“This is an impressive ship,” Ms. Devens commented, sipping the tea, which was now slightly cooled to the temperature she preferred. “Though I’ve never encountered a design quite like it.”

  “I would be surprised if you had,” June replied, gncing at Inta, standing to one side. “The Nestia is special, an artifact of an age long past. In fact she may be the st of her kind.” June saw the slight sadness in Inta’s smile as she mentioned it. “That’s why our prime objective is to understand what happened to the rest of Inta’s people. She’s a refugee of sorts, alone in the universe with just us, her crew. We were following a possible lead to find some answers when the tragedy on Khosrow happened. Inta understands loss and pain, and wants to do what she can to lessen the suffering of others.”

  Devens rubbed her chin pensively. “I had wondered why you folks were so quick to agree to help, pro bono. Usually folks in your position throw their hands up and say something to the effect of, ‘Wish I could help’, then run the other direction as fast as they can. But you’re not those kind of people, are you.”

  June demured, but Inta cared little for societal rules, least of all the ones of modesty, preferring instead honesty and kindness. “Nope,we’re not. We are people who try to make the universe a little brighter by encouraging those who glow, to shine.”

  The sincerity in Inta’s voice cut through Devens’ usual cynicism regarding such naive statements; she could tell that Inta wasn’t being glib and that she genuinely felt it in her core. It resonated with the idealistic young woman buried beneath the years of endured bureaucracy, incompetence, and callousness, the woman deep inside Devens who had first gone into medicine to help those in need. She couldn’t help but feel an affinity to these people.

  Devens gathered her wandering thoughts and brought them back to the task at hand. “We’re going to need to coordinate with the teams we will be picking up, as well as the AAN Headquarters. Would you have space on board to set up a command center, an office where we can have a few desks, and perhaps a conference table?”

  Will and June looked to Inta, who thought for a moment and then replied. “Well, we have a couple of unused rooms on the command deck that you could use. We don’t have a proper conference room; we usually discuss matters around the dining room table. If you give me a few minutes, I can set up the room and have it ready for you. I’ll bring a terminal for our Q-net transceiver in there as well, so you don’t need to come to the bridge when you need to contact someone.”

  Devens smiled. “That will be very helpful, thank you.” Devens took a sip of tea as she looked out the front viewport, watching the red-shifted stars slip past as rainbow streamers. “Do you have an ETA for our first rendezvous with the team from Sorkon?” she asked.

  “The Sorkon system is a bit out of our way; the contact the AAN coordinator gave us, Pete Flinders, said that they’ll arrive at the rendezvous point in about five hours where we can do a ship-to-ship transfer,” June answered.

  A look of surprise crossed Devens’ face, and when she realized they saw it, she felt the need to expin. “I knew Pete Flinders a long time ago. I hadn’t realized he was working on Sorkon.”

  They continued to give her a curious look, so she eborated. “We worked closely on a few assignments; he’s a good man.” A subtle smile crossed Inta’s face, causing the usually unfppable woman to blush slightly. Devens immediately changed the subject.

  “I’ll gather the team and we’ll bring what we need from the equipment we brought up to the command center when it’s ready.” Devens got up from her seat, setting the empty teacup on the darkened console next to her. “Thank you for the tea; we’ll be ready shortly,” she said, then left the bridge.

  They watched Devens leave, and then Will asked, “Inta, do you need help setting up the office?”

  Inta, still watching the empty doorway with a subtle smile, answered. “No, I’ve got it; several instances on it. I’m joining the two smaller rooms to make a rge one and I can form the needed furniture in no time ft. I’ll have everything set up by the time Devens and her team return.”

  “I recognize that look,” June said pyfully to Inta, “what’s going through your devious mind?”

  Inta looked back in mock innocence. “Nothing, really. I just think that this trip might end up a tad more fun than I had originally thought.” Then she sashayed over to June and Will, still seated at their control stations, and she ran a finger along both their colrbones. Her eyes were half-lidded with a sultry intensity.

  “Speaking of fun, we have a little time before we reach the rendezvous point…” her words trailing off with an unspoken suggestion. June and Will smiled and practically leaped from their seats, dragging the silver girl with them to their lounge.

  ****

  Rhenna moved swiftly back and forth, gathering every conceivably useful device and stowing them in the hard-shelled cases strewn about her b. She packed them carefully in the soft foam interior, her long, delicate-looking fingers deftly pcing each piece within precisely molded forms.

  She padded softly on her eight feet across the tiled floor as she paced back and forth in front of her bookshelves, her fingers stroking the light grey skin of her chin as she internally debated whether or not she really needed physical copies of reference material; everything on these shelves and more would be avaible at her fingertips using one of the half dozen tablets she had already packed, and holographic media could dispy the data in any fashion she found most helpful, but she found the tactile experience of flipping through physical pages reassuring; something about the scent of old pages wafting off a book left open on a table, Rhenna couldn’t quantify.

  However, she could quantify the amount of space the analog volumes would consume, and every measure of that commodity was precious, so she decided glumly that the tablets would be what got packed.

  Rhenna brushed the disheveled strands of hair behind her ear, which always seemed to fall out when she tried to wear it in a bun and gnced up at the chronometer on the wall. She gasped, realizing that if she didn’t hurry, she was going to be te for the mission briefing, which would be unseemly for two reasons: one, this was the first mission she would be leading, and it would not leave a good impression with her team or the Health Ministry, and two, the Minister of Health and Wellness herself would be giving the briefing, and Rhenna would catch all sorts of grief from her if she were te.

  The Minister could be a harsh woman, and Rhenna knew from experience that she would be especially unforgiving if she were seen as cking in her duties. She quickly packed away the st few pieces of equipment she would need, then secured the tches on the crates, making them ready for transport.

  Then, with one st gnce at the time dispyed on the wall chronometer, she quickly shed her b coat and tossed it hastily on the coat hook as she rushed out the door. Dusk had arrived, and the artificial lighting had already come on in the fixtures along the outsides of the tall buildings of the University campus that hosted her b. She shut the door behind her, and as she turned, she could see crowds of students heading to and from evening csses in several buildings surrounding the science building her b was in.

  The architecture of the buildings on campus was of standard Linyphiidae design: Organic, sweeping curves, looking closer to a structure that was grown rather than built. The rooms on every level, like her b, had doors that opened onto raised walkways that ran the length of the building, which had a particur design feature that often troubled visitors; none of the ledge-like balconies had any railings other than a low lip sloping upward, denoting the approaching edge.

  Wide ft columns made with the same rough texture as the floors ran down the length of the building from level to level. As Rhenna looked around, hundreds of Linyphiidae students could be seen either casually walking and chatting with their cssmates on these vertical surfaces, leaving css, or running frantically up the ‘wall’ walkway, trying to make it to their next css before the lecturer began.

  Rhenna sympathized with the harried students, as she was in danger of being te for her next appointment herself. Fortunately, she knew that the lecture hall the Minister had commandeered was on the ground level and that gravity would be working in her favor. Without a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed the lipped edge of the balcony with her feet on her front two legs, swung her body out over the edge, and let go, letting gravity hurtle her towards the ground.

  For a moment, she delighted in the sensations of the wind whistling past her ears, whipping through the hair on her head, partially freeing the hair tucked behind her ear that had escaped her bun. The feeling of the wind caressing the almost invisible fine hairs all along the chitinous lower half of her body electrified her senses.

  Just before she was about to crash headlong into the ground, she smoothly grabbed the lip of the open second-floor balcony and swung herself around up onto its underside, nding solidly on the ceiling of the ground-level walkway beneath the ptform above. She broke into a dead run across the ceiling, avoiding the crowd of students who only looked up in curiosity to see who was sprinting just over their heads.

  Rhenna rounded the corner and sprinted across the hallway's ceiling, heading to the rge, reserved conference room for the mission briefing. Once she cleared the st pedestrians potentially blocking her way, she released her grip on the textured ceiling, twisted her body mid-fall, and nded deftly without breaking her stride.

  Rushing up to the door, she paused, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and tucked the loose locks behind her ears again, trying to look presentable. She could do nothing about the perspiration dotting the light grey skin of her face, so she just took one more settling breath, then opened the double doors and entered.

  The conference room was already full; the team members of the mercy mission had assembled facing a long table, behind which the Minister was shuffling notes and occasionally bending towards one of her several aides, whispering something into their ear, before they hurried out on whatever errand she had sent them. The older Linyphiidae was a handsome woman, aged, but exuded vitality and carried herself with an air of supreme dignity, projecting capable competence earned through years of public service.

  Rhenna could see the empty spot at the table reserved for her a quarter of the way from the end, so she made her way towards it as quickly and quietly as possible. As she neared the front of the crowd, the Minister looked up from her quiet discussion with an aide and spotted Rhenna. She gave her a subtle frown of disappointment before continuing to give her aide some st-minute instructions.

  Rhenna winched, knowing she would have to answer to that frown, then took her pce just as the chronometer on the wall chimed the hour.

  “Okay folks, settle down; let’s begin,” the Minister called out to the assembled group in a loud but smooth voice, full of authority and a tone that said she was used to being obeyed when she spoke.

  “As you are all aware, this team is the Tarantine Republic’s response to the Altruist Action Network’s request for aid for the emergency on Khosrow.” She paused momentarily to let the statement's gravity settle with the group. All in attendance knew that being part of this team, officially sanctioned by the government, was not only a chance to make a difference and help people in need but also the highest profile assignment any of them would be on, one that could bend the trajectory of their careers if they performed well, or squash their ambitions, relegating them to irrelevance. Every person waited for the Minister’s following words with unwavering attention.

  The Minister continued. “The A.A.N. was able to enlist immediate transport for us and several neighboring partner worlds and is on route to us as we speak. The Humans from Bordan, Sorkon, and Partha are providing general medical supplies and relief workers, The Silvestrians of Sasan are sending a corp of highly trained search and rescue teams, and the Caimar of Nusret are sending engineering and technical teams to evaluate and assist in repairing the local infrastructure, which will be critical for Khosrow’s long term recovery. Which brings us to our role in this effort: Ansuil has long been acknowledged as the leader in advanced bio-pharmaceuticals and tech. The survivors are undoubtedly enduring horrible conditions where disease flourish. There will be people who have been injured and will need our advanced life saving capabilities. Together, we’ll establish a foothold for the relief efforts and help during the most critical window of time until more robust supply lines are established.”

  The Minister looked out across the crowd and saw the determination on face after face, reflecting her own. She gave them a slight smile, pride welling up. “You are the best and brightest Ansuil has to offer. The call for help came, and without hesitation, you answered. You make me proud to be Linyphiidae.” Her eyes glistened slightly as she looked upon them, then coughed into her fist and got back to business. “Each Partner world in this endeavor is coordinating with the Home office of the A.A.N.; Dr. Rhenna Teanoda will be this group’s liaison with the other groups and home office coordinators, and will be the team lead for the mission duration.” The Minister looked to Rhenna. “Dr. Teanoda, will you discuss the assignments?” she said, stepping away from the small lectern set on the center of the table.

  The Minister's introduction had a subtle undertone of coolness, something that Rhenna had long become accustomed to when they disagreed. However, the Minister was politically savvy enough not to let even a whisper of such things enter the public eye. As Rhenna approached the Minister, before turning to the podium and facing the group, she leaned in with a pleading whisper to the Minister. “Mother, really I …”

  She received a less subtle, harsh gre that told her in no uncertain terms that this was not the time or the pce. Resigned, Rhenna approached the podium to address the group and quietly took a breath to gather herself. “Alright everyone, we have much to prepare before the transport arrives. I’ve reviewed the roster and assigned everyone to groups based on your specializations, ensuring each team has a full complement of skills.” She reached over the table and handed several packets to an aide, who then began distributing them amongst the group. “You’ll notice that the teams are organized by the number of expected aid stations we will be setting up, though I’m sure that we’ll need to make adjustments once we survey conditions on the ground…” Rhenna continued to brief the group on their expectations and responsibilities for the next thirty minutes, then dismissed them.

  After the briefing, as she was answering a couple of questions from a couple of the team members, Rhenna noticed that her mother was already heading out of the conference room, trailed by several of her Ministry staff. Rhenna thanked the team members she was talking to, excused herself, and hurried after her mother’s entourage.

  “Mother, ah, Minster,” she corrected herself. May I have a moment to speak with you privately? " She gnced at her mother’s aides.

  Cassia Teanoda, Minister of Health for the entire Tarantine Republic, paused, pinching the bridge of her shapely nose in frustration. “Shanra,” she said to the assistant standing closest to her, “please head back to the office and prepare the report for the Senate sub-committee. I will be along shortly to review it.”

  The aide bowed her head slightly, “Of course, Minister. We will see to it right away.” Then, she and the other aides left the Minister and her daughter standing alone in the hallway.

  “Mother,” Rhenna addressed the Minister in a soft, pleading tone. “You agreed that you would be supportive when I decided to take this assignment. I could almost hear you rolling your eyes as I addressed the team. If they don’t think that I have the Ministries full support, it will make my job tougher than it has to be.”

  Cassia narrowed her eyes briefly, then sighed, her shoulders sagging. “Rhen, I spent a lot of political capital, calling in and promising favors to secure you an Under-Secretary position in the Ministry, and by volunteering for this mission, you’ve all but guaranteed that you won’t be here for the next round of Senate appointments. Of course I’m going to be irritated.”

  Rhenna recoiled slightly at her mother's harsh tone. Cassia sighed again, releasing the tension she was holding. She stepped closer to Rhenna and gently pced a hand on her shoulder. “It’s that, and this mission is going to be dangerous.” She looked into her eyes, and Rhenna saw the hard mask her mother usually wore slip, and the concern and worry she felt peeked through her usually iron facade. “Those people are going to be desperate. When a society breaks down, and people are scared and have lost everything, the worst in people can come out. I just want to protect you from that.”

  Rhenna understood her mother was trying to look out for her best interest, and she loved her for it, but it infuriated her at times. “Mother, I know you’re trying to protect me, but those people are hurting, and need help. Help that I and the rest of the volunteers can give. I went into this line of work to help people in need; what kind of hypocrite would I be if I allowed them to suffer just so I can be safe?”

  Cassia smiled wistfully and touched her daughter’s face. “So brave… I am proud of you, Rhen.” Cassia said with emphasis and wrapped Rhenna in a tight embrace. “Be safe while you’re out there, okay? Come back to me in one piece.”

  Rhenna hugged her mother back. “I will, Mother. I promise.” They held each other for a few more moments, then Cassia pulled back.

  “I have a report to file, and you have preparations to make.” She held both Rhenna’s shoulders at arm's length and looked at her appraisingly. “You have become such a strong woman. You’ll be a great Minister one day.”

  Rhenna smiled, overwhelmed by sudden emotion. A tear pooled in the corner of her eye, threatening to spill. “Thank you, Mother.” Then she added hastily, “I love you.”

  Cassia pulled her into another tight embrace. “I love you too, Darling. Now you better get going,” she said, releasing her. “And don’t forget to stop by the Clinic for your inocutions; the rest of your team should already be there. You don’t want to catch something while you’re away.”

  “I’m headed there now,” Rhenna confirmed. She stood there for a few moments and watched her mother cross the open courtyard with her usual steady, determined strides until she came to the vertical, wall-like walkway and headed straight up to the roof of the building, where she could hail a cab to fly her back to her office in the city's administrative district.

  Once she was out of sight, Rhenna turned and hurried to the clinic, two buildings over on the ground level. Reaching it, she opened the door and stepped into the small waiting room where the st few members of her new team were still waiting to be seen.

  She signed in with the reception nurse and then chatted with the others until they were called one by one, and she was left alone in the waiting room.

  The nurses running the clinic were efficient, and she didn't have to wait long before it was her turn.

  The nurse smiled pleasantly and ushered her into an exam room. After taking her vital statistics, she asked Rhenna to sit for a minute while she stepped out and got the prescribed set of inocutions she would need.

  “Alright then,” the nurse chirped in a bright bedside manner when she returned. “This first one is a preventative combo for everyone who travels off-world.” The nurse carried the small getinous packet to her patient with a set of forceps with ends shaped like two small, narrow spoons, about the size of a small sugar cube. “It also had additional antivirals to combat diseases common to pces that have poor sanitation, due to disasters, and the like.”

  The nurse brought the packet close to Rhenna’s mouth. “Open please.” Rhenna did as instructed and waited.

  “Okay, hold still,” the nurse told Rhenna, falling into a long practiced pattern of describing what the patient would feel to put them at ease. Rhenna smiled; the nurse was probably newly graduated and stuck closely to the scripts taught about interacting with patients, though it was clear that her compassion and care for her patients were genuine. “You’ll feel a slight tugging on your venom sac as I insert the dose. The packet will take a couple of hours to dissolve and be absorbed, so no hot liquids until the lump is gone, okay?”

  Rhenna nodded slightly, letting the nurse continue her work. Stooping slightly, the nurse smoothly inserted the little getinous packet into the venom sac near the back of Rhenna’s upper jaw, then stood up once it was deposited. “The tough one’s done,” the nurse said, “now just some meds that can be taken orally, then you can be on your way.”

  The nurse then handed her a succession of several small cups with a couple of capsules in each. Rhenna dutifully swallowed them down, and the nurse smiled at her, pleased with Rhenna’s performance as if she were a young hatchling. “Good, very good. One st medicine, and then you can go.” The nurse produced a small ampule with a twist-off stopper. This one is best if you bring it home with you and take it there.” Before handing it to her, the nurse paused and took a breath, preparing to give her patient the customary expnation and instructions.

  “This medicine will trigger your body to expel any of your eggs that have developed enough to be viable, which will help keep your natural ‘impulses’ at a minimum.”

  Rhenna gave her a sour look, causing the nurse to fall out of her well-practiced speech.

  “Is there something wrong?” The nurse asked, concerned. “Do you have an allergy to this medication or a medical condition that you haven’t reported?”

  Rhenna squirmed in her seat slightly, then sighed in resignation, realizing she would need to expin her situation for the hundredth time. “No, I don’t have any allergies or medical condition, per se…” she hesitated again, hating the awkward discomfort she always felt talking about this personal matter. “It’s just that I’ve never been, you know, active.” Seeing that the nurse wasn’t getting it, she reluctantly continued. “I’m not carrying any fertilized eggs.” The nurse still looked as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and though she should be used to it by now, it was beginning to irritate her. “I know most females my age have gone through their breeding heat, but between my studies and general ck of interest, I’ve never, you know, had sex.”

  As the understanding bloomed on the nurse’s face, Rhenna thought about all the times at University when her roommates and acquaintances would come back from a weekend at the male dorms, practically drunk on hormones and wearing dopey smiles of having been well fucked. The time in most Linyphiidae's lives when they are the most fertile usually occurs during the first couple of years as undergraduates and males become almost psychotically single-minded about spreading their seed far and wide. Her girlfriends, for their part, were sves to their biology as well and eagerly accepted their advances.

  She never really understood it; for whatever reason, her brooding instincts never kicked in, and she never felt the desire, even though it was the way of Linyphiidae sexuality and reproduction since time immemorial. One time, she had allowed her group of friends to convince her to tag along, insisting that once she saw the action, she would get broody, too. She relented, allowing them to drag her along one such weekend.

  When they arrived at the male dorms, they were greeted by several males they knew and were escorted to the upper levels and to what was casually referred to as a breeding pit. Already lost in the haze of lust, her friends abandoned her at the foyer and swiftly disappeared upstairs, leaving a shy Rhenna behind.

  The party was in full swing, and every room she wandered through was full of horny young people sipping drinks and chatting with each other, loud thumping music pying throughout. Occasionally, she came across couples in a hallway, making out and doing some heavy petting before the women would allow themselves to be led upstairs by the eager young men to continue their escating affections.

  She smirked at the sight as one male after another led someone away, the one time in their lives where the size disparity between the sexes didn’t matter, the women letting the much smaller men, for likely the one time in their lives, assert dominance. Linyphiidae women are typically a foot taller and much more massive than the men. Rhenna knew rape was prevalent in other species, but stars forbid a Linyphiidae male attempt to rape someone; the intended ‘victim’ could literally tear a would-be assaint in half.

  Curiosity drove her onward, and she ventured upstairs past snogging couples until she arrived at the rge open door of the mating room. Even before she entered, the thick, musky smell of sex floated in the air, and lewd sounds of carnality echoed. She peeked into the dim room, and as her eyes adjusted, the carnival of debauchery came into full view.

  Hand-spun netting hung everywhere in the rge, rounded room, and couples hung on them, nearly filling the volume with gyrating, rutting bodies. Everywhere she looked, hordes of men clung to the women, kissing lips, stroking skin, rubbing their chitinous portions together. She watched one male after another invert themselves, clinging upside down to their chosen female, their chests pressing breasts while their penile members searched for the honeyed heaven of the women’s slit near the intersection of the soft and hard portions of their bodies.

  She watched one particur man find his target and immediately plunge deep into his partner, then jackhammer up into her soft, moist center. The mating couple’s faces twisted in orgasmic ecstasy as they rutted, and momentarily, Rhenna felt a pang of jealousy. It was clear that the moment for the couple was one of unadulterated bliss, a moment that they would experience and share with other partners again and again throughout the night.

  But Rhenna felt no desire to partake, in part because of whatever weird quirk of her biology caused her sex drive to remain dormant, but also she felt a slight sadness due to the fact that this mating scene was the apex of these men’s lives, and in a few short months, their bodies would wind down, and their existence would quietly end. The women would carry their fertilized eggs for the rest of their long lives, giving birth to the next generation, clutch after clutch, for years to come.

  With no urge to participate, she quickly grew tired of the spectacle and retreated down the stairs into the cool night air.

  Rhenna snapped back out of her recollections and realized the nurse had been expectantly holding the small ampule of amber liquid out to her for a couple of seconds. She quickly accepted it and tucked it into a pocket, embarrassed she had spaced out for a moment.

  “When you get home, draw a warm bath to soak in, then take this medicine. You’ll feel some cramping and you’ll pass your next six months worth of eggs, fertilized or not,” the nurse said, giving her these st instructions as she guided her to the front of the clinic. “If you have any other questions, feel free to give us a call.”

  “Thank you, I will,” Rhenna replied, even though she probably understood the medications and their effects better than the nurse did.

  The nurse gave Rhenna a small wave as she exited and closed the door behind her. She looked down at the ground as she walked, her mind already racing again with the long list of tasks and items to check on before departure. So much so that she was completely oblivious to the rapid crunching of gravel as the st of her team came barreling around the corner of the path, crashing into her and knocking her to the ground.

  “Oh my word, I’m so sorry,” the woman said, huffing and puffing from her sprint as she helped Rhenna to her feet. “I’m so te, and I didn’t see you, and I just knocked you right over!” she said apologetically.

  “Don’t worry about it, no harm done. The clinic is still open for a few more minutes, you should still have enough time,” Rhenna said, giving her a gracious smile.

  “Thanks!” the woman said, not waiting any longer as it was clear that Rhenna was okay, and hurried inside. Rhenna shook her head, then resumed her trek back to her apartment, walking quickly because she still needed to pack all the personal effects that she would need for the trip.

  The sun had set, and the air had cooled significantly between the time she left her b, stopped in the clinic, and finally returned to her apartment. Pressing a thumb to the ID scanner to unlock her door, she entered. Weary from the day, she knew she still needed to take care of several things before she could sleep.

  Heading straight to the bathroom, she turned the spigot on, letting warm, steamy water spsh, and began filling her full-size tub. Before she began to undress, she patted her pockets, forgetting which one exactly she had put the little ampule in, only to find one slightly damp pocket that tinkled with the sound of shifting broken gss.

  Carefully, she fished out a single fragment of broken gss from the pocket. “Well, fuck,” she decred, feeling that it was a fitting punctuation for this evening. Staring at the gss fragment, she thought about how she’d need to head back down to the clinic in the morning (they were surely closed by now), get more of the medicine, and then deal with the bath again. Then she ran through a mental checklist of all the things that she still needed to do tomorrow before the transport arrived, and realized that she just didn’t have the time.

  Setting the gss sliver down on the counter, she grabbed the sink with both hands and leaned forward, shaking her head at her reflection in the mirror, contempting how she was going to deal with this inconvenience.

  “Is sex really going to be an issue for me?” she asked her mirror image. “Not once in thirty years have I felt the slight stirring. You know what, I’ll be fine without it, just fine.” she told herself, her non-track record speaking for itself.

  Instead of having a long soak, she got a cloth from the cupboard, washed quickly then drained the tub before heading to bed. She was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be getting adequate rest for the foreseeable future, so she climbed into her bedding strung up in one corner of her sleeping chambers, determined to get at least one st full night’s rest. She fell asleep thinking about possible epidemiological strategies for combating the spread of infections when they arrived on Khosrow.

  ****

  “June,” Inta called over her earpiece, “The supplies and st of their team are on board. I’m sealing the cargo bay doors now.”

  “Understood. Thanks, Inta,” June replied, then immediately initiated a call to the ship they were currently alongside.

  “Nestia to Transport Marigold, come in Marigold,” June said, opening a channel to the short-range Sorkon vessel.

  “This is the Marigold. We read you, Nestia,” came the response from the Marigold’s flight crew.

  “Be advised, all cargo and passengers have been transferred and we are beginning undocking procedures.” June called as she watched the sequence status update on her console.

  Will sat next to June in his usual pce at the Tactical Station, watching her adoringly as she coordinated the separation of the two ships. Her fluid, confident manner never failed to impress him.

  “Acknowledged, Nestia. We’re sealed up on our side and await docking colr de-pressurization.” The second mate on the Marigold was manning the comms and sounded a little nervous as he ran down his checklists. June thought this must be one of his first high-priority missions, and he wanted to make a good impression, making her smirk. Before she could reassure the young sailor, her panel lit up, indicating the docking ring was at vacuum.

  “Docking ring de-press complete. I will begin ring release when you're ready, Marigold.”

  “Confirmed, Nestia. Proceed.”

  June watched her monitor as the seal of Nestia’s docking ring released the other ship and flowed back into the Nestia’s white hull. Once the ring had fully been reabsorbed, and the hull's surface was smooth again, June clicked the comms. “Docking Ring fully retracted. We are now pushing off.”

  Several small circles of silver appeared on the aft and far forward sections of the Nestia’s hull, applying a small amount of gravimetric pressure, moving the Nestia sideways, gently away from the much smaller ship. June called over the comms channel again. “ Marigold, you are now free and clear; thanks for meeting us out here. Safe travels home.”

  “Roger Nestia, we are clear,” the Marigold’s second-in-command replied. “May the stars watch over and protect you and your mission. Good luck out there.” Emotion was heavy in his voice as he signed off.

  Now, given ample room, the smaller transport engaged its engines and slowly maneuvered away. Once it was a safe distance away, it engaged its FTL drive, and in a brilliant fsh, it was gone and on its way home.

  Since their departure, Inta had tirelessly worked around the ship, adding details that would help make their guests’ stay aboard as easy and pleasant as possible. One such addition was a new public address system; Inta installed small, innocuous speakers in every room and hallway to make it easier to rey messages to everyone, regardless of where they were on the ship.

  June pressed a button to open a ship-wide channel on the intercom. A moment ter, a boatswain’s whistle sounded throughout the ship alerting everyone aboard of an impending communique. June smirked as it sounded; Ben had been insistent on that particur whistle for the announcements as it was some sort of standard from an ancient holo-program his Mrs. Jensen would watch while she fed him cookies as a kid.

  “Attention all passengers and crew,” June announced, “We have completed undocking with the Marigold and they are on their way back home to Sorkon. We will be under way, heading for our next stop at Nurset in just a few minutes. Estimated time to arrival, sixteen hours.”

  June clicked the intercom off and turned around to Inta, who stood just behind her right shoulder between her and Will’s stations as usual. “Inta, hon, do you know if anyone is bringing the Sorkon team leader to the Command Office? Ms. Devens asked to speak with them as soon as they were onboard and underway.”

  Inta, always aware of everything and everyone on board, replied without hesitation. “Looks like everyone’s busy at the moment; I’ll escort them up myself. Beside, I’d like a moment to chat and get to know them better.”

  “Get to know them better?” Will asked with a raised eyebrow and pyful smile.

  “You know what I mean,” Inta swatted his shoulder pyfully. “I’m not that much of an incurable nymphomaniac.”

  “You’re not?” June said, smirking and joining in the banter.

  “Well, not with complete strangers, anyways,” Inta retorted. “That’s why we need to chat first.” That earned her a couple of chuckles from her two lovers.

  ****

  Pete Flinders was the st person over from the Marigold, making sure the transfer of materials and personnel went quickly and smoothly. He was hard to miss; standing at six feet four inches with broad, muscur shoulders and a close-cropped salt and pepper beard and hair, he cut an impressive figure as he directed his team.

  Crossing the threshold into the Nestia, he was taken aback by the contrasts of the two ships. The Marigold was a good little ship, but its space was tight; it was a little dark and stank slightly of stale air and hydraulic oil. The Nestia, by comparison, was bright and airy, partly due to everything being made of the same white material, and partly due to the high ceilings of the cargo bay that, through its entirety glowed with a pleasantly soft light. And the air was as fresh as if they were pnetside.

  He turned around and watched the odd way the cargo bay doors melted shut, quite unlike any ship he had ever been on before. He had been a merchant marine for years before signing up with the AAN and being assigned to Sorkon; he had heard rumors about this ship, and after being on board for a total of five minutes, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were all true.

  As he stood marveling at the now sealed doors, a short, curvy woman, silver from the tip of her hair down to her toes on her bare feet, wearing a light blue sundress with white floral patterns, approached him. She stopped in front of him and had to crane her neck slightly to look him in the eyes.

  “Hello, You must be Flinders, the Sorkon Team Lead. I’m Inta and I’ve been asked to escort you to the mission control center on the command deck,” Inta said warmly.

  “Hello Inta, it’s nice to meet you. You have quite the ship, here,” Flinders said.

  “Thank you. We do try to keep things feeling homey,” Inta replied cheerfully. “This way, please,” Inta said, gesturing for him to follow her.

  Flinders reached down and picked up the rge duffle bag full of his belongings. “Lead the way,” he replied. The cargo bay was buzzing with activity as dozens of people repositioned boxes and were busy securing the magnetic cmps on the st of the rge crates of supplies. “When do you think we’ll get underway?” He asked Inta.

  “We’ve already departed, and are currently accelerating to cruising FTL speed,” she paused a second, looked up at nothing in particur on the ceiling, then said, “which we just hit. We’ll be at our next port of call in about sixteen hours.”

  Flinders tried and failed to hide his surprise. Like every old sailor, he could always feel the moment when a ship jumped into FTL flight, but it felt like they hadn’t moved at all. Yet another of many more surprises that was in store for him, he was sure of it.

  Inta led him into a short hallway just off the cargo bay, and as they passed a rge, open doorway, he did a double take upon seeing what seemed to be a grass-carpeted arboretum. Then he noticed several humans sitting on lounge chairs chatting with several tall, four-armed men and women who could only be Toparians. Yes, full of surprises, he thought to himself.

  They rode the lift for a few moments, which again seemed to be able to move about without the corresponding sensation of movement, and the doors opened onto the command deck. Just a short way down the corridor, Inta led him into a rge office with several desks, tables, and chairs packed into the space. He surmised it was only partially occupied, likely due to having only picked up two teams so far.

  “Here we are,” She said, stopping at the doorway, gesturing for him to enter.

  “Thanks, Inta. You’ll have to give me the grand tour of the ship ter,” Flinders said jovially.

  “I’d love to. I’m sure we can find a few minutes before we arrive on Khosrow to have a look around,” Inta offered.

  Flinders smiled at Inta gratefully, then steeled himself for what was to come as he entered the room.

  The portion of the occupied room was busy with activity as people pinned maps to the wall, carried armfuls of tablets, and handed them out to those seated around a desk in the corner. All of them engaged in discussion, oblivious to the new arrival.

  Flinders instantly recognized the central figure guiding the discussion. Age may have streaked her hair with silver and given her subtle crow's feet at the corner of her eyes, but those eyes still burned with the intensity of purpose that he knew all too well.

  Taking a deep breath, bracing himself for the inevitably awkward conversation, he stepped forward and softly coughed into his fist, interrupting the discussion. “Hello, the ANN team from Sorkon are all on board and are getting settled. I’m Pete Flinders and…” he began but was cut off.

  “We know who you are, Peter,” Devens said coolly. She then turned her attention back to the team she was having the discussion with. “Let’s adjourn for now. It’s about mealtime anyway; go get some food in the mess hall, and we’ll reconvene in ninety minutes. Thanks, everyone.”

  As her team slid back their chairs and headed out of the command center, Devens pointedly kept her eyes down at the various reports and forms they had been reviewing, until everyone had left the room leaving her and Flinders the only two in the room. Devens didn’t look up, allowing the awkward silence to hang between them.

  Flinders took two beats, then spoke. “Margaret, I know this is weird. Had the personnel rosters been avaible before I accepted the team lead position, and I knew you were going to be here, I would never have accepted. By the time I knew, it would have been impossible to find a repcement in time.”

  Devens finally put down the report and looked up at him with a gaze sharp enough to cut titanium. “Listen Peter, what happened is ancient history, and I’ve moved past it. We are both professionals and I don’t think we’ll have any issues behaving as such. Yes?” she asked, one eyebrow cocked as if she were expecting an argument.

  “Of Course, Mar… Ms. Devens,” he corrected himself. “I think we can do that, in support of the mission.” She nodded in agreement. Flinders felt at once relieved and disappointed. The past was behind them; words and actions in the heat of the moment long ago could not be taken back. Devens returned to ignoring his presence, so Pete Flinders sighed and left her to her paperwork. With his back to her as he left, Flinders couldn’t possibly see her watching him leave from the corner of her eye and drag her palm down over her face. Devens huffed, shook her head, and tried hard to concentrate on the work in front of her, with mixed success.

  “Hello again, Mr. Flinders,” Inta said cheerfully, meeting him in the hallway and giving him her best neutral expression, even though she could feel the tension between him and Devens. “Can I show you to your assigned bunkroom?” she offered.

  “That would be great, thanks. I still need to settle in,” Flinders said, nodding to the duffle over his shoulder.

  “Your team will be staying on deck five; our yout is a bit off standard, so I’ve posted signs and general directions on all decks. Also, you can also pull up the ship’s yout on any of these terminals,” Inta gestured to the one next to them on the wall, “which should help you navigate until you get familiar with the Nestia. If you need assistance with anything, you can use one of these to contact me directly.”

  He looked at her in curiosity. “So, other than guide, what is your role aboard the Nestia?” Flinders asked as Inta led him back to a lift.

  “I have a lot of responsibilities on the Nestia,” Inta said vaguely, “but one of my primary roles is maintaining the health and wellbeing of her crew and guests. So, like I said, if you need anything at all, let me know and I will see to it.”

  “That's Good to know; thank you,” Flinders said appreciatively. The lift opened, and the sign on the wall directly opposite the lift door indicated they were on deck five. As they approached the bunk room, a loud conversation bordering on arguing could be heard from inside.

  “I don’t care if it’s standard for the Navy, we’re not a naval organization and these arrangements are not proper!” a woman’s voice said loudly, echoed by a chorus of agreeing voices.

  “I’m telling you, even on a ship this size, space is always at a premium, and if they’ve given us this bunk room, then it’ll have to do. They’ve even given us privacy curtains, so what’s the big deal?” A different chorus of voices sounded, agreeing with this point of view.

  Just before entering, Flinders rolled his eyes, took a cleansing breath, and then entered. His entire team stood in a circle at the center of the room, suitcases, duffle bags, and other assorted luggage strewn about at their feet, still unpacked, as they argued back and forth. Both factions swiftly quieted their dispute as their team leader entered the room, followed closely by Inta.

  “Alright team, what seems to be the issue?” Flinders asked in a patient tone.

  The woman, who had been compining loudly just moments before, spoke up. “Flinders, it is completely inappropriate for the men and the women to be bunking in the same room, and I, for one, won’t put up with it, no matter how typical Brian says it is.”

  “And I was trying to expin to Trish,” said Brian, the man on the opposite side of the argument, “that this isn’t a cruise liner, and you have to accept that it is what it it; we just need to make it work.” Flinders should have realized that the puritanical upbringing that most of these folk receive on Sorkon would cause some consternation with the more prudish members of his team.

  Before he could interject, Inta stepped forward and spoke. “If the lodging arrangement doesn’t meet your needs, I can assign the next bunk room down the hall to your team as well, so you can make more comfortable arrangements. The Nestia can house up to three hundred and fifty, so we should have plenty of room to spare,” Inta said with an understanding smile. “May I suggest we use this room for the women, and the next room for the men?”

  Trish, Brian, and the rest of the Sorkon team found Inta’s solution acceptable and nodded in agreement. The men grabbed their belongings and filed out into the hallway while the women, pcated, began choosing their bunks.

  Flinders leaned his rge frame down to whisper into Inta’s ear. “Thanks for the extra room; that argument would have been the rest of my day.”

  “It’s no problem at all, really. Like I said, my job is to see that our guests are comfortable and happy.” Inta chirped cheerfully. “Okay, boys, follow me, this way please,” she said, leading them to an identical room just down the hall. Flinders trailed behind and watched as Inta swept her arm in a grand gesture, ushering them in.

  Flinders stopped next to Inta at the door. “Thank you again, Inta. They’re good people and mean well, but just a little high-strung.”

  “But not you,” Inta acknowledged.

  “Well, I’m not from Sorkon originally. We’re a little more open-minded, where I come from.” He said with a subtle smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to unpack and then report to the A.A.N. central coordinators to let them know we’re on board and underway.

  Inta nodded to Flinders, then turned and left them all to settle in.

  ****

  Thea sat at Navigation, watching the stars stream by the viewport like rainbow confetti while monitoring their progress to their next stop to pick up the engineering team from Nurset. June said that she and Inta had spent considerable time modifying the controls and informational dispys to match the design standards most modern starships used, and Thea fully appreciated their hard work.

  As unique as the Nestia was, Thea found the dispys intuitive, much like the pod she had flown. There were obvious differences in what data was dispyed; for instance, she was confident that no other ship monitored ‘core instabilities corrected per femtosecond’, which currently numbered in the tens of thousands. Not that any vessel she was aware of had the insane amount of raw power the dark matter core powering the Nestia provided.

  The Countdown to arrival at Nurset had reached thirty minutes; she and June previously agreed that at some point June would give Thea some ‘stick time’ with the Nestia, but until then, June would handle major maneuvers. “Inta, can you let June know we’re thirty minutes out from Nurset?” Thea asked out loud.

  “Sure thing, Thea. June will be up to relieve you shortly,” Inta chirped over the new intercom.

  Thea stretched her arms over her head with a groan. Her muscles were feeling tight from sitting for so long, so she decided it was time to get a little exercise. She pressed her finger to her ear like she was making a call with a naval-issued communicator, an old habit she couldn’t shake no matter how many times Inta told her she didn’t need to do that when using the earpiece she had been given. “Hey Artona, up for some light sparing?”

  “Always,” Artona replied in a gravelly voice over the earpiece. “We still have our little corner free for now, though I imagine we’ll need to find another space once we’ve picked up the teams from the other systems. Meet me in five?”

  “Better make it ten; I still need to change after June relieves me on the bridge.” No sooner had she mentioned her, June sauntered up behind Thea in her seat, wrapped both arms around her neck, criss-crossing her chest, and gave her a loving squeeze.

  “Status report, Acting Captain Cirrillo?” June joked, kissing Thea on the cheek.

  “We’re twenty minutes out from Caimar space, Captain Harding,” Thea retorted, grinning from ear to ear.

  June gracefully swung around the Navigator’s chair, and nded with a plop on Thea’s p, straddling her. She moved close, the tip of her nose nearly touching Thea’s, their breasts pressed tight together, molding into one another. “How many times do I have to remind you, that’s only for when we are talking to traffic control?” June said sensuously, her breath hot on Thea’s bare colrbone.

  They stared into one another’s eyes, then tilted their heads to allow their lips to press hungrily. Thea reached around June’s waist and grabbed two handfuls of her ass, squeezing them as she ground up into June’s crotch. Their tongues danced for a moment, both savoring each other’s taste and the warmth of their bodies.

  Then, almost effortlessly, Thea stood up, lifting June with her, and spun in pce, dropping June in the seat. Thea gave her one st long kiss. “More to come this evening,” she said, finally pulling away.

  “And cum and cum and cum,” June answered like a promise. Thea smiled, blew her a kiss, and headed off to get changed into her exercise clothes.

  By the time Thea made it down to the hangar, Artona was already warming up, moving gracefully through one of her forms. Most of the exercise equipment had been stowed, and the shuttle had been crowded close to her corner in the hangar. However, a small space had been left open so she and anyone who wished to join her would have room.

  “Hey,” Artona rumbled a monosylbic greeting.

  “Hey,” Thea replied. The two of them had fallen into an easy routine and grown close in mutual respect. Their banter was kept to a minimum when it was just the two of them; their physicality, aside from the occasional correction of Thea’s form, was the only conversation they needed.

  As always, Artona kept the intensity of their sparring to the level of Thea’s abilities, patient as a mountain, but fierce as an avanche; she usually left Thea winded and slightly bruised but glowing from the fellowship of shared effort. Thea appreciated training with the fierce Urarc; she knew her skills had improved significantly in the short time under her tutege. And though she knew that Artona didn’t get as much out of their sessions as she did, Artona gained the closeness and connection she needed, having grown up in a highly connected, tribal society.

  Thea also knew that when Artona needed a real workout, Inta would step in, and do that bulk-up thing she does for Artona, turning into a silver behemoth. Watching the two spar all out made her extremely gd that Artona and Inta were on her side.

  “Thanks, Tona, that was just what I needed,” Thea said at the end of their session, toweling the sweat from her face.

  “My pleasure,” Artona replied, toweling her massive shoulders. “I wish I could get everyone down here more regurly, like you. I swear, if Ben spent half as much time with me as he does with his books, he’d be as fierce as you or Will,” Artona said, chuckling.

  Thea ughed with her. “Yeah, good luck prying him out of one of Inta’s physics manuals.” Thea tossed the towel over her shoulder, then turned to leave. “Thanks again. I’m off for a shower.”

  “Now that’s something that would pry him out of those manuals,” Artona said with a toothy grin. Thea gave her a smirk, then headed off across the hangar.

  Halfway to the lift, she realized that they must have nded on Nurset while she was sparring; the hangar doors were wide open and Inta was greeting the Caimar delegation of engineers. Thea altered her path slightly and joined Inta and the group to say hi.

  The air flowing in from behind the Caimarians was warm and moist, and the te-day fog rolled into the hanger behind them. Nurset was home to five billion Caimar and was quite a technologically advanced society, but the swamps and bogs of the pnet were ingrained in their souls.

  In the ancient past, when they began building their cities, they built them suspended over the lownds where they could be close to the nature that originally spawned them. The Caimar were an odd contradiction; their society celebrated the builder and the engineer and gave them high status, but they never gave up their connection with nature, preferring to live in harmony and close proximity to it. The architecture that Thea could see through the open doors reflected their natural surroundings, while simultaneously rising above it, in tune with their environment in form and function.

  The Caimar themselves were short, barely three feet tall, with narrow, toothy snouts, and all wore simir yellow and blue striped jumpsuits, clearly a uniform. The dull greenish-yellow of their short, thick tails poking out from the back stood out in sharp contrast to the bright colors of their uniforms, but their eyes were bright and full of intelligence. As they got their first look at the inside of the Nestia, their long snouts snapped open and shut as they talked with the distinct clicking and soft whistles of their native nguage.

  What the Caimar team of engineers cked in stature, they made up for in numbers. At least a hundred Caimarian engineers were queued up and ready to board. Less than half had crossed the hangar door threshold, while the rest waited patiently just outside.

  Inta clocked her approach and when she joined them, introduced her. “Thea, I’d like you to meet the Caimar engineering Team Leader, Zarvok Kreb. Zarvok, this is Thea Cirrillo, Captain of the ferry Dals, currently taking some R&R with us aboard the Nestia.”

  Zarvok’s eyes widened when he recognized her name, and several engineers gathered behind him clicked and chirped excitedly in their native nguage. “Captain Cirrillo, it is truly an honor to meet you,” Zarvok reached out to shake her hand. I understand that the Admiralty unanimously promoted you after your heroic defense of Dals. Without you, we would have lost her to the pirates.”

  “I pyed my part,” Thea demurred, “but there were many defenders; scores of brave security officers aboard the Dals fought tooth and nail. Without them all we really would have been lost.”

  Almost as one, the crowd of Caimarians gawked and swiveled their heads as Artona came up behind Thea, towering over them all, and cpped her on the back. “Don’t let my sparring partner fool you,” she said to the group, “Captain Cirrillo here, is being modest, a trait we Urarcs do not share. We live to tell tales of our deeds. Let me assure you if it wasn’t for her and others aboard this ship,” Artona gave Inta a sideways gnce, “most of the Dals crew would have been killed and the rest sold as sves with the passengers. I would have ended up dying in some fight pit on an uncivilized backwater pnet. She deserves the praise, though she’s too modest by half, in my opinion.”

  If the Caimarian engineers had been star-struck before, after being talked up by one of the fiercest fighters in the gaxy, they were enthralled with her now.

  “Thank a lot,” Thea whispered in Artona’s ear, sarcasm dripping in her voice. Artona belly ughed in response, startling the Caimar, barely a third of her height.

  “Glory comes to those who earn it, whether they want it or not.” Artona procimed. “And now, a shower, because I’ve earned that!” Then she walked away, her bulk nearly filling the hallway as she made her way toward the lift.

  Thea quietly began calcuting all the ways she would pay back her enormous, pain in the ass, sparring partner when Zarvok interrupted her thoughts of revenge.

  “Kind Inta was just about to show us to our accommodations; I wonder if you wouldn’t mind escorting us as well? I have so many questions,” Zarvok asked politely.

  Thea quickly put away thoughts of payback as her diplomatic training kicked in reflexively, “Of course, I would be delighted.”

  Inta raised one hand so everyone in the group of Caimar engineers could see her. “Alright folks, this way please,” she said loudly.

  Zarvok and Thea followed Inta to the lift, and the throng of engineers behind them chittered and chirped excitedly as they flowed along behind.

  “The Nestia is a ship of intriguing design, and I am deeply curious about her,” Zarvok commented, as he Looked around at the details of the Nestia’s structure, “but most pressing on my mind are the details of how security was breached aboard the Dals. Did they simply overpower her crew, or was it a design fw that allowed them to take control?”

  Thea saw past his questions to the guilt and responsibility he must feel for what had happened. As engineers, she knew that they were trained to see the universe for what was, not what they wished for, and she decided that she wouldn’t insult him by trying to assuage his guilt and give him the honest answer he desired.

  “It was a combination of factors, actually. The pirates managed to slip a small team past security, then once on board, they were able to access the small maintenance corridors that had been sealed before the Dals had been commissioned.” She paused as Zarvok nodded in understanding, then continued. “The pirates then used the access ways to disable key systems, and eventually take control of the bridge.”

  They stood to one side of the lift as Inta took the rge team up in smaller groups on the lift to their designated deck. Zarvok was silent as he considered Thea’s statement. After a few smaller groups of Caimar had cycled through up the lift, Zarvok spoke again.

  “Those engineering access ways were specifically designed to accommodate the size of an average Caimar; it was thought that making them smaller than what the average species would be able to use comfortably and sealing them would keep them secure enough. An obviously incorrect design judgement. I will pass your comments up to the Design Standards board of Governors for review. Rest assured that this design fw will be addressed.”

  Zarvok could see Thea’s puzzlement as to why this issue seemed to affect him more than just professionally; he wore the personal affront he felt from the exploitation of the design fw on his sleeve.

  “You have to understand our retionship to the ships we build, and to the Dals in particur,” he said, answering Thea’s unspoken question. “Several generations of Caimarian engineers originally built the Dals. Take this team here,” he gestured toward the crowd still waiting for their turn in the lift, “our grandfathers, and fathers built the Dals, and many of us personally worked her st refit. We have a deep connection to her. She is our child and collective legacy. Like our fathers and grandfathers, the Dals will endure and be a testament to Caimar ingenuity long after we have returned to marshes that birthed us.”

  Zarvok’s voice was full of emotion as he spoke of Dals. Then he leaned back in his seat and momentarily closed his eyes in contemption. “I appreciate your candor regarding this difficult subject,” he told her, “especially coming from you.”

  Thea furrowed her brow and looked at him, seeking to understand his meaning.

  “It is difficult to describe the pce in our esteem you occupy,” Zarvok expined, “not only do you now command the Dals, which demands respect in and of itself, but you also put your life on the line to defend her, her crew, and passengers. That is why these Caimar hold you in such high regard as I do.” Zarvok reached for Thea’s hand, and she was so moved by his statement and passion that she took his offered hand in hers and pced her other hand on top of it.

  “Zarvok, I swear to you, like every other Captain before me, I will cherish and guard her with my life.” Unshed tears formed in Zarok’s eyes, and unexpectedly in Thea’s as well.

  The st group of engineers was through, and only Zarvok and Thea remained. The lift doors opened, and together, they rode up to deck six, where the rest of the Caimar contingent was already settling in.

  When they stepped out into the hallway, two lines of confused, disappointed engineers filed into two separate bunk rooms. Inta was easy to spot; her short frame was a head and shoulder taller than the Caimar's.

  Thea and Zarvok made their way through the crowd to where Inta stood.

  “Miss Inta,” Zarvok approached Inta with an almost apologetic look. “Might I trouble you to ask if there are other accommodations you might have for us? One rge room instead of two separate?” Inta looked confused, so Zarvok eborated. “Well, the thing is, we prefer to nest together when we sleep; we’ve done so since we were hatchlings, in fact, most Caimar do.”

  He could see by way of Inta and Thea’s confused expressions, a deeper expnation was in order. “The Caimar are extremely social, and our society is highly organized in almost every aspect of our lives. Our team is of one Nest and are nestmates. We do everything together; it is the prime organizational grouping for our society. Nestmates, or ‘Nesties’ as we call it, is a kind of nuclear family, in human parnce. Every other grouping is some sort of multiple or sub-division of a Nest.

  For instance, if we are working on a rge project, such as shipbuilding, Several Nests will be assigned different portions of the work; some Nests might be assigned to designing and building the superstructure, while another Nest would be responsible for the routing of power conduits and associated infrastructure. These rge areas of the project would be broken down into individual tasks to which a sub-team of a dozen or so Nesties would be assigned. This is one of the keys to the speed and efficiency in the execution of our duties; we always have multiple sets of hands working on any task. This is why I’m forced to request this imposition; we don’t cope well when we are forced apart. I hope you understand.”

  Zarvok was deeply apologetic but, like the rest of the Caimarian engineers, was clearly disturbed to think they would be required to have separate sleeping arrangements.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry, I had no idea,” Inta said, upset that her arrangements were bothering them this much. “But there’s an easy solution, and it’ll only take a bit to sort out. Hang on a moment.” Inta excused herself as she pushed past the engineers into the closest room she had set up for their quarters. Zarvok and Thea followed her in. Inta had done a lot of research about their guests and had taken special care in arranging quarters according to each species' preferences. The Caimar quarters had been set up with several rounded depressions in the floor, comfortably padded, as sleeping areas while around the perimeter of the room, multiple desks had been set for the Caimar to work at in addition to the workstations in Engineering. Inta went to the dividing wall between the two rooms and id a hand on it, and to the Caimarian’s astonishment, the wall began to melt away, opening and joining the two rooms into one.

  She then turned to Zarvok. “Are the multiple sleeping depressions acceptable, or would you prefer one rge one?”

  Fbbergasted, Zarvok blinked several times, not believing what he was witnessing, but then quickly came to his senses. “We would prefer one rge enough to accommodate the whole Nest, if it’s not too much to ask.”

  “No problem at all,” Inta replied, and with a thought, the several shallow depressions from both rooms crept across the floor and flowed into one, rge enough for the entire group. She reached down with a hand and tested the softness of the matting in the depression, then asked, “How’s this? Is it sufficient for your needs? Do you need any additional pillows or bnkets or anything?”

  Zarvok stood speechless for a moment, marveling at Inta’s rapid remodel. “Oh my, no, this is quite fine, dare I say, perfect. Thank you so much, Miss Inta.”

  Inta felt the anxiety wash away from the rge group of short engineers and smiled. “That’s a relief. I’m so sorry to have imposed upon your sensibilities; I do my best to figure out what everyone needs ahead of time, but don’t always get it quite right.”

  “Please, you gave no offense; quite the opposite. I am grateful for such a thoughtful host,” Zarvok responded with a deep bow. Inta smiled back.

  “Alright then; I’ll leave you all to get settled in. If you need anything at all, you can call me from any terminal and I’ll see to whatever you need,” Inta said, returning the bow and then exiting the now much rger room.

  “I’m still a bit sweaty from my workout and probably stink, so I’m going to go find a shower. It was really nice to chat about the Dals. You know, we still have a few days travel before we get to Khosrow. I'd like to hear all about the history of the Dals from the designer’s perspective. Perhaps over tea?” Thea offered.

  “Oh, that would be lovely,” Zarvok chirped, excited to spend more time with the Captain of his favorite ship. “And you don’t stink; I think you smell wonderful,” he added, then blushed, quickly realizing he sounded like a hatchling with a schoolboy crush.

  Zarvok coughed into his fist, steadying his resolve, then asked, “How about after this evening’s meal?”

  “Sounds wonderful. I’ll find out where Ben and Inta hide their tea reserves and make up a pot,” Thea said with a reassuring smile.

  “Oh, don’t worry Sweetheart, I’ll make sure you have your tea; gallons of it!” Inta whispers excitedly into Thea’s earpiece, reminding her nothing that happened aboard the Nestia slipped Inta’s attention, causing Thea’s smile to widen.

  “See you then, Zarvok!” Thea said as she took her leave and rode the lift up to the crew’s deck.

  ****

  June blinked her eyes open as she woke. Careful not to wake the others, she disentangled her limbs and stretched her arms over her head, trying to encourage blood flow. She slipped out of bed, ruefully looking down at the narrow, warm space between Will and Ben, wishing for another hour or so of cuddles. “Duty calls,” she said to herself softly as she dressed.

  As she left the lounge, she looked back through the doorway to their cozy, super-sized bed, still occupied by the snoozing forms of Will, Ben, and Diana with one enormous furry arm draped over her as Artona pyed big spoon to her little. She smiled, then allowed the door to close behind her, though It was usually left open as a standing invitation. They had all discussed it and agreed that they didn’t want any of their guests, who might have different sensibilities, to feel awkward, so it would be best to keep it closed until it was just family again.

  The hallways and kitchen were quiet as she stopped by to grab a quick cup of coffee, then headed up to the bridge. “Good Morning, Inta. Anything to report?” June asked into the air of the empty bridge as she entered and took her customary seat at Navigation. Inta didn’t mind taking the watch while everyone slept.

  “Four more hours to Ansuil. We did pass a pretty little nebu formation about two hours ago; I rather thought it looked like an Altarian field cat,” Inta replied.

  June smiled and sipped her coffee. “Altaria, haven’t heard of it before. Where’s that?”

  Inta walked an instance onto the bridge and sat in the Tactical seat sideways facing June, draping one arm over the back. Though she didn’t need to, she preferred to have a physical embodiment present when conversing to give the other person something to focus on when they talked. “To be honest, I don’t really know anymore. I know where it was, according to my old star charts, but who knows where it is or what folks call it now. For all I know, the cat could be long extinct.”

  June heard Inta’s slightly sad tone of voice and reached over and held her hand, comforting her friend and lover. “More memories resurfacing?” she asked.

  “Just the odd fragment and occasional fact. I had hoped that as I grew stronger, it would all just start coming back to me, but it seems that they need a trigger.” Inta stroked June’s hand with a contemptive, faraway look in her eyes.

  “They’ll all come back in time, I’m sure,” June soothed. “And we’ll all be here with you, making new memories until they do.” Inta looked at June, a beautiful, brave soul, selfless and unfailingly kind; and for the millionth time, she counted herself fortunate to have been found by someone like her.

  They sat in companionable silence for a while, and when June swallowed her st gulp of coffee, Inta ran off and fetched her another mug full. Before long, they received a ping from a Tarantine border buoy, indicating they had crossed into the Republic’s space. June made the ship-wide announcement to that effect, then rapidly decelerated the Nestia from FTL speeds. Once they were at a sub-luminal cruising speed, they received a hail.

  “Greetings Nestia; we’ve been expecting you,” the traffic controller said in a pleasant and professional manner. “We have your transponder location and are now sending you a flight pn to Tetragnata Station. Please observe the posted speeds inside the high traffic corridors. You will be docking at slip H822. Welcome to Ansuil.”

  “Understood, Control,” June replied. “Changing vectors now. Thanks for the warm welcome.”

  There were seven pnets in the Tarantine system, and all but one had thick visible rings of ice and rock. They passed three of the outer ringed pnets, cruising deeper into the heart of the system, until they reached the only ringless pnet, Ansuil. As a fledgling space-faring race, the Linyphiidae of Ansuil had long ago stripped away the rings of their home pnet; with such abundant resources on the shores of their edge of the cosmic ocean, it was retively easy to springboard from there to the wider gaxy in general.

  Tetragnata Station was one of several stations that could be seen in orbit, all exhibiting the hallmark Linyphiidae design sensibility. As they approached, June marveled at the structure; at the Academy, June had surveyed a comparative cultural space architecture course. At the time, she found herself endlessly fascinated by how strongly a species' history, culture, and perspective of the gaxy and their pce in it shaped their terrestrial architecture, which inevitably transted into how they built in space.

  The Linyphiidae favored organic-looking structures that were reminiscent of their earliest ancestors; the station had simir elements of design, such as nodes and connecting cylinders as other species used, but instead of simple spoke and hub designs, the Linyphiidae built their stations out in all three dimensions, creating a complicated network of nodes and long connecting sections, that looked as if some titanic spider had spun not a ft web, but one with nodes connected to its neighboring nodes in every direction. The material used in construction was a soft gray and shimmered slightly in the light of their system’s star, further enhancing the comparison.

  Lanes of steady, well-ordered traffic flowed to the outermost portions of the structure while hundreds of small shuttles and service pods flitted about the interior spaces, giving way when the occasional rger ship would carefully navigate the interior.

  June piloted the Nestia into the second outermost yer of nodes to the slip they had been assigned, on one of the long connecting structures between nodes, docking ports bristling along its surface on all sides. June had been a pilot long enough to develop a sense of scale when observing ships in space, but without proper reference, she was surprised by just how rge and long the connecting structures between nodes actually were. Just one cylindrical section of this enormous station dwarfed Penrose in its entirety.

  Slowly feathering the controls, June eased the Nestia into position until she heard the muted sound of the docking cmps take hold of the ship; then, knowing the ship was secure and station control would take it from here, she rexed and leaned back in her seat, waiting for confirmation that docking ring was sealed and secure. The notice came a short while ter, and when it was received, June announced it on the public address. “Attention all crew and guests, we’ve arrived at Tetragnata Station for expedited loading and personnel transfer. We should be on our way to our next stop, Sasan, in under an hour.”

  Down in the cargo bay, Inta stood in front of the rge doors, waiting for confirmation that the docking ring seal was secure. Once it had, the doors melted open with a mental command. Through the opened doors, hundreds of individuals from every species imaginable hurriedly went about their day, some in vehicur traffic, some on trams suspended overhead, but most on foot heading to and fro.

  Just in front of the now open doors were twenty of the half-humanoid, half-arachnid Linyphiidae, standing at attention, fnked by dozens more to either side. Inta was stunned by their beauty, poise, and grace, even standing still. Half again as tall as her, Inta only came up to the navels of their humanoid half. Their skin and chitinous halves were a rainbow of hues, each with distinct patterns on their bare, lower halves. Uniform tunics, all of the same design, covered the smooth, delicate skin of their upper halves, and the fabric was cut in a modest fashion, giving them the appearance of high propriety. Those on the fnks wore more practical uniforms, no less stylish but more suited to physical bor.

  Their group leader stood front and center, and when the doors opened, revealing Inta waiting for them, she stepped forward and extended a hand in greeting.

  “Hello, I’m Inta of the starship Nestia,” Inta said, shaking the offered hand. She noted how soft the pale gray skin of the woman’s hand was. “I’m the ship’s majordomo, among other things; welcome aboard the Nestia.”

  The lead Linyphiidae smoothly lowered her body on her long legs until the height difference was almost even. “I’m Dr. Rhenna Teanoda, team leader for this group; it’s nice to meet you.” She turned to those on the fnks. “Please proceed with the loading of the supplies. And do be careful; it may all be packed carefully, the contents of these crates are as fragile as they are expensive.” Her tone of voice and elocution were exact and properly polite, but it was clear she wasn’t making a request, but giving a directive that would be followed.

  The manner in which she carried herself said that she had only ever known the upper strata of society, and was well acquainted with giving orders. She had probably never known a situation that was out of her control, Inta thought to herself.

  The dock workers leaped into action and began trundling cart after cart, each loaded to capacity with rge cases. The carts' anti-gravs whined in protest slightly as they were pushed into the cargo bay. Inta noted that each case had small rad batteries built into it.

  “Independent power supplies?” Inta inquired, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

  “Almost all of the medical supplies we are providing are exotic tinctures and compounds, each having specialized storage and refrigeration requirements. The battery powered cases will allow the medicines to be kept indefinitely, regardless of external conditions,” Rhenna answered.

  Inta nodded in understanding. “Well then, it seems your logistics folks seem to have the supplies handled, so let me show you to the quarters that will be yours while you’re aboard. Let’s make sure that you all are as well taken care of as your supplies.”

  “Most kind of you. Please lead the way,” Rhenna said softly, with a slight nod.

  Inta led them to the lifts, then gestured for as many who could fit comfortably to enter. “You’ll be staying on deck seven. Once we’ve all made it up the lift, I’ll bring you to your quarters.” The lift door closed, carrying the first batch up. Rhenna had stayed with Inta as the rest of her team rode the lift, then Inta leaned towards Rhenna, conspiratorially. “With this many guests, I think I’m going to need to add another lift.”

  “Is this the only lift on your ship?” Rhenna asked in surprise.

  “Oh no, we have several, but they are scattered evenly fore and aft; but when it comes to loading and unload, we only ever seem to use the ones adjacent to the cargo hold,” Inta said, considering which subsystems would need to be rerouted for another lift next to this one.

  Rhenna tried to decipher the look on Inta’s face as she pondered renovations, but the silver girl was inscrutable. “The Tarantine Navy doesn’t use them,” she said, trying to fill the gap in the conversation.

  Inta let the design considerations settle into the back of her mind, and Rhenna reminded her that she still needed to be a good host. “Them?” Inta asked, innocently.

  Rhenna was usually much better at small talk than this; being a daughter of an important minister, she had attended several state dinners, dining with diplomats and policy makers. Talking at length about anything substantial required at least a small measure of common ground, but something about this unusual silver girl was throwing off her normally sharp repartee. “You know, lifts,” Rhenna said waving at the closed doors they were waiting to reopen. “Linyphiidae don’t need things like stairs or lifts.”

  Inta stood there, not quite following, making Rhenna feel awkward again. “Because of this,” she said, then effortlessly walked up the wall and stood on the ceiling of the hallway. Rhenna lifted her head and looked down from the ceiling. Normally, dignity would prevent her from showing off for a stranger, but Inta’s soft, empathetic smile disarmed her, and she rexed enough to risk a little foolishness.

  “Oh, that’s magnificent!” Inta excimed. “I get it now, like Tetragnata Station! Your designers don’t need to build in two dimensional yers like most species when they build their ships. I bet they don’t even think the same way, do they?”

  Finally a topic Rhenna could dive deeper into. “Precisely; neurologically speaking, we really don’t. Thinking in three dimensions is ingrained into our core. We look at everything in the fuller context.”

  Rhenna had a full head of steam now. “Take the ancient human game of chess, for instance. It’s a two dimensional strategy game, in its original form, discounting the several 3D variants that came into vogue in the ter centuries. The closest example of a Linyphiidae game would be ancient Tinba, which was a full three dimensional game even in its earliest forms. Linyphiidae architecture, art, and even science share this. It’s one reason we excelled in drug and chemical manufacturing so early in our civilization. We didn’t need powerful supercomputers to model protein folding, we could do it in our heads.”

  “Absolutely fascinating,” Inta said, as the lift doors opened once again. There was enough room in the lift for Inta and Rhenna to squeeze into the lift behind the st members of Rhenna’s team. “And what of higher dimensional geometry?” Inta asked, eager to learn what else the Linyphiidae people knew.

  Rhenna scratched her chin and reflected for a moment. “Our mathematicians have understood and worked with higher dimensional geometry for thousands of years, but mostly as an abstract niche subject. It found sudden relevance when a clever engineer began using it as an analog in metallurgy. She wasn’t using it directly in her work, but it allowed her to look at the material science from an unusual perspective. It’s how the current hyper-alloy of Titanium was created, by the way. Tantarium alloying with Titanium was only possible through the insights gained by looking at the annealing process from higher dimensional analysis.”

  The lift doors opened, and they stepped out into the hallway where the other members of Rhenna’s team were waiting. The crowd parted, allowing Inta and Rhenna to move to the head of the group. “Your rooms are this way,” Inta said, inviting them all to follow. As they walked the corridor, Inta continued the conversation. “I’m fascinated by the idea of protein folding and the like being an innate Linyphiidae ability. Would you agree to a chat over tea? I’d love to learn more.”

  “If there is time, that would be lovely,” Rhenna responded. “But there is much to prepare before we arrive on Khosrow. Perhaps when this mission is over we can find the time.”

  Inta nodded in agreement. “Of course, I understand.” They walked a little farther, and then Inta stopped the group. “I’ve researched common room designs popur with public cruise lines that cater to your specific requirements and have set up these three rooms for your use.” Inta led Rhenna into the first of the three rooms and showed her around. The room had been modified so that a dozen deep alcoves were molded into the walls, stacked in twos, one higher and one lower, each with a heavy curtain that could be drawn for privacy. Each Alcove had several small nooks intended for personal effects, and a hammock-like netting strung in each space for sleeping.

  “You have done your research, haven’t you,” Rhenna stated in approval. “These will suit our purposes nicely.” Rhenna then turned to one of her aides, standing close by. “Gemma, break up the team into two groups; this room will be for ‘A’ group, and the next for ‘B’ Group. I expect that we’ll need to cover all shifts and it will be easier to rest if everyone in the same room is on the same sleep schedule. I’ll take the third room which will double as my office and sleeping quarters.”

  Inta took note and surreptitiously began setting up a desk and workstation for Rhenna’s quarters with a separate instance.

  Inta and Rhenna left the team to select their bunks and walked one more door down the corridor to what would be Rhenna’s room. By the time they entered, Inta had already removed all the sleeping alcoves but one and had formed a small conference table with several suitably comfortable padded seating benches for a thorax and abdomen for guests with eight long legs.

  When they entered Rhenna’s room, she dropped her luggage next to the door and appraised the furnished room. Rhenna ran a finger along the smooth white surface of the desk. “The craftsmanship is excellent but the dimensions are a little off; when sitting we prefer to fold our legs up more than these seats would allow. I bet you made these yourself, didn’t you?” she asked. Inta nodded, worried that she had disappointed her guest.

  Rhenna gave her a generous smile, easing Inta’s concern. “It’s an excellent first pass, the retion between desk and seat is not as obvious with us as with other species. The furniture needs only to be a few inches shorter, maybe six inches, then they would be perfect. No worries, we’ll make do with what we have to work with,” she said reassuringly.

  Inta wasn’t satisfied and decided to do something about it. Rhenna’s jaw dropped as all the furniture in the room seemed to sink into the floor until Inta judged they were at the height that Rhenna would find comfortable.

  Amazed, Rhenna walked to the desk and pushed the seat back. It slid away from the desk and behaved as any normal piece of furniture would. She then tipped it on its side to examine the bottom, looking for hidden mechanisms; all she found was a normal-looking bench. She set it back in front of the desk and sat. Testing her reach on the desk and shifting in her seat, she verified that the ergonomics of the setup were close to perfect.

  “That’s some trick; how did you do that?” she asked Inta wide-eyed.

  “The short answer is that I’m very good with geometry,” Inta replied, smirking. “But I can expin it better when we finally have that tea.”

  “Now there’s no chance I’m going to pass up that cup of brew,” Rhenna said jovially. She paused and looked around the room for a moment, running down her mental checklist for the next item to tackle. “I suppose I should go speak with the other team leaders,” then turning back to Inta, “Also, how many beds does your med bay have? If it’s rge enough, we can use it as an initial triage station until the mobile facilities can be deployed.”

  “There are a dozen exam beds in the med bay right now; I can open the wall behind it to the storage room off the starboard corridor, giving you room for at least twenty more beds,” Inta offered.

  “Hmm,” Rhenna pondered briefly. “That should do, to start with. Once we touch down on Khosrow and are into the thick of it, I expect we’ll max out quickly. We’ll just have to get the mobile facilities set up as quickly as possible.” She lingered on the thought for a moment more, then stood up from the desk, standing once again a full head and shoulder taller than Inta. “Where has the command center been set up?” She asked, moving towards the door.

  Inta followed close behind. “Up on the command deck, deck one. Take the lift and follow the signs, you can’t miss it,” she expined. “I can bring you up there if you’d like,” she offered.

  Rhenna shook her head. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you; I should be able to find my way. Besides, I need a moment with my thoughts.”

  Inta smiled and csped her hands behind her back, practically bouncing on her toes. “Well, if you need anything, anything at all, you can call me from one of the wall terminals, and I’ll be there in a jiffy.”

  “Very kind, thank you. I’ll keep that in mind,” Rhenna said, as she exited into the hallway. She looked back over her shoulder as she waited for the lift, and Inta as she walked down the hallway in the other direction.

  Rhenna rode the lift up to the command deck and watched the doors flow closed after she exited into the hallway like white, molten metal. She id a hand on the door, feeling the smooth and cool surface. “An odd ship, to be sure,” she thought to herself as she turned and followed the signs indicating the location of the command center.

  Inside the space converted for use as the command center, a dozen people sat around a couple of tables, mostly humans with a couple of the Caimar in one of the concurrent conversations, creating a chaotic din that Rhenna had expected of a mission like this, although it still grated on her nerves. She preferred to work in a quiet, subdued environment like her b back home, but she accepted that this mission would require many sacrifices, and this would likely be the least significant among them.

  It was easy to spot who was in charge amongst this raucous group; activity swirled around the desk she sat behind as the others got up from their conference tables, asked one or two questions then returned to their group and the pile of documents in front of them. On the wall behind the desk of the seated woman was a holographic Mercator projection of the pnet Khosrow, already covered in hand notations and dropped pins of potentially hard-hit areas, marking locations where their aid might be needed the most.

  Rhenna approached the desk and the stern-looking woman looked up from what she was reading and stood to greet her. “You must be from the Ansuil contingent. Welcome. Things are a bit chaotic as we’re getting our bearings and are still in the process of aligning resources. The name’s Devens, Marge Devens, though most just use Devens,” said the woman as she offered Rhenna her hand.

  Rhenna accepted her hand and shook it firmly. “Rhenna Teanoda, Doctor of Pharmacology. I’ll be overseeing the dispensing of the medicines being provided by the Tarantine Republic.”

  “For which we are grateful. You folks have the best stuff, but it takes a careful eye and steady hand to dose some of those meds properly. Gd to have you along,” Devens said earnestly.

  “We don’t have much time before we arrive at Khosrow; I’ve already spoken with the ship’s majordomo and she said she would be happy to provide the use of their medical bay as an initial triage facility until a proper field hospital can be set up. I’d like to immediately begin stocking and organizing the med bay, if that doesn’t interfere with what your team is working on,” Rhenna said, anxious to get started.

  “That's fine. Inta, the majordomo, has already given us permission to do the same, so I’ve assigned a member from my team to make sure it’s stocked with the more mundane essentials we’ve brought with us.” Devens looked over Rhenna’s shoulder to one of the tables, and the people engaged in an energetic discussion. “Emily, can you come here, please,” Devens called out over the low din.

  A young auburn-haired woman stood from the table, smiling to the others. She excused herself and came over to the desk. “Yes, Ms. Devens?” she asked, gncing between Devens and the exotic newcomer.

  “Emily, this is Doctor Teanoda. She will be supervising the dispensation of the more specialized medications from Ansuil. Doctor Teanoda, this is Emily Sloane, one of our more talented nurses,” Devens said, introducing the two.

  “A pleasure,” Rhenna said, extending her hand. As Emily took the proffered hand in hers and shook. Rhenna felt an inexplicable rush as their palms met; her gray-skinned cheeks suddenly flushed and time seemed to slow as she became hyper-aware of this nurse’s every tantalizing detail; her soft, coppery brown hair coiled up in a tight bun, her sensuous curves only partly obscured by the baggy jumpsuit she wore, but most of all her scent, a soft, pleasant musk, that went straight to Rhenna’s brain.

  Rhenna blinked rapidly several times, then regained her composure and released Emily’s hand. She swore she could feel an electric arc as their csp broke. For her part, Emily’s bewitching smile never faltered, and she seemed completely oblivious to the profound effect she had just elicited.

  “I’m free now,” Emily said cheerfully. “Do you want to head down to the med bay and discuss what I’ve done so far?”

  “Absolutely,” Rhenna replied, a bit too quickly, for which she mentally chided herself. “The sooner we get started the better.” Emily gave Devens a little wave, and headed out of the room, Rhenna trailing behind, desperately trying to not appear like she was following too close. The lift door opened, and Rhenna stepped inside after Emily. When the door closed, it was as if the entire space of the lift was full of Emily’s scent. Rhenna felt butterflies in her stomach and a low, aching need she had never experienced before. Her confusion was as profound as the developing ache, and simply couldn’t fathom what she was experiencing.

  Mercifully, the lift doors opened, and Rhenna quickly exited. She desperately needed fresh air and distance from the young woman who was inadvertently overwhelming her. Rhenna wondered what was wrong with her as they made the short walk down to the med bay.

  When they entered, Rhenna could see that Inta had already worked her magic. She counted more than thirty exam beds, spaced evenly a short distance from the front of the med bay all the way to the back. She wondered if Inta had willed them to rise from the floor as she had done in her quarters. Her thoughts were brought sharply back to here and now, as Emily spoke.

  “I would assume that we would be setting up a workstation in the front over here,” she said, gesturing, “for intake and as an ad hoc nurse’s station.” She paused momentarily, realizing there were many more beds than the st time she had been there.

  “Hmm, additional room, that’s for the best, I suppose. We’ll likely need it all. I’ve started setting up kits for each exam bed on the benches along the wall here; we can make more and distribute them throughout for ease of access.”

  Rhenna nodded dumbly, making a herculean effort not to stare at Emily’s heart-shaped ass. ‘What has come over me?’ she thought again, then realized Emily had stopped speaking and was looking at her expectantly. ‘Oh no, what was she saying?!’ Rhenna thought in a panic.

  Thankfully, Emily asked her question again. “It’d be better to store your medications In the refrigeration units back here, right?”

  “Ah yes, precisely,” Rhenna said, regaining her composure. “We’ll stage patients needing these on the beds in the back, so the medications will be close at hand, and also so we can better control access to them.” Rhenna took a deep breath and, by sheer will alone, focused her mind on the work at hand.

  For the next twenty minutes, they discussed patient intake and workflow, the number of staff needed to meet demand, and how they would handle the intake of the critically injured.

  “I think we’ve got a solid pn. Now all we need to do is stock the supplies, which of course will take a majority of the time we have before we arrive. It’ll be close, but I think we can do it,” Emily said, optimistically.

  “If we enlist help bringing the supplies up from the cargo hold, we can keep working here and not spend time running back and forth, we could do it in half of the time,” Rhenna offered.

  “Good idea. I’ll speak with Devens to see if someone from the Bordan or Sorkon teams can lend a hand.” Emily went over to a wall terminal and pressed the call button.

  “Hello Emily,” Inta’s voice came over the small speaker embedded in the terminal. “How can I help you?”

  “You’re the comms operator too, Inta?” Emily asked, amused.

  “Yeah, I do a little bit of everything around here,” Inta answered slyly. “What’s up?”

  “Can you connect me to Devens’ terminal in the command center? I need to ask a question.”

  “Sure thing. Just one moment,” Inta said, then connected to Devens’ terminal.

  “This is Devens, what’s going on?” she asked.

  “Hi, it’s Emily. Dr. Teanoda and I need some help bringing supplies up from the cargo hold to the med bay. Do you think you could send a team down to help while we organize it in the med bay?” Emily looked at Rhenna while she waited for Devens to reply and caught her staring. Rhenna quickly turned her attention to a half-packed case of gauze rolls and studiously began putting them away. Emily raised an eyebrow and gave her a quizzical look that Rhenna purposefully ignored.

  “Emily, I’m sending a team down now. How long do you estimate it will take?” Devens asked.

  Emily thought for a moment and then responded, “I think they could get everything we need up here in a couple of hours, but it will take some time for the doctor and me to put them away. We’ll definitely be done before we arrive, though.”

  “Do you two need a hand?” Devens offered.

  “No, I don’t think so. Too many in here and we’ll just be getting in each other’s way. Besides, I’m sure you have other things that need to be readied before we arrive.” Emily replied.

  “You’re right, we do. Let me know if anything changes. Get it done, Sloane,” Deven said in her brisk, matter-of-fact tone. She took half a beat, then added, “And good work.”

  Even though they weren’t transmitting video, Emily smiled at the terminal. Devens pretended to be a hard ass, but Emily knew she had a heart of gold.

  Emily turned to Rhenna, who had already busied herself organizing and stowing the supplies. “Help’s on the way to do the heavy lifting,” she told Rhenna, who continued on and didn’t turn to look at her.

  “Good, that leaves the tedious stuff to us,” Rhenna said, pausing for a moment but continued to stare into the crate she was unpacking. “I don’t mind it though; once we hit Khosrow, it’ll be anything but boring.” Rhenna resumed her work.

  Emily watched her in fascination for just a moment. Rhenna was taller and rger than Emily, and with her eight long legs, Emily had supposed that meant it would be tough for her to navigate in a space meant for smaller individuals. But Rhenna had a grace to her movements and her feet hardly made a sound as she practically danced back and forth while she put items away.

  Turning her attention from Rhenna’s mesmerizing movements, Emily joined her in the work. About fifteen minutes ter, the team Devens sent brought up the first load from the cargo hold, and continued to deposit cases just inside the entrance.

  The public address chirped, and someone announced they had left Ansuil and would arrive at their next stop, Sasan, in twenty hours. Rhenna worked tirelessly in silence, and Emily fell in alongside her.

  The delivery team quickly outpaced Rhenna and Emily’s ability to put away the supplies they brought up, and a small mountain of crates grew, filling the once-empty space of the med bay. After an hour and a half, the delivery team delivered the st crate.

  “Thanks guys, you saved us a whole bunch of work,” Emily told them appreciatively as they stacked the st case.

  “You can buy us drinks ter, then,” one of them joked, then winked at Emily.

  “I don’t think this ship has a bar,” Emily quipped, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear that had escaped from her bun.

  “Well, then when we get back to Penrose, then,” he retorted, obviously trying to flirt. Rhenna watched out of the corner of her eye as she pced some bottles of antiseptic in a cabinet halfway to the back of the room, and felt a sudden rush of emotion, something between anger and jealousy, for which she had no reason.

  She had only known Emily for a scant few hours, in the loosest professional context; Rhenna knew it was a completely irrational response and yet somehow beyond her control to reign in. She took a deep breath and rexed when the delivery team left, and Emily resumed working, by her side.

  ****

  Thea sipped her tea as Zarvok gestured animatedly, adding fir to his story. “ That’s not the half of it. In my grandfather’s day, his whole crew were as much incorrigible pranksters as they were brilliant engineers. This one time, they had somehow managed to fit one of the superstructure cross members into the foreman’s office during off hours. I can only imagine the look on his face when he showed up in the morning; he must have been furious! Grandpa said that he eventually had to have a wall cut out to remove it.” Thea nearly spit out her tea, and Zarvok chuckled while shaking his head. “There’s no way those kinds of shenanigans would be allowed now.”

  As they continued to chuckle, one of the three other Caimar at the table, leaned in close, and whispered something, to the others. Thea raised an eyebrow at them. “You know it’s rude to whisper; why don’t you share with the rest of the css?” she said, teasing.

  All their faces immediately turned from their normal yellowish green to a deep red as they blushed with embarrassment. “No, no, it’s alright. I’m only kidding. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Thea said apologetically, now feeling bad for putting them on the spot.

  Zarvok gnced at his compatriots, who gave him a sheepish nod of assent. “No, it was a little rude, but they, I should say we, should say what we’re feeling.” He stared at his cup of tea, swirled the liquid around, and cleared his throat. “He whispered what we were all thinking: that you are extraordinarily beautiful when you ugh.” Thea was a little surprised. She enjoyed their company and stories but didn’t realize it meant more to them.

  “I confess,” Zarvok began again, “ that you captivate us. You are smart, strong…” he paused, “and beautiful. And on top of it all, you hold command of the ship that we and most of our families have made their life's work. You, my dear, are quite overwhelming, in the best possible way, I assure you,” he added quickly.

  Thea had to admit to herself that she found the Caimar utterly charming, witty, and brilliant to boot. In the short time that she had known them, she had become fond of them.

  “Perhaps I should expin,” Zarvok continued. “Caimarian society is highly matriarchal, even if the women are outnumbered a hundred to one.”

  “Yeah, that’s because they’re so much bigger than us,” Suiden, the original whisperer, joked, to which all the Caimar at the table chuckled, including Zarvok. Thea smiled and tilted her head, waiting for the punchline.

  “No, it’s true,” Zarvok said, “The women are much rger than the men, and is part of the reason they typically don’t work on the engineering crews.”

  “They can’t fit in the air ducts,” Suiden piped in, with perfect comedic timing, to which there was ughter all around.

  “Though their size is appealing to Caimarian sensibilities, it’s their gravitas that draws us in. Caimar women are stately and grand, paragons of empirical beauty; many of the same traits we admire in you,” Zarvok said, blushing again.

  ‘Oh my, they’re flirting,’ Thea realized, equally surprised when she realized she was into it. She supposed that all the wild sex she and the crew of the Nestia had been having in the st month had broadened her horizons more than she realized. Then a particur image she remembered from the Dals internal video recordings of the ‘Incident’ sprang unbidden into her mind.

  “You know, I’ve been wondering about something, that I hope you could answer for me,” she began. “A few months back, aboard the Dals, there was this incident…” she left the statement hanging in the air a moment, opening the door to a particur line of conversation.

  Zarvok and the other Caimar lean in as if pulled into Thea’s gravity well. “We are aware of it. As it so happens, we were briefed shortly afterward when the Inter-Pnetary Ferry Services central command was investigating it. They asked us to pour over the ships records and data logs to see if some critical system had failed and ‘elicited’ the behavior of the passengers and crew.”

  Thea decided to toss caution to the wind and gave him a sultry sultry smile. “Then I assume you saw all the video recordings of ‘the behavior’? There was one bit in particur that comes immediately to mind,” she said slowly. The Caimar were wide-eyed and hung on her every word. “In the main concourse, there were so many people, ‘behaving’, in this fashion, but one group that caught my eye was a human woman with a dozen Caimar men. How do you suppose that would work?”

  The Caimar were beginning to breathe heavily; she had their full attention.

  “Our Nest doesn’t have any experience with human women,” Zarvok said, his voice becoming low and husky, “but when Caimar mate, it usually takes a whole Nest to satisfy a Caimar female’s appetite. And I assure you we know how to please.”

  It was Thea’s turn to be surprised. “A whole Nest? With just one woman?” she asked as she felt her panties start to moisten.

  “Yes. Like I’ve said before, we live our whole lives together, we work together,” then reaching across the table for Thea’s hand, “we mate together. And oh, it’s a glorious thing.” Zarvok’s voice was dripping with desire.

  Thea looked from his face, then to the other Caimar’s; their tea forgotten, all eyes on her. She briefly imagined being the center of their collective attention; the image of that woman at the bottom of the Caimar pile, her feet spread wide, the only part of her visible under the mass of unduting bodies. She licked her lips and looked them all straight in the eyes. “Show me.”

  The Caimar engineers jumped up from their chairs in unison and rushed to help Thea up from hers. Zarvok took her right hand, and another Caimar, whose name she hadn’t gotten, took her left. They led her from the mess hall to the Caimar quarters.

  Word traveled fast; as they walked down the hallway, more and more of the three-foot-tall engineers joined them until she felt like a river of them was sweeping her away. Even before they entered the room, hands from every direction were touching, caressing, and squeezing her flesh, so eager they were for her. Then, without warning, she was literally swept off her feet, carried aloft by the same needy, probing hands.

  They carried her into their room, then into the center of the soft, padded depression in the floor where they slept, and gently id her down. From her reclined position, she watched them shed their coveralls en masse and toss them into the corners of the room in big piles until all she could see around her were stout muscur bodies, skin variations of yellowy green, and thick members already hard for her.

  She reached out to either side to touch them; their warm skin wasn’t rough like she expected, but instead soft like suede leather. From every direction strong gentle hands began removing articles of clothing; her boots came off quickly, followed immediately by her jumpsuit, leaving just her sports bra and pin white panties, already completely soaked with her arousal.

  Uncountable hands stroked and caressed her skin; fingers ran through her hair, squeezed her breasts, and pinched her nipples through the tight cloth, causing them to pebble. A low moan escaped her lips, which encouraged them on, and they stripped off the st bits of fabric between her body and theirs.

  Hands everywhere, roamed up and down her body, exploring every contour, every curve. She was awash in sensation, sending all else from her mind. She reached out and found a four-inch cock with each hand, each so girthy she was unable to get her fingers around their entirety and began stroking them slowly; she enjoyed the feeling of the soft skin rolling over the hardness. It was better than the best massage; every inch of her attended to. With the press of flesh surrounding her, she was eager for more.

  Thea felt their body heat and basked in it; their musk overwhelmed her senses. From somewhere in the surrounding throng, she heard Zarvok’s voice, low and gravely: “Mmmm, please, let me taste you.”

  “Yes, oh yes, taste me, consume me, I’m yours!” Thea cried out, sending the horde further into a frenzy. Then she felt an impossibly long tongue, wet and warm, snake around her left breast, its tip rubbing and flicking her nipple, sending lightning down to her clit. She moaned loudly, then there was a second long tongue attacking her right tit, then others wrapping around her arms, tracing long lines on her stomach, licking across her face, and then into her open, waiting mouth, filling it completely.

  Hungry tongues tasted her feet, in between her toes, up her calves and thighs, and when the questing tongues finally found her clit, her orgasm exploded in a nova, shaking her to her core.

  The Caimar nudged and jostled each other, eager for their chance to touch or taste whichever portion of Thea’s delectable body they could reach. Three Caimar tongues reached and pped around the entrance to Thea’s cunt; she squirmed, trying to impale herself upon them. She moaned her need from around the long tongue wriggling down her throat to urge them on, but they ignored her muffled pleas, instead taking their time, licking long lines up and down her silky folds, parting her nether lips and running over her quivering entrance without filling her like she desperately wanted.

  The three tongues danced and pped up all of the sweet juices flowing from Thea’s pussy, as a fourth, slick and meaty tongue slid down her lower back, down between the firm globes of her ass, and licked a circle around her puckered star before plunging in. As if it were the signal, the tongues attending Thea’s pussy wriggled and sank into her depths as one, stretching her walls, striking every ecstatic nerve bundle as they slithered, bottoming out, filling her completely.

  Incredibly, this orgasm was more powerful than the st. She tried to scream past the tongue in her throat, but could only gag as her body shook and trembled, threatening to throw off her horde of loving attendants. Not that they would allow that; each and every body in contact with hers, feeling another climax take her, pressed more firmly into her, licked and tasted her more fiercely, seemingly determined to make her lose her mind from the intensity of their probing tongues.

  Sensing her need for air, the long, thick tongue trying its best to reach her stomach, quickly slurped out of her throat and mouth, giving Thea a chance to suck in a breath of air, which she then screamed out her pleasure.

  Her mouth wasn’t empty for long; as her scream softened into wanton moaning, the nearest Caimar stood and swung a leg over her, straddling her head. She stared up at the girthy cock only for a moment before he grasped the sides of her head and shoved the tip between her saliva-soaked lips, stuffing the entirety of his cock into her mouth in one thrust.

  Thea wrapped her lips around the intruder in welcome, forced to open her mouth as wide as she could to accept its girth, but it was just short enough to lightly touch the back of her throat without blocking out her airway.

  Breathing through her nose, she sucked and ran her tongue back and forth along the bottom of the slightly salty cock in her mouth, her eyes rolling back in her head, consumed by bliss. The cock in her mouth was only able to st a few ragged thrusts in and out of her luscious lips before exploding, firing a prodigious amount of cum into her mouth.

  Thea swallowed down nearly a cup of the thick, warm spooge, only dribbling a few drops which dripped from the corner of her mouth. New warmth spread from her belly throughout her body and her plump lips tingled where the Caimar’s cum streaked across them. Her whole body felt like it was lighting up and her head was beginning to buzz. “Holy shit, your cum is so, good! It’s making me feel incredible!”

  The two cocks she had been vigorously stroking twitched in unison, hosing down her hands and arms in the same thick, gooey-warm goodness she had just swallowed down, causing her skin to tingle on contact.

  The crowd of green suede skin shifted, and the three spent and defting cocks were repced by three more hard members, taking their pces. Eager hands rushed to pce their cocks into Thea’s waiting palms, managing to smear the spttered pattern of cum on her arms into an even coating. The new Caimar bent impossibly in half to lick a slobbery kiss all over her face before feeding her his turgid length, and she enthusiastically sucked and licked as he pressed her nose into his groin.

  Across her body, the pping, licking tongues vanished, momentarily leaving her body bereft of warmth, leaving her naked skin glistening from a sheen of saliva. Even the tongues exploring and delighting her ass and pussy left, leaving her feeling achingly empty.

  Her sense of abandonment didn’t st long as the Caimar practically pig-piled on top of her; someone sat on her chest just below her breasts, grabbed them both in a tight squeeze and began tit fucking her for all he was worth. The tongues in her cunt were repced by a hard thick rod that buried himself to the hilt in one go. This wonderful cock had a ridge across the top that dragged across her clit in the most stimuting manner, teetering her on the edge of her next orgasm.

  The Caimar found every avaible inch of skin and proceeded to hump against her, slickened by the copious amounts of saliva covering her body. Someone even wriggled their way beneath her, spreading her ass cheeks and stuffing a thick cock into her asshole. For a split second, she imagined she must look like some perverse bobsled, with her Caimar lovers trying to ride her to victory.

  Thea lost sense of any individuality between herself and the Caimar; they were one writhing, grinding, pumping beast, seeking its own gratification in any and all ways it could. In addition to the cock rapidly thrusting in and out of her mouth, several more were grinding against her cheeks, forehead, and even tangled in the hair of her scalp. They used her in any way they could now, chasing their own pleasure.

  All across her body she felt cocks twitch, and heard the low guttural growls of her feral lovers blowing their loads; where they painted her skin white with their thick cum, her skin tingled and felt like it was glowing, heightening her ecstasy. The cocks in her pussy and ass pumped hard with one or two sporadic thrusts before being rammed as deep as they could go and filling her with a torrent of warm, thick cum, sending her crashing over the edge in another titanic orgasm, fueled by unending sensation, and whatever weird, wonderful hormonal effect the Caimar cum was having on her body.

  Cocks suddenly erupted over her face, completely obscuring her features. In the brief pause as the Caimar rotated in and out participants, she abandoned one of the cocks in her hand to wipe her eyes clear but found that in the scant seconds of being deposited on her body, their cum had begun to congeal, making it difficult to wipe her eyes to open them. As she continued to struggle to wipe her face, it became evident that the Caimar cum was rapidly drying and hardening into an almost rubbery substance.

  Thea was too far gone to care; fully blissed out and only seeking more, in a dopey haze, she decided that even if this was how she was going to die, fucked into oblivion, encased and entombed in a shell of hardened cum, she was going to die with a maniacal smile on her face and enjoy every st moment of it.

  The spent cocks in her pussy and ass withdrew, and what little cum dribbled out hardened like tex quickly, trapping the remaining liquid cum inside her. But she wasn’t bereft of cock for long; as soon as a softening cock retreated, a hard and ready member took its pce, breaking the seal, ready to stuff her full of more.

  Thea lost track of time; her only indication of its passage was the ever-increasing yers of hardening cum coating her body. And counter-intuitively, each successive load that was pstered on her, only heightened her skin's sensitivity, allowing her to relish each successive cock that sought to find bliss using her body.

  Through a combination of exhaustion and yer upon yer of hardening cum, Thea was rendered immovable, a willing sacrifice to be the cum dump for this wonderful Nest of horny Caimarian men. They continued to gratify themselves, long after she was no longer able to move; the only responsive indication of her continued enjoyment of the situation was her quaking cunt and asshole as she orgasmed over and over, each time one of their cocks pumped more cum into her bloated and overstuffed holes.

  But eventually, the Caimar numbers and stamina finally wore out. Their unconscious bodies were scattered across the room, and covering the hardened-cum entombed Thea. Cum was everywhere, almost a half inch deep in some pces on the soft, concave sleeping depression. It would have had all the makings of some old-timey horror flick if, instead of a sea of white jizz covering everything, it had been blood.

  Thea’s frozen form y like some bizarre altar, surrounded by the passed-out worshipers of some deranged sex cult, which was not too far from the truth of it.

  ****

  Inta walked down the hallway to the Toparian grove on a small errand, drinking in the ecstatic afterglow pouring off the participants in the Caimar sleeping quarters; all were healthy and well-sated. ‘That’ll probably be the biggest mess I’ve ever had to clean up,’ she thought to herself, ‘even counting the Nestia’s maiden voyage.’

  Surprised by the surfacing of an old memory from countless millennia ago, springing again fresh to her mind, she smiled and made a mental note to ‘thank’ Thea thoroughly ter, after she had plenty of time to recover.

  With a smile on her face and a spring in her step, Inta entered the Toparian living quarters and was greeted warmly.