"So this is where you hide out all day long."

Mark looked up from the engine he was servicing to see Jennifer standing there. "Pip! Hey – how you holdin' up now that you've been sprung?"

"It's wonderful," she smiled at him. "I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder every minute of the day."

"I find that hard to believe, with Vi and Lottie there with you," he said in disbelief.

"Trust me, they're nothing compared to the hospital. Yes, they're still trying to feed me three helpings of everything, and Vi keeps commenting about how I look like I could use a nap, but it's still much, much better."

"How are you doing with the other boarders? Have you met many of them?"

She grimaced. "A little. Honestly, I've been eating a few meals with Vi and Lottie in the kitchen…it's a little overwhelming." She was turning slowly as she spoke, taking the hangar in. "Although, a family is staying there now – a man and his two grandchildren – and Max and Hannah have been keeping me company. They won't start school for a day or two, and Vi says they've 'taken a liking to me.' Anyway, I wondered if I could borrow a tool…"

He looked up as her voice trailed away – she was looking around at the hangar almost longingly. He knew from talking to her that she was a pilot and a mechanic at heart. From some of the stories she'd told him about her escapades with the Power team, he really wanted to see her in the air someday. "So are you staying busier now that you're out?" he prompted her.

"Yes, actually. Vi has an old shed out in the yard that she's letting me use as a little workshop. She has quite a few things that need repaired, and I don't exactly want to take over the dining room table to do it." Her eyes focused on the ship he was working on. "Is that your ship?" she asked.

"Yep, this is her," Mark said proudly. "She's a good girl – gets plenty of folks here to safety each week. Not to mention your letters," he added, his voice dropping. She smiled up at him for a moment, but then went back to looking the ship over. He watched as she circled it slowly, taking in all the details she could. "Wanna see inside?" he asked her.

"I'd love to," she said eagerly. She followed him as he opened the hatch and made his way into the cockpit. She whistled low. "You've got some pretty nice bells and whistles here," she commented.

"She's pretty well tricked out." When she looked at him, questioning, he laughed. "It's an old saying – it means she's got just about everything you can ask for."

"You can say that again. Is this a shield modulator?" The next few minutes passed as they discussed all the capabilities of Mark's ship. He couldn't help but notice how her fingers seemed to linger on the controls.

"Makes you miss your ship, huh?" he asked, understanding in his voice.

"Yeah…she's not as fancy as this one, though," Jennifer said with a smile. "And this one feels a little cramped in comparison…" her voice trailed off as she thought. "Actually, this ship is much smaller than the jump ship…what's her engine capacity?"

When Mark told her, Jennifer shook her head. "Then how does she run a cloaking device? There's no way your engines have the energy to spare."

Mark smiled. "You forget that we're a little ahead of you guys in here. We have the time to devote to developing new technologies – the advanced regenerators, ways to amend the soil, faster methods of growing plants – and better ways to use energy. We've had to work hard to get the most we can out of a small amount of energy to keep from being detected all these years. And there's no way we could do what we're doing to bring people in – get them away from Dread – without a cloaking device. But we also don't have room here for a fleet of massive ships. We had to keep working until we figured out how to accommodate a cloaking device on our smaller ships."

"But the Resistance has been working on this for years – no one has come close!"

"Pip, the Resistance has to split its time between developing new technologies and just surviving. We've got the surviving thing taken care of, so we can devote more time to the rest of it." He watched Jennifer as he spoke. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head. "What's going on in that head of yours, huh?"

"Mark, you don't understand what this could mean for the Resistance…None of us have this type of capability. When we're en route to help someone, we have to keep constant watch for Soaron or some other toy of Dread's. Sometimes we don't make it to the eventual destination because we're either too damaged, or we've wasted so much fuel getting away from whatever threat we've run into that we can't make it to the original coordinates, at least not without enough fuel to get back again." She shook her head. "It's unbelievable that this technology even exists." She fixed him with a blazing look. "Mark, you've got to let me construct one of these. I can modify it to fit the jump ship's specifications, get it out to the guys. The difference this could make –"

"Whoa, Pip, hold it right there." Mark's hands were up in front of him "I…uh…You don't have the jump ship's schematics with you-"

She snorted. "I don't need them. That's my ship – I know every circuit in her." That look was still there. "You're stalling."

He gave up trying to cover himself and shook his head, going for honesty instead. "I don't think I can make that kind of decision, Jen. I don't have that type of authority."

"Than tell me who does, and I'll go to them," she said firmly. "You can't expect me to see this and not try to share it with the Resistance! Do you know how many lives this could save? How much it could shorten the war?" Her eyes were flashing with a mixture of excitement and determination. "How could it hurt? What risk is there in sharing it with the Resistance that can't be outweighed by the human lives it would save?"

Mark's mouth was hanging open at this point. He was getting a glimpse of the Jennifer Chase that had prompted her team to look at him like he was taking his life into his hands for giving her a nickname that suggested she was small, and anything besides strong. "Okay, okay – I'll look into it," he assured her. "I'm guessing we'll have to go to John, and he'll have to go to the Council…"

"The Council?"

"That's the governing body here in Eden. Eight people that were elected to pass laws, keep order, etc. They're the ones that John petitioned to let you in, knowing you'd want to leave again. He had to do some sweet talking." Mark's face darkened a bit. "We've got a lot of people that are here that worry about our safety. It's gotten worse in the past few years. When I first started here, each courier pair went on two to three runs a week. We're down to one each now, and there are fewer of us than there used to be." Mark frowned as he explained the way the safe haven was run. "I guess you're always going to have frightened people, and they have good reason to be afraid. But we've had to seriously limit the people we're able to help because of it. Any type of information exchange with the outside would send some of those folks into a panic." He dropped his voice, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that they were still alone. "Honestly, you have to know that there's more to me keeping my letter runs quiet than just not wanting to become everyone's postman," he added. "If some people knew…if they thought that there was a chance that Eden's location could get out in a letter-"

It's was Jennifer's turn to be shocked. "Mark, you don't think I would – I don't even know where we are – I've made it a point not to ask questions –"

"I know, Pip, I know. That's why I don't have a problem with it. But you'd never get some of the Council members to believe it. So we just do it quietly."

Jennifer thought for a minute. "So…do you think there's a way we could do this quietly? The cloaking device?" Her look turned pleading. "Mark, it would keep them safe."

He knew she wasn't thinking about the Resistance in general now…she was thinking of her team. The look on her face when he'd told her about Power's injuries, and Hawk's, had told him how much she worried about them. He sighed. The problem was, he knew she was right. He'd thought to himself a few times as they flew to meet Power's team about how lucky they were to have the technology they did. "Maybe…" He watched her face light up and shook his head. "I always was a sucker for a pretty face," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

She just shook her head back at him. "I won't tell Kelly you said that." Her face was hopeful. "So….think you can walk me through the basics?"

He rubbed a hand over his face. "We're going to have to buy you some supplies…"

"I set up a credit account earlier this week." Jennifer shrugged when he looked surprised. "I won't let Vi pay me for the repairs – she's letting me stay with her. Bbut a few people that she knows have started to ask me to work on things for them, and they've been trying to pay me. Needed a credit account for that. I figured I could use it to bring some things back to the guys when I go home. This would be ten times better. I should be able to get whatever we need."

"And your therapy schedule?"

"Sam's got me working in the afternoons. That leaves my mornings free."

Mark sighed. "Pip, I can't just pull the schematics out here. It'd raise too many questions."

Jennifer's face showed how fast her mind was working. "If you can work with me on it in the evenings at Vi's, it should work. Hey - it's an excuse to eat Lottie's food on a regular basis," she smirked. "Then when I've got everything figured out, I can work on it back there. No one really needs to know. I came here today to see if you had a tool I could borrow for one of my repairs, actually. It'd be a good cover if I needed anything for the cloaking device." Her eyes took on the hard, excited look again. "You know this is the right thing to do, Mark."

Mark sighed and closed his eyes. "Yeah, Pip, I know. It's just not going to be the easiest thing to do." He opened them and looked at her. "I'm still going to feel John out about this – see what he thinks about doing it the 'official' way."

"As long as he doesn't try and stop us," she said firmly, "I have no problem with that."

Mark just shook his head. "You know what, Pip? I'm really glad you're on our side now."

L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L

Dear Jon,

I can't complain anymore about not having enough to do! I've almost got everything done for Vi. Now she has several other people bringing me things, too. I ended up setting up an account at the bank, because many of them insist on paying me. Vi won't let me use the credits they're paying me to pay her for my room and board – she says taking care of the repairs is an even trade, though I'm not sure I agree with her - so I'm going to have a decent amount of credits to spend before I'm released to actually come home, at this rate. But I've found something to spend some of it on.

I needed a part to finish a repair for Vi, so I went to see Mark at the hangar. They were getting the ship ready for another run – more people to bring in. I finally got to take a good look at their transport, and started asking some questions. Jon, they've hooked up a ship with a cloaking device, and it's got a smaller engine than the jump ship! It took some work, but I got Mark to go through the schematics with me. I couldn't believe the technology they were using! I convinced him to let me put a similar device together – one that would work with the jump ship's systems. I sent the schematics to Scout with my letter to him. If he makes the adjustments I noted, you'll be ready to hook the device up when I get it to you with the next courier. Can you imagine how much this will help us? With a cloaking device, we can get from one mission to the next without interference from Soaron. That means less time repairing holes in the hull and more time working on ways to beat Dread. Plus, I won't have to worry about you guys quite so much.

I've had to do the work in the mornings, before my therapy sessions. Sam's really working me hard. He said to tell "that captain of mine" that he's making sure I can handle being back outside and fighting. I think if I was staying here I'd have been dismissed already, but they're working mostly on building up my stamina. I have to admit…I'm exhausted by the time I'm done. I usually collapse until dinner, and then I'm lucky to get up enough energy to sit and talk with Vi. Kelly and Mark drop by for dinner quite often. Then I come upstairs to write to all of you before I fall asleep again, and he of course he walks her home. They're really happy together.

Seeing as how I'm about to fall asleep writing yet again, I'm going to go for tonight. I have a lot more work to do on that cloaking device before I can get it to you. I'll write again tomorrow.

I miss you. I'd really rather it be you walking me home than me watching Mark and Kelly.

I love you,

Jennifer