“Was I too rough? Is that why’re you’re so quiet.”

“Kimber, honey. I came so hard I fell asleep. I literally asked you to be rough with me. What’s bringing this doubt on?”

I can’t have sex without guilt? I went in thinking I owed it to you and then completely forgot and just growled and bit and scratched my way to an orgasm? I don’t know Zia. What possible reason could I have?!

“I just feel that I took, and took, and didn’t offer much back.” Zia grabs my face and pulls my chin up towards her.

Staring into my eyes with her fierce green and yellow irises she lets me stew in her stare. “Honey, you need to let go of what you felt with other partners. I am vocal and I will tell you what I need. I told you what I needed and you delivered. Getting what you want too is just part of how this is supposed to work, Kimber. You don’t need to feel guilty for having needs.”

I curl up in shame and try to burrow into the mattress. She did notice.

“If you need more after care, I can work on staying awake to care for you if that’s what you need.” She slowly pulls me on top of her, enveloping me in an all-consuming hug.

“Can you run your fingers through my hair until I fall asleep?”

She smiles sweetly at me, before doing as I ask. I nuzzle my head into her chest and tuck my hands into her waistband before dozing off into oblivion.

***

Ten days seems so fast when looking at it from the end. I look into those entrancing eyes and glance at those supple pink lips and know I’m going to miss them. Zia and I spend maybe ten minutes alternating between staring at each other and kissing before someone shouts behind us.

“For fucks sake, kids. You have comms that traverse the three thousand plus lightyears you’ll be apart, and it’s a single gateway away. If you two don’t cut this shit out, I’ll give Kimber a series of quests to finish before she can see you again!”

My brow furrows in disbelief. I turn to Zia, “Could she do that?”

My girl nods, “Can and will. She’d somehow figure out how to make it take three weeks longer than whatever plans you have and make it just a little worse.” She turns me and shoves me forward with a pat that cupped my butt. I shoot a scandalous look at Zia who just waggles her eyebrows at me.

“Smart decision.” Penny says before grabbing my hand and sending us through the vomit inducing space between for a moment before we re-appear at my Hospital.

Penny seems fine when we arrive, but I puke, as I apparently do. Luckily the Empress speaks to fill the air.

“Kimber, I appreciate that you and my daughter are happy, but you can’t get consumed by it. You’ll lose a part of yourself in the adjustment and again if you suffocate her.” She sighs, injects meds into my neck and props me up against the half-wall.

“I just see how fast you two are going and it reminds me of my first wife. I’m still a bit in love with that bitch, but she and I were toxic levels of infatuation with each other. Don’t make each other everything.”

“I respect you Penny, but why tell me instead of your daughter?”

She snorts at that, “She’s too much like me and has a hefty helping of defiance in her. You have more self awareness than I did at your age, so I’m giving this burden to you.”

I hear the sincerity, but it’s hard to believe that someone so powerful would admit to having flaws. Whether it’s true or not, I know Zia compares herself to a goddess amongst humans.

“Just, just know that she loves you Penny, and you make her feel inadequate with all of the things you excel at.”

The Pixie laughs at my analysis before reigning it in. “That’s the thing, Kimber, she doesn’t realize that the task of catching up to me is improbable. I am for all intents, immortal. I will progress until I tire of it and Zia is bound by being an ordinary symbiote user. You and I don’t have those boundaries as Ordinal Beings. My advice to you is to keep advancing, but never outpace your perception of yourself. Once you lose confidence in your ability to dominate, you will stagger, and you may fall.”

I stare at the most powerful person in the Human sphere and try not to let my jaw drop. “I’ll try, Your Eminence, may your reign be eternal.”

“You little shit.” She reaches for me and I dance away with a giggle. She cheats with a teleport and tickles me into oblivion.

“You’re pretty cool, Penny. I’ll send you, or the head of Astoria Chem a visa request when those Venezuelans come in. Do you need me to find factory staff too?”

She shakes her head. “I need you to provide a lead chemist, and preferably a plant manager.”

“Copy that partner.” That gets a laugh out of the Pixie.

“Okay, partner. Remember you owe me some explosive recipes.”

“Yeah, yeah. I don’t have the process diagramed. I’ll have it to you in a few days. Might be faster if I get a Shuttle recommendation from an expert.” I grin at the VIP that teleported me to my lobby.

“Now there’s a proper negotiation.” She smiles her shark grin at me and Tova confirms she sent me a list.

“Is this the mysterious arms dealer you’ve been keeping from me?” My Sapphic assassin mentor says as she traverses the lobby from the elevators. “Kimber has talked a lot about you.”

Penny scans her from head to toe, then back again. “You have the energy of my ex.” She turns back to me, “Stay in touch, partner.” She disappears into nothing but air.

“Oh damn, Marci, that was not a compliment.”

“Ya think? Squirt.” She rushes and picks me up in a hug, and very creepily smells my hair? “Sorry, you disappeared and I couldn’t quite trust the messages.”

“I missed you too, and I’m sorry I disappeared, but as you can see, my business partner can teleport.” I shrug and she’s still holding me off the ground. How strong is my adoptive sister? “I tiered up and got a girlfriend!”

She snorts at that and sets me down. “Heard about the tier up from Dani. Things are kind of all over the place and it’s been hard to keep my shit together after you disappearing. I know, I know. You messaged me. But Paolo was not appeased and Bev is flipping out about the Venezuela missions.”

“Did you at least get your debts deferred?”

She sighs and tugs at her lapels to ‘straighten’ them. “Yeah. The LA gangs are off our back. A Reno crew and a Sacramento crew are still on our asses, but appeased for the moment.”

“Okay, well I won’t fix those, but I can help with your settlement efforts up north if you’re still trying. I also have a new venture off-planet if you have capable people that need to disappear for a while.”

Marcella grabs my face suddenly, studies my face and stares into my eyes for a whole minute before letting go. “You’re saying some off-the wall stuff for someone who didn’t have a plan ten days ago.”

“An Astorian Chem company wanted in on my company Nova Chem. Built me a factory for a stake in my operation, and I agreed for some upfront cash and a rescue operation of some . . . people with first hand experience with the process.”

My mentor sneers, blanks her face, then laughs hysterically. Is she drugged?

“Sorry, sorry,” she waves, “it’s just you’ve addressed two of my problems by just being you. Any chance you’d be willing to give Hailey a job off-planet.”

“Not even a little. She can prove herself here before I offer her a job with less oversight.”

Marcella nods, “Bev has been bugging me, but you’ve got most of the opportunities right now. Side note, I would love to show you my ideas in Fallon, but that’s after I find a way to stabilize this Warram garbage. I’m not a real executive, Kimber. Managing masses of people and resources is not me.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Heh, it wasn’t me until last week. Nova Chem is now an inter-system company. I’m a Citizen and Camp Elsewhere will shortly be an Imperial allied settlement. Speaking of, I have settlement stuff to do before I find other uses for this money.”

“Kimber, when you said you’d help me setup a settlement, is there any chance you would run it?”

I tap my face in thought. There is one way, but would she be into it? “Sure. But it would be under an overarching alliance of settlements. I’m not stopping here, Marci. You’d have to find someone that would be willing to administrate or manage the settlement itself.”

The relief in her face is almost comical. “That I can do. The Health Club has a few people that are interested, and they would be thrilled to make the club a whole settlement up north.”

“Alright. We need at least one business, and a professional at least at Intermediate level.” I sigh, there’s so much to do right now. “Was there anything else? I should talk to Paolo and whomever the recruitment goon at Warram is.”

“The next batch is a little over a month away, I’ll let them know you’ll be looking, but it’s not tomorrow.”

We devolve into the business of meetings and logistics, topics which I am begrudgingly getting better at. Maybe I need an assistant, as Tova has clearly protested the position in an effort to be a collaborative partner—which she has been doing well at.

Speaking of whom, Tova reminds me of my desire to separate HQ and the factory and ancillary residences via a different utility. I buy another community utility with full services, including recycling of waste, to connect to our security services and HQ. Tova manages the re-routing of services in such a close space, while also planning for our fortress complex.

I order the first wave of the fortress, ensuring that the green space is added to the plans for first build. I don’t care how bad it’ll get messed up in future builds, I want it to be available. The watchtower plans also go through and the builder asks if we want standard, modular delivery, or full translocation services. I sign the contract for translocation services for the buildings of the watchtowers to be built and then placed via sector host.

“Tova, why am I spending this much on a Vegas settlement when I could put this anywhere?”

Nostalgia, duty, and autonomy I’d think. Imperial incorporation comes with additional rules. Not many, but Earth is essentially a lawless zone. You can establish your sense of Law and Order here, and then apply it to your class once you get to the next step after ‘self empowerment’.

Gods, thanks for the reminder. With Imperial buy in to my company, getting a girlfriend, and worrying about Marcella, I push my goal of being a sheriff-like person into the corner. Maybe I should reach out to the Sheriff’s office and let them know I’m interested in being a deputy. I look up the office contact, based out of Reno of course, and send off a note that I have a justice-based track and have some experience with it in Vegas.

Satisfied that I actually did something about it this time, I say goodbye to my mentor and walk toward the Laundromat. Though the walk is short, I see that Tova’s deconstruction drones are using the mining equipment we purchased to clear unusable or unwanted buildings. Tova assures me that the recovered materials can be fed to my new fancy fabricator to make some fun things. Now that I think of it, I’m a little cross I didn’t start any projects.

When we get to the laundromat, I can tell something’s off. The loading door in the back is pried up in a spot and there are no guards outside of the building. Tova, can you connect me to the security system we installed?

Most of the Cameras are shot out, but the authentication system on your production run can see infra-red and high contrast black and white.

I see a side-by-side display of the two and the blown-out figures coupled with the heat signatures tell me there are entirely too many kids in my manufacturing plant. I search the exchange for the self-adjusting combat suits that one could order if I didn’t want to pay for a custom fit and buy one immediately. I pay the transfer fee and put that bastard on. It comes with a shield emitting headband and slots in the belt and back to insert battery connections for the suit’s aux functions. I fill them with crystals and ensure that I have an aetheric shield to cover the ballistic material. My pistols snap to magnetic holders on my thighs and I’m ready to go.

I enter the building and a dozen teens with guns turn to point their guns at me. I see one of my security staff holding a wound, Paolo looks like he’s been beaten up, and Bev’s been tied to a support pillar with murder in her eyes.

“Kimber finally returns.” A boy I haven’t seen in at least a year comes forward.

I’ve seen some of his kids and teens, they clean the manufacturing area, but never him. He looks as smug and confident as I remember his face. Couldn’t tell you his name though.

“It looks like you’re having a party without me, Billy. Doesn’t look you’re being very nice with the guests, though.”

“What the hell are you talking about. They’re hostages. And my name’s not Billy, its . . .”

“What the fuck do you want Billy?” I interrupt him.

“MY NAME IS JUAQUINE!”

“You’re name’s going to be meat if you don’t cut to the chase.” Tova, why aren’t my turrets on?

It seems that as settlement members, they are not immediately flagged as hostile. Should I flag all of the current trespassers as hostile?

Please do. Wait to activate.

“You haven’t taken very good care of us, Kimber. And we can only take so much destitution and hunger before we have to act.”

“How are you fucking hungry? I gave every resident of this settlement a daily ration allowance. Three fucking rations a day. What the hell have you been doing with that food? Not only that, your ten kids that clean my place get two credits a piece per week. Now, if they’re not seeing the money, I get that, as you insisted it be paid to you, but they should be able to access their rations . . . unless you didn’t tell them about it.”

He smiles and chuckles, “Look at the lies she spins to try and gain control. Are we going to accept these lies?” no one answers. “No we are not.”

“Fine, I’ll entertain this lunacy for a moment. So, you say I am responsible for taking care of your kids, and now you. If that is the case, what would you like the care to look like?” Take the bait you arrogant asshole. Admit that you expect me to take care of you and your kids, to do the job you swore to do as a part of the Cooperative.

“We want a weekly stipend. All of us, not just the ten that work here. You will arrange training for the work that the initialization-age residents desire, and you will unlock the Exchange console for more than food.”

“I accept the responsibility, but not your demands.” A golden scroll drops into my hand and my lips curl into a wicked smile. I test a few settlement menu items and it allows me to downgrade ‘Billy’s access to the same as the rest of his kids. Fantastic. “I didn’t know you could modify the exchange permissions in your building. Rest assured that error has been fixed.”

“As for your other, requests. I will pay anyone that wants to work and I will train them in that work that they do for me. They can use the funds they earn to pay for instruction in a trade of their choice. Not all trades are available at the moment, but I am working on it.

“Lastly, if you want an unrestricted kiosk, there are several in the city, I can tell you where they are. You are currently showing me that you are not responsible enough for easier access to weapons and technology.”

“I’m not fucking around, Kimber. You will succumb to my demands.” He stares at me intently with a dual tone to his words.

I feel a spectral hand worm its way around my skull, searching for access to my brain. The Empress should come down hard on this mind-fuckery business. Billy’s no match for Vasily, however, and I shot that fuck while he was trying to dominate my mind.

I growl at him, “Cut that shit out. Your mind bullshit is no good here.”

“Do as I command!” He shouts, and blood starts seeping into the whites of his eyes.

A stab of pain near my motor cortex almost makes me drop to my knees. It takes no effort at all to take offense at the foreign presence under my skin and my hand snaps up, pistol in hand and pull the trigger on the way up. If he’s lucky, it’s my .38 that I pulled. I order a pain relieving pen and summon a stim chew from Zia’s ring. My heart rate slows from [Mechanical Calm], even though the chew isn’t a caramel, they still taste good. As my headache clears, I realize I’m on my back, bullet fragments surrounding me and my suit’s energy down fifteen percent. I sit up with both pistols in my hands.

“You have one last chance to drop your weapons before I tell the turrets to target all intruders. Even the ones without guns.” All but the closest teen with a gun drop their weapons. I put a bullet in his head as I stand. “Alright. Thanks for not making that messier. Now all of you please, go back to your building, visit the kiosk and withdraw your rations, and you should have access to up to three days of back rations. Tomorrow, we can speak about jobs, training, and other community things.”

None of them move. Most of them are looking at the two teens I killed instead of moving.

I touch each of their bodies and send them to storage. “Okay, now, I’m still very angry that you shot and roughed up my staff. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” Almost on cue, the turrets descend and start whirring up to speed. Little shits scurry through the doors as fast as the traffic jam will let them.

Good timing Tova. She chuckles in my head.

I cut Bev loose and jam a few t-1 meds into the fallen guard’s neck in hopes he’s not too gone to recover. Bev won’t let me close to Paolo at all, so I slam a can of rejuvenation paste into her hand and scream in her stupid face.

I chat up the other guard, okay, in my mood it’s mostly an interrogation; and find out the kids got the drop on him and took his gun from him. I explained to him that I can hear and see lies and ask if he wants to revise his statement. He stutters and shakes his head. I tell him to find a different job.

“Did you have to be so hard on the guy?” Bev opens her mouth without thinking.

“Bev, the man just lied to my face about how he was surprised and made weaponless.”

“He just saw you execute two kids.”

“One, fuck you. One was trying to mind rape me and the other already shot me. And two, if the guy I pay to perpetrate violence on intruders because I make an assload of drugs can’t handle seeing a few gunshot victims, then he doesn’t belong here anyway.”

“Kimber, this isn’t the way to . . .”

“Bev! I swear by the Empress’ pregnancy cankles,”

\My fucking what?!\ Penny intrudes.

“That if you try to instruct me right now, we’re going to have a different conversation than either of us intended. Tend to Paolo, do some life affirming activities, and get some sleep. We can talk tomorrow when things calm down a little.”

/Just a harmless swear, Penny./

\Harmless? I invite you into my home, and introduce you to my daughter, and you thank me with slander?!\

/Jeeze, you’re super hot, okay? Though sexy panther lady would probably still sex you if you had cankles/ I can’t help but snicker.

\I’m putting a skunk’s ass gland in your lab for that. Brat.\

I am tempted to give a snarky response, but it would take her zero time to do it.

/You’re a lovely person, and a good mother, and I’m sorry I insinuated you have cankles./

\Better. Zia misses you already.\

/Same./