“Mel, my life is ridiculous, why would I try to anticipate any of this bullshit?”
“I don’t know, Empress, perhaps you have responsibilities?”
“Would, the Empress’ consort be referring to carnal relations, or matters of the Empire?”
While anger looks good on Melissa, this is rage. Rage is ugly on everyone.
“Are you kidding me?! We’ve been here for more than a week Pen, where’s the intimacy?”
I smirk with a sneer, an expectant malice, “what do you mean, Mel, is cuddling and familiar groping not intimate?”
“It’s not enough!” She yells.
Oh, there will be no more of that, Melissa Hunsaker. “If that intimacy is not enough, perhaps it is time to consider what punishment is appropriate for taking advantage of me and betraying my confidence? Or more to the point, what my comfort is worth to you?”
“Are you going to hold that over us forever Penny? Because that’s not a workable relationship.”
“You’re right Melissa. It’s not. But the fact remains, the only thing I’ve done to ‘punish’ either of you, is to not restore my confidence in you treating my emotions with respect. But that’s less of a punishment than a consequence, love. I don’t owe you trust Melissa. You took that trust from me. From yourself. I owe you nothing but what you’ve shown since then. Entitlement doesn’t look good on you.”
We have a few parts left in the ansible to set up before we leave, and I have already decided to be petty as fuck.
We finish the ansible, and she’s mad but operating toward the plan. I build a barracks and she questions it, but not much. I provide food and water rations for a month and she finally realizes.
“You’re leaving me here?”
“I don’t want to. But if all you have to add to our civilization right now is pettiness and resentment, then you need to stay here for a month until we come back. You’ll have a lab to work on and everything.”
“If you leave me here I’ll never forgive you.”
I want to toss that ultimatum in her face so fast it hurts my arm already. “I don’t want to leave you here, I just want you to not pretend this is not just a glorified travel voucher. I want you to realize that I’m still hurt and that you are not entitled to me.” I sigh at her indignant anger.
“Do what you want Melissa. But don’t pretend that you’re entitled to my pussy.”
She underestimated the problem because of your efforts to preserver your sanity.
Tessa, really not the time, hon. I put a count-down on the ship and set it for 6 hours.
“Do you and Ophie have enough data on the high-power array to just jump back to Astoria?”
No, but a few medium jumps past Moiriax and the remaining large jumps toward Astoria should do be sufficient.
Thanks Tessa. If you need me for anything, I’m going to hate create.
***
Do you want to talk about this?
Not really Tessa. This goes back to things I shouldn’t have learned from Earth diplomacy.
You don’t think that this is an important issue for the Empire?
Tessa, if things get this bad, my advisors have already failed, or our situation has progressed to “Dire” entirely too quickly. She gives me a whining tone, but I know that it means reluctant acceptance. I feel guilty because Tessa’s conscience is not tainted by the perception of humanity as mine is.
/Mel, we’re leaving. T-10 minutes. Warp test trajectories are reviewable./
/Copy, Empress./
Ugh, Andromeda. This is going to be a trial worthy of Hercules. Now that she’s reminded me. Update all ships, uniforms, and equipment. Astorian Imperial is the new standard.
Would you like to publish the Imperial Standard Calendar and Timekeeping to the Supercluster?
Our Imperial Majesties command it. Tessa and I chuckle that our Imperial “we” is a legitimate “we.”
Andromeda acknowledges Astorian prefixes for fractional Marks above a half-Mark. Common corollaries have been filed with the Forum. Astorian Standard Time is now registered as a Trading Timekeeping Metric. The V’tek Collective have acknowledged AST as a Collective time existence. You have three pending Mining and Excavation interests in Moiriax.
Tell interested parties that Moiriax is closed for corporate interests pending a two-week review of proposed interests and returns and forward all future considerations for Mercantile Visas to the Minister of Commerce. Tessa pings in the affirmative and minutes later, so does Katie.
I enter the Imperial System Management interface that Mercantile Visas last five quarters for a quarterly ‘go, no-go’ viability check. Six Imperial months tax free on network purchases.
/I have changes, but the structure is appreciated./
I ping Katie to go nuts and earn us money.
/Mel, it’s time to go back./
/You sure you don’t want to dig a hole and bury me?/
/You’d be far less cuddly cold and dead. I want cuddles from you Mel. Kisses and mild groping area also on the table./
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
I hear nothing back. Not for an hour at least, but suddenly I get pinned to my seat from behind with a hug that threatens to crack my ribs. Jeebus, when did she get so strong.
“You still love me right?” She searches for a patch of skin to connect to, and she pokes a finger into my belly. I want to laugh but I hold it in.
This is a hard situation to own up to, so I go simple, “Yeah, Melissa, I still love you. But we’re still in a shit position. I will get past this.”
She sneaks a whole hand on my tummy and just holds me and cries. I pat and hold her hand with one, and finish running the warp program with my other.
“We can hold hands for the warp, hon. But you need to get geared up and strapped in.”
She finally realizes that I’m not going to wait for her, but I do care. Relationships are complicated. Melissa hops into the co-pilot and puts her helmet on.
“Ansible test, Lachesis. Galaxy fruit, my lap.” Tessa confirms the 50 AE credits for a single effing galaxy fruit and I full confirm that business. Imma need a bump and why not get a level.
“Tophie, execute advance warps, pause 30 on return warps. Tessa, auto realign backup aether. Authorize Imperial override Gamma Theta Zed.”
I get a ping and a warmup sequence.
***
/Advance sequence complete, return sequence in 30:00/
/Katie, return sequence in 30, expected entry in 2:45/
/Is that your fingers or my tongue?/
/4:25, post checks and shower?/
I get a string of pings that can be nothing but enthusiasm. Katie’s been consistent and respectful, she deserves a reward.
Horny ass Vampire.
“We must have two warps max left. What we looking at, and I need an hour or more between these large spans. I’m getting dizzy ladies.”
“How dizzy you want to be?”
“Cuddles and make-outs during recovery sound great!”
I amp up my enthusiasm. Mel doesn’t buy it.
After the first return warp of 100+ ly she holds me while I shiver and sweat trying to inhale my juice. After the long warp, she short-cuts the whole thing and feeds me half of my Galaxy fruit and holds me and kisses my neck and sooths my convulsions.
I’m going to die if I try to do it this way. What do I do Tess? What can I do.
You can study the Space mod you bought you absolute fool.
I deserve that.
How far are we hon, I can’t math right now.
Are you admitting that we too are in a relationship, Penny?
I hear a smirk and a chuckle from this bitch.
“Tessa, you are me. We are us. What the fuck else would we be? Or are you just jumping on the relationship roulette and seeing where you land?
Guilty.
I won’t deny you Tessa. If you want modules for us, I’ll deal. But if you want tech mods, I . . . I’m scared okay?
Your wives are right, you’re adorable.
I think you mean, Your Imperial Highness is ador able.
“Our”
I cackle at that inclusion.
“Take us into Mercy Outpost. Resupply and re-fit.”
The AI’s copy and kick a low-warp and a thrust maneuver that takes us two hours. That Mel and I spend kissing.
“I really want your armor off.” Mel posits.
I peal my chest armor off and my top rash guard and though she pouts, Mel appreciates an opportunity.
I’ve maintained a hard, no sex line in both relationships so far, but I know that won’t last. I’m ready to forgive because it hurts me to regret and revenge. I just want to love, and I, I am really tired of holding this fear and uncertainty within me. Fuck them, fuck the Universe, and praise me. This forgiveness is about me.
Mel finds release in my hand while sitting on my lap, screaming in time with the alarm that indicates final approach to Mercy. She slumps into my arms and whispers thank you as she kisses my neck. A few minutes later, I pick her head up, give her another kiss and tell her it’s time to get dressed. She pouts but with little conviction this time as she partially got what she wanted.
I still have my pants and boots on, so my getting dressed again takes little time. Mercy begins to loom large in the rear-facing cameras as we decelerate towards the Outpost. I see some new additions topside and have no doubt that Katie and Beecham have changed much around the facility.
I take control for the maneuvering into the hangar to make it feel like I did something, while noticing a whole second bay that has been mined out of the space with bits of metal arranged in a way that looks suspiciously like a shuttle frame akin to the one we built for the Copernicus. Beecham waves me in and directs me to spin the shuttle so that the tail is aligned with the storage area.
/You folks have sure done a lot of work. I like what I’m seeing./
/There are favorable implications. I prefer we talk more in person. Inside the Outpost proper./
/Copy Kay/
I lower the cargo elevator and hop out of the shuttle. The soil and vegetation samples can stay, but I need the food and juice supplies I overbought to come with me. I am hungry and aether-starved.
Beecham meets us in the hangar and chats while we walk, and I appreciate all the changes he’s done with a bonus and a fist bump. Kay greets me on the other side of the airlock with a kiss and has one for Melissa too, much to her surprise.
“What? I missed you both. We have a lot of work to do though. Do you need to rest?” She says this more with concern than accusation.
“I won’t be teleporting anywhere for a few hours, but I’m fine for talking and planning.”
“Excellent. I’ll start with items that concern Beecham and Eyes so they can move on with their days.” Seeing as we’re going to be here for a while, I excuse myself for a moment, change out of my EVA and into a newly minted AIN jumpsuit.
“Sorry for that, the EVA suit is a lot sweatier than the normal hab suits.”
Katie smirks and raises an eyebrow, probably envisioning our shower later.
“We hadn’t planned on this test installing our first ansible in Earth’s travel network. With this and our new cargo loadout, we can carry two of the remaining three sets of ansible parts with us. Shortening the time spent waiting for recharge time on our colony-sized ansibles considerably. What it doesn’t change, is the rest time Penny needs to recharge our aether stores for warping. Can you stockpile while we work on the elevator modification?”
“I can, yeah, and I had plans on eventually installing some passive collectors that I should be able to finish before we leave. Even though we won’t have to spend up to two weeks in Moiraix, I’ll need two days to make sure we stay shielded through the warps. I have ideas for that too, but no guarantees.”
“What does that mean for food? And us folk with the Symbiotes, will we starve out there?” Beecham worries.
“I’ll answer the second question. Trust in the logistics specialist for the first. Symbiotes will be fine orbiting Lachesis, she’s nowhere near as aether rich as Astoria, but the space around her has much more due to the massive gravity well of the gas giant Lachesis orbits. For safety reasons, we’ll have enough aether supplement juice onboard, but for the first leg, that’s largely to recover our warp capabilities.”
“What about the others? They all wanted to go home too.” Eyes minces his pinchers.
“Now that we know the timeline, I’ll send a broadcast to all active Astorian com signals that the shuttle will be leaving in 10 days. Which will be plenty of time for them to gather their belongings and arrange a pick-up.”
“In case either of you get a chance to talk with them, if they’ve decided they don’t want to go back, Astoria is a place for citizens, contractors, or Vassal States. Ten days should be enough time to contract with Consul O’Connell or set up settlement with me. Should they decide that none of the above applies to them. I will attempt to round them up and take them back to Earth as I had promised.”
“What if they don’t believe you intend to do as you say?”
I chuckle at that. “Then they are more afraid of what they would do in my stead than any action I have taken. I’m not going to waste any time trying to convince them of anything one way or another. I’m open to reasonable accommodations. But reasonable is determined by my trade and finance minister.” I point at Katie.
“The last item we have to talk about is the shuttle.” Katie says then tosses a light ball to Beecham.
He starts manipulating a hologram to show a blow-up of the planned work and some of the modified systems of the Outpost. “The vast majority of the equipment setup to work on something this large is up here. We’ve made sufficient modifications to atmosphere maintenance equipment and water storage to allow us to work up here for months if need be, but we don’t have the CE for those fancy devices that just create molecules that you need. But to start all that, we need a re-supply run on air and water before we shut the shuttle down.”
I immediately feel three times as tired when I think about running supply missions tomorrow, and even more drained when I’m reminded of the months spent doing that before Copernicus left us here.
“Pen, Ophie and I can pilot the shuttle if you want?”
“Andromeda, thank you Mel, I would love that. Can we swing by the lake on our way home? Soaking in those infused waters tomorrow would do wonders for me, I think.”
“Sure, we can do that, but we should hook up a cargo pod so I can make the first run when I come back here tonight. Katie said our Command Suite is all set up.”
I look between the two of them. They must have been talking. “If that’s the plan, who am I to argue?”
The gathered people look between each other and then start laughing at me.