by Marcus Sloss
“It depends on what she wants. I am not the type of man to force a woman into a situation they do not desire. She is gorgeous, talented, and someone I would love to wake up to every morning. Her sparkling blue eyes are something I desire as much as her wit. I am content with my two wives, but transition after you would go smoother with one of your daughters tied to me. She passed the tests with Mila, which means she is honest and sincere in wanting to work in my employ. If things develop so be it. If not… I am sure one of your daughters will try to woo me tonight at the ball. I actually need to talk to Lorie, Astrid, and Starla. My life is getting complicated and I am merely a simple ZBall player. At least I tell myself that.”
“Duty calls Mack. Get situated for handling the pirates, and kill them when you can please. I will go to Lunish and then I will see you at the ball in about ten hours. Enjoy the time with your family.”
“Thank you, Emperor Linus.”
We exited the theater room and I saw Rio standing there. I gave a questioning look.
“I am here to escort the Emperor to his ship. I am in the employment of Mila as an assistant now, I can see the blue lines that he cannot. They all await you in the dining hall. Your eminence if you will follow me.” Rio said and led the leader of humanity away.
I knew where to go from this juncture. The maze of hallways becoming less confusing. I walked slowly while I absorbed the conversation with Linus. It was good I didn’t have to kill his son. Really good actually. He saved me a lot of effort and trouble while sparing his son's life. It was a win-win. There was a lot to do to prepare for fighting pirates. The top of the list was buying a ship.
Before I reached the dining area I bumped into my family. And by family, I mean everyone besides my wives and friends. They were waiting for me outside the dining room. I told them to give me one second then popped my head into the eating area. Astrid, Starla, Bexso, Mila, and Lorie were all giggling at some story being told. They noticed me and shifted their attention.
“My fair ladies, I will return shortly. There is a ball tonight. I hope you all are prepared. I must chat with my family. If someone can see to ensuring an outfit to fit this body is ordered for tonight. I will be back shortly. You all look lovely, downright dashing, and I yearn to return.” The rhyme got the desired eye rolls and smiles I sought.
I ushered my family to follow me and led them to my bedroom. I immediately closed the door when I saw kinky sex toys strewn about. To the gymnasium mat, it was.
We arrived and I had us sit in a circle. The only grumpy ones were dad and the twins. Everyone was here. From Beau, Beth, Arenus, Maranda, Hank, Donnie, and Thompson. When we were all seated I decided to talk first.
“Welcome aboard Griffin. I am happy you are here. It is a pleasure to see you all together.” I said.
“You died again, twice. You know how much I hate seeing you die.” Beau blurted out. She lost her composure, raced between us, and hugged me tightly. I knew somewhere my wives were watching and probably doting on how cute this was. I on the other had to come to grips with something.
“Yogurt tonight, just you and me. Hopefully during the ball where all the boys will be watching you, but for now sit down. Please.”
She huffed and planting herself down. My mother interceded.
“Actually Mack, we came to say goodbye. No yogurt for you tonight, sorry Beau. The Emperor is shifting us into protective hiding. All of us. Including me. His word is final and his reasoning is sound. He wanted you to hear it from us. And after I learned of all the things you are involved in I do not disagree with him. You are wrapped up in some dangerous situations and we could be used against you. You will be able to visit us but it is not recommended you do so in your current body. When you see us next introduce yourself as Nate Rustic. We will then know who we are seeing. I am sorry it has to be this way. Arenus and I have discussed it at length with many fights. Before you offer us a home here with you. We know you are about to take ships into combat, no thanks. It is best for everyone. We will say our farewells.” My mother said between tears.
I was in shock she finally gave everything up. Others may have viewed it as rational behavior, they obviously did not know my mother. This was insane. I would have never expected this in a million years. Beau raced back to me balling tears. She was sobbing so hard her body shook. I comforted her for five minutes. The twin shook my hand while I held her. I wished them luck in their new school and with their VR games. Arenus wrapped Beau and me up in a massive hug that Maranda joined.
My family peeled off to be escorted out by Rio who patiently waited for them. I turned to mom and dad. “Days like these are never fun are they son.” Beth wiped tears on a sleeve. “I am so proud of you. You are an outstanding young man. I know you will accomplish more than I can ever dream of. Visit often.”
Hank Raul hovered over to me. “Son, I want to be better. I want the pain to fade. Help your father out. Can I have legs again? I am sorry to ask, I know I have been a shitty dad wrapped up in make believe to smother the reality. I am a bad human being. Forgive me please.” He broke down into tears.
I went to approve it when Mila already authorized it. “Mom, take care of dad. Dad take care of mom. There will be a private shuttle that will ferry you to get legs. It is only fair mom starts her life at the same point you do. Young again. Enjoy. You did the best you could. I look forward to seeing how you both choose to sculpt new bodies.”
“Mack, you sure, even the Emperor cannot afford a new body?” Mom asked.
Dad stayed a mess, nestled into Beth’s arms his face in her breasts. I chuckled at that and missed my own DD’s to snuggle into. “Yes, I am not the Emperor. I am a tycoon. A titan of humanity… Eh… That sounded cheesy and dumb. I can afford it, and would gladly die again and again to see you both happy. Consider it a present for your hard work raising me. Go crazy on the sliders for designing your bodies. It is super fun. I merely suggest sticking to creating your own body.”
Rio returned and I sent my stepmom and dad off to join him. I wondered what they would choose. It was irrelevant, the fact being I had done something magical. I restored my dad’s life with a click of a button. I hope they stayed happy.
I trailed behind them and waved a final goodbye at the shuttle doors. Rio came beside me as the door slid shut.
“It is tough, you are doing great my friend. I watched you fight, you did humanity proud killing that little robot. It is interesting working for Mila. Before I let you go into that den of cougars I need to okay something with you. You have been gone for three days. In those three days, I have been in the employ of Mila. She craftily got me retired with a measly pension. This is not me complaining, I am exactly where I want to be. I am able to help where it matters. I am kind of dancing around the subject…”
I watched as Rio nervously shifted his feet. The man was rarely off-guard, always ready for a fight. Right now he was not focused.
“Out with it before I sweep your legs and knock you on your ass,” I said with authority. The desired effect was achieved.
“Mila wants to become intimate and…” Rio got out before I cut him off.
“She is a grown lancer, you a grown man. I treat her like a sister so expect you to be good to her which I know you will. Enjoy life while you can. I think you will be good for each other. Is that all?”
“Yes Captain!” Rio replied.
“That title goes to Lorie, to you I am Mack,” I replied.
The eavesdropping was real because there was a proclamation not long after I made that statement. “You hear that you hussies. I am the Captain. Boo yeah!”
We chuckled and I entered the dining room. Mila had rearranged the seating. There was a long rectangular table instead of the circular one from before. The head seat left empty for me. Lorie and Bexso sat on one side. Starla and Astrid on the other. Mila at the foot of the table. A few things were not lost on me. For one the seating arrangement. The next was outfits.
All the girls wore matching flight su
its. They hugged the contours of the body in a blend of light blue and white. I guess they were my colors now. I noticed the back of Bexso had seals around her wings. Her exposed skin had no scales and had changed from a bright teal to a baby blue. Only a few tweaks from the photo she sent me. The table etched a few battle scenes from my adventures. Mila’s doing was my guess. There was even the momma plesio ripping me in half - that filthy slimy bitch. I still respected that creature to no end. I ran my hands over the carvings as I made my way to my seat.
“Ladies you look fabulous. I have missed you all in your own unique ways. Well except Bexso, I know it has been three days since I died but I remember you softly singing to me while I perished. Let me take a moment and compliment you all on looking radiant. Mila… Rio and I had a talk. I approve. Be good to each other.” I said and she nodded. I saw Rio stick his head in and give me a thumbs up. “Now, what is first on the agenda?”
Mila placed her paws on the table and stood. “A lot to go over so let me start. We each have a prepared summary for you that we will cover then we must prepare for tonight. Sorry, no time for the girls to pamper you before we go to the pre-ball pre-event. Yes, there are two pre-events. Keep up. No, keep your hand down Mack. We have a lot to say so let me go bring up the biggest thing first.
“The bounty payment reward went through yesterday after I filed the appropriate paperwork. I am requesting five million in funds to hide clones of you, me, Astrid, and Starla. E-bits are at an all-time high after the Narshak boom and the ball tonight. We need more but I recommend waiting until we are low for a better exchange. The Griffin is in great shape and flying smooth. I know the girls and I managed to get some decorations on the walls but I received a special offer.
“A wealthy business lancer has made a proposition you should consider. Sending you the details now.” She paused while I opened the file. “You will see it says you will lease the Griffin out for five years. It is to be returned in its current condition. It does not change ownership so you do not violate that rule. And to ensure the length of the loan he will have a clone of yours on standby. Here is the tricky part. If you die enough times and use his clone. You cannot leave until the contract is up. Which in itself is a nice backup. But with the new boon of money, you will have to die a lot. I am not concerned but felt you should know. We would be without a ship but the ten million over five years is a great deal. While we may not need the money, the recurring income is something we need. I recommend you buy a new ship and lease this one out.”
I nodded, I planned to dock the Griffin in my big ship’s storage and utilize it for quick trips.
“Can we leash something small that will be cheaper? I want to be able to hop around this section of the galaxy and we may struggle to do that with only one large ship. They are slower in slip space correct.”
“We can get three wormhole shuttles for your new ship for under a hundred thousand a year combined. So yes. And if you do get a dread or carrier it will be much slower than Griffin in slipspace.”
That answered my questions.
“Offer him twelve million for five point five years,” I said and Mila held up a paw. “Let me guess he already accepted the counter. Okay well, we will need to get a new ship then. Populate our options please.”
Starla stood over the table and tapped furiously. The surface rendered rows of floating ships sized small to large. There were name classes of each ship model type. It went in this order from small to large. Frigate – Destroyer – Cruiser – Battleship – Dreadnaught – Carrier.
“Emperor ChiKhi sent this list over. There are a few out of your price range that I wonder if he included to give you a taste of something down the road. I excluded those, you can check them later if you want. I set our budget for up to one hundred and seventy five million D-coins.” Starla said and Bexso whistled at the number. The largest of the ships displayed blinked out from the image on the table. “That rules out all carriers. To me it is fine, but to a certain pilot, it was unwelcome news. First is cruiser sized ships similar in mass to the griffin. All these are well under three to forty five million. They will not be as nice as this but properly utilized for a full crew. Meaning more than two swanky bedrooms.
“Next is the battleships. Cheapest at sixty million I want to avoid those because we really don’t want a fixer upper. A fresh off the line one is eighty to one twenty. They take twice as long to transition around than the Griffin will but can actually fight. You would have enough billeting for max five hundred. Comfortably three hundred. The issue is they are combat weapons. Their ability to do much else is very limited by the assigned role. Very little living space outside of an area to sleep. I know we recently received orders from Emperor Linus for a pirate raid and this ship would work. But if you hire a battalion of troops things would get cramped fast and there is no reproduction. For example, you do not grow veggies on a battleship. You simply import the food export the waste.
“Next is the dreadnaughts. The fully finished ones are self sufficient but are in the two fifty range. What we recommend is something different. I will have Bexso explain.” Starla finished and seated herself. I shot her a wink and she smiled.
A tall ship materialized on the holoscreen. It was tall and long but not very wide in comparison to the other sizes. There were primary engines out the back end and some slowing engines on the front. A few were placed around the side of the body to help it shift directions. The ship had no blocky edges, there were many contours and curves. It was sleek and well designed. Everything had a purpose and I loved the dangerous look it had.
“This basic model is a Torg out of Travna one of the universe’s biggest shipyards. Built lancer tough as they say. Do not let the name ‘basic’ fool you. I think this was a test, this list anyway. They know you have a contract with a dragumi, so there is some classified stuff that you can buy. None of it serves you or us in the future. You want this Torg model for a few reasons. First, it is only one hundred and fifty thousand. Which is below the last model sold and if this wasn’t from the Emperor himself I would think something was funky. The last unit sold for one sixty five. Still, we did some digging, and yes… Mila and I worked on this together. It is funny how when the two of us were focused on helping you we bonded.
“The Torg will come with engines, weapons, stations, customizable gravity, and the essentials. It will be missing a lot though. And they all come this way. Each species has unique needs so the rest is for the buying species to design. This ship will be bigger than any of the orbitals out here around Earth. It will compete with the shipyards for size. Here is a shipyard compared to the griffin and the Torg.” The Torg was already on display in fine detail over the table. The Griffin flew up beside it in a neat simulation. It was one hundred times bigger. It was a city in the sky. “Why is it so big you ask? Because it is sustaining itself. There are dozens of floors for agriculture, aquaculture, and livestock. There are manufacturing decks. The entire top hundred meters is the outdoors atrium area. That line may sound odd until you experience it. These are cities in the sky, unfortunately for this model, it will need a lot of work. The water is in this section here…”
Bexso paused and leaned over the table. Her bust wanted to spill free of her zipper. Two things made me pause. The first was how did she get the zipper to go down? The flight suits were supposed to seal from the neck to the toes. The next wonderment was those tits were bigger by two cups than the photo she sent of wanting to swap bodies into. She caught me staring and waved her hand up high by her eyes.
Astrid snuck in a comment. “Told you he was a sucker for nice tits.”
“Indeed. I think this body is going to be uniquely fun. Actually, let me indicate the water reserves by highlighting the area blue.” The ship's bottom floors became blue in what was essentially a vast lake. The scope of this ship was starting to get me giddy. My man toy excitement spilling out. It had guns and was a city. It could take beating and dish out a lot of pain. I loved it.
I interrupt
ed her.
“Sold, we buy this. When is it delivered and why else did we buy it?”
“Is he always this decisive?” Lorie asked.
There was a mix of shrugs and nods. I chuckled.
“Tonight at the ball you will get propositioned for work. Everyone in attendance knows you have money to spend. This Torg was an out for you to be able to hire a crew of dragumi to build it up. We are talking beds, desks, stores, food markets, kitchens, farming setups, aquaculture, plumbing, and more. You get the picture. All that will require lots and lots of work. Enough to hire a few teams from a few species. Another fifty million for this. Expect my matriarch to ask if you are interested in hiring some crews to do some work. That is a yes. Do not barter. They will be skilled craftsmen at a fair price. She will also likely offer some specific upgrades. The problem is she will…” an NDA hit my box and we all signed it. “Make them contingent on you never fighting with the ship against dragumi or their allies. We have a long list of allies, almost as long as the lancers. Which means the ship could be rendered useless. You learned this during a table talk with your wives. NDA over. She will offer you items that may come with strings. Buy stuff without the stings if you can.”
Astrid stood to talk when Lorie butted in real quick.
“If we buy that ship consider me a wife! Did anyone else get wet looking at it?” Lorie exclaimed while grabbing her tits. The girls raised hands to join in the silliness beside Mila – even I raised a hand. She did that lip smacking exhale she tended to do when bored.
“Okay, my turn. Business has excelled since you have been gone. The flanfish are just now laying the first clutches of eggs. The babies will be introduced into the wild. Governor Winslow himself will be in attendance tonight. He is bringing his wife and daughter… No! Mack… Look me in the eyes. No. Got it.” Astrid said.
“Got it, you are happy with the size of the table?” I asked.