Stonerager Chronicles - Ch. 15

Stonerager Chronicles

By 2Charlie

This is a science fiction series that happens to include occasional erotic scenes. If you have not yet read previous chapters of this series, I highly recommend going back to do so before you read this chapter.

All characters in this story are of the age of majority.

Chapter 15 (Beta)

*****0700 Ship's Time, Day 66*****

Dutch awoke with a start, surprised to find the bed empty. He couldn't recall the last time he'd slept longer than the women. Rising from the bed, he straightened the covers, then listened for a moment. As far as he could tell, there was no one else in their quarters. How strange!

Dutch felt oddly energized this morning. He rushed through his morning routine, cleansing in a quick sonic shower, brushing his teeth, putting on a fresh uniform, and then tapping his comm badge. "Prime, where is everyone?"

"The majority of the crew has departed the ship, Captain. Alisia is currently on the bridge, enabling biometric-only overrides for my programming, and Justine is currently standing outside your quarters, about to request entry."

Just then, the door chime sounded. Closing the frosted glass doors to the sleeping area, Dutch strode out into the lounge section of their quarters. "Enter," he called out in a booming voice.

The doorway slid open silently, and Justine Doherty strode quickly into the chambers, over to the access panel for the synthesizer, where she tapped the panel and said, "Now, Janice."

The synthesizer hummed, then dinged, and Justine removed a large serving tray from within. Upon the tray, Dutch could see a heaping plate of crispy bacon, a bowl of fruit, and a plate with eggs and toasted English muffins. As soon as Justine removed the serving tray, the synthesizer hummed a second time, and following the ding, Justine removed two tumblers of orange juice.

"Your wives told me you like your bacon and eggs, so I decided to join you for a quick breakfast as we strategize for our meeting in an hour with the council," Justine explained as she took the fruit bowl, two strips of bacon, and a tumbler of orange juice and sat opposite of Dutch's usual spot in the lounge.

Deciding that he needed to simply accept the parts of his life that women were determined to manage, Dutch smiled politely and nodded, "Thank you, Justine. This looks marvelous." Grabbing several strips of bacon and adding them to his plate, he began to dig into the food, realizing at that moment how hungry he was.

Justine watched him wolf down his breakfast with a shy smile, silently focusing on working quickly through her fruit bowl and bacon strips, then washing it down with the juice. She was impressed with the amount of food Dutch could put away in short order and said as much. Finished eating, she helped put their dishes into the recycler, then sat down to catch him up on events.

"About thirty minutes ago, Pheebs and Jjan'tira took Jontalla, Danielli, Engela, and Kaitin with them to go visit the Science Academy campus on the Ring," the tall blonde informed him. "That's what the Methosians call this construct. Nothing fancy, just 'the Ring'. Alisia is going to accompany you and me as we go to visit the Council, as we are scheduled to go over specifics related to the Treaty, your plans to visit the other Terran colonies, matters concerning the Noraxi, and other related items. For which we should depart shortly. Alisia should already be on her way to the medical center for screening. We are to meet her there."

"What about you?" Dutch asked. "You need the screening as well."

Justine shrugged, replying demurely, "I went over earlier and completed my screening, as I was up early."

Grinning, Dutch shook his head slightly, then asked, "Anything else?"

Doherty seemed to hesitate, on the verge of saying something, then clearly reconsidered. "Not at this time, no, sir."

Dutch considered pressing the matter, then decided to let it be for now. He was certain Doherty would bring up whatever else they needed to discuss when the timing was right.

Rising, he brushed off his pant legs. "You ready?"

Joining him, the two departed the quarters and headed for the docking bay, ensuring the boarding hatch was secure behind them as they headed over to meet Alisia. They found her waiting for them as they reached the medical bay, and together they headed to the nearby transport tube and summoned a car.

Entering the car, Dutch realized he didn't know the destination they needed to request. Seeing his hesitation, Justine leaned forward and intoned in a clear voice, "Take us to our meeting with the Council."

The door to the car closed silently, and the car was quickly in motion, whizzing through a series of tubes that looked vaguely familiar to Dutch. He pondered the simplicity of the request Justine had verbalized, staggered at the implications. The awareness of the AI controlling the transport must have been incredible if the simple request to 'take me to my meeting' was sufficient instructions to get them where they needed to go. He briefly wondered at how much of the day-to-day lives of the Methosians was supported by, or otherwise enabled, perhaps even fulfilled, by some master AI, and was amazed at the level of coordination and trust this implied.

Dutch's contemplations on the concept of multiple, seemingly-independent AI assistants actually being multiple instantiations of a single, master AI were interrupted as the car arrived at the platform he'd visited with Pheebs the day before, when they met with the Senior Scholar and Provost Marshal.

A young woman wearing a dark black robe, unadorned by any piping, awaited their arrival. She was a petite woman, barely into adulthood by Dutch's estimation, with long blonde hair gathered behind her head, and features he would have associated with someone of Nordic descent.

"Captain," the young woman began, "I am Seeker Sylvain. If you and your companions follow me, I will take you to the Council Chambers."

"By all means, my dear, please lead on," Dutch rumbled, smiling charmingly, amused by the slight flush to her cheeks as she turned and led them from the platform. The journey was not far, but it took them to a different area than Dutch had been to before.

Stopping in front of a door bracketed by two security guards, Sylvain bowed, "This is as far as I take you, sir." Behind her, the door slid open, and Dutch caught sight of a large, long wall on the far side of the chamber, with a breathtaking view of the surface of Methos.

As seemed the standard, the meeting table floated, suspended by forces unseen. In this chamber, the table was circular, having neither head nor foot. Dutch was intrigued by the technology, but felt such trappings would be impractical aboard a starship. At least the chairs had legs, although they slid silently and with minimal effort on the floor.

Arrayed around the table sat the members of the council. There remained a half-dozen open seats from which Dutch and his partners chose to sit. Pitchers of iced water and glasses were located every few spots around the table, and Dutch poured water for Justine and Alisia, as well as for himself, before taking a seat.

Arrayed around the table were the same people Dutch had met with the prior day. Left to right sat Decon Hill, Becka Shindsley, Bale Montgomery, Renee Pulsion, Leonard Sykes, Ballard Whimsey, and Scyntia Osprey. The council members exchanged wordless glances amongst themselves for a few moments after Dutch and his team arrived, until finally Senior Scholar Hill cleared his throat and addressed Dutch and his crew. "Welcome again, friends. We hope today's gathering is both illuminating and fruitful. We have discussed matters as a group and wish to delve deeper into your impression of the Treaty, as well as your hopes with respect to Methos and the other Terran colonies."

Dutch nodded and launched into his pitch. "I think the Treaty represents both opportunities as well as challenges. It goes without saying that the fact that the Treaty was signed but never officially announced and therefore recognized by both sides represents a significant challenge. If it had been announced, we'd not be having this conversation today.

"But, alas, the best-laid plans often fail when comes the press of time. In this case, two questions come immediately to mind. First, will the iShan'tal still honor the terms? It would be easy to assume that they need not do so, based on having prevailed militarily over the Terran Empire. However, a few items might make them consider doing so anyway." Holding up his hand, Dutch extended his index finger, "They are under growing pressure from the Noraxi Syndicate, who believes it is their turn to reign supreme over this region of the galaxy," Dutch extended a second finger, "They have a very large stockpile of human females, which would go a long way to helping to rebuild humanity's numbers, but are not necessarily ideal at fighting war the iShan'tal way against the Noraxi." Dutch raised a third finger, "Humanity proved to be highly effective against the iShan'tal, and very nearly prevailed. We are highly adaptable. This is not lost upon them. Imagine if we could be their allies, instead of their adversaries."

Dutch dropped his hand. "But why should they desire an allegiance? Before the Treaty negotiations, they'd never sought one in the past. No, instead the iShan'tal have always jealously fought off any they deemed could threaten their dominance." Dutch paused for a moment, shaking his head before he continued. "But what has their dominance gotten for them that they need? As best we can tell, they are not jealously defending resources, trade partnerships, or shipping routes. They are simply opposing the rise of the next regime. They are anti-new. They wish to maintain what is, as it has always been." He stood and began to pace, preferring to walk as he thought. "They are stuck. They should have moved on by now, transcended to whatever lies ahead of them. Instead, they cling to the past, bitterly opposing any who could potentially displace them in dominance." Stopping, he turned to face the council, before speaking in clear, unmistakably firm conviction, "I plan to urge them to reconsider; to embrace what lies ahead of them, and release their hold on the past. I plan to ask them to allow their vast cloned army to matriculate into the remnants of the Terran Empire - perhaps the best of what remains, in order to hold fast - or fall - against the pressures that they have been opposing for so many long millennia."

"But what is in this for humanity?" Dutch asked, only partly rhetorically. "The Terran Empire was not what my time would have aspired for humanity to become." Dutch once again began to pace while speaking. "Yes, we've had conquerors throughout history, but one always hopes that some lessons need not be re-learned. I would stipulate that the explorers from my time would not have wanted humanity to waste its talents on material pursuits such as territory or dominance, but instead would have wanted us to foster relationships of partnership and peaceful coexistence." Once again, Dutch paused to face the council. "I state with conviction that I would see humanity participate in this Treaty to show the other races out there that we can work with anyone - expressly by working with those whom we'd called enemy for more than a century, and in doing so, invite others to seek to work with us, rather than war against us."

Again, the assembled council members appeared to converse amongst themselves, though no words passed their lips. Decon Hill once more faced Dutch to ask, "And if you cannot convince the other Terran colonies?"

"I must try, sir. I must try to guide them, to help them see reason, to help them accept optimism and hope over the need for revenge. We must find a peaceful way to move forward with the iShan'tal, and eventually, we must do something similar to the Noraxi. It is a moral imperative," Dutch declared with conviction.

Hill once again asked the hard question, "And what if the iShan'tal say 'no'?"

"Then I will overload Odyssey's core and visit upon them the terrible gift they bestowed upon Earth. And it will fall to you and the others to sort out what remains," he said with utter finality.

"You could be so terrible?" the Senior Scholar asked, shocked by his response.

"Have you been to Earth, Decon? Because I have. I went home days after having been revived by the Tao station. To me, less than a week had passed subjectively since I left my beautiful blue home world. The charred cinder that awaited me was horrifying to see. It makes it so much harder for me to actually consider the possibility of working with the iShan'tal. Truth be told, I'd like to render them all to subatomic particles, then soak their remains in the radiation bath of a neutron star. But that won't bring back my Earth, and won't make humanity stronger. So, I offer a compromise. And if those motherfuckers won't listen to reason, then I'll drop a star on them and rage at their souls until hell freezes solid."

Dutch took his seat, glowering at Hill for a moment, then forcing himself to relax. This man was not the enemy. He might not be an ally, but neither was he deserving of Dutch's rage. Pouring himself more iced water, Dutch drank and forced himself to calm down.

Hill, still shocked at Dutch's final words, turned to face his fellow council members, his face flushed. Abruptly, Professor Osprey exclaimed, "Enough! This man comes to us as a courtesy. He seeks to reunite humanity. I will not have you mock his intentions, nor his intellect. Consider that, in his time, he was an outstanding scholar in his own right, possessing advanced degrees in several disciplines, including doctorates in Mechanical Engineering and Physics. He practically built the original Odyssey and was brave enough to make humanity's first attempt at faster-than-light travel. What have you done, sir, that compares? And don't respond telepathically - you know damned well his lack of TP implants does not make you superior! Arrogant old fool!"

"I will not be lectured in my own council hall!" Hill shouted in response.

"You will restrain yourself, sir, lest it no longer be your council hall!" Montgomery roared from where he sat, startling Shindsley and Pulsion. "I agree with Professor Osprey. This man is more than deserving of our respect, as well as our sympathy. The losses, personal and beyond, that he has endured are titanic, and yet he continues to strive for what he thinks is best for all of us. I will not discount his motives just because his methods might seem barbaric."

Turning to confront Dutch, Montgomery asked, "Captain, I understand you have become known by another name. Can you tell us that name, as well as how you came to be known by it?"

Dutch sighed, not understanding Montgomery's angle, but determined to speak the truth. "When Pheebs and I were exploring the Sol system, shortly after having discovered what had happened to the Earth, we had gone to investigate an energy reading we'd picked up from Ganymede." Glancing at Alisia, he shrugged. "There's a whole story around that side adventure, but suffice to say that, along the way, we had triggered some form of alert that brought a wing of iShan'tal warships to investigate."

"Please, continue," Montgomery urged him.

Dutch pursed his lips but continued anyway. "We were running in Stealth mode, so the iShan'tal did not see us, but they nevertheless demolished the ruins on Ganymede where the energy signal had originated. Two of the three vessels departed, leaving the third to complete a final patrol. I was angry, based on what happened to the Earth, as well as the demolished fleets between Mars and Jupiter, but I had no idea what weapons or defenses the iShan'tal possessed. I assumed that the iShan'tal ships were more than a match for the Odyssey. I had been gifted powerful systems by the Tao, but the Tao Alliance was no more, so it was reasonable to assume the iShan'tal had prevailed in that war. Thus, I assumed they possessed weapons and defenses more powerful than mine. As such, I improvised. I used my ship's tractor to pull a small Jovian moon out of orbit, accelerated to point eight cee, and threw that damned moon at the iShan'tal ship as I slid off to the side and showered it with weapons fire, blinding their sensors. The moon struck them broadside, doing considerably more damage than I had expected. I ended up boarding the ship to rescue two survivors, still leaving more than seventy of her crew dead." He shuddered slightly at the memory, taking a deep breath before continuing, "The captain of that vessel named me Stonerager, mispronouncing my name, then sticking me with the moniker because I'd hurled a celestial stone at her."

"And what became of those survivors?" Montgomery asked him.

Dutch considered the man quietly for a moment, wondering where he was going with this. Deciding that the truth was still the only path forward, he replied evenly, "I married them, along with the survivor we'd found on Ganymede, and the woman created for me by the Tao station."

"That sounds like the punch line to a joke, would you not agree?" Montgomery asked him with a grin.

"I am often confronted with the improbability of my life," Dutch agreed with a shrug.

"Still, I think we can all agree that marrying the survivors from the iShan'tal ship you destroyed with a moon does not fit the narrative of a vengeful maniac, can we not?" Montgomery now looked around at his fellow council members.

"In fact," Renee Pulsion added, "this man learned a valuable lesson from that encounter and employed a similar strategy against two other adversaries, and in each encounter, though he was outnumbered, he managed to improvise and prevail, suffering no casualties or damage to his ship in the process. This is something to be respected, not denigrated. And again, this is not a man who was a master tactician, but a scientist, an engineer, and an explorer. He has changed and evolved as necessary to meet the challenges he has been called upon to confront."

"Indeed, men such as this are few and invaluable throughout history," Professor Osprey added, "And it is remarkable that such a man has gone through what is a most improbable gauntlet to arrive at this place, at this moment in time. What are the odds, one wonders. It is as if the Fates were taking a more direct role in matters."

"I see," Hill harrumphed. "You have all made up your minds, and are arrayed against me in this matter."

"Quite the contrary, old man," Montgomery chided the scholar. "We are all extremely concerned about the events that are conspiring, without the full understanding of everything that is in play. For instance, we do not know the minds of the Lyserions, but we know what they were like before the schism. We do not know for certain the intentions of the Noraxi, but we have the logs from their last confrontation with the Odyssey, and we can take their own statements as fact for now. And we do not know how the iShan'tal will respond when Dutch finally confronts them with the Treaty. Will they adhere to the terms, or disavow the treaty's existence? And, truly, does it matter? Are we not bound to once again take up the mantle of exploration? Can we not learn from past transgressions and attempt to avoid conflict, or at the very least learn to mitigate it? It is time to stop hiding! We are stagnating, not growing, and we will perish in darkness as dotards if we do not once again embrace our true destiny. I, for one, would rather we persevere, and lend what strength we possess to Dutch and his Alliance, than cower here in our tiny system, hoping against hope to be ignored and overlooked."

"I second that motion," Doctor Whimsey motioned.

"Hear, hear," Professor Sykes agreed.

"A vote is called!" Renee Pulsion announced. "Let us all cast our lots and see where we stand."

Quickly, blue lights appeared one by one on the tabletop in front of the council members, save for the Senior Scholar and the Provost Marshal. The light in front of the Senior Scholar shone decidedly amber, but after a lengthy pause, the light before the Provost Marshal shone blue.

"Six in favor, one opposed. Those in favor carry, the motion is passed," Montgomery announced in his deep voice. "Captain Stoenager, we would ask you to meet tomorrow with Stanish Banyon, our Master Shipwright, that he might best assess how he can position Methos to enter and support your Alliance. I thank you and your crew for coming here today. These meetings are adjourned."

*****Methos Ring - Mid-morning, Day 66*****

"Commander, I don't believe I've ever seen indications of the behavior your team managed to capture with these scans. To my knowledge, no human has ever been so close to an intermediate-mass black hole before to be able to capture such data, to begin with," Professor Joseph Dantirri exclaimed, scrolling through the data once more. "How close did you say your ship was when you captured this data?"

"We were maintaining our position of just over six hundred thousand kilometers," Pheebs replied, noting the man's startled expression at that information.

"Incredible, truly remarkable," he exclaimed. "Now, what did you make of this?" the professor asked her, pointing to the anomalous data of secondary interest to Pheebs.

"Good eye, Professor," Pheebs complimented the older man. "I was very curious about that as well. After dwelling on what it could mean for a few days, I tried a few ideas, hoping to better make sense of it. When I tried viewing the data as a particle stream instead of wave-form, hoping to use it in place of 'visible light' to show me what was inside the event horizon of the IMBH, I got some pretty interesting results." Pheebs reached in front of the man to adjust the way in which the data was displayed and sat back to observe the man's reaction.

The professor leaned forward, and Pheebs' sharp hearing detected the slightest of whirring noises coming from the man's eyes. Looking more closely, she could see tiny lenses adjusting their focal lengths within his iris, indicating that he had biomechanically enhanced vision. Fascinating!

"Is that a ship?" the man asked after interpreting the data for a moment. "You're telling me that there is a ship inside the gravity well, and that it isn't being drawn further inward?"

"As best I can tell from this data, that ship is maintaining its relative position within the gravity well; neither ascending nor descending," Pheebs confirmed.

"That's incredible!" the professor exclaimed. "What kind of technology must exist to enable that sort of navigation?"

"I was thinking the same thing, sir," Pheebs admitted. "I can't help but wonder if the vessel inside is somehow leveraging the tau particles to grant them immunity from the effects of gravitational attraction."

"Hmmm," the old man stared at the data for a long moment, before he snapped his fingers and blinked. "Consider the speed at which all the particles around them are traveling," he proposed.

"They'd be traveling at or faster than the speed of visible light particles, which is why we cannot see past the event horizon," Jjan'tira spoke up, her brain wrestling with new thoughts.

"Very good," the professor nodded in agreement. "Everything around the vessel is traveling in one vector at or greater than one cee, but the ship remains stationary. According to Newtonian physics, the ship would have to be traveling at a matching speed, but in the opposite direction, to achieve a relative velocity of zero."

The professor moved over to a smart panel and began scrawling out equations in rapid fashion. "Now, your vessel already challenged Einsteinian physics by traveling at the speed of light, thus disproving his theory that objects possessing mass, such as a starship, cannot achieve such a speed."

"So, if our mystery vessel is traveling at 100% cee," the professor began writing a time dilation equation, T = t x sqrt (1 - (v2/c2)), "and your vessel, as the observing party outside of the event, observes proper time of t, then the ship's observed time at T is zero, thus time freezes."

The professor paused and squinted at the equation before striking through it and writing a new equation next to the first one, continuing as if lecturing a class. "However, the vessel in question exists within the event horizon of a black hole and is thus subjected to extreme gravitational time dilation due to general relativity. The Schwarzschild metric tells us that the time dilation experienced due to gravity at a radius r near the Schwarzschild radius of R is given by the following equation," as he scribbled T = t x sqrt (1 - R/r), "but we know that inside the event horizon, r < R, so our function produces imaginary results - suggesting that time and space fundamentally swap roles. We simply have no physics to describe what your data indicates, which is an object remaining stationary within the event horizon, when everything else is flowing toward the singularity."

"So, are our indications false?" Jjan'tira asked, working her way through the professor's maze of logic.

"No, no, no, not necessarily," the professor assured her with a smile. "We simply do not possess the physics to describe what you observed. Perhaps the vessel only appears to be motionless, who knows? But, this is a problem that I could conceivably study for the rest of my days and perhaps not solve." The professor stood back from the board, his eyes wandering over the equations as he considered the paradox.

"Professor, I was actually wondering about something related, but different," Pheebs gently brought him back to their earlier conversation. "Given that the tau particles do not seem perturbed by the gravitational forces acting on other particles around them, do you suppose it might be possible to generate a bubble or shielded space, using tau particles, that would then be equally resistant to the forces of gravity?"

"What a fascinating concept!" the man exclaimed, looking as if he'd been poked with a needle. "Of course, this would require first that we understand how to artificially generate tau particles, and then we would need to be able to force them into a predetermined structure, such as your bubble." The man closed his eyes tightly for a few moments as he pondered the concept.

Jjan'tira leaned over to Pheebs to whisper softly in her ear, "You're considering options to enable us to go after that ship, aren't you?"

"For starters," Pheebs whispered back. "But I've also been doing some 'out of the box' thinking about what sort of weapons might pose a threat to the Odyssey. We know our shields are very powerful, especially for a vessel of our size. Our engines as well. So, the likelihood of an adversary pinning us down long enough to overload our shields with weapons similar to those we've experienced thus far is very small."

"I see," Jjan'tira nodded, her voice creeping up slightly as she caught on to her sister-wife's train of thought. "So, what other types of weapons might be more effective against our current defenses? Are you imagining something gravitic in nature?"

"I am," Pheebs nodded. "I was thinking about what would be a suddenly bad situation in combat, such as what if we can't jump? What if we can't maneuver? We've never attempted to jump in mid-combat, but we've never been overwhelmed by opponents before either. I was envisioning a nightmare scenario where an enemy sowed a field of gravitic mines to contain us in a limited space. We'd have to choose to either stay and fight, or try to outrun the mines."

Jjan'tira nodded, her face looking pale at the thought. "Or, imagine if they had our Stealth technology, and followed us, waiting for us to open a jump portal, then deployed a gravity weapon to destabilize the jump portal."

Pheebs shuddered slightly at the thought. "Fuck, I thought I had dark thoughts...."

The two sister wives shared a brief chuckle that was interrupted by the professor clearing his throat. "If you ladies have anything more to discuss, let's go over it now. Otherwise," he checked his chronometer, "I have a lot of thinking to do!"

"Thank you for your time this morning, professor," Pheebs shook the man's hand enthusiastically, to his bewilderment. "And please let me know if you think of how those tau particles might be used to enable a ship to resist gravitational forces."

"Yes, yes, of course! I'll let you know the minute I have something to share. Now, you pretty ladies had best be moving along," he nudged them towards the door of his office. "This old man has enough to do already without any further distractions!"

As the door to the professor's office closed, Pheebs and Jjan'tira shared a good-natured laugh. Then, checking the time, they decided to go locate the others to see what they'd gotten up to.

*****Methos Ring - Mid-Afternoon, Day 66*****

The room that Dutch, Alisia, and Justine found themselves in was smaller than the Council Chamber they'd been in that morning. After having eaten lunch with several members of the Council, the three of them had been brought to this room by Master Strategist Montgomery and Advisor of Tactics Pulsion. The chamber itself reminded Dutch of a combat briefing room or a small screening theater. It held a dozen or so overstuffed chairs, and the front of the room was dominated by a large, interactive holo-display.

Advisor Pulsion began the session with a quick lead-in. "This session will facilitate a review and analysis of some of your combat encounters. We have studied the weaponry and defensive capabilities of the Odyssey, but would like to understand your thoughts that led to each of the strategies that you employed during each encounter."

Dutch shifted slightly in his chair, relieved that Jjan'tira was not with him for this particular meeting. "Fair enough. Ready when you are," he nodded, uncertain what to expect.

The lights in the room darkened, and the holoscreen activated, portraying a digitally enhanced tactical rendering of the first scenario to be reviewed. Immediately visible on the screen was the Jovian moon of Ganymede, with Odyssey in orbit, illuminated in pale blue lines, and three iShan'tal cruisers depicted at a distance of fifty thousand kilometers and closing - practically on top of them.

Pulsion began narrating what was observable from the ship's logs. "You and your first officer had been off-ship, down on Ganymede, when you were alerted to the presence of three new ships, correct?"

"That's correct," Dutch nodded, recalling the series of events with painful clarity. "We'd left the Odyssey running in Stealth mode, but our shuttlecraft did not possess Stealth shields, so we were not certain whether or not we'd be detected while returning to the ship. As it turned out, our power signature was detectable, but the shuttle itself was small and likely overlooked."

"Could you please walk us through the next series of events?" Pulsion prompted him. "We'd like to understand your decisions as well as the outcomes."

Dutch nodded, then began his narrative. "As soon as we were back aboard, I ordered Pheebs and a pair of droids we'd liberated from Ganymede to take Alisia's sleeper tube to our med bay - the power supply for the tube was nearly exhausted, and we didn't know how to decant her safely at that time. I went to the bridge and used thrusters and a gravity assist from Ganymede to transition us from a stable orbit to a transitory path that would enable us to intercept Io and, again with a gravity assist, revector to better position ourselves to observe the iShan'tal craft from a distance."

"At what point in this encounter did you decide to attack the iShan'tal?" Montgomery asked from his seat off to the right of the holoscreen.

"Not initially. I was outnumbered three-to-one and had not yet assessed our new combat capabilities. That, plus I had no understanding of the maneuverability of the iShan'tal craft, or their combat profile." Dutch explained dispassionately. "I admit that I was very concerned, given that the upgrades to the Odyssey had been gifted to us by the Tao Alliance station. The Tao Alliance was no more, so we assumed that the iShan'tal had prevailed in their struggle, and I figured that they therefore possessed superior capabilities."

Dutch paused to gather his thoughts before he continued, "But you asked me when I decided to attack them. It was after they nuked the fuck out of that already-destroyed colony on Ganymede. After everything that they'd already destroyed - the fleet, my home world - it was salt on an open wound. What prompted my action was when two of the three attackers departed, leaving the third to complete a final patrol. I figured I'd never have a better chance to test Odyssey against them, and they'd made me pretty angry. So, I decided to attack them."

"Was it your intention to use overwhelming force in your initial attack?" Pulsion inquired, making it clear she was curious as to his motivations, not accusing him.

"Honestly, I was concerned that I was in for a hell of a fight, so I decided to hit the iShan'tal hard. Also, Pheebs had suggested to me that their strongest shields were likely those aligned with their bow."

"Why was that a factor?" Montgomery prodded him.

"Again, I wasn't sure how good their shields were compared to mine, so I wanted any advantage I could get. I figured that their side shields would be slightly weaker than their forward shields. All I had to do was figure out how to make sure I hit them hard on their side shields. Right about then, I recalled that many of the Jovian moons are less than a kilometer in diameter, and I saw that a small one was pretty close by. I got the idea to use the ship's tractor to grab that moon and tow it behind me at high velocity, then release it when it was on an intercept vector with the iShan'tal. At the same time, I pivoted Odyssey to one side and fired a massive volley of kinetic and energy weapons to keep their attention on me. It worked. They followed me, keeping their strongest shield facing me, and the moon hit them broadside."

"So, your strategy worked," Pulsion asserted, wanting him to continue.

"Too well," Dutch admitted ruefully. "I'd only wanted to cripple the ship, not demolish it. Turns out a half-kilometer diameter moon moving at point eight cee packs quite the wallop."

"How would you rate the effectiveness of your other weapons during this encounter?" Pulsion inquired, trying to get him to move on.

"The K'vetch's shields seemed sufficient to absorb our first volley, but I honestly don't have enough data to discern what the results of a protracted engagement might have been."

"Fair enough," Pulsion shrugged. "And you've not encountered another iShan'tal vessel thus far, correct?"

"Correct," he admitted, "although D'narius believes that the Odyssey is significantly overpowered for her size, and would be at a sizeable advantage in the event of future such encounters."

"Let's move on to your encounter with the Oo'lan'Dang, shall we?" Pulsion suggested. The holo-screen blurred for a moment, then updated to depict the situation just before his encounter with the Hammerheads.

"Please describe the events we are seeing here," Pulsion once again prompted him.

Dutch took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he considered the scene before him. "We had been running some simulated combat tactics - trying to figure out what the ship's capabilities might allow us to do - when an Oo'lan'Dang mining vessel opened fire on us. It was an unprovoked attack - at least from our perspective. I suppose that we could have appeared to be vulnerable to them, and they seized what may have seemed to be an opportunity."

"You disabled them successfully in this encounter, causing no casualties, so you were learning," Pulsion observed. "But then, the two warships joined the fray. Tell us about those events, please."

"Keep in mind, during all of this, we were trying to get word out about the Treaty. So, before things escalated, we cited the terms of the Treaty as a rationale for us patrolling that region, which they apparently felt they had a claim to," Dutch asserted.

"Noted," Pulsion nodded. "Please continue."

"Okay, so when we detected the jump gates forming, we went into Stealth mode as I considered my options. I attempted to reason with the Hammerhead commanders, but they were intent on a fight, so once again, I overestimated my enemy."

"How so?" Montgomery asked, curious at this admission.

"I probably could have remained in Stealth mode and simply departed," Dutch explained, "but I saw this as an opportunity to not only interact with another species but also sow the seeds of the Treaty - I figured that if I could get enough other systems to go along with the treaty, perhaps it would be easier to get the iShan'tal to abide by its terms. As it turned out, a conflict resulted, and Oo'lan'Dang lives were lost. However, the net positive is that I now have established a rapport with the Oo'lan'Dang leadership that seems to be working."

"Let's get back to the combat - we're not here to review your motivations," Pulsion reminded him.

"Fine," Dutch sighed. "Where did you want to begin? The hammerheads, right?" At a nod from Pulsion, Dutch closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back to that encounter. "We'd disabled the mining ship, but they'd gotten off a distress call. We anticipated a belligerent response, based on observations that my former iShan'tal crew had shared with us. We engaged our Stealth screens and warned the hammerheads once they'd jumped into the system, but they pressed their position, advancing in our general direction, promising our destruction. I determined that this was behavior indicative of a race not yet conditioned to understand that other powers might not tolerate their actions. So, I chose to meet aggression with aggression and defeated them. Afterward, we towed the survivors back to their home world and confronted their leaders with the Treaty and its conditions regarding free usage of space, and informed them that future such encounters would not end well for them. After sending them a digital copy of the treaty, they begrudgingly agreed to abide by the terms, and we've not had trouble from them since."

"All that is well and good, but looking at the logs of the actual encounter, it appears that you once again used your tractor, but this time, to hurl one ship - a disabled ship - into the other, causing considerable damage. And, if our review of your logs is correct, this was not the last time you used that tactic, was it?"

"No, we used a similar attack against the Noraxi fleet that had entered the Rigellian System looking to attack Rigel. The Noraxi had established a routine of periodically raiding the Rigellians for slaves. I decided to put a stop to that."

"Fair enough," Pulsion agreed, "but don't you worry that your pattern of attack might become predictable?"

"To be honest," Dutch admitted with a slight shrug, "I wasn't thinking about it - I was just taking extreme measures to end each encounter quickly and brutally. In my estimation, such a course of action might well serve to dissuade future attacks."

"Possibly," Pulsion conceded, "but it's equally possible that future adversaries, having studied your tactics, might be better prepared to counter them, or use them against you. You definitely do not want to become a one-move combatant. So, if you don't go up against a superior opponent by hurling some massive object at him, what else are you going to do?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Dutch frowned. "I haven't had much combat experience to begin with - I've pretty much learned as I went along - so I don't have much in the way of a catalog of successful options from which to choose."

"Exactly," Pulsion agreed with him. "This is what we intend to address today." Turning to face the holo-screen, she brought up her flexi-pad and rapidly entered a series of instructions. The holo-screen shimmered, and the screen depicted his last encounter with the Noraxi fleet. The image of the Odyssey once again fired upon the destroyers, but this time his ship passed by the destroyers, leaving them burning in his wake, and fired a series of torpedoes at the lead galleon.

As Dutch observed the simulation, the warheads suddenly broke apart into hundreds of tiny objects. A magnified image of one of the torpedoes showed the tiny objects to be independently guided drones, which spread into a cloud that enveloped the galleon, before closing on the ship and detonating against the Noraxi vessel's shields on all surfaces at once. The combined energy exchange significantly weakened the shields, enabling a second volley of HE missiles to penetrate the shields and destroy the engines, leaving the ship adrift.

"That's one possibility," Pulsion advised, before resetting the screen and starting the simulation for another pass, but this time the Odyssey fired the drone swarms, then followed up with a volley of torpedoes that dropped dozens of mines in the path of the galleons, which were drawn to the vessels as soon as they came into close enough proximity, resulting in horrific distortions to the hulls of the galleons, as if a giant hand had grabbed and crushed them at every point of contact. Seams burst all along the hull, leaving the ship disabled and adrift as its atmosphere vented to space.

A third run-through was a variation of the first run, but this time using two waves of drone swarms, with the second causing very specifically targeted damage to the weapons and engines, leaving the ship largely intact.

After running the three simulations, Pulsion froze the screen and then began to go over each one in detail. She pointed out that the attack methods were different for each attack, with the results all being similar - the target ship was disabled, but not destroyed, and the crew had largely survived in at least two of the three scenarios.

Dutch pointed out that he did not have at least two of the weapon types depicted in the scenarios, and Pulsion countered by informing him that the designs would be delivered to him following the briefing.

Alisia and Justine asked if the Methosians had any other scenarios they were willing to share, and the three officers from the Odyssey settled in for a long afternoon of unexpected revelations regarding Methosian battle tactics.

At the end of the briefing, as Dutch and his companions prepared to depart, Montgomery approached him. "Dutch, I cannot foresee the full extent of participation that Methos will provide to your Alliance, but we will doubtless participate in some fashion. If you would be willing to share what the Tao gifted to you with us, we will propose developing ships to participate in your 'freedom of navigation' patrols, assuming we don't find ourselves at war again with the iShan'tal. Many of us welcome the opportunity to return to the stars, but for more peaceful pursuits this time, if the universe wills it."

Montgomery extended his hand, and Dutch clasped it firmly. He was finally starting to feel as if this trip was going to prove to be worthwhile.

"I would prefer a direct data exchange," Dutch proposed. "The sensitivity of the technology in question warrants measures to protect against its possible theft by unknown third parties."

Pulsion nodded, "A wise precaution, based on what you've told us of events on Rigellia. I will bring a data storage crystal to your ship tomorrow morning."

At that, they all agreed it had been a productive but long day. Dutch and his companions thanked Montgomery and Pulsion and took their leave, heading back to the Odyssey to rest.

*****1730 Ship's Time, Day 66*****

"Okay, so what's on your mind?" Dutch asked Alisia as soon as they entered their quarters back aboard the Odyssey.

The lithe redhead shrugged and flashed him a tiny smirk, replying, "It can wait until the others are here." Stripping off her uniform, she headed into the connected en suite. Dutch decided playtime could wait, and instead, he remained in the lounge area, requesting a cola from Janice and then plopping down on the sofa to wait for the others to return.

He didn't have to wait very long. Before he'd consumed very much of his beverage, the doors slid open, and Pheebs and Jjan'tira swept into their quarters in a flurry of motion and sound.

"But how do you plan to overcome the Danske Constant?" Jjan'tira asked Pheebs, both women deep into a conversation as they walked up to Dutch, each bending over to give him a quick kiss, before they continued into the en suite, stripping as they went.

"That's the point," Pheebs stressed, "I don't think the Danske Constant will apply to the tau particles. They don't seem to exhibit the same behaviors under stressors as other sub-atomic particles. I have to run some more tests, but I believe that I can use them to modify our shields to enable us to navigate through regions we'd never otherwise dare to enter."

"Like the accretion ring of a black hole, perhaps?" Alisia chimed in.

"Hi honey, how was your day?" Dutch called out mockingly as he gave up waiting and entered the en suite, stripping off his uniform to join the others in the shower.

"Perhaps," Pheebs acknowledged Alisia's supposition, "or the coronasphere of a star, or navigate a gravitic minefield. I can think of multiple applications."

"This sounds interesting," Dutch commented, trying to fathom what they were discussing. "I take it you had an enlightening day?"

"Somewhat, yes," Jjan'tira admitted, shrugging as she rinsed shampoo from her hair. "Although I think we ended up with more questions than answers."

"We spent time with a senior physicist, Professor Jonah Dantirri," Pheebs explained, letting the warm water cascade off of her shoulders and down her back. "We showed him the data we collected from the IMBH, and he was very interested in the behavior of the tau particles. Claims to have never seen the like. Oh, and he was also intrigued by the indications of a ship within the gravity well."

"So, how did the conversation go from discussing the data to hypothesizing about a new shield technology if this professor had never seen this behavior before?" Dutch wanted to know.

"Oh, that was Pheebs' idea," Jjan'tira blithely gestured at her sister-wife, before letting the water run over her head, drowning out whatever else she might have said.

Alisia finished in the shower and stepped out to dry herself off. Nodding at Pheebs, she asked, "So, when are we going to discuss the issue with the others?"

"Why don't we wait until we've all finished our showers?" Pheebs suggested, still giving nothing away as to the nature of the 'issue'.

Dutch shrugged silently, knowing better than to press the matter. Deciding his best course of action was to simply wait, he instead focused on getting done with his shower as quickly as he could.

Toweling off, Dutch grabbed a simple pair of shorts and a tee shirt to wear, then joined his wives out in the lounge area of their quarters where they'd gathered, attired similarly in casual wear.

As soon as he joined them, Pheebs handed him a frosty glass of soda and then sat cross-legged opposite him, flanked on either side by Jjan'tira and Alisia.

"We have a few things to discuss with you," she began, glancing to either side to include the two clones. "But I think the first thing we need to discuss is D'narius."

Dutch took a sip of his cola, delaying as he gathered his thoughts. Before he could speak, Pheebs continued. "I'm guessing you're disappointed that the physicians of Methos could offer no course of treatment for her, am I correct?"

Dutch nodded silently, wondering where she was taking this.

"And I'm guessing you're also considering whether or not we could somehow get the Tao station that revived you and created me to 'repair' her, am I right?" She asked in a neutral tone, not accusing, just stating matter-of-factly.

Again, Dutch nodded, reluctant to speak, as he found himself choking down his grief.

"I can see the possibility that the station can restore her mind," Pheebs conceded, "assuming we can locate the facility." Pheebs paused to consider her words carefully. "It occurs to me that the station remained undiscovered for so long by maintaining Stealth screens of its own. That's going to make it very difficult for us to locate the station."

"What's your point, dear?" he asked in a gravelly tone, looking pained.

"Well, there might be another option," she stated, warming up to her pitch. "What if we can get to that Tao ship in the Neumayer-Libralato Intermediate Mass Black Hole? If they're somehow still alive, or if the ship and its automation are still functioning, perhaps they can be of help."

"Do you have a theory as to how we might be able to accomplish this, or are we playing 'what if' games?" he asked her slowly, not wanting to give in to anger or frustration.

"I'm working on an idea," she conceded, "but there are no guarantees. Look, Dutch, I know you better than anyone alive. I know you'll do whatever it takes to save her, and I'm with you. But, if this doesn't work, I also know that D'narius wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life chasing her ghost, when there's so much left to be done."

Dutch scowled at her briefly, starting to say something in haste, only to wisely close his mouth as he reconsidered.

Alisia took the initiative to chime in. "Dutch, we're all on your side, but we also need you to remember that there are more lives in the balance, now."

Jjan'tira joined in, "We're not just talking about the three of us, or even the four of us, adding you." She waved her hand in the direction of the entrance to their quarters. "Justine, Danielli, Jontalla, Engela, and even Kaitin all have a stake in this as well. Not just in your immediate plans, but in the long-term future of this ship, and of our family." She gazed speculatively at him for a moment before continuing, "I'm guessing that you're too focused on other matters to have realized that they are all interested in joining with you. With us. With... this," she swept her hands around, gesturing at the group of them.

"We're all aware of how they feel," Pheebs interjected. "And we are all open to expanding our family."

"But we're also aware that D'narius is preoccupying your thoughts," Alisia added sympathetically. "We get that. Us too. But each of us agrees - D'narius wouldn't want us to put everything else on hold because of her."

"I'm not putting everything on hold," Dutch objected, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "I've spent the past two days trying to convince another human colony to invest in a crazy idea of an alliance, instead of going straight to the damned station to try to save her. That's hardly putting everything on hold - if anything, I feel like I've put her on hold."

"We understand that, honey," Alisia soothed him, gentling her tone. "We are all in this with you, together. We want to make sure you understand that. This isn't a 'you-problem'. This is an 'us-problem', and we're all working it together."

"Which brings us to my working theory," Pheebs leaned forward, a more intense expression on her face. "I'm convinced that the tau particles are a clue to something the Tao ship is using to help it hide where it shouldn't possibly be able to exist. Somehow, that ship is defying gravity and all the related forces that should be tearing it apart. Tau particles don't normally last long enough to be observed in the wild. They have an incredibly short half-life and -"

"And the ones we observed were not behaving predictably, nor exhibiting the expected Lamb shift energies..." Dutch interrupted her as his inner physicist finally engaged the problem. "Dyson speculated on the possibility of such a perturbation in energy and motion, but what is the significance in our observations, barring the obvious that the tau leptons appear to be opposing the force of gravity? Are you certain we haven't simply discovered a new form of Hawking Radiation?"

Pheebs considered the possibility for a moment, but before she could respond, Jjan'tira cut her off. "I think we've gotten a bit distracted, darlings. We were discussing the others." She looked back and forth between Dutch and Pheebs with raised eyebrows, tapping one finely manicured finger on the armrest of the sofa.

"What exactly did you women have in mind?" Dutch asked, reclining and looking back and forth between the three of them.

"Well, for starters, how would you feel about more women joining our family?" Pheebs asked him.

"I'm not sure," Dutch admitted, shrugging his shoulders as he groped for a response. "I mean, I've already got more than I'd ever dreamed of in all of you, so I don't feel like I need any more wives, or even lovers. I kinda feel like that would be greedy of me."

"Nonsense," Pheebs contradicted him. "Many powerful men throughout human history have had multiple wives. Only Western civilization moved away from harems, and we're well beyond those days and their cultural norms."

"Besides," Alisia joined in, "it's not only about what you want, or prefer. Jjan'tira, D'narius, and I have always been more comfortable among women than men, given our prior lives with the iShan'tal, so adding more women won't bother us at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. I can assure you that none of us minds sharing you with the others, and we've got each other to keep us company on nights when you might be otherwise occupied."

"My life is so fucking weird," Dutch groan, dropping his face into his hands as he struggled to overcome his own preconceptions. "So, assuming we're going to move forward and invite the others to join us, how exactly is that going to happen? I mean, it's not like they were made for me, or I rescued them, or destroyed their ship and owe them a fucking apology..."

Jjan'tira snickered at his last remark, her eyes smoldering as she remarked, "You do have a nice way of apologizing, dear."

All three women giggled at Jjan'tira's comment before Pheebs cleared her throat. "Let's take a different approach, shall we? Dutch, are there any of the other women that are of particular interest to you? Or, perhaps a better question, are there any that you are definitely NOT interested in?"

Dutch sat back for a moment, his eyes taking on a far-away stare as he scratched his chin. "I don't know. I hadn't really been focused on this possibility, so I don't have a prepared response. I know that I find each of them attractive in their own ways, and all seem to be smart. Even Kaitin, after the whole treachery incident, is not a 'no'. In a strange way, I feel that I need to help guide her back to a more righteous path." Dutch again paused, considering his words carefully. "I definitely find Justine attractive, and not just physically. She's quite funny, and I think she was flirting with me earlier today."

Dutch paused to stretch a bit, his stomach growling loudly enough for the others to hear. "I think perhaps we should continue this discussion over a meal," he suggested to the others.

"That sounds like a good idea," Alisia nodded, shooting a glance at the other two women.

"Perhaps we should join the others," Pheebs suggested subtly, a slight grin managing to break through her otherwise stoic expression. Standing, she went over to the synthesizer and, after a moment of looking through a series of images, requested a simple athletic outfit consisting of a sports bra, jersey-style shirt with the Odyssey shield and motto emblazoned across its front, leggings, and sneakers. The other women followed suit, all opting for similar attire. Dutch rose from the lounge and started for the synthesizer when Pheebs turned and tossed him some articles of clothing.

Holding up the clothes to inspect the selection, he was unsurprised to see the shirt was similar to that being worn by the others. Instead of tights, Pheebs had thoughtfully substituted athletic shorts, as well as a pair of low socks and sneakers. Shrugging, he moved over to the bed and quickly changed clothes, getting dressed in the relaxed attire just in time to see the women quickly brushing their hair and putting it up in simple pony-tails, then they all turned at once to look questioningly at him.

Realizing they expected a comment, he wolf-whistled at them and fake-panted before adding, "You all look very sexy!"

Scoffing at his low-brow response, Pheebs shot him a grin and then headed for the doorway, leading the procession out of the room and toward the galley. Dutch followed behind, admiring the fit of his wives' leggings.

Before he knew it, they were walking through the double doors into the galley. Although it had not been significantly upgraded, the space still looked different. It took Dutch a moment to register what exactly had changed. The tables were covered in checkered tablecloths, and tiny candles flickered in the center of each table. The galley was dim aside from the candlelight, and he saw that the other crew members were seated at various tables around the room, each table sporting a pitcher of an iced beverage and tumblers.

Pheebs paused to catch Dutch's attention, nodding her head toward a table past him where Justine and Jontalla were already sitting, then turned to sit at another table with Engela. As he debated what to do, Alisia moved to sit at a table with Kaitin, and Jjan'tira approached the table where Danielli waited.

Resolving himself to the inevitable, Dutch put a pleasant smile on his face and approached the table Pheebs had directed him to. "Good evening, ladies," he greeted them, pulling out his chair and joining them. "What's on the menu for dinner?"

Justine and Jontalla exchanged a look before Jontalla spoke up. "We thought that we'd take this opportunity to share some of our traditional foods with you, given how you shared so many of your old Earth meals with us during the training cruise." She paused as a service droid approached the table with a platter overflowing with meat covered in an orange glaze and toasted cheese curds. As soon as the platter had been placed on the table, Jontalla grabbed a pair of tongs and added some meat and curds to each of their plates, then continued speaking. "So, I come from the plains region on Rigellia, where we have large herds of creatures we call buffalark. These are herd animals genetically bred for Rigellia, but whose roots reach back to Earth. They serve as both meat and dairy animals, and for dinner, we'll be enjoying some fine Brochean cheese curds as well as a wonderful cut of flank steak in a jhimijhurri sauce."

When the droid returned with another platter, this one covered in some form of cooked crustaceans, Justine explained, "I come from the equatorial coastal regions, and the shellfish native to equatorial Rigellia are deliciously sweet when grilled, and taste particularly good when dipped in curdled cream." Using another set of tongs, she placed several of the cooked shellfish on each of their plates and then added small dipping bowls of lumpy cream.

The combined smells were making Dutch's mouth water, and he was hard pressed to wait patiently for the girls to wrap up their presentations so he could sample the fare. The two women noticed his eagerness and quickened their spiels.

"Given the wonderful contrasts between these foods," Justine explained as the service droid placed steaming bowls of soup in front of each of them, "we opted to eschew a salad and instead went for a traditional clear soup consisting of a mild broth laced with light vegetables. Bon Appétit!"

Dutch paused briefly to observe his dinner companions' actions. Seeing them start with the soup, he mirrored them, also beginning with the soup. A moan of surprise escaped him as he sampled the flavorful broth, and he savored the taste for a long moment. Realizing with a start that he was being watched closely, Dutch simply grunted, nodding his approval, and continued eating the soup.

Swallowing, he took a moment to gather his thoughts before opining, "This is really good. I can't think of anything that it compares to, so it is unique in my experience."

The two Rigellian women smiled at his approval, nodding to one another.

The rest of the meal was equally enjoyable, as was the conversation.

Jontalla spoke of her native lands, which had been constituted by tribal ancestors from old Earth, members of the Sioux and Lakota nations for the most part. While their numbers had not dwindled, neither had they been prolific. Jontalla had seized the opportunity to join the Rigellian Space Fleet but was even more impressed by the atmosphere aboard the Odyssey, and felt drawn to its mission and its familial crew.

Justine was more direct. She admitted that she openly admired Dutch and his crew, as well as their freedom from constraints due to any planetary allegiance. She described how she'd spent her career hoping to one-day get an opportunity to command a starship, only to realize that her window had passed, and that the fleet was being doled out to 'younger models', as she put it, and that the Admiral had told her that her strategic knowledge was far too important to waste on the command of a single starship. She admitted that Bearing had initially resisted her desire to volunteer as crew for Dutch's ship, but eventually realized that Justine was determined, and Bearing was too much of a friend and mentor to deny her the opportunity she so desired.

As the candle slowly burned low, Dutch blinked in surprise as he realized that the three of them were alone in the galley. At some point, the others had quietly departed. One napkin remained at the table where Pheebs had been sitting, and when Dutch went to toss it in the recycler, he noticed a hand-written note: GO FOR IT. Sighing, he realized his wives intended for him to bed these new women. It then occurred to him that, in all likelihood, they had not gone back to their stateroom either, but had joined their partners.

Deciding to put it to the test, he finished policing the galley and returned to the two women at his table. "Would you ladies care to join me for a nightcap in my quarters?"

Jontalla looked confused and glanced over to Justine. She just gave a knowing smile and explained, "He's asking if we want to join him in his quarters for a drink - likely some form of alcoholic concoction."

"Why? Can't we drink here in the galley?" the tribal woman asked naively.

Justine just chuckled, shaking her head. "Yes, we could, but this was how his generation, err, attempted to... seduce."

"Oh!" the younger woman's cheeks flushed slightly as realization dawned upon her. Turning to Dutch, she inquired, "Won't your wives be there?"

"It's entirely possible," he said evenly, with a shrug. "No matter, I wouldn't extend such an offer without their knowledge and consent. I respect them all far too much to do anything else. I hope you can appreciate that."

"I know it's one of the things that I find so fascinating about you and them," Justine admitted openly, rising from her chair. "I, for one, would enjoy joining you for a 'night cap'. Jontalla, won't you join us?"

The tribal woman considered the situation for a moment, then appeared to decide, as she silently rose from her seat and made to follow them both.

Dutch paused and felt obligated to ask them both, "To be clear, it is entirely likely we will engage in intimacy. I do not wish either of you to feel in any way pressured to do anything against your will. You absolutely have the right to decide not to join me, and there will be no repercussions. Is that clear?"

Both women exchanged a nervous glance, then faced Dutch.

"I understand," Jontalla said solemnly.

"If I misbehave, will you discipline me?" Justine asked him saucily.

Grinning, he turned and led the way down the corridor.

*****0115 Ship's Time, Day 67*****

Jontalla collapsed in a panting, exhausted heap in the middle of the bed, her swollen labia oozing cum. Justine moved her head down to clean Dutch's still-hard cock of their combined juices. As soon as she was satisfied that she'd recovered all that she could from him, she turned her attention to Jontalla, rolling the younger woman onto her back and bending low between her luscious thighs, nuzzling gently into her mons to coax the lovely tribal woman to spread her legs open for her. Jontalla lazily obliged Justine, parting her legs, then reaching down to lewdly spread open her pussy to grant even better access to the blonde woman.

As Justine buried her face in Jontalla's snatch, Dutch lined up behind her to run his oozing cockhead up and down her sodden furrow, ensuring she was adequately prepared before ramming himself balls-deep into her, eliciting a squeal of delight as reward. Pistoning himself in and out of her, he quickly fell into a comfortable rhythm, his balls slapping noisily against her bare pubic mound.

Looking down at her attractive backside, Dutch gave her ass a slap, which yielded a groan and wiggle from Justine. Taking this as an invitation, he experimented with progressively harder slaps, alternating cheeks, until her ass was reddened and hot. Justine simply moaned louder with each strike, encouraging him to continue.

For her part, Jontalla was writhing and moaning loudly from the oral attention Justine was paying her. Humping her hips upward, fucking her mound into Justine's eager face, the tribal woman's eyes screwed shut and she let out a loud cry as she came again, her juices washing over the pale woman's cheeks and chin.

Justine, feeling another climax approaching, desired more from Dutch. Rising up from her feast, she turned her head and began to talk dirty to him. "Come on, you ancient fucker! Tear me up! Fuck that cock deep into me! Fill me with your seed! I want to feel your cum shoot deep into me! Fuck me! Give me your cum!"

Feeling her channel begin that familiar quiver, he joined her. He released deep within her, jet after jet of his potent seed splashing off of her cervix, painting her walls with his spend, marking her as his own.

The two women collapsed into a mewling pile, panting and moaning as they recovered. Eventually, Justine raised herself from between Jontalla's legs and crawled up to lie next to her, embracing the younger woman, as they both relaxed and eventually dozed off.

Dutch, unaccustomed to sleeping without at least one of his wives, opted to excuse himself to the adjacent en suite and showered, wishing to be clean when his wives returned. Drying off, he wrapped himself in his towel and moved to the living area to relax in the lounge.

He had not been there for long before the doorway slid open silently, admitting a naked Pheebs. The copper-toned woman strode comfortably into the suite, looking like the proverbial cat who'd eaten the canary, and slipped easily into Dutch's lap.

As he wrapped his arms around her, he smelled her and realized that she, too, had showered before returning. Smiling to himself, he softly nuzzled against the nape of her neck. She sighed and relaxed completely into his embrace.

"Did you enjoy your evening, my love?" she asked him softly, so quietly he almost hadn't heard her.

Smiling gently, he merely nodded his head. "I did, yes. Did you?"

"Yes, I did," she admitted to him unabashedly. "Engela is surprisingly flexible."

They shared a chuckle, just holding one another, until the doors once again opened, and a very disheveled Jjan'tira made her way into the suite, as naked as Pheebs had been. Walking leisurely to where they sat, she crawled onto the couch and snuggled up against the two of them, content to be near them. Dutch wrapped an arm around her, drawing her closer to them.

The three of them had not been that way for very long before the doors once again parted, and Alisia strode into the quarters, looking pleased to see them all together awaiting her. She walked directly to them all, leaning over to kiss Jjan'tira, then Pheebs, and finally Dutch, before she joined them, arranging herself opposite Jjan'tira, embracing them from the side.

The four of them sat quietly, not quite dozing, for several minutes before the doors parted again, and the other women, all nude, slowly filed into the room. Engela and Danielli crawled onto the sofa on Jjan'tira's side, cuddling up to her, and Kaitin snuggled up against Alisia. Dutch merely smiled, silently embracing them all.

Just then, the frosted glass doors to the bed chamber parted, and Jontalla glanced back to whisper, "I told you I heard the door!"

The remaining women made their way over to the lounge area and, with no room left on the sofa, sat at their feet, leaning in to join in the mass of flesh. The odd group stayed thus for several moments before Pheebs sighed, then said, "Come on, you all, I'm sure we can make room in the bed."

"Um," Justine hesitated, "maybe we should change the sheets and shower quickly? I mean, we got a bit.... well, excessive."

Giggling, the two clones led the others to remake the bed while Justine and Jontalla showered quickly. In short order, they'd all managed to slip into the huge bed and slowly drifted off to a peaceful slumber, Dutch once again contemplating his odd fortune as sleep overtook him.

*****1130 Ship's Time, Day 67*****

Stanish Banyan was unlike any Methosian Dutch had met thus far. The man was far from the erudite form the others had all cultivated, instead boasting a barrel chest, bowed legs, broad shoulders, muscled arms that ended in mammoth, leathery hands layered with thick callouses, and a lopsided grin that seemed to perpetually grace his features. His unruly shock of hair was a blend of salt and pepper, perhaps a bit on the salty side, and his gaze was diamondlike in its ability to cut through to the truth of any given situation.

Sauntering across the hull of the Odyssey, his gaze swept fore and aft. "I can see the lines of the original ship," he commented, "but the - what did you call them? The Tao? - the Tao certainly did a fine job of upgrading her features, turning her from a shining ornament to a hardened weapon, without sacrificing her grace." Turning to lock his gaze onto Dutch, he went on, "I'd wager she's a fine nimble ship, isn' she!"

"Nimble, powerful, fast, and packs one hell of a punch!" Dutch crowed, proud of his ship.

"I figgered as much!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "The Terrans, they weren't too keen on subtle, preferring blunt weapons bristling with firepower to something more elegant, such as your Odyssey. No fooling about, those ships. They served but one purpose, whereas your vessel is multifaceted, that's clear."

"Would you like to tour inside her?" Dutch offered patiently, certain of the response.

"I thought ye'd never ask, mate!" the man replied congenially. "Please, lead on!"

The two spent the next two hours touring the vessel, bow to stern, and along all four of the fore-spaces. Banyon occasionally paused to enter a note into his palm pad, capturing impressions and ideas as they roamed the ship together. Eventually, they returned to the quarterdeck and exited the ship, returning to the Ring.

A brief ride in a transport capsule deposited them at the Master Shipwright's offices, where the man led Dutch into a chamber with one massive holoscreen. A quick verbal command brought up a visual of the ship, breaking it down into a schematic as Stanish pointed out several systems that were more advanced than those Methos had previously been capable of producing.

Dutch hesitated for only a moment before offering to share the technical specifications with the man, explaining to him how the Rigellians had been able to begin to build a fleet, intending to fulfil their obligation to join his Alliance. Banyon accepted the offer, and Dutch reached into a pocket, withdrawing the data crystal that Montgomery had left for them earlier that morning. The Master Shipwright confirmed that Bale Montgomery spoke with him the previous day about the possibility of Methos emulating the Rigellians and constructing a fleet of their own.

"I want to show you something," the Shipwright told Dutch, an odd look in his eye. "Come with me. I think you'll find this interesting."

The mountain of a man took Dutch on another brief ride, and a few short minutes later, the two of them were standing on a platform overlooking a large tank filled with a thick, viscous vapor. The chamber reminded Dutch of the shipbuilding rig on the Rigellian moon of Cestus, and his suspicion was confirmed when Banyon spoke briefly with the AI interface, and then stood back to watch as the vapor swirled for a moment, before dozens of lasers began flickering madly through the chamber, etching an outline of a vessel in the thick fluid, leaving a glowing shape that slowly began to coalesce into a stick figure diagram of the Odyssey, which then began to take on depth and dimension, as bulkheads and systems began to be etched from the vapors, taking solid form as the lasers quickly intersected, drawing forth a form from the nothingness.

It was oddly similar to the printing process employed by the Rigellians, yet different, as this was more akin to an older prototyping process Dutch recalled from his youth, save on a much larger scale, capable of producing much quicker results. In less than thirty minutes, the main propulsion and weapons systems appeared near complete, with the reactor system close behind.

Dutch's comm badge picked that moment to chirp, bringing him out of his reverie. Tapping the badge, he replied, "Dutch here."

"Captain," Prime addressed him, an edge to her voice, "I've just received a secure communication from Admiral Bearing. A large force of warships has been detected entering Rigellian space. They are under assault."

"Understood. Begin preparations to put to space, and recall the crew immediately. I'm heading there now." Turning to address the Master Shipwright, he opened his mouth, but the older man raised his hand.

"No need to explain, laddie," the large man offered. "Duty calls! Go save those Rigellians, an' come back when you can - we're gearing up to join you and yer Alliance!"

Tapping his palm pad, Banyon summoned a transport car for Dutch, reassuring him it would take him directly to docking bay 1138, where his ship awaited him.

Climbing inside, Dutch turned to wave farewell, and the shipwright pumped his fist in the air. "You show them Noraxians what fer!" The man shrank to a speck as the car sped away, whisking Dutch to his vessel.

Dutch arrived just in time to see Pheebs standing at the boarding tube, waiting for him. "All crew have returned aboard, sir, and the ship stands ready to depart."

Taking one last look around, he squared his shoulders, striding purposefully onto his ship. As the main hatch closed behind him, Dutch tapped his comm badge. "Prime, put me on the all hands channel."

His badge chirped, and he addressed the crew, "Attention on the Odyssey. We've been alerted that Rigel is under attack. We will depart Methos immediately to render assistance. All hands, to battle stations."

Together, he and Pheebs strode onto the bridge, and Jjan'tira rose from the command chair and stood aside, making room for Dutch. "All stations manned and ready, sir," she informed him smartly.

Pausing to cast his gaze around his bridge, he took it all in quickly. Justine was at the HELM, with Jontalla at NAV, Alisia at OPS, Danielli at SCI, Engela at WEPS, and Kaitin was at an auxiliary station, standing by to swing into action wherever she was needed. Dutch took note of the two new chairs that had been recently added on either side of the command chair. Pheebs and Jjan'tira each took one of the two chairs, leaving the center seat open.

Straightening his uniform jacket, he spoke calmly, "HELM, take us out. OPS, be ready to set Stealth Screens. NAV, set a course to take us one hundred thousand kilometers above the ecliptic, then plot a jump to Rigel, just behind Minta. Let's move, people! We've got some Noraxi ass to kick!"

*****