by Jay Toney
"The last reported location for Tanya is on deck seven. She and my avatar are together."
Deck seven was the level where our missile launchers are. That deck also where we stored our extra ammunition, housed our machine shop, and other fabrication and maintenance shops. There was nothing there that could be of interest to those two, but plenty that could get them into trouble. "Can you be more specific?"
"Negative. My avatar is offline and not responding. She is progressively increasing the amount of time she is spending offline with Tanya. All of her diagnostics indicate that she is not malfunctioning. In fact, she is reporting zero errors."
"All synths have errors. Their parsers aren't capable of responding to human emotion. Natty's parser is more advanced than most, but it is not perfect."
"I find it odd too. I ran her diagnostics myself, and they are error free. Somehow her programming has adapted to deal with and express true human emotion. It is the only explanation I can think of. It also accounts for her more colorful syntax when updating my files."
I didn't have a location for Tanya, but maybe I could find Natasha's avatar. "Ping Natty's neurochip and locate her."
"She is not responding to the ping."
"How long have they been disappearing on deck seven?"
"I have no evidence of their vanishing."
"How long have Tanya and Natty been spending time offline on deck seven?"
"Since our return to spacedock for repairs, 37 days 11 hours and 17 minutes."
"As soon as your avatar is back online, have her and Tanya report to me. Send a recall for our crew and begin departure preparations."
"The controller is requesting a reason for our departure."
It was a standard request, for the Alliance. It was the first time I was asked for a reason to depart since coming to Collation territory. Maybe it was just a coincidence or a new procedure. There was no harm in answering. "A private trip to visit a friend. It's time to pay my good friend Shree'tek a visit."
The Dock Chief, Mike, was able to deliver five more Marauders and two more shuttles. He had five more Marauders that he was working on rebuilding for us, but they wouldn't be ready for another few weeks. I needed pilots for them. We were up to fifteen Marauders, and I only had three qualified pilots if you included Natasha.
"Amber, do either you or Jewel have any experience flying shuttlecraft?"
"Jewel and I took the basics when we were in school. Neither one of us was much good."
At least it was something to build on. With practice, they should be able to learn. It couldn't hurt, and it would give my companions something to do. More importantly, it would keep Natty out of trouble. She was going to be their instructor. I already tried training Tanya. She wrecked the simulator every time she flew and never made it through the basics. She was an excellent comm officer though, at least on the days that she reported to duty.
With Natasha's avatar instructing Jewel and Amber for at least two hours a day, maybe she would put a little more effort into learning. It might keep her out of trouble. I enrolled Tanya in the class along with Jewel and Amber.
My cabin door opened and Tanya and Natty hurried in. "Sorry, it took us so long to get here. Natty and I were busy with an important part of our project. We couldn't leave it unattended."
"What are the two of you up to?"
"We are working on a way to boost crew morale. We would have started distribution, but Beverly bought our first two batches. We only have a few small samples left, not enough to sell."
"What is so important that it requires constant monitoring, and how is it that you are both here? I think you had better show me what is going on."
"There is no need for that. It took some convincing, but Jane agreed to help us. She is an equal partner, so everything is safe. You don't need to worry about it exploding. Here, we brought you a sample," Natty handed me a plastic bottle containing a clear fluid.
"What is this?"
"Take a sip. The three of we have thoroughly tested it for quality. It is safe to drink."
I took a sip and handed the bottle to Amber and Jewel. They each took a sip and coughed and fought to breathe.
"It's good, isn't it.
We are still working on a way to remove all of the excess water, but by using two processing plants, we can refine it to 98% pure."
"You mean two stills. This sample is moonshine."
"I like to call it happy spirits. The low price that we are going to charge the crew will make them very happy with our product."
"And it will make us rich," Natty finished.
"Obviously the two of you don't have enough to do. Natty, starting tomorrow, you will be teaching a shuttlecraft refresher and Marauder basics class to Jewel, Amber, and Tanya. I expect the still to be disassembled today, or I will do it myself. To help relieve your boredom, the two of you are in charge of maintaining my log book. It needs to be up to date before we launch tomorrow morning," I handed them the blank journal.
"That will take all night," Tanya complained.
"Then you better get started."
"Natty, I told you we should have made him an equal partner. Now we will have to find another way to make credits."
"I hope Nathaniel likes Rigelian tubers. We have a lot of them."
"I don't think he will, but the crew will have to eat them anyhow. We can't let the tubers go to waste. Let get started; we barely have enough time to finish distilling this batch before we have to disassemble the stills. The crew won't be happy. We will have to raise our prices to cover the cost of all the tubers they will be eating for free."
"I have a better idea."
****
"Where in the hell is Tanya? She was supposed to be here 30 minutes ago."
"She is in her cabin sleeping. We were up all night working on your log book."
"It shouldn't have taken that long."
"We had to drain the stills and disassemble them first."
"You got rid of all of the alcohol?"
"Almost. We had a lot more than we thought we would after mixing it with thistleberry juice. The crew loves it, and we didn't even have to raise our prices by much."
"Make sure you save me a few bottles."
"I'll let Tanya know."
"Jewel, you are in charge of communications today. Contact the station's controllers and get departure clearance."
"The controller wants to know our destination."
That was odd, they never asked before. "Tell them, the Invaldi System."
"They say that system is restricted."
"Inform them that I have the necessary permits."
"We have clearance to depart."
"Natty, begin departure preparations."
The air was pumped out of the hangar, then the lights turned off, the hangar doors opened, and the gravity plates deactivated.
Natasha lifted the Persephone using its thrusters and exited the hangar. As soon as we were at a safe distance from the space station, she engaged our main drives.
****
"Captain, are you sure that's him?"
"According to our spies, the Persephone is Nathaniel Robert's new ship."
"What an odd name for a warship. I suppose he named it that to compensate for his lack of female companions."
"Our spies report that he has two wives."
"Are you sure powering our ships down and turning off the transponders while waiting for him will work?"
"He regularly uses that tactic against us with a great deal of success. He won't be expec
ting us to use his tactics against him."
"I will make sure you are rewarded with a portion of the bounty when we collect it for killing him. As soon as he enters hyperspace, send a high-speed courier to contact the fleet. I want the bounty on him and don't care what it takes. We will set a trap for him in the Castel System."
****
"Natasha, how much longer before we can enter hyperspace?"
"Just a few more minutes." A countdown clock appeared on the main viewscreen, counting down the remaining minutes and seconds. When the clock reached zero, Natasha engaged the hyperdrive. A new countdown showed 491:22:47, (hours, minutes, and seconds) before we could reenter normal space.
****
The Persephone exited hyperspace emerging in the Invaldi star system. Proximity alarms sounded alerting us to the presence of patrol ships. "Captain, a fleet of Iniguar warships are surrounding us," Amber reported.
"Captain, we are being hailed by the Iniguar fleet commander," Jewel said.
"Put him on screen."
"Human vessel, what is the purpose of your trespass in our territory?"
"I am Captain Nathaniel Roberts. I am here to visit my friend Shree'tek, by invitation and honor of the Iniguar debt."
"If you are who you claim to be, you will be welcomed. Enter formation with our fleet. We will escort your ship to our base station."
We entered formation behind the lead escort ship, an Iniguar cruiser. Three cruisers joined our formation positioning themselves on our flanks and behind us. Our ship spent a day in tight formation with the Iniguar patrol ships before reaching their space station, in orbit around the second planet. We were directed to dock our shi[ their top docking ring, between two heavy cruisers.
Amber, Jewel, and I exited the Persephone. Shree'tek and his bond mate were at the airlock waiting to greet us.
"Shree'tek, my friend, it is a pleasure to see you again."
"Nathaniel, it is my good fortune to greet you, and your bond mate once again. You should have sent a messenger ahead to let us know of your visit. I could have prepared a grand celebration in your honor. Will your visit be a long one? If so, I will have time to put together a celebration worthy of you."
"I'm afraid our visit will be a short one, only a few days. There is information that I need, that is purposely being kept from me at home. I was hoping that you could provide some of the missing information."
"I will do my best to provide the answers that you seek, but first, we must celebrate your return."
"Nathaniel, if you don't mind, Jewel and I would like to do some shopping," Amber whispered what she was looking for to Shree'tek's bond mate, Liara. She giggled and led Amber and Jewel away.
"Our bond mates are indulging themselves in one of our houses of pleasure. We have many such places in our space station and down below on the planet. I wouldn't expect to see them before midday tomorrow or later. Perhaps you would like to visit one of our houses and satisfy your curiosity?"
"How do you know that is where they went."
"Can you not feel your mate, through your bond? Close your eyes, think of nothing and let your mate's thoughts fill your mind."
It sounded crazy, but I did as he said. At first, there was nothing then a felt a sensation of excitement that wasn't my own. Then I felt arousal and pleasure. I broke the connection. "Let's go. It will be my treat."
The Iniguar pleasure house was not what I expected, and nothing like what I was sure the girls were experiencing. The hostess led me and Shree'tek to a balcony that overlooked a private garden. Soft music played in the background to help us relax. Four Iniguar women surrounded each of us to help us to relax. One massaged our shoulders and another our feet. We were fed tidbits from a platter by another woman, and our drinks held while we sipped from straws. They pampered us in every way, making sure our pillows were fluffed, and that we were as comfortable as possible. The Iniguar woman desired to fill our every wish. The sex, which came later in the evening after we had time to relax, was good too.
I woke in the morning with two Iniguar women in bed with me. My clothes were cleaned and neatly folded on the dresser. A woman that I did not remember meeting yesterday brought in a tray of fruit and vegetables. All three women took turns feeding me tidbits from the platter. After I had my fill, they led me into a room used for bathing. All three women took turns bathing me and afterward, dressing me. Then I was led to the grand foyer where Shree'tek was waiting for me.
"Do you feel relaxed?"
"Very much so."
"When I was last on your world, I satisfied my curiosity in one of your places of pleasure, aboard the Lucy. It was enjoyable, but the women of your world do not seek to please a man every way, as our women do here. Our women take great pleasure in pleasing the man they serve, even more so when they take a mate. Now that you have had time to relax, what is troubling you."
"Several things. I can understand why the Alliance wants me dead. I've been a constant thorn in their side, foiling their attempts at conquest. What bothers me the most is the way my friends and family are treating me. My wife's sister in law has gone from being mad at me to mad about me. She seduced me to conceive a child from me. My stepbrother and the dock chief restricted me to certain areas of the space station to keep my presence hidden from all but a few they can trust. They don't even trust me enough to let me know why. I was hoping that you might be able to give me some insight as to why they are doing this."
"Some of this I can explain. The Alliance does not want you to die. They want you hunted and killed; the slower and more painful your death is, the more the bounty pays. Few can resist the temptation to claim the prize they have placed on your head.
What you have witnessed and interfered in, is not expansion. It is the start of the next great war. Many of the star systems bordering the Alliance have lost their taste for war. They are surrendering to the Alliance government, giving up their freedom. It won't be long before Buenos Aries gives in to the political pressure from their enemy. Your bond mate's brother, Red, has foreseen Governor Rutherford as agreeing to a treaty with the Alliance to save his political position in the new government. He is taking steps to protect his friends and family.
As for your bond mate's sister desiring your child, what woman wouldn't want a hero's child? The women you shared pleasure with are proud to raise your children. They are making preparations to bring your unborn children into our world.
You and your shipmates are welcome to settle among my people."
"Thank you, Shree'tek, you are a good friend."
More women pregnant with my children is just what I didn't need to here. In the Alliance, it was a man's responsibility to pay the government their fees in advance for any children. Children born from accidental or unauthorized pregnancies became wards of the union and spent their lives in service to the government.
In the Collation of Free Worlds, it was different. It was the woman's choice to become pregnant. If she desired a child, she didn't need her mates or the government's permission. All she needed was her partner's seed. I guess it was the same among the Invaldi people. The women I slept with were happy with their choice. I would have at least liked to know their names.
I spent three days in the house of pleasure enjoying my short visit with Shree'tek and the alien women. Then I returned to the ship and waited. Amber and Jewel didn't return until the following day. "I thought the two of you were going shopping?"
"We did." Amber removed a red disk from her pocket. "Jewel and I have been talking. I want her to bond with us. She's my best friend, besides you enjoy the time she spends with us. There is no reason why we can't make it official. All we have to do is touch the backside of our disks with hers and wear our pendants for t
he next ten days."
"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
"About what?"
"Where have the two of you been for the last four days?"
"Oh that. Liara took us to a house of pleasure that caters to females. There aren't very many like that here. Most pleasure centers only serve men. Women are subservient to men in this society. Are you sure you want the details?
Jewel and I are as curious about other humanoid species as you are. We did a little experimenting. We were off the ship, and it was a sleepover."
"Did they impregnate you?"
"They sure tried. Our biology and DNA are close enough that they are capable of breeding with humans. If it weren't for our implants, they would have. What about you? Don't tell me you spent the whole time on the ship."
I told Amber and Jewel about my visit to the house of pleasure with Shree'tek and gave her the news about Beverly not being the only one carrying my children. They didn't take the news like I thought they would; they laughed.
I never gave any thought to a permanent relationship with Jewel, at least not an official one. I was happy with things the way they were. Amber and Jewel both wanted a bond that was symbolic of their friendship. I wasn't sure if they understood that the Iniguar bond was more than just a symbol of union. It established a permanent telepathic link between partners that I was just starting to experience. They both already shared a relationship that was closer than any marriage.
Jewel and I became lovers when we first met. We stayed lovers even after my engagement and marriage to Amber. She was fun to be with, and Amber didn't mind sharing our bed with her. Most nights, she insisted on it. I couldn't think of any reason not to bond with Jewel and a lot of reasons to do so. I agreed. Amber and I touched the backsides of our pendants with Jewels and wore the necklaces that signified that we were mates.
"Jewel, contact the station for departure clearance.
Natasha, take us home."
We departed from the Iniguar space station. Natasha set our course for the optimal jump vector to the Castel system. When we reached the jump point, we entered hyperspace.
