Chapter 9

This time, I headed for Earth. I could tell that the navy folks were nervous right before we started the jump. “Oh,” the Karkallian Fleet Admiral said, “the government wanted me to tell you that the clove oil works well as a male aphrodisiac.” A minute later, we entered hyperspace, and they got even more nervous.

“I’ve already done this, twice,” I reminded them. Twenty-one minutes later, they exhaled explosively when we exited the jump just outside of the Sol system. I commed earth and ordered chocolate bars, Perseus peppers, and twenty-thousand cases of clove oil to take back with me and placed an order for the same amount in a week. The fact that I paid up front for both shipments derailed any questions about whether the order was legitimate.

We were loaded within the hour and were quickly on our way back out of the system. We were a little late getting home for dinner, but the cargo was worth it. As soon as we exited the jump, I commed the girls and asked them to have all of the families join us for dinner; I had picked up more food from the girls’ favorite caterer. I let Yappari know that I had chocolate, peppers, and a new aphrodisiac for their men available starting tomorrow morning. Then I commed Yuka and let him know that the Phaunos would arrive this evening for new or additional engines to double the current thrust to mass ratio.

I had the navy observers shuttled back to Kai’ka aboard the Phaunos so they could make their report. I just glared at them when they reminded me not to tell anyone about this. Once the ship dropped them off, the Phaunos would go to the shipyard to have the new engines installed.

Before they left home to join us for dinner, Jnilo called a press conference where he announced the new male aphrodisiac, explaining that it would be available at the marketplace in the morning. I knew people would line up tonight, so we were already open for business.

“How did you know to bring the aphrodisiac?” Jnilo asked when he arrived.

“The navy told me about it right before my last trip to Terra,” I replied with total honesty.

In the morning, the girls had to start back to school. The brief blurb of a report that I got when I woke up surprised me. The marketplace had been swamped all night when word got out that we were open. Up to four hundred androids worked through the night selling chocolate, peppers, small, one-ounce bottles of clove oil, and even tadolas. Fortunately, each of the twenty thousand cases of clove oil held twenty-four bottles so I had enough for almost half a million men.

The government’s instructions mirrored what I had suggested. After reviewing the amount of the active chemical in the government’s suggested dosage of their male aphrodisiac, I compared that to the amount in the clove oil. “I recommend simply wafting the fumes from the open bottle and inhaling them. It will also provide a faster reaction than ingesting it,” I told them.

We were still up early enough for the girls to accompany me to the marketplace. Even though she had to go to school, Tiyya had me take off my shirt and put on the vest. I entertained two married woman and one single woman before lunch. Right after lunch, a tall, beautiful, well-muscled Dubanian woman approached me. I could tell by the way that she moved that she was well versed in some sort of martial arts.

She approached as a Karkallian woman would, walking up to me and touching me on the bare chest. “I am Aneta, and I understand that you practice a form of Terran martial arts,” she said.

I couldn’t help it and started laughing. “I’m sorry for laughing, but that was the last thing I expected you to say,” I explained. At least she was smiling. “And yes, I do practice a form of Terran martial arts,” I replied.

“Perhaps we could spar together after a thorough warm-up in the bedroom,” she suggested in a sultry voice that sent my blood rushing south.

It was a very thorough warm-up in the bedroom. It was so thorough that we had only been sparring for a few minutes when the girls got home from school. They’d seen me sparring with the androids before, but never with another person. Sparring with androids can be frustrating because they react in nanoseconds and never get tired. They have to work at a quarter of their ability for me to last more than two minutes. Still, it has made me much better. The infrequent times that I see my Sensei, he compliments me on my form and technique, as well as my reaction time. I don’t have the heart to tell him I have to get better or my androids kick my ass.

Aneta’s reflexes were catlike, and her peripheral vision was exceptional. Ten minutes into our sparring match, we were still even. Their forms seemed less refined than Terran forms, but we were still sparring. In the back of my mind, I heard Ramina’s voice. “Don’t think, react ... don’t think, react...” repeatedly.

Since it was the same advice my Sensei gave me, I followed it. He always told me that I overthought each match. Martial arts should flow without thinking. Within two minutes, I delivered what would have been a killing blow. Aneta looked at me oddly afterwards. “How did you do that?” she asked.

“I stopped trying to think about and plan what I was going to do and went with instinct and reaction,” I explained.

“I’ve never sparred with a Terran before, but you’re the first person to defeat me since I defeated my instructor more than five years ago,” she complimented.

Tiyya was beside herself when Aneta left. “Do you know who that was?” she squealed excitedly.

“Her name is Aneta,” I replied.

“She’s the bodyguard of the Dubanian Princess,” Tiyya exclaimed.

“She’s very good,” I replied.

“No, she’s not that good,” Ramina commented from the doorway.

“I know you could easily defeat her,” I laughed.

“So did you,” she retorted. “She must be one of the Dubanian telepaths. She was reacting to what you intended to do before you started. She knew what you intended to do. Once you stopped thinking about it beforehand, she had to react normally and you defeated her easily,” she explained.

“The thing about them having empaths, telepaths, and seers is true?” I asked, astounded.

“Yes, there aren’t a lot of them, but they’re all part of the Royal family, and guide them and keep them safe,” Tiyya replied.

When Tiyya learned that we had sex before we sparred, she was absolutely giddy. After I showered, I became the designated armchair for Nafisa while she did her homework. The other three girls sat nearby and did their own homework.

Talara came up behind me and kissed my cheek. “Thank you for giving me this job,” she said emotionally.

“It was Tiyya’s idea. I had no idea you needed a better job,” I replied.

“But you still agreed,” she reminded me.

Aneta began coming over twice a week to spar--after our warm-up. She knew right away the next time she came over that I knew she was a telepath. “You aren’t concerned?” she asked cautiously.

“Should I be?” I replied.

“No,” she laughed, “but many Karkallians think we can make them do things they don’t want to,” she explained.

“Can you?” I asked out of curiosity.

“No. I can only read thoughts, and only those thoughts right on the surface. Don’t worry, one of our laws prohibits me telling anyone else what they are unless they are a threat to the Royal Family or to the kingdom. Don’t worry about the other thoughts, either,” she laughed.

“I hear the same thoughts from others many times a day. Besides, I like what you think about me,” she said in a sultry voice that quickly had my mind on what I wanted to do to her with Little Marc. It seems that she had the same idea. When she left, I sent one of my female androids with her to help her practice martial arts when she couldn’t use her telepathy.

Replacing the engines on the Phaunos took a week. I was more shocked when I saw the four monstrous engines than when I had seen the Cornucopia. “Holy crap,” I gasped. Yuka just laughed at me.

“Once again you are doing the navy a favor,” he laughed. “They built these engines to power a new class of ship, the super-dreadnaught. They planned to build ten of the ships, and already had all the engines built and tested before the government pulled the plug on the project. The government decided that it would be more cost effective to build more and smaller ships than a few gigantic ones. You bought four of the engines,” he explained, “although you paid much less than half of what they cost to build,” he added. I could tell that he was pleased with the way the ship turned out.

The navy sent the usual suspects with me for the test flight. I warned them that I planned to spend two to three days loading cargo to pay for the trip and they agreed, grudgingly. I ordered a ship full of hi-tech Karkallian stuff to sell and left the ship docked at the Toolondo spaceport where everyone could load the cargo. Aside from the usual androids aboard my ships, I left five platoons of military androids, and had ten of the Gorokian fighters cloaked and shielded high above the ship, watching. When I got back to the estate aboard the Cornucopia, I had a skeleton crew of androids take the Demeter to the Kai’ka shipyard for new engines.

With the Cornucopia docked inside the Phaunos, we left at 0400 the next morning. The poor Fleet Admiral looked a bit bleary-eyed at that hour. I found humor in that since it had been the Terran navy that got me used to being awake so early. Fortunately for him, I had acquired a torpa brewer and that seemed to help wake the navy personnel. I had my usual morning cup and a half of coffee.

I headed straight for Mir-11. I knew the Terran government would be pissed if I didn’t tell them about the new engines. I just wouldn’t tell them what I intended to do with them. When they asked, I pointed my thumb back over my shoulder at the Karkallian navy personnel accompanying me.

“They designed a huge new ship and built several engines for it so they could test them. Then they decided not to build the ships and had the engines left over. I’m sure you guys know how that is,” I commented. The Terran navy people nodded in agreement.

“They let me buy the engines and wanted to ride along on the first long-distance trip,” I finished my explanation.

While I was with them, I was also mentally ordering everything I wanted to take back, having it delivered to Tomkit Spaceport starting at 2100 hours tonight. I updated the commodities board with my inbound cargo and used the inter-system gate to get there.

With no timber, diamonds, or ingots, the cargo was sold and unloaded quickly. We were able to start loading cargo by 1900 hours, although I was sound asleep. I missed the girls, but had Tashia to keep me warm. The jeweler brought the six sets of rings and necklaces to me, and I thanked him. “It is I who thank you,” he replied. “The new supply of diamonds has rekindled everyone’s interest in them,” he said.

When I woke up, we were orbiting Iota and loading the tall trees. I let one of the androids give the navy guys a tour of the planet while the loading continued. Ramina was gone in the Cornucopia to the other planets to load ingots, diamonds, and marble. We met at Planet Alpha where we finished packing the ships full. The Cornucopia would go directly to Toolondo with the navy people and Tashia aboard. I headed for Keewong to pay the Emperor a visit.

The jump took just over twenty-seven minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief when no naval vessels were there to meet us. Several minutes later, as we headed for Keewong, our scanners picked up four Gorokian naval ships headed for what appeared to be an ambush.

I commed Fleet Admiral Paki and warned him as I changed direction slightly and closed in on the nine ships lying in ambush. The four Gorokian ships veered off just in time, but the pirate ships rushed out to engage them anyway. Since the ships were dodging and weaving too much for us to be effective from long range, we launched our fighters and continued to close. Sixty seconds after the battle began, we were in range and began disabling the pirate ships.

The pirates damaged all four Gorokian naval ships, but none severely, and their engines still worked. While they limped back to port, I sent boarding parties aboard the pirate ships and captured nearly a third of each crew, giving us ninety wounded pirates that we put into their healing pods. With the pirate ships secured, we docked each one with the Phaunos, and headed for Keewong again.

Fleet Admiral Paki brought four ships out to meet us and accompanied us to Keewong while the four ships continued on their way to rendezvous with the four damaged ships. Once again, he asked permission to come aboard, and I granted it.

“Please don’t say anything about the two ships you got last time,” he begged.

“I have no intention of saying anything. I understand that sometimes governments buy equipment that the military has no use for,” I replied hoping to make him think I didn’t know the real reason.

Once again, the Emperor came out to meet us and was already at the dockside entrance to the docking tube before we could exit. He didn’t even let me kneel before grabbing my hand and shaking it. “Quite an impressive array of trophies,” he exclaimed, motioning to the pirate ships still docked along the exterior of the Phaunos.

He spent the rest of the afternoon perusing my cargo, deciding what he wanted to buy. He was excited that the truffles worked as a female aphrodisiac and bought half of them. He agreed both to sell me a second machine for repairing the diamonds and to let me buy any future concubines that he was getting rid of. I paid in advance for two and he agreed to transport them to Toolondo when a ship went there.

In the morning, we were swarmed at their marketplace. The Gorokian buyers who bought my fruit on Toolondo and brought it here had already primed the market for me. By nightfall, I had a cargo worth the same as what I delivered, although it took up a lot less space in the ship. The Emperor waved me off when I asked if he wanted to interview the pirates. “The crew doesn’t know anything but what they were told to do today. If it looks like the ship will be captured, they kill the officers who are the only ones who know how to contact other ships,” he explained.

With the nine pirate ships now parked inside of the Phaunos, and the pirates shackled and locked inside of healing chambers, we headed for home. I had to admit, being gone for two nights was better than two weeks, although it was still two nights too long. When I got back, I had the androids empty the pirate ships of any cargo, handheld weapons, and supplies, and locked the medical pods filled with pirates inside cargo containers aboard the Phaunos.

The girls insisted on extra attention since I had been gone for two days; even Riif had the day off. Nafisa sat in my lap as often as she could throughout the evening and was literally asleep on top of me when I woke up in the morning. I must admit, I was tempted to work myself inside of her and pretend to be asleep, but I didn’t.

My shower was full of naked women who were eager to help eliminate the hard problem caused by Nafisa.

I spent two more days at home. “Hmmmmm, I wonder when the estate became my home.” I was there each day when the girls hurried off to school. By now, they had to leave earlier each morning since they were picking up at least a dozen friends, giving them a ride to school in the shuttle.

That gave me an idea. One of the pirate ships I’d just captured was about the same size as the smaller cargo shuttle the girls used. Since the pirate ships were still aboard the Phaunos, I made a trip to see Yuka at the Kai’ka shipyard. Seeing the nine pirate ships when I opened the main cargo bay, he started laughing at me.

He pointed to the last six ships I sent him. I was surprised to see them all repaired. “I just repaired them, nothing fancy or additional. They were all worth repairing and if you don’t want them, I already have offers on all of them,” he said.

“Go ahead and sell them. Take the cost of your repairs off the top, and then half of whatever’s left over,” I told him.

“Half?” he gasped.

“All they cost me was a few rounds of ammo. You did all the work and sold them. Hell, I feel bad taking half of the profit,” I laughed.

“Besides, I have nine more for you,” I added, pointing towards the Phaunos. “Same deal on eight of those but I want the little one fixed up for the girls to use as a shuttle so I can get my cargo shuttle back,” I mock complained. “The androids aboard the little ship can give you an idea what the girls like. Make it as girly as you can for them. I want the best shields and cloaking, two rail guns fore and aft, and a spot for two ballistic weapons fore and aft. The androids can give you dimensions of those, and I’ll send them as soon as they’re ready.

“Ballistic weapons?” he asked.

“Old fashioned chemical explosive propellant weapons like my androids wear, but bigger. Two hundred rounds a minute and those two hundred rounds should punch a hole in damn near anything.

When he looked at me questioningly, I told him, “I just started making the weapons and they will be delivered in a few days.”

He shrugged, and then pointed halfway across the station to the Demeter and to my refinery platform. “The Demeter is done. The refinery platform will be one more week at most,” he said. “The navy has finally finished playing with the other ship, so I can start on it as soon as this one is done. I already have everything stockpiled that I need for it, so the process should go a little faster,” he told me.

I spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon touring the ore refinery platform, and still didn’t see half of it. It would take two thousand androids to operate the refinery, and another two hundred to operate the ship.

In addition to that, I would need a fleet of shuttles piloted by androids to tow selected asteroids to the refinery. It was a good thing that the fifteen pirate ships had thirty-three shuttles between them. Oh, yeah, I needed a cargo ship to haul the ingots back here to sell. Remembering the ten stable planets and untold moons in the three systems I intended to mine, I realized that I would need ships and even more shuttles to do detailed scans of all of the planets.