Part 2

Chapter4

The Shark was moving toward the yard limit. That meant we could crank up the power to near warp. Once we were outside the planetary system boundary, we were on our own.

The congested conditions meant that I, as captain, was expected to be at the helm until we reached the yard limit. I was also expected to be awake and no further from the bridge than the ready room until we reached the system boundary.

Beverly brought me my stainless-steel coffee cup. The cup was imprinted with the ship name and my name as captain. The three members of the crew also had their own cups. Beverly had made me a celebratory cup of espresso.

Crystal announced, “Yard Master confirms Shark is at yard limit.”

I acknowledged. “Thank you, Crystal.”

“Crystal, please open a channel to Yard Master.”

I said, “Yard Master, request permission to launch one white flare as thank you to Clarence and crew for their excellent job.”

“Permission granted, Shark.”

“On my mark, please. Launch one white flare, ninety degrees off bow angle 100 meters, ten second duration.”

Beverly confirmed, “Ready. One white flare. Ninety degrees off bow angle. 100 meters. Ten second burn.”

“Fire one.”

Beverly launched the flare. Immediately, it was visible on our largest view screen, as telemetry automatically tracked the trajectory of the shot. A massive white chrysanthemum blossomed above the ship.

Crystal announced, “Message from Yard Master to Shark.”

“Please open channel, Crystal.”

“Shark, Message from Clarence. Message follows. ‘You are welcome.’”

“Acknowledged, Yard Master.”

“Safe journey, Shark.”

“Thank you, Yard Master. Shark is GONE.”

I announced to the crew, “Time to change to the Shark travel uniform.”

Beverly and Agatha walked back to the Captain’s cabin that we shared. When they returned a few moments later, they were both nude. They resumed their duties at their command consoles.

Crystal changed her hologram to display her chosen form nude as well. I was struck anew by her beauty. She truly was delectable. Tall lithe, long-legged blonde with high firm breasts and a perfect countenance.

Crystal was a hologram of course. The old tech would have her only an object of light and shadow. The newest tech by controlling energy and force fields as well as light allowed Crystal to be palpable. She could interact with us with solidity and form. Crystal was a full member of Shark’s crew.

Crystal was truly “anatomically correct,” and sex with her was not only possible but very enjoyable. Her control of fields and energy made her blow job a truly seismic experience. Despite the delightful distraction posed by her nudity I continued.

I said, “Please make speed .95 warp.”

Beverly acknowledged the speed change.

Crystal announced, “ETA system boundary in 10 ten minutes at .95 warp.”

I said, “Thank you, Crystal. At boundary, please make course for Westphalia and speed warp five. We will run on that course for four hours in visible mode. Leave navigation and running lights on. Test all active and passive sensors at full power during the run. Weapon console to be manned at all times during this run.

Agatha looked back at me through her brunette bangs with a slightly stricken expression.

I asked, “Do you have a question, Agatha?” She quickly shook her head and faced forward.

With a bit of sharpness in my voice, I said, “Okay, ladies, time for a conference!”

All three crewmembers turned to face me. They looked concerned.

I said, “I do not wish to scold you, ... BUT! It does me no good to have the three of you, with your tremendous skills and brain power, if you don’t share it. You need to learn how I think in my command role. From now on, when time is available, you are free to ask me questions when my orders seem contradictory or just plain wrong. I want questions any time you need explanations of my orders. I leave it to your best judgments when the situation warrants a question. Do you understand? Agatha, you had a question?”

All three nodded and smiled. Agatha asked her question. “Captain, Westphalia is remote from Saint Louis. The course takes us extremely out of the way if our final destination is Saint Louis.”

I answered, “A good question, Agatha. I’m glad you asked. We will run visible and noisy with much radiated energy, testing equipment for four hours. Then we will cloak, shear off, and make for Saint Louis. Westphalia is my home world. It would seem a logical destination. It should fool any stalker.”

Beverly asked, “You are worried about pirates?”

“Yes, Bev, I am. We are a brand-new ship, and we’re filled with value. A raider might think us well worth the any effort.”

Agatha said, “Thank you, Captain. I understand now. I will ask questions in the future.”

“Very good. You’re welcome. Please resume your duties. No harm. No foul.”

I sipped my coffee while sitting in my captain’s chair and toggled the displays in my neural helmet.

Crystal announced, “System boundary. Making course and speed change now. Course Westphalia and speed warp five. Visible mode. Navigation and running lights on. All sensors active and pinging.”

“Thank you, Crystal. You have the bridge. Please announce each hour. I wish to be back on the bridge in three hours and thirty. Agatha, weapons console, please. I will be in my ready room. Beverly, you’re with me.”

I received three acknowledgements. Bev helped me remove my neural helmet. I walked in to survey my ready room.

Chapter5

Beverly, my lovely blonde Bot, helped me to undress. I set my knife and rail gun on my desk as Beverly folded my clothing. I enjoyed the freedom of nudity the entire time I was growing up. Shark would be a “clothing free” zone, whenever possible.

I sat down behind my desk and waved Bev to the comfortable couch. When I sat down it activated my mother’s going away present. What looked like a paperweight was a three-dimensional holograph generator. It displayed a series of one-meter tall 3-D holographic images of my mother displayed on my desktop. The images started with her dressed in formal clothing, then casual clothes, then her bathing suit, and then lingerie, and culminating in finally nude images of her in her pool and in her bedroom.

I reached out and touched the base of the display. The images changed. They became more intimate. My mother was nude in her bedroom fondling herself. Finally, my mother paired with me. The images became our lovemaking. The images showed her wanton sexual side where no sexual act was denied her son. Her enjoyment of the incestuous sex with me was palpable.

The pairing became three, as Lisette joined us. Then four, as her father, my grandfather Louis, joined our filial bed. The sequence finally ended with Bridget--my mother--back on her bed alone, nude, and fondling herself as if waiting for my return.

I looked up at the wall fondly. There was a picture of Louis Carteris in his admiral’s uniform. Pinned to the picture was one of his “Orders of the Lion” valor medals. Louis’s Daishō of katana and wakizashi and tantō--his gift to me--hung in a glass case next to his picture and medal.

The Order of the Lion was the Empire’s highest award for valor and bravery. It had an extraordinary threshold of bravery for its award. Normally, the recipient receives it posthumously. Louis was awarded two. The consensus was that he deserved another and had refused it.

Louis and I had bonded deeply. Our sharing Bridget’s bed, and double fucking my mother, his daughter, had deepened that close connection.

I was in my mother’s bed as soon as I was home from the birthing hospital. She had joined Louis’s bed at the same early age. Nudity was the rule in our household. My mother showed her love with physical contact, hugs, kisses, and caresses. My earliest memories involve her loving massages. Mother initiated sex with me when I reached an age of understanding. Sexual expression was a natural and very meaningful progression for our love. Our mother and son play escalated quickly to involve giving and receiving every type of oral, genital, and anal sex.

Sex play often involved our servants, and our bots, with and without my mother. My great-grandfathers (on both sides) regularly sent me women to enjoy, and then to return to them.

Lisette was one. She was a dancer, and a courtesan, in the court of the emperor. Victor Carteris sent her for a month’s stay. After sharing our bed for that month Lisette begged to stay. She was at the castle now, keeping mother and Louis’s bed warm.

The Carteris family was a family of “only children.” Bridget, her father Louis, and his father Victor were only children. The Carteris family had many contacts. I had significantly understated the aid from my mother’s family during my conference with the Demarest men.

The Emperor of all the planets was Mark Quintin, of House Quintin. He established his interplanetary government on a previously vacant planet, which he named “Athens.” It was his conceit that rule of House Quintin was the equal of the enlightened age of Ancient Greece. Maybe he was right.

By all accounts, he had created a beautiful city of parks, open spaces, and gardens. The streets were wide, tree-lined boulevards. Wide-open areas surrounded all the high-rise buildings. Lakes, connected by rivers and streams, added to the city’s ambience. The rest of his tropical paradise planet, Athens, mirrored the unspoiled, park-like beauty of Mark’s headquarters city.

The city did not have castles. Instead, it had large office towers. In the exact center of town was Tower Quintin, the very seat of power for the Empire. Across the quadrangle, and not a millimeter lower, was Tower Carteris.

Victor’s home Estate, Carteris, also on Athens, was a tropical paradise adjacent to the emperor’s Estate Quintin. Estate Carteris was just as large and stately as the Emperor’s. You get the idea.

Victor Carteris, my great grandfather, occupied Tower Carteris. He was a confidant, and an advisor to the Emperor. Victor was, officially, ambassador and member of the Athens Senate. Unofficially, he was one of the most powerful men in known space!

I found out just how powerful one week before the Shark’s construction was to begin.

A construction meeting was scheduled in an out of the way conference room of the ship building company. When I arrived, I found only Admiral Rutger Danell waiting for me.

He had been discreetly dispatched on behalf of the Carteris family by my great grandfather, Victor, and grandfather Louis.

Admiral “Call me Rutger” Danell was here to provide information and deliver some ‘items’. In this most advanced of electronic ages, personal courier delivery of a parchment missive, with a wax seal and in a leather pouch, was the most trusted possible communication.

Delivery by an admiral at the helm of a “fleet planet breaker” battleship was certainly dependable and guaranteed to make an impression on the recipient.

First, Rutger gave me the Carteris crest. It would flank the framed and mounted Demarest crest on my ready room wall.

The Carteris signet ring and desk seal were next. The ring was to be worn on my left forefinger at all times. My wearing of the signet ring would confirm my Carteris antecedents. The desk seal was to allow my use of the Carteris crest wax seal in my official communications. Rutger thoughtfully provided several dozen reams of parchment, with the Carteris crest watermark, for those little notes I might send.

Most importantly, Rutger delivered my Letter of Marque and Reprisal. In ancient Earth times, in the age of sail on water, countries would bolster their water borne navies by commissioning private vessels as privateers. These privateer vessels would capture enemy vessels for the cargo and salvage. They were government-sponsored pirates, working for profit. The document that authorized such a privateer was a Letter of Marque and Reprisal, even to this day.

On the fringes of the Empire, a man could be just as bad as he wanted to be. A bold man might seize a planet and rule as king, or even god. With a long, tenuous border far from Athens, the machinery of the Empire might not even notice. If they did notice, they might or might not take action.

Action might be a treaty or truce. Action might be a visit from the Navy; this last is considered ‘a very bad thing’ for the nascent king/god.

The outlaw states that the Empire certainly wished to squash were those of the pirates and raiders. Those worlds would certainly receive a visit from the Navy, with up close and personal attention from the royal Marines and rangers. This was classified as ‘a very, very bad thing’ for the rulers and inhabitants of the pirate world.

The letter appointing a scout, as a privateer, was one possible solution. The almost constant attacks by raiders and pirates, on and inside a long and porous border, had to be stopped. I sensed a strong push from my Carteris and Demarest relatives for my immediate enrollment in this scout privateer initiative by the Navy and Empire.

Scouts were numerous and observant. Scouts were profit driven. Scouts were by their very nature foolishly brave. Giving the scout a monetary incentive to battle with a pirate by a Letter of Marque would result in more scout vs. pirate battles. Scouts would more readily provide intelligence about pirates and the pirate bases when the scouts would profit from the spoils of a successful Navy and Marine attack.

The added incentive for the scout was the immediate opening of the Navy technology toy box for the privateer. I would receive the best, most current and highly advanced naval technology for engines, weapons, cloaking, sensors, computers, and communication.

The naval intelligence provided would include star and navigation charts, including all naval bases and reserved gates. The communication intelligence would include transponder codes and IFF protocols. The communication frequencies, cryptography and message coding were included. The list was almost endless.

The admiral would quietly interface with the builders to silently shift the technology from naval projects in the yard to my vessel.

Rutger also delivered a parchment proclamation with Carteris Seal. Signed by the ambassador and the admiral, this announced that great-grandfather and grandfather would consider any aid provided me as if provided directly to them. This would join another like it from the Demarest family on my ready room wall. The parchment of my Letters of Marque and Reprisal, signed by the emperor with his personal seal, was also displayed in my ready room. These were also on a data chip for my use, as was my Letter of Marque.

Another parchment, signed by Victor and also signed by the emperor, invited me to Estate Carteris on Athens. It would act as my planetary entry visa.

I reached into my desk and retrieved the Carteris signet ring. I had not worn it even once, since receiving it from Admiral Rutger Danell. No such ring existed from the Demarest family. Only the Carterises could pass such a powerful item from one only child to another. As the youngest male child, having reached my majority, I would carry the ring until I passed it to the next only male.

I put on the Carteris signet ring as I contemplated my framed wall displays of the two crests, parchment proclamations, and the parchment Letters of Marque and Reprisal.

I also thought about Admiral Rutger Danell. Rutger was in command of the naval district surrounding the Saint Louis Space Station with his headquarters on the station. Before he left me, he provided his personal communication and transponder codes, for my use when I reached his Saint Louis district.

Chapter6

I looked again at my desk. My mother’s holograph was now shifted to her dressed, sort of, in my favorite red mesh camisole and red thigh high stockings.

She was reclining on her bed. Her legs were widely spread. She was touching her hairless cunt, and then sucking her fingers. Then she was inserting her fingers, and then sucking them. She took the wet fingers and pulled on her engorged nipples. Soon she was driving two fingers of one hand into her cunt, while diddling her clit with the fingers of the other hand. She slumped back on her bed when she was overcome by her self-induced orgasm. The flush on her chest and the juices on her thighs were clear in the holo-display.

Lisette entered the scene. She was exquisite. God, I missed her. She was nude, except for the white strap on harness she was wearing. Lisette suddenly reached down and picked up a banner that she displayed. The sign said: “holo-suite file ‘dqpz298vkwax583’ password ‘momfucklis.’ “ Lisette lowered the sign. Mother and Lisette made kissy faces as the display froze.

I laughed, and then I called Crystal. “Crystal, please search your files for holo-suite file ‘dqpz298vkwax583’ password ‘momfucklis’ and report please.”

Immediately Crystal responded, “Located special hidden encrypted file containing twelve holo-suite programs. Proper naming and password allowed removal of encryption and transfer of twelve programs to open holo-suite menu.”

I asked Crystal, “Are there more special hidden encrypted files?”

She answered, “I am unable to respond to that inquiry.”

I said, “Never mind, Crystal. Carry on.”

I sat at my desk and laughed again as I contemplated the display of mother and Lisette.

Beverly asked, “Why are you laughing?”

I answered Bev, “I begged my mother to make a holo-suite file for me. She and Lisette both demurred. Her final excuse was ‘You need to come home.’ Instead, she makes more than one holo-file, hides the files, and gives me the key in her sexy show. I have to keep watching her displays to see what else my mommy-slut hid for me to find and keep thinking of her.”

I thought about Bridget and Lisette. I thought about our last time together. I realized that I was stroking my cock. My cock was wet with my pre-cum. I was hard and throbbing.

I stood up, and walked to Beverly where she sat nude on the couch. Reaching for her long blonde hair with my left hand, I held my cock to her lips with my right. She opened her mouth, and smoothly leaned forward until her nose was against my belly. My fingers tangled in her hair. I held her head, as I drove my hips against her face, my balls flopping against her chin. I was close from watching my mother. One more stroke and my cock spewed into Bev’s throat. I pulled back, and filled her mouth. Bev spasmed with her orgasm in the midst of my cum spending.

Bev continued to massage my smooth balls. She caressed my cock with her tongue, as she sucked my cock until I was completely soft. Bev looked up at me, and smiled as she kissed the tip of my soft cock. I leaned over and kissed her.

“Thank you, Bev. Next time, you have fun, too.”

“Don’t worry, Master. Agatha and I always have an orgasm when you come in our mouths.”

“Bev, I am going to take a quick shower. Please make a light lunch, with orange juice, to be served here in the ready room.”

“Yes, Captain. Right away.”

I entered the shower. The shower was another comfort area which had received the deluxe treatment. The shower was octagon shaped, and sized for several occupants. There was no door. A force field held the spray in.

The primary water dispenser was a trough sending water in a rivulet, drenching the occupant. There were spray nozzles covering the ceiling of the shower, providing a warm rainstorm of water. The side sprays on seven walls provided a hard massaging action, from ankles to neck. The handheld shower gave a pinpoint control for rinsing and massage.

After I was completely clean, I sat in the large deep tub, filled with very hot water up to my neck. I turned on the jets swirling and massaging.

I relaxed and thought about the next items to test on the ship. The propulsion systems were next to test, followed by weapons tests.

We travel in space with several methods. Impulse power is for in-system travel, below lightspeed (c, for you physics geeks out there). Warp is for traveling FTL (faster than light), at multiples of light speed. Each ship was unique in their ability to travel at warp. We would need a speed run to find out Shark’s cruising and emergency speeds.

Gates were mechanical wormholes. If Shark were traveling toward the center of the Empire, the gates would provide almost instant transit across the galaxy. Gates were set with a specific leaving and arriving point. They were so fast, however, that it was well worth it to travel out of the way to find a gate.

Short jumps were instant transits of well-surveyed points in space. The folding of space for short jumps was only possible when the starting and ending points were known and “relatively” uncluttered.

My family connections paid a big dividend in this regard. The Demarest family and the Carteris family had been independently buying star maps, navigation maps, and surveys for centuries. Every observatory and astronomer on more than a thousand planets was a supplier of star maps to one family or the other. The Shark was the first time that those proprietary family maps were combined. The Navy also provided their own dominion maps and navigation markers.

The Navy provided the software and computer power. For the first time, we would collate and compare these two separate groups. Millions of maps and photographs, from thousands of different sources and perspectives, would now be combined. The program generated single-perspective maps from the disparate information, often with jump-start and -end points already estimated.

The Long Jump, however, was the purview of the scout. Dangerous leaps into unsurveyed and uncharted space. The Long Jump was a leap of technology beyond the bounds of physics.

My “Master of Vessel” instructor used the analogy of a “flying fish jumping out of the water” with the assumption that the big box of space and time bounded by the laws of physics was “the water.”

Great grandfather and I discussed the long jump near one of his lakes on Caddis. Philip liked the water analogy. He used a rock skipping on the surface for his “Long Jump” analogy.

He said, “Because you have the same control if you were riding this rock. NONE. One or two or three skips. In a line or curving or sideways. Splash in the water. Crash into a big rock. Maybe you never come back.”

I asked, “What do you mean?”

“No one tells, young scout. Sometimes ships disappear. I think they start to jump and break continuum. They skid across outside and never break back into normal space.”

“Then why the fuck do we long jump?”

Philip said, “Survey and travel would take literally forever, without the long jump. We would never have made first contact or have found the tech of the old ones, by traveling at even the fastest warp. Only the long jump allows us to explore, which allows the survey, which leads to short jumps. Only by this scout’s grave risk, can the Empire colonize a limitless space.”

Philip continued, “Many died before we realized that the human must be in stasis, to survive the chaos of the long jump’s torture of space and time. This is another part of the out-of-control syndrome. You are literally ‘spam in a can’ until you re-enter normal space, and your AI releases you.”

I asked, “One last question, Gran. My mind is aboggle. Why scout alone, why not in pairs or more?”

Philip answered, “We tried it. There was no good explanation, but with every team that went out, ONLY ONE scout came back. Perhaps it is a residual factor of the long jump. Finally, we quit trying to explain it, and just went along. Bots and AI are unaffected. Scouts travel alone or they manage to ‘become’ alone!”

With that happy thought echoing in my head, I called for Beverly to bring a towel.

Chapter7

I stepped out of the tub and stood in the drying chamber. The combination of warm floors and walls, “sun” lights, and soft warm breeze relaxed me while completely drying my body.

Beverly brought in a big fluffy towel, more for the effect that a vigorous rubbing gives, than for actual drying. Beverly towel dried my hair. She led me to a seat next to the lighted mirror, where she gave me a quick haircut and styled my hair. She knelt between my legs and examined my smooth, hairless genitals.

She asked, “Is your treatment holding?”

“Yes, Bev. I’m still completely hair-liberated.”

She said, “I’d better make a closer examination.”

With that Bev leaned forward, licking my balls. Then she sucked them into her mouth one at a time. She was stroking my cock with one hand, while cradling my balls with the other. She began long licks, the length of my cock, then sucking the head. She took my cock in her mouth. She began an insistent sucking. She pushed forward, with my cock going in her mouth and down her throat. She stopped with her chin resting on my balls. Bev swallowed around my invading cock. Then she pulled back until just the head was between her lips. Bev reached for my thighs and began her rhythm of face fucking my cock.

I did not last long. My balls drew up and I spasmed down her swallowing throat. Bev orgasmed when I did. She pulled back, sucking on just the head until I softened. She swallowed my spending. She held my soft cock in her warm hands as we kissed. Then she helped me to my feet.

I said, “Thank you, Bev. That was very nice.”

Bev asked, “You’re welcome, Master. Would you like a massage?”

I answered, “No thank you, Bev. Later, perhaps. Lunch first.”

Bev and I walked into the ready room arm in arm. I held my lovely tall blonde bot and kissed her. She opened her mouth for my tongue.

I pulled back slightly and said, “Lunch means food, not your delicious cunt.”

She answered, “Yes, Master.”

I said, “Bev, please relieve Agatha at the weapons console. Send Agatha to the ready room to serve my lunch.”

“Yes, Master. Immediately.”

I am quite spoiled by my two Fembots. I admit it. Their enthusiasm for following my orders is charming. Even my suggestions are commands to my lovely ladies. Their total lack of jealousy and willingness to share is another favorite of their many qualities.

My two great grandfathers collaborated on the fembot acquisition. Those two would make sure that no sexual kink of mine would go unrealized. My fembots have every type of sexual programming available. I would have the willing and skilled cooperation of my fembot companions in any sexual exploration.

The only problem with my fembot companions was their orgasm programming. They, without fail, realized an orgasm during our play. Even my excited premature ejaculations resulted in their pleasure. This was a good thing! I enjoyed my ladies’ pleasure and wanted them happy.

On another level, this was not a good thing. If I became selfish, forgetting how to bring pleasure to a human woman, ignoring my companion’s need for her own release would be ‘a very bad thing.’ My mother taught me that sexual pleasure was best when shared unselfishly. My earliest experiences reinforced the lessons. I would need to exercise my judgment. Never my best quality where women and sex were concerned!

I sat on the couch as Beverly left the ready room. The automatic sliding door closed, and I was alone.

I looked at my eldest brother Ben’s contribution to my voyage. Ben’s consuming hobby was exotic fish raised in aquariums. Even in our age, they were still called by their old Earth name of “tropical fish.” Ben had one hundred tanks with the watery habitats for colorful fish from many worlds. He had learned to make fish from different worlds co-exist in the same tank.

Ben offered to place an aquarium or two in my ready room and in my captain’s suite. I demurred at first; then I realized that Ben really wanted to contribute, and be a part of the voyage of Shark, so I accepted his gracious offer.

Ben trained the bots in the art and science of exotic fish maintenance. They were perfect for the demanding, and technically precise job. They were always on task. They never forgot a step and they always kept to the proper schedule. He installed tanks with his favorite species.

In the corner of the ready room was an upright, water-filled cylinder one meter in diameter and more than three meters tall, filled with colorful fish from many worlds. Along one wall was a rectangular tank two meters tall by one meter deep and four meters long.

I had to admit watching the fish’s languid movements was relaxing. The soft lights, slowly waving fronds, and the unhurried fish were soothing. I would have to send Ben a note and thank him for his contribution to my stress relief.

The ready room door slid open, and Agatha entered with a silver tray from the galley.

Agatha, my lovely bot, was very different from Beverly. Agatha was small, short, and petite. Her brunette hair was cut short, and her body was muscled and tight. Her smooth abs sported a well-defined six-pack and a small tight butt. Her tits were too big for the rest of her frame--Great Grandfather’s special order, I suspected!