"Umm… So… Am I expected to sleep with you as well, Boss?" Ries asked, her face blushing beet red.

We had finally left the club and returned to our room after our late night drinking party and this was the first question the cat girl asked when we stepped through the door of our room.

I'm guessing she's still a little bit drunk after all the drinking she did but I know she had regained most of her senses since she wasn't saying 'nyaa' anymore, which I felt was a shame.

Everyone turned to her before they looked at me.

I raised an eyebrow at them, "Why are you looking at me like that? You girls were the ones who literally seduced me into this arrangement, ok?"

Amber giggled, "Ehehehe~ That's true~ But can you blame us for wanting you?"

I ignored her and turned back to Ries, "No, it's not a requirement to join my crew. Amber is the only one who is sleeping with me, technically…"

"Oh…"

Why does she sound disappointed when she said that? Also, why is Lea looking at me like that?

You know if you want to join in, I'm not going to say no, right? Though I guess the person you'd need to deal with isn't me but Amber instead.

Mara stretched her hands over her head which had the added effect of accentuating her chest, "Mnnn… I don't know about you girls but I stink right now so I'm gonna go take a bath before heading to bed."

Amber sniffed herself, "Ugh… Me too. Shall we take one together, Tera?"

I did not miss the subtle wiggle of her eyebrows when she said that.

I shook my head, "Nah… I'll go in after you girls. If I go with you two, you're just going to make me fuck you in the bath and we won't get any sleep."

"You make it sound like a bad thing?"

"I do want to sleep tonight, ok? Now, shoo."

Amber pouted at me but didn't argue, opting to follow Mara into the bath instead.

As for me… I went over to the kitchenette to grab some water since I felt a little dehydrated after that long sex session with the two girls.

Lea and Ries looked at each other and there seemed to be a silent exchange between them since Lea went ahead to head to their side of the bath while Ries remained with me.

"You feeling alright? You drank quite a bit," I asked.

She nodded, "I've drank before, don't worry about it."

"You were really drunk back there though."

"Nngghh… I would have a few beers normally but I don't usually drink that much… It's because you made your drinks so good I couldn't stop… Sorry…"

"Oh, no need to be sorry about that. I'm flattered that you think so. It was my first time mixing drinks like that to be honest."

She turned to me with wide eyes, "Eh?! Wait! That was Boss's first time mixing drinks?!"

"Yeah… Also, you don't need to call me 'boss' you know? Not to be mean but we're just hiring you temporarily to see how you work first."

She saluted cutely, "And I will do my best to convince you that I'm the best choice, Boss! No one in this galaxy will know how to handle a Verlandi better than I do!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I actually believe her.

"Speaking of which…" I continued after taking a sip of water. "You mentioned something about helping us look for a new ship right?"

She perked up instantly, "Oh yes! I can do that for you!"

She then took off her hoodie and tossed it aside before pulling out her own personal terminal to look at me with sparkly eyes.

"What are your requirements and what's your budget?!"

I gestured to the sitting area to indicate we should discuss there instead and she followed me to sit on one of the couches.

She sat as close to me as she could with her body pressed up against mine while she held her personal terminal closely, though I was pretty sure she was doing that more because she was looking forward to hearing about my ship requirements than anything sexual.

"So… Few things you should know I guess. As I mentioned earlier, both Amber and I have ships which we would need to accommodate in a hangar and I would rather neither of us sell off the ships if we can help it."

Her eyes widened, "Please don't sell off the Verlandi!!"

"That's the idea… We need a ship capable of storing at least two B Class Heavy Fighters and enough rooms for all of us to stay in. Additionally, you already know I can cook and… Well.. Everyone else likes my cooking so a kitchen with a cooking stove is an important addition. Also, Lea is helping me grow organic plants using a hydroponic garden so the new ship needs to have space for that too."

Ries's hands started flying across her personal terminal as she started typing what I told her down on her personal terminal.

"Hmm, hmm~ So we need a ship with a sizable hangar bay, multiple living quarters and rooms that can be converted to other uses… And budget?"

"I guess I can safely say a hundred million at this point after this place pays us for dealing with the thieves?"

"Ohhh~ That's enough to list a few ships! How well armed does this new ship need to be?"

I thought about it for a moment, "Hmm… I would say that it doesn't have to be a main factor… I guess if it comes down to a fight, I would prefer fighting in my Verlandi. The new ship would function as more of a hub with bigger living spaces?"

"Ah! So a support ship then! Maybe… As an artillery platform? Or would you rather the ship provide support through other means like repairs and logistics instead?"

I could answer this question immediately, "Lea would be manning the turrets for the ship so an artillery platform would be good. Only problem is that we would need an additional pilot in that case."

Ries pointed at herself, "No need to worry! I have experience piloting tug boats and freighters, so if you just need me to do some simple manoeuvres, I would be able to fill that role!"

Oh, that would be convenient. Since it would be a support ship anyway, I wouldn't really require a pilot to possess stellar dogfighting skills anyway. As long as they are able to fly the ship and move them to suitable locations for Lea to shoot, that would be good enough.

Ries tapped on her personal terminal again and even scooted closer so that she was quite literally pressing her weight on me right now. I didn't mind since it allowed me to look over her shoulder to see her terminal.

"Alright! I take it that cargo space is also a factor?"

I nodded, "Preferably it should have a large enough cargo space for us to move goods around since I do intend to do some trading on the side."

"Hmm~ Hmm~ This would narrow the search down… Let's see… Oh! Any preference to the manufacturer?"

"No. Truth be told, I don't really know any."

"That's ok. Are you planning to use this ship for the long term or short term?"

"Hmm… Honestly, I don't really have much plans in regards to that… Right now my main priority would be just to get a bigger ship to make things easier for us so I haven't really thought about whether I would get another ship after this. It's not like I have a dream ship or anything."

"I get that~ In that case, let's see… Oh! I know!! How about this one?!"

She quickly tapped something onto her personal terminal and her screen changed to project the hologram of a ship into the air in front of me.

The ship had a straight, rectangular hull with the cockpit located at the very back on a conning tower and two wings jutted out on each side to house the engines. Along the top of the ship were two heavy turret mounts that could potentially be used to mount railguns or something similar as their armaments.

"C Class Combat Freighter Broadsword! I think this would tick all the requirements you have in your list! It has four separate cargo bays along the front and a living space below the command tower. We could have two of the cargo bays changed into hangar bays to fit the two ships in there which still leaves two cargo bays for use!"

"Oh, this actually looks pretty good," I admitted.

"Yeah!! It has twin Damos class engines and one Tetra engine making it one of the fastest combat freighters on this side of the galaxy of its class! In fact, during one of the civil wars on Prex Prime, these ships were used to break through the blockades to deliver supplies and reinforcements to the front lines! Their dual heavy mounts and six side mounts also make them capable of holding their own in a fight!"

"And what's the price?"

Her face changed slightly, "Ah… That's one of the problems that doesn't meet the requirements… The base price for this is at least a hundred and twenty million…"

Ah fuck… Twenty million short huh…

Well whatever, I guess at least it just means we have a goal to work towards then.