Countryman leaned into the seat, wondering how he was even in the lounge. It had started with his young guest and by now he was very sure she was young. At least from his perspective. He sighed, as he tried to focus on the music and ignore the closet. The current music playing was an older song titled, ‘He stole my heart, no he really did.’

It was a somewhat racy love song. Well actually it was a very racy love song with lurid sex details included. One that several girls were dancing and singing along to, but that perhaps helped set the current mood. A mood that was far too sexual for his liking and it hadn’t even been on the list of planned songs. His mind raced as it recalled how things shifted. Naturally it had all started with their Wovnar guest. It seemed Linari had been looking to have some fun of a more sexual nature. Apparently cross-species mating was a perfectly normal thing with her people and they treated sex as a form of recreation. Countryman suspected that birth rates on their worlds must be high, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Presuming they could find the conditions to support their children. Food, toys, shelter and all that.

His gaze turned to Ruri who was seated nearby and he once again wondered about his own decision to delay. She was willing and he honestly had always wanted a daughter of his own. In some respects he had one in Richards, but it wasn’t the same. What Countryman truly wanted was one to raise as his own. Countryman hadn’t been there for Richards when she was little, as he had already left her mother’s life by then. After the whole cheating thing it would have been hard for him. It was hard to trust a woman who cheated on you, especially when you had been raised to be loyal to your mate.

Suddenly a naked figure plopped down next to him, “Is something wrong?”

He sighed, “You could say that. I’m listening to a sexy love song, in a room surrounded with girls, one of which is naked and sitting less than five meters from a closet with...”

“Oh? You can smell them too?”

He chuckled, “No, I have the misfortune of being able to hear them. I think that one is getting the better deal.”

“Yeah the girl smells rather disappointed, I think her man isn’t very good. I guess you have really good ears, though. I can’t hear them and I thought my hearing was good.”

“I’m cybernetically enhanced which includes a few sensory augmentations. Some of which come with the territory of my age.”

“Your age? Aren’t you only middle aged? Unless your kind age differently from Valorians...”

He laughed, “Sadly no, actually my appearance is from rejuvenation treatments. I’m much older than I look. The big two hundred will be coming up in a few years.”

She blinked, “Either you come from better genetic stock, or your medicine is way better than what the Valorians have.”

“A combination of both, actually. Remember the life extension notes I mentioned? We’ve been very successful in extending life via something we call nano-cellular treatments. We use nanites to repair genetic damage and degradation on the cellular level. Along with a host of other tasks as well that overall retard aging, but a more aggressive treatment can even reverse it to a degree. You can shave a few years off, but that’s about it.”

“We have something similar actually, we don’t use nano-technology for it though. On average we can live, barring accidents, to seven hundred years old. I myself am only around a hundred though.”

He chuckled, “I thought you were younger.”

She pouted, “Really? I come off that young?

He nodded, “You do, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

“I guess not. On a different note, why are you and your mate here? You two could join the...”

He sputtered, “My mate!?”

Ruri laughed nearby.

“Was I wrong? You two tend to emit pheromones every time you look at the other.”

Ruri spoke first, “Jac and I haven’t done that yet.”

“Oh? Why not?”

Countryman sighed, “Our circumstances sadly make things a little difficult, I’m the captain of the ship and leader of our little fleet. My duties keep me very busy, as for Ruri? Well I’ll let her tell you.”

Ruri shifted, seeming uncomfortable, “Uh, well I tend to, well, lose myself in my work.”

“She does, perhaps too much. I’m often looking out for her since if I didn’t she would forget food, water and even proper clothing.”

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“I understand that, my aunt is like that. She’d be lost if not for my mother, who is always looking out for her. I’ve even occasionally had to make sure she is okay. I can recall one time that she missed out on the harvest festival. Mom had been especially busy that day, so I ended up going to check on her. I found her in her workshop, dirty and so focused on her work that her lunch was cold.”

Countryman chuckled, “Well with Ruri it’s easy to know what to do. I had a brother like that. He was a real genius too, smarter than me.”

“Oh? Might be interesting to meet him.”

“I’m afraid he is no longer around.”

Ruri frowned, “You have a brother?”

Countryman sighed, “I had a sister as well, but I outlived both of them.”

Linari frowned, “Sad to hear that.”

“Don’t be, it’s been a very long time,” said Countryman as a door opened. A couple of ensigns with a large crate came into the room. He smiled, “Ah it seems the paste you wanted to look at is here.”

Linari stood just as the music changed. A new song that Countryman was familiar with, more so than most people. He didn’t write it, no ear for the art, but he did know the artist, or to be more accurate, he knew the artist. They were long gone now. As for the song, it was titled, “For He is Guilty” Countryman didn’t much like the song though, but that might be because he actually knew the history behind it. The young lady who wrote it had been feeling rather hurt at the time.

Linari didn’t seem to care much for the song though and instead went to inspect the crate. After a moment she looked up with a smile, “This is actually a decent nutrient paste. I’ve seen better, but it’s hard to get a mid-upper-grade paste in these parts.”

“I take it that means our product is valuable?”

“Quite. Most border worlds would pay well for a product of this quality. Typically around 50,000 Valorian credits for the canisters in this crate.”

He blinked, “Quite the value then, most ports don’t pay quite that well.”

He knew she wasn’t kidding since they had sold some surplus before and he had a fair idea of its value. The price she had listed was about five times what he could get in Valorian space for those canisters. In other words that was a decent payday for something they were able to produce here on the ship without much effort. Especially when one factored in that 10,000 credits a crate was the rate he got from industrial worlds that were often lacking in local agriculture. So he continued, “Might be worth stopping at your ports if I can sell food at five times the going rate.”

“Yes, well, we have more use for nutrient paste then the Valorians do and yours has a very high protein concentration. Which makes it more valuable for certain applications, such as growing starships.”

“Hmm, I see. Guess that means taste and texture won’t be much of an issue to you.”

“No, what do you use your paste for anyway?”

“Well if you stuck around for a bit, you might notice a lack of meat. We aren’t herbivores though, so that’s a bit of a problem. We use our nutrient paste in the manufacture of synthetic meat products, the best we can do for the issue. Right now anyway. If we had the space to spare, we would consider raising and keeping livestock to fill the gap, but we don’t. So this is what we use instead. I prefer real meat if I am being honest, but it’s a good thing I like fish. We have plenty of that, enough so that people are getting creative with it.”

“Ooh? Sounds interesting, maybe I can try something later?”

“I was planning a group dinner if the discussions took long enough. Only a poor host fails to feed their guests, I have several dishes planned already.”

“Sounds great, so in the meantime how about some fun?”

He knew what she meant, but decided to shift that elsewhere. “How about a game then? I know one that you shouldn’t find hard to pick up.”

“Oh? We could do that, what’s the game?”

“War Unending, Combat Evolved. It’s a highly realistic space combat simulator. It’s also a nice safe way for us to pit our skills against each other.”

“That might prove interesting, sure we can try it out.

----------------------------------------

Linari shifted a bit as her ears fell. On the screen she watched her ship break up as laser bolts slammed into the hull. Each one tore through plating, compartments and internals with impunity. It was surprisingly realistic in how her ship was breaking apart and then a moment later the familiar alien text in red letters popped across her screen. The ones she knew meant the game was over, even if she couldn’t read them. “I thought I had you this time!”

He chuckled, “That was a tight one, or so it seemed. In reality I simply had you exactly where I wanted you.”

She sighed, this was their fourth serious game and her fourth defeat. Her practice matches against the computer had gone much better. Aside from the disastrous first one where she was still getting a feel for the controls that Countryman had just taught her. Regardless, she was liking the game. “I noticed, when did you launch those torpedoes?”

“Basically right after the match started. A space battle is as much a test of strategy as it is anything else.”

“I think I understand. I guess part of my problem is that you have an extra century of battle experience.”

“Technology evolves, war evolves. My experiences have their value, but I must learn and adapt with the times. Just as anyone else does, and I must mention that a warrior is not all I am.”

“No one ever is, but I guess I have more to learn than I thought.”

He chuckled, “It’s a place to start. Care for another round, or would you like to go back and finalize our trade discussions?”

“I’d say I have had enough for now. Maybe next time?”