Lana realized almost everyone would fit if the kids sat on the laps of adults. It was still a very full ship. There were 6 males and 2 females that were travelers. The females were married to two of the men. Most of the people were either married to potentially dead travelers or were caretakers while the parents were out to work. There were eight other women, minus Dilly and Rene. There were 14 children of them, only 4 had parents on board. 3 belonged to one set of parents, 1 belonged to the other. While they headed to Logan's house, she discussed it with them.
"I already had plans to put in an orphanage but I need someone to run it. The nature of the structure means there will be three buildings because I grow willow trees and put the houses inside them. We have ten orphans on board. Does anyone want to step up?"
"Will there be pay?"
Lana nodded. "I'm spending a lot of money building the shelter but I can give 10 credits a day. Food will be free. I grow it. Once we get where I want to be, there will be gardens all over that people can get the food they need and I'll need someone to maintain that for me as well. I guess this is really the best time to meet me because you can get in on the ground floor and help me build up. Understand, though, our existence isn't secret but our location is. I have … enemies. We will have a teleporter at some point but access is going to be limited. My ship is also limited. This means, you will be stuck on my planet unless you have permission to leave but you will have what you need."
"Will we be forced to do quests?"
"No. You do need to provide something, though. We don't do free rides. Cook at the traveler's center, teach the children, help at the orphanage. Here are many things you can do to help out the community. As long as you are an active member of the community, you'll be fine. Would it help if I posted a list of things I see that are needed?"
There was a bunch of nodding. "For the travelers, I have my system up but I have not entered any quests yet. The only quest I have need of right now is security for my earth users that are on loan from another faction. The area below the shelter is quite dangerous and they need a security team. My brother is with them right now but he's working with them. If it's possible, I'd like you entered in as soon as possible and to get you to work."
They nodded with a smile. One asked a question, "We are entered in the system under the Eagles. What if you can't get us transferred?"
Lana chuckled, "Don't worry about that."
She felt the ship descending. She turned to see the most audacious house she had ever seen. Outside was a short young man with green hair and a whole bunch of things that looked heavy. Rene landed the ship like an expert with rear cargo door facing Logan's equipment.
She walked through into the cargo bay and down the ramp. She gave Logan a hug which he was stiff for, not being into physical contact, but she wanted him to have one anyway. He'd been through so much. He wondered why he could see so many people and listened as Lana explained.
Logan's spiders loaded the ship while Logan invited those with traveler IDs. Lana, Shalt and Caser went with them. They were all in shock over his house and wondered again who this woman was who rescued them. Logan asked for their tags one at a time and transferred them over to Lana's faction. No authorization of transfer was needed. Lana smiled. Logan asked to speak to her alone so she asked Shalt to take them out, keeping Caser with her.
"How are you on funds? It says your faction has none."
Lana nodded, "I have around 200,000 left and have not transferred any over yet. I literally dropped everyone off, switched us over and left to get Rene and Dilly."
Logan nodded. He placed his hand on the system and she heard a ding on her watch. Credits accepted, 5,000,000. She hugged him again. "You have orphans to take care of. And a baby bump."
Lana was startled. She didn't expect him to pick up on that so quickly. "Vorden doesn't know yet and I don't want him to hear it from anyone else but they are twins."
"Have you heard from him?"
Lana exhaled not even realizing she was holding her breath. This was the conversation she was dreading. "No."
"Does this concern you? You don't normally give short answers."
Lana gulped. "His family would not approve of me. He was going to tell them only if it felt safe to do so. We discussed before that if I ended up pregnant to raise them as a Plantwell. His family… is not understanding."
Logan nodded. "I'm here for you if you need it. Anything those babies need, they will have."
Lana nodded as tears ran down her eyes. "Thank you. I'll keep doing the weekly check-in with you because he wanted me to. If you see or talk to him, don't mention me unless he asks. It may not be safe. Quinn needs to be told that as well but I have been afraid to mention it. He'll get emotional and start worrying about Vorden."
"Should we worry?"
"I don't know."
Logan nodded once more.
Lana told him she needed to get these people back to her shelter and get to the Crows and see if Quinn got out of there. "Talk to you in a week!" she smiled as she walked out, guided by a robot to the entrance. She wiped the tears away before anyone could see them.
Lana boarded her ship. "Let's go home." Shalt took the reigns and followed her command.