by M. D. Cooper
The AI severed the connection and Katrina knew that she would have to neutralize Sam. With an attitude like that, he was bound to be nosy.
Another task on her to-do list—which already included winning Juasa over to her side and seducing the captain.
She rubbed her hands on her face and sighed. Perhaps once they reached the Voyager, Troy could ensure that Sam was kept in check.
* * * * *
Still fresh from her shower aboard the pinnace, and dismayed that her quarters did not have a water san, Katrina forwent the sonic cleaning before changing for dinner with the captain and his officers that evening.
She pulled out the other outfits she had purchased while on Tsarina Station, and considered which would contrast the most with the KiStar uniforms, making her the center of attention. Well, more the center of attention.
One of the skinsheaths was colored a gleaming gold with silver accents that would flow across her body in a mesmerizing fashion, while another was a brilliant pink that shone brightly. It was enhanced by bright blue accents which ran up the inside of the legs, encircled the waist and then wrapped around the breasts before ending on a high collar that rose up behind her head.
Katrina liked the pink outfit, but didn’t feel like pulling her hair up in a fashion that would suit the high collar, and opted for the gold outfit.
She slid into it and pulled up the fastener to her neck. Once it reached the top, the skinsheath drew out all the air between itself and her body, making it look like she’d been dipped in gold.
Katrina summoned a holoprojection of herself, and examined the outfit from all sides, to ensure it was perfect. One thing was certain: putting herself on display in such a fashion was the perfect way to hide. She just wished it wasn’t so close to the fashions of Luminescent Society.
What I wouldn’t give for a long dark jacket.
However, the outfit was just Verisa’s style. Katrina added gold ear coverings and adjusted their long, dangling chains, which reached down to her breasts. Next, she applied the golden strips that covered her eyebrows, and then applied red paint to her lips.
Once satisfied that her face was a work of art, Katrina ran a comb through her hair that deposited a powder enhancing its shine, making it glow and sparkle.
Finally, Katrina activated the skinsheath’s silver light show. She was certain that it would entice the captain. There was no way he wouldn’t be wrapped around her little finger by the end of the night.
She activated the room’s holomirror and examined herself from all sides. The image before her was perfection—a gleaming icon of power and confidence. Yet the image’s face wore a look of sadness.
Katrina couldn’t help but think that she looked like a Lumin, a perfect replica of how her father used to make her mother dress. Even now, thousands of years later, Luminescent Society was still controlling her.
Her displeasure was compounded by the fact that she wanted to be enticing Juasa, not Captain Ferris.
That, in and of itself was a problem. She wondered if—when the time came—she would have the will to use Juasa in whatever manner was necessary to secure the upgrades to the Voyager and leave the Bollam’s World System.
Hopefully forever.
Katrina pushed those thoughts away, and wrapped herself in Verisa; the persona settling around her like a layer of armor. Her posture straightened, her stance widened, and she threw her shoulders back.
The look of sadness on her face changed into a haughty smile, and she folded her arms across her chest.
“He’ll never even know what hit him,” she said aloud before dismissing the holomirror with a wave of her hand and striding from the room.
Outside, she followed the trail overlaying her vision to the officers’ mess, which was further aft on the same deck. She was already late, but she walked slowly; there was no need for anyone to think she was in a rush.
When she arrived, Katrina swept into the room as though they’d all been awaiting her pleasure—which was probably not far from the truth.
The room’s décor was par for the course on the Havermere. White with purple and blue accents. The space itself was only six meters square, with a large round table in the center.
Seated around it were Captain Ferris, Juasa, and five other men and women.
Katrina saw that the only empty seat was on the captain’s right, and walked toward it as Captain Ferris rose. His gaze happily took in her body long before it met her eyes.
“My lady,” he said with a warm smile as he slid out her chair. “I’m glad you have decided to join us.”
Katrina inclined her head in acceptance and sat, pulling the chair back in herself.
“Of course, I’m interested in meeting the people who will be working on my ship. That, combined with a meal that you ascertained would please me, ensured my attendance.”
“Of course, yes,” Ferris said as he resumed his seat. “As I mentioned, I have a top crew.”
“Indeed,” Katrina said simply as she lifted the glass of white wine at her setting and took a sip.
“On my left is my first mate, Anna,” Ferris began by gesturing to the tall, dark-haired woman at his side before continuing clockwise around the table. “Juasa you know already—largely due to her poor planning. Next to her is Carl, her number two, and then Hemry our ship’s engineering chief. Tammy is our astronav, and Jan manages the accounts and inventory.”
Katrina nodded in turn as Ferris introduced each of the ship’s officers, noting the grimace on Juasa’s face as Ferris commented on her hitchhiking.
“Very nice to meet you all,” Katrina said amicably. Now was the time to begin making Ferris feel that his charm was working on her. She looked over the table, noting that the dinnerware was actually of a high quality, and that the wine glasses were made of blue crystal. “I must say, I was not expecting such class from a repair and refit ship such as the Havermere.”
Ferris beamed with pride, and Katrina noticed Hemry roll his eyes.
“We do our best,” Anna said, her smile less than warm.
Well, she’ll be a problem.
“I’m glad to see it,” Katrina replied. “Is that real cheese?”
“Of course,” Ferris replied. “I always make certain we lay in a good supply. It’s the little things that matter.”
Katrina met Ferris’s eyes. “Yes, yes it is.”
“I trust you had a good flight over, and that your quarters are acceptable?” Jan, the ship’s financial officer asked.
“Well enough,” Katrina said before glancing at Juasa. “Though I was worried first what sort of outfit KiStar was, given the need for me to ferry over your crew chief.”
Juasa flushed and pulled at her uniform’s cuff, but did not speak.
Ferris, however, shook his head and sighed. “So sorry about that. However, Carl and Juasa make a great team. Now that she’s made it to the ship, Juasa’s entire focus will be on your upgrades.”
Katrina couldn’t help but notice the precedence that Ferris gave to Carl over Juasa. The man really was a grade-A asshat. Verisa, however, didn’t care and she nodded amicably at Ferris. “Pleased to hear it.”
“Can you tell us more about your ship?” Juasa asked, clearly attempting to change the direction of the conversation. “We don’t have a lot of information on the Jasepsce Imperial models.”
“I provided Uriah with what I had with me,” Katrina replied coldly. “Surely that is enough to begin your preparations.”
A hurt look crossed Juasa’s face and her mouth clamped shut.
Katrina knew what Juasa was going to say, but it was too soon for that conversation.
To her credit, Juasa didn’t respond, and Ferris began to talk about the Havermere’s capabilities, and some of the amazing repairs they had facilitated in the past.
The first course of the meal came as he spoke—a creamy mushroom soup that complemented the wine—and Katrina ate her serving daintily as she listened to the captain.
Some of it was marginally interesting. Several of their repairs had taken place far beyond the heliosphere of the Bollam’s World System. Though Ferris’s favorite story was of a time when the Havermere had taken control of a Streamer ship.
“There we were, bearing down on them. Their ship had suffered damage coming out of the Streamer, which they do sometimes. The Streamer’s shearing forces will tear one ship apart, and not even touch another.”
Glad we were in the ‘barely touched’ category, Katrina thought.
“They had shields though, grav-based, so we knew they had recent tech. Still, any haul is a good haul. We don’t have a lot in the way of weapons, but KiStar ensures that we can fend for ourselves. We managed a few well-placed shots, and they lost one of their shield umbrellas. Then we took out their sensor array and punched a hole through the hull near the bow.”
“I suppose they figured out what was good for them at that point,” Katrina said, giving the captain a smile that said she was entirely enamored with his tale of gallantry.
“Indeed they did. They hove to and we boarded them. Turns out that they were a ship from the dark ages, early eighth millennia. No good tech, but some interesting genetic stock. An insystem genetic pharma company bought the lot of them.”
Katrina masked her repulsion at the sale of humans, and more notably, at Ferris’s casual reference of such. She noticed that Juasa, Tammy, and Hemry also did not appear comfortable with the tale.
Anna, on the other hand laughed. “What a bonus that was. I’d certainly love to find another Streamer ship. Could almost retire if we find another half-decent one.”
Katrina took a bite of the salad that had arrived as Anna spoke, and nodded politely. “I should imagine that would be very nice. Mind you, one has to keep an eye out for unexpected expenses…such as this repair.”
“What is it that you do?” Ferris asked. “I’ve been meaning to ask. Your ship looks very impressive; especially for a woman of your stature to be flying alone about the galaxy.
“I’m on my way to Sol,” Katrina said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. “I have a buyer there for some tech I managed to acquire out beyond Genevia.”
“Out beyond Genevia?” Anna asked, her expression containing no small amount of skepticism. “That’s a long way from here. You must have been flying for years to get this far.”
Katrina nodded as she took a sip of her wine, and didn’t rise to Anna’s bait. “Just over two months so far. I like being alone, the company is superb.”
Ferris chuckled at her joke while Tammy whistled. “I’d love to see your nav database when we get to your ship. I can only imagine what it would be like to fly out that far.”
“Easy now, Tammy,” Hemry said. “We all know you dream of taking your skills interstellar someday.”
Katrina had noticed that both Carl and Tammy were collared. Tammy had barely spoken during the meal thus far. She suspected that the astronav wasn’t flying anywhere outside of Bollam’s World so long as that silver band was around her neck.
“To be honest, it’s all just more of the same,” Katrina said. “Sure there are some weird places out there, but most aren’t much different than what you’d find here at Bollam’s World.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Anna said. “Tell us—”
Katrina gave a longsuffering sigh, and Ferris held up his hand. “We’ve pried into our guest’s affairs enough. Look, here comes the main course!”
The main course, as it turned out consisted of a beef-like steak, a baked potato, and a stir fry of various vegetables. It wasn’t opulent by any stretch of the imagination, but it tasted good, and Katrina said as much.
“I must admit,” Katrina said, placing her hand on Ferris’s arm. “I am quite impressed by the quality of your food.”
Ferris swallowed a bite and nodded emphatically. “Yusef, our cook, is especially talented. He can make a feast from nearly any supply stock.”
Katrina felt a moment of angst. It had been decades since she had heard the name Yusef. And though there was no way this cook was her father, even the thought of that repugnant man was more than she cared to entertain.
Juasa said,
Katrina wished that she could offer Juasa more support.
As they ate, Katrina continued to listen to Ferris talk about himself and the work the ship had done. To hear him tell it, one would think that he single-handedly managed every feat he described.
He also continued to be dismissive toward Juasa, and Katrina noticed that Tammy caught some of his callous comments as well.
The difference between the two was that Tammy had succumbed and slept with Ferris; something that was all to obvious by how Tammy frequently sought Ferris’s attention and approval as the night went on.
Katrina couldn’t fault the woman. The collar she wore meant that Tammy had virtually no social status beyond her commercial worth; maintaining the favor of her ship’s captain was likely of paramount importance to her.
For her part, Katrina laughed at Ferris’s jokes—though not all of them—and made certain to touch his arm more than once. That opened the floodgates, and Ferris began to place his hands on her more and more as the meal progressed.
Katrina deftly moved, shifted, and gestured in ways that caused his hand to fall off her body—which wasn’t hard, given how smooth her golden sheath was.
However, as the evening progressed, she allowed his touch to linger longer, giving him the impression that he was winning her over.
Once dessert had been served and the officers were enjoying a final drink, he placed a hand on her hip, and Katrina turned slightly, causing it to fall off.
She made a small, soft noise of apology, and reached for his hand, placing it back at the top of her thigh, and pushing his fingers down between her legs.
Ferris’s eyes widened, and he quickly downed the last of his drink.
“Verisa,” he said with a broad smile. “Would you like to join me for a walk? I can show you around the Havermere.”
Katrina dabbed a napkin at the corners of her mouth and gave Ferris a long look with half-lidded eyes. “That sounds delightful, lead the way.”
Ferris rose from the table and nodded to his officers. “Good evening.”
The officers around the table all spoke their farewells, though Juasa barely muttered hers, and only made eye contact with her plate as she did so.
Katrina wanted to reach out to her and remind her that this was all an act, but that would distract her from what was coming with Ferris.
As soon as they were in the corridor, the captain sidled up against Katrina and placed a hand on her ass to guide her.
“I know just the place to start our tour.”
It didn’t surprise Katrina in the least that the tour began, and ended, in Ferris’s quarters.
EXPLANATIONS
STELLAR DATE: 11.15.8511 (Adjus
ted Gregorian)
LOCATION: KSS Havermere, en route to Voyager
REGION: Scattered Disk, Bollam’s World System (58 Eridani)
The next morning, Katrina waited until the first shift began before leaving her quarters and returning to the officers’ mess.
As she’d hoped, it was vacant.
She prepared a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee before sitting at the table with a sigh.
Somehow, thankfully, sleeping with Juasa to win her over had not felt like a betrayal of Markus’ memory—at least not in contrast with last night with Ferris. That felt very different.
As the hot coffee washed down her throat, she wondered why that was.
Markus had been gone for a long time—over forty years, give or take a bit. During those years, Katrina had come to believe that she would never fall in love again—and certainly never have sex. She had even fooled herself into believing she didn’t miss it.
It would be a lie to say that being with Juasa was not enjoyable. No, not ‘enjoyable’; that is doing her a disservice. Juasa was an erotic bout of ecstasy unlike anything I have felt in decades. It is something I’d rather like to repeat.
Ferris had been the opposite. She had pleasured him by rote, using the right techniques at the right time, playing cat and mouse with him, making him crave her.
But there had been no true joining. Not like it had been with Juasa.
Maybe that’s why sex with the captain felt like a betrayal.
Markus, if you’re out there, watching, or whatever it is you do…I hope you can forgive me. Leaving with you on the Hyperion was supposed to mark the end of lies and deceit for me.
How fitting it was that a system descended from Sirius would be the one that would throw her right back into her old ways.
Katrina finished the oatmeal and topped off her coffee before leaving the mess. She wanted to find Juasa, to see that the crew chief was OK.
Katrina reached out to Juasa over the Link, asking where they could meet.
There was no response.
Back in her quarters, Katrina sat at her desk and activated the network bridge her nano had built. They had tapped into one of the ship’s maintenance subsystems, and the result was that her usage didn’t look like any particular person accessing the network, but rather like an automated system.
