The Other Half

The Other Half is a short story from The ByWay to Freedom, book five of the Course Books.

The sequel to Half the Fun, this story covers Jason and company's return home from Gleskel Core. After the rather enormous hassle they went through on the previous story, Jason has arranged for the use of a Falcon-class corvette, borrowed from the Crimson Blade. Initial enraged by the notion of spending several weeks aboard the cramped, spartin vessel, Metanie's demeanor is softened significantly when she learns Jason has scheduled frequent stop-overs along the way, and they'll be staying in fancy hotels every night while never spending more than sixteen hours on the fast vessel.

Hunter, meanwhile, shows off his gourmet cooking skills(which consist primarily of buying fancy foods who's names he cannot pronounce) and handles the food. Everything is shaping up nicely, especially when Jason explains how de-commissioned corvettes are popular as luxury "star yachts" for the very well-to-do.

The downside to the journey is quickly made evident when the ship, despite bearing Foundation markings, comes under attack by space pirates(presumably thinking it is an unarmed space-yacht). The heavily armed raider is accompanied by a series of light, maneuverable star fighters; all of which are, in fact, no match for a heavily armed corvette with an experienced crew.

After providing a fast lesson, Jason put's Metanie on one of the gun turrets while Hunter mans the other, and Lily assists with the main weapons. Working as a team, they shoot down the nimble fighters and succeed in torpedoing the rader, thus temporarily ridding the region of space pirates.

After arriving in their next port of call, Jason addresses Metanie, who is clearly very shaken by the whole experience. Instead of attempting to sooth her, he instead presents her with a small medal which he pins to her shirt collar, explaining that her destruction of the fighter has earned her a "kill" in combat.