Chapter 17

I awoke to find myself in an unfamiliar bed. It took me a few minutes to realize that I hadn’t left Vish’ala’s room. Both Vish’ala and Ev were still in bed, each snuggled into a side of me. Thankfully, the environmental systems had removed the smell of sex that would have permeated the room from last night. We explored one another for most of the night, spurred on by the various attentions of our partners. It became a haze near the end of it and I can’t even recall when we fell asleep. What I did know was my body was sore, my dick felt a little raw and my body demanded sustenance. I carefully crawled out from between them and walked over to the fabricator. I heard stirring as I placed our breakfast on the table and glanced over at the two groggy figures still in the bed.

“What time is it?” Ev asked as she stretched. The sheet fell down exposing her chest and for a second, I forgot what I was going to say.

“Um ... I didn’t check yet,” I replied. “I only just got up myself and felt incredibly hungry, so I figured I would get breakfast ready.”

Vish’ala smiled and said, “Thank you, Hugh. If you want to grab a quick shower, I can get the drinks and the remainder ready.”

Ev glanced at her and said, “I am surprised you aren’t trying to join him in the shower.”

“If any of us joined another, we would never get anything done,” Vish’ala replied with a wink. “It’s better if he takes one now and then we take our own after.”

Ev looked a little confused and asked, “Why does he need to shower now and not after he eats breakfast?”

“We wouldn’t make it ten minutes through breakfast,” she explained. “He is covered in pheromones. Both ours and his. During sex, my species pheromones become more intense to ensure bonding between participants. If his pheromones have been changed to mimic ours, then he is a walking aphrodisiac.”

Both Ev and I looked shocked at the realization, and I simply nodded and headed to the bathroom. It didn’t take long to shower, but I made sure I scrubbed as hard as I could. I came out to find both women were dressed in robes and had begun eating. I joined them and filled up my plate with a large helping of eggs, meats, and fruits. Once my food was collected, I took a long drink of what Mac’skarians consider coffee. It is less bitter with some sweet notes and seemed to pack the punch of an espresso shot. We didn’t talk much during the meal, mostly asking our table mates to pass a plate of food. Vish’ala finished her food first and went off to shower, leaving me with Ev.

“So, how are you feeling after last night?” she asked me, resting her chin on her hands. “A lot of things happened.”

I took a sip of coffee and replied,” I should ask you the same thing, Ev. I mean, I half expected you to want to rip my throat out once you found out Vish’ala and I had slept together.”

“Well, I already kinda knew it could happen,” Ev said in a bit of a mumble. “Alta told me about the pheromones and stuff from your transformation in the medical pod. She said that both AIs were worried that the enclosed space would cause a sexual incident. I had ninety percent of your time away to mull it over. When you asked us to leave, Vish’ala was waiting for me and asked to talk. Once we were in the Tram, she explained what happened and that she felt guilty. She had seen my affection for you and felt like she was meddling. I told her what Alta had told me and she said it explained her intense obsession. She wanted to make it up to me so said we should go back to her place and wait for you.”

My mind drifted towards the image of her on the bed waiting for me. It was still fresh in my mind, along with the rest of the evening.

“Yes, but neither of you know all of it yet,” I countered. “There have been more changes to me than you would think.”

Ev laughed and replied, “You’re still the ‘Hugh’ I know and love, so anything else is irrelevant.”

“Really?” I challenged, causing her to give me a confused look. “I was made genetically compatible with their species. I didn’t find out about it until after, while she was still asleep. Given that we did it raw, and I came inside her, I might have impregnated her. If I didn’t, then last night’s sexual escapades would have made it a distinct possibility. I am not sure what kind of birth control you were on, but there is no telling what the changes did. I have been told that I am still able to impregnate humans.”

Ev sat with wide eyes for a few minutes while she attempted to process what I had told her.

“Well, shit,” was all she said to break the silence. “I am not actually on any kind of birth control. A side effect of the changes I had purged all that stuff from my body.”

The ramifications of what she had just told me finally kicked in and I had to sit down as I processed the distinct possibility that I might have knocked them both up. Vish’ala came out of the bathroom around this time, and Ev left to shower.

“So, it looks like you realized what possibly happened last night,” she said as she towelled her wet hair. “You have nothing to worry about, Hugh, at least not for now. When we were preparing to leave for our mission, I took a medical draught that prevents unwanted pregnancy. It lasts roughly two weeks and has no adverse effects on the body during that time. While I didn’t know that we would copulate during the trip, I didn’t want to risk anything right now. There are too many threats that are out there for us to think of having cubs. Not to say I don’t want them, but, for now, we have other priorities. I knew that you would feel the same way, so I hope that you don’t mind, but I laced a drink I gave Evie with the draught.”

I felt the panic that had started to set in begin to ebb, but there was a part of me that was disappointed that it wasn’t going to happen. I recalled what she had said and allowed that to reassure me that there would be children in the future.

“I don’t mind,” I said with a slight shake to my voice. “Still, I would suggest that you let Evie know what you did. She may be a little upset that you did it without asking, but I think she would agree that now is not the time. I will leave you two to talk, but let’s have lunch in my quarters, and we can talk about things then.”

Vish’ala smiled, and, a few minutes later, Ev came out freshly showered, and I left them to talk. I knew that there were still things to cover later, but for now it was working with everyone to get the White Claw operational. I stopped by my quarters to get one of my work uniforms and then set off to the space dock. By the time we arrived, I was happy to find both Vish’ala and Ev waiting for me in the engine core.

Glancing upward I called out, “Tali, please have all workers here and in the station able to hear what I am about to discuss.”

Tali shimmered into existence beside me and replied, “Yes, Captain. Everyone in the space dock and station can now hear you.”

Taking a deep breath, I began, “Good Morning all. I am happy to be back with you all again, and I am happy to announce our mission was a complete success. The buoy system is up and running, allowing Alta to have an eye on the area around us. We have also found a decent area to harvest more minerals.

However, there was another unforeseen aspect of our travels. On our way back to the station, we were seen by an unknown vessel in hyperspace. We exited hyperspace in an attempt to try and evade them, but that didn’t happen. We were shocked to find out that it was commanded by the same creatures that we found in the damaged enemy craft. They recognized our ship for what it was immediately and were intent on destroying it. They were not prepared for the updated systems of the Obsidian, but they surprised us with a few twists of their own. We were able to get the upper hand, due to our manoeuvrability, but were unable to capture the vessel. They atomized their ship rather than give away their secrets to us, but it made one thing clear. We are going to run into more of them, sooner rather than later. But there has been a troubling thought. We don’t know if that ship was able to get information out to the rest of their people. Due to this fact, we need to adjust our plans.

“All work on the station will halt, though we will focus on manufacturing and increasing our offensive and defensive capabilities. If that means we have to harvest from the areas we have recently repaired for the raw materials, we may have to do it. It pains me to do so and will be done as a last resort, but we can’t run the risk of being unprepared. We currently only inhabit twenty percent of the station, but I promise to make replacing whatever we take the full focus of our efforts once I am confident, we can protect ourselves. Your continued safety, prosperity and the very survival of your race is my highest priority. While harvesting material, we will retrofit areas for animals, to limit our need to use the fabricators as much. The primary goal, however, is to get the White Claw space ready and able to fight. Our focus will be on the hull, shields, life support, Luminal Drive, power core, engines, thrusters, and weapons systems. I don’t care about crew quarters for anything more than a skeleton crew. That will come later, once we are certain the ship will be able to manage itself. I am sorry for the drastic change in mandate, but there is no other choice. Shift rotations and work schedules will remain unchanged regardless of the urgency, but I will appreciate any who volunteer to help where they can.

“Understand that there will be no punishments or ill treatment to any who simply work their shifts and take their personal time. Family and friends are important in this time, now more than ever. Make sure you take care of yourselves so that you are at your best for the work ahead. Department heads will inform you of the changes to the priority of systems, repairs, and installations. Thank you all, and please keep safe.”

I nodded to Tali, who smiled and gestured to the display table. Everyone moved closer with their focus on me. I asked Tali to display a representation of the enemy vessel, using the details that were gleaned from our scans before and during our brief battle. Once the image appeared, rotating in place, various indicators appeared.

“As you can see, they have an impressive little ship here,” I said, pointing at the ship. “This was manned with only a dozen crew, but it was still larger and far more dangerous than expected. As you can see by the readings, their core and Luminal Drive had much higher output than the ship we found here. Mind you, the vessels we found were fighters, but the magnitude of difference is astonishing. I am sure they would have made advancements in three hundred years, but Tali was shocked at the increase of output. It would take too long to try and recreate this kind of energy, but I do think we could help offset it. Currently the power core we have made for the White Claw is not as efficient as theirs, but it is pretty close. The problem being that the Claw is five times the size of that ship, so we need to change things. Instead of the one, I want to take one of the mass fabricators cores from the station and install it in the ship. I know that some advancements have been implemented, but I am confident we can finish them in time. Given the size of the core, we can make it the primary and run other systems out of the original one. I have already suggested this, of course, but I feel this will give us the best bang for our buck right now. I am less worried about the Luminal Drive, since I expect our first battle to be here in this system. I am happy with the current design, but I want two more cannons each added to the fore and aft. That should give us six forward cannons and four rear cannons. I also want us to double the torpedo launchers to eight, four forward and four aft.”

I began keying in specifications, and within a moment a quad gun turret design appeared on the screen.

“I want to begin installation and fabrication of these on both the ship and the station,” I said as I continued entering information. “They won’t have the same damage yield as the cannons, but that is the point. The cannons have to take a few moments to ready before the next burst can be fired. Not only that, but there is also the risk to the port, starboard, dorsal and ventral areas of the ship.”

The enemy ship disappeared from the display and the White Claw appeared. It was a blueprint version of the ship, allowing us to see the conduits, cores, and such in the system. They watched as the gun ports, torpedo bays and second core were added to the ship. Thankfully, placement of these new systems and weapons didn’t impact the already installed ones, but it did take away areas that had been designated for crew quarters and leisure areas. I then adjusted it to show where I would want the turrets to be placed. Based on the design, I placed two in each of those locations, totalling eight turrets. They would rotate three hundred and sixty degrees with the cannons placed at a forty-five-degree angle. They were then spaced at ninety degrees from one another, ensuring that the rotation would allow maximum coverage. I had Tali run demonstrations to ensure that the system would work, using simulated fighters to assess the effectiveness of the systems. This wouldn’t be fool proof, but it would allow us to be prepared. The dome of the turrets would be made of two layers of our new armour to ensure the protection of the systems, and I had Alta start testing and designing larger versions to go along with the other station defences.

Stepping back, scratching my scruff, I said, “We need to make sure that we have a second layer of armour added to the ship, given their weapons’ output. I also want to add a better thruster system to the ship. Their design, allowing them to turn despite their larger size, made me realize we could have the same design. I don’t want them to be large and oversized, but if we add many smaller ones, used in the right combinations we should be able to pivot, turn and roll much faster. Tali, Alta, Vish’ala and Evie, please work to refine and possibly upgrade these designs. Do not wait for my approval. Once you have a design, I want the four of you to implement them immediately. Keep me apprised with your progress, but I plan to be nothing more than an extra set of hands to help us get things done.”

I entered a few more commands and the enemy ship reappeared, “One thing I do want to point out is the design of their engines. As you can see, they jut out from behind the ship, and it was remarkably simple to destroy them once we were able to bypass their shields. I want our engines protected, so make some adjustments to the hull so the only damage they can do is to damage the output of an engine, not remove it from the ship permanently.”