Chapter Nine
Margo looked at the guys and said, “Are you all happy with your short visit to the station?”
“Yes, Captain.” Baket nodded, but there was a tension to him.
She smiled and set the course for Orexi. “So, does my change in appearance freak you out?”
“No, Captain. We are all happy that you came through the trauma event so effectively.”
“Thanks. I have to go and order more suits because this one is fucking snug.”
Baket smiled. “Of course, Captain.”
“You are being really formal.”
“Sorry, Margo. You just look like more of a Zowoth, so we are going to treat you as such.”
“Uh-huh. When I get back, you are going to tell me about Zowoth consorts.”
“Yes, Captain.”
She frowned, left the command deck, and walked to the fabricator. She had to strip for a new scan, and the generator got to work right away. She pulled her ill-fitting suit on and then said, “I knew you had stowed away.”
Margo looked at Aken-Var, and he was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
He shrugged. “My quarters are being renovated, and I needed an alternative means to get to Orexi. Chloe was gracious and offered me a lift.”
“Uh-huh. Why are you really here?”
“Because Zowoth females are only receptive once a year, and you are very close to that time.”
“What, is it like a national holiday?”
He tilted his head. “It is two weeks in the year.”
She snorted. “I will just skip this year. Thanks.”
“You won’t be able to opt out. This is going to sweep through you in a blaze, and your body will call to mine.”
“It did that once. You didn’t answer. You left me alone and screaming. I have felt the blaze. I survived it.” Margo looked at him calmly.
He walked to her and dropped to his knees.
“I failed you. I had light in my hands, and I failed you. I have punished those who did that to you and have dismissed the women’s quarters completely.
There is nothing and no one left there. Though it drives me to madness, I will wait until you take pity on me and come to my bed of your own will. ”
She looked at his head and met his gaze. “Why are you kneeling?”
“I am for you, and you are for me. Even your daughter’s spirit agrees. This was her idea.”
“She was always very smart.”
Aken-Var said, “Will you tell me about her?”
Margo swallowed. “Not here.”
She grabbed him and hauled him to his feet. She pulled him through the halls and into her quarters.
She hauled him to the bed, stepped onto it, and kissed him. “She was my heart.” She nuzzled his jaw. “She was my soul.” She bit his chin. “And when she died, part of me died with her. I wear the marks from that battle.”
He took her hand and ran his thumb over the silver line. “You tried to join her.”
“Yup. Tried to join Skylar’s gathering. I didn’t though. I heard others who needed help, so I wrapped my wounds up and got to the business of living. It’s what Delia would have wanted.”
He swallowed and looked at her. “It is what she wanted. She’s very proud of you.”
She chuckled and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I know. She wanted me just to grab you and have my way with you.”
Aken-Var smiled. “I agree with that suggestion.”
“Would you... do most of the work? I am not feeling particularly savage right now.”
He inhaled sharply. “Do you promise to maul me on another occasion?”
She laughed. “If the occasion arises.”
He tore her ship suit in two and stared at her. “Beautiful. You glow so bright to my eyes.”
She looked at him. “Is it like a blazing white surrounding your body?”
He inhaled deeply again, and his mouth pressed to hers while he took her to the bed, and they used gentle touches that grew progressively more urgent until his clothing was gone and they were moving together.
The first orgasm travelled from Margo to Aken-Var and back again.
It was an endless cascade that echoed their first time together.
* * * *
Skylar looked at Delia. “You are focusing hard.”
“Yeah, well, they are making me a baby brother or sister right now. Sounds juvenile, but I am super excited not to be an only child. Mom is a great mom. She needs more kids to practice with.”
Chloe blinked. “That’s fast.”
“He asked her something she couldn’t resist. It would drop her guard and make her vulnerable.”
Chloe asked, “What was that?”
Delia smiled. “He asked about me.”
Skylar smiled sweetly. “That would do it. Are you going to attach to her?”
“Is reincarnation an option?”
Skylar froze. “I have no idea. I don’t know how you would do it, or even if you would survive the process.”
“Well, I have to get in before another consciousness is there. So, I am going to watch closely.” Delia smiled. “Like double dutch.”
Skylar said, “Tell your mother what you are trying to do. She needs to know if it doesn’t work. She needs to know where you will have gone.”
Delia blinked. “So, it might end me.”
“I have no idea. There is nothing in my weird brain to account for that. Mind you, I am not supposed to be able to do what I am doing. That is Chloe’s fault.”
Chloe grinned. “Yes, I have a dastardly plan that involves sleeping in moss and hanging on to our humanity. Call me a supervillain.”
Delia looked at her and grinned. “You are a supervillain.”
Chloe laughed. “I wonder if I had a moustache and twirled it, if it would deter Dytura.”
Skylar shook her head. “Nope. Your body is of minor interest, but it is your energy that is the huge draw. That’s what he’s after.”
“I know. I am at peace with that.” She shrugged. “I have been dead already. Not much scares me anymore.”
Delia paused. “I don’t remember being dead. I remember fear and then being in a room with others.”
Skylar smiled gently. “That was me. I was the room.”
“Yeah, I get that now, and then I heard my mom’s voice, and I knew I was where I was supposed to be again.”
The ladies smiled. Geri said, “It was just you two?”
“Yup. My dad dipped when I was little. She had some relationships, but she never brought them home. They were just to blow the cobwebs out. I was amazed that she let me go away to school and restricted herself to one check-in call every two weeks. Since it had been just us two, I always thought she would hold on tighter, but she sent me off with a speech about using everything I had learned to stand tall. I did. I used everything she taught me and everything I felt was right. They were usually the same thing.”
Geri nodded. “From what I knew of her after I met her, she acted for herself and for others. Her sense of humour made the days go fast. No matter how banged up we were, she could always crack a joke about it. She always keeps her spirits up.”
Delia nodded. “That is why I gave Aken-Var the cheat code. It would take forever otherwise. I don’t know how long I have here, so I need her happy.”
Skylar chuckled. “You do know that you are not attached to me at all, right? You are linked to Margo and are strictly running off her. As long as she lives, you live.”
Delia smiled. “Then, I am here for the next two hundred and fifty years. Thanks for that, Chloe.”
“No problem. You might want to tell the crew that Margo isn’t going to be returning to the command deck any time soon. We will probably be on Orexi before they come up for breath.”
Delia snorted. “If that’s what you want to call it. Yup. I will let them know if he hasn’t already.”
Skylar grinned as she left the recreation hall, and Chloe looked at her cousin. “She can totally get in there for another life. She’s already attached to her mother, so we will have to warn Margo that if Delia disappears, she hasn’t gone far.”
* * * *
Margo surfaced from the glowing hum of her exhausted body. She was wrapped in Aken-Var’s arms, and he was crooning softly to her.
She inhaled, and the scent of both of them was thick in the room. “So, that happened.”
He chuckled. “It certainly did. Several times. Woman, you are exhausting, and I am here for it.”
She laughed softly. “I am still remaining in my position on the Freedom Break.”
“Fine.”
“Fine?” She turned her head to look at him. “So, this was enough?”
“Oh, absolutely not, but you have life to experience out here, and you need to remain with your people to do it.”
She grinned. “So, when do you leave?”
“Oh, I don’t. The warship is going to shadow you until I am called away or have to attend matters on Amtha. When I am not with you, the twos—as you call them—will be.”
She grimaced. “Fine. As long as I don’t have to wear that stupid outfit, I will let them take up space on the ship.”
“Very gracious.” He kissed her softly. “You were stunning in that outfit. You are glorious without it.”
“I did like the coronet. It made me feel like I should be able to shoot laser beams from my eyes.”
“That would have put you in prime ranking.” He chuckled. “Those invisible swords are impressive. You have them on your world?”
She laughed. “No. They were a fictional concept, but Trin is an inventor, and when the ladies mentioned something to make me feel better, she scrambled to her workshop, and off she went.”
He blinked. “Wait, she just put that together cold?”
“Yes.”
“How did she work with technology like that?”
“She and her grandparent were on Belen. They had access to everything Nebel’s people could offer, and they could offer a lot.”
“And Birun gives her everything she needs.”
“Correct. And she is mostly alone on a world with him. Her mind can scamper from idea to idea, task to task, and the station and her Hmrain take care of her and let her flourish.”
“How long will it take for you to know if you flourish?” He put a hand on her abdomen.
She blinked. “Oh right. Seven to fourteen days for early markers. At twelve weeks, the first third of gestation will be over, and it will be generally safe to announce it.”
He nodded. “You will notify me at once.”
“When I have a minute. Sure.”
Aken-Var looked at her wryly. “You are going to fight me on this?”