As the cargo bay doors closed behind them, Thea followed June, Ben, Inta, and Artona into a short hallway leading to one of the lifts, passing an open doorway on the right. Through it, several kneeling Toparians stopped ying green turf on the dirt-covered floor and waved a welcoming hello to the newcomer before returning to their work. Thea waved back, then followed the others into a lift that would take them to the upper decks. They piled comically into the undersized lift, pressing close to the hulking Urarc, her soft fur tickling them.

  Artona only crossed her arms and harumphed.

  “We're about to get underway,” Inta said from behind a furry bicep, “so I will show you to your quarters then we'll meet the others on the bridge.”

  The lift doors opened onto the crew quarters deck. “This is us, Thea,” Inta said, indicating to get out. Artona started to follow, but Inta pressed a hand gently on her forearm. “It's okay, Hun. You can go to the bridge with the others.”

  “Where you go, I go.” Artona objected ftly.

  “But I'm already on the bridge,” Inta teased her protector.

  June and Ben smiled knowingly in the back of the lift, as Artona scowled. “You and I are going to need to discuss how this is supposed to work,” she said, her displeasure pin.

  “Ooh, I do love a good ‘discussion’,” Inta said coquettishly.

  Artona gave Inta a pained look and shook her head as Inta and Thea stepped out and watched the lift doors close, whisking the trio up to the command deck. “Your room is right over here,” Inta said as she walked down the hallway, Thea right behind.

  The room Inta led her to was one of the extra lounges, remodeled and split into several smaller, but spacious rooms. There was a double bed, dresser, and a desk and chair set with a door in the back of the room leading to a small washroom with a shower, sink, and toilet where Thea could freshen up. The room was pin and spartan, just as she had kept every room she had occupied since the academy. It gave her a sense of familiarity and comfort, which surely was Inta’s intent.

  Thea stood staring at her accommodations, lost in thought when she realized that Inta was sitting on the desk chair, one arm draped over the back, watching her with a soft caring expression on her face. Her glowing blue gaze felt like it could see into her innermost core, and made her feel simultaneously exposed and comforted.

  “I’ve never really taken proper R&R,” Thea expined, needing to expin to her host. “I’d usually hole up in a hotel just off post and go over old reports in the room, taking a break now and then to hit the gym. But I get the feeling that you won’t let me get away with that, will you?” She asked.

  Inta’s smile broadened in response. “My job is to take care of the ship, the crew, and their guests, in whatever way they need,” Inta shifted in her seat suggestively. “Ben, Will, and June care for you a great deal,” She paused slightly, “As do I. I promise we will do everything in our power to make you comfortable,” Inta got up from her seat, stood close to Thea, and took Thea’s hands, looking into the taller woman’s eyes. “I want to make your time with us pleasant and see that you are well cared for.”

  Thea looked down into Inta’s silver face. Her expression of absolute caring and devotion crashed into the emotional barriers she built to protect her frightened and lonely inner child, crumbling it in the onsught. Caught by the unexpected surge of emotion, Thea pulled Inta close and held her tight as tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

  The weight of years of loneliness and pain suddenly eased in Inta’s embrace, and surprising herself, Thea wept cathartic tears on Inta’s shoulder. “I, I usually don’t…” Thea uttered through soft sobs.

  “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re cared for. You are loved.” Inta consoled. Inta held her for several long minutes until the tide of Thea’s emotions receded, and then Thea smiled down at the silver girl.

  “I’ve been on board less than an hour, and I already feel a hundred times better,” Thea confessed.

  “And I can make you feel a hundred times better still,” Inta said in a sultry voice, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Thea let out a hearty ugh, eyes puffy, tears still wetting her cheeks but no longer flowing. “I bet you can. But for now, I think I should go wash my face then we can head up to the bridge so I can get one st look at ‘the ole gal’ before we leave the Dals and my sabbatical starts in earnest.”

  Thea felt an unexpected internal resistance, she didn’t want to leave Inta’s warm embrace. But her sense of propriety won out and she pulled away and went to wash her face and freshen up. After a few minutes, she came back out, looking refreshed. “Alright, let’s go, I don’t want to miss it,” she said.

  They entered the lift, and as the door closed, Thea felt a small hand slip into hers and squeeze gently. She gnced at the shorter silver girl and was rewarded with a brilliant smile from those silver lips. The lift doors opened so they stepped out and walked the short way down the corridor and climbed the steps up to the bridge.

  June and Will sat at helm control and tactical stations, respectively, and Ben sat at his customary choice of stations along the far wall. Artona leaned with her arms crossed against a deactivated station on the opposite side, carefully observing everything. Another Instance of Inta stood just behind June and Will, a hand on both their shoulders.

  When Thea and Inta stepped on the bridge, Artona’s eyes narrowed, and grumbled something to herself about too much of a good thing, but nodded at the two in acknowledgment of their arrival.

  June turned around in her seat and rose quickly to hug Thea, who welcomed the embrace. “All settled in? We’ve just finished our pre-flight checks and were about to call for departure clearance.”

  “Aren’t they going to miss the ship’s Captain when we run away with her?” Will smirked, half in jest.

  “The Admirals have the Dals and I won’t be needed until the refit is complete. That will take months given her age and everything she’s been through recently.” Thea shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve been ordered to take R&R, and honestly, I’ve never felt more at ease than when I’ve hung out with you all.” Inta gave her a knowing smile and a wink. “And not just because of… well, you know,” She said with a slight blush.

  “You’re cute when you blush, you know that?” The nearest Inta said, pcing a hand on Thea’s arm. Thea’s face grew redder.

  “Insatiable,” Will said, smiling and shaking his head.

  “Alright everyone, hush. I’m making the call,” June announced. “Dals Control, this is the Nestia, requesting clearance for departure.”

  There was a short pause, the voice that came over the comms was not the usual traffic controller’s, instead, it was a calm, stern voice that came from years of command. “Nestia, this is Admiral Bennet. I wanted to personally see you off, and thank you once again for your heroic actions and the service you’ve provided to the Dals, her passengers and crew, and to Inter-Pnetary Ferry Services in general; we are in your debt. If you find yourselves in need of assistance in the future, we will help you in any way that we can.” Then the Admiral's voice was a little less distinct as she turned her head from the microphone, “Release the docking cmps.”

  Then the Admiral's st words were loud and clear. “Nestia, you are clear for departure. We wish you good fortune and clear sailing.”

  The rge viewscreen at the front of the bridge showed the expansive side of the Dals stretching off into the distance, with a smaller rectangur window in the corner dispying a view of the docking cmps retracting. When they were clear, June engaged the ship’s drive and slowly pulled the Nestia away from the Dals, then jogged at ‘port speed’ heading for open space.

  June switched the dispy to a split screen, showing aft and forward. Thea stood and watched the massive Dals, which had been her home for many years, slowly shrink into the distance.

  She felt nostalgia for her time on the Dals sweep over her, and simultaneously excitement for the unknown before her grew. Something in her had shifted, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.

  As she stood pondering what she was leaving behind, and what y before her, a slight silver arm circled her waist and held her tight. Inta looked up into Thea’s eyes with a comforting smile.

  “Okay we’re clear,” June decred. “Course id in for Centrailia. Ramping up to FTL.” The massive Dals was still clearly visible, now small in the distance, and swiftly shrank away to a small dot then was lost amongst the starfield behind her as the Nestia sped away.

  Unlike most of the conventional ships that Thea had been aboard, the Nestia didn’t leap harshly into FTL flight but instead accelerated into it at a ridiculous rate. The stars seen through the forward viewport began smearing the white pinpricks of light into the usual red-shifted streamers of FTL rainbow starlight.

  “Okay folks, we’re at speed. ETA for Centrailia is seventy-one hours,” June announced as she spun her chair around, stretching her arms over her head. “Inta, can you inform the Grove and the Chilopodians?”

  Thea raised one eyebrow at June’s statement. “The Chilopodian Delegation is on board?”

  Will chimed in. “Yeah, they had a hard time packing up in time to make the st transport leaving the Dals, so we offered to give them a lift to Centrailia. We were heading there anyways and had the room.”

  Thea looked at Will and then back to June, a quizzical look still on her face. “And Is that right? The Dals is at least a week and a half from Centrailia at her normal cruising speed. You’re saying we’re traveling as fast as a naval destroyer.”

  June nodded her head. “Yup, that’s right. It won’t take us half as long as it would have, now that Inta’s controlling the power core.”

  “We limped into Penrose Station, operating at bare minimum power. During our time on the Dals, I’ve regained a significant portion of my former strength.” Inta told Thea as she squeezed her waist a little tighter.

  “Only a portion?” Thea asked, stunned. “How fast can the Nestia travel?”

  Inta's smile widened. “Quite a bit faster, conventionally. Plus I have other tricks up my sleeve.” A mischievous sparkle shone in her eyes.

  “Ah, but your sun dress doesn’t have sleeves,” Will said as he stood, stroking the arm of the Inta standing between June and him. “And I think it’s high time that you weren’t wearing that, either.” He pulled Inta in close and gave her a deep and passionate kiss.

  “Oh, no you don’t. I’m the one who just performed a fwless departure and FTL insertion, I deserve a little some of that,” June whined pyfully as she stood and pressed herself into Inta, sandwiching the silver girl between her and Will. “No way I’m letting you hog Inta all for yourself. You’ve got to share.”

  “Too true, you deserve it. Inta and I will have to reward you properly,” Will said chuckling as Inta giggled, squished between the two.

  Inta wrapped her arms around their waists, and turned to the other on the bridge, leveling smokey gnces in their directions. “You’re all more than welcome to join us…” She said, letting the invitation hang in the air.

  “I’m still deliciously sore from the ‘topping off’ you gave me an hour ago, I’m good… For now.” Ben replied, giving Inta his usual dopey smile. “I’ll stay here on the bridge; there’s some reading I wanted to do.”

  Thea blushed at the crew's openness. “I, I’m good. I should get back to my room and finish unpacking.” The Inta holding her stood on her tiptoes and gave her a peck on the cheek. “No pressure, Hun. I enjoy your company any way you feel comfortable. Maybe tea, ter?”

  Thea blinked, then smiled. “That sounds lovely.” Inta slipped away from Thea and went over to Artona, gently pcing a hand on a furry arm, crossed in consternation. “And what about you, my darling Warrior?”

  Artona’s eyes bulged in momentary shock, then her scowl quickly returned to her face. “Pass. I would break you,” she said impassively to the silver girl she towered over.

  “You’d be surprised,” Inta said softly, then continued. “I want you to know that you are welcome and I intend to see that you are well cared for. Whatever you need. I mean it.”

  Artona struggled momentarily with a confusing and painful swirl of emotions that threatened to smash her stony facade. “I’m good,” She said finally. “I’m going to go get changed, head down to the hangar, and get a workout in.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave you to it, then,” Inta said, seeing the swirling mix of Artona’s emotions dispyed in her aura. “Just know that I’m here for you, too.” The other Inta led Will and June off the bridge, tugging them pyfully by the hand.

  “I think I’ll plop down over here and keep Ben company,” the remaining Inta said as she tussled his hair and took a seat. Thea nodded to Artona and then left for her room; Ben had already pulled a tablet out and propped his feet onto a darkened terminal, deep into the volume he was reading.

  Artona sighed internally and left the bridge heading for her room. Seated behind Ben, Inta watched her go and decided she needed to do some reading of her own. Pulling up the ship’s new Quantum-Net connection, she scoured several libraries for every piece of literature on Urarc culture, society, and psychology and began devouring everything her search returned.

  Will, June, and Inta had already made it to their lounge by the time Thea and Artona stepped out from the lift onto the crew deck. The sounds of giggling and wet kisses drifted into the hallway from the open lounge.

  “I wish they’d at least close the damn door,” Artona compined loudly but peeked in through the lounge doorway briefly as they passed, catching a quick glimpse of the action.

  Thea blushed, not having a thing for voyeurism. ‘Does it count as voyeurism if you’ve been invited?’ she wondered silently, standing at the door to her room. Artona had already entered her room next door, so Thea followed suit.

  Her duffle bag sat on the bed where she’d left it in her hurry to get to the bridge. “Well, I might as well unpack,” Thea mumbled to herself. She put her clothes in the dresser built into a wall and found storage cubbies for the rest of her belongings. She flopped onto the bed ft on her back and blew out a big breath. “Rest and rexation. The one thing my academy training didn’t cover,” she huffed. “What exactly am I supposed to do with myself?”

  She suddenly felt antsy and decided that Artona had the right idea, so she changed into her gym shorts and sports bra, then left her room heading for the hangar where Artona had said she would be working out. Hopefully, they had brought some equipment, but if not, she would make do.

  Thea saw Artona’s setup as she entered the hangar, tucked away in an unused corner. The industrious Urarc had set up a full free-weight set, with an unusually rge pile of iron ptes, enough to challenge the strength of the powerfully built woman. She also hung an enormous heavy bag next to a rack of practice weapons. Artona had taken one of the staves from the rack and was moving through one of her forms in the open space.

  Thea watched quietly as Artona moved and flowed from one graceful combination to another. The staff whistled through the air as the warrior danced and struck her invisible enemy. Finally realizing she had an audience, Artona paused, her fur damp with sweat.

  “They teach you melee weapons at your Academy, or just how to fly tin cans?” Artona asked with a friendly taunt. It was the first time Thea had seen the massive Urarc smile, so she jumped on the opportunity.

  “A little. But as it so happens, I did spend most of my time behind a stick of a tin can.” Thea replied.

  Artona nodded appreciatively, having heard about Thea’s performance during the battle for the Dals. She then took a second staff off the weapons rack and tossed it to Thea. “Wanna spar some? I promise I’ll take it easy on you.”

  Thea twirled the staff, getting a feel for its heft and weight distribution. “I appreciate that,” Thea said smiling as she squared up against the wall of muscle and fur in front of her. Then, with a lightning-quick strike, Artona unched one well-pced strike at Thea’s weak side, feeling her out.

  Reflexively, Thea parried it and immediately spun into a counter strike that Artona easily blocked. “Good, good. You have had some training,” she said as she attacked again. The two danced back and forth with their staves, striking and blocking in a light, easy manner. It was abundantly clear to Thea that she was enormously outcssed, but Artona’s sparring style was clearly intended to be instructional.

  Blocking yet another crisp attack, Thea asked, “Have you thought about teaching? Your form is immacute.”

  Artona spun around, and attacked low, forcing Thea to leap back so that she wouldn’t be swept off her feet. “I did, for a while, when I was studying with the Weaponmaster from my mother’s cn. As advanced students, we were expected to teach the young ones the basics to get them ready for proper instruction,” she said, slipping past Thea’s guard and delivering a stinging strike on Thea’s left shoulder. “You need to work on your weak side guard,” She said with a smirk.

  They continued sparring for another half hour, Artona raining light but stinging strikes all over Thea’s arms and legs until Thea raised her hand in submission, at the limit of her endurance. Thea bowed, then presented her weapon to Artona, who nodded and hung both weapons back on the rack.

  “You’re not bad. You’d give a second year a run for their money,” Artona said with a joking smile.

  “From an Urarc, that’s high praise,” Thea replied, thoroughly enjoying this side of the stoic warrior. “In all seriousness, can we do this again? I could learn a lot from you.”

  Artona’s smile broadened. “I would enjoy that,” she said, then paused, having a thought. “You know, it would make my job a lot easier if I knew everyone on board could properly handle themselves in a fight,” she said as she tossed a towel to Thea while she mopped the sweat from her face with another.

  “They hired you for security?” Thea asked as she wiped her sweat with the towel.

  “No, it’s not like that,” Artona said as she shook her head. “I owe Inta a debt; she saved my life and I am honor-bound to protect her until my debt is repaid.”

  Thea nodded in understanding; honor was important to an Urarc.

  “But here’s the thing; how do you protect someone who lives in a crystal with half a dozen bodies running around all the time?” Thea watched as frustration contorted Artona’s expression. When she realized her emotions were getting the best of her, her walls went back up and the mask of stoicism returned to her face.

  Thea was unsure how to comfort the troubled Urarc. “I think you’re onto something, though. Training up the crew sounds like a good first step to me. The rest will follow.”

  Artona appreciated the sentiment but wondered if it would be enough; if she would be enough on her own. She was an Urarc, she reminded herself, and weakness, perceived or real, wouldn’t be tolerated.

  “That’s enough for one day,” she told Thea. “I would be grateful for a sparring partner if you want to do this regurly,” she said, allowing herself this small concession.

  “I would be honored,” Thea replied without reservation. “Us new girls need to stick together, right?”

  Artona’s chuckle rumbled deep in her chest. “If you say so.” She groaned slightly as she stretched her thick arms over her head. “I’m beat, and need a shower and some sleep,” she said, then headed for the lift back to her room.

  “That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Thea said, stretching her own shoulder as she fell in step beside her. Artona gnced down at the slightly shorter human and allowed herself a small smile at the budding comradery as they made their way to their rooms.

  ****

  Ben awoke slowly from a pleasant dream, greeted by the equally pleasant reality of a bed full of tangled limbs and twisted sheets. He y there smiling contently, lost in watching his sleeping bedmate’s dream. It dawned on him that there were a few more bodies in the bed now than when he fell asleep; there were now four Intas lying quietly interspersed between June, Will, and himself. There was an Inta cuddled close to each of them, limbs wrapped around holding possessively.

  “Good morning Inta, my Love,” Ben said softly, knowing the silver girl wrapped around him never truly slept.

  “Good morning, my Sweet,” She replied, giving him a soft, tender kiss as her hand snaked under the sheet and grasped his morning wood firmly by the base. “Mmm. Let me see to that,” she said, her head disappearing under the covers as she slid lower on the bed. Dainty fingers wrapped around the base of Ben’s cock as Inta lightly kissed his soft mushroom-shaped tip. Her tongue shed out and licked the sensitive spot just below the head of his cock, eliciting a moan of gratitude.

  Soft lips wrapped around the tip and she slowly sucked it into her wet, warm mouth, tongue licking everywhere. Her head sunk lower, pulling more of him in until her lips met the top of her fist gripping his base tight. Exquisitely slow, Inta sucked on his turgid member while pulling his cock out, her hot tongue sliding along the bottom, then stopped, not letting his tip escape.

  Inta then bobbed her head, building a slow, steady rhythm, lighting his cock’s nerve endings on fire. Releasing her iron grip on his base, she pnted her hands on either thigh and took his entire length down her throat, held it there, and swallowed, sending rippling sensations up and down his shaft, overwhelming him. Groaning, he gripped the back of her head tight to his pelvis and bsted a torrent of cum down her throat.

  She pulled off slightly at the end of his release, capturing a mouthful, then when he had finished, climbed back up Ben and gave him a deep, passionate kiss, letting him taste his own seed.

  June and Will began to stir at the sound of Ben and Inta’s antics, so the Intas cuddling them descended beneath the covers to give them an equally warm welcome to the day.

  June shivered as two Intas gave her their undivided attention. An Inta delved between her creamy thighs and drew the ft of her tongue along the length of her slit, already wet with anticipation, while the other pnted her knees to either side of June’s head, dropping her pussy onto June’s hungry mouth. Moaning with delight, she wrapped her arms around the silver thighs already wet from dripping arousal, and pped up Inta’s juices, working her way to her smooth silvery mound. There she found the target of her feast and went to work with gusto, her tongue dancing along Inta’s silver folds and teasing her clit.

  June shuddered and muffled her scream with the pussy riding her face as she had her first climax of the day, squirting all over Inta’s face buried in her pussy. Inta didn’t let up and continued to lick and suck June’s nethers, dragging out the orgasm until June’s body spasmed uncontrolbly.

  “Oh, FUUCK!” June gasped from around the silver ass pressed on her face. Her climax did nothing to quench the fire in her loins. “More! Give me MORE!”

  Both Will and Ben grunted loudly as they shot their loads down the throats of their respective Inta, Ben for the second time already. Both of these Instances of Inta crawled up the boys’ bodies and kissed them deeply as they y panting, then crawled over to June.

  Upon seeing herself surrounded by the silver girls, their hard, angry cocks aimed at various parts of her sweaty body, June growled, “Oh yes! I love it when you do this!”

  One Inta id with her back on the mattress and easily slid June so that her back was resting on pillowy silver tits. Another grabbed her knees and spread them wide so she should settle down in between them while another crouched over her face, silver dick in her hand. As one, the three Intas simultaneously jammed their rock-hard silver cocks in every hole June had avaible. They rammed in and out of June in unison, three cocks acting as one, shattering June’s mind and sending her crashing into another orgasm.

  Will and Ben, having no appreciable refractory period, were already hard again, so the fourth Inta, lying between them and fisting each of their cocks, stroking with long, nguid motions. “What are you waiting for boys? There’s three hungry pussies over there begging to be stuffed,” she prompted.

  Needing no other encouragement, Will and Ben got up and positioned themselves behind an Inta plowing into June, Will at the head of the bed and Ben at the foot. They slipped their throbbing members into Inta’s wet and inviting folds, adding their contribution to the symphony of spping flesh.

  The lone Inta closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the flood of passion radiating off the hedonistic pile of joined bodies, grinding and thrusting together like orgiastic puzzle pieces.

  As the beating heart of the Nestia and with her impressive ability to multi-task, Inta could manage every function of the ship, y with June, Will, and Ben, and simultaneously observe every part of the ship.

  The Toparians, already bonded and attuned to her, were already feeling some of the bliss she was feeling and were enjoying their morning amongst themselves.

  Larce, the only Maiden not currently Seeding with a Mother, was thoroughly enjoying the Brothers’ attention, taking turns with two or three at a time. The amount of energy Inta absorbed from the feelings of Love from both the rutting Brothers and their partner was only outshone by the torrent of ecstasy from her own Seeding with Pi’natha.

  Though faint, she could feel the tight-knit hive of Chilopodians, their warm caring was broadcasted to anyone could hear as they tended lovingly to each other.

  In her room, Thea was already stirring from slumber and felt the echoes of passion from Inta’s indirect connection through Ben. She was alone in her dark, in that delightful half-asleep state where dreams blended with reality. She must have been having a delightfully naughty dream, because she y in her bed, vigorously strumming her clit. Inta smiled and shot an extra jolt of ecstatic energy to her, and watched her explode with a delicious orgasm.

  The only one seemingly left out was Artona, who slept fitfully as if pgued by bad dreams. Inta couldn’t quite reach her yet; she decided she would need to devote more of herself to cracking the tough nut that was the stoic Urarc.

  Her vast mind processed the crew and guest status check in the blink of an eye and noticed that her current threesome-and-then-some was reaching its penultimate climax. Her Loves were on the precipice and she knew exactly what buttons of theirs to push to send them over the edge.

  The Inta stuffing her cock down June’s throat while getting railed by Will reached her arms back and with one hand and fondled his balls, already tight and close to exploding, while grabbing his ass with the other. Then the middle finger of her clutching hand grew and snaked into his anus like a prostate-seeking missile.

  The fourth Inta, slipped behind Ben and grabbed his hips as he jackhammered into her other instance. “Hello Lover,” she whispered into his ear. “I want your ass in the worst way.”

  “Oh, Inta….” were all the words he could muster, and she knew how much he loved having his cock buried into someone with someone buried in him. So with one slick motion, she shoved her dick into his ass and began pummeling his prostate in time with his own thrusting motion.

  Like a nuclear chain reaction, Ben’s climax touched off Inta’s which ignited Will and June’s, and they all climaxed as one. Ben and Will shot their enormous loads deep into their respective Inta’s while she came hard, filling them all with torrents of silver precursor fluid. She filled Will and Ben’s asses up until they leaked silver, and June got a triple shot of silvery goodness.

  Her stomach swelled slightly as her bowels and womb were filled, and her face turned into a silvery mess as her swallowing was overwhelmed by the sheer volume being fired down her throat. Her eyes watered as she coughed and sputtered up the silver fluid she couldn’t swallow. It leaked out of the corners of her mouth and nostrils, running down the sides of her face, her contorted expression one of almost religious ecstasy.

  As their shared all-consuming climax ebbed, they slumped into a limp pile of sated bodies and y there soaking in the afterglow. All exchanged soft affectionate kisses, inadvertently smearing precursor fluid and cum all over their bodies, creating a beautiful mess.

  They y there enjoying the afterglow for a few minutes, not wanting to break the spell.

  Eventually, Ben shifted his position slightly to better face Inta. “Now that you’ve had breakfast, let’s christen the new kitchen and make breakfast for everyone else.”

  “Mmm, that’s a wonderful idea,” Inta cooed into his chest. They slipped off the oversized mattress, leaving Will and June to cuddle the remaining Intas in the pile. Then they headed to the bathroom and in the shower took turns scrubbing each other clean.

  Returning to the bedroom to dress, Ben noted that Will and June had fallen back asleep, each with an Inta in their arms.

  Ben smiled at them as he dressed, but Inta remained naked, as was her usual preference on board, then they both padded barefoot down the hallway to the recently renovated kitchen.

  “What are we going to make?” Inta asked, her voice as perky as her bare silver breasts.

  “Well, as much as I wanted a kitchen, I don’t have much experience as a cook. So I thought we’d keep it simple for now. It’s tough to mess up scrambled eggs, so I figured we’d have that with bacon and toast.” he said as he retrieved a couple of bowls stowed under one of the counters.

  Inta grabbed the eggs and bacon from the fully stocked fridge, compliments of the Dals, while Ben sliced and buttered bread before dropping them onto the kitchen’s rge griddle.

  Soon, they had everything cooking, and the enticing scent of crispy bacon wafted through the air. Ben loaded up the serving dishes with the finished food while Inta put out pce settings that were enough for everyone at one end of the long table.

  As he watched Inta work from behind the kitchen counter, Ben realized that the long table, which Inta had constructed during the remodel, could accommodate everyone aboard, including the Toparians, with room to spare. As Inta cheerfully pced silverware next to the ptes, Ben wondered silently if it was wishful thinking or if she knew that they would need the space eventually.

  He admired her naked form as she intentionally bent over slightly while pcing the cutlery when she had her back to him, and he caught her gncing behind, mischief in her eyes.

  “I’m going to start the coffee and tea, can you wake everyone and let them know breakfast is almost ready?” Ben asked as he filled the pot and kettle with water.

  Inta smiled and nodded her head. Across the ship, in the various sleeping quarters, the lights, kept low as the occupant slept, slowly grew brighter, and the sleepers heard Inta’s soft, gentle voice whispering in their earpieces, the closest thing the Nestia had to a public address system. “Good morning, darling. If you are hungry, breakfast is just about ready.”

  It only took a few minutes for smiling but sleepy-eyed faces to appear through the doorway, filing in and sitting at the table. June and Will were the first to arrive, accustomed to Inta’s nudges, followed shortly by Thea.

  Artona stumbled in a few minutes ter, her fur a disheveled mess, a dour look on her face. Surveying the generous amounts of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast id out on the table, family style, her demeanor softened. “I suppose I can forgive you for waking me,” she said to Inta, as she sat next to Thea at the table. “This looks a whole lot better than the rations I packed.”

  Inta smiled as Artona began piling food onto her pte. “Ben and I thought a nice family breakfast would be the perfect way to christen the new kitchen.” Inta noticed the almost imperceptible winch on Artona’s face when ‘family’ was mentioned.

  “Yeah, after Inta remodeled it for me, things were so hectic aboard the Dals, we never had a chance to break it in properly,” Ben said as he sat beside Will. “The Ferry Service was kind enough to fully stock us up before we left, so I’m going to try my hand as ‘chief cook’. I’ll do my best, but the first few meals might be a little ckluster; I don’t have much experience.”

  Artona looked up from her pte with a mouthful, “No, this is good. Beats rations.” she said, then stuffed another rge fork full of scrambled eggs into her mouth.

  “This is splendid. I love the idea of eating as a family,” June offered. “And we can all take turns cooking, so you don’t have to do it all.”

  Ben smiled warmly at his gathered family and friends gathered at the table, basking in their enjoyment of the simple meal. “Where are the Toparians? And the Chilopodians? Are they coming up for breakfast?” He asked Inta, filling his pte.

  “De’noke and Larce are on their way, and the Chilopodians, well, they have… different dietary needs,” Inta demurred. “They prefer to dine in private.”

  As if summoned by his question, De’noke and Larce appeared in the doorway and walked in, with their gentle swaying gait. “Good morning, all. I trust you slept well?” De’noke greeted those assembled at the table. Inta moved two chairs away from the table making space to allow De’noke and Larce to kneel comfortably at the table.

  “No one else wanted breakfast?” Will asked as Inta poured De’noke and Larce some tea.

  “As, Toparians are ‘grazers’, if you will," De'noke expined. "We nibble all day and don’t typically sit down for big meals together. Also, most find non-Toparian cuisine, how to say it, aggressively rich.” De’noke thanked Inta and took a sip of his tea.

  Larce smoothed her robe, shy and unsure of herself, and thanked Inta when she poured her a cup. “You don’t mind if I join you, do you?”

  “Honey, you’re family. You are always welcome, even if only to sit with us. That goes for everyone else, too,” Inta said warmly.

  Larce beamed with appreciation. “We usually eat ‘Dram’,” She expined, “It’s a tofu-like curd derived from a type of algae,” Larce said, holding her teacup up to her nose to get a good sniff.

  “It seems that I’m the only one who has developed a taste for tea, though Larce said she wanted to try some.” De’noke chipped in.

  Larce visibly rexed and smiled back, then took a small sip of the tea. “Oh, the fvor is… unusual.” She took another sip. “I think I like it,” she said brightly. “Ooh! And I feel something. A slight buzzing?” She said quizzically.

  Will chuckled. “That would be the caffeine. The best part of tea and coffee, in my opinion.”

  The inaugural meal was consumed while they discussed their pns for the day. Denoke reported that the Toparians had nearly finished their preparations for the seedlings and should be ready to begin reviving them from their stasis ter today.

  Artona and Thea said they were going to spend time in the hangar training, at which Will perked up. “Can I join you?” he asked.

  “Absolutely. I need a break from the beatings,” Thea joked.

  Artona let a half smile slip across her face, then grew serious. “Eventually, I would like everyone to train with me. Fighting disorganized and sloppy pirates is one thing, but if you go up against real fighters, you’ll be at an extreme disadvantage without proper discipline and practice.” Everyone at the table nodded soberly in agreement.

  “I’d also like to find a way to do some firearms training. The weapons you have are like nothing I’ve seen before, and we’ll need careful training on them or someone’s going to get hurt.” Then she set her fork down to emphasize her point. “With this kind of firepower, you were all lucky the injuries sustained weren’t more serious.” She said, gncing at Will, thinking about his brush with death.

  “We’ll make it a priority,” Inta said firmly. “I won’t put my family in harm’s way again without being properly prepared.”

  Seeing the agreement in every face at the table, Artona rexed considerably. “Good. It doesn’t have to happen right away, but we should start as soon as we can.”

  With breakfast consumed and the conversation winding down, Inta began clearing the table and cleaning up. Everyone got up and helped clear the table, but Inta shooed them away from the kitchen as she started to wash dishes. “Go on, leave me to it. I live for taking care of my friends and family.” They lined up to give Inta a peck on the cheek or a hug one by one, all except for Artona, who hung back.

  Inta caught the micro expression of pain and longing that leaked past the Urarc’s defenses before her walls went up again as she left the dining area. Inta decided that she would need to address the issue sooner than ter.

  The door closed behind Artona as she entered her room, and she immediately began stripping out of the tough, red leather vest and pants customary to her people. She walked over to the bathroom, removed her pin tan panties and breast bindings, and evaluated her body in the full-length mirror hanging there. Under her soft brown fur, her toned muscuture rippled as she moved, highlighted by the multitude of scars won in battle. Her hips fred wide, and her ass was round and well-toned, like the rest of her body. Had she cared for it, she would have been good breeding stock, though the fates didn’t seem to have it in the cards for her.

  The memory of the st time her Alpha had taken her sprang unbidden to her mind, how he overpowered her and took from her what she was desperate to give. The thought of her Alpha inevitably was followed by a pang of loss and guilt at having survived when the rest of her cn had died in battle. She was now too old to be adopted by another cn, and even though it was not uncommon for cross-cn breeding, it was usually done to strengthen alliances. There would be no benefit for another cn to cim her. She was destined to live the rest of her life alone.

  Others wouldn’t outright shun her, only tolerate her, as there was a stigma of being the only survivor. No one would say it, but it was commonly thought that the reason someone survived when the rest of their cn perished was because of some assumed cowardice.

  Artona gave herself a fatalistic smirk in the mirror, knowing that she would never again be a full member of Urarc society.

  And then there was the frustrating situation she now found herself in. She was honor-bound to protect Inta’s life as she had saved hers, a situation for which she was uniquely well-suited. She and her cn had earned most of their living through regur security contracts with dignitaries and high-level executives, providing protection in difficult scenarios. But Artona was at a loss as to how she could protect someone who could be in multiple pces at once the way Inta always seemed to be.

  On top of that, this ship Inta called home seemed to have a weird vibe. To Artona’s highly trained senses, the scent of fresh sex was everywhere, and there was a palpable energy that hung thick in the air, constantly driving her to the edge of distraction. Even now, standing naked and alone in her bathroom, her bare pink nipples stood hard and erect on her rge but perky, fur-covered breast, feeling a constant low-level arousal.

  It had been like this since she came on board, and it was maddening. One time, while the Toparian Grove was relocating to the Nestia, she passed an open door, and three toparians were going at it. Two of the males were spit-roasting a young female with their impressive members. Artona had lingered at the door long enough to watch her throat bulge obscenely as she swallowed the one male's massive tool to the hilt.

  The men were oblivious to her presence, but the female gnced over at her briefly, then orgasmed hard, seeming to enjoy the audience. Artona had quickly fled back to her room and rubbed out an unsatisfying orgasm; the image of the passionate Toparians seared into her mind.

  If her Alpha were here, he would smell her arousal, press her against the wall, and satisfy that itch the only way a dominant Alpha could.

  Artona’s mind snapped back to the present, and she realized she had been standing in front of the mirror rubbing slow circles around her rge clit. “Get it together!” she chastised herself. She washed up quickly, hoping to hide her unquenched arousal, then slipped into her gym shorts and sports bra and headed down to the hangar where she had set up a makeshift gym.

  She had brought most of her cn’s exercise equipment on board the Nestia and made the far corner of the hangar her private exercise space. There was an extra heavy-duty heavy-bag capable of withstanding ferocious Urarc strength, a couple of thousand pounds of free weights, and a rack of assorted melee weapons with which she could practice her forms.

  She rolled her shoulders and focused her mind with a few cleansing breaths, then went through her usual stretching routine, limbering up before getting to work.

  Before long, Will and Thea walked into the Hangar and went over to Artona’s corner as she was moved through her stretching routine.

  “Hi Artona!” Thea said cheerfully. Will watched the shapely and muscur Urarc bend at the waist, stretching her hamstrings, and couldn’t help his cock from stirring in his shorts.

  Artona noticed Will’s shifting stance and its cause, then mumbled something to herself in annoyance. “This is not the time for… shenanigans,” she growled low. “When you step into this space, your focus should be on the craft of war and combat. There will come a time when your life and those you care about will depend on what you learn, practice, and hone in these moments of peace.” Then, to further drive home the point, “You will not be able to forgive yourself if your loved ones come to harm because you didn’t take your training seriously enough.”

  The massive Urarc paused, in part to let her words sink in and also to let her roiling emotions settle, time enough to push the pain in her heart down. “Alright, let’s begin.”

  She led them through the series of stretches she had just gone through, then went slowly through a basic unarmed form, performing the graceful and deadly dance for them, executing each component movement with the precision born of a thousand hours of practice.

  “Now follow along with me,” she instructed, and they dutifully copied her flowing movements as she moved through the form again, watching like a hawk, correcting their forms as they went through it. At the end of the third repetition, she stood straight but at ease with her hand on her hips. “Not bad. I think we’ll make warriors of you yet.”

  Will and Thea grinned at the compliment, and Artona quickly shot back. “Don’t get ahead of yourselves. Your form is still rough; an Urarc youngling would still tear you apart. But it is a good beginning. Come, let us do some light sparring to see how the form feels in use.”

  Artona had Thea and Will square off and reminded them, “No contact. We’re learning how the form’s movements apply to a fight.” She verbally guided them, taking turns attacking and defending, critiquing their techniques.

  “Good, good,” Artona said, impressed with their grasp of the fundamentals. It seems that your Academy at least didn’t give you any bad habits. Now it’s time for light contact—one at a time—with me. I don’t want you to get hurt on the first day. That’s for ter,” she said with a smirk, enjoying spending time with them in her element.

  “Thea first. Will, sit and watch carefully.” Will dutifully sat, and Thea squared up to the hulking wall of fur and muscle, gulping in slight apprehension. Artona suppressed a smile, the memory of her simir apprehension when she first squared off against her grizzled, battle-hardened, Weaponsmater when she was young. “Rex. I will not hurt you, and I doubt you will harm me.”

  Artona’s smile put Thea at ease, and she did as she was told, the tension left her shoulders and settled into her guard, with her hands up. “Yeah, rex,” Thea joked, “You’re not the one facing an Urarc unarmed for the first time.”

  Artona chuckled, then nodded her head, indicating that she wanted Thea to make the first move.

  Thea circled, watching for an opening, of which Artona presented none. Thea flew into a series of strikes, the first Artona nimbly dodged and blocked the next two allowing the massive Urarc to flow past Thea’s guard and gently tap a counter strike to her kidney. “Again.” They reset and went again, with simir results.

  Thea tried mixing up her attacks, feigning a strike to the left, her true target being the right, but Artona easily defended, decwing each attack, returning with a tap to one vital area or another.

  After five minutes of sparring, Thea was winded and thoroughly sweaty. “Alright, that’s enough,” Artona said, ending her session. “Will, it's your turn.”

  Thea sat gratefully as Will got up and bowed in respect before taking up his stance. Artona stood impassively on her guard and waited for his attack. He circled her, using the techniques he just learned, and shed out quicker than Artona expected. She blocked him, just the same as Thea, but noticed he was much less easy to shift off his feet, and his strike had a subtle strength that suggested he was holding back significant power.

  “You’re unusually strong for a human,” Artona said, impressed. She decided he could handle a surprise, so his next strike, Artona flowed around it and passed his guard, reaching around him, locking his arms into a full nelson.

  On the sideline, Thea let out a good-natured chuckle at Will's manhandling, and Artona asked him, “What would you do now, in this situation?”

  “This,” Will said, and to Artona’s shock, he slowly forced his arms down against Artona’s not inconsequential strength, broke the arm lock, and then spun back into a guarded stance.

  Artona was surprised at the raw strength on dispy, and her expression showed it.

  “I minored in bear wrestling at the Academy,” Will quipped, smiling broadly, while Thea groaned at the bad joke.

  “Is that so? Let’s see it then,” Artona said with a wide smile, her pointed canines on dispy.

  Then in a fsh, she was on him, had him clinched, plucked him off his feet, and brought him to the ground, careful not to hurt him too much. She smothered him as she rolled over him, wrapping up an arm and the opposite leg, catching him completely by surprise.

  Artona smiled serenely, intending to turn this into a teaching moment when he again surprised her with his raw strength. He strained against her inescapable hold and inexorably pulled himself out, even though Artona tried to hold his limbs with everything she had. Then suddenly, he was free beneath her, her massive frame still smothering him.

  She relented, thoroughly astounded, and sat back on her haunches looking at Will, as he sat on the floor rubbing his sore wrists. “Tell me, how strong are you, really?”

  “Well, I don’t know exactly. I did knock a bulkhead hatch off its hinges once on the Dals…” Will said with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “That was you?!” Thea excimed incredulously. “That was a titanium-reinforced hatch. And you didn’t just ‘knock it off its hinges’, you tore the frame off the wall. It took a crew three days to repair it!”

  Artona looked at Will with a newfound respect. “No kidding, Huh. Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. Let’s try something.” She got to her feet and walked to the heavy bag hanging nearby, motioning for Will to follow.

  “I want you to go through some of the strikes we just went over, but this time, put some power behind it,” Artona said, standing behind the bag, holding it steady. “And don’t forget; good form is crucial for the proper delivery of force.”

  Will squared up to the bags, took a couple of soft jabs to measure it up, then really let into it. The bag rocked with each impact of his fists, loud, dull thuds echoing through the open space. Each strike shook the frame from which the heavy bag hung, even with Artona’s mass holding it in pce. “Is that all you got?” Artona said, egging him on, even though she was already impressed with the dispy.

  Will bared his teeth and yelled with one st strike. The bag yielded, caught between Artona’s immovable object and Will’s irresistible force, and split vertically down the entire bag as Will drove his fist into the center of the beaten bag.

  “Incredible. You’ve got to be as strong as an Urarc, maybe stronger.” Artona marveled as sand poured out of the defeated heavy bag.

  “Huh, what do you know,” Will said, surprised as well.

  “You want to arm wrestle?” Artona asked with a smile and a light in her eyes.

  ****

  The next couple of days passed this way. Ben and Inta would organize the meal, sometimes with help from either Will or June, and everyone would sit together, chat, and eat. The Toparians began making it a point to reserve the observed meal times to eat a snack with others, filling out the long table in the dining area in the upgraded mess hall/kitchen. Inta sat back, listening to the low din of conversations amongst the crowd of her loved ones, practically glowing.

  At the end of the meal, the group headed off to their own pursuits. The Toparians returned to the Grove’s accommodations to continue preparations for the Seeds. Ben went off to his reading corner in what was now known as the ‘Crystal Room’ to read some of Inta’s transted texts on ancient Andranari physics, occasionally followed by Thea. Inta smiled whenever she followed him, knowing that Thea was interested in more than physics.

  June and Will rotated time on the bridge, monitoring their progress and keeping watch, but both participated in Artona’s growing group of combat trainees, leaving the monitoring to the tireless Inta. On the second day, after the training session, Thea realized that no one was on the bridge, and on her way back to her room for the night, she bumped into Inta.

  “Hey, I’ve got a question, if you don’t mind,” Thea asked as she walked with the silver girl, “I noticed that Will and June each take a watch on the bridge, but sometimes they’re both off, either at mealtime, during Artona’s training session, or, ah, sleeping.” Thea blushed a little, and then she got back to her line of questioning. “I assume that you are monitoring things when no one is on the bridge, is that right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right. I am constantly monitoring everything that is happening in, on, and around the ship. Including the task of keeping an eye on the bridge is an easy one to add to the list.”

  “Pardon the question, but if you can keep watch on the bridge and control everything that happens on the ship all at once, why do you need a crew at all?” Thea looked uncomfortable, fearing that she might upset Inta with such bluntness.

  Inta smiled in response. “There’s a couple of reasons, all straightforward,” She began expining. “If one mind was sent off into the depths of space on a mission of any duration, they would slowly go mad. Having a full crew combats the loneliness and psychosis that could come with it. Imagine someone with my capabilities going all megalomaniacal; it’s a recipe for disaster.”

  Inta paused as they arrived at Thea’s door. Thea went inside and gestured for Inta to follow so they could continue to talk. Inta dropped into the desk chair and casually hung her arm over the back.

  Over the several weeks of getting to know the crew of the Nestia, Thea had become comfortable around them all and didn’t think twice as she gathered her toiletries for an after-workout shower. She left the bathroom door open as she undressed, and spoke louder so she could continue their conversation as she turned on the water and jumped into the shower.

  Inta continued. “Another reason is that even though I’m a great multitasker, and capable, I’m still only one mind with one way of thinking about the universe. Multiple perspectives allow considerations and crity of thought for decisions one person alone might not have the correct answer for.”

  “Seems reasonable,” Thea called out from the bathroom over the sound of spraying water.

  “And finally, as we’ve already let you in on our secret, I derive energy from and give to the crew in a virtuous cycle. Without a crew, I would essentially evaporate over time. I nearly did.”

  Climbing out of the shower and beginning to dry herself, Thea paused at Inta’s statement, wondering if it would bother Inta to delve further, then decided she wouldn’t have brought it up if she were bothered by sharing it. “You nearly evaporated? How? Are you in danger now?” The edge of concern in Thea’s voice warmed Inta’s heart, knowing she genuinely cared for her well-being.

  “I’m not in danger, now that my family has grown to the extent that it has. I don’t think we’ve told you, but I’m old. Well not just old, ancient. As in a hundred thousand-year-old kind of ancient. You see, a long time ago I lost…” The memory of loss was still a spike through the heart, even surrounded by the love of her new family. “I lost my entire family. The entire crew was killed, and I was alone for a terribly long time. I became less and less myself, until just a whisper of who I was remained. Then June and Will found me and with everyone’s help, saved me from extinction.”

  Though Thea presented a tough hardened exterior, Inta’s story resonated so closely with her own, and seeing the tears threatening from the corner of her eyes, she couldn’t help but feel moved. “Oh Inta, I’m sorry you had to go through that!” she excimed, hurrying over to Inta, wearing only a wrapped towel, her hair still damp. She kneeled and pulled Inta into a big hug, giving the silver girl the comfort that Thea had once needed.

  Inta looked up into Thea’s eyes shining with gratitude, and her expression shifted slightly, a look of hunger yered on top of it. Inta softly reached up to caress Thea’s cheek, eyes full of emotion, then she id her hand on the back of Thea’s neck and gently pulled her down and kissed her full on the lip.

  The kiss was soft and soulful, and Thea returned it, feeling that sharing their pain lessened it as they grew closer.

  Inta broke the kiss, her hand still on Thea’s neck. “You know, you don’t have to sleep alone. There’s plenty of room in the lounge with us…” Inta invited, trailing her fingers down Thea’s neck.

  Thea thought about it for less than a moment. She had been specifically ordered to get some ‘rest and rexation’; nowhere could she imagine more restful and rexing than with Inta and the crew of the Nestia. “Sounds wonderful,” Thea cooed into Inta’s ear.

  Inta got up from the desk chair and pulled Thea to her feet and into a warm embrace. “I promise you won’t regret it,” she said lovingly. Inta put her petite silver hand into Thea’s and led her to the lounge down the hall.

  ****

  Thea woke the next morning in the middle of the rge mattress, surrounded by warm bodies, feeling deliciously sore and wonderfully used. The group collectively decided that the newcomer should be the focus of attention for the night’s festivities and proceeded to fuck her brains out for several hours straight. The stamina these people had was astounding, and Thea’s mind quickly devolved into a carnal receptacle for their lust.

  She was grateful she hadn’t had the Navy’s mandatory birth control impnt removed when she left the service for a civilian commission; she had more cum fucked into her in one night than she had in her entire life. By the end of the night, when everyone had exhausted themselves into her, she was completely covered in the stuff and leaked it out of every one of her holes. It was glorious.

  “Good morning, Darling,” Inta said softly, seeing she was awake. “How did you sleep?” She asked as if she hadn’t watched her snore quietly all night.

  Thea gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I slept better than I have in a long time,” she answered. Thea stretched her long frame, gave Inta another peck on the cheek, and then wriggled out of bed, careful not to disturb Will or June. She first noticed that Ben wasn’t in bed and then, almost immediately afterward, smelled something wonderful cooking in the air, thanks to the lounge and kitchen doors always being left open.

  Her stomach grumbled, so she washed up quickly in the shower in the bathroom adjacent to the lounge. She wet her hair under the hot water and thered it up, then as she rinsed, and washed the rest of her body, she marveled at how spacious the shower was, rge enough to accommodate several people comfortably. A sheepish smile crept across her face when she realized the intent behind the design. She finished up and left the bathroom, meeting Will and June, who were on their way into the bathroom.

  “Morning Sweety,” June said as she gave her a quick kiss. She, Will, and two Intas entered the bathroom to shower. The st Inta gave Thea sly a wink before disappearing inside with the others.

  Thea’s stomach grumbled in protest again, so she followed the delicious scent to the kitchen, where she found Ben and Inta already hard at work making breakfast. “Smells wonderful, whatcha making?”

  Ben’s eyes sparkled as he smiled. “Sausage links, seasoned potatoes, and eggs made to order. So what’ll you have?” He was clearly enjoying himself.

  “Can you do two eggs, sunny side up?” Thea asked.

  “You got it. Coming right up!” He said, cracking two eggs into a skillet.

  Inta came around the kitchen isnd and wrapped her arms around Thea from behind, pulling her close. “Coffee, Tea, or me?”

  Thea spun in her arms and hugged Inta in return. “You really can’t get enough, can you?” Inta smiled brightly and shook her head no. “I’ll take some tea, please. And then maybe ter…”

  Inta gave her a quick peck on the cheek, released her, and then went to get the water boiling for tea. Smiling, Thea pulled a chair out at the table, and as she was sitting, Artona walked in and sat opposite Thea. Inta brought over the tea and filled Thea’s cup, then asked Artona, “Coffee, right?”

  “Yes, please,” Artona answered politely. She watched the gleeful silver girl head over to the coffee pot, then noticed Thea watching intently as well, a dreamy smile on her face. Catch the unmistakable scent of sex on her with two quick sniffs of the air confirmed her suspicions, and the corners of her mouth turned down in an almost imperceptible frown.

  Inta returned with the coffee pot and poured the rich, dark liquid into Artona’s cup. “How do you want your eggs, Hun?” Inta asked.

  “Fried hard, if you don’t mind,” she replied. Inta headed back to the kitchen. The scent of sex was thick in the air. ‘Am I the only one not getting any on this damn ship?’ Artona grumbled internally.

  Inta returned to the table with Thea and Artona’s ptes, the food still steaming. The smell caused Artona’s stomach to growl, demanding attention. Still standing close behind her, Inta asked the rge Urarc, “How did you sleep, Dear?”

  “I slept fine,” She lied. She had tossed and turned all night, restless.

  Inta leaned close to her ear. “You don’t have to sleep alone, Sweety. I would love to keep you company if you wanted,” she whispered softly in her ear.

  Artona’s jaw clenched. “No, I’m good. Really.” She said, convincing no one.

  “Okay, Hun. Whatever you need.” Inta said in a soothing tone, lightly touching the fur on her muscur forearm. Then June and Will arrived, followed closely by De’noke and Larce, who greeted everyone and then sat for breakfast. Ben cooked up everyone’s eggs as they ordered, then made some for himself and sat to eat.

  With everyone seated, Inta got a gss of water and sat next to De’noke while another Inta came in and headed to the kitchen to begin cleaning up.

  “How’s it going with the Seeds, Love?” Inta asked, sitting next to De’noke.

  “Things are progressing extremely well,” he said excitedly, sipping his tea. “We have half of them properly pnted and should have all eight settled by the end of the day. Fi’balmsa and Frase are close to ending their Seeding. My guess is that by sometime next week we’ll have two more precious Seeds to pnt bringing the total to ten. Ten! My goodness, I can’t tell you how excited we all are for the little ones to start waking up.”

  De’noke's excitement was contagious; everyone listening wore big, beaming smiles.

  “In other news,” June began, “We should arrive in the Centrailia system shortly after thirteen hundred. Traffic is always hectic, so I don’t expect that we’ll dock until te into the evening. We’ll stop first at the passenger terminals to let the Chilopodians debark and catch their connector, then we’ll reach out to Peirault Shipping to let them know that we’ve arrived and to expect us at Durinheim to return the Saturn’s Heart transponder. Once we’ve done that, the Nestia will get her permanent transponder.”

  “And what’s the pn once we have the permanent transponder?” De’noke asked.

  “That’s an excellent question,” June responded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “We have a decent amount of money to support our search for Inta’s people, this would be a good opportunity to start in earnest.”

  “I think the ruins on Topor are our best lead so far,” Will added. “Up for a trip home?” He asked De’noke and Larce.

  “That sounds lovely. I can’t wait to show you the ruins of the Sindou Desert. It's an absolutely fascinating pce,” De’noke commented as Larce bounced excitedly.

  “If there are no other objections, it’s settled. Topar it is,” June decred. “We have a couple of hours before we arrive in system; Inta, can you give the Chilopodians a heads up? Please let them know that we'll give them a better ETA when we hear from Centrailia Traffic Control.”

  “You got it, Captain,” Inta said, only half in jest. Her words hung in the air for a moment, and everyone was silent for a heartbeat.

  June tensed up. “No, I’m the pilot. I only pretend when needed.”

  Will raised an eyebrow and looked at her thoughtfully for a moment in the silence. June seemed uncomfortable with the idea of being the focal point of decisions on the ship. June was hard-working and a perfectionist; the idea of letting down those who counted on her drove her crazy. Will could see how being captain would be intimidating for her.

  “Well, it’s not like we’ve needed an actual captain yet; look how we’ve made out so far. We’ve escaped certain doom, defeated bloodthirsty pirates, and have made friends all along the way. I like the way we’ve been operating; I think it works for us.”

  June rexed visibly and silently promised herself to reward Will’s thoughtfulness most vigorously.

  “In the time remaining, I’d like to prep the shuttle. It may be more cost-effective to rent a mooring away from the docks, and make trips with the shuttle,” June said, finishing her tea.

  “It would also be more advantageous in regards to security,” said Artona, who had been stoically silent up to this point. “With a crew as small as this, if some or all of you decided you needed to go somewhere, the ship would be defensively weakened.”

  “Not entirely,” Inta chimed in. “Even if I went with them, I would still be manning the Nestia.”

  Artona’s face fell into her familiar scowl at missing the obvious fact. “Well, you would still be disadvantaged, which could be capitalized on. Even in seemingly safe surroundings, you can’t always anticipate danger.” She crossed her arms, letting her irritation at the general x attitudes be felt.

  Inta watched Artona’s aura swirl, the undercurrents of fear fought to undermine the Urarc’s usually impcable center, then submerge once more.

  Finished, everyone stood up from the table. “See you on the bridge at noon!” June said cheerfully, stopping to give Will a peck on the cheek before heading off. “Inta can you help shake down the shuttle?” She asked.

  “If this shuttle’s a-rockin’, don’t come knockin’!” Inta sing-songed mischievously and left with June. The rest of them followed June and Inta out, all except Artona, who sat at the table, slowly finishing her cup of coffee. When alone, she quietly set her cup down and put her head in her hands.

  ****

  “Ten minutes until arrival in system,” June announced to those assembled on the bridge. June sat at navigation, Will at the tactical station. Ben was in his usual spot at a station along the back of the bridge while De’noke sat on a bench nearby Inta had installed with Toparian physiology in mind.

  Tendana, the Chilopodian Overseer’s Second, sat with her lower half curled comfortably in a ball next to De’noke’s bench. Thea and Artona sat at inactive stations on the opposite side, their chairs swiveled around to watch their arrival.

  June’s fingers danced along the controls, and the Nestia rapidly decelerated. The rainbow streamer appearance of the stars through the viewport returned to shining points of white light.

  Gently slipping out of FTL, the Centrailia system, with its K css, slightly orange star shining brightly in the background, was on full dispy on the forward viewport.

  Almost as soon as they slowed to sub-luminal speed, they received a hail from Traffic Control.

  “This is Centrailia Naval Traffic Control. Please state your designation and purpose in Centrailia Space,” the crisp, professional-sounding voice said.

  “This is the Nestia, ferrying the st of the passengers from the Ferry Dals to the Centrailia passenger terminals. We also have business with the Peirault Shipping Company and will visit their docks briefly during this visit.” June replied in an equally professional manner.

  “Nestia, we note that you are currently using a temporary transponder. Our records indicate that it’s license will expire shortly. Please be advised that Centrailia Code requires that you procure a permanent transponder as soon as you are able. Failure to do so with result in loss of access permissions and you will be escorted out of Centrailia space,” the traffic controller informed them.

  “Understood Control. Our first stop after dropping of the Dals passengers will be to procure a transponder,” June replied.

  “Intent confirmed and logged. Transmitting flight path to the passenger terminals. Please observer all port speeds on your approach. Welcome to Centrailia, Nestia.”

  “Thank you Control. Nestia out.” June id in the flight path as received, then engaged the drive.

  On the tactical dispy, the first thing they noticed was the scale of the volume of traffic, dotting the screen like some avant-garde pointillistic art: ships heading into and out of the system. “Wow!” Ben excimed, “There must be thousands of ships here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one pce before.”

  “This is retively mild for Centrailia,” Will chimed in. “ The st time June and I were here, there was easily ten times the traffic. We got lucky and hit a lull.” Then, turning to Tendana, the Chilopodian centipede, “We’ll have you to the terminals in no time at all.”

  Tendana’s mandibles articuted excitedly as the transtor box fixed to her carapace transted her clicking, chittering speech. “That’s fantastic. We won’t have any problem catching our connector flight now,” the soft feminine voice said from the box on the back of her head. “I’ll go inform the others of our imminent arrival. Thank you all so much.” Then she skittered off the bridge on her multitude of legs, surprisingly silent.

  June guided the Nestia into a line of ships heading towards the center of the system, keeping a careful watch on the surrounding traffic and receiving almost constant updates on her dispy from Centrailia Control.

  In the forward viewport, they could see many immense lines of traffic radiating from a central point, twinkling in the distance. As they approached, it became apparent that the twinkle lights came from the pnet the station must orbit around.

  Ben leaned forward in his seat, straining his eyes to spot the purportedly massive station known as Centrailia. “I don’t see the station. Is it on the far side of the pnet at the moment?” he asked.

  “You are looking at it right now,” June expined with a small smile. “Centrailia station completely encloses the pnet, like a shell.”

  Ben gawked, unable to reconcile June’s words with what he was looking at. Closer now, he could see that the entire surface of the pnet was covered in the same dull gray titanium of the many ships going to or coming from it.

  “Centrailia started off as a small trading outpost, ideally situated in a mid-point between several empire,” Thea expined. “The entire moonless pnet is encased in by the space station. The pnet itself has a ridiculously rge radioactive core, keeping the entire pnet's surface molten. It started off as one trading post, and they realized that at the right orbit, their energy collection arrays could absorb enough energy directly from the pnet, not only to sustaining itself, but also enough have excess for heavy industry.”

  Ben’s eyes widened, and Thea continued, “More and more outpost stations were brought into Centrailia’s orbit by various enterprising organizations looking to capitalize on its location and nearly limitless avaible energy. Within 300 years of the first, the number of orbiting stations rapidly became dangerous.

  The sheer volume of orbiting stations inevitably turned tragic. One of the older stations had lost its ability to maneuver and manage its orbit and crashed into a neighboring station. This set off a chain reaction of collisions, nearly wiping out every station. They just barely managed to avoid that ultimate disaster.

  Almost thirty percent of the stations in orbit were destroyed, and many millions of lives were lost. The survivors vowed that this would never happen again and founded the Centrailia Governing Authority. Its founding purpose was to regute and control the growth and development of the Centrailia star system, but it eventually grew into a full-fledged governmental bureaucracy.

  Soon, under the Governing Authority’s guidance, the Centrailia system rebounded and grew beyond its previous limitation, thanks to a key innovation of locking independent stations together. Soon, a solid ring and then a grid coalesced around the pnet, and within another couple of hundred years, the entire pnet was entombed.

  Thea thoroughly enjoyed expounding on the history lesson she was intimately familiar with. “The growth and expansion didn’t stop there. The thin shell of stations thickened down towards the pnet and outward. Heavy industries moved inward to take advantage of the more concentrated energy coming off the pnet, and commercial and residential uses followed the expansion outward.

  Now, nearly a thousand years after its humble beginnings, Centrailia is literally the halfway point between the equally distributed major seats of power, with people from all directions flocking here to make their fortune. Now Centrailia is truly the center of the civilized gaxy, not only in terms of physical position but also in importance to the citizens of the gaxy.”

  “Like a Dyson sphere, but around a radioactive pnet. Amazing.” Ben stated in wonder.

  “It is quite the achievement,” Thea said proudly. It is the pinnacle of engineering achievement, the high water mark of what sentient species can achieve when they work together.”

  Will gnced silently at the petite silver girl standing between June and himself and wondered if Thea’s statement was true. However, he kept his specution to himself, not wanting to rob Thea of her moment.

  Quicker than expected, the Nestia closed in on Centrailia's pnetary shell station. Through the forward viewport, Centrailia seemed to expand from a twinkling dot to a rge silver sphere and then to an incredibly vast structure with a bewildering variety of architecture. The gray titanium surface of the station was broken up in regur intervals by vast stretches of hardened transparent aluminum, allowing the slightly orange sunlight through to the structures below as the station rotated with the pnet below.

  As they flew over, the Nestia crew could see entire cities beneath the transparent barrier, the architecture of the buildings as varied as the people, coming from every corner of the known gaxy, inhabiting them.

  Surprisingly, beneath some of the transparent barriers, rge tracts of forests and farmnd could be seen far below. As a shell of a sphere with its radius much rger than the pnetary surface, the avaible area followed the R-squared rule and was several times greater than if Centrailia just occupied the surface, even if one could.

  “The popution here must be in the billions,” Ben said, still in awe.

  “Close to a hundred billion people, representing just about every sentient species, all working and living together on Centrailia,” Thea crified.

  As they descended, the station's round horizon appeared to ftten almost to a straight line, running off out of sight in both directions.

  “We’ve been given permission to use a docking berth right on one of the passenger terminals, which would be terribly convenient. Any objections before I transmit our acceptance?” June asked.

  Artona’s grumpy mood hadn’t softened much since breakfast, but she chimed in any way. " It should be fine; terminal security isn’t up to Urarc standards, but it’ll do.”

  Will subtly raised an eyebrow at Inta and June, and Inta just shook her head with a soft smile, letting Will know to let Artona be for now.

  They slowed their cruising speed to a crawl as they approached the terminals. It was a vast surface complex, with a myriad of branching structures standing above the rest of the gray surface of the station. The design of the terminals was such that as passengers boarded and debarked their craft, they would take lifts down into the station, travel to the next set of terminals, and take the next lift up to the waiting craft.

  Just within sight of the Nestia, they could see hundreds of ships already berthed and hundreds more coming in or taking off. The sheer scale of the operation was jaw-dropping.

  Carefully aligning the ship, June slowly lowered the Nestia into its assigned and empty berth and reached a standstill just a few meters from the structure. A pair of docking cmps extended and gently grasped the Nestia in its embrace, and June cut the drive. The silver exterior shimmered and faded, exposing the bright white hull.

  The cmps locked and retracted, pulling them in and finally securing them in pce. Quickly, a rge docking ring was extended, covering the entirety of the cargo bay doors.

  “We’re here!” June decred triumphantly. Inta, please proceed with the power down sequence and verify that the docking ring is secure.” June did one st check of ship statuses, then stood and stretched, arm up over her head.

  “Power down sequence complete, June,” Inta said as she wrapped her arms around her as she stretched. “And I just checked, docking ring is set. We are all set to debark.”

  “Excellent! Let’s go see the Chilopodians on their way.”

  The crew headed down to the cargo bay, and when they arrived, several instances of Inta helped the couple dozen centipedes load luggage and crates onto an array of hovering carts. Upon seeing the rest of the crew arrive in the cargo bay, the Chilopodian Overseer made her way over to them, still with an obvious limp from her healing wounds.

  “Overseer Sumarna, good to see you. How are you feeling today?” June asked.

  “Alive and healing, thanks to all of you,” her chitters and clicks were transted by the small box attached to the back of her head. “I truly can not thank you enough for all you have done for us. We surely would have perished aboard the Dals, and your kindness to allow us passage to Centrailia can not be overlooked.” Sumarna’s transtor did an excellent job of inflecting the produced voice, and the tone of her projected words carried her feelings of deep respect and gratitude.

  “You would honor us if you would accept a small token of our appreciation. Please allow us to pay your berthing fees while you are on Centrailia.” June started to object but was cut off. “Like the rest of the Dals passengers, our fare was refunded, and I can think of no more suitable use of the funds.”

  “Though you don’t need to, we humbly accept your offer.” June accepted graciously.

  The Overseer then leaned her massive head against June, her antennae brushing up and down her sides. “I have marked you with the scent of the Nest. From this day forth, you will always be known as a friend and ally of the Chilopodian people.”

  “Thank you, Overseer Sumarna. We are honored.” June said respectfully.

  “And now you must excuse me. We must be on our way if we are to catch our connecting flight. Fare well, crew of the Nestia. May you always find your way back to your nest.” The Overseer bowed her head slightly and then returned to the rest of the Chilopodians, who were already shepherding the floating carts of luggage off the ship.

  “That was unexpected,” Will said, standing next to June, watching the centipede delegation disappear into the crowded terminal, carts of luggage in tow. Looking down at a tablet in his hands, he said, “They paid for three days of berthing. Plenty of time to accomplish what we need to here, and we won’t need to move the ship to a mooring.”

  Artona, standing behind the Inta closest to the cargo bay doors, spoke up. “Security here seems decent enough, I’d still recommend sealing the doors to allow a quick disconnect if needed.”

  Inta looked behind her and up into Artona’s impassive face. Her eyes were constantly in motion, darting back and forth, scanning the crowded terminal for threats. “A sensible precaution,” Inta replied, gently pcing a small silver hand on one of Artona’s massive forearms, crossed in front of her.

  “We need to attend to our business as well.” June said, the docking fee meter running in the back of her mind. “ The Peirault shipyard is not far from this terminal, we can stop in and have them inform the Main Office that we’ll be heading their way to return the transponder shortly.”

  “Oh, a field trip!” Inta said excitedly. “I want to come too! There are sooo many people here, way more than on Penrose. I want to see them all!”

  Artona shifted uncomfortably. “More people means more risk,” She said ftly.

  Will tilted his head, indicating he wanted to speak with her away from the other, so she followed him a few steps away as Inta and June watched the passengers rushing to their destinations from the edge of the cargo bay door.

  “Artona, Inta has been through a lot,” Will softly expined. “Before we found her, she had lost her entire family and had been alone and isoted for far longer than anyone should. It was a terrible ordeal for her, and I figured getting out among people is a kind of therapy for her. She enjoys it so much. Would you be willing to help her and keep her safe?”

  Artona struggled internally for a moment, then made a decision: “If this helps her soothe her loss, I will not object. I will go with her and keep her safe.”

  Stepping back over to the group, Will cleared his throat. “We need to check in with Peirault Shipping and Inta wants to do some people watching, so I propose we split up; June, Ben and I will go to speak with someone at the Peirault Shipyard, and Inta, Artona and Thea can go check out the nearby shopping district. Sound okay to everyone?” Will proposed.

  Inta was practically giddy, bouncing on the balls of her toes. Some of the silver girl's excitement rubbed off on Thea. Artona only squinted her eyes and gave a barely audible affirmative.

  “Alright then, let’s get going. We should meet back here before dinner time. Sound good?” Will asked the group, receiving nods all around. With the group in agreement, they walked to the directory near the lifts to get their bearings.

  The dispy showed a graphical representation of Centralia Station, covered with location dots, each denoted with a several-character long cipher. The original central pnners took advantage of the fact that there were no continents to impose oddly shaped borders. They were able to institute a simple geometric coordinate system whose components were subdivided by hemisphere, quadrant, sector, sub-sector, and level.

  Because the shell of Centrailia Station had been expanding for almost a millennia, not only to surround and enclose the pnet but also to thicken the shell building inward towards the pnet and outward towards the stars, levels, as indicated in coordinates, were either a positive or negative number. Positively numbered levels were outer levels, and negatives were inner, with the greater the absolute value of the number, the further from the original shell yer at Layer Zero, which the locals referred to as Nought.

  They were currently on the topmost level, thirty-six away from Nought. In front of them, the lifts on the left would bring them down a couple of levels to the trams that ran between the various terminals at the higher levels, and the lifts on the right were the express lifts that ran down to Nought and the parks, open spaces, and a shopping pza.

  Will, June, and Ben waved to Inta and the others as they boarded the express lift to Nought. The doors closed, whisking them downward. A moment ter, the lift chimed, and the doors opened, disgorging a rge group of passengers who had just come from the trams. They entered the lift, standing close to one another as the lift was filled with other travelers seeking to use the tram, and then the door closed.

  The lift only descended for a few moments until it came to a rumbling stop, and the doors opened onto the tram level. The lift passengers exited into a rge circur room with a dozen ptforms evenly spaced around the perimeter. Signs pointing to every direction of the compass indicated the direction to the tram that would take them to a ptform in a neighboring sector.

  Will spotted the sign to the tram that would bring them to the sector where the Peirault Dockyards were located, and the three of them made their way through the crowd in that direction.

  “If this is what light traffic looks like, I’d hate to see it when Centrailia’s busy,” Ben said loudly over the noise of the crowd.

  “Inta must be in her glory,” June said, smiling as they packed into the tram just before the door closed and the tram brought them to their destination.

  ****

  Inta was practically incandescent with excitement as the express lift raced downward. Thea stood beside her with an amused smile. In contrast, Artona stood behind the two, towering over them protectively with her arms crossed, sending the clear message that anyone foolish enough to threaten them would receive the Urarc’s wrath.

  The lift slowed, and the doors opened onto a rge lobby facing a ceiling-to-floor gss wall through which the lush greenery of the open space park could be seen. The crowd parted for them, the Urarc’s presence creating a bubble of space, and as they stepped through the rge double doors, an artificial but fresh breeze caressed their faces.

  Inta chose the path that wound through the park's center and walked at a sedate pace, enjoying the sights and sounds. The park was a vast expanse of well-kept grass, dotted occasionally with trees that provided shade from the sunlight that shone through the transparent aluminum barrier high above.

  Everywhere on the carpet of grass, groups of people picnicked, pyed games, or just rexed, enjoying the rexing atmosphere. Inta walked past, savoring the sweetness of their emotions, catching their gentle pleasure wafting on the breeze like the scent of blooming flowers.

  Thea was enjoying herself, too. She hardly ever strolled for the sake of doing so; whenever she walked, it was usually at a quick pace with an objective in mind. Taking the time to luxuriate in the simple pleasure of a stroll was precisely what the Admiral must have had in mind when she ordered Thea to take some R&R.

  Artona was deriving no such pleasure from their stroll through the park. Her ever-watchful gaze scoured every inch of the park for hidden ambush points and scanned every face they passed, looking for harmful intent. There was no restful pleasure to be found here for her. With every step they took, her wariness crept up a notch. Her oath to protect Inta and deeper anxiety kept her on the razor’s edge, her guard sharp.

  ****

  Will, June, and Ben left the tram system, ascended a lift to the level just above it, and stood in a long, wide hallway just outside the Offices of the Peirault Dockyards.

  The wall facing them was ft gray, resembling the hue of their freighters. It had only one double door with the words “Dockyard Offices” painted above it. The three strode up and the doors swooshed open, hitting them with the mixed scents of welding fumes and office paper.

  Upon entering, there was no seating area to wait at, only a single desk in front of another set of doors through which muffled sounds of cnging and grinding metal could be heard. A stiff-spined young man in his early twenties sat at the desk, wearing a white colred shirt and navy blue suit jacket. Clean-shaven, he wore his hair in a short, ft top cut and seemed fresh out of the Academy. When they approached his desk, he did not look up from the terminal where he was typing.

  “Erm, hello Chase,” Will greeted him, reading the namepte on his desk. “We are the former crew of the Saturn’s Heart, and we need to speak with someone in Logistics and Tracking.”

  Chase looked up from his terminal at them without moving his head. “Is that so?” he questioned. He looked back down at his terminal, typed furiously, and then hit the enter key authoritatively. “Hmm. It says here that the Saturn’s Heart was lost with all her crew and was written off.” He shot back, one eyebrow raised, clearly of the opinion that they were mistaken.

  “Yeah, the ship was lost, and we were marooned for a short while,” June expined. “When we arrived at Penrose Station, the Dockmaster should have submitted our report, as well as Centrailia’s Traffic Control, that we were heading here to return the transponder, which, as you know, contains the bck box recorder for the ship.”

  Chase gnced at June sideways, hammered several queries with hard, fast fingers into his terminal, and stated ftly, “I don’t have any record in the system of receiving any such notification.”

  “Listen, Chase,” Will said, exuding as much friendly charm as he could muster. “The report must have been sent to the central office on Durinheim. If you could just call over there to confirm…”

  “I have access to all company records and do not see any such messages logged.” Chase cut him off abruptly. “The ship in question was written off, which means the books are closed on it.” Chase appeared to become more indignant. “If I were you, I’d leave now before someone started to ask questions and expose whatever scam you are trying to…” Before he could finish giving them the stiff brush off, the doors behind him burst open, and a wiry Silvestrian charged into the room.

  She had the usual tall cat-like features of a Silvestrian, pointed ears, soft orange and brown fir covering her face. Her right ear had a ragged notch cut out, and one of her whiskers was curled from extreme heat or fme. But her deep green emerald eyes tracked everything as she walked into a room and gave the impression of profound intelligence.

  “Alright Chase, quick looking at porn on company time,” the Silvestrian chided the seated young man, absentmindedly brushing dirt from her greasy overalls. “Traffic control told me to expect a ship carrying one of our transponders… Oh Hello there!” She chirped to June, Will, and Ben. “Are you the crew of the Saturn’s Heart?” She asked, her penetrating gaze inspecting them.

  “Yes we are, as we were trying to expin to Chase,” June said, grateful the direction now seemed to be going.

  “Chase, hun,” the Silvestrian said, draping herself across the stiff and now red-faced man seated at the desk. “You can rex; I got the call from traffic control just a little while ago, but I didn’t get a chance to log it.”

  Chase, clearly knowing he was in the wrong, continued to scowl red-faced at the crew of the Nestia for having been made to look the fool.

  “None of that now,” the Silvestrian scolded softly, “or you won’t get to feel my rough tongue anywhere for the rest of the week.”

  His eyes widened at her exposure of his perceived impropriety, and she ughed musically, squeezing his shoulders. “Chase is a good boy, but he lets protocol get in the way of proper judgment sometimes,” she told them. “Don’t worry, pet. You’ll still get your tongue bath ter.” His face reddened until it seemed he might stop breathing from embarrassment entirely.

  “Alright then, why don’t you come with me to my office to discuss this privately.” She said, gesturing to follow her. “Oh, the name is Cinss. Kestra Cinss.” She said, pulling the double doors behind the desk open with both hands.

  “Wait a minute, Cinss? You didn’t happen to work in the maintenance shop at the Academy, oh about fifteen years ago, did you?” June asked, seeking to confirm her rising suspicion.

  “As a matter of fact, I did. I apprenticed there for a while until I found a job here at the Centrailia dockyard.” Kestra responded, surprised.

  “It was you, wasn’t it? The one who always left the used parts out in the back corner of the maintenance yard?” June asked, now more confident, getting a closer look at her.

  Will and Ben looked perplexed, so June expined. “When I was a second year at the Academy, a bunch of us had found the ‘Graveyard’ where all the decommissioned vessels were stored until they could be scrapped, which usually took a while for them to get around to. A bunch of us decided that we were going to fix up a bunch of the training pods so we could get flight time in, which usually didn’t happen until the fourth year.”

  Looking back over her shoulder, Kestra smiled as June told her story.

  “While we were working on them, we found a clean pile of used parts under a tarp in the scrapyard. They were all in good working order, so we snuck them to Graveyard and used them in the trainers. We even managed to get a couple of them flight worthy, though as soon as we got the first one airborne, Campus Security found us and shut it down pretty quick. Before that happened though, on a run to the scrapyard, I thought a caught a glimpse of someone dropping off parts under the tarp. They slipped away before we could thank them properly, and not wanting to blow up our chances of more goodies, we never brought it up.”

  Kestra smiled widely as if she were the cat that had just gotten the cream. “Yeah, that was me. I was interning at the time, and I noticed the bunch of you scavenging for parts, so I left the stuff that was still good but headed for the smelter out for you to find. I have a soft spot for good-natured mischief makers.” She chuckled as she led them out onto the maintenance bay.

  The bay was a rge open space, room enough for a dozen medium-sized ships, with a set of hangar doors at the far end. At the moment, only three were parked, each at a different stage of refit, one of which was the same model as the Saturn’s Heart. Kestra caught June’s eyes light on it and recognized the look of wistful nostalgia.

  They turned left and then went up a set of metal stairs to a set of offices with windows overlooking the shop's work.

  “Normally, it’s all paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, but enough of that drives me crazy, so once or twice a week, I slip away from my desk and get ‘elbows deep’ into one of the refits,” Kestra expined, gesturing to her grease-stained coveralls. “It helps me keep closer tabs on what’s happening and if we are running low on parts and supplies. Here we are,” Kestra said, stopping at the first office door and entering.

  They all went inside and closed the door to the noises of work from the shop. Kestra stopped, unzipped her coveralls, and stepped out of them before hanging them on a coat hook on the wall behind the door. She wore a tight white tank top that accentuated her feline form and a pair of short shorts with a small opening that her tail protruded through. She wiggled it, saying, “Boy, does it feel good to get that off. Got to wear it when you’re out on the floor, though. No one wants to get their tail caught in a piece of equipment.”

  The office was immacutely clean, and the desk was organized and clear of clutter. Behind the desk was a rge, wall-to-wall bookshelf, organized and stuffed full of manuals and tech specs. Kestra walked behind the desk, sat in the chair behind it, and pulled up some information on the terminal built into the desk.

  “I read the reports on the loss of the Saturn’s Heart. It's a shame, really. She was a good little freighter,” she said, scrolling through reams of information. “Your original contracts with Peirault were ended when the Saturn’s Heart was decred a loss and written off, which means you aren’t entitled to compensation under the Return of Equipment Cuse.”

  Will was about to object, but Kestra held her hand up to cut him off. “However, under general salvage rules, as independent entities, you can cim the outstanding bounty on the return of any salvaged equipment previously owned by the company. An intact transponder and corresponding flight data recorder carry a significant reward. Usually Two-hundred and fifty.”

  Will’s eyes widened in surprise. “Two-hundred and fifty thousand?”

  “Yup. When a freighter loss occurs, it’s crucial that Periault understand exactly what and how it happened to help prevent it from happening again. This sort of data is enormously important to keeping the bottom line in the bck,” she said, smiling. Additionally, I can authorize an additional ten for each crew member fulfilling their obligation of returning said equipment.”

  “That’s extremely generous, thank you,” June said appreciatively.

  “It’s also good business. We want to encourage and reward behavior that helps the company. Do you have accounts you want to split the funds into?”

  June gnced at Will, who then fished around in his pocket and produced his crypto stick. “Just the one,” she said.

  Will handed it to Kestra, who gnced slyly between Will and June, then back at Ben. “I see,” she said knowingly. She inserted it into a data slot on her terminal and typed momentarily. “Half now and half upon delivery, fair enough?” June and Will nodded in agreement.

  “We’re currently berthed at the passenger terminals. If you put in the call, we can deliver the transponder to the Central Office on Durinheim within the week.” June commented.

  Kestra paused, looked up at them, and considered something for a moment. Then she pushed back in her chair and gave them a calcuting look. “There’s no need to go to Durinheim for that. We can handle the transponder here. And get you your permanent transponder, to boot.”

  “Oh, thank you very much. That would be great.” Will said appreciatively.

  June watched the canny feline and saw that something else was on her mind. “And there’s something else, isn’t there?”

  Kestra broke into a wide, toothy grin. “Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. You have found a new ship, correct?”

  “Yes,” June said cautiously. “We operate it under a small,” she paused, looking for the right word, “co-op, independent of any authority other than our own.” Then she added, “And we wish to keep it that way.”

  Kestra nodded in understanding. “Smart. I think I’d insist on the same in your shoes.” She rocked in her chair momentarily, deciding how to breach a subject. “One of my roles is coordinating high-priority shipments, stuff that can’t wait for slower freighters like the Saturn’s Heart. Traffic Control informed me that you made it here in under three days from the Dals’ st position. That’s impressive. Would have taken one of our standard freighters more than a week to make that trek.”

  June and Will waited patiently for Kestra to get to her point. “The thing is, the fleet is currently short on fast freighters for special, expedited shipments. Your ship, the Nestia, right? Seems to be nearly as fast as a naval frigate, but with Pierault experience at the helm. What would you say to an independent contract? I just got a request for a transfer of medical supplies from Centrailia to Penrose, but I don’t currently have anything nearby that can meet the request. The job will pay well and I’d like to offer you a additional retainer fee to make it a semi-permanent retionship.”

  June and Will gnced at Ben and considered the request. Then Inta, who was always listening over their earpieces, squealed excitedly, “I’d love a chance to head back to Penrose and see Diana again. Maybe this time I could coax her out of her shell and… Well, you know.” The three of them smiled at Inta’s exuberance.

  “Let us discuss it with the rest of the crew, and we’ll let you know what we decide when we deliver the transponder.” Will offered.

  “Excellent!” Kestra said, smiling, and offered her hand to June and Will. They shook her hand in turn, and then the wiley feline said, “I’ll make the calls to Traffic Control and get the clearances for you to come berth with us for the transfer,” she made a quick note on a pad of paper, then handed it to June. “Call Control with that authorization, and they’ll give you directions.” Kestra stood from her desk. “This is going to be the start of a profitable arrangement; I can feel it.” She said, smiling, then led them out to the front office.

  ****

  The threesome of Inta, Thea, and Artona strolled to the end of the paved path through the lush green park. Beyond the bolrds at the end of the path was a boulevard that ran perpendicur to the footpath, crowded with lines of vehicur and foot traffic. On the other side of the boulevard was an open-air arcade of shops, the walkways packed full with scores of people out shopping, looking for lunch, or heading to other enjoyable destinations.

  The rge arcade boasted a couple of hundred little shops arranged on three levels, each overlooking the broad thoroughfare. The exposure presented caused the hair on Artona’s nape to stand on end, but Inta and Thea seemed oblivious to the possibility of threats.

  The rge Urarc quickened her pace and walked close behind the two, her head on a swivel, eyes darting back and forth from side to side, up and down, looking for the slightest hint of trouble.

  Inta stopped at a little boutique with several different sundresses on dispy. She held a couple of choice picks in front of her for Thea to evaluate. “What do you think?” she asked, holding a simple sapphire blue sundress.

  “Looks okay to me, though Most of my wardrobe is uniform gray. I may not be the best person to ask, but it matches your eyes' blue glow. What do you think, Artona?” Thea asked the distracted Urarc, still scanning the crowd.

  “Fine, I guess.” She responded, barely looking at it as she scanned the crowd of shoppers passing. The noise in the shopping arcade had been growing steadily louder with the influx of new shopper since Inta had started their own window shopping. Artona gnced down at the slight, silver girl, seemingly oblivious to the swirling multitude of security risks around her.

  In a fsh of memory, Artona and her cn were staring down a hallway full of pirates, a barrage of ser fire impacting the wall around them. Artona’s mind snapped back to the present just as Inta nonchantly put the blue dress back on the rack and pulled an emerald green one off to look at.

  The sounds of the passing crowd grew loud in her ears, becoming an indistinct buzzing. The Urarc’s heart began pounding as her mind raced, and images of her cn falling in battle fshed before her eyes.

  “I said, are you coming, Artona?” Thea’s voice pulled her back into the present moment. Inta had moved onto the next little shop and was looking at wide-brimmed sun hats, while Thea stood next to her, calling Artona out of her memory.

  Artona only grimaced and nodded in response and quickly made her way back to the wandering Inta, absorbed in her window shopping. Artona watched the silver girl for a moment, breaking a cardinal rule of security. Her focus should have been picking threats out from the crowd, but instead, she watched her ward wander from hat rack to hat rack, completely carefree, thoroughly enjoying the experience.

  Artona couldn’t afford the luxury and turned her attention back to scanning the crowd, which had grown more extensive in the few moments she allowed herself to lose focus. Her anxiety spiked as she scolded herself for the pse, accompanied by a fsh of an Urarc falling in a hail of ser fire.

  They moved on to the next shop and then the next, Thea and Inta, chatting amiably about one item after another. Artona heard none of it. She watched the shopkeepers, wary of any weapons they might have stashed behind their counters. She constantly scanned the crowd and the elevated walkways overlooking the boulevard, which was an ideal pcement for snipers.

  Happy faces in the crowd became sneers of contempt in Artona’s eyes. Did that woman on the third level watch them for a second too long? The tanned man in the wide-brimmed hat seemed to purposefully not look at them. Was he pnning something? Everywhere Artona looked, she began to see ill intent. Numerous plots were hatching, and only Artona was aware and could stop them from coming to fruition.

  Beads of sweat formed on Urarc’s brow as she stayed close to Inta as she moved along the crowded street. Then, she looked forward to the direction Inta was headed. The street opened up into an open pza with a rge, decorative fountain at the center. Foot traffic swirled around it, and the crowd's noise overwhelmed Artona’s senses.

  Dozens of alleys and three levels of vantage points, able to cover every square millimeter with sniper fire. A brief vision fshed in Artona’s mind of Inta standing by the fountain as ser fire rained down on her and the crowd surrounding her. People were screaming. Blood everywhere. Inta’s body was riddled with so many ser scorch marks that her form was almost unrecognizable.

  Artona’s heart was racing now, and she snapped. “Nope. We’re done here.” In one powerful motion, she swept Inta and Thea up, carrying each under an arm, and turned and fled from the pza.

  Like a bull, she charged through the crowd, bowling them over; cries of indignation rose in waves in her wake, but she didn’t hear them. In her ears, all she heard were the gurgling death rattles of her cn’s Alpha and of her brother as he y dying, leaning against a wall. Tears sprang unbidden from her eyes as she rushed through the park, Inta and Thea squirming and compining loudly in her arms. She ignored their protests and only set them down once they were in the lift heading back to the ship.

  “What the hell was that all about?!” Thea yelled angrily at the much rger woman. Inta id a hand on Thea’s arm to calm her, and then she realized Artona was weeping. Thea’s expression softened, and then Inta approached the towering Urarc woman.

  “Oh, Honey,” Inta said softly, her voice full of pity. Artona jerked her arm away as Inta reached for her, so Inta retreated slightly to the back of the lift. When the doors opened, Artona stormed off towards the ship, Thea and Inta trailing behind. Inta watched Artona’s aura swirl in a maelstrom, reflecting her inner state and her heart ached for her.

  Inta opened the cargo bay doors wide enough for them to enter, and Artona stormed through and headed straight for her room to change into her exercise wear. Tears still dampened the fur on her cheeks. “WEAK, so weak!” She sniffed and muttered to herself as she changed. Donning her tank top and shorts, she marched out of her room and back down to the hangar to vent her frustration on the repaired heavy bag waiting there.

  Not bothering with her usual stretching routine or going through her forms, she approached the hanging bag and bellowed as she pummeled it with all her might. The supports groaned under the onsught as Artona beat her fists into the heavy canvas, trying to exorcise her demons through her clenched hands.

  After several minutes, her fierce rain of blows slowed, then stopped, and she leaned wearily against the bag, hugging tight to one of the st remnants of her cn.

  Inta came in and found her still clinging to the heavy bag like a drowning man to flotsam on the sea. Quietly, she walked up alongside the hulking woman.

  “I came by to check on you; you seem… out of sorts. Want to talk about it?” Inta asked, voicing her concern.

  “No. Everything is fine,” Artona replied, turning her head and wiping the tears from her eyes.

  Inta walked around to face the massive Urarc. “Hmm. You know I’m an empath, right? I have a pretty good idea of how you’re feeling.”

  “And?” Artona shot back defensively. “I told you I’m fine, and that’s that,” she said, intending to end the conversation. She shifted away from the heavy bag and crouched to sit on the floor. She pressed the bottoms of her feet together and pushed her knees to the floor to stretch her groin muscles as if everything was normal.

  “Okay, then,” Inta said, shrugging her shoulders. Would you mind if I used the weight set then?”

  Artona stifled a broken ugh, figuring even the smallest set of ptes would be too much for her. “Knock yourself out.”

  Inta went to the weight bench, where Artona had left the barbell loaded from her st round. “I also prefer to exercise in the nude. Would that be alright with you?”

  Over the st couple of weeks, Artona had become desensitized to the crew’s proclivities, having walked in on them unintentionally several times. Their libidos seemed excessive and liked to fuck everywhere, constantly. Artona gave Inta a wary gnce, who gazed back with an innocent look on her face. “Yeah, fine. But if you make a mess, clean up after yourself.”

  Artona blinked rapidly as the diminutive silver girl’s sundress melted away, revealing her soft, naked body. What immediately caught her eye was Inta’s rge, fccid member resting between her thighs. Her mind raced for a moment, thinking what it would look like hard, but she quickly distracted herself before she started imagining what it would feel like.

  Inta then id back on the bench, pretending not to see Artona staring at her, and positioned herself beneath the barbell, loaded with eight hundred pounds of ptes.

  “Wait a minute, you’re going to hurt yourself!” Artona cautioned and started to move to stop Inta from doing something foolish. Just as she got to her feet, Inta casually lifted the barbell from the rack and began doing quick clean reps with the immense weight.

  Artona stood in stunned silence as Inta did quick ten reps, then put the bar back on the rack. “I think I need a little more.” She said to the dumbstruck Urarc with a wink. Inta proceeded to load every pte avaible onto the dumbbell until the bar curved under the immense weight. Artona just stared as Inta slid back underneath the bar and did another ten quick reps with the sixteen hundred pounds with the same ck of visible effort as the st set.

  After putting the bar back on the rack, Inta sat up and smiled at the astounded Urarc. Artona’s expression shifted from astonishment to a scowl in a blink of an eye. “And what exactly was the point of that?” she demanded in irritation. “Are you trying to hurt yourself?”

  “I’m trying to woo you like a good Urarc and impress you with a feat of strength,” Inta said pyfully.

  Inta’s direct and blunt statement flummoxed Artona. “I wasn’t… I mean you can’t just… it’s not as simple as that,” Artona stammered, not looking Inta in the eyes. Instead, they were fixed on Inta’s hardening erection.

  “I think in some ways, it is,” Inta retorted. “You’ve been been through a lot recently, more than anyone should have to bear, really. On top of all that, you've been sexually frustrated since you came on board and won’t or can’t accept our gentle invitations.” Artona half-heartedly scoffed in response. “So I did some research and realized I was going about it all wrong.” Inta stood up from the weight bench, her dick angrily pointing at Artona.

  Inta took a step in Artona’s direction, and the Urarc held out her hand, palm out. “Stop. You do not know what you are getting yourself into, Little Girl,” Artona belittled, trying to nip this development in the bud.

  Inta replied with a hearty ugh. “Little Girl? Oh, Sweetheart, I’m more than just that. I am everything you need.” Inta continued to chuckle, and to Artona’s astonished eyes, Inta’s petite form swelled into an eight-foot-tall, jacked silver behemoth. Her muscles rippled as Inta’s shadow engulfed Artona; she gulped and backed into the weapons rack. As the mammoth Inta took another deliberate step towards her, Artona realized she was slick from arousal, her wetness running down the inside of her thigh, matting her fur.

  “No!” Artona bellowed. You are not my Alpha!” She screamed, finally expressing the pain of her cn's loss. Her sorrow, however powerful, was tempered by her rising lust. “You’re pulling some more of that trickery, like back on the Dals!”

  “No, my delightful warrior, I’m giving you precisely what you desire, exactly what I suspect you need.” With that, Inta lunged towards Artona.

  But Artona was too quick and slipped past Inta, grabbing a staff from the weapons rack. “The HELL you will!” Artona shouted as a battle cry and brought the staff down, aiming squarely for the top of Inta’s head. But in a fsh, Inta snapped up another staff from Artona’s weapons rack and blocked the incoming blow, the sound of the cshing weapons ringing loudly in the nearly empty hangar.

  Artona bared her canines and growled loudly, her strikes not stopping with just one. She let fly a flurry of attacks from every direction, but each was parried smoothly. Inta stopped blocking Artona’s savage attacks, bobbing and weaving, allowing the weapon to whistle past her as she smoothly dodged each strike.

  The Urarc was incensed and redoubled her efforts; each strike intended to kill. Inta only smiled and continued to dance around the fury aimed at her, rendering Artona speechless with rage.

  “Enough!” Inta barked and deftly caught Artona’s staff in one hand. She tried to wrestle it from Inta, but her grip was like iron. Quickly changing tactics, she kicked Inta in the midsection with all her strength but might as well have kicked a brick wall. Inta didn’t budge in the slightest, and before Artona could react, Inta shed out lightning fast and struck her with an open palm to the chest, sending her flying across the exercise area.

  By the time Artona regained her feet, Inta was on her and grabbed her roughly by the throat. Hoisting her up with one hand, Inta smmed the thrashing Urarc into the wall, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

  Then Inta crushed her with her body, her erection pressing hard against Artona’s washboard stomach. “I will take what I know you want, and you will thank me for it.” Inta growled into Artona’s ear. Pinned to the wall by her throat, Artona futility struck Inta with blows strong enough to cripple, trying to loosen her grip, but Inta only ughed, reached down, and tore Artona’s exercise shorts off her body.

  Parting her legs with a knee, Inta exposed Artona’s dripping wet slit, then savagely drove her cock deep into her with one hard thrust. Artona’s eyes fluttered but continued to struggle as Inta slid most of the way out of her pussy and smmed into her hard, again and again.

  And then, like a light switch, Artona wrapped her muscur legs around Inta’s waist and screamed, “COME ON AND FUCK ME!”. Pressed against the wall, Inta and Artona rutted like wild animals. They shifted, knocking the weapons rack from the wall as Inta fell, still impaling Artona, to the floor. She pinned Artona down as she pummeled her pussy; Artona’s wetness ran down the crack of her ass, making a puddle on the floor.

  Their violent union sent them writhing across the floor, knocking over the heavy bag, all while Artona cried over and over, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

  Artona’s speech devolved into guttural moans and incoherent babble as Inta’s pace increased, jackhammering into the supine Urarc, driving her screaming to the edge. Then her climax exploded, obliterating her mind, leaving only blinding pleasure. Artona’s cws came out and tore ragged channels into Inta’s back, and the mixture of pleasure and pain, along with Artona’s thunderous climax ringing in her mind, drove Inta over the edge into her own climax. She came torrents of pseudo cum into the blissed-out Urarc, filling her until cum leaked out of Artona’s swollen pussy around Inta’s cock.

  Inta id on top of Artona, cock still stuffed deep within her powerful lover, her face buried in soft brown fur, while Artona caught her breath. “God damn I needed that,” Artona said, nguage finally returning to her. “I needed you,” She added tenderly.

  “Mmm hmm, I know,” Inta replied, running her fingers through Artona’s fur, then looked into her eyes with her piercing blue glowing gaze. “Though the circumstances were cruel, fate was kind enough to bring you to me. I will protect you, cherish you, and love you alway. And of course fuck you senseless, whenever you need it,” she promised.

  Artona’s eyes widened, and she suddenly realized that Inta’s every word was true. She would be loved and cherished. Inta cimed her for her own, and Artona knew she would never be alone.

  “You… you are my Alpha,” the fierce warrior said in awe, hesitantly, unsure which god to thank for bringing her to Inta. Artona knew this incredible silver girl was special; Inta cared about and for her, knew what she needed, and could give it to her. She had already defended her life once and knew without a doubt that she would continue to do so for as long as she was able. For Artona, the choice was easy, not because she had no other options but because Inta was remarkable, and Artona desperately wanted to be part of her life.

  “I am your Alpha,” Inta confirmed, ying a hand gently on Artona’s cheek. Inta watched as joy blossomed and spread through Artona’s aura until she shone brightly in Inta’s eyes.

  ****

  June, Will, and Ben were met at the Nestia’s cargo bay door by Inta, who stood bouncing up and down on the balls of her toes in excitement, her tits jiggling to their delight.

  “Hi, Hun,” June said, giving the silver girl a squeeze and a peck, followed shortly by Will and Ben. “Can you ask everyone to meet in the dining room? We have a couple of things we need to discuss.”

  “Sure thing!” Inta said sweetly. The cargo bay doors melted closed behind them as she turned to follow them to the lift. They stepped out into the crew deck hallway, and as they passed Artona’s room, they were startled to hear a low crash and a muted roar through the normally sound-proof door.

  “Is Artona all right?” Will asked, concerned. Then they were hit with the echo of an orgasmic wave they knew could only come from Inta.

  “She is better than she has been in a while,” Inta said with a serene smile.

  “Hmm. Do we need to prepare a silver bath for someone?” June asked with a crooked smile, understanding immediately.

  “Maybe in a little while. She still needs… to work through some pent-up tension first.” Inta closed her eyes for a brief moment, savoring whatever was going on behind the closed door. “Let’s not disturb her,” she said, opening her eyes. I can confidently say she will be okay with whatever the group decides.”

  They nodded in understanding and then headed for the kitchen. De’noke and most of the ambutory Toparians were already seated around the table while Thea was busy brewing coffee and tea. The three tecomers were greeted with hugs, and when everyone was sitting with their choice of brew in hand, June cleared her throat.

  “We just got back from the Peirault Dockyards, and have arranged the exchange of the temporary ship’s transponder with a permanently registered one.” She expined, everyone giving her their full attention. “Before we bring the Nestia over and make the exchange, we collectively have to make a decision. The logistics coordinator for Peirault has offered us a job to bring medical supplies to Penrose Station, and asked if she could keep us on retainer for possible jobs in the future.”

  There were thoughtful nods of understanding around the table. “We would retain our autonomy, and have the right to pick and choose any offer presented,” Will added. “For Peirault, we offer a unique opportunity, as we are faster than most of their fleet of freighters, and would give us a premium on carrying expedited freight. Being able to choose which contracts to accept, allows us to both continue our search for Inta’s people, while simultaneously funding the effort. I think this would be a good deal for us to accept, but we want everyone’s input before a decision like this is made.”

  There was a brief silence as everyone seated considered the presented information. Then Den’oke spoke. “This sounds like a solid pn with minimal downside. And Penrose Station is not too far out of the way to Topor, so it fits nicely into what we’ve previously discussed.” Setting down his cup of tea, he said, “I would favor such an arrangement. An added benefit of this arrangement would be the likelihood of contacting people who may not ordinarily come into our orbit. How many ancient artifacts I have recovered from unusual sources would surprise you.” Then, smiling at Inta, he said, “Sometimes the most beneficial meetings occur through the random happenstances of fate.”

  “Would anyone else like to add something?” June asked, and no one had anything else to add. “Alright, a vote then. Those in favor?” She raised her hand and was joined by everyone at the table. “It’s unanimous, then,” She said, smiling. We are now independent contractors for Peirault Shipping.” There were smiles all around the table.

  “While we’re all here, who’s up for a bit of te lunch? Larce brought up some of that ‘Toparian tofu you guy’s like and the rest of us can have some sandwiches.” Ben offered.

  Procmations of hunger and agreement rang out around the table, and everyone jumped up to lend a hand. Several Toparians prepared the tofu when Ben and Inta quickly set up a sandwich assembly line with ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Soon, everyone had something to eat and sat back down at the table, munching on their preferred lunch. As everyone chatted and ate, Inta smiled as she cleaned up, basking in the loving glow of her happy family and thinking about a particur coffee bar hostess on Penrose Station.

  After everyone finished their lunches and helped clear the table, June announced, “I’m going to make preparations to transfer to Peirault’s docks. I expect we’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

  Everyone acknowledged the statement, and then she, Will, and Ben headed off to the bridge, where another instance of Inta awaited them. The Toparians returned to the Grove’s accommodations to prepare for travel, and Inta stayed behind, sighing happily in the kitchen washing dishes.

  ****

  Moving from the passenger terminals to the Peirault Dockyards was quick and painless. True to her word, Kestra had arranged everything, and before long, the Nestia was docked again.

  Kestra watched the Nestia come in and dock, standing next to several instaltion technicians and the crate containing the new transponder. When the cargo bay doors melted open, she raised one eyebrow in curiosity; this was truly an unusual ship. Once the doors were fully open, June, Will, and Ben strode out and greeted her with a warm handshake. Inta followed shortly behind, guiding an antigrav cart carrying the st remnants of their old freighter.

  “The transponder from the Saturn’s Heart, as promised,” Will said, gesturing to the cart.

  “One shiny, newly registered transponder, as I promised,” Kestra replied, patting the crate beside her. She gave Inta a curious look, then turned back to June. “You have an automaton aboard?”

  “Oh no, Inta’s not an automaton. She’s a full fledged member of the crew. The beating heart of the ship, actually,” June corrected her.

  “Nice to meet you, Inta,” Kestra said, offering her hand. “Apologies, I meant no offense.”

  “Nice to meet you as well,” Inta replied, “and no apologies needed. I realize my appearance is somewhat unique.” Inta looked Kestra up and down, and she suddenly got the impression she was being weighed, measured, and judged for quality.

  “We’ve had a discussion and have come to a decision,” June said, recapturing Kestra’s attention. “We have decided to accept your offer, for both the shipping run to Penrose, and also to stay on as an expedited freighter on retainer.”

  Kestra’s face lit up with delight. “That is wonderful news. We really are desperate for fast ships and I promise, you’ll have all the work you want.”

  “We appreciate that. Just keep in mind that we also have personal endevours that we are working on and may not always be able to accept, but we will do everything in our power to fullful our end of the arrangement,” Will interjected.

  “Of course, I understand completely. In preparation, I assumed as much and added a cuse to the agreement.” Kestra then grabbed a tablet sitting on top of the transponder crate and handed it to Will. “It’s all there: the acknowledgment of the transponder’s finders fee, the retainer agreement, and this first shipping run to Penrose.”

  Inta leaned over to Will. “May I?” She asked, holding out her hand for the tablet. Will gave it to her, and she flipped through the documents in only a few moments. Satisfied, she then handed it back to Will. “Everything seems to be in order. We can sign it, as is.”

  Again, Kestra raised an eyebrow, this time wondering what kind of person Inta really was.

  As the only former employees of Peirault Shipping, there were only two signatory lines for Will and June. They both signed it with a thumb print, then handed it back to Kestra, who did the same.

  “I just sent a copy to the Q-net address you provided. Welcome aboard!” Kestra said excitedly. Turning to the technicians beside her, “Now, while you gentlemen will swap out the temporary transponder for the new, I’ll have the longshoremen begin loading. This is an expedited shipment, after all.”

  “Let’s go, fels. I’ll show you where this goes,” Inta said, leading the technicians as they maneuvered the crate on its anti-grav skid into the Nestia.

  “While we wait for the freight to be brought up and loaded, we need to attend to a time-honored tradition,” Kestra said, rummaging through a nearby desk on the dock. Ah, here it is.” She said, pulling out a bottle of scotch and a few shot gsses. “Not the right kind of gssware, I know, but the intent is the same,” she said, handing everyone a gss and pouring some of the brown liquid into each.

  “To new partnerships,” She said, raising her gss.

  “To new partnerships,” they echoed, then gulped down their shots.

  Both Will and June grimaced as the drink burned their throats. They looked quizzically at Ben when he downed his and handed his gss back to Kestra without so much as a funny look.

  “Pirate,” he answered simply, shrugging his shoulders in response to their questioning gazes.

  The technicians made short work of the transponder repcement and longshoremen arrived then efficiently loaded and secured the cargo in the Nestia’s hold. Kestra thanked them once more and bid them a safe journey.

  They waved goodbye to her as the cargo bay door melted closed, piquing Kestra’s curiosity again. Then, the Nestia swiftly disengaged from the Dock and shot off, heading out of the system and back to Penrose Station.

  ****

  Diana closed up the little coffee shop in the central hub of Penrose Station, having pulled the short straw for the night shift. She then turned off the lights and locked the doors behind her. The station was beginning to quiet down for the night, and vehicle and foot traffic was almost non-existent.

  She walked back to her apartment following the circuitous path she sometimes did, the same she had walked a couple of months ago one night with a certain silver someone, and not a day had passed when Diana hadn’t thought about Inta or their magical date. Sometimes, she simply reminisced; other times, she scolded herself for not being braver and taking it further when she had the chance. But always, she wondered what Inta was up to at that moment and wondered if she was thinking about her, then if at all.

  Her apartment was littered with sketches and drawings of the delightful silver girl, but her favorite so far was a piece in charcoal she had yet to finish, rolled up carefully in a carrying tube in her art bag, which was never far from her. It depicted them sitting on a hill, watching the stars overhead.

  Occasionally, Diana wondered what her life would have been like if she had run away with Inta to journey amongst the stars. Then reality would set in. Her small, regur life would reassert itself in the form of an arm clock in the morning waking her, letting her know it’s time to start the day, or a customer asking for a refill, jolting her from her daydream as she worked.

  She passed the bar where they sat and shared a drink, then made a detour up the wide stairs to the viewing gallery. She stood by the wide viewport, the pnet, and stars beyond on dispy. She went to the bleachers and sat where they shared a chaste kiss, setting her bag full of art supplies in the seat Inta had occupied.

  Diana closed her eyes and brought up every tiny detail of that moment: the starlight reflected off her silver skin, the warmth of her hand as she held it, and the softness of her lips as they pressed against hers.

  She was so entirely absorbed by the memory of that singur moment that she didn’t register the heavy-booted footsteps approaching.

  She opened her eyes and was shocked to see three rge men, their faces obscured, standing in front and to either side of her. Before she could react or raise an arm, the two men to either side grabbed her arms while the third roughly held her head still with a big, meaty hand over her mouth and pressed something to the side of her neck.

  She struggled for only a moment before the world started spinning and faded to bck as she slumped into their arms. One of the two men holding her quickly wrapped a dark cloak around her and threw her limp body over his shoulder while the man with the injector straightened up and slipped it into a pocket inside his jacket.

  Two of the men left in a hurry, one of them carrying Diana’s limp and covered form over his shoulder. They disappeared quickly into the dark while the third man lingered momentarily, fishing something else out of his jacket. It was a five-by-eight-inch card, which he set carefully on Diana’s abandoned art supply bag.

  He turned it over, ensuring the correct side was up, and then made his hasty retreat as well.

  The lettering on the card he had carefully left behind was addressed in silver script, and a single sentence was spelled out.

  “For the Silver One;

  Hurry, she doesn’t have much time.”