PrincessColumbia

  The courier ship slid into the docking cmps about as smoothly as one might expect automated docking procedures to manage. There was the slight tremor in the deck as the momentum of several hundred tons of mass that never could be fully negated by maneuvering thrusters transferred to the station, which then kicked on its own thrusters automatically to correct for the transferred force.

  The week after Benjamin had sent the blueprints to the new ship designs had been both harried and pedestrian. While they had research to do and new processes to mint and new fabs to construct for the new parts required for the designs, both the doing of all the activity required for the new construction and the everyday, run of the mill happenings of the station proceeded as they had for months.

  Probably the only really notable thing was the music studio opening up in the specially constructed adjunct to the station. It was technically connected to the station via robotic struts and cabling, it was specifically designed to allow for a space-gap between every part of the satellite building and the station on demand. Diane had mentioned to Albequerque Records during their meetings to get their lease signed Russe’s idea of space gapping their studio and the excentric owner and CEO of the company had tched onto the idea with a passion that Diane hadn’t expected. The costs of maintaining the outbuilding were, compared to a normal lot or berth most of the businesses on the station opted for, astronomical. Harvey (No st name, he considered it a meaningless tie to the mundane of everyday existence and had told Diane he felt it gave him an air of mystery. Given that the company’s portfolio showed a picture of Harvey’s parents standing and smiling at the camera in front of their Santa Monica home on Earth, complete with full names and bio, Diane felt the ‘mystery’ was rather solved, but the man was so amusingly spastic she couldn’t find it in herself to be put off by his quirks.) had immediately decred it the best idea ever and poured far more money than Diane would have given him credit for from his appearance. He wore what she could only describe as ‘Tourist Chic’ with flip-flops, cargo shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt, even during the most serious of business deliberations, and had a grin that made you either confused because you didn’t get the joke or smiling yourself because you felt like you’d been let in on a secret.

  So far as Diane knew, Harvey wasn’t an S.A.I. or pyer, but given how...odd...he was, she wouldn’t have been surprised either way.

  Diane was quite pleased that the first of the new ships was nearly 75% completed when they got word from Benjamin that he’d be docking with some members of the family that day. He’d been mostly radio silent (apparently the T.I.A. had gotten lucky in trying to track him a couple times) and so waited until he was too close to the station for anyone to intercept the ship to send the message.

  Katrina rescheduled a few meetings and Diane managed to convince Leki to meet Benjamin with her at the dock, something the other Morvuck was rather amused by. As they waited for the docking cmps to secure the ship and the various post connection tasks to be completed, Diane found herself bouncing on her toes with her hands behind her back. Leki, standing at something resembling parade rest, quirked her eyebrow as a corner of her mouth lifted. “You really are far too bsé about this meeting. You should probably try to muster some enthusiasm for this.”

  Diane settled back down on her heels and rolled her eyes. “I’d tell you to cut the sarcasm but that might result in an unintended personality-ectomy. You’re 80% sass by weight.”

  Leki smirked, “And the other 20%?”

  Diane snorted, “According to Norma, breading and fry oil.” This took the older woman off guard, so Diane expined, “She made me try ‘dino-nuggies.’”

  Leki let out a quiet ugh and nodded in understanding, “She made me try them shortly after we opened the workshop for business and she used that nickname on me.”

  Norma had, indeed, persisted in the amusing nicknames, as well as everything else involved in who she’d been as the NPC Norma Grice, Mayor of Matron’s Aerie. Diane had pointed out the S.A.I. was, technically, a pyer at this point and could probably leave at any time and the game would simply make the operation of the station work and the lives of the NPCs would continue, but Norma had firmly shaken her head in the negative. “I don’t have any other home, and besides, this is a great pce to live! I may have been programmed to be hostile to you when you first got here, but you’ve really turned the pce where I grew up into a fantastic little town in space. I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon.”

  The status light above the airlock turned yellow and paused, the screen next to the door dispying a low-priority alert that appeared to be fairly minor. If it was important enough for her to interrupt her crew and do something about it, the crew would already be on top of fixing it anyway. Even as she had the thought, she saw one of the engineering techs hustling down the corridor to the bay, tool belt making cnking sounds as he hurried past.

  “You know,” said Leki, seemingly hesitantly, “Morvucks don’t really need to mate with other Morvucks these days. We’re surprisingly bio-compatible with many different species.”

  Diane turned to Leki in confusion, “...yeah? I mean, my girlfriend is human, and I’m sleeping with a Crotuk carrier on the regur.”

  There was a somewhat unidentifiable glimmer in Leki’s eye, but the other Morvuck was just so damn stoic Diane often didn’t see a punchline coming until it already nded. “I’m just saying,” the retired lieutenant continued, “That regardless of what you were taught on Earth, you’re not constrained to the traditional proliferator roles as perceived by human historians and anthropologists. They got a lot about us wrong, you know.”

  Diane was, by this point, thoroughly perplexed, “...I mean, Koar rants about it all the time, so yeah, I know.”

  Leki nodded, “That she does, and the both of us served in the military for several years and did tours both on Mortan and off. There were plenty of women who slept with the locals when they got the itch.”

  Diane felt her cheeks start to heat up the longer the conversation went on, “Again, Caitlynn, J’Jesi...even Norma’s been rather btantly hinting. What’s your point?”

  “Well, they’re all women.”

  “J’Jesi’s a carrier,” corrected Diane.

  Leki’s eyebrow quirked again, “A carrier who grew up among humans and uses she/her pronouns. You’re the equivalent of a male of the species from the human perspective and she’s got all the exterior bits to be conveniently lumped in with human females. She even acts like them to a rge degree.”

  Diane returned fire with her own quirked eyebrow and replied, “And I wear business suits and pump iron, things that are traditionally associated with manliness on Earth. I feel like you’re dancing around a point here.”

  The tech working on the port managed to clear the error and the process for completing docking procedures continued. The two women returned their eyes to the status screen and stood in silence for a few moments before Leki finally said, “I supposed I’m trying a little too hard to be circumspect.”

  Diane didn’t turn to look at Leki as she grunted in acknowledgement. She knew her friend would get to whatever point she was making soon.

  “If you wanted to sleep with this Benjamin person, it’s perfectly okay for you to do so,” said Leki levelly.

  Had Diane been drinking anything at that moment, the spit take would have cleared twenty feet. As it was she felt like she was choking on her own tongue, “WHAT?!” she managed to cough out, “No! That’s...” she turned and decked Leki in the arm. The other woman burst out ughing as she rubbed the spot Diane had hit. “Benjamin’s a dude! That’s...ew! No way!”

  Leki didn’t bother stifling her ugh, “You have been behaving as though you’ve got a crush on him. Even your scent is giving off hints.” Diane turned bright red at that and found that the square inch of space about ten feet in front of her eyes was suddenly very fascinating. Leki continued, “It’s not as...strong as when you’re with Caitlynn, but it is noticeable. Koar and I weren’t sure if you were aware of it, and obviously you weren’t.”

  Diane shivered, “No. Just...no. I am not attracted to men.” She bnched and made a face, complete with sticking out her tongue for emphasis, “Yuck!”

  Leki simply straightened her tunic and jacket and returned to her not-quite parade rest, giggling every so often.

  Diane frowned. As much humor as she derived from the situation, she knew Leki was likely as serious about the...’advice’ as she was about nearly everything. Had she been in the position of being the ‘elder sister’ and felt there was some sage wisdom that a younger sister would benefit from, she would likely have made a simir effort to dispense it. Still, the timing was atrocious. The docking procedures were nearly complete and the status light above the door flicked to green. If she’d waited any longer they’d have to have had that conversation with Benjamin in the waiting area with them.

  Though she supposed that if there were any merit to Leki’s observations of her behavior and Diane swung that way, it would actually have been good advice. Benjamin was objectively handsome. He was rugged, powerful, muscur in the way good genetics granted and consistently working out and taking care of his body honed to perfection. He had a practical sense of style that would no doubt turn quite a few heads and wore it well. While he eschewed frivolities, anything he did add to his wardrobe had a gorgeous efficiency to it. All the clothes he wore were clearly tailored, and he’d let slip that he did the work himself as he put in the work as an investment in himself. He was firm but gentle in his speech and mannerisms, and his hands were just as skilled with their martial ability as they were with the delicate workings of needle and thread. It wasn’t hard to imagine him wooing some woman he encountered, taking her on an adventure, waxing philosophical as they evaded the T.I.A. on a quest to reunite his family. He’d be the type to always make time for her, and his casual and well founded disregard for authority would mean he’d go to any lengths necessary to make her happy, then one night after they’d been on the run for a while, he’d finally give her just the smallest of pushes, signal to her that he was ready to take the next step as he ran his hand through her blond hair and...

  “GODDAMNIT, LEKI, NOW YOU’VE GOT ME THINKING OF IT!” she roared.

  Leki’s ughter rang off the walls as Diane chased her around the waiting area, fists swinging.

  Diane mentally scoffed at the idea that she might want to sleep with Benjamin once again as she waited for his thoughts. They were in the observation lounge where Diane liked to go when she had time to watch the ships that were under construction. She’d seen this particur ship just the day before, of course, but her being pleased with the progress of the ship he’d sent her the pns for was entirely different from him being happy with them. She imagined it was somewhat akin to a friend excitedly showing off a piece of art in progress. At the very least, the smile never left his face as he took in all the many and myriad details.

  Finally, he broke the suspense and his slight smile broke into a bright grin as he turned to her, “I gotta say, commander, you didn’t waste any time and it looks like you’re doing some very nice work.”

  She didn’t giggle in happiness, but it was, she’d admit, a very near thing. “Well, good! Because once the shakedown cruise is done,” she nodded in the direction of the ship nearly 90% completed in the drydock, “She’s yours.”

  She was pleased to note she seemed to take him by surprise. His eyes widened appreciably and his jaw bobbed a couple times before his grin returned with interest, “Magnanimous and kind! I’m not one to indulge in thoughts of random chance being attributed to nebulous concepts, but I’d say the universe smiled on me the day you intercepted my distress call.”

  More likely this is one of those ‘prestige missions’ Norma mentioned and I just happened to trigger the starting conditions, she thought. Not that she would have chosen to do any differently had she stumbled onto such a situation IRL, it was just the right thing to do. The Good Samaritan is one of the foundational parables of the pre-Second Coming church, and nothing The Second ever said or did has obviated that particur teaching. She did find it sad, however, that there were people in the world who needed to be specifically taught to do such a thing rather than to simply be kind to someone just because. To Benjamin she said, “I have, you need. It’s a simple equation. Even though you’re more than capable of securing ships and shipbuilding capability of your own, all I’m doing is building a fleet to have it.”

  He put a hand on her upper arm and squeezed affectionately, “Never sell yourself short, commander! You’re one of the gaxy’s predators, you’re born to lead and seize your pce in the universe! It’s simply who you are, it would be a tremendous disservice to yourself and your grand purpose to do pretend otherwise.”

  Diane blushed, “I’m just a station commander, one of the Lost. What sort of ‘grand purpose’ could I possibly have?”

  “Young dy,” Benjamin gently chided, the warm expression on his face one that she imagined she might get from an older brother or a mentor, “You’ve already pushed past the barriers your upbringing put in your way. You’ve exceeded what the humans who raised you can do, you’ve woven yourself into the fabric of this thing we call ‘life’ so indelibly that your name will be remembered for generations. But you must never forget that, at heart, you’re more than what you’ve been told you can be. You’re already earning your pce in history, but you didn’t do it by building fancy ships,” he gestured to the observation window, “Or running a city in space,” he gestured in the other direction, taking in the expanse of the station with a wave of his arm. “Remember, you only succeed in breaking out of the mold ‘they’ put you in by taking your pce in the cosmos. Use your kindness, use your charisma, use your teeth and cws and the guns of every ship you can build if you have to.”

  She couldn’t help but return his smile, “Teeth and cws, huh? Rip and tear?”

  He chuckled, “I think I remember what that means. I believe I say here, ‘Until it’s done’?”

  Her own smile morphed into a feral grin, “Against all the evil Hell can conjure.”

  “Alright, you bunch of outws and misfits,” said Benjamin loud enough to overpower the minor din in the conference room, “Settle down, I’d like to get started sometime before the machines rise again.” There were rounds of ughter at that, and Diane could infer it had something to do with the fact that in-game humanity hadn’t had another Singurity since the 22nd century.

  Diane found herself slightly intimidated by humans for the first time since entering the game. Her Morvuck form meant she was bigger, nastier, and stronger than just about anything most of humanity (in or out of the game) could muster against her short of long-range firearms, but these humans were specifically designed and bred to be stronger, faster, smarter...just all around better than anything else with the common human phenotype in their cells. They’d also trained from birth to be soldiers, warriors who could face the Crotuk (and, if push came to shove, the Morvuck) in battle. Diane was, at heart, a spy. She could take down any enemy with enough time and persistence. Thanks to her choice of species in the game, she could likely take on one or two of these powerhouses, but if all of them at once turned on her she’d likely be mincemeat.

  As several of them took their seats, one remained standing and Diane could practically see him puffing his chest up, “Ben, before anything else I think you need to expin why you’re letting this alien dictate terms.”

  She was, honestly, rather stunned. There’d been literally no signs in the game of racial strife or animosity beyond the general ‘those people,’ and usually having at least some justification. The Gaxy War would have turned opinions against those races that chose a particur side, as evidenced by J’Jesi believing she’d be kicked off the station because Diane’s fictional parents would have been killed by Crotuk warriors, but the outright hostility being broadcast by this member of Benjamin’s family wasn’t something she’d expected to deal with...had never had to deal with, frankly.

  Benjamin gave her a look loaded with meaning. It wasn’t conciliatory, though it did have an apologetic note. There was an undercurrent of…something, “You’ll have to forgive Kory, he always did manage to fail every etiquette lesson in training.” He tilted his head meaningfully in the apparent Kory’s direction and his eyes took a flinty cast, “He seems to only respond to more direct methods.”

  Diane turned to Kory, eyes sweeping the room as she did. Nearly everybody was tensed in anticipation, but none of the people observing the interaction seemed like they were going to intervene either way. Kory, himself, was almost vibrating. Not with anger or rage, but anticipation. Mentally reviewing everything she’d passively observed about him since he deboarded at the dock, she realized he’d never once expressed any anti-alien sentiment, but he’d been studying her and the people around her, assessing everything he saw. Up until the point she’d left the group in Katrina’s holographic hands and taken Benjamin to the observation deck, he’d been calcuting, wary of saying anything out of turn...until now.

  Why now? What changed? She gnced around the room again, falling back on her training again to observe the interactions of the family. She realized she saw small clusters. A grouping of three here, a pairing off there, and eyes darting between each other as though assessing something. Mentally calcuting.

  It was when she realized that one of the women was somewhat separated from the group that the penny dropped. She was near Benjamin, almost at all times. But she was never near anyone else unless there was a specific conversation happening. She had, in fact, been hovering off Benjamin’s hip from the moment Diane saw them as they left their ship...and always on the opposite of whichever side most of the family was on.

  It was pack dynamics.

  The woman was...like Benjamin’s mate. If he was the leader (‘Alpha,’ while appropriate as a bel in a pack of the nature she was observing, was a term associated with a debunked study from the 20th century about pack structure), then any mate, especially one who was weaker than the rest of the pack, would lean on him for protection. She was, for ck of a better term, the pack’s ‘omega,’ the least desirable.

  The more Diane pursued the thought, the more it made sense. The woman was objectively the least powerful, least capable person in the room. Not that she was weak or disabled, but if Diane were to guess, the woman wasn’t even actually part of the family, which would mean that she wouldn’t have been genetically engineered and bred as a soldier, wouldn’t have been trained from birth with the rest, and whatever vector brought them into their little ‘pack’ would have meant she was always going to be an outsider. That she even made it into the family at all, let alone managed to hold her own without any real support from the rest spoke volumes about exactly how capable she was.

  The rest were clearly in clusters that best befitted their pce in the pack structure. A hierarchy was visible if one knew where to look, but unlike the rigidly defined roles of the debunked theory, the hierarchy was being settled on the fly, the positions of individuals being determined by body nguage, outward confidence, a variety of microexpressions, and other subtle cues.

  Kory, then, would be the Defender. Subservient only to Benjamin, ready to square up with any threat to the pack no matter how big a grizzly bear he’d wind up pissing off. The ‘alien’ comment may be sincere on his part, but he’d never have uttered it without Benjamin’s approval, and Benjamin had been entirely accepting of Diane and every ‘alien’ on the station.

  Kory was testing her.

  Well, she thought, Time to pass the test.

  She smiled at the man, who was surprisingly just as tall as she was, “Kory, was it?” The corner of his mustachioed mouth twitched up and he opened his mouth to say something. Whatever it was, she didn’t give him a chance to actually speak it. She stepped up to him so fast that it was only his enhanced reflexes that allowed him to even begin to catch her wrist as she grabbed the colr of his shirt. She heaved him upwards, an easy task given how much weight she could handle in the game, and levered his body back before smming him into the deck hard enough that it forced the muscles in his back to spasm and cramp from the traumatic impact. With her free hand she grabbed the hand holding her wrist and repeatedly smmed it into the floor until she heard something break, then extended her cws and held them up to his eyes. She had moved so quickly that by the time the tips of her cws were brushing against his lower eyelids he was only just beginning to register pain.

  She let her fangs drop and her facial muscles pull her cheeks into the predatory grin that she’d st used on the svers, “Understand this, Kory; this station is mine. The ships that this station builds and restocks the weapons for are mine. The people on this station are mine to protect. If you have a problem with that...I’d offer you the door, but the nearest one off the station is an airlock that leads to vacuum. You’re welcome to try your luck with it, though.”

  There was a tiny, fractional moment where Kory was actually a little afraid, but that almost immediately got pushed aside by grudging respect. He nodded, saying nothing as his body started to react in shock from what Diane had just done to him.

  Now to see if I just earned my pce in the pack...or if I fucked up royally, she thought as she released Kory and stood.

  To her relief, the rest of the family began chuckling, their postures rexing and their body nguage screaming that they approved of what they had just observed. Benjamin was giving her that smile that told her he approved of what she’d done. The woman Diane had identified as the ‘omega’ was joining in with the ughing, but only a breath ter, like she wasn’t at first sure how she was supposed to respond but was taking cues from the rest.

  Diane pulled out her mini-tab and called to the infirmary, “Send a doctor to conference room gamma with a bone regen kit, please. Minor fracture, but bring a scanner just in case.”

  Kory bristled as he got to his feet, “I don’t need a doctor…”

  She gred at him, “I broke something in your hand. Don’t be a macho idiot, sit down, and let the doctor work on you.”

  Kory frowned and sat, nodding reluctantly.

  Diane turned a conspiratorial smile to Benjamin, who gave her a subtle wink. Looks like I passed, she thought.

  PrincessColumbia