Outrage

Dustin rested his head in his hands and listened to the argument going on around him. His entire harem had more or less divided into two distinct camps the instant he had returned to Sola with Meli and Emely. Jaisyl was… packing. After a long discussion with her parents, Dustin had managed to at least get an agreement that there would be no need to consummate the marriage. She could just join them on Sola for a year or so, and then once the Tho’unn fleets were engaged in the fight against the Durathisians, the uptight princess could be quietly dropped back home.

It was that or miss out on four species joining their new council, four species moreover that had one of the shrewdest information and spy networks in the galaxy at their fingertips. Theodisus had shared a few titbits to prove his point, and Dustin knew that if he relayed anything other than acceptance of the deal back to Earth, Star Command would lose their minds regardless of his personal feelings on the topic.

The women in his life had been another matter entirely. Two groups had formed… no, he corrected himself as Naera handed him a plate of biscuits before curling into his lap to rest her head affectionately against his chest, three groups. The plant woman was sitting this one out for some reason he hadn’t yet grasped, as was Rye as far as he could tell.

Yaerwen, on the other hand was very visibly irritated. “Bloody typical of the Tho’unn. Just because they’ve run the empire for years they think they should run everything,” she muttered, glowering from where she sat on one side of the room. Her presence in the anti-Jaisyl faction Dustin had expected; they were from a connected culture, she would always have felt the addition more keenly especially as she had just joined the harem herself.

Meli being the pragmatist sitting opposite the amber-haired woman made sense as well. His wife might be a little more possessive of his time especially since her pregnancy started, but she was also the most logically minded of his lovers.

It was all the others that had surprised Dustin. Emely had joined Yaerwen along with Sammie and Defia, while Aricia, Trea’k and Bleu joined Meli. The flighty Lieviran being okay with Jaisyl’s newfound status came as something of a shock - but not as much as Sammie being almost as vehement about her disapproval as Yaerwen, or Emely actively working against him gaining a new lover. Rye meanwhile had listened to both of the women’s thoughts on the matter, thrown her arms in the air, and then stomped off to engineering muttering about it being someone else’s problem while she needed to go and tune the reactors.

The argument didn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing, so Dustin decided to leave the women to it and go and see his bunny girl. Naera initially protested as he went to rise, so he simplified the matter by picking her up and heading for the door, the green-skinned woman letting out a whimper before wrapping her arms around his neck. Right, she had a thing for being carried. Oh well, he wasn’t in any hurry, and he could always pause the turbolift between floors…

Dustin and Naera walked into engineering some time later, the plant woman still adjusting her top back into place. Rye glanced up from where she was staring at a diagram with one of her subordinates and grinned, crossing the floor to them before she spoke. “Nae-nae, what brings you and Dusty down to my greasy abode? I’d say ya wanted to spend some time hanging around with me, but Treacle’s busy and from the looks of things ya already got that covered. What can I do for ya?”

The Caenii rolled her eyes. “You’re a menace, bun-bun,” she said, then paused to grin at the grimace on Rye’s face at the rapidly spreading nickname. “Dusty wanted to see you, and I didn’t want to let him go, and so he more or less carried me down here.”

Rye leaned down and kissed the other woman tenderly on the lips before pulling back and nodding. “Alright. So, Dusty, what do ya need?”

Dustin was smiling at the casual affection between the two, and pulled Rye in for a kiss of his own before he replied - much to the amusement of the engineering staff nearby. “I wanted to know your thoughts on the whole Jaisyl business. And also to escape before the others turned my ready-room into a battleground.”

The bunny girl winced at his question, then stretched. “Fair enough. This way then, got a lil’ office made up now for important conversations I don’t want everyone hearing.” She glared at one or two of the closer engineers before leading the way through the heat of the bay to a rather unstable looking shack that appeared to have been made out of old shipping containers and hope.

Once inside however, Dustin found himself in a disorganized but comfortable looking office. The air dropped noticeably in temperature as Rye shut the door, fans on one wall whining as they worked to cool the space down. “Okay, this room is soundproofed - it’s not anti-snoop the way your ready room is, but it’ll keep any nosy crew from listening in. Also, the air is cycled past one of the cooling lines for reactor three when we’re not powering the big gun, which keeps it nice and frosty in here. Sit down, both of ya.” She gestured to a mismatched pair of seats, into which the others settled.

Perching on the edge of the desk that took up most of the remaining space in the room, Rye flicked her eyes between them for a moment before sighing. “My thoughts on the possible new girl? Dunno about her personally, but the way it happened is bachrana-dung. I accept your decision, Dusty. And umm… I removed myself from the discussion for a reason.”

Dustin gestured for her to continue, at which point Rye groaned. “You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t ya? Fine. I took myself out of there because this whole topic is hooking into some stuff I was already trying to work my head around. Ya know how I said I was kinda jealous of Meli and Trea’k back on that sand planet? And when I said I had too much to do to for us to be… y’kno? Well, my workload’s dyin’ down now, and ever since Emmz got pregnant as well I’ve been turning it over in my head and…”

Stepping forward, Dustin pulled her into a hug, kissing the golden-haired woman’s forehead softly. “I understand perfectly love, you don’t need to say any more.” He held her a moment longer, and when he spoke again his voice was thick with emotion. “Consider yourself removed from worrying about the Jaisyl situation. Naera, can you make sure the others know not to pester her to try and get her to agree with them either way? Unless you don’t want them knowing about your thoughts, Rye?”

The bunny girl pulled back slightly from the hug and shook her head. “Naa, I’m fine with them knowing. Sammie kinda already knows anyway - that woman’s a great sounding board over a bottle of booze, even if it does nothing to me. I’m still not decided right now but… I’ll let you know? When I’m sure?”

Dustin nodded, tilting the Rabyth woman’s chin up so that he could kiss her properly. “Of course. And when you are sure, if you want it… I doubt there’s any woman who shares our bed that’d try and get in the way, just like everyone cleared time for Emely. I do want you to speak with Bleu first though. With three data points now, she should be able to figure out how long any pregnancy would likely take before we get started, which would be handy for a whole host of reasons.”

Returning to the ready-room a little while later, Dustin found the other women still arguing. As Naera drifted around the group however, that argument calmed - her soft whispers as she shared Rye’s mental turmoil cutting through the debate and stilling tempers like oil on water. It was impressive how quickly they put their arguments aside out of consideration for one of their number, and when Naera eventually climbed back into Dustin’s lap calm had once more settled over the room.

Taking a deep breath, Dustin glanced around at his lovers. “This is less than ideal. But I have no intent of sleeping with Jaisyl unless she wants to and unless she has got your approval, the same as any other lover joining our bed. I will not be married purely for political gain.” That, at least, seemed to smooth things somewhat, or so Dustin hoped. He was not completely correct.

The curveball came later that evening. As Dustin and the others drifted into the ambassadorial bedchamber Sammie caught him by the wrist and dragged him back into the ready-room, away from where his women were largely pairing up or padding off to their own personal corners of the massive mattress.

“Captain, I…” the pilot began, her eyes worn with the emotions she’d been dealing with all day. Hesitating, she tugged him to the side of the open wall and pressed him backwards until his shoulders hit the door to his bedroom, kissing him hard as she did so.

Boldness on the dark-skinned woman’s part was hardly new - Dustin took it to mean she wanted some alone time before bed, and began to fumble for the lock before her hand found his wrist again and stopped him. Breaking the kiss, Sammie gazed at him with indecipherable eyes before nodded to herself. “Dustin, I need you to do something for me.” She let go of his hands, before turning and grabbing her tablet from where she’d left it on the table, rummaging through her files as she returned to him.

Dustin frowned. “What do you need?” he asked, before a form was suddenly thrust under his nose by way of reply.

“I need you to promise me that before you consummate anything with this new Jaisyl woman, you sign this request for us to be wed. I will not lose you to some new harlot jumping the queue. Not now, not when I’ve finally let myself love you fully…” Liquid dripped onto the tablet where Dustin was staring at it, and with a start he realized Sammie was crying. Taking the device from her, he scribbled his signature on the request form as quickly as he could before handing the tablet back and wrapping the dark-skinned woman in his arms. “That was a really shitty proposal, love. And I mean a REALLY shitty proposal. But of course I’ll marry you. Get Emely to priority one that form back to EarthGov in the morning, and we can start planning a ceremony with the others.”