Chapter 16

"Amethyst Station, 'Shivari' is ready for departure," I said.

"Roger, 'Shivari'. Retracting transit shaft ... Retracted."

"Confirm transit shaft retracted. You can release docking clamps."

A few seconds later, "Docking clamps released. You are clear to maneuver to port side."

I tapped in the commands and our starboard thrusters gave a quick burst to slowly move us away from the dock. Once we were clear of the station with about 500m of separation I started turning us away. I applied short bursts of thrust to move us forward and in the direction I wanted to go. I needed a few more klicks of separation before I'd apply steady thrust to prevent the wash from toasting the station.

"Sam, take over engines."

"I've got engines, Max."

I watched the scanners and monitored systems. Sam could do the whole thing if necessary, but I liked to do some of it myself. After about five minutes Sam announced, "We are clear of Amethyst Station to apply steady thrust. Applying thrust, vectoring to plotted course." Our engines slowly increased thrust and we were brought about to the course I had plotted earlier. I watched our actual position slowly line up with the projected path until they merged. "On course."

"Increase to system speed."

"Increasing to system speed. Estimated time approximately 4.85 hours. Current estimate to Dawkins transit point 41.2 hours." We were lucky, Amethyst4 was currently on the correct side of the sun and we had an almost straight shot to the transit point.

Anna, Katherine, and Mari were all present on the bridge at various stations that were locked other than the display functions. They had all wanted to see the departure having never been on a bridge for one. Each had a holo-display showing a view of the outside from the ships perspective. I had warned them that it was actually kind of boring, a lot of sit and wait. That didn't bother them, Katherine had said. It was either on the bridge or in the cabin and here there was something to look at.

While I had some time before the next set of checks that I had to do, I decided to give them a rundown of some things I needed from them.

"OK, everyone, I need to set down some rules that you need to follow as best you can," I started. All of them looked at me and listened.

"First, if you see or hear the klaxon and see the lights flashing," I looked to Sam who, as we had planned on earlier, sounded and flashed the warnings, "I need you to stop whatever you're doing, secure anything that's loose in your area, then get up here and secured in those seats as fast as you can. If we get into a fight, the bridge is the most heavily shielded part of the ship."

"Second, if we're in a fight, I need you to not talk or ask questions unless it's absolutely critical. Sam and I are going to be working and we don't need the distractions."

"If I tell you to get into pressure suits, do not ask questions, just do it. I'll let you know why when I have the chance." We had stowed pressure suits in the bridge cabinets, each knowing where theirs were and hopefully minimizing confusion in an emergency.

"OK, the upper deck is pretty much open and you can go anywhere. If you want to look at the lower deck, ask and I'll go with you. The lower deck if full of ships systems and electronics. It'd be difficult for anyone but myself to get into those but I just want to make sure you don't get into trouble."

"There is a gym next to the galley. Not as well appointed as the one back at the hotel and kind of small but it's not bad either. Two people at once in there shouldn't be too bad, three if one is on the treadmill. I'd suggest using it every day; it'll break up the monotony. I use it twice a day sometimes."

"The extra cabins are there for use also if you want alone time. I'll be using one when I do some studying. Any questions?"

"Do you need us to help with anything?" Anna asked.

"Probably not. None of you are probably qualified in basic ship maintenance but if I do need help with something, I'll let you know."

"Anything for entertainment?" Katherine asked with a smile.

"I think we can find something. I have a bunch of books, movies, comic collections, games, texts, in the ship's library. Just ask Sam. She'll also try to download any 'Net sites while in system if you want. Just point her to them. Anything else?" When they shook their heads, I went on. "OK, if something comes up, ask. If I think of anything, I'll let you know. I'm not going to even pretend I know everything, ferrying people for long distances is new to me and I know that I have lots to learn."

"So you can hang out here or wander the upper deck," I told them. "I have a few more things to do for the next couple of hours so I need to concentrate on that. Go ahead and talk to Sam if you want also, I'm sure she'd appreciate it."

All decided to stay on the bridge and watch or talk to Sam. I ran systems checks, double checking any system that had gone through repair to make sure they were functioning correctly. If anything decided to go tits up, I hoped to catch it in system and not in jump. When I completed systems check, I left Sam in control and inspected the upper deck, looking for anything out of place or loose. In the hold, I made sure all lockers and cabinets were still locked and closed. I went down to the lower deck and continued my inspection, again making sure things were secured.

When I got back to the bridge to do a status check, only Katherine was there and she was looking at the display of the ship and surrounding space while talking quietly with Sam who was standing next to her. It threw me seeing Sam somewhere other than where she'd been projected for the last year and a half since I'd had my ship.

It'd been several hours since I'd eaten and I was starting to get hungry. "You guys wanna go to the galley?" I asked.

Katherine nodded. As we headed there I looked in the cabin the women and I were sharing. Anna was sitting cross-legged on the bed, a tablet in front of her while reading something.

"Food?" I asked her.

She hopped off the bed immediately and walked over. I asked her where Mari was. "I think she's in the gym."

Anna and Katherine went into the galley and I looked in the gym. Mari was there and looking over the equipment. She looked at me and said, "You have a decent set up. A little tight, like you said, but I think we can manage. She looked over to my heavy and speed bags and noticed something. "You chained the bottom of the heavy."

I nodded and grinned. "You won't have to worry about me knocking you teeth loose," I quipped. She gave me a dirty look. "Actually, it's more for zero-g consideration. This way it isn't floating about loose. It's still got enough play for me, though."

"It's too bad we don't have any place to practice self-defense. The equipment in here can't be moved and there're no open areas."

"Well, we'd need the pads first and floor mats. I suppose if we had that equipment we could use the hold. We may get cargo at some point but I'm sure we could manage something. Let's check if there's a sports supply at Dawkins and see if they have anything." I then asked if she wanted lunch and she nodded.

Anna and Katherine were waiting for us before getting their food while chatting with Sam. When we all grabbed what we wanted we sat at the table and talked. It was very different for me compared to what I was used to on redeployment or on my way to the sector I'd patrol for weeks. It was going to take me a while to adjust. I just hoped that when we separated I'd be able to get back to my customary mindset.

Yes, I was still going under the assumption that I'd drop them off on Prime and get sent to another system. I didn't want to assume otherwise; I'd be setting myself up for disappointment. It would hurt, I knew it would, but I couldn't stop what I was feeling for them.

After eating, I went back to the bridge and did my checks. I settled in and did some reading, occasionally looking over monitors. A few hours later, I changed into some workout clothes, grabbed a bottle of water, and hit the gym. Since the attack back on the station the day before screwed up our plans, we'd missed the morning workout we'd planned on. I did a combination cardio and light workout and some time on the heavy bag.

As I left, Mari was leading Anna and Katherine and headed into the gym. They asked when I wanted dinner and I told them whenever they were ready. After a shower I'd be on the bridge until then.

I was hanging from a chin-up bar that I'd installed when Anna came and found me for dinner. She did a quick double take. "I was wondering what that was for."

"Yeah, when I don't want to leave the bridge but need to do something, I do chin-ups and pull-ups or sometimes just hang out," I said with a grin. She stuck her tongue out at the weak joke.

We walked to the galley and I stopped in a little confusion. The table had been set with plates, utensils, and drinking vessels. Food was already in large bowls or on serving plates.

They saw the confused look on my face. Katherine realized why first. "You've never had a family style meal." She, who had lived in an orphanage herself, recognized this.

"No. It was always free-for-all at the orphanage and in training."

So began my first lessons in etiquette. I'm not a barbarian by any means but there were things I'd never experienced. They were patient in explaining what some families expected in table manners though for the most part the women tended to be pretty informal when they ate at the family estate. They also talked a little about formal dinners. I hoped to never to go to one. I didn't understand the need for multiple utensils for different servings which, to me, just made for more work for the people who cleaned up after.

After we cleared the table, we sat and talked for a while. I then went to a spare cabin and did some studying. Sam reminded me a few hours later that I needed to run the nighttime checks before bed and I went about them. After confirming the scanners were clear and all systems checked I headed for my cabin.

No one was there so I stripped down and put on a pair of shorts. I hopped into one of the shower closets, did my nightly cleanup then exited the closet.

The first thing I noticed was the cabin lights were dimmed. The next thing was that Anna, Katherine, Mari, and Sam were seated on the bed and waiting for me. The three physically present women were dressed in loose nightshirts and probably not much else. It took me a second to remember what Anna wanted to do and I immediately started to get hard.