So much. So little.

Quiet makes me nervous. While I certainly welcome the recent lack of gunfire, raids, and other general mayhem we've seen out here, I have to admit it makes me a little uncomfortable. Not that I want anything to happen. I don't. But I can't shake the feeling that something's just waiting to unload on us out of some new and unforeseen direction.

Not that everything's quiet. Hale's Moon's always been fairly typical for a Rim world. Folks are friendly, neighborly, and more apt then not to take in travelers in need. Only reason folks lock their doors is because, also like a typical Rim world, there's sometimes raids.

Local crime though? Not a lot of that. Until recently, when we seem to have picked up a one man crime wave. Gallagher's on top of things, though it's odd to see the townsfolk spooked about a common criminal. Just not like them. Though I suspect the very thought of "one of our own stealing from the town" is enough to make people uneasy.

Add to that some kind of Private Investigator snooping around because of some Alliance officer claimed something got stolen by someone here, and he's investigating anyone who's name starts with a G. Genni's going to be annoyed if he starts asking questions.

Probably shoot him.

I'll make sure Gallagher gets on top of that too. While we're bound to cooperate with an Alliance Marshal in their jurisdiction, or someone from Special Investigations, a Private Investigator is a different matter. We don't have to honor some license issued somewhere else unless we want to, and I'll let Gallagher decide just how much he wants to cooperate with the guy.

Of course, having an Alliance Special Investigations officer here was another twist to an already odd series of events. While we've always turned out back to smuggling through the transfer station, I can't think of even a rumor of any sorts of antiquities passing across our pads. Why would they? There's few worlds in the Kalidaza system that're as remote as we are. Only places less likely to see that kind of traffic are out in orbit around Qing Long.

For the most part, we didn't care what got smuggled through our port. With the exception of some of the nastier recreational substances, slaves, and WMD's, we were willing to turn our backs to it. At least unofficially. Officially, of course, we'd deal with smugglers per the law. Except our customs force was one guy, and he spent more time just keeping track of which boat needed to be offloaded next, so we weren't exactly the most diligent.

Now, why we'd exactly care if some forged relic from Zenobia was on Hale's or not, I'm not sure. Yes, there would be some sort of catastrophic trauma to the ruling family of Zenobia if the fake relic turned up. Why we care about that? Well. We don't. We do, however, care about having Alliance investigators prowling around our little slice of Heaven.

Jai's from Zanobia. Wonder if she's somehow involved. Wait. Who am I kidding? Of course she's somehow involved. I just hope the Alliance doesn't cause her too much trouble. Not a lot I can do to protect her or hers if I'm not in the loop.

At least I've been getting messages from home on Aurora's progress.

Mother's grown quite fond of her, though I can read into her tone some concern about how rapidly she's progressing and how she's growing. I think she suspects more about Aurora's origin than she's let on, though I know she'd never say anything.

Aurora's not a normal child. But I still think she'll have the best chance to grow up well adjusted to the 'Verse around her with my folks. She'll never grow up a "normal" child. It's not who she is. As mother puts it, "She's a precocious child who's physically and mentally far more mature than her age. She'll do fine. Though it won't be easy. Probably have her first doctorate by the time she's 12." I keep wondering when she'll meet Grandfather. Father hadn't said much about her, but that was his way. He'd be quietly proud of her without making a fuss, and would do what he could as a father figure. Grandfather though. How would they get on?

If I knew them half as well as I thought I did, Grandfather would treat her as his own. He would spend time with her and he would know. Things unspoken would not remain hidden from the Elder. He would know. He would understand. He would offer guidance.

Would she accept it?

More than I could know now. I probably understood Aurora as well as anyone organic could, and I barely understood her. If anyone could understand her, it would be Grandfather. He'd understood me better than anyone ever had. Tiny Dragon and I were very different, but in some ways very much alike. Grandfather would recognize that.

I'd have to watch for the next updates as they came in. I wanted to be there for her, but duty kept me out here.

At least 'Brina was getting more time away from the platform. It was good to have her around. Especially when no one's shooting at us...