Space Relations Pt. 23

Willow hardly went out of her bunk, once the captain had straightened out the tense situation with the cat-women. Mostly, he did this by humping the rebelliousness out of them. He had help, however, as the resident sexperts assisted the man in every way and in every position possible. Margo and Thor dutifully did their parts as well to end the soft siege.

"We will be breaking out of Saturn's sheath in less than ten minutes." Thor announced over the comm, soon after things were back under control.

Washington had been entertaining one of the calicos at the time, by popping recently unfrozen grapes into her mouth. He went over to the small console by the door.

"We'll be down in a minute." He glanced at the feline sprawled out on the bed. "Come on. We're going to the hub."

The cat-woman purred out her accord. She was trying to say, yes, captain, as all of her kind were trying to learn human speech. That would be something quite unique in the fleet, Washington thought, as he imagined a crew full of cat-babes wearing extra tight Space Corps uniforms.

Washington climbed down the ladder into the kitchen, finding Cruz, Mary and several felines listening to some dance music that was popular back on Earth. His science officers had actually succeeded in teaching the cats how to dance. Because they were used to moving more fluidly than the comparatively stiff humans, the felines were actually better dancers than the humans who'd taught them. They could roll their bellies and hips and waggle their ass with the best of them. To say that they provoked constant erections from the men on the ship and wetness from the women would have been an understatement.

Again, the captain wondered if he could replace his human crew with the six felines, but it was only a passing erotic fancy. He would not part with any of his staff for the wealth of an entire world.

"Did you catch that last message from the bridge?" Washington asked.

"We did, sir!" Cruz stood up and smartly saluted. That was another thing they were acclimating the felines with; protocol among Space Corps personnel, to help show them human behavior and hierarchy in the military.

Cruz was also being a ham about it, as he stood ramrod straight and kept his face steady as if were in boot camp. Beside him, Mary repeated the salute, and so did the rest of the comedic cats. When Washington looked behind him, he saw that even the calico was posted up and saluting. The entire group broke up into human laughter and feline hiccups a moment later, all except for the captain. He could just imagine the uproar that would take place if they ended up in front of stern and officious Space Corps personnel.

"Oh, come on, Captain!" Mary read his mind. "It'll be hilarious! You know it will!"

Finally, Washington chuckled. He could openly smile back at the pretty blonde now, as the cat-women had been told how smiling was a sign of happiness and not aggression as it was on their world. "If you'd like to be present on the bridge when we exit Saturn, you're all welcome to join me."

Mary passed the message on to the handful of felines around her. In a flash, a small stampede occurred out the kitchen door as the entire bunch ran off like excited children.

"We'll be there in a few minutes." Margo's voice said.

Washington glanced up at the second floor railing. He hadn't seen the big woman on the way down, but there she was, nude and with the gray feline leaning over the rail next to her. Both Margo and the gray were smoking those trendy vapor cigarettes they'd picked up on the Neptune the last time they were there. That was a bad habit, the captain thought, but sooner or later the felines would probably learn them anyway. He said, "If you do come up to the bridge, I suggest you wear clothes. There might be a number of ships out there looking for us. I wouldn't want you to give off the wrong impression when we communicate with them."

The captain strode to the hub. He'd asked Thor to transmit hailing messages every ten minutes, but he doubted they'd punctured through the semi-metallic atmosphere their ship was traveling through. Once they were out of Saturn's grip, that would all change. Their communications could travel vast frequencies in open space once known satellite positions were contacted.

Washington was met with a gentle murmur as he entered the hub of the ship. Sitting along the outer edge were his science officers and five felines, all of them quietly talking. He went over to his command chair, nodding at his subordinate Viking, who nodded back.

"Two minutes and counting." Thor informed him.

Washington was slightly dismayed to see that Willow was not at her usual place. He swiveled his chair around to face Mary. "Should I make a personal request to Willow so she can join us?"

He noticed the look that crossed Mary's face, but she quickly covered that up by shaking her head. "No, Captain. She's still going through her little phase. Give her a little more time and she'll come up to you and tell you what's going on."

Washington nodded, turning his chair around toward the big screen. He trusted Mary's judgment completely, as she'd proven very accurate in reading people in the past. The captain wanted his entire crew to be present when they left the scene of their latest adventure, but if Willow still had to sort a few things out, then so be it. Her absence did leave a void in the captain's usual way of running things. He was used to having two ensigns to delegate orders to, so he could always see things from a wider perspective. With Willow gone, he would be splitting duties with Ensign Thor.

"How are we doing?" He asked his battle technician.

"We are about to pierce the veil, so to speak." Thor replied. "Countdown at thirty seconds."

A small corner of their view screen lit up, showing a timer with green digits ticking off the seconds. There was an app for that!

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Washington asked.

"Not until we're out in open space." Thor answered. "I have to stop the ship and recalibrate everything to adjust for the larger amount of hydrogen outside. It won't take as long as the last time, as I've got all the old sub-routines saved on ship's computer. In the meantime, you can scan for approaching objects and keep hailing other vessels."

"Will you need me to run any scans on system integrity?" The captain asked. This was a duty Willow normally took care of.

"Not necessary. I'll be running the system's check twice, right after we exit Saturn and a second time after I finish readjusting everything. I don't foresee any problems, but you can monitor my progress as I go along."

"Check." Washington nodded. He shifted his chair around when the bridge doors slid open. Margo and the gray stepped in, both wearing black overalls. He was mildly surprised to see the gray wearing any sort of clothing at all.

"She insisted, Cappy." Margo shrugged, as she went to find a seat. With so many people on board taking up the reserve seating, the cook went over and sat at the dedicated navigator's spot.

The other felines began questioning the gray about the clothing, as she went to sit among her ilk.

"She doesn't like our clothes." Mary relayed the conversation. "They're too warm and stuffy. I told her to go ahead and take it off."

"We are now in open space." Thor announced. "I am stopping the ship to adjust our propulsion system and programming."

Washington did not reply, as he was watching the gray take the overalls off. Instead of simply pulling the garment down, the cat-woman was rolling her stomach and hips and slowly tugging the overalls down like a stripper. The gray even managed to look smug, like she was enjoying her little dance.

"Who taught her that?" The captain asked in an irritated tone.

Both Cruz and Mary pointed at each other. Across the bridge, Margo started laughing.

"You know you like it, Cappy!" The cook told him.

Well, what did he expect from his randy crew, Washington considered, as he faced front again. Vapor cigarettes, strip-teasing and a general orgy in the lounge several times a day. Certainly there were more mundane alternatives to introduce Earth culture to new, exotic sentient species, and Space Corps brass would undoubtedly frown upon this in a great many ways...

"The Captain is getting bent." Mary declared. "Do you need a Happy Kiss, Captain?"

"I am not getting bent." Washington replied. "Do me a favor, Mary? No stripping if I manage to get somebody on the screen."

He focused his attention on the computer at his command chair, sending the standard hailing message out into space. Next, he put up a mirror of Thor's screen, watching as his ensign switched an adjusted program off and quickly replaced it with the prior standard software. The captain took a look at the life support system as well, but nothing was off on it.

Only a few seconds later, a small red button announced an incoming transmission. Washington put it on speaker.

"SCS California, responding to SCS Space Relations. Do you copy?"

The captain made his reply. "We hear you, California. Loud and clear."

"Identify yourself."

"This is Captain Washington."

"Greetings, Captain. This is Lieutenant Cusack, in charge of communications on this ship. What is your status?"

"Give me one." Washington said, looking to his subordinate. Thor gave him a thumbs-up. "Lt. Cusack, we had to adjust our instrumentation and engines when we first entered into Saturn. Now that we have exited, we are resetting our equipment back to normal. This should only take us a few minutes. So far everything is coming back online smoothly. Our crew is safe and sound, Lieutenant."

The captain's screen flashed, prompting him to look over. Thor had sent him a message describing the California. It was a sleek military vessel assigned to protect medium-sized ships from piracy.

"Good to hear, Captain Washington." Cusack replied. "You should have our coordinates by now. We will be moving in your direction until you rendezvous with us. After this, our instructions are to escort your ship back to the Starship Neptune."

"Oh? Has the tribunal on the Neptune concluded?"

"Yes it has, Captain Washington. Your two crewmembers are ready to be picked up as soon as you arrive there."

That sounded like good news, Washington thought.

"Captain Harrelson wants to be certain your engines are working properly." Cusack said.

This time, Thor's thumbs-up was more enthusiastic. Washington checked the system analysis for himself.

"We are good, Lieutenant." Washington confirmed. "We will move towards you as soon as we plot a course."

"Outstanding. I will transmit a copy of the tribunal results over right away. We look forward to seeing you. California out."

"Understood. Space Relations out."

"I see where they are, Captain." Thor stated. "I'll send the star map over to your computer. We should reach the California in about five hours. After that, we're looking at about half a day to get back to the Neptune, so roughly that's between fifteen and twenty hours total."

Washington sat back in his chair, while behind him Mary started woo-hooing, Margo started cheering and Cruz started barking. This caused the captain to revolve his chair around. Cruz and Mary were doing their happy dances, while Margo was laughing and clapping at them. The felines were all hiccupping in laughter, until a couple of them jumped into the mix and began doing their evocative belly dances. The captain noticed that someone had taught the cat-girls how to do the booty shake as well.

Not good for Space Corps protocol, Washington knew, but damn, it was good to watch them.

The trip to the Starship Neptune did not go without incident. Shortly after their rendezvous with the California, the SCS Beagle came into communications range. At that time, the flight crew was off duty, with Cruz and Mary supervising the bridge. Mary did not use the intercom, but instead reached out to the captain telepathically.

Captain, we need you up here. Her thoughts said. The Beagle is on the line.

"I'll be there in two minutes." Washington replied, absently speaking out loud. He'd been getting ready to start a new shift anyway and was nearly dressed. The captain took one last look at his latest bed partner, the orange she-cat, before he strode out of the bunk.

With the Space Relations on its way to pick up his first wife, Washington hoped he could come up with a good excuse for his half a dozen infidelities. Was it really half a dozen? He wondered at this as he went through the ship. If it was half a dozen, that meant he'd slept with each and every one of the cat-chicks. That must be some kind of record! Maybe he could tell Barbie that he'd done it in the name of science. It worked for Cruz, right? Nobody questioned Cruz when he said that. But no, Barbie was part telepath, not as proficient as Mary was but still. She'd see right through his ruse and know the real reason he'd slept with six cat-hussies was because he was a hot-blooded horn-dog.

Mary was in his thoughts, Washington discovered. She wasn't always obvious when she used her psychic skills, but this time she wasn't hard to miss. The pretty telepath was sending him an image of all six cat-tarts rolling their stomachs and hips.

"I know you're there, Mary." Washington smiled, as he walked through the hallway with wide strides.

I have to tell you something before you enter the bridge, Mary thought at him.

This caused the captain to halt a few feet from the bridge doors. "What is it, Mary?"

The captain of the Beagle is a woman.

Washington smiled, thinking Mary was joking around. "Well, of course she is."

With that, the captain stepped into the bridge and made his way to the command chair. It wasn't until he sat down that he understood what Mary was getting at. Back when they first encountered the Beagle floating through space, Mary had the distinct impression that the Beagle's commanding officer was a man. He recalled how Thor had put the Beagle Captain's image up on the screen showing that, what was her name, Lee Pang, was female. Mary still insisted she was telepathically witnessing a man. It had been a minor debate at the time.

As Washington took in the image on the screen, he saw it was a wide pan of the bridge on the Beagle. A slight pang of jealousy stung him, as he saw a flight crew of a full six people plus their commander, compared with his smaller crew of three. Of that larger crew, Captain Pang, a female Captain Pang, had a second in command sitting at her side. It was this second who reached for the comm.

"Greetings, Captain Washington." The older man introduced himself. "I am First Officer La Penn. How are things with you and your crew, Captain, now that you've exited Saturn's sheath?"

"We're doing good." Washington nodded back. "We went through a couple of harrowing incidents, but we got through them. I'll forward our official report to your ship directly following this communication."

"I'd like to talk to you about that, about what took place in Saturn." Penn said. "You are aware that we were investigating a regular and consistent pulse of radio waves? This signal originated from within Saturn. We patrolled the area for several hours before we did as you did, when we took the plunge and entered Saturn's sheath. The pulse anomaly appeared to be artificial and intelligent. Unfortunately, our ship's engine has not been retrofitted to adapt to sudden changes in the amount of hydrogen available. The engines on your ship are fully capable, of course."

He's jealous of our ship, Captain, Mary thought at him. Just like you're jealous of his crew!

"Get out of my head, Mary." Washington said.

"Excuse me, Captain?" Penn asked.

"Oh, sorry about that. Go on."

"We did penetrate into Saturn's cloak, but there was a near disaster when we realized how full of helium it was. We managed to get the Beagle turned around and had enough propulsion left to give us momentum. At some point, we seemed to go through a cloud of some unknown matter. This affected us in some strange way that we cannot yet comprehend. We lost time, Captain Washington, from the moment we pushed out of Saturn and into regular space."

Washington spoke up. "You've had time to read our initial report, regarding how we found your crew in some kind of suspended animation? Our original idea was to tow the Beagle back to a larger scientific ship in the hopes of trying to revive your crew."

"Yes, Captain Pang and I have gone through the report." Penn said. "Thanks to the Creator that our ship's systems did not freeze up when we did. Otherwise our life support would have failed and we would not be here talking to you. We read the report the moment we woke up, so to speak. I have to ask this, Captain Washington. Did you or your crew experience any unexpected, uh, circumstances during your travels within Saturn?"

"What kind of circumstances?"

"Uh, hallucinations where things appear oddly different. That sort of thing."

Washington wasn't sure what the man was getting at, but he could tell he wasn't being told everything. "Let me think back a moment. When we first entered Saturn, we did go through a short time when everyone on the bridge was mysteriously asleep. This only lasted... Well, I don't know how long. I'm assuming it was a brief period of time, but I'll have to check to see if the computer system caught it."

The captain briefly turned his chair toward Mary. Now that he'd focused on the matter, he recalled how Mary had sensed something odd taking place during their entry. The blonde had said something about mentally shielding Cruz, Margo and herself, hadn't she? Mary was sitting there quietly, apparently focusing on the Beagle's crew and reading their minds as much as possible.

"But no hallucinations were experienced by yourself or anyone in your crew?" Penn asked, regaining the Captain's attention.

"Not as far as I know." Washington admitted.

"I see. Hopefully this will turn out to be nothing. I recommend that you and your crew get full physical and mental examinations upon reaching the Starship Neptune. This is what we're planning on doing."

Washington wanted to introduce the six she-cats they'd picked up on Zeus, but if he did, he was positive that Mary would telepathically tell them to start belly dancing. The last thing he wanted was to create a spectacle after the Beagle's dire predicament. Besides, it was all in the documentation he'd prepared.

"We will probably get checked out as well." Washington simply nodded. "We picked up some interesting specimens while on one of Saturn's planetoids."

"Saturn has planetoids?"

"It's all in the full report we will be sending in a moment."

Penn turned to his superior, but the woman looked stone-faced. He shifted back toward the screen. "We will take a look at the report the moment we receive it. We're putting ourselves in quarantine until we reach the Neptune and have our examinations. We are also asking the California to keep us in their dock for the time being, since they are headed that way also. Very well, Captain Washington. If anything unusual happens to you or any of your crew, be sure to mention it. SCS Beagle, out."

Washington gazed at the blank screen for a few seconds, before he addressed his two science officers. "What the hell was that all about?"

"The man was clearly lying." Cruz, who'd been quiet the entire time, spoke up first. "They're hiding something from us."

"No, he wasn't exactly lying, but he was guarded when he was talking." Mary spoke up. "They have an empath on the Beagle, Captain. The empath was keeping me from reading the thoughts of their crew. They know I was trying to read them, and we know they were preventing me from doing it."

"What are they keeping from us?" The captain asked. "Do either of you have any ideas?"