by Jay Toney
If that wasn't enough, the senior crewmen were complaining about the cabin reassignments and changes to their duty schedules. I was glad the entertainers would be starting their shift rotations tomorrow. It would bring down the stress level and improve morale.
Not being able to let my crew off the ship so that they could have a little fun and blow off some steam was already causing problems. Fights were breaking out, and people were reporting to duty intoxicated. Hopefully, morale would improve tomorrow morning when Sally's, now Jewel's girls began their work.
I sat down in my chair, reclined with my eyes closed, and tried to forget the events from earlier today. A pair of hands started kneading the stiff muscles of my neck and shoulders. The muscles tensed up, becoming even tighter, then slowly relaxed with Jewel's expert massage.
I could tell it was Jewel from her scent. More precisely, the smell of the perfume she was wearing. It has a sweet fruity aroma with a hint of cinnamon and Kobviri musk oil. It was perfume she commonly wore when she was either in a playful mood or wanted something from me. I let her continue the massage, enjoying it while it lasted.
Another pair of hands pulled off my boots and began massaging my feet. It had to be Amber. Jewel and Amber worked as a team when they wanted something from me. They never just came out and asked. Instead, they worked their magic on me, weakening my defenses to the point they knew I couldn't refuse them. I let them continue their work.
The only other time anyone ever massaged my feet was on the Iniguar world of Invaldi II during our last visit. It was something I was learning to enjoy. At first, it was painful. Amber bent and flexed my feet in various positions, and held them with the muscles and tendons stretched for several seconds before releasing them. Each time she did it, they became less painful, and I could feel increased circulation and less tension with the muscles in my feet relaxing. Then she gently rubbed and massaged them. Her efforts almost had me purring like a cat.
"Nathaniel?" Jewel whispered.
"Mmm don't stop."
"Amber and I were talking. We need to increase our cleaning service to daily instead of bi-weekly. We are taking on more crew; surely there is someone you can assign to clean our cabin."
I wasn't going to give in just yet. Amber and Jewel needed to work for it. "The people we are taking on are engineers, mechanics, and gunners. They will all have duties assigned to them that will keep them too busy to assign them to a cleaning detail."
"What about the adult entertainment staff?"
"I have the feeling that when word gets out about them, their schedules will also be full. Their value for boosting the crew's morale is far too important to assign them to a cleaning detail."
"Surely there must be someone you can assign?"
"I suppose I can assign that task to the junior officer."
"She is going to be too busy making your life miserable if you don't find someone else to clean our cabin. On the other hand, if someone was to become available; the junior officer might find the time to thank you, every day."
"You and Amber can start thanking me now. I already talked with Mike and his wife, Rosie. She starts working as our housekeeper tomorrow morning."
****
"Damn it all to hell! Natasha silence that alarm!" I was up late last night celebrating with Amber and Jewel. They were showing me just how grateful they were for hiring our new housekeeper. It seemed like I just closed my eyes a few minutes ago, only to be awakened by the comm alarm.
Jewel put her pillow over her head to block the noise. Amber tried ignoring it. Gave up; then joined Jewel by putting her pillow over her head and pulling our blanket over the two of them. I got out of bed to stop the noise.
"Natasha, deactivate privacy mode."
"Privacy mode deactivated."
"Silence the comm alarm. Whoever is calling, it had better be important. It is still early in the morning."
"It is past midday. The comm request is from Tanya and my avatar. They are requesting your presence. The message is marked urgent."
"Tell them I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Message sent."
I looked around the bedroom. All of our clothes were picked up, and the room cleaned, except for the bed. We were either still in or on it when Rosie came over to clean our cabin. The three of us made quite a mess before retiring for the night.
I put on a robe and entered the common room. A decanter of coffee, orange juice, and a tray of pastries was waiting for us on the table. Tanya and Natasha, would have to wait a few more minutes. Whatever they wanted, it probably wasn't important. It never was with those two.
I crossed the corridor to the cabin Tanya and Natasha shared and entered. Two young ladies were with them. I recognized them as being members of my crew, hired shortly after our return to the collation worlds.
"It looks like you just crawled out of bed," Tanya stated the obvious.
"I did. I had a busy night and didn't get much sleep. What is the emergency?"
"There is no emergency. I just need your approval on a contract termination. Jasmine and Candi want to resign from the crew to join the entertainment staff."
"How has their performance been?"
"Very good. They both have high ratings and recommendations from their department heads."
"Can their positions be filled with the new ratings?"
"Yes, very easily."
"Why do they want to change careers?"
"This is an opportunity for us to earn a living doing what we like doing the most," Jasmine answered.
"There are two shifts starting tonight. Jewel will be your new manager. You can message her for details about standard rates. 50% of your fees will automatically be deducted from your accounts. All services are credits up front, no IOU's. All ship amenities are freely available to use in your off time. Shifts are 12 hours long, with breaks for meals and to freshen up. All service is by appointment only."
"That's much more than we expected to earn with rent and the ship's amenities included. We can't thank you, enough."
"If you will excuse me, my wives are waiting for me." I left Tanya in a hurry to get back in bed.
****
"He has more than one wife?"
"It's complicated. Nathaniel is married to Amber. She was the original captain and owner of the Lucy. Nathaniel became involved with Jewel about the same time he met Amber and frequently visited her during sleepovers. Now all three of them share a lifetime bond," Tanya showed Candy and Jasmine her alien bonding disk. "These disks are more than a symbol of being bonded. They form a permanent telepathic link between chosen partners."
"I think I remember her now. Isn't Jewel the person who got kicked out of the space marines?"
"She was never a marine. Beverly used her connections with the producers of Busted to get revenge for their involvement with her marriage to Sultan. Jewel didn't have anything to do with it. It was entirely Amber's, and Nathaniel's doing. Beverly is tormenting Jewel to hurt her sister."
"But we saw her on Busted. Everyone knows that what they broadcast on the holovid is real and they have the documentation to prove it."
"Don't believe everything you see on the holovid. It's there for entertainment.
Natty and I are opening a casino this evening in one of the holographic simulation rooms. The gamblers will be playing with real credits and able to keep their winnings. The alcohol we are serving is real too. We are looking for people who want to earn a few extra credits by serving drinks and celebrating with the winners. We only take a 25% cut of the money you make on the side for providing the customers and luxury suites to use. We also pay a commission on every drink tha
t you sell to our visitors. Are the two of you interested?"
"Where do we sign up?"
****
"Nathaniel, we need to expedite your departure. System Governor Rutherford just signed a treaty with the Alliance government's representative. Both he and the station manager are beginning to get suspicious of Mikes activities. This hangar is sealed off and placarded with radiation warnings to keep any curious people out. Make plans to leave in the next few days.
When the order comes for your capture, I will be in a position to intercept you. Play along like you are being attacked. Set your course for the Vega star system and wait for me there."
Red departed the Persephone dressed as a mechanic, wearing a stained coverall and carrying a toolkit that he strategically placed on his shoulder blocking the view of his profile. His face was clean shaven, and his hair dyed black to change his appearance. He wore a cap with its bill pulled down low to help disguise his face.
****
Word spread about Tanya and Natasha hosting real gambling in a casino simulation. There was nothing illegal about gambling, but most ship captains frowned about having it on their ships. I could care less as long as the games weren't rigged and the crew were having fun. What they did with their credits was up to them. Tanya wasn't known for playing fair. Anything she did was slanted in her favor somehow. It was because of this that I decided to visit her casino and make sure the games were fair.
Hanging on the door to the simulation where the casino simulation was reported to be taking place was a sign. It read, "Holographic simulation equipment under repair. Keep out!." Was this a personal note meant for me or was it a general note for anyone who happened to come by the room to run a simulation in their spare time?
I opened the door and stepped into the simulation. One second I was standing in an empty corridor of my starship, the next second I was inside a busy casino. There were at least forty or fifty of my crew inside the simulation gambling and drinking. All of the progressive slot machines and VR card games were in use. Periodically, lights would flash, and bells would ring when someone won.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Jasmine asked.
I remembered the woman from the interview in Tanya's cabin the other day. It didn't take her long to get involved with Tanya's and Natasha's business scam. "A draft beer would be nice."
"We don't sell beer or wine. We only serve the good stuff. It is ten credits per drink with a two-drink minimum. If you are gambling, your drinks are free."
Drinks were a little on the expensive side, but their cost was easily offset by drinking while gambling. I handed Jasmine a 100 credit chip. "Do you have any thistleberry punch? I'll have that if it is available and some chips to play with."
"Right away sir. Where will you be playing?"
"I am going to try my luck at the roulette table."
"I will meet you there shortly with your drink and casino chips."
"Jasmine, good job zeroing in on Nathaniel. Make sure his glass never gets empty and keep pushing drinks on him.
Bartender, Nathaniel is a VIP customer. Use the tall glasses for his drinks. Fill his glass half full with crushed ice and fill it to the rim with the thistleberry punch. I'm sure he is here to check on me. I want him to have a great time."
Jasmine handed me a full glass of blue liquor. It was filled to the rim. Even if I paid the ten credits for the drink, I would be getting my money's worth. I took a few gulps of the ice-cold drink. It was cold going down, but when it hit my stomach, a warm sensation spread throughout my body.
I put a ten credit chip on number ten black. When all of the bets were placed the dealer spun the wheel and the ball. The wheel turned counterclockwise and the ball clockwise. When the ball slowed its spin around the wheel, it descended into the number fields, bounced from number to number, and stopped on number ten. The dealer passed me a stack of 360 credit chips. Jasmine handed me a fresh drink.
I sat out the next spin then bet 100 credits on number 35 red. Jasmine put a fresh drink in my hand replacing the one I was halfway through drinking. I couldn't complain about the customer service and so far, I didn't see any cheating. The ball stopped on number 35. I was handed a large stack of chips. The alcohol was starting to get to me.
"Drink up sugar," a fresh glass of thistleberry punch was placed into my hands. I put 100 credits on number 22 black and lost. I couldn't win them all. I lost four more times and had way too much to drink. I felt confused and off balance. I placed a final bet of 1000 credits on number 31 red and won. In an hours time, I won nearly 40,000 credits. It was time to leave.
"Jasmine, don't let Nathaniel leave with all of those credits. He's too damn lucky. He must have cheated somehow. Take Nathaniel upstairs and help him celebrate in our best suite. Bring Candi with you and keep pushing the booze. I want my credits back. Split a thousand credits with Candi for your services and bring me the rest. When Nathaniel leaves in the morning, I don't want him leaving with anything more than fond memories of the night. Your names are Amber and Jewel for the rest of the night. Make sure the two of you use them."
Escape
"Alert condition: red! Alert condition: red! All hands to battle stations!"
A call to battle stations couldn't be happening. We were still in space dock, hidden in a maintenance hangar. Besides, my head was still pounding from my visit to Tanya's and Natty's casino yesterday. I think it was yesterday; it may have been the day before. I had one or two more drinks than I should have and woke in bed with Jasmine and Candy. There was no way I could explain what happened to Amber and Jewel, so I didn't. Celebrating with Jasmine and Candi didn't happen off the ship during a sleepover, so it counted as cheating. Except the girls were professionals performing a service, but they were off duty. It was a gray area that I better not mention to my wife and lover. It was enough that I knew that I screwed up. I was pretty sure I was winning last night, but I only had a few credits left in my pockets.
"Natasha, privacy mode off."
"Privacy mode is deactivated."
"Silence that alarm and tell me what is going on." The alarm shut off, but the red flashing light stayed on.
"We are under attack by Alliance forces."
I was moving slow and thinking even slower. I didn't know if it was day or night, ship's time. I was still drunk when I got back from the casino simulation and went straight to bed. Now that I was awake, I was sober enough to wish that I was still drunk.
I wasn't moving fast enough for Amber and Jewel. In fact, I wasn't moving. I was still on the bed sitting in a kind of stupor. Jewel and Amber each grabbed a leg and pulled. The impact with my body hitting the floor gave me enough of a jolt to make the connection between the synapses in my brain and get my gray matter functioning again. I got to my feet, dressed, and the three of us hurried to the bridge.
There was no need to ask Natasha for an explanation of the red alert alarm. She hacked into the space stations central computer and accessed its security systems. Camera feeds from the space station's security system were shown on our main viewscreen. One of those feeds showed a squad of Alliance soldiers trying to unlock the hangar door with a decoding device.
Natasha fed false decompression warnings to the space stations computers, causing the ring's blast doors to close. Three different camera views showed platoons of soldiers trapped between the bulkhead sections. Breaching specialists were using torches to cut their way through the emergency bulkhead doors. Another portion of the viewscreen displayed a schematic of this section of the docking ring, with red icons showing the location of the Alliance soldiers.
An external camera focused on the Deuces Wild, a troop transport used by the Alliance military. It was capable of transporting an entire battalion of soldiers
and their support equipment. The last camera view was from our ship. It showed the sealed hangar doors in front of my starship. The hangar would have to be depressurized and the hangar doors opened before we could attempt to escape.
"Natasha seal all hatches and prepare for takeoff."
"All external hatches are closed and sealed."
"Start hangar depressurization and open the hangar doors when the hangar is depressurized."
"I am unable to comply. The control room is on an independent system with no direct computer connection that I can access."
"Sorry, I am late," Mike said. "Did I miss anything?"
"Only the Alliance trying to capture us. We need to find a way to evacuate the air and open the hangar doors."
"By now the Alliance already has control of the control room. Even if they didn't, everyone loyal to me is aboard this ship with their families. There is no way to open the doors outside of the control room. We are trapped."
"Captain, the station's traffic controller, is demanding our surrender before anyone gets hurt," Jewel reported.
"No reply.
Natty, raise our shields and angle them against the hangar doors."
"The troops are through the hatch."
Blaster fire from handguns and rifles struck our shields and were deflected without causing any damage to our ship. Additional troops from the platoons of soldiers that were trapped earlier by the blast doors began streaming into the hangar and started assembling heavy weapons designed to penetrate starship shields and breach their hulls.
It was time to get out of here. We couldn't afford to wait any longer or take the time needed to find an alternate solution. "Natty, prepare missile tubes one and four. Set fuses to detonate on impact."
"The missiles are ready."