by M. D. Cooper
Jessica looked at the detailed Scan. None of the ‘moons’ of Serenity Primus appeared to be hot—which would be the case if they were recently created. They all had firm crusts and from the view the Sexy was able to get, they were all terraformed and lush.
“If they did make these, they did it a long time ago,” Cheeky said, echoing Jessica’s thoughts.
“But we’re still out on the fringe of Orion space,” Jessica said. “Naga was recently settled, and Kidron was only a century older. Yet Serenity is only ten light years from Kidron and appears ancient.”
Cheeky chuckled. “Jess, you’re looking at me like I know how they did this, or something.”
Jessica shook her head and smiled. “Yeah…well, you’re screwing the ancient terraformer. I figured maybe some of his knowledge rubbed off.”
“We don’t exactly talk about terraforming…well, not that kind of terraforming,” Cheeky replied with a wink.
“That is one of the weirdest euphemisms I’ve ever heard,” Jessica said.
“Seriously?”
“No…well…yeah…. I got a weird visual. Let it go,” Jessica said as a flush rose on her cheeks.
“Is that a station of some sort?” Cheeky asked. “Glad to see they have one. With our port engine out, I really didn’t want to try and breach atmo with the Sexy.”
“You afraid to take the Sexy down?” Jessica grinned.
“Oh, I’m not afraid to go down with Sexy,” Cheeky replied. “She just might not make it back up.”
Jessica pulled the object rising over Primus’s north pole into view on the holodisplay and her breath caught.
“That’s a worldship…”
“Seriously?” Cheeky asked. “Holy shit…a worldship….”
“I thought it would be bigger,” Cheeky said. “It’s what…only six klicks across? You could park that thing inside the Intrepid’s main bay.”
“Well, now we know one that it went to.” Cheeky grinned.
“I wonder if they just came straight out here,” Jessica said. “Flew out further than they thought anyone would come, made their little five-world setup and called it done.”
“That’s so weird,” Cheeky said. “Do you think there are still sub-light ships out there? Pushing their way through the black?”
“Yeah, but it jumped through a supermassive gravitational lens,” Cheeky said. “I’m talking people who eked their way up to the edge of lightspeed and are just hugging it, puttering along through space and time.”
“I kinda hope not, for their sakes,” Jessica said. “Anyone at light speed would still be within the rim of Transcend and Orion expansion… whatever worlds those poor saps would be headed toward would be settled by the time they got there. Even if they travelled clear across the galaxy, by the time they got to the far side it would be settled.”
“That’s depressing,” Cheeky said.
“Plus, dangerous for the light-huggers if they had advanced tech,” Jessica added, thinking of the war for the Intrepid’s technology in the Bollam’s World System.
Both of the women stared at the disc-shaped worldbuilder ship—now progressing in its polar orbit of Serenity Primus—for several minutes before Piya interrupted them.
she said.
“Any other insystem craft? Or signs of recent hops through the jump points?” Cheeky asked.
“Annnd we just got pinged by a beacon,” Jessica noted. “Looks like…wow, sorry, just trying to parse their list of rules here. No fusion drives within 0.25AU of Serenity Primus, no civilian starships over a half-million tons allowed. No approaching the Perseus—it’s some sort of historic monument. No AP drives insystem at all, max speed is one quarter light…the list goes on.”
“What about approaches and space ports?” Cheeky asked.
“Looks like each world has precisely one small station, and one ground-side spaceport—for the public at least. It appears there are also private spaceports for what they call House Business.”
“House Business, eh?” Cheeky asked. “Sounds like a hoity-toity system. I think we should just wait out here ‘til Sabs shows up, latch on and go somewhere else.”
Jessica was inclined to agree. This place was too full of unanswerable questions. Two women showing up on a ship stuffed to the brim with weapons and an AHAP infiltration droid was bound to raise questions.
Granted, they could space all the weapons, but then they’d still need a convincing reason to show up in a system that seemed to get almost no interstellar traffic.
“Let’s get away from the dump zone here, and lay dark and wait.”
“Won’t be hard,” Cheeky said. “We’re almost completely dark as it is…minus the freakin’ shiny hull we have. We really should do something about that. We’re a damn flashlight in space. Nearby stars give off less light than we reflect.
“Surprise! We have a ship on our ass,” Jessica said. “First stealth tech we’ve seen in Perseus.”
The ship was a cruiser, roughly seven hundred meters in length. Its design reminded her of ships from the late twenty-seventh century she had seen in museums as a child.
Jessica toggled a control on her holoconsole. “Hail coming in. It’s full visual.”
“Uh, Jess, we’re both naked and I’m sweating my boobs off, can you not do full visual?” Cheeky asked.
“Thanks Iris,” Cheeky said.
A man appeared on the holodisplay. He wore an ornate dress uniform and stood on a large bridge crewed by at least a dozen people in similar formal attire.
His sandy hair was cut short, and a thin beard ran along his jawline. Dark brown eyes lay beneath his strong brow, and his lips were drawn in a thin line.
“This is Captain Antaris of the OSS Acadian Light, please respond.”
“Captain Antaris,” Jessica responded. “I am Jessica Keller, skipper of the Beauty. How can we help you?”
Captain Antaris’s lips curved upward into a slight smile as Jessica spoke. “On the contrary, my fair lady, it is I who would like to render my assistance to you. What are two women of such immeasurable appeal doing so far from Primus?”
“We just jumped into this system, we were under attack by pirates, and this was the best vector available. As you can see, our p
ort engine is damaged.”
“Indeed, you are far from home—that is a Bennian ship unless I miss my guess. I trust you are uninjured? We could take your ship aboard the Acadian Light and offer repairs.”
“We would very much appreciate your gracious offer, but…forgive my inquisitive nature…are you Serenity’s official space force? We do not have extensive records of this system.”
Captain Antaris smiled benevolently. “Few do. We keep to ourselves, and prefer to be left alone. Praetor Kirkland of the Orion Freedom Alliance sees to it that we are left undisturbed as much as possible.
“However, that was not your question. I am of House Laurentia, the keepers of the Moon of Arcadia. Serenity has no ‘official space force’ as you call it. Each of the five Houses of the High Table fields its own navy and we share the duties of patrolling the jump points into Serenity.”
“That’s very cooperative of you,” Jessica replied, noting a brief lowering of Captain Antaris’s brow as she spoke. “And lucky of us to run into such a chivalrous representative of what must surely be the greatest of the Houses of Serenity.”
“Indeed, you are fortunate,” Captain Antaris said with a grave nod. “Normally House Charlemis patrols this jump point. We noted that none of their ships were present, and travelled here to inspect their notable absence. You are lucky we did so. I am not certain your ship would reach Serenity Primus in its current condition, and the thought of you two ladies in distress is not something I care to consider.”
Iris said.
Jessica replied.
“I too was not enamored of the prospect of attempting to travel insystem in our current condition,” Jessica said to Captain Antaris while slowly shaking her head. “It would have been dangerous in the extreme.”
“Excellent!” Captain Antaris said with a sharp nod and a winning smile. “I’ll have my navigation officer send you an approach vector and we’ll have you safely in our docking bay in minutes. Then I shall greet you properly and we shall dine together. There you may regale me with the tale of these pirates and how you escaped their clutches.”
“You are far too gracious,” Jessica replied. “We cannot wait to greet our saviors in person.”
“And I you,” Antaris replied.
Jessica cut the connection and turned to Cheeky. “Shit Cheeks, if they step aboard this ship they’re going to think we’re the pirates.”
Cheeky’s eyes were wide and she shook her head. “Seriously Jessica? We can play damsels in distress all day long and come up with a story about the weapons. But that’s not our biggest problem.”
“It’s not?” Jessica couldn’t imagine what was more concerning.
“Jessica, we have one san unit and just twenty minutes to clean up. Not to mention find clothing that won’t make these people think we’re harlots who stole this ship.” As Cheeky spoke, her voice rose at least one octave.
“OK Cheeks, you go shower, I’ll see if Addie and I can’t clean this place up a bit. Oh, and Iris, I don’t really like the idea of all these weapons in other people’s reach, can you do something about that?”
* * * * *
Twenty minutes later, Cheeky and Jessica stood at the top of the ramp as Piya settled the ship onto the deck of the cruiser.
Cheeky wore an armless, floor-length gown with a high slit and long black gloves. It hugged her figure and showed off her cleavage with little left to the imagination, but it was the most formal clothing she owned. She completed the outfit with a pair of her more sensible shoes with only six centimeter heels.
Jessica, on the other hand had a far more limited selection. She had planned to go shopping on Olvives, and only had the pants and camisole she had worn to the spa.
Fortunately—sort of—the outfits from the Retyna Girl shoot were still aboard the ship. The most formal thing Jessica could find amongst them was a knee-length pencil skirt that practically welded her legs together, a fitted blouse, and a long-sleeved bolero jacket.
The light pastel blue of her skirt and jacket contrasted nicely with her skin, while the lavender blouse was nearly the same color as her glow.
Somewhere on the ship was the pair of low heels she’d worn the day they’d escaped from Hermes station, but Jessica couldn’t find them anywhere, and the next best thing was a pair of knee-high boots with eight-centimeter heels.
Jessica shifted uncomfortably and tried to separate her thighs enough to take more than a small step. She was reaching back to use a string of nano to cut a slit into her skirt when Cheeky stopped her. “I know what you’re thinking, Jess. Don’t do it.”
“Why? I can barely walk in this thing.”
“What did you notice about the bridge when you were talking to Captain Strong Jaw?”
“Lots of starchy uniforms,” Jessica replied. “And a strong appreciation for brass and chrome.”
“Seriously Jessica, and here I thought you were a detective once. There were no women on that bridge.”
Jessica thought back and realized Cheeky was right. They hadn’t had a full view of the room when Antaris had been speaking, but what they had seen had shown only men.
“Check the external feeds,” Cheeky added. “There are only men out on the dock. No women.”
“OK, so it’s a boys-only club. What does that have to do with my skirt? Isn’t showing more leg better?”
“Jess, you don’t walk, you stride. You move like you’re in command of every room you enter. A little mincing will help here. Go with it.”
Jessica didn’t like the idea, but Cheeky had a point. “OK, but if I trip and fall you’d better not laugh.”
“Deal. However, can you sparkle a little less?” Cheeky asked.
“This is as little a glow as I can manage,” Jessica replied. “I’ve discharged as much power as I can without shorting out anything on the ship.”
“I guess it’ll have to be enough. Maybe Antaris will like exotic—or at least be too polite not to say anything.”
Jessica sighed and took a final look around the ship. There was simply nowhere they could put all the weapons strewn about. At least they’d dumped Addie’s crate in the dark layer.
Regarding Addie, Jessica and Cheeky had debated where to hide her, and it was Addie herself who had suggested the best location.
The AHAP was laying on Jessica’s bunk, beneath the mound of clothing from their frantic preparations. They were counting on the apparent propriety of these people to mean that they wouldn’t rifle through ladies’ clothing.
Jessica palmed the control to lower the ship’s ramp and the pair slowly and carefully walked down and onto the Acadian Light’s deck.
At the head of two columns of soldiers, stood Captain Antaris, accompanied by another man. Both were drawn up with backs straight and shoulders level.
The two men’s eyes never deviated from the women’s, excepting when they bowed at the waist before stepping forward.
“Welcome aboard the Acadian Light,” Captain Antaris said with a warm smile. “This is my First Officer, Commander Perry.”
“It is a sincere pleasure to meet you,” Commander Perry said in a smooth tenor as he inclined his head.
“Thank you for your warm welcome,” Jess
ica replied. She didn’t know if women bowed to men in this culture, and decided not to. “This is my dearest friend, Cherrie.”
“A pleasure,” Cheeky said, her voice carrying none of the outrage of her mental tone as she held out her hand to shake Perry’s. A small gasp escaped her lips as Perry brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“The pleasure of meeting you is certainly all mine,” Perry replied.
Jessica beamed at Captain Antaris and held out her hand as well, which he kissed while never breaking eye contact with her.
“Your radiance is truly enthralling,” Antaris said to Jessica. “When we talked over the holo I thought it was from damage to your ship’s systems, but I can see that’s not so. You positively glow.”
“I’ve been told that,” Jessica said. “Where we’re from it is not an uncommon modification. It is easy enough to achieve.”
“Truly fascinating. It is as though your skin sparkles. Is that what makes it such an enchanting color?” Antaris asked.
Jessica nodded and gave a coy smile. “Yes, it’s a side effect. Although, you can see that I like the color.”
Antaris laughed, a warm chuckle that reached his eyes. “So it would seem. Come, we shall dine while my engineers assess the condition of your vessel and what it will take to repair it.”
Cheeky glanced at Jessica, worry in her eyes. “Jessica, these men will think us barbarians when they see what is on our ship. You must explain to them how we came to have this cargo.”
Jessica looked at Cheeky and nodded gravely. “Yes, Cherrie, we must be nothing but honest.”