by D. R. Rosier
“You will come with us, or else.”
The cop started to draw his weapon but a loud voice cried out, “Stop!”
The cop startled and turned, and Mike looked in that direction as well.
Julian said, “Are you insane? You are dismissed, and on suspension. If you don’t move your ass right now you’re fired.”
He felt a bit relieved at Julian’s arrival, he’d feared they’d either have to leave, or literally bowl over the cops too, with their shield.
There was still a tense moment, until the cop holstered and took his hands off his gun and walked away, the other two shared a look and then returned to their post.
Julian said, “I apologize for the lack of your security, please follow me.”
He waved his hand as if to brush it away.
“It’s alright, I shouldn’t have attempted it, and called for alternate instructions.”
In hindsight, they never should have done what they had. His pride and not wanting to back down for a bunch of assholes had made him do something stupid. They really hadn’t been at risk, but if the crowd had been harmed worse than they had, or perhaps even had a death among them, it would have been a political nightmare.
Julian smiled in thanks, “Follow me,” and walked toward the building.
The crowd looked disappointed, and there were a few half-hearted cries of outrage, but most stayed silent and merely glared at their backs until they made it inside the building…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nadia sent with a sultry, lusty, and teasing voice, “Do well, and I’ll blow you at lunch.”
He almost tripped and fell off the stage, as it was though, he made it to the podium after a barely perceptible pause, and while suppressing a smile. He knew she was just trying to calm him down. Of course, that wouldn’t stop him from claiming his prize later.
“Good morning. I have a short presentation to give you a first-hand account of what’s out there. Then I’ll be happy to take your questions, please hold them until then.”
He paused for a moment to sweep his gaze slowly across the audience, and wondered if he could really do any good here. He hoped so, he would try.
The large screen behind him came up, and showed a few images.
“About three months ago, our galaxy was invaded by the Kascorix, a race that lived off consuming the flesh of other worlds’ beings. Both animal, and sentient. The Xaran, along with the help of Mars managed to fight them off.
“After that, we went to Andromeda, and removed them from space, they are now limited to their twenty worlds, and will remain quarantined until they can grow up a bit. They are no longer a threat to our galaxy.”
Another picture came up, one of a Canosian Carrier, and several attack ships. After that, he showed a picture of Captain Shirilla.
“While we were doing that, we ran into this race, the Canosians had also been attacked by the Kascorix. They are extremely warlike, and their preferred method of creating peace against a warring state is genocide. They are still out there, and I imagine they will be as long as they don’t attack us. Still, the way we left things at the end were rather tense. So far, they’ve kept their word.”
He looked around a bit as they digested that.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this, and I’m sure most of you already knew much of it. The Xaran empire is made up of thirty-seven species, about a third of which are humanoid. Earth being one of those, and Mars. The Xaran themselves are an extremely peaceful race, but they do not hesitate to react to threats, both internal and external. I know that’s hard to swallow without proof, all we have for proof is history.
“For thousands of years of recorded history, the Xaran empire has been stable, the Xaran empire has enforced their interstellar laws, and the Xaran empire has never interfered with a world’s local solar system. They are partners with all the worlds in the empire, and ensure that internal to the empire, no world attacks or interferes with another.
“I say all this, because shortly Earth will be joining them. I would encourage all of you to ensure any military vessels that protect this solar system, and any traders or diplomats that go into space, know and follow all the Xaran’s laws without fail. It’s not really that hard to do. Considering all the Xarans expect of a member planet is for someone to keep a senatorial seat warm, and get claims approved of anything outside of the solar system, it is very much worth the price.”
He paused a beat, “They don’t even ask for taxes.”
He actually heard a few people chuckle.
He paused for a second to order his thoughts, he didn’t want to speak all that long, and so far he hadn’t gotten anything from Nadia, so at least they were listening, he hoped.
“Why? The universe is a very dangerous place. Not only the Canosians, but the countless unknown threats out there in other galaxies. But we don’t even need to look that far, the Xarans keep the peace in the empire. Being a part of it is to be protected by it. If for some reason we were ever kicked out, we would lose that protection. There are plenty of hostile species in this galaxy that wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of such a situation.
“It’s also a very simple thing. The ones that go out there just need to respect the sovereignty of other worlds, the same way we want no interlopers on ours telling us what to do. Just for the trade advantages, it’s worth doing.”
He briefly considered talking about the FTL technology, but that really was an internal Earth matter unless the one that made the breakthrough failed to follow their word. If indeed they even ratified that part of the treaty. He decided not to talk about it.
“That was the broad strokes, and Mars will offer you a database, containing some facts about all the races, and a profile of sorts. We can also provide a full copy of Xaran’s interstellar laws if you don’t have one yet. Does anyone have any questions?”
It wasn’t the full database that his Mother had swiped from the Xarans twenty years ago when his father saved the princess’s ship, but even the pared down version had a lot of useful information in it. As far as the laws, they should all have them. There aren’t even that many, just a few and unlike most bodies of law, they were mostly common sense. Still, he didn’t expect they’d need them, and if they did they needed a much better intelligence service as well, since it’s freely available.
Someone asked, “Mars fought alongside the Xarans? Why?”
He replied, “For a number of reasons. By law, we didn’t have to, the Xaran empire is protected by Xaran. However, most worlds have their own defense forces in their own solar systems as well. Why? Because it was the right thing to do, because we could. Because our solar system was in danger too until that invasion was broken. The A.I.s are like that, and compassion demands it.
“That said, there were other benefits from it that although wasn’t the goal, are undeniable. Good will from our interstellar neighbors. Mars is very highly respected by the six worlds we saved, and we now have even closer ties by treaty with two of them, one for trade, the other for trade and mutual defense. There are many opportunities out there if we can look past the differences.”
He didn’t mention that the Xaran would have lost without Mars, or more specifically, his discoveries. Although that might not be true, but at the very least the invasion would have lasted much longer, and a lot more people would have died.
One asked, “Do you think they’ll respect our patents?”
He replied, “Yes, and no. Obviously, they won’t if someone on their world invented it, probably hundreds of years before Earth did. That said, they wouldn’t pirate designs. Let’s be realistic, when you join the galaxy your tech isn’t going to be the freshest and newest on the block, it will be things they already have or have surpassed. That may change, humanity will catch up fast, I have no doubts about the human spirit and ingenuity, but before that happens hopefully you’ll be an integrated member and have all that figured out.”
That wasn’t true in Mars case,
but they weren’t letting their tech go anyway.
He continued, “Until you do catch up, the most likely things to trade will be clothes design, or art. Something culturally new that they haven’t seen before. Tech and resources… probably not for a while on the first, and never for the second. The galaxy has a lot of resources out there, a half billion solar systems with rocks and debris ready to be claimed. As a result, trade between worlds is a barter system, not currency. For the most part.”
“For the most part?” someone asked.
He smiled, “Well, for big deals between planets barter makes more sense and is the standard. But for someone visiting another world that needs local currency to pick up a few souvenirs in a shop, precious metals or jewels would work there. Say, an ambassador or something? I suppose there could be exceptions to that if you wanted it in a treaty outside of the Xaran empire laws, but that would be up to you and them.”
It wasn’t like most worlds accepted vacationing tourists anyway, although Mars did.
There were several more questions he fielded, but none of them ever asked about the technology. In hindsight that wasn’t too surprising, it was an internal Earth matter and they probable neither wanted nor would respect any advice from outside.
When the questions tapered out, Julian thanked him for coming and the five of them left. He’d done what he came to do, now all they could do is let the Earth’s leadership figure it out and come to an agreement. He was curious what would happen, and would pay attention to the news and wait for Celia’s call. They checked out of the hotel, and left in the shuttle, deciding to return to the ship for lunch.
He waggled his eyebrows at Nadia, “So did I do a good job?”
She just winked, he guessed he’d find out later…
“What’s this?” he asked curiously as he looked around.
Chrystal giggled, “Made a few changes, there are five of us now you know.”
Their room was half again as big now, with wood flooring, and the walls were a nice soothing off-white with a tinge of blue. The bed was to the right when entering the room, toward the front of the ship against the wall, and almost ridiculously large, but they needed it that big to fit five people comfortably. Although the way they usually slept with tangled legs while holding each other, he didn’t think all the space would ever be used.
Then again, he realized when they had play time, a threesome next to a twosome would take up that much space with some room to spare.
There were two oak end tables, and a large credenza at the foot of the bed, stained a dark shade with a hint of red. There was a ridiculously large dresser, with three draws for the five of them on the wall across from the entrance.
The wall to the left when entering had six doors, which turned out to be five very deep but thin walk in closets, and the sixth door which took up half the space was a bathroom.
Curious, he walked inside and shook his head, the shower on the left had seven nozzles in it, and was at least five by five, large enough for all of them together and then some. Next to that was a large mirror above three sinks, and there were two toilets with semi-privacy walls on the right side, but not in front.
All the way on the back right, there was a whirlpool tub big enough for all of them. Not quite a hot tub, but close. He imagined the new setup completely used up Alyndra’s old room, which she hadn’t used for a long time anyway.
“It looks great. Did you do anything else?”
Chrystal nodded, “I moved the rest of Nadia’s stuff into her closet here, and then removed her old room. There’s now a much bigger kitchen, and a larger dining table to accommodate us all. That’s all I did, I left the workout rooms and arboretum alone.”
He nodded, it wasn’t as if they lacked space now, and the new setup really was better for their family. There were still twelve more empty command crew rooms if they needed anything else.
“Anyone else want anything, this is our home after all, for a very long time, and we have twelve more empty rooms on this deck, not to mention the third deck of our destroyer.”
Nadia bit her lip, “How about a pool, and a hot tub for five?”
Chrystal tilted her head, “The hot tub is easy, a pool would need to dip into the engineering deck. Let me look into it. It really shouldn’t be a problem space wise, but structurally… I mean, I assume you’re talking about one large enough to do laps?”
Nadia nodded, “It was just a thought.”
Chrystal replied, “I think we can do it, but it will be just two or three lanes.”
Nadia smiled, and kissed Chrystal. When they broke apart Nadia left her arm around Chrystal’s waist.
Dahlia said, “I can stay in shape using the work out rooms, and use the online world to keep some of my edge just in case. I think though we want this level to be private. I would suggest making the third level for visitors, in case a dignitary joins us on the ship while we do our diplomatic work? Say, a nice luxurious cabin, and some high end meeting rooms?”
He nodded, “That’s a really good idea.”
Alyndra asked, “When will we get started with that, and the other stuff?”
Chrystal said, “I’ve already built a number of probes that are out there exploring, as well as one that’s upgrading the ships in Andromeda with the new multi array subspace weapon systems.”
He frowned, “After Earth settles this summit, we’re taking a vacation. Then I suppose we’ll drop by the Vun-Turuhm or Jazuno first, see what kind of connection we can make for our worlds. They owe both Mars and Miroth, so it shouldn’t be hard to come up with some kind of treaty for both worlds. Feilia as well. As far as exploring, we’ll investigate when the probes find something interesting.”
He was also putting off figuring out the reconfiguration of the energy to matter devices to make them energy manipulators. He didn’t think it would be that hard, but it would take some trial and error, and experimentation in the real world, most likely on an unmanned shuttle in the void between star systems.
Hopefully Earth wouldn’t take too long to figure things out. One way or another. He just hoped it was before the breakthrough, as far as he could tell Australia was extremely close. Plus… vacation. If they took too long he’d just go anyway. He’d already done what he could, he just didn’t want to abandon Celia, and having their destroyer hovering over the spaceport in Australia was supportive.
Nadia asked, “Lunch?”
They all nodded, and headed out the door, and across the hall to the new kitchen.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dahlia asked with a smirk, “So… how’s the chicken?”
He closed his eyes for a second, the intense feeling of being down Nadia’s throat was distracting to say the least. He’d forgotten her promise from earlier, at least until she’d shimmied out of her chair, and crawled under the table and between his legs. There was something very naughty and erotic about it, since Chrystal and Dahlia had a mix of both amusement, and lust on their faces. Alyndra too, but only through her feelings of course.
She was taking her time, and the soft sensual moans of approval muffled by his cock was so damned erotic. Her gorgeous green eyes were twinkling up at him with a mixture of pleasure, naughty mischievousness, and heated arousal.
Neither he, nor anyone else in the room, had any doubts she wanted to be there, and was enjoying it almost as much as him. Her soft wet tongue was pure sinful ecstasy, and the vibrations of her throat made him gasp as she fondled his balls and played with the base of his shaft. Her lips were locked tightly around him, her cheeks concave as she sucked hard as her head bobbed slowly to drown him in torturous pleasure.
Her other hand wasn’t in evidence, but he was pretty damned sure it was between her own legs.
She had the face of an angel, and her soft large breasts were crushed against his thighs.
She sent directly as she continued to moan and suck his cock, in a sultry mind voice.
“I love the feel of your cock in my throat. Do you like i
t, the way I worship every inch. I love you Mike, and my body is yours, I’m yours. Your whole speech today, the whole time, I was dreaming, wishing, wanting, this big fat cock in my mouth. Right where it belongs.”
Her mental sigh in his mind was one of pure contentment and pleasure, and when he felt her body tremble against his legs, and the muffled gasp of pleasure as she sucked him even harder while she came for him, on top of all those dirty yet loving words, he lost it.
“Nadia,” he gasped out loud, half in warning, and half in awe, as his balls boiled and he shot into her throat.
He was lost in her eyes as she rose up high enough to claim the rest of his pulsing ecstasy on her tongue and in her mouth, instead of down her throat, she clearly wanted to taste it, as she moaned in approval while she came down from her own height, and she milked him for all he could give.
He sighed in pleasure as his body and mind came back to him, and the rapture turned into a pleasant post bliss as Nadia lovingly and sensually licked him clean. He looked up, and saw his other three lovers with looks of amusement, but they were also flushed with desire and a wanting of their own.
Well, they didn’t really have plans for this afternoon, nothing critical anyway as they waited for the summit to finish. He could have worked on his theory for level three subspace and much more powerful ships, but the truth is the idea didn’t even occur to him in that moment. There were much more important things in life, like spending time with his mates.
“Bedroom?” he said more like a question. They had their nice big bed to break in after all, and their first time with Dahlia didn’t really have to wait until tonight, did it?
Alyndra, Dahlia, and Chrystal got up so fast that it made Nadia start giggling…
The next two weeks passed in a blur.
The summit was still going on, and he wondered if the different countries would ever agree as they got daily updates both from news stories, and through Celia’s A.I. assistant who was on site, with Celia’s permission.