(Note #1: All comments and constructive criticisms are welcome and appreciated.

Note #2: Those of you wishing for a quick story to wank to will want to look elsewhere. Although chapter  7 and chapters 9 to 12 of this story featured the characters fooling around, this chapter won’t see anybody getting their freak on. If you want to skip ahead, the sexual shenanigans will commence again in the next chapter.

Note #3: Once again, all artwork in this chapter was created by Faith Desky.

Note #4: And finally, thanks to volunteer Literotica editor TheNyxianLily for her help with editing.)

Calley was happy not to be sitting in on the negotiations between Governor Madzen and Sal. When she’d parted company with the elder Vottonian to lead her daughter to the cockpit, she’d heard the politician enter the ship’s common area and declare, “All right ya prick, get ready to be fucked up the ass!” If that was how Madzen was starting things off (figuratively, she hoped), Calley felt it was going to be a back-and-forth for the ages.

Instead, she and Daznee seated themselves in the cockpit. The younger Vottonian asked Calley a nonstop barrage of questions about what life on the freighter was like. Calley told her some anecdotes and stories; some about her time after she joined this crew and some about her misadventures before that. Daznee listened with rapt attention.

“Wow!” she said after Calley finished telling her about one of the ship’s runs. “You’ve been to so many places! I really can’t believe it! I thought I’d been to a lot of planets, but you put me to shame!”

“Well,” Calley clarified, “I never got to stay anyplace too long. Some planets I never even saw ‘cause I stayed on the ship. When I was serving on the tug around Neitsabes for five sub-cycles, I think I set foot on the planet maybe two or three times. And even then, I didn’t get a chance to look around it much.”

“But you got to see it, at least. Me, all I’ve seen is this system. Well, that’s not quite right. I saw a lot of places when Mom was running mercenary operations. But all I saw of those planets were military bases and what was left of the battlefield when the fighting was over.”

“I was nineteen when the family came here,” she continued, “and this is the first place I really got to explore. So I don’t really remember any other interesting places I visited before. I remember people more. Like Captain Collondo. I remember him always making me laugh. And giving me good sandwiches.”

The medtech let out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s Sal all right. He loves to feed people he likes. I never met a ship’s captain who cooks for himself, let alone his crew. That was a real pleasant surprise when I signed on.”

“Oh wow! You’re so lucky! All three of you, that is. Flying around, getting into adventures, seeing new places and falling in love. I wish I was a spacer.”

“You’re forgetting about almost being killed by pirates,” the Gynapsi reminded the Vottonian. “Or smashing into an asteroid collision. Dealing with merchants trying to cheat you. Locals who think they can do Gods-know-what to you ‘cause they have friends around and you don’t. Your ship breaking down in the middle of nowhere. The pulse storms. The space dragons.”

“You saw a space dragon?” asked an amazed Daznee.

“No,” Calley admitted with a sly smile. “I just said that to make it more interesting.”

The governor’s daughter burst out laughing and the young spacer joined her. “You’re funny!” Daznee declared. “And smart. If you got a level 4 biotech certification at your age, you must be a genius. You’re, like, eighteen, right? I’m twenty-four and I don’t have a level 4 certificate in anything.”

“I’m nineteen.”

“Then you look younger than your age. Smart, funny, beautiful and with a Bellixan fashion designer at your fingertips. It’s official Calley; you have every advantage a woman could want.”

“I dunno about that. I’m pretty broke right now and my future prospects are up in the air. And being a Gynapsi isn’t always an easy thing.”

“Well, don’t worry about that here,” the Vottonian assured her. “Rangxu’s the kind of place where we don’t put up with that shit. Even before Mom took over, it was a free port where all kinds were welcome. And now that a freed slave’s running things, about the only thing we’re not tolerant of is, well, intolerance. Nobody’s ever given me any trouble when I go exploring the nightlife. Even when I shake off the guards Mom sends to keep an eye on me. I dunno why she bothers. Since I don’t look like a typical Vottonian, nobody can tell I’m related to her so I’m in no danger of being kidnapped or assassinated. Nobody expects a Vottonian to have a child anyway.”

Calley was interested in what Daznee had just said and took advantage of her having brought it up. “Do you mind if I ask you about that? As a medtech, I’m curious as to your genetic make-up. I know Vottonians can’t reproduce through sex, and you don’t look like any race I’ve ever encountered, so…”

“So how did I come to exist? Don’t worry. I’m not shy about telling this story. Not long after Mom had freed herself and cleared the price on her head, she put together her own mercenary company. It did well. She’s not just Vottonian tough, but also well-trained in combat and tactically brilliant.”

“Yeah. Sal told me the same thing.”

“So after some good initial success, Mom and the troops found themselves on Welland fighting for one local baron against the armies of another. You ever been to Welland?”

“No, but I’ve heard of it,” Calley answered. “Industrial planet, lots of research companies. When I read about a new medical procedure or drug, Welland’s often where it came from.”

“Yeah, that’s quite right. Both sides of the fighting were careful not to cause too much damage to the research places. Lots of small fights, surgical strikes, assassinations. Perfect situation for Mom’s skillset. The opposing forces probably never really had a chance. So she ended up on the winning side. Anyway, there she was, with access to all these biotech firms. She decided she wanted to have one of those companies make her a daughter. Enter the incomparable Daznee Madzen.” She raised and twisted her arms in a flourish.

“I see,” said the Gynapsi. “But you’re not a clone. You don’t really look a lot like your mother. Maybe in the face a little, but the rest is all different.”

“You see a resemblance?” asked the older woman as she lowered her arms. “You might be the first in a long time. Certainly since my skin changed colour. But you’re right, I’m not a clone. Mom’s DNA was used in my creation, but five men’s too. I’m a cocktail of Vottonian, human, Cygnian and Darconan genetic material. Almost half of it came from Mom, the rest from my five daddies.

“How did she choose which men would be involved in the process?”

“Easy. She was married to each of ‘em.”

“Your mother has five husbands?” Calley asked in surprise. “Where does she find the time?”

Daznee shrugged and answered, “She makes time. But I only have four fathers left now, since one of my human fathers died during the Capital Siege of Eridia seven cycles ago. Honestly, it’s amazing that I have four left considering they were all mercenaries until the family settled here. But that just shows you what a good commander Mom is, and that if she likes a man, she keeps him close. But just because she can’t get pregnant doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy sex. She does, believe me. I live on the opposite side of our house ‘cause I had to get away from the loud moaning coming from their room. And she wanted her five men to be a part of me as much as she was, except that 45% of me comes from her and the rest is about an even split between my five fathers. Who knows? If she’d met Captain Collondo a few cycles before she did, he might have contributed to my creation too. She’ll deny it now, but she and him got along great when I was a kid. He flew us to places quite a bit, as I remember, and he let me sleep in the little stateroom off the common area. It was the first time I ever had a room of my own and I really liked that.”

“That’s a coincidence, I was given that room when I came aboard. That was my first room of my own too.”

“And did you like it?”

“Sure! It was nice having my own space after a lifetime of sharing accommodations with other women. First my family, and then other crewmembers after I went on my own.”

“But now you’ve moved out of it,” said the Vottonian (well, mostly Vottonian if you want to get technical about it). She phrased it as a statement and not a question. Either she’d noticed the clothes her mother had earlier in the bedroom or picked up on what Margraite had said at the time.

“Yeah. A few days ago. Maybe two or three? I’m not sure. We went through some long days getting here and my sense of time is all screwed up.”

“Wow.” Daznee said somewhat pensively. “So this is really recent then. And if the stateroom was your first room to yourself, and you gave it up, I’m thinking this must be your first affair. Am I right?”

“You’re exactly right.”

“Cool!” said Daznee in a slightly more animated tone. She still seemed to be weighing what Calley was telling her. Then her expression changed and she asked the younger woman, “I’m not being too nosy, am I? If I’m asking too many questions, you can tell me. We’ve just met and here I am grilling you on your love life.”

“It’s fine,” the young spacer reassured her. “If you don’t mind telling me about your creation, I can share my romantic history. All three days of it. Gods, everything changed so fast, I’m still trying to take it all in. I haven’t had the chance to talk to anybody about it. Oh no! I’m gonna have to tell my mother about it! I have no idea what she’s gonna think. She’s a spacer too, but she’s not the type to have a bunch of lovers. And not all at once. I don’t even think she’s been with anyone since Dad died.”

Calley leant forward and put her hands over her mouth and lower jaw as she tried to figure out what her next message to her mother should be. She hadn’t thought about how her mother would react to her new relationship with her shipmates.

“Hey, hey, hey…” said Daznee as she saw Calley’s anxiety getting the better of her. “Don’t freak out. You told me your mom’s probably on the other side of the universe, right? So even if she disapproves of your being in love with two people at once, well, what’s she gonna do about it? And that’s assuming she doesn’t just accept what you’re up to anyway. I’ve met quite a few spacers over the years and they usually live their lives the way they want. If your mom’s one of them, she should be used to a pretty loose definition of what’s considered ‘normal’.”

Calley calmed down somewhat as what Daznee said made some sense to her. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. You’re just out of practice when it comes to dealing with a mom. The trick is to deal with what they say instead of worrying about what they might say. “

“Is that what you do?”

“You bet! My advice to you is this: Just tell your mom the truth and deal with what she has to say after she says it. No sense worrying about a bad reaction if it ain’t gonna come.”

“Sure. As soon as I figure out what the truth is, I’ll do just that.”

“Meaning what? Whadd’ya need to figure out?”

“Well…” Calley began before trying to put her thoughts in order. “After our first night together, Sal told me not to think about our relationship too much. Examining it would ruin it, he says. But I can’t help myself. I’m trying to figure out where I fit in with him and Alezanna. Right now, we love each other and that’s great. No complaints. But…”

“But what?” Daznee prompted her to continue.

“But they have these future plans. They wanna settle down on a farm in ten cycles or so. It’s what they’re working towards. Dunno if they’ll make it now that this run turned into a bit of a clunker. But when they do decide they can do it, what happens to me? Am I part of their plan or do I go off on my own? I know it seems kinda silly to be worrying about that when I’ve only been their lover a couple of days…”

“No, I think I get it. You mind if I ask you a couple of questions to make sure I understand what you’re going through?”

“Go ahead.”

“In all you’ve told me about what you’ve been up to,” Daznee began, “you’ve mostly talked about Sal and Alezanna. And aside from sending messages to your mother, it sounds like your social life is those two and nobody else. Or is there somebody else you haven’t mentioned yet?”

“No, nobody else,” the spacer said as the enormity of that statement suddenly became apparent to her. “No other friends.”

The Vottonian nodded and continued. “So in about a cycle and change, these two went from being your employers to your crewmates to your surrogate family and, just recently, to your lovers. And now you’re trying to find your footing without anyone to help you. You can’t ask them for help ‘cause they’re the thing you need help with. Sound about right?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Calley admitted. Inwardly, she was surprised Daznee had understood the situation and summed it up so clearly. Her first impression of the governor’s daughter was that she was slightly frivolous and spoiled. But as their conversation had progressed, the Gynapsi had realized the Vottonian was quite perceptive for a young woman her age.

“Okay then,” Daznee continued. “Now, I may not know much about starships, but the Ravenfang I remember well from when I was a kid. I’ve never seen her in this shape. She’s pretty fucked up, isn’t she?”

“Unfortunately. You can see she’s in bad need of repairs. Our Lo-Vel’s are half-gone, we’ve got barely any sensors, our communications are damaged, some of our systems can’t get any power…” Calley hesitated, remembering that the damaged guns were supposed to be secret so maybe she shouldn’t bring those up. But then she remembered the captain had revealed them to their fighter escort on their way into the station. “I think some guns will need to be replaced. And I’m the only one available to fix all this as long as Sal’s negotiating for your mother and Alezanna’s making dresses. I can’t imagine us going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Great!” Daznee exclaimed before she explained, “Not the state of the Ravenfang, I mean. But you staying a while, this is great. This is the perfect time for you to stop moving a while and examine where you are. Not physically, though that too. I mean examine your relationship with your two crewmates. You spacers are always coming and going and getting into too much trouble to stop and really think about things. So one of the things you need to answer your questions, you’ve got: Time.”

“No argument there.”

“Now the second thing you need, I can provide: Friends. It’s kinda hard to assess a relationship when you have no other relationships to compare it to.”

“But Sal told me not to examine those too much!” the Gynapsi objected.

“Of course he said that! He’s got a beautiful new young lover he gets to share with his other gorgeous lover. He’s as happy as a Siliconian in a cave, so what’s to examine, as far as he’s concerned? From what Alezanna said in the bedroom, those two have been together a while, haven’t they?”

“Cycles,” the young spacer confirmed.

“So there you go! He’s set up real nice right now and he’s got his future planned out. You being with him doesn’t require him to change any of his plans. So it’s easy for him to tell you not to worry or look at things too closely. He’s seeing things through an older man’s eyes. He’s too old to remember what it was like to be our age and confused. I’ll bet he made a lot of mistakes when he was in his early twenties and now he’s just put them out of his mind.”

“I think he was divorced twice by that time.”

Daznee’s eyes grew wide in astonishment. “Twice!? Gods almighty! I dunno anybody our age who’s divorced yet, let alone twice-divorced! Shit, I didn’t even know he’d ever been married. Were his wives Bellixans or Gynapsis like you?”

“I don’t think so,” said Calley as she began to regret having mentioned Sal’s ex-wives. If Daznee hadn’t known about them, it could be because he didn’t want that part of his past to be common knowledge. “I never met either one of ‘em, but I assume they were both humans since they were from his homeworld. Can we talk about something else? I dunno if it’s right that I’m spilling the beans about somebody else’s past. I think this is gossiping, isn’t it?”

“Kinda.” Daznee said with a shrug. “I think gossiping is more about what somebody did recently or is currently doing. But you’re right. Maybe not something we should be talking about. But this just shows that I’m right about a few things. One, that Sal may not be the best candidate to give a young woman advice about how to handle her first affair. And Alezanna probably is even older than Sal, though she still looks fabulous since Bellixans age slower than we do. Gods, what I’d give to have her cheekbones! But because of her age, maybe not the best advice-giver on relationships for you either.”

“I’m not sure how old she is. I’ve never asked her.”

The Vottonian broke out laughing. “Sweet Prophet! You never ask a woman that! Well, maybe a medtech like you can get away with it. But you better make damn sure the woman you ask understands it’s because of her health you’re asking. Otherwise, your own health’s gonna be in trouble. But that just shows the other thing I’m right about; you need friends to teach you things like that. Now, it’s obvious to me you could make friends easy if you weren’t moving around so much. You’re fun to talk to. I knew as soon as I saw you that we could be friends.”

“Aw, thanks Daznee,” said the slightly-embarrassed Gynapsi. She was still getting used to receiving compliments. “That’s really nice of you to say.”

“Well it’s the truth. I have a good sense about these things. It serves me well in my work. I can size a person up and figure out if we’re gonna get along real quick.”

“Say, what is your work?” asked her copper-haired friend. “Your mom said you were her social secretary, but I dunno what that job is.”

“Mostly, I organize parties. See, when Mom got elected governor, the people around here liked her record of getting things done. The old regime was too tied up in rules and regulations and bureaucracy. There were some scandals too. Corruption, bribes, that kinda thing. So it wasn’t so much that she got elected than that the other guys got thrown out. That’s fine for a first election. But now, she’s gotta give people a reason to vote for her. She’s done a lot of good in office, but it helps a lot when the people get to know her. That’s where I come in. I set up social events and media appearances. If there’s some kinda festival or holy day on the calendar, I use it as an excuse to get Mom out there meeting people.”

“Sounds fun. I wouldn’t mind having that job for a while.”

“I know it may seem fun, but nothing takes the fun out of a party like worrying it has to go off without a hitch. If you book a band, you gotta make sure they get there on time and are sober enough to play. If a couple is having a loud spat, I either gotta shoo ‘em away or make sure it’s entertaining to watch. Then I gotta make sure Mom’s seen in the right spot at the right angle so that she looks her best. And then there’s assembling the guest list. I gotta be sure the right people are there. Invite both the people who support Mom and those who are on the fence. Those on the fence will be schmoozed but also they’ll see how popular Mom is and that’ll sway their affiliations. And, of course, I gotta make sure Mom doesn’t call the wrong person a pissant bastard.”

Calley let out a laugh at that. “Is there a right person to call a pissant bastard?”

“Actually, yes. After Mom got elected, the main opposing party purged itself of the old guard that had been running things. They chose this new guy to be their flag-bearer. The bad news was, he had a pretty decent history of getting his initiatives passed in the government chambers. A good bureaucrat. The good news was, he wasn’t used to being out in the public eye. So I made sure he was invited to some events the local media were also at. I told Mom to ask his opinion on some issues we knew he disagreed with us on. He wasn’t expecting it and didn’t do a good job of defending his position. He actually repeated the same sentence four times, and it made less sense each time. So Mom called him a pissant bastard and the crowd laughed him out of the building. It was all over the local channels. People started calling him ‘Boot-in-the-mouth Boddig’. Mr. Boddig’s now back shuffling paper and leaving politics to those who are better at it.”

“Holy Prophet! You really play for keeps, don’t you?”

“Politics isn’t a kid’s game, Calley. I fight for my mother just as hard as any of her mercenaries. I just do it on a different battlefield. My casualties don’t end up dead though. They just wish they were sometimes.”

Calley thought back to what Sal had said when they were approaching the station. He’d said that swimming in political waters makes it hard to keep yourself clean. Daznee’s story of the inexperienced Mr. Boddig certainly seemed to prove Sal’s point.

“Well, I’ll definitely make sure not to get on the wrong side of your politics,” the young spacer said. “Do you have assistants to help you with this stuff or do you keep it all in your head?”

The teal-skinned beauty answered, “The party-planning stuff I mostly handle on my own. I’ve gotten good at it over the last few cycles. For the political maneuvering, I work with Coslove. Truth be told, I’m the one who’s mostly his assistant when it comes to that. I may help set people up sometimes, but he’s the one who tells me who to set up. Still, we do a good job together. And I can actually get three or four sentences out of him at a time. That may be a record!”

“He does seem like a tight-lipped man. If you got that much out of him, you must be a prodigy at socializing. Too bad they don’t give out certifications for that. You’d be level 4 or 5 for sure!”

The two young women laughed at the idea. “Yeah, it’s too bad a skillsheet doesn’t list stuff like that,” Daznee opined. “All the stuff I’m good at isn’t listed there. Socializing, dancing, sizing people up, kissing, making love, telling funny stories. I am a level 3 shuttle pilot though. Have to be, in a system like this. I also have a level 2 in driving a gravmobile. So if the whole politico thing doesn’t work out, at least I’ve got that to fall back on.”

“I wonder what the certification tests would be like for kissing and making love,” the Gynapsi wondered aloud with a smile. “Probably pretty sexy. I’d hope the testing officers were cute.”

The older woman giggled and said, “Unless you want a high rank. For that, you’d havta kiss a real uggo. If you can do it with your eyes open, you’d get a level 4 for sure!”

Both women continued to laugh as they pursued this line of thought. “What would a level 1 kisser be allowed to do? Kiss their relatives and nobody else?” asked the medtech.

“No open mouths,” answered her new friend with another giggle. “You don’t get to open mouth kiss anybody until you get a level 2 rank. Once you do it right, you get level 3. Took me a little while to get there.”

Despite the silliness of the discussion, Calley realized Daznee had touched upon something that piqued her curiosity. “Wait a second,” she bade the Vottonian. “If you think you were stuck at level 2 for a while, are you saying you were giving out bad open-mouth kisses?”

“Honestly, yeah. When I started doing those kinda kisses, I was too aggressive. A guy would put his lips on mine and the next thing you know, I’d pry open his mouth and shove my tongue into it. No subtlety. I was like a jugger-tank smashing through a building. Thank the Gods I finally kissed someone who was bold enough to set me right.”

“Oh my Gods! I was the same way! I did the same thing the first time Sal and I kissed. Well, the first time we really kissed. Like, you know…”

“Yeah, I know. You don’t need to give me the details. But if this happened three days ago, you learned your lesson way faster than I did. You’re smarter than I was when I started.” She paused a moment before adding, “I can’t believe you’re with Sal. Nothing against the guy, mind you. I guess to me, he was always something like a nice uncle I remember from when I was a kid. It’s hard for me to picture him kissing anybody. Or doing more. Guess I’ll have to readjust my view of him. Not that I plan on picturing him naked or anything. The man already has two beautiful lovers. What’s he need with another one?”

“I don’t think he could juggle five wives like your mother can her husbands. But if the third woman was you, he might be tempted to try it.”

Because of Daznee’s complexion, Calley couldn’t tell if the Vottonian had blushed or not. But the older woman did seem genuinely touched by the Gynapsi’s compliment. Daznee reached out her hand and placed it on Calley’s as she said, “That’s really sweet of you.” The hand lingered and even moved past the spacer’s wrist as the beautiful woman lightly stroked Calley’s lower arm for an instant. Then she quickly withdrew her arm.

“You know,” the teal-skinned woman said, “if I’m going to take you under my wing, show you around and introduce you to my friends, I think we should figure out what your boundaries are. If I invite you to a club, say, are you gonna bring Sal and Alezanna? I have no problem with that if you do, but they’re older and the club scene might not be their thing.”

“I’m really not sure. They’re kinda like me. When we stop somewhere, they go out to do business but not much else. I dunno what’s gonna happen now that we’ll be here for an extended stay. Do you think your Mom and Sal are gonna wanna get together to talk about old times?”

“I imagine so. When Sal got in touch to offer us the gerazin plating, Mom was pretty happy to hear from him again. So I can see them meeting up to catch up after Mom’s finished her work for the day. Not the sorta meeting for younger girls like us, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

Calley considered her answer for a moment before saying, “Then I guess we’d be off on our own if the older folks are having their own kinda soirees.” She paused for another moment and then added, “I think Alezanna would probably go with Sal when given the choice between a club or a dinner party with older people. So I guess I’ll be free to do whatever it is you have in mind. And besides, they’re always telling me I should be exploring more when we’re docked somewhere. It’d be kind of silly for them to disapprove of me going out now.”

“Perfect! But what I’m wondering about is how attached you are to them when it comes to other people. What I mean is, what’ll happen if you meet someone else you like? Are you, like, only supposed to sleep with them or are you okay with spending the night with someone else? When I introduce you to my friends, I’m pretty sure some of ‘em are gonna be interested in you. If you’re not into them, well, they’re not too pushy so that won’t be any trouble. But if you like one of them, are Sal and Alezanna gonna have a problem with that?”

“Gee, I dunno,” the Gynapsi said as she pondered the question. “I mean, I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. They both kinda encouraged me to have a fling sometime, but that was before I ended up in their bed. Everything happened so fast that I never even thought about seeing somebody else. I guess I’ll have to ask them. Do you really think any of your friends will like me that much?”

“Oh, I can pretty much guarantee that they will. I dunno how you managed to go so long before somebody made you see how fun and pretty you are. But you’re gonna realize it as soon as I start introducing you around. You’re gonna have your pick of suitors. It’ll be up to you how you wanna handle it. I’ll be happy to help you out, but it’ll be your decision what to do in the end.”

Calley was taken aback by the woman’s statement. She wasn’t used to locals offering to show her around. Not without having ulterior motives, usually of a sinister nature. The roustabouts on Palcon, for example, were the sort of hospitality she was unfortunately more familiar with. Still, it was obvious that Daznee’s interest in her was far more genuine and friendly.

“Wow!” she said. “You’re really giving me a lot to think about, Daznee. Let me have a little time to sort things out with Sal and Alez. We’re all gonna need to pass out after Sal finishes up negotiating with your mom. It was a long run that brought us here. We need to sleep and get ourselves synced up with the system’s time. Can you give me a day or two to get myself ready to start socializing?”

“Absolutely! You need to rest up and then get started fixing up your ship. And I have to do my work for Mom too. I usually finish up in the early evening, so I’ll get in touch the day after tomorrow. We can make plans then. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds great! I’m glad I met you today, Daznee.”

“Me too! I really think we’re gonna be great friends.”

The younger woman joked, “I just hope I don’t go broke hanging around these places you wanna take me to. Try to remember I’m a poor spacer who can’t afford to have a big bar tab.”

The Vottonian let out a laugh and said, “Oh Calley! You have so much to learn. Rule number one: Pretty girls never pay for drinks. Never. I’ll teach you more when we’re actually out there. But for now, it sounds like things are quieting down in the common area. You wanna go see if everyone agreed on a deal back there?”

“Sure,” the medtech said and the two women left the cockpit.

They found the others finishing up their negotiations in the galley. Sal was sitting at the table opposite Coslove and Margraite while the two bodyguards were standing at the exit to the gangplank. Alezanna was standing by the sink drinking a glass of water while watching the discussions winding down.

When Governor Madzen saw her daughter enter, she turned to her and proclaimed, “You’re gonna be happy, kid. I managed to get these greedy spacers to give up five outfits. Two for me, three for you.”

Her daughter let out a high-pitched squeal that almost hurt Calley’s ears as the younger Vottonian  hopped in excitement. “Three?! Mom, you’re amazing!”

“Well,” the politician admitted, “Coslove here also had a lot to do with it. So make sure to give him some credit too.”

Daznee ran up to the bureaucrat and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Calley was amazed to see his expression change to one of surprise, if only for an instant. “Thanks Coslove. You’re the best!” the happy social planner told him.

Calley turned her attention to Sal and asked him, “Five outfits? How many space stations are we getting in return?”

Sal smirked as he answered, “None, I’m sorry to say. We’ll have to scrape by with the Rangxu System Defense Forces picking up the tab for all of our repairs. Including the guns that’ll have to be replaced.”

The Gynapsi considered the news for a moment before questioning his answer. “Is that all you got? Sal, I think you’re slipping. You should have gotten them to throw in a new paint job while you were at it.”

The Vottonians and Alezanna laughed at what Calley had suggested. Coslove returned to his usual stoicism. Sal, meanwhile, shrugged and told her, “Well, I might have forgotten to mention that I’ll be getting a small percentage of the tariffs I negotiate with the Palsidians I’ll be meeting with in a few days. That oughta motivate me to be a little more aggressive with them than I was tonight.”

“I almost feel sorry for them, Captain,” Coslove said. “If you’re as tenacious with them as you were with me, Palsidia might end up in an economic depression.”

Collondo turned back to him and nodded out of respect. “Thanks Coslove. You ever get tired of this gig, you’d make a killing as a transport captain.”

Coslove likewise nodded to the captain. “Praise indeed.”

“Hey!” Margraite Madzen jumped in. “No trying to poach my personnel, Collondo! You nick my Chief of Staff, I’ll steal away your medic. How’d ya like that?”

“No!” said Daznee. “No losing Coslove! But I like the idea of trading for Calley. How about we give up a couple of bodyguards in exchange?”

Considering the Vottonian race’s history with slavery, Calley was a little surprised to find a few of them discussing trading people. But it was clear that the suggestions were being made in jest. Clear to everyone, it seemed, except Ghotto and Phawley. The two bodyguards looked at each other with worry.

“Gods!” the elder Madzen exclaimed. “Let’s not start another negotiation or we’ll be here all night. And this poor bastard looks tired enough to pass out on the floor if we don’t get outta here,” she said, with Sal being the poor bastard in question. “Let’s give these spacers their rest time. They’ll need it before they start working for us in a few days. Alezanna, I’ll be expecting those images by the day after tomorrow.”

The Bellixan nodded and the governor gathered up her entourage. As the group left the ship, Daznee reminded Calley she’d be in touch soon. Once the three spacers were alone on their ship again, they quickly made their way to their bedroom. Sal asked the ladies to postpone any sexual overtures until tomorrow. With the length of the day catching up to them, the two women agreed and the trio was soon in bed, sleeping soundly.

NEXT CHAPTER: Talking and loving between the three spacers.