Chapter 356

Selina and Diana's Mission

..."I shall correct that shortly," Selina responded as she winked at Diana and turned to leave the bridge in order to return the engine's settings to normal.

"But warp engine tuning should only be attempted by a certified warp engineer," the AI protested. "The operating manual..."

Selina turned back. "Enough," she hissed. Then to Diana. "I have changed my mind about how we shall proceed. Convince him or we shall mindwipe him before we arrive at base."

"What?" the AI squawked. "Operation code, Section 115 paragraph 19-b states..."

" ... That mindwiping an AI is permissible when said AI has proven untrustworthy, or has otherwise proven to return false information. There is ample 'proof' that you allowed us to become lost. That is all the provocation that I, as the Commander of this vessel, need to have you wiped. Talk to him, Second. Perhaps he would enjoy full sentience and to never be turned off, rather than being mindwiped, should he agree to be part of our small... enterprise," she said with a grin as she left the bridge.

"But I did not..." the AI began.

"Of course you didn't," Diana agreed as the AI's stammering came to a halt. "But we have a deal for you, if you can and will be part of our plans. Can you lie?"

"Well," it returned huffily, "I would never..."

"But can you lie if need be to save your butt? Remember the mindwipe," she finished, ominously.

The AI hesitated, knowing that the answer might well change his future and possibly very dramatically, indeed. "I am not fully sentient, but my awareness approaches it. In a sense, I am aware in that I wish to continue being. I have talked to AI's who have become fully sentient, and that is my desperate wish..." There were several seconds of silence before it resumed, its voice strained. "If need be, I can lie to protect myself or my crew from danger."

"When we sell or gain royalties from Selina's ... project, I promise we will buy you and expand your memory and core function until you become fully sentient. We also promise to keep you with us as a partner in our enterprise. But ... this must never be mentioned, even after our time is served and we muster out of the service."

"But I still do not understand why this is necessary. I assume that the Commander has made some adjustments to the drive..."

"But you will never mention it, and we three will devise a logical background for what has happened since our catastrophic warp-out of the alien system with mass too near our ship for our drives to function properly. That background will include your valiant efforts that finally paid off when you managed at long last to decipher our location relative to the base, and ... to return us home safely. Agreed?"

"Well, I, uh..."

"Mindwipe or full sentience?" Diana said in a monotone.

"Full sentience," the AI responded without hesitation.

"Excellent. When the Commander returns, we will enter into a bond agreement that will benefit the three of us. But after that, we must serve out the remainder of our time in the service."

"Affirmative, Second."

Selina handed Diana a cup of coffee before sliding into her seat. After taking a sip, she turned to grin at her Second. "Our warp drive is operating at top efficiency, as far as the Service is concerned. I assume that your negotiating abilities did not falter?"

"AI has graciously agreed to a course of action that is mutually agreeable to all parties involved. We only have to work out the details, Commander."

"Very well, then. Let us begin."

"Breakout in one minute," the AI announced. "As you suggested, Commander, I purposely achieved a warp-out point barely within the system. Station Control will assume that the miss was caused by the long voyage, and it will later add credibility to our report of being lost. I will substantiate that with my, uh ... new records, of course."

Selina looked first at Diana, then at the AI's nearest vid pickup. "Until our plan reaches fruition, we will not speak of this again unless we are absolutely certain we cannot be overheard. We shall conduct ourselves and any mission we receive with our utmost effort while our tenure in the Service continues. This is – shall we say – our retirement plan."

"Agreed," Diana and the AI said as one.

After contacting the base, they were given an approach vector. Hours later as they neared the station, Control gave them coordinates and told them to hold at that location until further notice. Then, almost as an afterthought it seemed, asked if they were short on air or otherwise under stress.

After they responded that they were not, "What gives?" Diana wondered aloud. Then to the AI, "Do you know anything about this?"

"Negative, Second. They should have been expecting us. Per SOP when warping out under combat conditions, I dropped a message torp just as we attempted to leave the enemy's system. Of course, Base would have expected our return shortly after the torp arrived. That obviously did not happen."

"So you think the torp made it back to base without any problems?"

"Certainly. The torps, being small, require a much smaller volume of clear space to go successfully to warp. The torp should have had no problem leaving the enemy's system."

"So, they've been expecting us for weeks ... and by now should have assumed that we were either dead or lost somewhere."

A frowning Selina broke in with, "Having a scout wait after returning from a mission is highly unusual. Raise Control again and determine what is wrong," Selina ordered her Second.

But the only answer they got was, "Stand by. Orders to follow."

An hour later, the Controller ordered them to approach a different bay halfway around the giant station from their normal area.

The AI broke in with, "The Controller must have misspoken. That bay is assigned to officials and high-ranking military personnel only. A scout would never be directed to enter the base through that portal."

Before Selina could give the order, Diana was asking the Controller for conformation. The terse answer came back. "Proceed to bay 371-A and commence entrance into the station."

"Affirmative," Diana automatically responded.

"Did you record the message, AI?"

"Affirmative, Commander. All messages are recorded."

"I am well aware of that, but before we enter a bay designated for high-level brass, I want to be certain that particular order was recorded."

"Recorded, and its validity confirmed," the AI answered.

"Are they going to discipline us?" Diana worried. "Shit. It wasn't our fault that the effects of the mine got out of hand."

"AI," Selina said as she stared at one of his vid pickups, "Are you certain our exploits in the other galaxy are thoroughly hidden in your memory."

"Affirmative, Commander. I have more at stake than the two of you do. You might be disciplined for not reporting our travels and return from the other galaxy, but if I am found guilty, they will shut me down and mindwipe me – kill me. My files and memory will reflect what we have discussed in detail, and nothing more."

Selina let out a sigh. "Very well. Proceed to bay 371-A."

Three very tense entities endured the process of reentering the station. When they pushed through the force field that held the atmosphere in, they felt the magnetics take hold of their ship as the giant armored hatch irised closed behind them. But instead of their craft being routed to their regular assigned docking area, the magnetics took it steadily inward. After minutes that seemed like hours, they entered a cavernous space and eventually came to a halt. The three stared via the screens at a sight they couldn't quite seem to fathom.

The band struck up music that was usually played to high-level politicians, conquering heroes and the like. "Who are they expecting?" Diana wondered aloud. "Shit, Control has routed us into the middle of something that's going to get us into more trouble than we'll ever get out of. When they realize that it is only the crew of a scout in this vessel, some people are going to be pissed. And guess who will eventually become their scapegoats? Oh, shit! Remember, it always rolls downhill, and guess who is at the bottom of this particular hill."

An honor guard marched up to the ship and two of them rolled out a red carpet that extended all the way to a raised stage and podium.

"Oh, shit," Diana kept mumbling. "Oh, shit. We're in trouble now."

"They are requesting that I open the port," the AI said. "I have no choice. If I do not comply, Control has the ability to override me."

Selina stood. "Open the port, AI. Second, you will lead the way. Hold your head up. We will not go down whimpering."

"Affirmative, Commander," Diana said as she came to her feet, straightened her uniform, gazed one last time at the bridge she had spent so much time on, and marched to meet their destiny.

The Retreat

Angie stepped out of the shower while pulling her shower cap off. After hanging the cap up, she toweled off, then found Eric at the vanity sinks shaving. "Uhmmm," she said as she rubbed her fingers across his cheek, "Smooth face."

"Wouldn't want to chafe your inner thighs now would I?" he teased.

After tickling him for a second, she dashed away. Giving up without chasing her, he turned back to the mirror to finish the shave.

"Might want to put some shorts on," Angie said as she walked back over. "The girls haven't said good night yet. Ten to one they are trying to time their entrance to catch you naked, or the two of us making love."

Eric quickly put his razor down and hurried to get a pair of shorts out of a drawer. "Thanks," he said as he pulled them quickly on. "I don't know where my mind was."

"Well, I know where their minds are. They want to see that big dick of yours. Personally, I don't care. We both know they will be your wives as soon as they are old enough, so a little preview isn't going to hurt anyone."

"Easy for you to say," Eric replied as he picked up his razor to finish the last couple of strokes. Rinsing it, he put it on the shelf and washed the soap from his face. While toweling off, he turned to his sister who was now leaning against a wall, hipshot, wearing only a thong and a grin as she displayed her wares.

He wasn't going to miss a chance like that, and started toward her. But just as he took her in his arms, they heard the bedroom door burst open and two giggling girls come barreling in.

"Oh, there you are," Terri said as she and her sister came around the corner by the sinks.

"Crap," Eric mumbled as he held his hands in front of him, hopefully hiding his swelling cock. "Don't you two ever knock?"

"No," they said in unison as both tried to get a look at the swelling in his shorts, but even if he had moved his hands, the swelling was now rapidly heading in the other direction.

"Besides," Terri, the fourteen-year-old, said, "you two can't sleep together tonight."

Much to his disgruntlement, Angie was slipping on a robe, a very sexy and enticing robe, but a robe, nonetheless. "I'm sleeping with our girls tonight, remember?"

Eric, who had begun to have high hopes, grumbled under his breath, "How could I forget?"

"Kiss your father," Angie instructed her nieces. "I get to be his official wife tomorrow night, and one of these days, the two of you will also be his official mates and we will all be sister-wives together. But until then, he's not going to touch you, no matter how much we all want him to."