by S. L. Hadley
She was halfway up the ramp before anyone besides Lio noticed her.
“Enough celebrating,” she snapped. “You can all suck his dick later. First, we need to talk.”
The crew followed obediently, waiting with smiles and surprised expressions as Kitty shut the loading doors behind them. She seated herself atop a large container and allowed herself to breathe a deep sigh of relief as the door shut and the Feronia’s comfortable internal lighting glowed to life.
Now she was home.
Too late, she remembered the uncomfortably short hemline of her borrowed-now-stolen dress and considered crossing her legs. To do so now would only draw attention to it, however. And, besides, it wasn’t as though anyone present hadn’t seen what lay beneath.
“Two things,” she said, glancing around at the assembled faces. “First, thank you. Lio and I owe you our lives. It’s… I know this isn’t what I promised when you came aboard. But, thank you. I’m glad not to be dead.”
Nods, smiles, and quiet, affectionate laughter were the only reply.
“And, second, this isn’t over. I’m sure Nita told you, but the Syndicate has placed a bounty on the Feronia. And I don’t intend to hide… or quit. With DeWitt gone, Satoshi is the only person in the sector who can maintain such a price. I plan to take the fight to him.”
The smiles were gone. No one spoke, but the disbelief was obvious on every face. Even Lio and Nita stared at her as if she’d gone crazy.
Maybe she had.
“How?” Lio asked, breaking the silence. “Desafort?”
Kitty nodded. Then, for the benefit of the others, “I’m going to get the Navy to help us. They want the Syndicate gone as much as we do. And I’m willing to bet that DeWitt may have whetted their appetite.”
The faces watching her were thoughtful now. There was still skepticism aplenty, but no fear. That was good.
“I know this is dangerous,” Kitty continued, squashing the fear that threatened to rise up from her gut. “And I would never dream of forcing any of you into a fight you don’t believe in. So here’s the thing—if you want to leave, you can. Regardless of how long you’ve been aboard. You’re free.”
A soft, almost imperceptible gasp came from those before her. Kitty studied them, never lingering too long on any one face. However much they might like her personally, she was honest enough to realize her position. Lio had left once—how much more might some of the others crave the chance to part ways?
Without meaning to, Kitty found herself staring at Ammon.
The man glared back at her, scoffing.
“What?” he growled. “You trying to get rid of me?”
Kitty shook her head, refusing to take the bait.
“I’d be glad to have you,” she said. “But as a partner, Ammon. You’re not a slave.”
For a long moment, the man was silent. Not exactly still, though; he stared down at his folded arms and thoughtfully traced a tattoo that lay just above his left elbow.
“Got a spare laspistol?” he asked, at last.
Painfully aware of her own missing one, Kitty nodded. “A few, actually.”
Ammon scoffed again then shrugged. “Ah, what the hell. It’s something to do, at least.”
Kitty nodded gratefully toward him, then continued her review of the others. Warm gratitude had sprung to life at Ammon’s words, encouraging her.
“You’d have to lay low,” she said. “The Syndicate would be looking for you. But it’d be safer than staying here, Inu.”
The drakashi jumped a bit at being addressed but shook his head instantly.
“Kill Sssatosssshi… Inu isss free. Inu ssstaysss.”
The warmth in Kitty’s belly grew more pronounced, as did her smile.
“Myorie?”
The Tritonian said nothing, as always. Instead, he glanced around at the others before shaking his head. Kitty couldn’t help noticing his gaze lingered a bit longer on Nita than on any of the others and had to mask her knowing smile.
“Vhosa?”
The Naga hissed, hood flaring slightly.
“Vhosssa hasss no fear. Will not leave nessst.”
Though she knew there was no reason for it, at least intellectually, Kitty felt a flash of fear as she turned her attention to Lio. Even if he left, she had no doubt he’d return in time. But of all her consorts, she knew the Arsalian had the strongest motivation to want to leave. He’d been unusually quiet since their rescue by the Navy, no doubt from worry over the fate of his sister. There had been no word from her and, given the role the Syndicate had played in her relocation, it obviously weighed on him.
To her immense relief, it wasn’t enough.
“Nobody’s safe with the Syndicate around,” he said, eyes downcast. Then they rose, momentarily, just high enough to meet hers. “Besides, look what happened the last time. I’m your good luck charm.”
Before Kitty even had a chance to reply, Nita spoke up.
“Face it, Skipper,” she said, a hint of laughter in her tone. “You’re stuck with us. So why don’t you quit trying to save our lives and go yell at some Admiral?”
Kitty nodded, caught off guard by how touched she was. Eventually, she cleared her throat.
“That’ll be all, then.”
***
“Out of jurisdiction?” Kitty roared. “What the hell does that mean? You’re the fucking Federation Navy!”
On the viewscreen before her, it was obvious the Admiral was barely holding in his temper. His face was red and a vein bulged at his temple. Standing just past his shoulder, a visibly uncomfortable Captain Desafort fidgeted. From his expression, it was obvious he very much regretted granting Kitty’s request to speak with his superior.
Good. It was about time the damn psyker knew what it was like to feel powerless.
“As I said, Miss Black,” the Admiral growled with remarkable restraint. “Adrastos is the responsibility of Admiral Leahy. My fleet has obligations here and cannot—”
“What about the Vigilant?” she demanded. “You’re just going to wait around while the Syndicate places bounties on half your ships?”
“It’s of no concern. The Federation does not negotiate with criminals.”
“You damn coward,” Kitty snapped, shaking her head in disgust. “It’s people like you who allowed them to get so powerful in the first—”
With a sudden beep, the display went dead. For a second, Kitty thought the Admiral had ended their session, but his voice filtered through before she had a chance to shout the curses she’d intended.
“Miss Black, your experiences with Carl DeWitt were unfortunate. I’m grateful that we had the opportunity to rescue you. But, I have more important things to do than listen to your insults. I recommend you speak to Admiral Leahy on Pensacola One-One. Good day.”
Kitty didn’t bother interrupting. In truth, she barely bothered listening. No doubt the Admiral had already muted her side of the conversation. So, rather than speak, she simply mouthed curses and stared blindly at the darkened monitor ahead of her, even after the blinking corner indicator told her the conference had ended.
She hadn’t really expected the Admiral to commit much. For all her protests, he was responsible for guarding hundreds of systems and tens of billions of lives. But what she hadn’t expected was to be dismissed out of hand, without even a polite assurance that the Navy would look into her claims. And after the trouble she’d gone through to don her sharpest uniform, too. That was the insulting part.
So insulting that Kitty was still stewing in anger when the door to the bridge opened with its usual hiss.
“Sounds like that went well,” Nita said, dropping into her usual seat.
Chewing the inside of her cheek, Kitty aimed a kick at the console ahead of her. It accomplished nothing and left her foot a bit sore, but she was in no mood for self-care. Another time, she might have gone digging through the Feronia’s supplies in search of a stiff drink. Instead, she glanced toward the door to ensure they were alone
.
“I need you to run a scan,” Kitty said.
“Aye, Skipper?” Nita glanced at her with a curious expression, but tapped the appropriate commands onto her console.
“Check for damage to the Feronia’s sensor arrays.”
“Internal or external?”
“Both.”
Kitty sat back, hands folded in her lap and trying hard to keep them still. It wasn’t going very well, even though the requested scans took barely half a minute to complete.
“Nothing,” Nita said. “Not even a scratch.”
“Then check life-support.”
Nita glanced at her again, frowning this time.
“Don’t you think we’d have noticed by now?” she asked. “Space being… you know, space?”
“Just do it!” Kitty snapped, far more harshly than she’d meant to. She regretted it at once and groaned, thumping her head back against the top of her chair in disgust. “Sorry, Nita. Please.”
“Scanning.”
As soon as she’d input the command, Nita spun in her chair and looked at Kitty with concern.
“Kitty? Is everything okay?”
“No.”
“Is it the Admiral? I heard a little bit.”
“No.”
“Then what—?”
A soft ping indicated the scan was complete. Rather than display the results on Nita’s station, however, the Feronia’s forward-facing viewscreen immediately sprang to life, displaying a handful of external components and highlighted schematics of internal ones.
“Oh, stars,” Nita muttered, rising to her feet and studying the results with an urgent expression.
Kitty didn’t bother. She already knew what the answer would be.
Nita breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back down.
“That could have been bad,” she said, grinning. “At least the water and oxygen recyclers weren’t damaged. It’s mostly superficial scarring so we’ll make it to One-One easily enough. Must have been from that last fight on Adrastos but it didn’t even trigger an alert. Still, how did you know?”
Kitty had to force herself to speak normally. Fortunately, Nita was still studying the readouts and didn’t take notice of her strangled expression.
“What’s damaged?”
“Nothing much. Looks like one of the waste valves melted shut. That explains the smell in the head. But other than that… two of the life support control modules got fried. Nutrient control, I think? Damn, any idea how long scurvy takes to—?”
Kitty stood and had to keep herself from bolting for the door.
It was real. It was happening. Was this someone’s idea of a joke? And why now of all times?
“Kitty?”
She managed to keep from vomiting until she reached the head, though not long enough to aim for the toilet. So, shuddering at the taste of bile on her tongue, Kitty wiped the floor clean and tried not to repeat her failure.
At first, she tried to ignore Nita’s frantic pounding at the door. She wanted to be alone—to think. But, eventually, she’d given in and sent the woman in search of a non-existent replacement for the damaged life support modules.
Sick from improperly balanced food, she’d said.
Yeah, sure.
Once her mess was cleaned up, Kitty took a long gulp from the sink and left in search of the one person who might be able to comfort her.
***
Lio sat against the wall outside the harem room as if waiting for her. He stared up at the ceiling, a faint, nostalgic smile on his face. It wasn’t until Kitty approached that he noticed her, though one look at her pale face brought him to his feet.
“Kitty?” he said, moving toward her. “Are you okay? You look—”
Without a word, Kitty grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him toward her cabin. As the door shut behind them, however, their roles reversed and it was he that gently ushered her to sit on the edge of the bed. He knelt at her side then, clutching one of her hands between his.
“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently. “Are you sick?”
Kitty shook her head and immediately regretted it as another wave of nausea struck her.
“Lio, I’m pregnant.”
To his credit, Lio didn’t laugh, though Kitty couldn’t have blamed him if he had. The very idea was laughable. Most ships, especially one like the Feronia, came equipped with all manner of synthetic contraceptives—automatically injected into the food and so potent that they could last for weeks even after the last exposure. Thank the Navy and its desire to make port free of scandals. In fact, it was one of the universe’s great constants: Governments taxed and grew corrupt. The Navy recruited and fought. Ships traveled the stars and kept you from getting pregnant.
Except this time.
“How…” Lio said, still frowning. “How is that possible?”
“Adrastos,” Kitty said, breathing deeply to keep her flip-flopping stomach in check. “When I rescued Inu, Satoshi’s men must have hit the Feronia’s life support. Air and water were fine so the damn ship never bothered to tell us. But the food….”
“Then… how long did…?”
The question behind Lio’s question was subtle, but unmistakable. Even conflicted and sick as she was, it made Kitty smile.
“A few weeks,” she said. “Maybe two from when it happened until I surrendered to DeWitt.”
Staring past her, Lio let out a deep, shaky breath. His hands were shaking, almost trembling.
“So, you’re saying… it’s…?”
“Yours?” Kitty said, unable to suppress the desire to tease him just a little. “I mean, we won’t know for sure until later. But… mathematically? You’re the prime suspect.”
“How is that even possible? I’m an Arsalian!”
“It’s happened before.” Kitty shrugged and was relieved to discover the motion didn’t trigger her gradually subsiding nausea. “Not exactly common, but possible. Call it a prison miracle.”
Lio stared up at her, suspicious. Then, climbing unsteadily to his feet, he stared down at her suspiciously, instead.
“You’re not joking, are you?” he demanded. “I’m actually going to be a father?”
Smirking, Kitty reached out and squeezed him gently through the front of his trousers. Though not in the least bit hard, there was an unmistakable, fleshy handhold for her to grasp. She did so, stroking him encouragingly. Lio watched her impatiently, frowning even as his cock slowly stiffened.
“Well, you’re definitely not going to be a mother.”
In the time it took Kitty to blink, Lio pounced. She yelped at the suddenness of it, flopping back onto the bed with the Arsalian looming over her and noting gratefully that her stomach seemed to have resumed its good behavior. Staring up at Lio and the intensity in his eyes, she couldn’t help but grin and blush.
And to think she’d worried that a month of virtually nothing but sex would have been enough for him.
“Say it again,” he whispered. “Promise me. You’re actually pregnant?”
Kitty nodded.
“It’s real, Lio,” she said. “I took a test while we were on the Vigilant.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I wanted to be sure.”
Reaching up, Kitty wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down into a long, tender kiss. Lio fidgeted, seemingly torn between continuing the kiss and his desire to gaze upon her. In the end, even once the kiss had ended, Kitty didn’t release him. Instead, she pulled him closer, nuzzling her way through the bony strands of his hair until she could whisper in his pointed, feline ear.
“And, now, I am,” she murmured. “That big, ol’ spiny dick of yours did it.”
Shuddering, Lio pressed himself against her. The difference a few seconds made was tremendous and Kitty squirmed as she felt the stiff bulge of his erection grind between her legs.
“Let’s make sure of it,” he teased. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and have twins.”
Kitty rolled her eyes,
even as she hooked her legs around the small of Lio’s back to hold him in place.
“You know that’s not how that works.”
She gasped as Lio nibbled playfully at her neck, sending chills down her spine. At the same time, the small gyration of his hips nudged her in all the right places and sent similar ones racing up. They met midway up her back and left her gasping and all too aware of how urgently she needed him.
“Humor me,” Lio said.
And so, she did. Somehow, without a word, both of them understood that neither was in the mood for foreplay. That had already been accomplished, several times over if the state of her panties was any indicator. Kitty lay there, haphazardly peeling off her top as Lio stripped out of his own clothes as if his life depended on it. She didn’t even have a chance to move on and address her trousers before he did it for her.
Almost lifting her into the air, Lio seized her pants by the waist and yanked them roughly down her legs. Her panties followed suit a second later, though if he noticed their dampness Lio gave no indication of it. Rather, his only reaction was a lusty growl as he launched himself onto the bed and crouched over her. His cock hung between them, massively erect and twitching. Its spines were already raised.
“Don’t be gentle,” Kitty teased.
For a moment, Lio simply looked at her. Then he smirked.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
He kissed her, clutching the back of her head to ensure she couldn’t pull away. Not that she would have even if she could. The Arsalian’s mouth was warm and wet and left her heart racing. She was so distracted that she barely even noticed when Lio’s other hand began to roam across her chest, gently kneading and exploring her breasts.