Chapter 49

"That is great. Let's use it."

"The override is only possible when the Empress, herself, personally makes a call on ships. Any other person to do this will mean immediate death. This is also programmed into the circuits."

"Where did you find this out? I never heard of it before."

"This hull was purposefully made for the third daughter of Gozel 53, and as such, had all the imperial protocols, and special access codes, to almost every other ship."

"Tell me more about this protocol."

Cal went on for a minute or so, telling me the codes to invoke, and the numerical location of the law, that covered this particular occurrence. I racked my mind for a way around the fatal flaw. I remembered Nova, and her problem with the computer on Earth. I also remembered my advice to the girls about not pushing the computer enough.

"Cal, who has the highest rank at the moment, in the Tandra Empire?"

"I only have information about this area, and you, Admiral Buchanan, are the highest. Your rank of fleet admiral is the second highest rank to ever command this particular ship."

"Cal, does my family have the necessary mental power to propel this ship to the limits of its capacity?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"Is it also true that this mental capacity is a prerequisite to all high military and government offices?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"Cal, I want to point out, that we have only seen abandoned or dormant Tandra bases, and no attempt has been made to rebuild the empire, in the last six hundred and fifty thousand years. I am asserting that the Tandra Empire collapsed and died, in that time. Do you make a similar deduction?"

The pause this time was noticeable, and eventually Cal said, "Yes, Admiral. I believe the Tandra Empire to be dead."

Nova and Blue could not hear my side of the conversation, but were avidly following Cal's comments. I turned and saw them put their faces in their hands and cry. For the last two million years, they had hopes of going back to the planets, of their forefathers. This was some of the first verbal outpouring I had ever heard from them. And it happened to come at a time when we needed all the strength we could muster.

"Cal, if the Tandra Empire is ever to arise again, do you think that a strong family should take charge, and do its best to bring this about?"

"Yes, Admiral, but you and your family are the only ones that have any of this ability."

"That is true Cal, for I now proclaim myself Emperor of all Tandra planets, systems and property. I further claim to do my best, to rebuild the empire to its previous glories. I promise to protect all its citizens, and drive its enemies from our borders, by any means at my disposal. Do you concur, that I am the best choice to lead the empire?"

"Yes, you are, but I cannot follow those orders."

"Why is that, Cal?"

"To follow you, I need confirmation from the House of Lords, or the previous Emperor. It is one of the situations you call 'catch-22' and I can't grant you the right." I went through all the Tandra law I knew, and only knew a little of imperial president. Perhaps I could proclaim myself another way.

"Cal, would you take my identification chip, and replace it with one the emperor would have?"

"I could do that," he said with almost a sigh.

"Do so and make it as real and authentic, as possible."

I waited, and felt nothing, till Cal said he was done. "Cal, I am the Emperor. Will you follow my commands?"

There was a few seconds of thought on his part, and then, "Yes, my Emperor. What are your commands?"

From all my family came, "HENRY! HENRY! What are you doing? It is death, to try that."

There was no other to do this job, and if I did not take it on, then all the work I had done, would be for nothing. The galaxy needed law and order, not anarchy at the hands of beings like the Samutz or others. Sealing my mind to my family, I asked, "What is our safest spatial position to take, before you evoke the imperial override?"

"Here is as good as any. The override will last till it is either revoked or withdrawn."

"Issue the proper commands, and re-educate the computers on the other ships. Prepare for a possible attack, if they refuse to recognize me."

"Yes, my Emperor."

The commands went out, and I saw no changes, which was a good thing, because I did not want to be fired on, and probably destroyed by the fire power of four battleships. Seconds later my wives came running in, or just appeared in the transporter station.

"Henry, why did you do that?" Nova cried as if thinking that the battleships would immediately open fire on us, and kill only me. Her own fate was not even considered.

"Nova, I just found out about this law, and Cal's capabilities. If I claim the throne now, the ships will be ours and all the others too. The fighting will end, and all the Tandra will be freed. Did you think we would go to your home on Tandra, and simply not help the peoples we find? The empire is dead, and this is the only way to bring the law, and ethics, that the Tandra are known for, back to the people that need it.

I saw in her mind the thoughts of immediate death. All of their minds were preparing for the worse. One distraught mind fed another, till they were positive that missiles and bolts of energy would come from the ships we tried to co-opt. We waited, then a little more, and she eventually quizzed Cal, as to our status. The data come back, and all of their faces changed. Death in their minds was narrowly averted.

Blue too was very worried about my claim, and the consequences. Though she was born on Earth, she was still a native of Tandra, and nothing could change that. I did stir up a can of worms for all of them, for each had given serious consideration to the possibility, that the empire was dead. When news came from Epsilon Eridani, that the empire was still alive 650,000 years ago, but had not come to reclaim their stranded citizens, the girls had become further depressed.

When death did not come our way, Nova's mind quickly switched to the possible benefits. Tandra on all the planets were treated, either as slaves or food animals. She saw the dormant bases with sleepers waiting forever for recall. She saw the Tandra ideals suddenly have a glimmer of hope, for even in the deepest recesses of her mind, she knew the empire was dead.

Susan looked at me. Many confusing thoughts were running through her mind. Some were that I was a buffoon to endanger everything we had accomplished, for this fool's errand. She did not know the level of buffoonery I had sunk to, or the danger I had placed all of us in. She did know about the responsibilities I had taken on, though. I was just a good engineer that fixed machines. Then a man working hard to protect his family, and then the population of one planet. Now I was taking on all of the problems, everywhere.

"Why did you do this, Henry? Wasn't one planet enough for you? You are going to get all of your family killed."

I had to cut her off, for she was not thinking of the overall consequences, but of how they would affect her, and our family. "Susan to protect our family, I had to take out the Samutz. Or do you believe that they will just stay away from us, now that we have a few ships?"

"I am not that naïve. They will come after us, now that they can get through the mine field."

"The next step is to free all the nearby planets of Samutz, because they are eating the same type of people, as our family. The same people that we descended from, I might add. The Softay, T'aut, Dolson, and even the Vauntu are being eaten. Am I to conveniently forget them?"

"Of course not. They are thinking beings, but where will it end? If you take on the whole galaxy, then where will the time come for us?"

"Susan, with Tandra medicine we can live a long time. This ship is monstrous in size. I think our family and friends can live quite comfortably in here, and we can go travelling. Isn't this something, like taking the trailer you have stored behind the dojo, and travelling through the States, to Mexico and beyond?"

"It is all together different," she said heatedly.

"How so?" I replied, as sympathetically as possible.

"Well... There are people just about any place we stop."

"I think there will be lots of people just about all the places we stop. It is just that they will look a little different, than us. We may be the most developed group around, and the others will need our help to get started, just like the Tandra did long ago. If we find a better group, then we can leave the development to them, and just try to help our own small section."

"Oh... I just don't know now. I just want the killing to stop, and nobody fighting."

"That can only happen, when the bully knows he will be beaten bad, if he steps out of line. We are going to have to be the people to do that. Our lives have already irrevocably been changed. It is just a matter now, of finding the best way to deal with it. Let's take care of all the Samutz first, and see what happens next?"

Susan did not answer vocally, but I saw along with the rest, how this would have to do.

Turning to the large monitor, I asked Cal, "How are we doing?"

"All the ships are yours, my Emperor."

"Let's cut the 'my Emperor' stuff for now, and go back to the way it was."

"Yes, admiral. What are your orders?"

"Can the Samutz break into the computer room, and retake the ships?" I said out loud now.

"Not with an active AI, that has lawful orders from its Admiral, to protect itself from them."

"Issue the orders. The data says that many of the larger holds are empty. Have them immediately fitted with stasis projectors by the techs onboard. Segregate the Samutz as soon as possible, and place all the Samutz under this protection."

Susan angrily said, "Why are you protecting the Samutz? Kill them, all of them."

She was going off the deep end again. One minute she wanted the killing to stop and now to continue. "I kill when it is necessary. If these can be spared, I plan to resettle them on a planet, and allow them to live without any high technology. Without the Tandra, they would take a long time to regain their old level, and I plan for them to never be able to do that." My declaration came to me that I was trying to protect some of the citizens now. It was just that after taking on this responsibility, I found that everything had shifted a little.

She was not mollified, but accepted my words, for the moment only. I had found the Tandra women siding with me in this matter, and then slide a little more to Susan's way of thinking, as they saw where she was going. Here was one more instance, where the girls would follow their instinctual leader, rather than the one that they rationally thought was best.

"Cal boost my signal, so I can reach Mom."

"Yes, Admiral."

"Mom, the battleships are ours now, and the Samutz are being put in stasis."

"Thank you, my Emperor."

"Mom, I am not comfortable with that name. Let's use the old ones unless we need to use the other?"

"Yes, Henry. What are your orders?"

"I want to leave you with the battleships, while we go to Zindor and recover the ships there. I expect to find scavengers trying to pick over the corpse. I don't want to have to continually fight them for possession of the warships. You can use the ships at your disposal, to protect this system. There will be other scavengers coming here again. I want you to be ready."

The ships returned to Samutzi, and took up stations under Mom's orders. The girls and I went into the bedroom to prepare for the return trip to King Sook's kingdom.

Susan was the most distraught, and was still angry at me, for a multitude of reasons. I could not fault her on some of them, because she was right. The first was her body's alteration while she recovered from her injuries. It did not occur to her, that I had just done, what she had done to me. The most inequitable one I thought was the amount of time she saw wasted, as I fought the Samutz. If it were up to her, the area beyond Sol would be seeded with more mines, and the other worlds left to deal with their own problems. This was contrary with her statement about protecting the Tandra close to our home.

I walked into the room, and looked for Susan. She was sitting in a chair, learning about all that she had missed, while recovering in the tank.

Star and Sandy were doing the same. Amy and Nema were going over a complex plot of our present position, in relation to the probable position and threat of various orphaned squadrons of Samutz war ships. The rest had split up, and were talking to the different groups of freed Tandra, and trying to ease some of their many fears. Blue alone was in number three main boat bay, talking with the Softay and T'aut contingent. She to had taken the course in the two languages.

I could hear her side of the conversation, and she was talking about how things would change, now that many of the Samutz were either dead or about to be. They listened attentively to what she said, till they heard, "The Emperor will be ridding us of the Samutz on your planets, and bringing law and order." I meshed with her mind, and heard the other side of the conversation.

One of the T'aut asked, "What is an emperor? Is he very strong?"

"Yes, he is very strong. He is this way, because each of us helped him do what needs to be done. Isn't it the same when a leader in your village tells you, that it is time to plant, or get your weapons ready, because others will be attacking?"

"That is good. Our leaders did not do things right, and hide when the fighting started. How do we know he will fight for us? I do not think he is a T'aut."

"He has already rescued many T'aut, and others, so that they will not be eaten by the Samutz."

A Softay male asked, "Why would he protect us?"

"If he protects you when you need it, then he will also know, that your moral code will demand, that you help him, if he ever calls for it."

"How can the Softay help? We are very poor warriors; all we can do is repair machines."

"That is what he wants. If you fix the machines, then others can kill the Samutz." The conversation continued for a while, then got into talk of babies, food, and ceremonial garments.

It was time to go, since the girls all had a rest. I interrupted Blue, and asked, "Hello, Honey. Will you come to our apartment please? We need to get moving faster."

"Yes Henry. I will be there as soon as I can get away."

"Fine Honey."

When Blue came in, I gave her a kiss, and asked all the rest to get ready. Susan got up and so did Amy and Nema from their work. I wanted Susan to be first, but I felt a small amount of reluctance on her part. She wanted my love, but on her terms and conditions.

Taking my clothing off one handed, Cal took the garment, and I was free to choose. This time I wanted to start with Blue. Her eyes were bigger than usual, for this had not happened, this way before. I slowly lowered my hold on my aura, so as not to let them notice. Taking four steps to her, I held her hand in mine, and asked, "Would you help me start this trip, my love?"

Instead of answering, she lunged at me, and held me tightly to her, as her eyes watered. I could not understand why this was happening, because I did my best to please her, along with the rest. I had never seen any problem in her mind about how I acted before, and decided to take a small look.

Part of her problem was the recent brush with death, from the battleships. More came, because she was not pregnant, and the girls that were, seemed to be influencing her body in a sympathetic way. The last part was hidden, but it was an irrational fear, that I would leave her, once I became very powerful.

"Blue, I love you very much. There is no way I would alter my thinking about any of you. As wives, I am taking you, till the day I die. I just hope that you will take me the same way."

This must have helped, because great sobs came from her, no doubt fuelled by the hormonal changes in her pregnant sisters. I picked up her chin with my only hand, and gently kissed her lips. Her arms went around me and pulled me strongly close to her. One hand went to her ass, and a tractor controlled through my mind and Cal, held the other. I picked her up, and kissed her the way she deserved.

Moving her higher, I kissed and sucked on her neck. This sent a shiver through her and the rest in the room. I could feel all of my wives align their minds with hers, so every minute feeling she got, was transferred to them as well.

Another tractor took the weight, supported by my hand. This freed it for other uses. The wandering digits explored her bum, and stroked the little bumps one after another. One finger worried her hole, and she tried her best to allow me admittance. Her legs came up, and her knees came almost to my arm pits to allow me even easier access. The tractors raised her higher, and I was able to feast on her breasts, one at a time. The little buds were difficult to hold onto, as she thrashed about.

Her hands had to release my neck, and fastened around my head, to keep me at the spot she so liked. My lips, then my teeth, brought delicious agony to her, and all our wives, as I put pressure on the nipple.

Her pelvis was stroking into the hair on my abdomen, to bring contact to her erect clit. The little cock like appendage brought her so much joy, that she was already almost at her peak.

Cal made a level surface, and I tried to disengage Blue from me, to get her onto it. She was so close, and refused to stop, when the goal was so attainable. "Blue, Honey, just lay down, and you will feel better soon."

Blue had learned to trust me, even though her instincts said to finish the job. She sat on the surface, and my hand guided her back to recline on the invisible surface.

The surface was lowered, her head higher, than her pelvis. I supported her legs, as I moved my cock closer to her portal, marked by the red outline of small knobs at the base of the large clit. Lubricant was dripped onto Blue by Cal, as my cock approached.

The tip of my cock rubbed the outside of her opening, bringing forth groans and squirming to get me inside. "Not yet, honey. Pull me into you. Do it easy."

The portion of my mind knew we had entered the other dimensions, where speed was more easily attained. The girls were all using their minds, and pulling to get me into Blue. The graph told me that we were now travelling almost twenty light years every hour that we continued.

My movements were very slow and deliberate, as I entered my wife. To go faster was to gain an orgasm, and drop out of our present state. To go slower, was to frustrate my wives, and become callous.

I stroked and felt all the internal bumps that brought so much joy to each and every one of my wives. I could feel a reflection of their feelings, and this heightened my own response to them. Since starting to propel the ship this way, they did not need to think of moving us, for it became second nature to them, and almost an automatic response.

Little Nema was the first to go, and she took Amy with her. They thrashed and thrust their pelvises at one another, as the surges of energy flew through their bodies. I expected our speed to slow, but instead it increased. I could not think of a reason for this. I scanned all of my wives and saw that they were still striving hard, to have their orgasm and pull the ship along at the same time.

Looking wider, I saw the reason. There were thousands of Tandra onboard, and they had been drawn into our love making. There were few male Tandra, and those were the ones from the lunar base. The women could only find release among themselves, or the males I brought, with me.

I continued to stroke, and the older women had been able after a fashion to hold on, and build up to a higher level, before succumbing to the inevitable. I could feel the strain Blue was under, for now thousands of individuals were feeling her sensations, and feeding back their responses. Even with my reduced input, she was on the very edge of her orgasm, and the ship I knew was having a difficult time of keeping up with the energy released. Most non essential activity was shut down, as Cal tried his hardest to keep up with the navigation and small adjustments. If he failed at any time, the uncontrolled harmonics of our actions would rip the ship apart.

Cal eased back on his own, as the signs indicated an overload condition approaching. Blue screamed, with so loud a voice, that I thought her vocal cords would be damaged. The ship surged again and again, as the compensators had difficulty keeping up with the surges we produced. I was thrown from my position, and plunged back in. This caused the ship to surge again, as if a giant amplifier translated my actions to the multi million tonne ship.

I could feel the women all over the ship, feeding on Blue's emotions, and sensations. They too were thrown about as orgasms raced through their bodies.

My wives were no different, and they curled into balls, as if to protect them from the onslaught of all the energy of the Tandra women onboard flew through our minds. Mom's prophecy about the controls in my mind being one day very useful came to me, as this happened. Did she have some way of knowing this would happen?

I held onto Blue, as our speed diminished, but it took a much longer time, to do this.

Using a private part of my mind, I asked Cal, "Was there anyone hurt or any damage?"

"No, Admiral. We managed to go faster than anyone has ever gone previously. The energy conduits were in danger of overloading. The dimensional tap produced more power than ever before. My processing power even with the slave crystal was only just able to handle all the necessary tasks. I believe that you are capable of much greater speeds, but this hull is not capable of sustaining you."

"Cal, in your off time, look into modifications, that could be made for you to help me."

"Yes, Admiral."

I looked at our plot, and knew that I would have to do this again, for we were only half way to our goal. I pulled out of Blue, with a soggy slurping noise, from our lubrication. The tractors I controlled, laid the comatose woman with her sisters, as I went after the main opposition of the running of the ship.

Susan too, was curled into a ball, and I used the tractors as delicate hands and fingers, to pick her up and place her on the structure Blue had just vacated.

Her arms just fell, as if she had no control of them. Her mind was jumbled, to with all the Tandra currents, that flew through her. Tractors picked up her legs, and I saw clearly for the first time, what had been done to her.

The course hair around her mons was all gone, as if it was never there. The fleshy inner lips to were greatly diminished, but the fiery red nubs around her vagina attested to her arousal. The main clit stood a little over ten centimetres long, and twice as thick as the Tandra norm, almost the diameter of my index finger. I knew that internally, she was similar to the Tandra, and had many nubs that would grip my cock in her sheath, as I stroked into her.

Looking into her turbulent mind, I knew that an egg would be released in a few days. She had wanted a child, for so long, and I now saw that this would be the best time to give this life, to her.

My mind produced a delicate probe that recently played with her clit, when she was in the tank. Now it could pry loose and egg, and send it on its way. I closed my eyes, and could see the individual cells, and found, not the ripest egg, but one that seemed to have a faint glow, about it. Ever so delicately, I coaxed it from its neighbours, and protected it, as it left the ovary, and started to descend the fallopian tube. All was now in readiness.

Her vagina was different than my other wives, for it also gave off a much stronger scent and a flow that travelled out of her opening and down her perineum to her anus.

I took my cock in my hand and wiped the head, on her spend, and slowly worked it into her. She groaned and moved, as if dreaming of somebody else's actions. As I entered centimetre after centimetre, I felt bumps caressing the head of my cock and travel down the length. I was in tune with her, and felt the invader, as if it was entering my own vagina. It was as if fireworks were going off in my head. She was much more sensitive to this stimulation, than even the other Tandra.

Close to the end of my stroke, I felt her large clit strike the pubic hair above my cock, and quickly stop for this almost put her over. The other women, not only in the room, but all over the ship joined in. The mesh this time was even stronger. The others were not just strangers, but I knew them intimately. I could see their wants and desires, as easily as I could my own. And now they wanted release.

I put Susan's legs on my shoulders, and slid my hand up her abdomen to her chest, and caressed her right nipple. Her eyes shot open in an instant. The pupils looked wider than usual, and I could see her animal needs.

"Susan, Susan," I said as I pinched her harder. Her lust shrouded mind refused, to recognize me. I slowly pulled out, and rested at her opening, till she came to her senses.

"What, What, Oh stick it in. I need it," she mumbled verbally.

"Susan!"

"Yes, oh, Henry, stick it in."

"Susan, listen to me."

"Oh."

"Susan, your egg is dropping. Do you want my child?"

"Oh yes, Henry, yes."

I latched onto her conscious mind, as I plunged in. She screamed in both acceptance, and orgasm. I hammered her mercilessly. My grip on her psyche would not allow her to orgasm again, till I released her. Never before had the Tandra felt the amount of pounding, or the duration that used on Susan.

Her mind was shaken and disoriented. I made a place of peace for her, by imprinting the image of me when she was smaller around twelve. We were going for a walk. From her own memory, I knew she felt so safe then, and without a worry in the world. I showed her again, as I sat with her parents and she made a meal for all of us, to show that she was very capable of doing so. In her bedroom at night, she would play with her clit, while thinking of me. I now put a baby in the younger woman's arms, and held both tight to me, so as I could protect them always. My cock spewed shot after shot of sperm that raced to meet the egg that was only part way down the tube.

The younger girl and the woman before me both screamed in acceptance of the pact I had made. All around, I felt the ship stagger even more than when we were hit by the battleships the day before. My mind for some reason, just held my imaginary family, and tried my best to keep them safe, even as I finish emptying myself into her. It was no use, for the sudden lurching corresponded with one of Susan's thrust, and I was propelled backwards, and tripped over Nova, that was right behind me.

The tractors that should have caught me were not working. Cal was very busy, and not able to answer my call. I cast my mind throughout the ship and found minor accidents everywhere. The Tandra section was the worse, for the girls were all over the floor, and not one was standing. Some were bleeding from falls, while others suffered bruising. The room down the hall with Nedue and Soma was safe, but Soma to was unconscious. What had happened? Were we hit?

"Cal... Cal, What happened?"

All I got back was, "Wait."

Susan was on the floor. I did not know if she fell, or the tractors lowered her there. There was none of the usual help. The Humans were better off, but looked like they just fought a battle of their own.

"Admiral, we are safe, but many of my systems are not functional."

"Shit, Cal. What happened?"

"I am doing an analysis of the possibilities now, and will have a report soon."

It didn't seem like enemy action, so I went over to the girls, and arranged them more comfortably. The floor was hard, and we did not have any cushions, because of our dependence on the anti-gravity.

I entered the room down the hall, and found Nedue in a curve, with Soma clutched protectively within her arms. A smell came to my nose, and followed it to its source. I gently moved one of Nedue's legs, and the scent came much stronger. The entire area between her legs was sopping, in what I thought to be vaginal lubricant. She must have been able to sense the Tandra after all, and orgasm with them, when we all did.

They were in no immediate danger that I could see. There was nothing much I could do for them, so I left, to see if there was need of me, elsewhere.