Gardening, Engineering, Engaging

Rye’s reaction to the news of the short range engine was more or less what Dustin had expected. A brief exclamation that it wasn’t possible, before she scratched behind her ears and asked to see the schematics. She’d then taken a ten second glance at the files he’d been given to share with her - a whole mess of math and blueprints he didn’t understand - before she’d started muttering and run off in search of Meli. The two had been locked in engineering ever since, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what they were getting up to now he’d given his bunny girl a direction to run in towards new technology.

The pair were still missing at dinner time; Naera frowned when everyone else finished eating before retrieving takeaway containers from the automat and stomping off in the direction of engineering with a determined look on her face. “Our chef seems quite intent on insuring that we are all well fed at all times” Bleu mused, scanning medical records idly with one hand before tapping a file to see further details. “Hmpf. Your General Axworth’s not a complete incompetent, Dustin. Whoever he has running his healthcare team has taken the time to flag even the smallest issues.” Closing the file with a flick of her finger, she looked up. “No problems with any of the new pilots. Some of the ground crew have minor health concerns - nothing we can’t resolve in a month or two of treatments at most as long as you don’t insist on sticking to your government’s weird proscription on medsprays and advanced treatments for common ailments.”

Dustin shook his head in reply, managing to add “go for it, once we’re in orbit you can heal everyone up” before Trea’k interjected with her own thoughts on Naera. “With regards to our newest partner, Bleu, you should be aware that while she has confidence in her culinary technique she also has a lot of self doubt about her worth as an officer on this ship. She still harbours emotions linked to the fact that she is here by chance rather than diplomatic negotiation, despite my best efforts. The issue is not her as much as the fact that the rest of us are overqualified - Rye and yourself for example were both prodigies picked by your governments despite your unusual personalities.”

Bleu looked about to interrupt, but the insect woman gave her a firm stare and she hesitated. “You are a prodigy, you know. I am aware the others might not have looked into things beyond the fact that you were selected by the Queri medical board - but I did. You have multiple papers on multi-species medicine published and while I don’t understand everything in them, being an Envoy gave me access to enough genetic memories to at least get the gist of most of them. On which note - as a Envoy, I am effectively a specialized form of Queen caste; thus both Emely and myself are royalty. Yril’k is basically a royal guard in Naera’s eyes. And Meli was both hand picked by Dustin and is a relative of the Velcan ambassador to his homeworld.”

The medic sighed and waved her hand to forestall any further reiteration of the point. “I get it, Trea’k. Naera’s worried because she thinks we’re special and she’s not, which is quite possibly the most stupid thing she could possibly think. Irritatingly adorable little solid that she is, what do we do about it?” Dustin interjected at that point, because the answer was easy to see even for him. “Eat the food, turn up on time to meals instead of hiding in your departments, and show her how much we all appreciate her. Which is easier for me than you…” At that, he stood and stretched. “Are you going somewhere, my mate? Would you like one of us to accompany you?” Trea’k’s question was made idly, the Vex’ess having turned her attention back to her own tablet the instant he’d taken over the discussion.

“No need; I’m going to go check in on the others - I know Emely ran off for the garden as soon as we finished dinner, something about wanting to get those beds she’s been working on ready for planting now we can get access to more Earth flora so that’ll be a quick stop, and then I’m going to go to engineering and get the others to take a break even if I have to drag Rye out by her ears. Which will be a challenge, because in order to help Naera feel like she belongs I’m going to be carrying her back at the same time.” Trea’k inclined her head, and Bleu snorted at that. “Fine by me, but you’re on your own if you get either of them riled up by doing that. I didn’t rebuild this form after earlier just to lose the ability to hold it again at bedtime - one orgy a day is plenty for me.”

Dustin took the back route down to the garden after that comment - he didn’t think it a good idea to run into junior officers while his cheeks were flaming at the recollection of his morning’s activities. He’d just managed to get the blush under control when he entered the garden - at which point a not-insignificant amount of his blood rushed somewhere else. Emely was working, true to her word, busy with bags of soil and various garden tools as she filled and prepared the stepped series of beds she’d designed around a low seating area. The overall effect when they were fully planted would be a lovely, calming and mostly edible (at least on the lower tiers) array of plants forming an isolated place where people could reflect on their day.

Two things caused Dustin to find himself stiffening as he watched her, sweat causing the parts of her without fur to glisten in the light while her red fur itself was tinted a grey-brown by the dust and dirt of her exertions. The first was that she was wearing comparatively little due to the work she was doing - just a sports bra and shorts to avoid overheating, which when she kept bending over framed her ass wonderfully with her tails giving just enough coverage to make glances of her rear all that more enticing. The second was a conversation she’d had with him and Rye when they’d been sketching out the designs for the area - the result of which being that he knew there were tuned sound-dampeners and motors in that section of the garden that would allow access into the central area to be shut off and the hidden space thus created to be made soundproof.

Emely had asked for it officially to allow for private discussions, but as the three of them had been naked at the time and she’d been gently teasing the Rabyth, Dustin was pretty sure that was just code for outdoor sex. He was somewhat hesitant about the idea until Rye had shown him the schematics she’d worked up. When complete, it would work wonderfully - a little pleasure garden in the middle of the wider park. In any case, for now he just busied himself with trying to not get a hard-on as he knew if he did Emely would insist he help with the preparing of the beds with him using her in place of a hoe. A quick check in, with the Feliax promising to make her way back to the ambassadorial suite before it got too late so that they could all spend some time together before sleep, and then he left her to her work.

The doors to engineering were sealed when he arrived, the glow of the red light atop them showing that Rye had put the department into lockdown. However, Dustin was the captain - and also the bunny girl’s lover. He whistled a couple of tunes experimentally in case her usual overrides would work - when that didn’t achieve anything, he decided to brute **** the situation and tapped a nearby console. “Sola, open bulkhead control fifteen-alpha-one” A panel to the side of the door slid back from the wall; reaching in, he grabbed the lever and pulled. “Right, that should disable Rye’s little tinkering. Sola, open the bulkhead please. Captain’s override.”

Red light flickering off, the engineering bulkhead door unlocked; as it slid open Dustin reactivated the extra security Rye had built in and closed the panel. That whole trick wasn’t a security risk - Sola would only unlock that way for two people, the other of whom was currently standing over what looked suspiciously like a half-built weave-engine. Meli was stood beside Rye, while Naera was lounging on a mat nearby gazing up at the engineer with an expression that suggested she’d quite like to be the one Rye had her fingers deftly tinkering inside rather than the hunk of metal and plastic on the workbench.

“You sure on those calculations, nerd? No, forget I asked. Thirty-two point seven was it? Right.” Rye was talking to Meli, who appeared to be acting as assistant as Dustin entered the room. Without glancing up, or interrupting her flow with the other woman, the bunny girl spoke to him. “Expect you’re here to drag us to bed in the non-sexy kind of way. Nae-nae suggested you might. We’re nearly done, just need to… was it the third hyper-thermic chamber they’d rigged to the capacitor bank or the fourth Meli? It was the third? Good, cos I don’t have enough shielded flux lines in here to reach the fourth right now.” Letting the women work for a bit, Dustin curled up behind Naera, pulling the shortstack in for a hug.

“How long have they been at this?” he murmured as the plant woman snuggled into his embrace. “They were at it when I brought their meals; Meli at least mostly stopped for hers. Rye…” She blushed, then continued “Rye said she was busy but couldn’t bare to not taste my cooking and asked if I’d mind feeding her so she could keep working.” Dustin raised an eyebrow at that; Naera smiled. “I didn’t mind; it was kinda… romantic, helping her while she worked. Plus, she did pause to lift me up and sit me next to where she was working. I could have scrambled up there on my own but…”

The shortstack’s love of being manhandled aside, Dustin was glad that she’d ensured the other two had eaten. He was also about seventy, maybe eighty percent sure that Rye had only asked to be fed out of some desire to get closer to the Caenii - he’d noticed that while play wise she might appreciate Trea’k’s bondage skills the most out of all the other women, the bunny girl certainly was emotionally closest to the more submissive parts of his harem.

With a sigh, Rye tightened up one final fastening and backed away from the unit. “That’ll have to do for today if Dusty wants us to take a break. We’re about sixty percent to having a working model; I can see what they’ve done a bit better now and it’s properly crazy. Didn’t know you humans had it in ya, Dusty. Gimmie a month and I’ll have it purring twice as fast and three times as far tho. There’s already bits I can see that make my hands itch to try and fix.” Dustin remembered Trea’k’s comment that Rye was a prodigy and grinned to himself, before standing. Bending back down and without giving her time to realize what was happening, he resumed his hug and rose once more, this time lifting Naera up into the air. As the green-skinned woman wrapped her arms around his neck and made appreciative noises, he indicated towards the door with one foot. “Right, well in that case shall we go? The others should be waiting back in the ready room, and I’d like to spend some time as a group before bed.”

They arrived back to Dustin’s quarters to find that the others had indeed all already gathered; Emely had also apparently taken a shower judging by the way her fur was damped down and no longer coated in a dusting of soil. Setting Naera down gently, Dustin sank into his own chair - only to be pulled upright a moment later by Meli. “What’s up?” he asked his fiancé, somewhat worried by the suddenness of the action so soon after they’d arrived and by the strange look on her face. “Li’ah’a…” she hesitated, then glanced around. “Yril’k, apologies, would you mind leaving us for a moment?” The insect woman had been idly toying with a plate of fruit, but nodded instantly. “I will be outside’k. I will ensure no interruptions’k for you Meli’a. Call me when’k you are done.” Dustin’s nerves spiked at that point - what on Earth could be going on, and how did his chief of security know enough about it already to act without any further questioning?