Chapter 12

We got back to the hotel with no problems and found our purchases waiting at the front desk for us. We hauled them up and Katherine insisted on hanging up all my stuff. I don't think she trusted me. I was looking at all the clothes that I now had and realized I was going to need a suitcase or garment bag, something else I had never owned.

I grabbed a smaller bottle of water and settled in the seating area, looking out the window at the structures of the middle layer of the station. Sam was floating near me looking out also.

"Max, thank you."

"For?"

"Everything. I've just realized how very lucky I am to have you as my friend." She didn't say 'owner' but 'friend'. I nodded. She knew me better than anyone and knew I didn't see her as property. "That talk with Nola made me realize it. I don't think any other AIA is as lucky as I am. I know I haven't met any that are happier."

"I've known how lucky I am for a while, Sam. I've said it before; you're the best friend I have."

"Yeah, but maybe not for long."

I turned my head to Sam. "You will always be my best friend, Sam. They may become just as important to me, but they will be in that place right beside you, never over you. I love you and you know it."

Sam smiled at me. "I love you too, Max."

We settled back in companionable silence and looked out the window together.

Later, the ladies settled into the couches in the seating area and relaxed for a bit. Mari broke the silence and asked "Were you really a wiz-kid in Privateer training?"

I scratched my head and thought a moment before answering. "I don't consider myself a wiz-kid. I know I wasn't the youngest."

"There're privateers younger than you?" Katherine asked in disbelief.

"Well, not recently."

"How long ago?"

"Couple of centuries ago," I said with a shrug.

"Pfft," Sam said. "Try closer to 600 years ago, Max, and that was only because back then Privateer training was only 2 years." She looked at the women. "Max was the youngest trainee, ever."

Everyone else stared at me for a while. Anna then wanted to know what training was like.

"Let's see. I can't tell you specifics because of non-disclosure. I can give a general overview of it though."

"Basically it was training us in everything that we might encounter. Battle tactics, weapons training, personal self defense. We learned to pilot our ships in simulators first and then the real thing. We'd stage mock battles, rescues, boardings, and searches. We learned how to take care of our ship's systems."

"A lot of it was psychological," I went on. "Weeding out those that wouldn't make it as Privateers. Some might make it in the military. Most wouldn't. We fall into this weird paramilitary area of the Empire. We as individuals have a lot of leeway in how we deal with situations whereas the military is hobbled with rules of engagement. We are very individually minded, we aren't part of a team or crew. We work best on our own. Yet we still answer to the Empire. It can give some people an almost vigilante mentality. That needs to be corrected or they need to go."

"That's about all I can say about it," I said as I finished up.

"That's a lot for a 13 year old, much less an adult," Anna observed. "And you never regretted it? Never regretted not having a childhood?"

"Not for a second. Yeah it was tough as hell and there were times where I wondered if I could make it. But I never regretted it. As for my lost childhood? I never had one to begin with. I was an orphan in an orphanage filled with more orphans. I was just a mouth to feed and a body to clothe. By becoming a Privateer, I beat the system that doesn't prepare us for the real world. She knows what I'm talking about." I pointed at Katherine who nodded.

"But enough of that. We need to come up with some preliminary plans for our trip to Prime. I have a feeling Philippe wants us gone in a few days and he wants to make sure we aren't going to do something stupid. Sam, is the room secure?" With Sam plugged into the hotel room's system, she could monitor the security devices that were embedded in to the rooms. I suspected since this hotel was used by a lot of government officials, they had a decent setup.

"As far as I can tell it is. I'm not picking up any indications that anyone is interested in us. And the windows are also anti-observation, no one can see in."

"Cool, bring up a map of the systems from here to Prime and add in systems out to 3 transit points. Highlight any system that has experienced pirate activity within the last year."

A map of dots representing systems and the connecting systems to the limit I set appeared in between the couches. About 150 systems were displayed with names floating over them. Pointing to a series of seven systems caused them and the lines representing the jump connections to have an added glow.

"That is the most direct route from here to Prime. All the systems are populated and fairly secure with a couple of exceptions. These two systems are within a jump or two of systems that have had pirate problems. It's also the most predictable path we could take."

The women leaned forward and looked at the displayed map. I could see that it took Katherine a moment to be able to figure it out, probably because she hadn't really used them before. Anna and Mari on the other hand seemed to have no problem; Mari because she had experience with these in her job and Anna because of her choice of majors in university.

Mari pointed to various other paths. Sam highlighted and colored them differently to keep thing simpler. We had a number of indirect options, some shorter, some longer. I started adding connections that would allow us to jog from one path to another, sometimes backtracking. We covered pros and cons of different systems and paths. Sam kept track and added information that she accessed from the station network.

When we had a good idea of which systems we could use, we had a list of about 35 different systems that we could travel through that would eventually lead to Prime in the next two to three months. Most of that was from being in jump space and traveling through systems with stops at Privateer HQs. I'd have to see if we speed that up some and for that I needed to talk to Philippe.

We called it quits after a couple of hours and decided to go to dinner. It was getting to be early 'evening', midshift was finished for the day and lateshift was at work now. The ladies stood up to get ready. I started to also but Katherine stopped me.

"It's going to take us a while. Why don't you relax for a bit and we'll tell you when to change."

"Change? Into what?" I asked her.

"Your suit."

I groaned. I didn't want to wear a monkey suit.

"Stop that. You look great in it."

They all left to primp and such. I tuned the holo-display to the news to catch up on what was happening in the Empire. In one system several pirates had attacked a security outpost, killing the entire crew before being run off by system forces. It was a fringe system so that wasn't a surprise. The fact that they went after an outpost was. There was nothing in it for them other to piss people off. They'd be lucky if the military wasn't called in to track them down and blow their asses off.

A corporate conglomerate was having a shit-fit claiming the council was stifling their business. What else is new? Corporations were always crying about the government either because of taxes, regulations, or watchdogs that wasn't letting them have their way. This was a pretty big bunch and I was actually surprised that the government wasn't giving them what they wanted like they usually did.

When the news started to go into the latest celebrity gossip I flipped the channel. I kept flipping for ten minutes until I turned the display off in disgust. What's the saying, 'A thousand channels and nothing on'? Good timing on my part because Anna and Katherine chose that moment to come out. I just about got whiplash from the double-take I did.

Both wore tight little black dresses, both different but both exceedingly sexy. Anna was in a sleeveless piece that started at the high in the neck, left her shoulders bare, and hugged her body all the way down to her thighs. Katherine's had barely-there sleeves that held the dress up and a plunging neckline that showed off her cleavage to nice effect. Her dress hugged her also to her thighs before flaring out a little. Each had low heeled shoes that did very things to their legs.

I stared at them for a moment before a coherent thought finally made its way to my mouth. "You two look fantastic."

Both smiled. "Wait until you see Mari."

"If she looks as good as you, my brain is going to fry."

"No such luck, Max. You'll just have to stare at them."

I turned my head to see Mari. She was in dark gray slacks that hugged her hips. Her blouse was black and she had a short jacket over it that matched her slacks. The blouse was open to her chest to expose a bit of cleavage. As tall and muscular as she was she still looked extremely feminine. I stared.

After a moment, she frowned a little. "What?"

"My brain's fried."

Mari smirked. "Good answer. We'll keep you. Now get up and get your suit on."

Grumbling under my breath about monkeys, I went into the bedroom and changed. I put on my shoulder rig, checked the stunner, and closed the jacket. When I came out a few moments later and all three inspected me. The suit jacket was a solid charcoal gray with narrow lapels that matched my trousers. The shirt was white with a mandarin collar and open at the neck and loose at the wrist. The salesman and Katherine had tried to get me to wear a collared shirt and tie and I refused. I do not like tight things around my neck, wrists, or ankles. After some bitching on their part and my steadfast refusal, they gave up and settled on this one. Both looked me over with reluctant approval, saying that I may have been right.

In the hotel room near the seating area, Katherine tugged and straightened my jacket and then pronounced me adequately attired for the evening.

Back in the lower layer of the station we didn't need to walk very far to the restaurant. Located in the central district it was very upscale and richly decorated. I would never have even looked at the place and I felt slightly out of place. Tables were covered in tablecloths and had lighting that mimicked candles lending to an intimate atmosphere. The booths around the edges of the room were paneled in local woods and stained a dark rich color. To one side, in what seemed to be a private room, a party was being held. Through the clear walls I could see a bunch of men laughing and holding drinks. To me it looked like a bunch of midlevel government types.

We were led to a table in the center of the room and seated. I would have preferred a booth but the ladies didn't seem to mind. I was seated with my back to entrance and looking towards the kitchen and what seemed to be a hall that led to restrooms off to the side. Mari was seated across from me and watched the entrance to the restaurant. A quick look around showed that the place did serve decent portions and not little artfully arranged showpieces. I picked up my menu tablet, looked at it, and set it down.

"Somebody needs to order for me. I have no idea what most of that is."

The ladies had an idea of what I did like and assured me that they would find something. We placed our orders and talked while waiting. Our meals arrived fifteen minutes later and we ate. I had some kind of spicy meat dish with potatoes and other vegetables along with a fresh green salad. I have to admit it was pretty good and satisfying. Desert was chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce. I'm not a fan of custards but chocolate pudding is something I enjoy.

The evening was uneventful except for one minor hiccup. During the main course a man passed us on his way to the restrooms. It was fairly obvious that he'd had a few drinks by the way he was carefully walking. He was also obvious in his staring at the women at our table. On his way back he stopped behind Katherine and started talking to the women.

"Hello, ladies. Would you care to join our party after you finish?"

Anna looked up at him and said pleasantly "Thank you, no. We have other plans," and went back to eating. The others just ignored him.

The man didn't take the hint or the liquid courage overrode his brain. "Ladies, I'm sure you can find a little time. Just a drink or two."

I've never been accused of being subtle. "Hey, Pinhead. I don't think the ladies are interested."

He looked at me and sneered. "And why would I care what you think, kid? You don't scare me."

I shook my head at the schoolyard mentality of the guy. "I'm not the one you should be concerned about."

"Oh? And who should I be concerned about?" That's when he made the mistake of placing his hand on Katherine's shoulder, his fingers inside the neckline of her dress.

Before he knew it, Mari had reached over and grasped his wrist. She then stood up and using her height and strength twisted the man's wrist to the outside, forcing his elbow inwards in a very painful manner. The people around us suddenly got very quiet.

"Nope," I said as I took a bite of potato, "each of these women are more that capable of kicking your stupid ass."

Mari stood over the man who was trying unsuccessfully to pull his wrist from her grasp. She just tightened her grip and ground the bones together with a slight smile on her face. When he stopped struggling she loosened the grip. Then in a pleasant voice while looking down at him from her greater height, she said "A bit of advice, little man: Keep your hands to yourself. It'll be less painful."

She released her grip and he snatched arm back, rubbing it with his opposite hand to return circulation and ease the pain. Then looking around and realizing that he was the center of attention of the restaurant, he quickly walked away in embarrassment.

I got up and reseated Mari. We then went back to eating as if nothing had happened. Soon after, the people continued eating and talking, throwing glances our way which we ignored. The rest of the meal passed with no interruptions. After dessert, Anna settled the bill and we returned to the hotel.

The women ordered a bottle of wine and while they waited, I took off the suit, hung it up, and hopped into the shower. I returned afterward in just a pair of shorts and a shirt. The women were standing near the windows and drinking wine.

I had Sam bring up the map again looked it over some more. I had a few ideas and wanted to make notes before I forgot about them. Mari joined us a little later after showering and changing into a pair of shorts and crop top. Anna and Katherine also had showered and changed, but decided to watch the holo-display but kept the volume down to allow us to not be distracted.

A couple of hours later we shut off the map. I composed an email to Philippe and asked if we could meet in two days and sent it off. I asked Mari if the morning workout was a daily thing which she answered with a big, evil grin on her face.

"OK, if that's the case I need to go to sleep soon. I also have that all day repair scheduled tomorrow and I'd rather not be pissing off maintenance with my bad attitude. You guys have any plans for tomorrow?"

They shook their heads. Anna told me "I thought we'd go with you and keep you company."

"You don't need to. It's going to be a boring day, lots of sitting and waiting."

"Not like we have any better offers at the moment."

I shrugged.

"Good. Now that that's settled, bed time." We kind of scattered then, Anna and Katherine to one bedroom and Mari to the other. I went the suite's door, made sure it was secured, and confirmed security systems were active on the comm panel next to it. I then wandered into the bedroom to wait on Mari. I gathered up my dirty clothes and when she exited the bathroom, I went in, tossed my stuff into the laundry chute, and then brushed my teeth.

I exited the bathroom only to have Anna and Katherine grab my arms and pull me to the master bedroom with Mari bringing up the rear. I guess they didn't want a repeat of the night before of me trying to sleep by myself in the spare room.

When we got to the foot of the huge bed, the women pressed in around me and started to rub against and kiss me. Mari, who was standing behind me, had slipped her hands under my arms and was caressing my sides while pressing into my back, dragging her nails gently along my ribs. Katherine and Anna were pressed to my sides and slightly in front, each running a hand along my chest and abdomen, kissing the sides of my face or licking my ears. Mari reached down, grasped my shirt and pulled it off over my head, tossing it to the side.

I was then turned around where Mari wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my face gently into her chest. I rubbed my face over her breasts and blew warm air through her shirt in the valley between them. My hands were under her shirt, caressing from her shoulders down to the waistband of her shorts and back. I'd dig my fingers into her back and run them from the middle of her spine to just above her ass, massaging the muscles. She raised her arms and I pushed her shirt up. Once over her head, she took hold of it, pulled it the rest of the way off, and then rested her hands on my shoulders. I pulled back slightly and looked at her.

Her shoulders were wide and well defined. Her breasts looked fantastic to me, high and firm on her chest and capped with small, dark nipples. Below them her body was trim and smooth with hints of muscle definition and a waist that tapered then flared at her hips. To my eyes, she was the epitome of female fitness.