19:30, January 12th, 2135

“I’m just saying, you could have given us some warning before inviting the entire galaxy here for some R&R.” Jim Matheson drawled good-naturedly as he walked next to Kayden and Elara through the bustling colony.

“We didn’t exactly have a lot of resources to spare to begin with.” His girlfriend, Mei Ling Chen agreed.

Kayden took a moment to survey the scene around them. He stood at the base of the ancient Vrul tower on Sanctuary, marveling at the way the city around them had seemingly sprung up overnight. Gone were the temporary tents and wooden structures, replaced by more permanent concrete and metal buildings designed to house a far greater number of people. Above him shuttles and in-atmosphere cargo craft zipped by, en route to the much larger city he knew they’d been building to the south.

His eyes finally settled on his friends and former fellow council members. They were somewhat of an odd couple: Mei Ling had long black hair streaked with grey and deep brown eyes. She was short, almost 160 centimeters tall and somewhat stocky. By contrast, Jim was tall and lanky with blonde hair and brown eyes. He’d grown a scraggly beard since Kayden had last seen him, and his skin was tanned from working in the fields.

Despite the fact that both council members were easily pushing 60 years old, Kayden thought they could have passed for 40 due to the genetic enhancements they’d both volunteered for. He’d seen first hand how terrifying they could be in a fight with their enhanced speed and strength, and he guessed that they’d far outlive most normal humans. With the influx of refugees and new entrants to the colony, he hoped they’d surpass everyone’s expectations and continue leading Sanctuary long into the future.

Jim held out an arm as Kayden moved to cross the street, stopping him. He looked forward and saw why immediately as a crew of goblins, former political prisoners, and colonists from Port Vega trundled by on an enormous farming machine. Finally, he responded to their comments. “Well, I appreciate the two of you – as well as the rest of the council – being so welcoming.”

After freeing the Vrul they’d returned here, intent on receiving the first few ships as a gesture of goodwill and friendship. It was a good thing too – it was only a few hours after arriving that the slow trickle of scouts turned into a torrent of every class of ship, from small frigates all the way up to the behemoth-sized ‘life-ships’ which contained tens of thousands of Vrul, hydroponics facilities for growing food, and onboard shipyards for the repair of damaged ships. There was a not-insignificant amount of jostling for space in orbit as more and more ships entered the system, and soon Kayden and Mirana had to step in to help create a provisional government just to manage the flow of traffic.

Jim chuckled and shook his head, returning Kayden’s thoughts to the present. “You knew Cassie would go for it. She was practically vibrating with excitement when she heard the Vrul were coming here.”

“Was there squealing?” Kayden grinned as he recalled the overly-excitable doctor of archelogy and member of Sanctuary’s ruling council. “I bet there was squealing.”

“Is that what you call that noise she made?” Mei Ling laughed as she interlaced her fingers between Jim’s. “If she could have sprinted into orbit, she would have. I don’t think she’s eaten or slept at all since she took the shuttle up to one of the live ships.”

“How do you know?” Kayden asked.

“She’s been live-streaming her interviews with them on the extranet. She’s gained quite the following.”

Kayden sighed. “I guess that’s one way to introduce our new allies.”

Elara tapped her chin thoughtfully. “We should make sure we set up meetings with the Kel as well. As much as this war is important, we need to have one eye on post-war integration. There’s no way we can stay isolated now, so we’ll need to embrace cooperation. People should know as much about us as they do the Vrul.”

“Something tells me you won’t have to work too hard to convince humanity to embrace the super-hot race of all-female aliens.” Kayden quipped, causing them all to laugh.

The quartet continued walking towards one of the new apartment buildings before stopping. “All jokes aside, we’re glad to help.” Jim said.

“When this is all over, I’d love to take you up on that offer for a tour of the new city sites. I can’t help but think there may be some Kel who would want to settle here in the future – assuming you’ll have them, of course.” Elara nodded.

[“Kayden. Apologies for the interruption, but you are needed in the council chambers.”]

Are we under attack?

[“No, but Mirana found something important. She requested that she be the one to tell you. I am assembling the rest of our crew there.”]

Noticing that he’d stopped responding to their conversation, Elara took one look at Kayden before shaking her head. “Is Ali calling you?”

“Yeah, she said it’s important.” He replied before offering Jim and Mei Ling an apologetic look. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Jim chuckled. “Go save the galaxy. And remember the other offer Jack made, when the time is right.”

“I’ll take you up on that.” Kayden said, remembering Dawn’s former policeman father before turning to Elara. “Come on. We’re heading back to the tower.”

The two of them crossed the busy thoroughfare, stopping to let a trio of farming robots bustle by. When they reached it they made a beeline for the newly installed elevator, stepping on and closing the door behind them. With a wry smirk at each other Kayden wrapped his arms around his Kel wife and kissed her deeply as they started to ascend.

Breaking the kiss, she locked eyes with him. “I think we should build a house here when all of this is over. We can still take the Broken Shackle wherever we want, but I’d like to have a home base to come back to.”

Kayden kissed her on the forehead before grinning. “Better move fast – it’s a seller’s market.”

She smacked him on the shoulder. “Kayden, it’s serious! I want our kids to-” She stopped suddenly before putting her hand over her mouth.

Kayden paused for a moment before responding. “Our kids?”

“I mean… I’m not… well, at least I don’t think I’m…” She stuttered.

“Pregnant?” Kayden ended her sentence, suddenly worried. “Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t think I’m pregnant. But now that we’re bonded, I’m going to be extremely susceptible to it, assuming we keep having sex.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a safe assumption.” Kayden chuckled.

“Exactly. And I know we talked about it before, when we were getting to know each other. I want our kids to be from somewhere, you know? Not just live on a ship all the time.”

Kayden pulled her into a tight embrace before kissing her on the top of her head. “I know you want to. And I want to with you, when all this is over and we’re ready. You don’t have to be shy about it.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “There’s a lake south of here. We can set up a splashball court there and teach them how to play.” He finished, referring to the Kel sport he’d seen on Arcadia.

“Thank you.” She said, nuzzling into his chest.

They stayed like that until the elevator dinged and the door opened. They detangled with a final soft kiss and stepped into the council chambers to the sounds of several people greeting them all at once. Kayden glanced around to see that most of his women were already there save for Ali, who he knew was back on the ship. Dawn and Selina were standing in front of a large video screen, on a call with Ashley. To his right Anna was arguing loudly with the master dwarven mechanic - Muradin Morozov – and Celestia. Before he could figure out what they were arguing about though, Mirana darted towards them while waving her hands back and forth.

“Kayden! I have news.” She said as she approached. “I’ve been working with Ali at decoding the information the Underseer provided us. When I cross referenced it with the information from the free Vrul fleets, I found something interesting.” She said, pulling out a tablet and handing it to Kayden.

What am I looking at?

[“I advise that you ask her. She was quite proud of her discovery.”] Ali said privately to Kayden.

“You did well.” Kayden said, smiling at Mirana before looking at the tablet. “Although I have to confess – I don’t really know what I’m looking at here. It looks like some sort of ship?”

“Not just any ship.” Mirana replied enthusiastically. “I think we found an automated scavenger bot left behind by the Vrul Technocracy. It might still be functional after all this time!”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“A scavenger bot?”

“Exactly!”

Kayden took a closer look at the ship in front of him. It was unlike any other he’d seen before – shaped like a sphere, it was covered in long, curved, overlapping metal plates. In the center of the sphere on one side there was what looked like a circular beam weapon, and on the other side there was a corresponding circular engine. He tilted his head to the side in confusion before looking back at Mirana.

“I gotta admit – I don’t get it. It looks like a serviceable ship, but I don’t think we need more scavenger ships right now. Once we beat the Voidborn, sure, but until then-”

“No, that’s not it!” Mirana interrupted. “It’s an automated scavenger bot. Its only purpose is to break down derelict ships, asteroids, and small moons and either turn them into nanobots or use their materials to add to its size. Normally they’re recalled to a Vrul base every few years to dump everything they’ve collected and ensure they don’t grow too big. After 2.2 million years though…” She trailed off.

“It’s probably enormous.” Kayden nodded.

[“Likely over 25 kilometers in circumference.”] Ali added in his mind helpfully.

“And it would be full of nanobots, raw materials…everything we could need to build more ships, and quickly too.”

“Wouldn’t we need a shipyard for that?” Kayden asked.

“Not necessarily. If we had control over the nanobots, Ali could use it to assemble ships anywhere outside of the frame.”

Kayden started to grin. “That thing could house enough nanobots to create a battleship. Maybe even a few of them, and an escort fleet if we let it consume the ships we’ve got in orbit here.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Mirana agreed.

“How far away is it?” Elara asked.

“2 hyperspace jumps. 10 hours, one way.”

“And how confident are you that it’s there?” She pressed.

Mirana paused for a moment before responding. He let her think, glancing across the council chambers as she did. Anna, Celestia, and Muradin were now sitting on a couch together, and he noted that someone had taken the time to repair the large viewscreen on the wall which he knew had been salvaged from one of the ships in orbit. There was now a table in the middle of the room with scattered tablets, and along one wall someone had thrown open the windows to let fresh air in.

“75%.” She replied finally. “All signs point to it being there, but… 2.2 million years is a long time.”

“Given that it’s automated, will it recognize us as friendly and just let us waltz right in? Or will it be hostile?” Kayden asked.

“I’m not sure. Its sensor suite isn’t built to detect smaller objects, so we might be able to slip in unnoticed. Once we’re in, taking control should be a relatively simple matter of getting you to the bridge and using your control cable.”

“I assume everyone else is up to speed on this?” Kayden asked, raising his voice to get the room’s attention.

[“Everyone has been briefed already.”] Ali replied in his mind as he saw everyone in the room nod.

“Good. What are your thoughts?”

“I’ll admit it’s tempting.” Elara said finally. “It could be a powerful asset to our fleet. On the other hand, we have a lot of other things that need attention.”

“Like what?”

“Like our new slime gun!” Anna offered loudly.

“Slime…gun?” Kayden replied, furrowing his brow at Celestia.

“That’s…not what we’re calling it, but yes.” Celestia nodded, clearly having had this conversation before. “We’ve created a launcher that propels a semi-gelatinous biological substance similar to the slime creatures you encountered. It should slow the queen down considerably – to the point where she will be much more vulnerable.”

“Excellent. I knew I could count on you.”

“I wish our work on the anti-Voidborn virus was going as well as that project.” Celestia bemoaned.

“What do you mean?”

“We need a more efficient delivery system. Something that can disperse the virus across a wide area – preferably an entire planet – before the Voidborn have a chance to adapt to it. Ms…Bedford here has some interesting ideas on the topic, but they’re…”

“Unorthodox?” Kayden offered, raising one eyebrow.

“Zhat is one vord for it, da.” Muradin said through his heavy Russian accent. “She insists zhat we ignore at least syeven proper safety procedures, and-”

“See?” Anna complained. “Dwarves and their procedures.”

“You all know what’s at stake.” Kayden reminded them. “Do you have what you need to get it done?”

“We’d be able to get it done faster if we could build some prototypes quickly.” Anna replied.

Kayden turned to Mirana. “Can you spare a few of your crew to help out? I know at least some of them can use nanobots.”

“Of course.” Mirana replied before beginning to type on her wrist-mounted computer.

“What else needs attention?” Kayden said, turning to Dawn, Selina, and Ashley.

“Well, there’s the enormous fleet of ships in orbit.” Dawn replied, pointing upwards. “We’re trying to get them organized and convince the combat-effective ships to support our front line, but they’re understandably hesitant to leave the live ships here undefended. They don’t trust our ability to run the blockade.”

“With good reason. There’s still reports of rogue Voidborn fleets out there.” Selina added before glancing at the screen. “No offense Ash.”

“None taken – most of those ships are only there because the Roccan are having trouble holding their end of the blockade in the Bernard’s Star system.” Ashley replied. “But that’s exactly why we need those ships. We’re running ragged, and just about every ship is in needed of repairs – minor or major. If we fail, those rogue fleets will get reinforcements, and they’ll become much more of a problem.”

“What do you need to get them on board?”

“Well, if we helped them put some improvised weapons emplacements on the live ships, I’m sure they’d be more comfortable leaving them for a bit.” Dawn offered, glancing over at Anna.

Kayden grinned before looking at his goblin girlfriend. “Think your goblins are up for the task?”

“Improvised weapons? Say no more.” Anna said before typing away on her tablet.

“Alright, anything else?” Kayden asked.

“Well, there is the matter of getting the Kel government on side.” Elara responded. “With the Vrul freed and hopefully on their way to the front, the High Commander might be able to convince the rest of the Kel government to oust the President.”

“Great! We can call the Kel while we’re on our way to-”

Elara shook her head. “I think this is something that’s going to require a little more tact. I’ve still got some friends on Kel Prime – I think I need to meet with them personally, get their support in delivering the message.”

Kayden blinked in surprise. “You’re not thinking about going back to Kel space, are you?”

“Yes. I’ll be safe enough, I think. I worked for the Kel military long enough to know how to evade their patrols and get to Kel Prime discreetly.”

“Wait, you want to go alone?” Kayden responded.

“You need to go get this ship.” She replied, gesturing to the tablet. “I’ll get you the Kel fleet while you do.”

“I thought us being bonded meant that we couldn’t be apart though? Won’t that be painful for you?”

She kissed him before responding. “Our bond is still settling. If it’s only a few days, I should be okay.”

“Can’t someone else do it? Maybe someone from Celestia’s staff?”

“Who else understands the strategy, political situation, and enemy as well as I do?” She asked rhetorically. “It has to be me. Someone else might get it wrong.”

“At least take AJ and his wives.” Kayden insisted. “Their old patrol ship is still parked outside the colony, and I’d feel better knowing that you’ve got at least a few people watching your back.”

“Alright. I love you.” Elara nodded before glancing at Mirana. “You keep him safe, okay?”

“I’ll protect his life with mine.” She promised.

Kayden took a deep breath, realizing that he’d be apart from the majority of his women for the first time in a long time. Looking around the room though, he knew each of them were smart, persuasive, and perfectly capable of holding their own. He swelled with pride on the inside, knowing that he’d be a lucky man if he was with any one of them. The fact that he was in a relationship with all of them made him the luckiest man in the galaxy.

“This is when the tide turns.” Kayden grinned before looking at Mirana. “Let’s go. I’m thinking the Vrul are in need of a new flagship.”