A perfect ten

A quick hydration break was the only relief Dustin would get that night, despite his lovebug’s tender words. While Trea’k was helping him to drink bottled water in his bound state Rye had walked in, giggled about a Dusty burrito, and made out with Trea’k with a passion that got Dustin’s cock half-risen even before the bunny girl dropped her head into his lap. From there, she had then provided Trea’k with the service that only Rabyth saliva could manage before leaving them to it with a cheeky grin on her way out.

The net result of all that was that Dustin awoke the next day still bound in slowly unravelling webbing, a warm satisfied feeling in his body and a drained ache coming from his cock and balls. He’d had orgies before, sure, but never had all of his women - let alone one - been so focused on getting him to spill his seed as quickly and often as possible. Trea’k had been apologetic but unrepentant when she’d untied him, the predatory and possessive gaze with which she’d presided over their intense intimacy replaced with her normal caring softness.

Meli was waiting for them when they entered the ready room; she didn’t ask any questions, merely raising an eyebrow, at which Trea’k gave an affirming nod. The Velca woman smiled, then gestured for Trea’k to come and hug her. “I am glad that my child will not have to wait long to meet it’s first sibling, then.” Meli said as they broke the hug, smiling and resting one hand on her stomach. “Can you tell how long yours will be?”

Trea’k shook her head. “I can control when and how long my eggs gestate for, but for the sharing of DNA with my mate, it reflects more on their species. I will speak with the doctor later to see if we can ascertain how long we are likely to be waiting and if there is any additional actions I need to take…”

At that point, the door slid open and the rest of the senior staff stepped in. Bleu glanced at the women's body language along with Dustin’s confused expression and snorted. “You’re chatting with Meli about it, but you haven’t told Dustin you’re pregnant already, have you treacle? See, this is why I warned you to take a day off between the hypospray and the breeding, you’ll be prone to being forgetful about important stuff. Humans don’t have a natural understanding of how well Vex’ess queens can control their own reproductive organs.”

Dustin’s jaw hung open as he looked around at the three women; Meli’s gentle smile, Bleu’s clinical frustration and Trea’k’s face creasing into a look of apologetic concern even as her chair was moved over by Emely and Rye so that she could sit next to Meli, the better for the rest of the assembled ladies to fawn over their two impregnated harem-mates.

“How can she know so quickly?” Dustin asked Bleu, his eyes wide as he watched Naera showering both women with kisses before getting pulled into a celebratory make-out session with Emely. The doctor rolled her eyes and gestured vaguely in the insect woman’s direction. “She’s a Vex’ess queen, Dustin. Well, at least, the base template for Envoy is a Queen. They have pretty impressive abilities to control their own reproductive cycle; out of all the women on board, she’s the only one besides me - and Defia of course - who technically doesn’t need any birth control to deal with you humans and your stupid reproductive compatibility if she wanted to. She’s an Envoy though, so unlike me and the Fractal her body’s preferred level of fertility is ‘YES’, hence why she had the contraceptive. Of course she’ll know when she’s pregnant.”

The azure woman frowned then, pulling out a hand scanner from her hip-holster and tweaking a few of the settings. Pointing it in the direction of the others, she nodded to herself. “I can fine tune the exact date once I get her to the lab, but it looks like her species is going to take less time to reach full term than Meli’s. Not by much - but enough that the head start Meli has is the only thing that’s going to let her give birth first. If I were you, I’d have a chat with Rye about getting that nursery finished in about another ten months time.”

Dustin frowned at that. “Ten months? But Meli’s already been pregnant for at least a month, month and a half and human babies are born…” Bleu raised a hand and sighed. “In nine months. Yes, I know” she began to explain; her words delving into a range of medical jargon that Dustin didn’t understand before she simplified. “Which means that hybrid children can have very varied gestation periods. Honestly, I’m surprised Meli is going to be ready to pop that quickly; Velca gestation is normally around sixteen to eighteen months. Having a child in under twelve is going to put a load on her system, which before you panic is why she and I are talking regularly and I’ve asked Naera to include some supplements in her dietary intake.”

The slime woman’s gaze at the others was warm, before she caught Dustin looking at her and shook her head rapidly. “Oh no. Two pregnant women at a time is enough for any harem, and besides which it’ll be either Rye or Emely’s turn next. Do not ask why, that’s girl talk to which you are not invited beyond saying yes or no when the woman in question asks you. Leaving that aside, I am far too busy with my career right now, so please stop thinking what you are currently thinking and get over there and hug your wife and mate, lover.”

Dustin opted to do as Bleu suggested, with the slight addition of not pausing to let Naera move away from between the others so that she gave an adorable squeak with her head pressed between two sizable sets of breasts as Dustin’s arms wrapped around the three women. “So, I guess we should start thinking about names, huh? Bleu says we’ve only got about ten months…” he said, leaning in to kiss both of them one after the other. The Caenii short-stack managed to wriggle free at that point, breathing hard as she scrambled for the automat and drinks for everyone.

The group didn’t manage to come to any conclusions as to names; Trea’k found the whole idea adorable as apparently offspring of Envoys were not normally named until they matured enough for their personalities to become apparent, while Meli was holding out for naming their child after one of their parents - she just couldn’t decide on which one. With the immediate matters attended to, and after Dustin gave a very apologetic request to not get jumped by anyone else for the rest of that day - causing Trea’k to get a lot of side-eye from some of the other harem members before they literally kissed and made up - the crew settled around the table, drinks in hand to plan their next moves.

Thanks to the information Defia had got them, forward plans could now be made - the rogue Fractal joining the group shortly after the meeting had started and causing another round of embarrassment by taking one look at Trea’k, turning to Dustin and saying “Statement. Should this additional unit production be celebrated as well?”. When the blushing Trea’k had given the opinion that she didn’t wish to steal Meli’s thunder but that celebration would be nice, the Fractal had responded by wrestling with the automat for a moment before turning and popping a single party-popper over the stunned Vex’ess woman’s head.

“Statement. I have been reviewing human expressions of emotion, and this was often used in times of celebration.” The red-eyed woman said by way of explanation. Everyone else just looked between the two of them - Defia standing still with the used popper in hand, and Trea’k with a confetti streak dripped over her face like the world’s oddest hair accessory - before starting to laugh. Dustin did his best to explain their reasons for laughing to the curious alien, but wasn’t entirely sure she got what was funny about her attempt to match human celebrations and emotions.

Once that matter was resolved - or at least, put on the back burner, talk returned to their next steps. Defia had sketched out the general deployment of Fractal forces in the nearby systems, which lead to the question of what they should do. There were two real options - exploration or engagement. To go up against the Fractal military, there were a number of weakly defended systems they could target that would allow them to hamper further expansion by the cluster. On the other hand, there were a range of worlds that Sammie was sure they could reach but that had not yet had any Fractal contact.

The crew had been puzzled by that, until Defia had explained that one of the reasons the fractals gathered biomass was to provide them with access to new routes through the weave. What the synthetic life could not do, a human pilot could, and finding new species in or close to Fractal space would make for a great staging point for the coming conflict. Either option - war or first contact - would be equally valid, so the crew ultimately left it up to Dustin to decide. As for Dustin himself, he put all their information and the options they had available into a data packet and sent it across to Axworth on Earth. Both missions seemed equally useful, and letting the bureaucrats decide this one should give him a little grace to continue to do his own thing elsewhere.

It was some time later, while Dustin was stood in the observation lounge staring at the planet below and waiting for a response from Star Command that Aricia came to stand next to him, the Lievira woman’s wings moving gently in the quiet of the room. “We will be leaving for the stars, soon?” She said softly, staring down at the blue and green ball that had once been her home.

Dustin nodded, his eyes flicking from the planet to the distant sparkles in the night sky. “Yea. As soon as my people decide which star is best for us to visit next. Neither I nor the crew can decide on which path to take from the ones we’ve found.”

The butterfly woman nodded softly, her arms wrapping around herself against the chill of the room. “I have an appointment with the… with Trea’k, later today. She tells me it will help me to settle on board the ship to have this discussion soon and has asked me to bring a pho tho grath of my room with me; I do not know what she means, so thought I would ask you for assistance.”

Trying to stifle a giggle at her odd pronunciation even through a translator, Dustin did his best to explain what Trea’k had meant, then showed Aricia how to take still images using a tablet - before eventually opting to just go with her to help her take the image to make sure that she didn’t run into any further difficulties. Once she saw the still picture of the room, the butterfly woman was transfixed, asking Dustin to help her take pictures of many other things before at last returning to the observation gallery and taking a photo of the planet beneath them on her own. She thus arrived at the counselling suite ten minutes late - but holding a tablet stuffed with images and a smile on her face.