“It’s all right, Vejjah. Just rest.”
Naero sat down next to Jan and placed a hand on Vejjah’s bare shoulder. “I’m a biomancer and a healer, Jan. What’s wrong with her? Spacers don’t usually get sick. Haisha! She’s pregnant, Jan. This is–”
“Morning sickness,” Jan said. “Some Spacer women still get it.”
Not only was Vejjah pregnant…it was very clearly Jan’s child.
“Let me see if I can relieve that a bit,” Naero said. With biomancy, Naero modified all of the physiological factors that led to morning sickness, reducing them as much as she could without disrupting anything else.
Vejjah breathed a bit easier and stopped knitting her brow in discomfort.
“There,” Naero said. “That should be better.”
“Very much so,” Vejjah said in surprise. “Compared to what it was, I feel great!”
Janner laughed and kissed Vejjah again. Calyxo stood by happily and did not seem to mind.
What was going on here?
Jan turned to Naero, and placed Vejjah’s hand in Naero’s. “Naero Amashin Maeris. Meet Vejjah Terine Fae, a distant cousin of most of the Faes we know.”
“Also a Mystic,” Naero said.
“And now a member of Intel, also,” Vejjah said. “I completed my training with Jan and Calyxo, where we all met and became such good friends.
And apparently much more that friends, Naero guessed. Just how much further did all of this love fest go?
“You will be the first in our family and our Clan to know, Naero. I’ve gotten married.”
Jan. Jan? Married?
She looked from Vejjah to Calyxo. “Oh…? To which one?”
“Both,” Jan said with a smile. “Both of them agreed to be my beloved wives. And we have been nothing but happy.”
Okay. That was, in fact, a bit of an eye-opener. Just out of curiosity, Naero wonderer if the two gals enjoyed each other’s company as well.
Vejjah turned over, still quite naked, exposing her baby bump for the first time. “Husband. Don’t let your sister wonder. Explain how things are, so that she is not shocked.”
Calyxo jumped in. “Vejjah is my sister-wife as I am hers. We share the affections of our beloved husband at alternate times, but we are not lovers with each other.”
“I’m not judgmental,” Naero said, holding both of her hands up palms out. “None of that is really any of my business. What couples…or trios…do in their beds isn’t any of my concern.”
“But sometimes we do like to watch,” Vejjah openly admitted, with a wry grin and a gleam in her eyes. “It can be very beautiful, and exciting while we wait our turn.”
Naero stood up. “Okay, Jan. Look at the time. Wow, it was really nice to meet both of your equally lovely wives. Congratulations, and again, much happiness to all three of you, especially with the little one on the way. But I am quite late for a meeting with Admiral Klyne.”
Did they want to know that it was a boy?
Vejjah sat up in bed. “Naero. Please say you’ll have dinner with us tonight,” she said.
“Why sure. I’d love that. And with Aunt Sleak and Zalvano coming in tonight, it will be a very fascinating dinner for all. Wait until you see the twins, Jan. They’re getting so big.”
She embraced them and then quickly ducked out. Naero could hear Jan and his wives laughing together behind their door panel.
She couldn’t wait to see their aunt’s reaction at dinner, especially when the Mahri princess explained the particulars about their love life with hubby Jan.
Naero still couldn’t get her head around Jan actually being married, with two wives, and child on the way.
But with the time dilation of the Mystics, Jan was now technically a bit older than her.
At some point, she needed to take some time to finish off her own Mystic training. But not just yet.
Not while the enemy had her child.
And she really was late for a meeting with Klyne and the High Mystics.
She had requested again to have The Black Spot returned to her for the expedition to the Gamma Quadrant. Intel had to be done with it by now. They could even have the fixers build a few of their own just like it, and had most likely done so.
Naero had her own plans for that new spyship as part of her own strike fleet, which she hoped to command.
With her extensive fleet experience during the Annexation War, clearly Naero would be an excellent choice for commanding a strike fleet once again with the expedition.
All she had to do was finish squaring it all with Klyne and the Spacer Navy.
It therefore came as a shock to Naero when Klyne announced, “Naero, after careful consideration, the Navy and I don’t think that it’s a good idea for you to go on the expedition. Not as a Strike Fleet Captain.”
Naero swallowed the urge to explode and rant. She wasn’t the hotshot green leader any more. She couldn’t get away with that kind of immaturity any longer.
But they could not be serious. She had to be given the chance to pursue the enemy. Especially those who held her unborn child prisoner.
Naero calmly threaded her hands together. “I see. Might I ask why? And will I be given some other capacity or mission to serve with the expedition?”
“That is no longer up to us to decide, Captain Maeris. That will be wholly determined by the admiral and command staff in charge of the entire expedition battle fleet group.”
Naero rose up and saluted. “Admiral Klyne. High Admirals Allen, Kessler, Romanov, and Yamamoto–I formally request that my petition to serve in any capacity in the expedition to the Gamma Quadrant be forwarded with all speed to the admiral selected.”
Grand Admiral Micah Allen rose from his seat and stepped forward. “Captain Maeris,” he said. “Your request is going to be difficult to carry out. There are multiple concerns and reasons that we have.”
Naero saluted. “I would very much like to hear and discuss them in detail, Grand Admiral, sir.”
The old star wolf rested his powerful hand on Naero’s shoulder. “Because, N. We want you to lead this expedition…Admiral Maeris. Be our sword in the deep black. Lead our battle group into the Gamma Quadrant for the first time. Take the fight to these foes who continue to threaten us and our ways of life, and strike them down!” He shook her hand all the way up to elbow.
“You know I will, Micah.” Naero released his arm, stepped back, and drew her cutlass to kneel before the High Admiral and offer him her blade. “Command, me, sir.”
The Grand Admiral of the Spacer Navy took her blade, kissed the bright steel, and handed it back to her. She sheathed it and stood back up in one fluid motion.
“Admiral Maeris. You have your orders. The details will unfold. Serve the Clans and the Alliance of the Alpha Quadrant with honor and distinction. Defend our freedoms. Death to those who would bring harm to us.”
“What is my command, sir?”
“We asked for one hundred fleets to follow Naero Amashin Maeris into battle in the Gamma Quadrant,” Admiral Allen noted.
“An impressive battle group to be sure, sir,” Naero said. “I am honored. Clan Maeris is honored.”
“You should be, Maeris. We asked for a hundred fleet captains to go into the unknown. Ten thousand responded–almost the entire Spacer Naval leadership–and fought for the honor and the right to serve under your blade. Do not let them down.”
Naero saluted. “Death shall take me first, sir.”
Grand Admiral Micah Allen shook her hand once more and saluted her back. “Dismissed. See to your command. The fleets have assembled and went through the refit first. When will you depart?”
“Tomorrow, sir.”
“Fight well, Admiral Maeris.”
“They shall sing songs of our deeds across the stars, sir.”
As if her life was not complicated enough.
Now she even had more to do.
She returned to her flagship to inform her people of the news and say her goodbyes.
Her e
ntire crew offered to serve with her on her flagship crew and staff. Naero accepted. The Flying Dagger would become her transport shuttle, as needed, as would The Black Spot. The Dark Star would serve with her scouting and Intel contingent.
Baeven and The Shadow Fox were already waiting for them.
Jan would serve with her as part of her command staff. Naero wasted no time recruiting old friends and former allies. She would inform Jan during dinner. Let him bring his wives if they all wished.
The next thing she did was create six, near-perfect replicants, Naero-4 through Naero-9. Six such full-size replicants was all that she could manage each day without exhausting herself.
Then she reached into a shielded chest that Khai had brought to her from his father’s people, the Oden.
Inside were hundreds of astral crystals, so that she and her replicants could all stay in contact with each other. She gave them all one. Naero wished now that she had had them to give to Naero-2 and Naero-3, but that was hindsight.
She sent Naero-4 to serve and advise her trade fleet with Admiral–and traveling throckstar–Max Lii and his young family. Naero-5 would be her tactical and strategic double on her flagship. Naero-6 would serve with Baeven on The Star Fox. Naero-7 would serve with Jan on The Black Spot, once Naero made him the captain. Naero-8 would serve with Klyne at Intel and the Navy, and Naero-9 would stay behind, and serve with the Mystics as both a Prime adept and an instructor.
Naero did not give her replicants much choice in these matters. She pweaked and conditioned their minds to eagerly want to serve in these capacities. But otherwise, they were free to seek out their own happiness and their own lives if they wanted them badly enough. She did not stand in the way of that.
Since the original Naero could not be everywhere at once, her replicants could serve with distinction in her place, doing many of the things that she was capable of.
It might be a bit unnerving, but they were basically her, and part of her, and if Naero shared their thoughts together, they would share all of their experiences as well, and remain a close part of each other.
If any of her replicants were destroyed, their essences, their part of her Lifespark that she shared with them, would return to her, and she would know what had happened to them.
Yet another surprise awaited her with High Master Tree and High Master Jo, when she arrived to present Naero-9 to assist them.
12
Master Tree announced, “Welcome the new High Master of the Chaos Order, Gaviok of the Shai!”
Everyone applauded, even Naero. High Master Gaviok came forward, and High Master Tree and High Master Jo parted to either side of him. Gaviok maintained his normal form, a rather short mantid about 1.42 meters tall, but he pulsed scarlet with Chaos energy.
Master Jo continued. “Now that the crisis is over, any of the civilians who wish to leave Kalathar and relocate to other nearby systems will be paid to do so, and quite handsomely. We believe that most will choose to do so. Those who do stubbornly refuse to leave must accept living under the Time dilation effects that will take place on the planet, as it is transformed into the new Chaos Order training world. They will naturally age faster at periodic times. Further incentive to relocate.”
High Master Gaviok spoke for the first time that day. “Kalathar has naturally higher levels of Chaos force energy in the Cosmic spectrum range. Once we unleash those levels further, we will sync the planet’s flows with its star, and use those Cosmic flows to implement the Time Dilation Cycles, as the Mystics have done on Taeha and Oorrii. Once Kalathar is up and running, the stepped up programs to train and produce more Mystics will continue, on schedule. Within a decade, we will have more High Masters, more masters, and many more adepts–and not only from Spacers–but from every sentient race in the Alpha Quadrant willing to join the Alliance and train adepts.”
Much cheering and applause followed that.
Master Tree and Master Jo called for another welcoming round of applause for Master Gaviok.
A celebration began thereafter, and everyone began to mingle.
Naero gasped for joy, spotting her good friends, the Changs: Chang Fu-han and Chang Lijuan. She shouted out to them, running straight at them with Naero-9 in tow, still hooded and cloaked. “Fu! Li!”
Naero hugged her two friends, nearly knocking them on their backs. They hugged her closely, and soon all three of them were laughing and talking all at once.
“Wait, wait,” Naero said. “I must ask. Have you made it back to Thanor-4? How are our good friends there?”
The Changs both nodded sadly.
Then they smiled at each other slyly.
“My younger sister and I have a long overdue leave coming up very soon,” Chang Fu-han said.
“Six months,” Chang Li-Juan noted. “Guess where we intend to go?”
Naero scrambled to pull Oden astral crystals out of her pouch and spread them around. “Please, track down Naero-2 somehow and give her one of these astral crystals. Both of you take one as well. We can stay in touch on the Astral Plane with them when we sleep.”
Both of the sisters stared at Naero. “Sure thing, N,” Chang Fu-han said, tucking the devices away.
“Naero,” Chang Lijuan asked. “You speak as if you were going away. What is happening?”
The announcement was already spreading. Naero told them about her promotion to Strike Force Admiral, to command the Navy’s new Battle Group Expedition to the Gamma Quadrant.
They congratulated her, even as the three High Masters came over to them.
Chang Fu-han pointed to the mysterious cloaked figure following behind Naero. “Who’s your secretive friend, N?”
The three High Masters stood before them. Naero and the Changs bowed their heads, leading with their eyes, in deference and respect.
Naero announced, “This is Naero-9, my replicant who will work with the Mystics to help train. I assign her to Master Jo.”
Naero-9 removed her hood and stepped forward, smiling.
She looked just like Naero, except for a much shorter hairstyle; in this case, a bob of sleek black hair up off the shoulders.
“To help tell us all apart,” Naero said, “all of my replicants have chosen a different hairstyle on their own.”
Naero-9 held out her right hand. “Call me Naero, Maeris, N., or just 9. I’m extremely happy to be working with the Mystic Training Program.”
Master Tree’s mouth fell open. “Pardon. I just can’t get over the fact of there being more than one Naero Maeris. I think the galaxy, nay, the entire universe must be groaning under the strain.”
“Well get used to it,” Naero said. “I’m spreading the love around.”
“I think it’s a superb idea,” Master Jo said. “This is definitely going to shake things up–for us–and our enemies.”
“And don’t worry,” Naero told them. “None of them have my Dark Beast…just my sparkling personality.”
Master Tree groaned. “Now I shall truly live in fear.”
Everyone laughed, even Naero-9.
She and Naero embraced, and then 9 went off with Master Jo, already getting into a heated discussion.
“Master Tree could be right,” Gaviok said, laughing. “This could lead to Chaos.”
“Well, at the very least, I’d say Jett sales are definitely bound to increase,” Naero noted.
Finally, as the afternoon went on, High Master Gaviok pulled her aside, even taking her to a cargo hold.
Where all of Gaviok’s odd luggage was stored.
“I stepped down as the High Prince of the Shai to become a Mystic High Master, Naero,” Gaviok told her. “Baeven and I spoke with Jia and his crew a long time concerning my decision.”
“Who leads your people now, Gaviok?”
“My oldest son, Kahvan-Uris, is now High Prince of the Shai, with the backing his mother, and the other twelve ruling aunts. They are all my queens, each on their own homeworld with our sisters and brothers of the Ku.”
Naero smiled
. “Gaviok. You have thirteen wives?” That certainly made Jan look tame. “At one time that might have been considered unlucky.”
Gaviok smiled and sighed as only a former mantid prince could. “Each more beautiful than the last. Unlike humans, the prime number thirteen is sacred to my people because of the lunar cycle of our homeworld. When and where possible, a Shai prince will eventually have thirteen princesses. Did you know that Baeven helped me pick out the thirteen new homeworlds for my people?”
Also good to know. “Did you know that Old Earth humans had such a lunar cycle as well?”
Gaviok snorted, “For all the good it did them.”
“Hey, they did produce Spacers.”
“Yes, despite the Gigacorps. But I will allow them that much at least. Without Spacers, I would not have you and Baeven in my family.”
“Gaviok, if you don’t mind me asking, what is it like having so many wives?”
“For me? Wonderful. Do you know that a Shai courtship lasts for an entire standard year? An entire year of pleasure and making love, while courtiers, courtesans, and drones stand ready with food and drink, cleanse our bodies, and see to all of our needs. The courtship does not even halt for the annual shedding of our carapaces. They are simply peeled away from us, leaving our bodies so sensitive that we shudder in ecstasy for an entire lunar cycle as the mating continues. Once the courtship is over, my princess is ready to lay our eggs and produce various offspring for the rest of her long life.”
“Well, that’s stamina for you. And why not get it all done at once?”
“When we meet again and I visit the worlds of my wives–one each month–we sometimes join together for a few days or weeks in honor of our love, but it is strictly for pleasure and nostalgia. All of the real work for reproducing our species has already been done.”
“So what the hell does that all have to do with all of this weird luggage?” Naero asked.
He went over to the pile of containers. “Naero, this isn’t luggage. It’s an entire Shai colony in stasis. I want you to find a place for it deeper into the Gamma Quadrant. That is where the Ku-Shai originally came from. We should go back there. Hundreds of millions of years ago, at the time of the last Great Dying, my people were all but wiped out, along with most of the other sentient species in the Gamma Quadrant.”
Naero's War: The Citation Series 3: Naero's Trial Page 10