Answers to comments and general update - 2/4/2025

Hi everyone, Tabbycat here!

At this point (2/4/25) we are getting very close to meeting our third haremette - and with it, the end of the prelude. With Engineering, Science and Comms all at least somewhat staffed, the ship has enough crew for the start of the first of that whole “what lurks in the darkness” thing from the story description to be introduced. Don’t worry though - Dustin and co still have a lot more senior staff to recruit on the way through the next act / season.

So, why this post? Well, three reasons:

1) To say thank you.

I’m constantly amazed by all the love this story’s getting, thank you so much once again for the likes and favorites and stuff. Genuinely makes me smile every day

2) To explain something about how I write

Spelling.

I’m English, but I am terminally online and as such my spelling is somewhat erratic between American and UK English spellings. Do I spell check? Yes. Does it depend on whether I’m using my writing software or web browser as to which language it uses? Also yes. Could I decide to use one over the other and proof-read it / **** a dictionary? Yes. Will I? No. I like the way words feel with the different spellings, don’t ask me why :P

3) To answer questions etc from the comments.

I’m gonna group these by person rather than topic - hope that’s ok!

Ayyar - Hoping at some point soon the contraceptive spray will be unnecessary.

Not for a long time - but rest assured it *will* happen at some point, when it makes sense for the story. While this is a sci-fi story and I do a lot of handwaving with regards to tech, biology and other science, I want realistic behavior as best as I can write from my characters. Dustin’s only been with Meli for a few months by this point, Rye even less and mentally he’s a responsible guy who’s only just getting his life together. I.e. he’s not exactly planning on breeding a crew from scratch!

Bruhxbrihxbruh - Just starting but this Weave concept is so good already!

Thanks! It’s based loosely on FTL travel in both the Stars Without Number TTRPG and Andromeda by Roddenberry of Star Trek fame, but with a few of my own ideas woven (pun intended) in.

Elrompeortos2000 - Congratulations on your first story man, i Know how hard it is the first but enjoy the ride you are doing great;)

Thank you! The ride has been awesome so far :D

Kougyoku - Looking forward to more, I'm reading it as soon as it comes out!

Kougyoku - Damn this story is so good already!

Thanks! Yours is one of the branches of Monster Girl Sponsor I’ve been keeping an eye on from time to time - I love the amount of care your characters have for each other!

novohydor - Thats incredible, i hope that means that if the story grows there could be sonething like a discord server

novohydor - I started crying from laughter because of the plumbing and food delivery

novohydor - I love this story

Thanks! I grew up reading Pratchett and watching Blackadder, so the art of clever puns and allusions is something I’ve tried to cultivate from a young age. I’m not sure about Discord right now; I’m looking into a few things including Patreon (my best writing is fueled by an expensive green tea habit :P) but I’ll make sure it’s obvious once I get things organised.

UnknownZ - @winterwhereof fan spotted

Guilty as charged. Seriously, Winter writes amazing character interactions and slow-burn plot arcs. Easily one of the best smut authors I’ve read.

Zeraligator - "there was no way an asteroid with that many guns had only had a single occupant. " Surely the reasoning should be 'no way it was automated' or 'who knows if they might've had prisoners/hostages'?

I agree, but the intent there was that this was Dustin mostly talking to himself. He was upset at causing deaths (see below) and was also trying not to think too hard about the possibility of the ‘roid having non-pirates aboard.

Zeraligator - What's with the '**** in to crime by their situation' thing? They are attacking a diplomatic vessel on an established trade route, fuck 'em.

It’s more that Dustin’s the one responsible for the ****. Essentially, he’s had 3 months of training most of which was “how not to fuck up meeting an alien” or “how not to look like an idiot when talking to the press” with only a few basic combat training lessons just to be safe. He’s *NOT* had the military “here’s how to mentally handle killing someone” break-you-down-and-rebuild-you basic training that as I understand it most armies put their troops through, so it’s a BIG deal to him to take life, even if (and I agree with your comment) they’re scum and fuck ‘em.

Zeraligator - I assume impregnation/pregnancy will play a role eventually?

Eventually - as I suggested above, it’ll happen when it happens. I can promise that it *will* happen “on screen” though; my personal preference is show not tell in this case as I personally dislike stories that handwave away characters getting bred; it’s a wasted chance for a scene that can have a tremendous amount of intimacy and passion - or spontaneity and accident. And in this story, the impact of the crew being preggers is obviously pretty major as they’re senior staff!

Zeraligator - Kinda obvious that the Feliax were the next step, they got a somewhat lengthy description where the Shynix got nothing and the Thossa got 'eww, slugs'.

Yea, in hindsight I should have developed the others a little more. Lesson learned for the next time they’re picking aliens to visit!

Zeraligator - Mineral and artificial aliens? Intruiging.

Zeraligator - Not sure if the mention of the Harkness test implies more 'adventurously shaped' aliens or the opposite.

Why not both.jpg? Seriously however - the two (soon to be three) girls we’ve met are basically humans with added weird, I’m in the middle of planning a couple that are a little more unique - no, I’m not going to spoiler it by letting you know if they’re mineral/artificial or non-human-shaped. Or both! The main thing to note is that I need to do way, WAY more planning for anyone that’s from a species that’s not just “human with xyz slight differences” - in terms of both what they can do, and where the attraction is for Dusty.

Zeraligator - No content tags?

Oops. First time writer, has now been fixed, thanks for prompting me all the way back then, appreciate it!