Chapter 52

The sleepers came out of their tanks, much more physically fit. In the coming hours some woke up for a short period of time, and then went back to sleep. I made it a point to try to be at the awakening, and for them to see me beside them. Jamal did his best too, considering his limitations, to get the girls to regain some of their former lives.

The three babies did what I expected, and most of the new mothers, tried to be home more. The nannies worked well, but the Dolson was just not as bright as the rest, and a sampling of her race showed that this was the norm. She appeared to make it up in love, for her new charge. All of the babies seemed to be thriving, and I too found an occasional reason to come back and see them.

My many research projects needed to be attended to. Nema's records were compared against all other Softay, and the only glaring irregularity, was a series of crystals throughout her body, that seemed to be formed like kidney stones. The onset of great stress seemed to be their cause. Checking the Softay for telepathy showed that they were poor subjects. I hoped it was because of the sensors we were using. I checked other bands, to communicate with, and our machines just did not know what to look for.

Our present shield was much stronger, but also very similar to the old design used on Earth. The shifting of the natural harmonic to a less efficient band appeared to be the only difference. This band seemed to exclude galvanized projectiles. The new type of missile the Samutz used had a series of fluctuating fields to work its way in. The same as the zinc/iron did in its passive way. Jamal and I worked on a piece of test equipment that would mimic the shield, and thus try to get by the obstruction with other means, but so far had not found another way in.

I selected all the larger crystals I needed, and had Jamal insert them into the computer. The only basic difference in this computer was that the individual stations had larger crystals, and thus smarter AIs than any other units I ever heard about.

The computer substrate was being replaced, or I should say, grown into the place occupied by the burnt out sections. We had enough of the smaller chips in stores to supply all the necessary parts, and knew that the Epsilon Eridani installation was very important to our future. This was not just for major parts, like the AIs, but for all the smaller chips that an empire ran on.

All the wives were working hard getting all the other races behind our cause. Susan found enough time to make it known, that she wanted all of the Samutz killed. My one hope of finding a solution to her single minded obsession, centred on the fact that all the suna were influenced by the metsu. I just hoped the reverse was true too. Star was the most mentally damaged, and I needed a way for her to be cured, so that a little harmony would come back to our family.

We were under a serious time restraint. Once the Samutz in any of the far flung empires found out about what we had done, they would close their borders, then their ships shields. Eventually they would come after us. Many of our captured ships, if not too damaged, were sent out to all the planets of King Sook, Tinsu and their vassal kings. There was no way I wanted a group of Samutz at our back. The ships carried improved virus delivery systems, and a skeleton crew of Tandra, to make any repairs the AI could not do.

The crew were to try to gather all the races they could under our banner, and hold the planet against a vengeful Samutz. They were to use the imperial override at all opportunities, and co-opt those ships as well. The captured ships could carry on with the virus attack after getting a sample, and appropriate orders. The new wave of ships hopefully would leapfrog the other ships sent out before, and continue both up and down this arm of the galaxy. The presence of the newer ships, that did not heed our orders, gave me many worries about how successful we would be,

When our ship was finally repaired, with the new AIs online, I decided to go back to Guulas or what Humans called the Alpha Ophiuchi binary system. It was much too valuable to just leave. Blue stayed on the Claw, and Secric stayed with Mom. There was a lot of crying no matter what I did, and this was an important mission. Some of the techs left with us, to form a viable body in that system, and would be led by Susan and Amy. The sleepers did all of the work this time, and my wives seemed to be a little disconcerted at not being required to help. Their hesitation at coming near, was and indication of Susan's hold on them.

A few major ships fled at our approach to the system. We gave chase and captured them without any shots being fired. Their captains must indeed be new or untrained, to flee at only one dreadnaught, even if it was the biggest they had probably seen. Within a day, all of the Samutz had been transferred to our ship, and the resident AIs convinced to follow their male empress.

Susan reluctantly left with Amy. Their first task was to do a simple inspection, protected by six battle ships, and hundreds of smaller ships. An even dozen of my best men accompanied them. I had paved her way by saying she was my representative; which seemed to work well. There were many Tandra and T'aut on all the larger ships we just captured, and many more on the planet below. They had been put to work by the scavengers to get the derelict ships operational after our original virus attack. Other techs on the planet's and moons were busy repairing the defences, when the computers were overcome from our previous attack.

A share of the crystals left with many of our techs, to replace any damaged AIs Susan thought she needed. The system was fairly open to attack even before we came, and this was remedied as best we could, with all the information we had in the long Tandra history.

The feeling in the New Hope, as we headed out of the system, was a few degrees warmer as Chris held onto my new arm, and the other wives stayed closer. Susan had felt abandoned, and at the same time excited, that she was given a chance to do things her way, without me to curtail her activities. I believe she would eventually feel like the leader of a successful coup d'etat, that now found they had to run a government, not tear one down.

The best course of action in the untouched areas was to go for the lesser systems, in the yet untouched empires. We would gain the ships necessary to take the more developed worlds. Our superior speed would allow us to outrun any ships trying to deliver a warning. We could get to the planet and capture it before the ship arrived.

Our stores were full of contagion, and small probes to do the delivering. This time, the probes would be for any conventional ships that disregarded our orders. The probes would not be able to openly gain access to any of the new ships. Our only choice then, was to destroy them if possible. There was no way our probes could both slip within the new shield, and to deliver our own invaders. The first three systems had little to offer, but came over to our side. The planet got a dose of the virus and the AIs on the planet helped spread it as well as they could.

I checked on the sleepers that at present were not all sleeping, but walking around the ship with their guardians and now friends. I would meet a few, and always they would want to take me aside and show me how much I was appreciated. Their dreams of a lover were of me, and I regretted the necessity of doing this to any group of people. The fact that it was done for both their, and my benefit, did not make it right, but I found that right had to be a very flexible commodity.

Nova asked, "Husband, why are you neglecting us?"

"Nova, my wife, why have you been neglecting me the last few weeks?"

She hung her head and began to cry at the way she was forced to act, and saw how her metsu had been steering the family. She had just gone along with it. I held her and said, "I know how a family works, and I don't think any of you fought it enough, when you know what is right."

Smaller ships with drones went to the minor systems. We picked our own targets, and then followed after these ships. The new multiple variety virus and improved delivery systems meant that there were very few Samutz left alive. Small groups of Tandra techs and crystals were dropped off with instructions on repairing the defences, and taking over any Samutz ship with the override, if possible.

Throughout this time, I searched for the giant matter transmitters. They were useless at the moment, but for some untold reason I wanted to build or at least rebuild, each and every one of them.

The first few systems had many Tandra in stasis, penned on the planet or even free. We were lucky enough to collect more than we lost. If they were trained sufficiently, they could be used to hold more planets against the Samutz. Many would have to be trained by the people I left behind.

We eventually came to the vast empire of King Dulfa, and his subject kings. We made a very intensive search for the newer ships but found none in the outlying systems. I was hard pressed to save any of the Samutz here, because of what their now dead king had done to my family. There were many minor ships flying between the stars, and when we gave the override, they came to us readily. After almost a day, we got a good rundown on the empire, and a few smaller ones beyond. There were fourteen major planets, and almost a hundred lesser systems in three empires.

The next system, Fairchch, was a major ship building, and repair centre, as well as administration for the local king. The contagion fell to the planet, as we watched for any ships coming into the system or leaving with some warning. The haul was impressive in tonnage alone, but the majority of the ships were less than battleship size. This time Captain Roderick again became a captain, an admiral, and a governor as well. He and his six men were accompanied by a selected group of Tandra. They left on one of the many captured battleships, to secure and hold the system. This time every AI would follow his orders.

Just before we left the system, one of the research projects found a way to shift the harmonics, so that a ship's shields could repel galvanized shot and it should repel the new munitions we now sported too. A simple shot on an old cargo ship, told us that it was workable. If the Samutz came back, they would have no easy time with small ship killers, like we had before. Roderick was very concerned with being able to carry out his duties, but I had more faith in him, than he himself did.

Jamal sent automatic drones to all the planets we garrisoned, with up- to-date information of our activities, and our plans for the modified shield. In two weeks we had gotten all of the minor planets, and the thirteen major ones. The new ships had not been spotted yet. In fact very few major ships were seen.

In Saffra, King Dulfa's ruling planet, we came upon three battleships and twelve destroyer escorts with the new shield. Twenty lesser ships too, sported this device, and with the hundreds of major ships, forts, and defences mounted on the planet and the moons, the system would be difficult to take. There was so much security, that we could not get close. The only plan I had at this time, was to send in the probes, with a small heavily stealthed two man ship. It would direct the probes to attach themselves to any ship or shuttle entering the better protected ships.

I approached Sula for this important job, and she tried to think of everything she could to make her job safer. "Why don't you use the imperial override that these ship would have? It would be the similar to the others."

"I don't know this..." then I pulled her close at the idea; I kissed her hard and said, "Thanks Sula. I completely overlooked that possibility."

"Jamal. Search your subsystems and find the imperial override, as it was made for you. See if you can find the exact command sequence, we can take the ships without fighting."

"It is a complex code and it may take a month to find it."

"Why that long? Cal had it ready for us when we needed it."

"The code was actually tested by one of the royal family. That has not happened on this ship."

"Why did our override work on you then?"

"The virus was running through all the systems, and the computer was eventually damaged. It fell back on very primitive coding, that was susceptible to your commands."

"That means that it was an unheard of coincidence that Cal both knew about the override and the code to allow it to work."

"I would say that, Captain."

"Try to find the code, but first consider variations of the one we use first. Empresses or emperors did not always want to give long strings of data, when something shorter would work as well."

Almost six days passed, and I was angry at myself for not going with my old plan, and working on this problem in our spare time. I was getting closer to the enigma around Nema's ability to assist us into hyperspace. It was indeed the odd crystals in her body, and the effects of a growing influence of a Tandra child on a Softay mind. There was no way to replicate it yet, but I knew it would be eventually found. Her ability to channel all that power would make the massive dimensional transfer devices obsolete too. She had channelled power to Cal's mighty engines from the dimensional tap, and did a lot of damage. When we were flying with Runna, the energy came from the higher universe itself, and did not travel through our engines. It was used directly, to propel the ship and did not damage any of the tap or the bus system, but could easily, if even a bit more had been used.

"Captain, I have found the code." Jamal unexpectedly said.

"Let me see it."

The code came out, and was a little over 63,000 characters long. I worked with the sequence and saw that it was indeed easy to memorize after acquiring a much more powerful mind. "Can you tell me of any variations with different royal families?"

"I would assume that when a new or competing family tried to take over, they would make a new code. It would work on some of the older ships. How far this can be carried back, I do not know. There may be many different codes that will not respond."

I could see many more problems now. I would need a way of gaining access to all the old coding, buried deep in the deepest levels of a computer, to gain access to all ships and systems. I did not relish the work involved in climbing through the computer each time a ship was rendered helpless, to bring it over to our side.

The attack had been planned for a long time, and millions of drones left for the planets and moons as well as the fixed defences. In four hours the virus would be passed by one lone frigate. It would enter the system, with the current passwords and our override.

Sula wanted the job of piloting the small frigate. She was important to my plan, but she also needed the knowledge that she helped take this system. She passed the outer defences, as we all held our breaths. A failure here would do more than kill a friend.

The news of the virus eventually spread quickly on the planet. The ships were just starting to flee, when they stopped dead at the call from the frigate. Again all the Samutz were put into stasis or killed. This time none of the little beauties managed to get away.

It was well that the forts had been targeted, because the AIs were not affected by our call, and I had to turn every ship's weapons, and target the many forts that protected the system. The battle lasted almost a half hour, till all the forts were disabled and a good portion of the newly acquired ships too.

With each ship carefully checked for hostiles, Nova and Sandy, along with all the techs and troops I could spare, took the new ships, and I hoped the system. Sula was given the job of assisting, because she now had a stake in protecting the system, she helped capture.

Star cried at losing her friends and fellow wives. Chris tried vainly to comfort her, but she felt abandoned, as if there were nobody here that loved her enough. Even when I came over, she did not feel safe enough. The male Samutz had frightened her more than she was able to overcome. I, being a male, was now suspect, at least till she started to recover more.

The forces remaining behind were to keep the system from the Samutz, and kill any free Samutz that showed their faces. My job was quite different. The new ships told of a good sized battle that was to take place. It was at a system 61 light years distant, by the name Defren. It was the capital of a small four system empire that should be called a monarchy. If I could render some aid, there was a chance of picking up an ally. The old saying of an enemy of my enemy, is my friend, came to mind.

Our ship left the system at its best speed, with the sleepers resting before the big push. The limit was an almost three hours away.

My mind was seething with different ideas. Mom had done a lot of things to help me, and my mind's compartmentalization did more than just protect my thoughts. Many things could be worked on, or one idea from many view points, all at one time.

I needed a better shield. The one we just improved was less efficient, and its only advantage, was that it did not allow the new missiles in, unless they were very large and simply overwhelmed the shield's capacity to keep out.

Now there was the problem with various passwords for ships that may or may not have been changed by the winning side. And then the problem with finding a way through an enemy's newer shield again.

The recurring memory of ruthlessly using the sleepers and crew, to push, control, and navigate, around many unseen obstacles still intrigued me.

The 61 light year voyage would take us almost three hours plus the time leaving this system, and going into the other system. A typical craft the Samutz would be flying, would take almost 27 days. The armada had left and I figured they could just about be getting there now if they had no slow ships.

Before the Mardaf Limit was reached, I went to our suite, and found both Star and Chris curled up together. Sitting beside the two, I said, "Star, I know you still have bad dreams about the Samutz, and about males in general. This is not the way things should be, and I want to help you." They both had just recovered from their lovemaking, and I took off my clothes and slipped close. Star pulled her legs to her chest, and knees tight, to deny me her charms. This was what Susan and the rest were doing too.

I turned her resisting body over, and got Jamal to lubricate our juncture, as I pushed into the weakly struggling wife. I felt all the caressing lumps, as she wiggled futilely to escape me. Chris looked on in alarm. This was not the way any of our lovemaking had ever been done before. She did not want Star hurt, but she herself felt somewhat like Star, in her present state of mind.

After many slow strokes, Star was betrayed by her body, and started to respond. Chris too, started to get a sampling of the feelings in her body, and laid back and moaned, as she felt my thrusts. I was no different, and responded more than usual, probably because of my enforced abstinence. This I determined was going to be hard on all of us. Star was about to have her orgasm, and I pulled back, and tried to drag it out. She reached for me and tried to drive her body onto me, to get the extra stimulation she craved. I worked less and she drove herself more and more.

I could feel that all the sleepers were awake, and now feeling the things that Star felt. This was fine, since we were not at the Mardaf Limit yet, and they could enjoy themselves with no ulterior motive, other than love.

Holding Star tight, I used the tractors, and reclined, so that she could do all the work. She drove herself wild now, as if she had no relief since we had last coupled. Chris now pushed past her normal bounds too, and sat on my face, to get some satisfaction. She had always held back, and waited for me to direct her, and this time, I guess, she could not restrain herself much longer.

Both women drove themselves into a frenzy of movements, and I had to hold Chris, so that she would not hurt me. The smell coming from her was strong and pungent, as if she had not had sex in months herself. Star was coming too close, and I wanted to help her, without her conscious mind repelling me. I slipped in, to that spot Mom showed me, and selected the correct controls, so that she would not be able to quite gain her orgasm she so desperately sought.

She thought she was close enough, and pounded up and down on me trying to get that infinitesimal amount more, but it still eluded her. While she was working hard, I was able to keep all of us moving, and safe, while searching within her mind. I was looking for the important points that would relieve her fears.

She was difficult to find, and the small girl I found inside, was not the same as the small girl working hard to get some satisfaction. The inner girl hid and ran, from my approach. She was on the ship, and Samutz were chasing her. She used a weapon and killed many, but still she was pursued. I caught her as she ran onto the bridge, and King Dulfa stepped in from another portal.

Star screamed and tried to flee once more, but I held her tight as the king's image came closer. I turned, holding Star's arm with one of mine, while taking out a long knife. Dulfa brought out an equal one, and we fought. I had to release Star to fight, but she stayed to see what would happen. Dulfa circled, trying to get at Star, but I always stood in his way, and slashed at him. Our breathing was becoming ragged, and each of us were bleeding from slashes.

He saw an opening and tried to stab Star, but I knocked his arm up and slashed across his ribs. He jumped back, and we both watched the blood stop, and the cut close. He came at me again with renewed vigour, and forced me back till my heal touched Star. I stood my ground now, and fought as I never did before. I gave him an opening, and Dulfa jumped in for the kill. I intercepted his knife hand, and drove my own weapon under his ribcage and across to sever each of his hearts. I did not release him, but cut more times than necessary, to insure he did not heal, and come at me again.

He fell to the deck writhing around, with his intestines squirming like snakes, to somehow continue the attack. I jumped with one foot on the wrist, and pinned it to the deck. Still holding the knife in my hand, I brought it down with all my might, and severed the head from his body.

Star was crying from the ordeal, and did not even know if it was me, that was picking her up. "Star you are mine and you always will be. I will kill anybody that wants to hurt you." She opened her eyes and saw me covered in my own blood, and that of Dulfa. She cringed and pulled away again. "Star you are mine. You will bear my children, and bring back the Tandra Empire, together."

She finally understood, and held me tight and cried. We walked through the New Hope now, and found no Samutz bodies, and eventually we saw the occasional Tandra or T'aut crewmember going about their duties. In the captain's suite, we came upon a man on the grav bed, with a two different, but beautiful women trying hard to gain their orgasm

Turning to Star, I found she had disappeared, and I slowly left her mind. My own world had been rocking and my body abused. I slipped back into Star's mind, and undid my previous control. She had been holding Chris tightly, as the strongest orgasm yet, rocked her body and her muscles went into a form of hysteria, and almost crushed Chris in her grip, before falling onto her side. Her brain was unable to hold out any more.

Chris had fallen too, and regained some breath from her now bruised ribs. She had been following me, as I pursued Star in her mind, and saw all I had done. Star seemed to be at peace now, for the first time since being captured by King Dulfa. I looked into her mind to see her reaction, and found her envious. I traced the thought, and saw that I had done what I had been warned about not to do, so long ago. Star had bonded to me much more strongly, but I did not feel any different.

I looked into Star now, and saw the much thicker linkage. Compared to even her linkage to Susan, it was much stronger. Looking back at Chris, I could see the only Tandra that had stood up to Susan, and tried to defend me. She was not able to do this very well, because of her own binding to Susan, but the effort was made. Chris deserved my love, and even what she wanted most.

I spread her out on her back, and then picked up her legs. I pushed them to her chest. Her lower arms came out and held the knees up and apart. With some lube, I slipped into her. She let out a groan of satisfaction, as I reached the furthest I could reach, and her urethra buried in the hair of my abdomen.

Her other arms came up and held my neck, as I slowly moved my hips back and forth. She luxuriated in the feeling as I worked on a different level. I looked into her ovaries, and searched for just the right egg. This one glowed like Susan's. I used my abilities to coax it out of its position, and get it into the fallopian tube. Chris did not know what I was doing, but I could feel not only the sleepers looking, but Star too.

I thrust now more vigorously, and Chris climaxed again and again. She seemed to have no control over her body, as a mental wind from so many people, blew her one way, and then another. When the time came, my own body convulsed, and seed spewed many times far into her womb. I knew one would be lucky enough to find the elusive opening in the egg, and form a special child of two races.

I woke up after a few seconds, to find Chris's arms still holding me tightly. I pulled them off, and set her down beside Star. Star had orgasmed herself when Chris did. I just took her hand, and pulled her over to Chris' legs and said, "Clean her well my wife. She disserves the love she gets."

Star smiled at me, and put Chris' legs over her shoulders, before she started to clean. With a little lube, I pushed my way into her anus, and heard the startled woman groan in lust. "Don't stop. It is time to move the ship, and this time, we will see what we can do with you two, and the others."

Star went back to what she was doing, and I moved very slowly towards our goal almost 61 light years distant. Star was with me, and the ship surged ahead, and then the sleepers started to work with us without being asked.

I stroked into Star's bottom, and pictured the large room of the sleepers, their caretakers and the other smaller private rooms, with the remainder of the propulsion crew. I pictured one face at a time, and went through all the girls with tiaras, and then went for the caretakers. I did not think it right, to leave them out.

The ship went faster, and within a moment surpassed its original rating and kept climbing. Jamal and some of his spare processors worked hard to do everything that was required of them. Many millions of minute adjustments had to be made each second, and our speed went up to 179 times the rated speed that the ship was designed for. I knew that it was only supposed to be around 160 times and even this was never reached before.

The engines were putting out their maximum, and the mighty torus surrounding us, gathered energy from a higher order universe. We were just borderline on the safety specifications. Only a little more would cause even this ship to fail. Holding Star's small hips, I looked into her mind again, and saw that she was once again away from the actual scene. This time she was nursing our children, as I worked beside her in the basement of our house beside Beaver Mountain. The change of scenery told me that she was improving, but her spectral image still held me, as I worked, to show me that we were more fully bonded than ever before.

After almost an hour, I spewed into a very weary Star. I had cleaned us both, and had shifted holes on occasion. She had been barely able to keep up, and I had to go very slow to allow her to last that long.

After a shower, I took Chris to me. She cried at the gift she had just found out, that she had been given. I took the happy woman again, and the other girls went immediately to the maximum again. They seemed to be able to do the driving, without my guidance, and I saw this as a definite improvement. After another hour and a quarter our sensors directed some large ships in transit and we veered off to avoid them. When out of range we went back on our previous course. I filled Chris womb one more time, as we came to the edge of the Defren system. I lowered Chris to our bed, and covered both of the girls, to keep them warm while the ship stepped down from running mode to surveillance.

"Captain, the ships we passed will be in the system in four days. They are just one less, than the number of ships that left Saffra. I am sure they observed a heavy warship travelling faster than they have ever seen before."