by Jay Toney
"Natty what happened."
"The star lady was here, she fixed Cappy. He needs to sleep until tomorrow morning, then he will be well again."
"Natty, we just closed our eyes for a second. She couldn't have been here."
"Then how did Cappy get back in bed and get cured?"
"I don't know."
Amber and Jewel checked on Nathaniel. He was asleep in bed. On his forehead were three faintly glowing stars. The girls showered. Jewel and Natty were as playful as they ever were, splashing each other. When they were dressed, the trio headed to the bridge. Natty sat at the helm, and Jewel at communications. Amber sat in the command chair once again. Doc and Jane entered the bridge.
"Where is Nathaniel?"
"He is back in his suite sleeping. He had a bad spell this morning, and didn't want to get up. He was still confused nearly an hour after getting up."
"I'll have to run a brain scan on him, I might be able to help him if its something operable."
"You don't need to Doc. Astrea came to visit him, and cured him. He just needs to sleep now. He will be fine tomorrow morning."
"If he isn't, I want him in sickbay."
"Fair enough Doc."
"Persephone, synchronize with the Lucy and the Vengeance."
"We are ready for a synchronized jump."
"Take us to hyperspace."
The Vorg
"Nathaniel, how are you doing this morning?" Doc asked. "Did you have any confusion when got up?"
"Doc, it feels like I haven't slept for days. I wasn't in the least bit muddle headed, just exhausted. I swear I just closed my eyes, for a minute, when Jewel, Amber, and Natty drug me out of bed. They didn't even have any coffee ready for me."
"Persephone, what is our status?"
"We are at the Boralis System. I'm waiting for your order to reenter normal space."
"Bring us back to sublight."
The Vengeance and the Lucy were ahead of us. They were waiting for us, along side an alien fleet of warships.
"Captain, I have a very ill mannered person wanting to talk to you," Jewel reported.
Put him on screen.
Red and the humanoid alien appeared on the viewscreen, side by side.
"Nathaniel... ."
"I asked the whore to let me speak to the captain, and who do I get? The cabin boy."
"Look you ugly reject, when you were born the doctor slapped both your mother and father for conceiving you."
"How in the world do you get around in that rust bucket?"
"I wouldn't talk, I'd rather die than spend my life captaining a garbage scow. I can smell the stench from here."
"Captain your insults are somewhat original, and accepted. My name is Evan. I command the Vorg fleet."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"Nathaniel, I was going to tell you that it is Vorg tradition to greet strangers with an insult. They won't trust or respect you if you don't. How did you know to insult them?"
"I got woken in a tired and grumpy mood. I just did what came natural."
"I find that even more impressive. An insult from the heart," Evan laughed. "How can the Vorg assist you?"
"We recently obtained information that may be useful in upgrading our ships. I was hoping to maybe trade this information in exchange for some upgrades. We have been having lizard problems lately."
"There is a star system, across our space that may be interested in such a trade. I would normally escort all of you to Haven, but we have been having lizard problems of our own. With your help, we may be able to convince them to go back into hibernation. Periodically they are awakened, and they always wake in a hungry and foul mood. They won't rest until they have had their fill, or they are beaten in battle. This isn't the first time we have run afoul of them."
"Isn't there a way to just feed them?"
"I am afraid not. We have tried to make peace offers with them in the past. They have refused. They enjoy hunting their prey, and eating them live. There is no way we would offer them a worlds population every time they got hungry."
"I think we may be the prey they are hunting. We ran afoul of them awhile back. They have been searching for us since then. Maybe we could join forces to take care of them once and for all."
"Our fleet is to small to take care of them on our own, we could use your help. The energy weapons you carry are useless against their armor, and your ships are to big to get close enough to do much good with your cannon. The Lucy on the other hand would be of significant help. We will have to upgrade her shields and armor first though."
"If its small ships you need, we have a few assault shuttles we can pilot, and I have 20 Vipers we have recently restored and upgraded. They just need a functional check flight, and pilots."
"What version are they?"
"They are the early Mark I version, equipped with 30mm cannon."
"It is very fortunate that our paths have crossed. You have fighters, but few pilots. I have pilots, but few fighters. I also have men to man the Lucy's guns. Fighting against the lizards is best done with trained gunners, rather than a automation system."
"How well are they defended against missiles?"
"Not very good, but we have only a few missiles. Our Ammunition stores are very low, we have been at war with our Keshian neighbors recently, and haven't had the chance to replenish our supplies."
"Then the Vengeance and my ship can help too. We are fully loaded with missiles."
"I will escort all of you to our space station. It won't take long to add more armor to the Lucy and upgrade her shields. We can take advantage of the time to test fly your Vipers and make any needed repairs."
We ended our communications. "Persephone, I need a fleet wide announcement. Everyone is to greet our new friends with an insult, when they first greet the Vorg."
"I have dispatched the message to all of our department heads, the Lucy, and the Vengeance. I also messaged everyone personally, that is listed in my database."
"Thank you Persephone."
"You are welcome Captain. Have you thought of a name for me, or are you still grieving."
"As a matter of fact I have. I wish to call you Persephone. I think it is a fitting name for you."
"It is an unusual, but beautiful name. I like it very much. Thank you Captain."
"You are very welcome."
"Amber, you have the controls. I need to sleep awhile longer."
I got up and went into the anteroom, where I could take a nap, and be available if needed. I may have been asleep for most of yesterday, but it felt like I hadn't slept in days.
Amber shook me," Nathaniel. get up. Our shift is over and its time for dinner."
"Alright, I'm getting up. Did you say dinner? What happened to lunch?"
"Jewel and I tried waking you. You just buried your head with your pillow, and ignored us."
"I'm sorry, I don't even remember. I'm just so tired, but I am feeling much better."
We had our dinner in the officers mess. Doc made roast lizard tail, served on a bed of roast potatoes and carrots. We also had fresh rolls and gravy for the meat. No doubt, Doc was inspired for this meal by our conversation with the Vorg. I had no qualms about eating lizard. The meat was tender and had a good flavor. Its taste couldn't be associated with any other meat. Lizard tasted like lizard.
After we finished our meals and cleaned up, Mike said, "Nathaniel I have something I need to show you. I can show you what In need to from inside of your suite."
When we got to the cabin Mike pulled ou
t his comp and linked it with our monitor. He pulled up some video showing our Marauders lined up in the port side shuttle bay. All images of Zeus and his thunderbolts were gone. They had been replaced by three shooting stars. Natty's Marauder, number 6, still had Astrea's portrait on it. "That's not all." The lights dimmed in the shuttle bay, and the stars glowed an iridescent blue. He showed me the Vipers. They had the same shooting stars.
"I'll show you the weird part next."
He played back the footage of the marauders slowly, frame by frame. It was instant. One second Zeus and his thunderbolts were on the ships, the next they were all replaced by shooting stars.
"The change happened between frames in the video. That's not all, the stars are made of nothing I can identify. I've used different solvents, nothing will remove the stars. I even got mad and tried grinding the stars off. Then I tried painting over them. They are somehow molecularly bonded with the metal, for some unknown reason, they can't be painted over."
"What dose it mean?"
"I don't know exactly, but it may be some form of protection. The composition of the ships metal has changed. The metal is much denser, and harder, but retains its light weight."
"We will find out soon enough. We are joining forces with the Vorg to kill the lizards or chase them away for good."
Mike left and I got ready for bed. The girls were splashing playfully in the hot tub. Normally I would join them, but I was still tired. One more nights sleep, and I hoped I would be back to my normal self.
I got up early, feeling refreshed. It wasn't easy, but I managed to extract myself, from the tangle of bodies that surrounded me, without waking them. I headed to the galley, and tried to find a simple recipe for making coffee, using the ships comp. I got lost with selecting the beans and mixing them for different blends of coffee. Rosie came in and stared cooking breakfast for us, and made a fresh pot of coffee for me. I poured a glass of orange juice, sipping it while I waited for the coffee to finish brewing.
I would have to get Rosie to show me how it was done. She didn't select different coffee beans for blending, or dry roast them, she didn't even grind them. The secret of a good pot of coffee was beyond me. I was on my second cup of coffee, when the girls finally got up.
"Nathaniel, what are you doing up so early? Your up and we didn't even have to drag you out of bed."
"I've been up for a little while."
"Both coffee and juice now?"
"Yes, I seem to like having both, when I get up now."
"What else has changed?"
"I don't know."
"Jewel and I will just have to find out. We will have a fun time checking."
"What about Natty?"
"She has changed a lot too, becoming human. It will be a lot of fun discovering what she is like now. Jewel and I will have lots of fun seeing what changes have been made in her too. She doesn't look quite like she use to, and her personality has changed too. She isn't as care free as she use to be. You saw the way she ate dinner last night, she is using a fork and knife, without Tanya here to tell her."
Rosie finished cooking and served all of us. The breakfast as usual was fantastic. If it wasn't for her we would be eating frozen meals. Doc cooked dinner last night, that meant today he would be preparing lunch, and Rosie would be making dinner.
After breakfast we showered. Jewel was in a playful mood, which was normal for her, and she hadn't forgotten Natty's defeating her in a tickle battle. She had the advantage now, that Amber was there to help her. She suddenly pounced on Natty tickling her, Amber joined in. She was as ticklish as ever, but couldn't get any advantage over either Jewel or Amber. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, I joined in. All three girls joined together and attacked me. I was still ticklish, but nowhere near as sensitive as I use to be.
The girls finally let me up. We finished our shower, dressed and headed to the bridge. Doc and Jane were already there. We were 30 minutes late for our shift.
"Now that Natty's back, I see you are getting back into your routine," Doc observed.
"Doc, I was first up bright and early this morning."
"Then what kept you?"
"I tried to gallantly rescue Natty from Jewel's and Amber's spontaneous attack this morning, all three turned on me, and wouldn't let me up until they had their fun."
"What you mean is that you were dallying with the ladies this morning, and lost track of time."
"Sorry Doc, but I haven't had any sex in the last three days. I haven't been myself lately."
"If that's true, then I wont have to worry about delivering any more of your children for awhile."
"Honestly, it's true. But, I plan to make up for it tonight. If I go any longer without sex, I'll be relegated to being a born again virgin."
"That's not possible."
"You examined Natty, and you are saying that?"
"She's an exception. She was brought back as a human, and I don't understand how."
"Excuses, excuses, if she can do it so can I."
"I'll have to see it to believe it, even then I won't."
The Boralis III space station controller came on screen, "I see the piss boy and his whores finally decided to show themselves."
I woke in a good mood this morning, so I had to carefully respond in an equally insulting manner, instead of being able to give a spontaneous insult.
"Piss boy? Look again you ugly midget. Your daddy takes great pleasure with my girls, getting away from your fat ugly mother so he can at least enjoy himself for a little while. Marrying her and conceiving you was a mistake, he still regrets."
He looked shocked. I must have struck a sore spot with him.
"You don't plan on parking that piece of space junk anywhere around here do you?"
"My mistake, I thought I was pulling up to a junk yard. I can't see any difference between a salvage yard, and what you call a space station."
"Captain Rodgers, welcome to Zion station. Commander Evan told me I would be meeting a great and honorable man today, I'm glad to see he wasn't boasting. You are cleared to dock in white section dock 1. Upgrades are already underway on your other ship. If I can be of any service, let me know."
"Thank you, for the warm greeting and your hospitality."
Red came on screen, "Nathaniel, that was great. No one here will forget you for a long time. The controllers father is visiting the Lucy and sampling its pleasures. Everyone in the stations offices is laughing hysterically."
"I had no way of knowing."
"That's what makes it so funny," Red laughed.
I called Randolph in engineering, "Randolph I need every Viper ready for functional check flights. We will be testing them first thing tomorrow. I need the all the guns loaded with tracer rounds, we will be testing them too. Have the crew tow out some targets for us to fire at."
"They will be ready in a few hours. I just have to load the guns."
"Persephone, rotate the crew for shore leave, in two day rotations. We won't be here for long. Also list our silver for sale. What is the current market price?"
"Market price is 110 credits per ounce today."
"Price it at 90 credits per ounce by the pallet, and 100 credits per ounce by the brick."
"Captain, that is well below market value."
"We should be able to get rid of quite a bit of it then. Its a buyers market while supplies last. See to it that we are refueled, and our supplies are replenished. There low on ammunition so we won't be able to buy anymore missiles, but we might be able to replace some of the bullets we used.
"Is that all Captain?"
"That's it for no
w."
"Jewel send messages to Red and Mike, we will be doing test flights on the Vipers tomorrow morning."
"I am sending the messages now."
I closed down the bridge. Amber, Jewel, Natty, and I left the ship to see the sites on the Vorg space station. It was set up nearly the same as ours. It was hard to tell if we influenced them with our designs, or they influenced our designs. The shops were set up like any space station's docks that I ever visited. The culture of the people still surprised me though.
We were greeted by one of the people passing by, "By the gods, its the whores of Babylon and their pimp. You all disgust me."
Natty pulled her top up, exposing her breasts. "You can't touch this and I will take great pleasure in your frustration." She let him stare a little while longer before pulling her top back down.
"Welcome to our station. Ladies, you all look very beautiful. You are Captain Roberts, I presume."
"Yes I am. What can I do for you?"
"I was sent to find you. I am one of the pilots that will be testing your Vipers, and need to see how many pilots you need, and when you wish to start."
"I have six pilots that want to fly the Vipers, including myself, and twenty fighters. I'll need fourteen test pilots, as crazy as I am, tomorrow morning at 09:00."
"Crazy, you say. You've never seen the Vorg in action. We will show you crazy," he laughed, turning and leaving.
I was glad that one insult was enough, and we didn't have to all insult him in greeting. We stopped in a restaurant to have lunch. We ordered the lunch special, not recognizing any of the meal names. The word beer was the only name I recognized on the menu, I ordered a pitcher of that to go along with the meal.
We were each served a salad followed by a large bowel of stew and a basket of fresh baked bread. The food was very good. Natty used the bread to soak up the juice from the stew, and strategically hold the bits of meat and vegetables while she scooped them up with her fork.
"Natty, when did you start eating with a fork?"
"I always have, haven't I?"