Chapter 8

On the return trip, I reviewed the data from the carrier’s AI. Like the Kra’afkikort had done, the Vajj-ok-Hepa’ee had begun an outward spiral search pattern and had searched as much of the unknown area as the Kra’afkikort had previously done. I now had maps of two previously unknown sectors of space, both areas well beyond the current boundaries of the Confederation.

I had to wonder about the intelligence of the pirates, though. The data showed enough rich mining locations that the pirates would have been far wealthier in a couple of years by mining only a small percent of the locations.

Kasi’yah reported that we were to proceed to Dahrcolani, capital planet of the Ngarundu Sector. There, we were to meet with the top confederation officials and top naval officials to formalize our agreement to upgrade their ships. In addition, there would be a formal award ceremony to thank us for our highly successful efforts at reducing the number of pirates.

That news made the girls highly affectionate, and they fucked me silly on the return trip. Several of the girls who were still with us voluntarily kept the naval officers happy on the way home. I noticed that all the girls with the C’sahn’Bo brothers tended to both brothers, usually with all of them together. Aside from the one time with Poema, I preferred to be the only guy with the woman or women I was with and thought the women who had been with me longest felt the same way.

Governor Zezar Peyxgharo greeted us when we arrived at the naval base on Dahrcolani. For more than an hour, we were mobbed by dignitaries from the government and Navy as news crews broadcast the event. I almost laughed when I noticed that my least favorite admiral was absent from the throng. Everyone gaped at the Kra’afkikort. They couldn’t see the Vajj-ok-Hepa’ee which was nearby, but was still cloaked and shielded. I smiled inwardly, knowing that both the Kra’afkikort and the Vajj-ok-Hepa’ee were far bigger than anything our Navy had. I smiled outwardly when I saw MoeNu’vyta in the crowd and sent two androids to escort her safely aboard. The look in her eyes told me I’d be making another installment on her retainer tonight.

They had planned to hold our meeting in a government office, but quickly decided there was more room aboard the Kra’afkikort. It also afforded them a chance to tour the ship, a tour that took all day and they still missed far more of the ship than they saw.

The meetings were tedious, making me long for the solitude of deep space again, but not without the women in my life. I didn’t ever want that much solitude again.

MoeNu’vyta proved invaluable during the negotiations. She could have gotten a much richer deal than I agreed to, but I told her quietly that I didn’t need the extra money and reminded her that the citizens would be the ones paying for it. She finally understood why I didn’t need the money when I showed her the maps of potential mining sites that I still hadn’t begun mining. I had enough sites to make thousands of people extremely wealthy.

The government agreed to sell me the small pirate shipyard they had captured on Kvelt for the minuscule price of ₢100 with the stipulation that we only work on naval ships and my personal ships there until the last of the Navy’s vessels from the Quemgengo Sector and Ngarundu sector had been upgraded. I immediately had Kasi’yah begin making a replicator and an AI to operate the Kvelt shipyard. With two functioning shipyards, the upgrades would go much faster, although we would have to expand both shipyards. Kasi’yah immediately increased the production of androids as well.

For a week, we were cheered and celebrated. My parents and sister arrived and joined us. Aside from the few people in whom we’d confided about the true origins of the ships, everyone else was told that I had liberated the Kra’afkikort from pirates and made major modifications to the ship myself. Every news outlet wanted an interview, and they were intrigued with the story of my slaves. On the day before we were scheduled to leave, we attended the biggest dinner so far, one with every top Confederation and sector politician, and top naval officials present ... except THAT admiral.

Near the end of the dinner, the Confederation President stood and got everyone’s attention. “It is with great pride that I am able tonight to award Captain Reynolds for the bravery and patriotism he and his crews have shown. When asked what we could do to reward him, there was only one thing he was interested in. Tonight, I have that reward,” he exclaimed proudly, holding aloft a handful of papers.

One by one, he called each of my slaves forward. When they were standing nervously in front of everyone, he continued. “These papers are a complete pardon for each of these young women, approved unanimously by the Confederation Congress and signed by me. It effectively rescinds their conviction and slavery decree,” he announced excitedly to the stunned crowd. Once they recovered, the girls made a very ungraceful dash to where I was standing and hugged me emotionally.

I flinched when Nainsi made her way to me, her face streaked with tears. I stood stiffly and saw Calysta motioning to me to hug Nainsi. When I didn’t, she motioned again, giving me a dirty look. I had explained to Calysta about Nainsi shortly after I saw her among the captives we had rescued.

When we had done our usual interrogation of the pirates, I had let Calysta and the other women aboard supervise so I could avoid Nainsi. I had been surprised to find that Nainsi’s presence had reopened the painful wound I thought had healed years ago. Knowing that she was aboard had left me with an ache in my heart. Each time I saw her, the pain was difficult to bear, so I avoided her.

At the court hearing when she was awarded to me as a slave, I thought I might be having a heart attack. Using the telemetry built into my ship’s uniform, Kasi’yah had assured me that there was nothing physically wrong with me. Even when we left for tonight’s dinner, Nainsi had given no indication that she had recognized me.

After the banquet and as soon as we were back aboard the Kra’afkikort, I took Calysta aside into the bedroom. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open when I knelt in front of her. “Now that you are able to marry, would you do me the honor of being my wife?” I asked nervously. I held out the ring I had bought earlier this week, once I knew what the President intended to do.

“On one condition,” she replied quietly. “You need to talk to Nainsi. You need to listen quietly and allow her to explain her actions. She recognized you immediately but was so embarrassed by what she’d had to do back then that she hoped you wouldn’t recognize her. Promise me that you will talk to her and make peace with her tonight or tomorrow,” she pled.

“Fine,” I agreed, although decidedly unhappy about doing it.

Once she had secured my agreement, she held her hand out. When I managed to get the ring on her finger, I had another detail to tend to.

“I know you are all close, but I didn’t want to make any assumptions,” I told her as I handed her the other identical rings I had bought. “Erl’ae’e has already agreed so if you want any of the others to join us, it’s entirely your decision,” I told her.

“Silly boy,” she giggled as she kissed me. “I was trying to figure out how to convince you to include them.”

“I have four more rings for Nicoletta, Eliana, Poema, and MoeNu’vyta, but I think we should wait a few months before inviting them permanently. There are enough rings to add a few more, too, if you want,” I explained, handing all the rings to her.

Dragging me back out where the rest of the girls were, she and Erl’ae’e lined up the other three former slaves, then joined me as we knelt and asked each of them to join us. We explained to Nicoletta, Eliana, Poema, and MoeNu’vyta that they could be included in a few months if they desired. Somehow, we ended up in a naked, writhing dogpile on the floor.

Our departure was delayed for two days while I was held prisoner in the bedroom. Taking a cue from me, the C’sahn’Bo brothers had asked eight of the girls to join them in a joint marriage and received eight affirmative replies.

At one point, the women left me alone in the bedroom and Calysta entered leading a terrified Nainsi. “Tell him,” she insisted, although not angrily. Calysta stood in front of the door so Nainsi couldn’t bolt. When Nainsi finally turned her face to me, her face was again streaked with tears, and her lower lip trembled.

“Tell him,” Calysta reiterated; her tone of voice betraying her compassion as she moved to Nainsi and hugged her.

“I’m so sorry,” sobbed Nainsi several seconds later. Seeing the emotional pain she was in caused me to hurt too and I found myself with my arms around both women, trying to comfort Nainsi. I guided us towards a seat and collapsed with Nainsi on top of me.

“I had to do it,” she sobbed nearly a minute later.

“Shhhhh,” I whispered as I stroked her hair, trying to reassure her.

“My parents,” she started to say when a sob tore through her. “They were about to lose everything,” she managed to say several seconds later before she was wracked by another sob.

She cried quietly for a couple of minutes, her face buried in my chest. Calysta continued whispering into her ear and kissing her face. Several more times, Nainsi tried to relate her story, but Calysta stopped her. It was probably fifteen minutes later before the sobbing stopped and I realized that Nainsi was asleep.

Calysta finally explained. Facing financial ruin from business setbacks, her parents would have lost their business and their home, leaving her parents and their four children destitute and homeless. Faced with ruining her own life or allowing the lives of her entire family to be ruined, Nainsi accepted a standing offer from a much older, wealthy businessman and married him.

Originally, she had found his constant attempts revolting, and was deliriously happy with my attention and our fledgling relationship. When she made the decision, she knew she couldn’t tell me, knowing that I would try to dissuade her, and knowing that I would only have to whisper her name in her ear to accomplish that. She left without looking back, unable to stand the shock and betrayal she knew she would see on my face. The fact that she would lose two lovers made it even more difficult for her. While I had wondered, this was the first time I had confirmation of my suspicion that she and my sister had been lovers.

Despite not loving him, she had been a good wife to him. He made sure she understood there would be no children. His children were all older than she was. Learning that she wouldn’t have children hurt her even further.

Each time she performed her wifely duty, allowing him to use her body to satisfy himself, she had to wait until he fell asleep to bring herself off, always dreaming that I was there with her.

A month ago, pirates captured them. Learning how wealthy he was, she and her husband were put into stasis pods. She looked around for him when she was removed from the stasis pod, only to learn that he had arranged the ransom for himself, but not for her. The Captain laughed at her, telling her that her husband told them her ass had never been violated. That was the first thing they did to her, and she had been brutalized several times a day since then.

“Shit,” I hissed when Calysta finished with Nainsi’s story.

Then she told me emotionally, “When she wakes up, hug her, kiss her, take her to bed, and just hold her all night. Make your peace with her. You need her to heal your heart, and she needs you to help her heal much more than her heart. We have plenty of extra rings, and I will be disappointed in you if she doesn’t end up with one of them. Erl’ae’e volunteered to step down as your first wife if she needs to.”

“She will not be replaced as number one,” I replied forcefully. “I might allow both to share the position, but that will depend on Nainsi.” I asked Calysta to do one more thing for me tonight and she scampered off to do it with a happy smile on her face. I had no intention of letting the insult to Nainsi stand unchallenged.

Carefully, I stood and carried Nainsi to my stateroom and laid down next to her. It had been a long time since I had slept with only one woman. I knew the others would be disappointed that we couldn’t continue the celebration tonight. I also knew they would understand.

Sleep took a long time to find me. In the meantime, my mind wandered. I realized just how short a time it had been since I had grudgingly purchased the first two slaves. I also had a few ideas and unbidden thoughts about Nainsi’s case that I recorded and forwarded to my attorney, to add to what Calysta had sent her earlier.

Thinking about dealing with her asshole husband and reminiscing about what I’d accomplished since making my first exploratory trip looking for mining sites left me feeling odd. Despite all the protestations in my early life, I’d always harbored a suspicion that I might be the next Lucky Jim. I suppose that, if I were being honest with myself, I wasn’t against being Lucky Jim as much as I was against all the public attention I expected I would receive. This last week in the public eye further confirmed that feeling. Remembering the more frequent feelings of danger I’d been experiencing, and assessing what I’d accomplished, I sighed.

Soft lips leaving butterfly kisses on my face woke me. While not nearly as satisfying as the blowjobs I frequently awoke to, the radiant smile on the face of Nainsi as she gifted me with the kisses was better that the best blowjob.

“Good morning,” she said nervously when my eyes opened.

“Very good,” I replied, reaching up to meet her soft lips with mine.

“I didn’t finish,” she said, her nervousness growing.

“Calysta finished for you, and ordered me to make you happy, not that she needed to,” I told her, stealing another kiss.

“We should probably get cleaned up and go find the others, so they know we’re still alive,” I chuckled, kissing her again.

“I’m going to take a shower,” I said, applying yet another kiss. “You can join me or use the shower in the next suite,” I offered, kissing her again.

“Do you really want me in there?” she asked as uncertainty clouded her face. Rather than answer her, I simply picked her up over my shoulder and carried her, squealing, into the bathroom. She shrieked when I turned on the cold water, barreling out of the shower and almost knocking me over.

“That was mean,” she huffed, standing with her hands on her hips as her clothes dripped water everywhere.

“That was your punishment for doubting me,” I explained. “The only question is, do you want to join me for a shower, or shower by yourself,” I told her.

When she held her hands out to me, I took them. Suddenly, she spun and threw me into the cold water, then stood there laughing. Yeah, it was cold, but I stayed there and reset the temperature to where I remembered she liked it and started taking off my soggy clothing.

“You’re no fun,” she huffed, but slid off the soaked dress she still wore from last night’s dinner.

Seconds later, she was in my arms, our lips melded together, and our tongues reacquainting themselves. She knew I wouldn’t push her, so when her hand tentatively touched my stomach and crept slowly south, I took it as a signal that she wanted more. My hands slid up the wet, naked skin of her sides until my thumbs could caress the delicate skin of her breasts. This was the same tentative dance we had performed together our first time, except that it hadn’t been in the shower.

Nainsi moaned into my mouth when my thumbs grazed the lower slope of her breasts. Emboldened, I cupped both breasts and teased her sensitive nipples, eliciting a deeper and more drawn-out moan. Wanting her to know for certain that I still desired her, I stepped forward, trapping my throbbing erection between us. Instinctively, her hand dropped from my stomach, wrapping around my hardness.

She broke the kiss, and then looked at me, her eyes searching mine for any clue to let her know this was real. “Calysta has an extra ring for you when you feel ready,” I said emotionally as I gently stroked her face. Her mouth gaped as she continued to study my face.

“Oh, god, I love you. I’ve always loved you,” she sobbed as she hugged me emotionally. When she finally released me, her kisses became almost frantic. When she slipped past me, I thought she was getting out. Instead, she headed for the girls’ favorite spot in the shower, bent over, and grabbed the handles, wiggling her ass at me invitingly. Looking over her shoulder, she gave me a smoldering look and teasingly crooked her finger at me.

“Who, me?” I teased.

She just nodded, hooking her finger on her lower lip, her eyes still burning with desire. I walked up behind her, and when I was close enough, she reached back and guided me home. Home is what it was, too. It had been far too long since I’d been home, but I knew I was. Pressing myself completely inside of her, I reached around and hugged her to me, kissing, and nibbling the side of her neck. My actions caused her to moan and thrust back against me. I began thrusting in and out, pushing and pulling on her hips for leverage, our bodies slapping together noisily in the confined area of the shower.

We both lasted longer than our very first time together, but barely. She moaned like I remembered, her moan almost sounding like a purr as she came. I was less inhibited, and cried out as I pulsed inside of her.

When our mutual orgasm waned, I kissed her ear, then whispered, “Welcome home, baby.”

She sobbed loudly and spun to hug me, nearly ripping my still erect cock off at the base. Several minutes later, I convinced her that we should actually use the shower to clean up. Once we were clean, she easily convinced me that we should again use the shower for its more fun purpose. After depositing a second load inside of her, we rinsed off and got out.

Never knowing who might be here, we dressed before exiting the bedroom.

“Can I ask a question you might not like?” she asked nervously.

“Go ahead,” I replied, bracing myself mentally since I had no idea what she would ask.

“I’ve kept track of everything you’ve accomplished and keep wondering if your mother was right. Have you thought about it?” she asked nervously, knowing how I used to react to comments about Lucky Jim.

“Unfortunately, I have, and I tend to agree, too, especially now that you’re back in my arms,” I replied.

As we exited the bedroom, the applause began even before the door was fully open. Nainsi preceded me through the door only to be mobbed by the rest of the women as they hugged, kissed, and congratulated her.

“Trish?” I gasped when I saw her here, too. She grinned knowingly at me but made her way to Nainsi. Nainsi squealed excitedly and hugged Trish. The passion when their lips met removed any remaining doubt I may have ever had about whether they had been lovers.

I felt awkward again when Nainsi led Trish and me into the bedroom. Calysta joined us, giving me the same look she’d given Nainsi last night. “Her turn,” was all she said, motioning to Trish. Trish and I stared uncomfortably at each other while Nainsi stripped Trish and Calysta stripped me.

“Do you two need any help figuring out what to do from here?” Calysta asked. Trish blushed, but I shook my head. “Good, I’ll be back in ten minutes to check on you. If there isn’t a whole lotta humpin’ going on, I will be decidedly unhappy,” she almost growled at me before she guided Nainsi out of the room.

“I had no idea,” I apologized to my sister.

“I think Mom was the only one who could tell,” she said.

“What’s she going to think?” I asked.

“She’ll be fine with it. I talked to her about it a few years ago. Unfortunately, it’s going to get her started talking about you being Lucky Jim.”

“Even more unfortunately, I think she’s right,” I sighed.

When we finally got underway to our new shipyard, we went by the Backwater and retrieved the data from the drones there and released five thousand more into the search grid. We still had five thousand more to release at the other end of the Backwater.

Kasi’yah immediately drew my attention to an area near the center of the narrow end of the Backwater. In a conical area about thirty thousand kilometers in diameter and more than eighty thousand kilometers long were readings that didn’t make sense. The drones we’d just released were recalled and the drones I had planned for the other end of the Backwater were released to open a passage into the area so we could check it out.

A week later, we were stunned once we reached the target area, finding that the readings reflected two different things. One thing we found was thousands of gemstones in almost every conceivable color from clear to translucent black. These gems had been formed from minerals not previously known as capable of being transformed into gems. Kasi’yah postulated that the heat and pressure when the matter was compressed inside of a black hole might have formed the gems. Drone production was ramped up and several nearby drones were recalled from mapping duties to begin mining the gemstones. A few of the gems ended up being bigger than a head, although most were fist-size or smaller.

We also found isotopes of elements never before discovered. As best we could, we mapped where we had found each different type of gem and new isotope, collecting large samples of each to be studied. We had no idea if any of the isotopes would end up being economically or commercially valuable, or if they would just become scientific curiosities.

We spent a month gathering gemstones and samples of new mineral isotopes before returning to Ryunokh to announce our discovery. First, though, we left a converted pirate ship behind so the drones could continue searching for and collecting or mining the unusual gems and the new isotopes. We also swung by our first shipyard and dropped off the AI, the androids, and the replicator we had constructed for it.

Now the shipyard would be able to make their own androids, drones, and items necessary for the retrofits of the Navy ships. They would also be able to manufacture the body armor, so we didn’t have to do it aboard the Kra’afkikort. I arranged for constant deliveries of the necessary raw materials, including some from new mines we had just started on our way through the area the Vajj-ok-Hepa’ee had explored.