihood."

The Galactic Federation officer scratched his chin a moment. "The pirate raids in that sector have been getting worse over the past few years. What can we do to prevent a future conflict?"

"I'm glad you asked, sir," the soldier replied, "I've been thinking, and you know the planet Ussur? If we built a military stronghold there, we could possibly guard against pirate raids and, hopefully, discourage a future attack without ever declaring war."

The officer nodded carefully. "Yes… You could be right. How many marines can we spare?"

-X-

"Is that it?" Alec asked the stevedore. He nodded and closed up the cargo hatch to the small merchant ship. Alec moved towards the cockpit, preparing for his journey.

Suddenly, a small child ran up and threw her arms around his legs. "Do you have to go again, daddy?" Came the small child's voice.

"What are you doing up this late?" Alec looked down at his daughter, smiling. He always hated this part of his job. If he could, he would stay here with his family forever. But, alas, duty called and it was time to head out with his wares.

He bent down to look his daughter in the eyes. "Listen to me," he said to her soothingly, "Do you see that star, right there? That really bright one?" Alec pointed to the sky. "That's where I'm going to be," he told his daughter. "Any time you get lonely, you just look at that star and think of me and it will be like I'm right here with you." The little girl smiled.

"I love you, daddy."

"I love you, too, sweetie."

The little girl yawned. Alec patted her on the head lovingly. "It's past your bedtime. Why don't you go home and have mommy tuck you in bed? I'll be back in a few days."

His daughter yawned again and murmured something sleepily as she headed off towards home. Alec's heart ached to stay home, but he had no choice: His family depended on the money he made selling his wares on other planets.

It was not long before Alec was soaring through space, headed towards the small dot that he knew was the planet Ussur.

Then disaster struck.

It started with a small beeping on the radar of the ship, announcing the arrival of another ship.

"Odd," Alec noted, double checking his controls. "There shouldn't be any other ships on this route this week."

Then it hit him. "No…"

Lasers were fired, and Alec's ship rocked violently. Shocked, Alec regained his senses and fired back. The other ship was relatively unharmed.

Suddenly, it was gone. Nothing on the radar. Nothing to be seen out of the windows. Gone. As if the pirate ship had vanished into thin air.

After a few minutes of heavy breathing and a racing heart, Alec fired up the thrusters again. He was confused: What had happened?

Suddenly his ship was thrown violently to one side. He had been rammed. Then he realized what had happened: The pirates had advanced cloaking technology. They were still there, and still very much a threat. He just couldn't see them.

Alec's ship was spinning dizzyingly into space. He was thrown against the walls of the craft as the ship's gravity generators tried to cope with the confusing movement. The gravity switched planes crazily, sending Alec flying about the ship uncontrollably.

Another blast from the pirates' ship broke open a hole in the cargo hold. The vacuum sent boxes of valuable spices flying aimlessly into space as the room tried to depressurize. After steadying the small merchant ship with a tractor beam, the pirates prepared to board.

Grabbing a blaster that he kept hidden under his seat, Alec prepared for battle. Shortly he heard the pirates stomping about, tearing open boxes to find what they contained.

Seconds later, pirates burst through the cockpit door, brandishing their feared wrist blades. Alec stood no chance. He killed two pirates before they could get into the room, but it was not long before the pirates overwhelmed him, swarming the room.

A pirate blade was thrust through Alec's midsection, twisted painfully, and then wrenched from his gut.

His last thoughts were of his daughter and wife, who were never to see him again.

-X-

"Another successful night!" Mera squealed, throwing the small sack of money on the couch. Jed smiled gleefully. The grand total was now over three-hundred-thousand GFSCs.

Brimming with joy, Mera ran over to Jed and gave him a big hug. "We're getting there!" She exclaimed, grinning ear to ear.

Suddenly, there was a sound from outside. The couple grew silent and Mera slinked over to the window. Walking carefully up to their front door was a figure dressed in armor, brandishing a pistol and a wicked-looking blade.

Her eyes wide, Mera slipped away from the window and looked at Jed. "Bounty hunter," she mouthed to him. Jed nodded and walked into the next room. Mera pulled a small gun from her belt and moved beside the door.

The next few moments were tense: In the silence, Mera could hear the bounty hunter's footsteps as he approached the front door. When he had arrived, Mera heard him pulling out some sort of tool and carefully cutting the door's window with it. The tool made a very soft screeching sound as it did its job efficiently, slicing through the window as if it were putty.

In a moment, the window was pulled out and the bounty hunter reached in with his hand, searching for the doorknob. Mera's breathing grew sharper as the bounty hunter reached around, looking for the lock on the door. His hand was barely units away from her.

The bounty hunter unlocked the door and slowly opened it. He stepped into the house and looked around, assessing his surroundings. After he was far enough into the room, he was met with a pistol to the back of his head.

"Don't move," Mera whispered in his ear. Mera was rather tall for a human, and she was about the same size as the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter froze.

Careful to keep her pistol pinned against the hunter's head, Mera closed the door and covered the gaping hole where the window used to be with some curtains. Then she turned back to the bounty hunter and hissed, "How much were you expecting to get from us, hmm? How much has our bounty climbed to?"

There was silence for a while, but eventually a gruff voice replied, "Fifty-thousand GFSCs."

Mera smiled to herself. They were becoming more and more well-known. While she was proud of their accomplishment, she realized that a climbing bounty was not a good thing: The higher the bounty, the more hunters they would have on their trail. They would have to be extra careful to cover their tracks from now on.

Mera questioned the bounty hunter for all she wanted to know. She was surprised at how willing he was to give up his information about how he found them and where his references were. Either she was dealing with a new bounty hunter or a prideful one: If he was new, he wouldn't know to conceal this information, and if he was prideful he could be bragging about his bounty-hunting skills. Either way, it worked to her advantage.

After Mera had milked the hunter for all she needed to know, she cocked her gun, intending to kill him while she had the advantage. Unfortunately for her, however, the hunter was ready for this, and managed to wrest himself from her grasp, whirling around to face her.

Not wasting any time, Mera fired off several shots. She had a silencer on her gun, hoping to not bring any unnecessary attention to their house if possible. The bounty hunter was unharmed, but a picture on the wall was damaged. Mera frowned, realizing that this fight could leave their house in shambles. They'd have to come up with some sort of cover-up later.

The bounty hunter ducked into the next room, taking shelter in the doorway. Unfortunately, he had made the same mistake that so many other bounty hunters before him had made.

He forgot about Jed.

Two shots to the back of the head brought the hunter down, despite his armored helmet. Another in his back finished the hunter off.