Politics and Spreadsheets

Dustin had managed to escape from his meeting with Aricia with no further embarrassing questions - or accidental visions of the woman’s naked body. The rest of that day and part of the next were taken up with the mundane activities that regularly took place during weave transits; while they dropped back in to real space briefly, their next jump was almost immediate and just gave enough time for Sammie to switch out for one of the other pilots due to a need to get some sleep.

Lunchtime the day after the meeting saw Dustin sitting in the main galley snacking on a platter of mixed meats, cheeses and vegetables that Naera had prepared. The chef was still not entirely back to her old self, but she was doing her best to try and take more time in the kitchen at Trea’k’s suggestion, something greatly appreciated by her team and their customers.

While he ate, the weave-jump countdown echoed through the galley as Sola prepared to return to real space. This next flight was going to be a long one - they’d have to cover a full system for their onward transit, and so he was expecting the rest of the day to be filled with discussions on the data-packet that would no doubt be sent from Earth giving them the latest on any suspected Fractal activity as well as the ongoing Durathisian coup.

Seemingly summoning the data just by thinking about it, his tablet pinged. Glancing at the screen, Dustin sighed and finished his food before rising. Even just at a glance he could see there’d be a bunch of stuff he’d need to talk through with Emely and Meli, so with that in mind he returned his platter and headed for the ready room, asking Sola to arrange for the ladies to meet him there as he went.

As it happened, his wife and lover had both already been in the ready room and were waiting when he arrived, pouring over the information he’d only had a chance to glance at. “How bad is it?” he asked when he saw their expressions, unlocking his own tablet to begin to review the data while they gave their opinions.

“Pretty bad, Sir.” Emely said, her tails bristling with worry and anger. “The Durathisians have deployed their fleets to most of the main council systems and are…” she swiped her screen to double check “…asking the galaxy to remain calm in the face of clearly seditious activity.” She paused, frowning. “They seem to be trying to claim that the attacks were part of an attempt to overthrow the council, which given their actions in the aftermath is a bit…”

“Accusations as confessions?” Dustin ventured, earning him a nod from the redhead. “Which tracks with everything we know about the situation. So, they’re in the process of securing power and hoping the other species just go along with it. What’s the rest of the council doing? And the galactic news, and the general feeling amongst non-council species?”

Meli and Emely exchanged a glance. “The rest of the council are in disarray. There’s no real central location for them to meet that’s viewed as safe, and without proper meetings taking any decisions becomes more difficult. They still have nominal power to order the council fleet, but that’s being left to individual admirals at the moment, a large number of whom are either Durathisian or members of their allied species.” Emely said, before turning to the woman beside her. “What’s your take on the news, Meli?”

The Velca shifted in her chair and gave a grimace, ears flickering between anger and surprise. “The galactic news is basically dead at this point - which is a good thing I think? Half the anchors and the main broadcast network are folding to the Durathisians, but the others have quit the station and set up a dozen or so smaller channels, pushing out a range of facts. It seems the wider council as well as the Durathisians were leaning on the network quite heavily to cover up a whole range of things, but the journalists kept their own notes.”

Meli’s eyes flicked to the ceiling as she considered the information they’d received a moment longer, then nodded to herself. “As far as the non-council species are concerned, they’re divided into three camps. Those that are keeping their heads down because they can’t choose a side, those that are backing ‘the council’ and officialdom which at this point means whatever communications the Durathisians are putting out, and those that are horrified by what they’re hearing from the alternative networks and are looking for leadership.”

“That’s… mostly good I think” Dustin said, turning over what they’d told him. Seeing Emely’s shocked face at his optimistic view, he shrugged “with the council in disarray, they’re not actively backing the Durathisians. If the plotters want to consolidate power, they’ll need to get the council on side - or at least lock down the council races so that they don’t pose a threat. We already have several working with us - your Aunt for example, so there’s a chance we can form a new council forum that’ll directly countermand Durathisian orders.”

He paused, thinking for a moment before continuing “as to the Admirals - sure, they’re Durathisians, but the captains and crew of all those ships mostly aren’t. While they might fight a newcomer species like Earth, it’s unlikely they’ll turn on long standing members of the council if it comes to it. And the news being somewhat on our side helps with that. The best we could have hoped for is that the other species were split three ways anyway - most folk just want to keep their heads down and get on with life… So, I presume EarthGov will be doing the diplomacy thing, as will your Aunt’s diplomatic corps, trying to get those looking for leadership to band together with us.”

His reasoning seemed to reassure the Feliax woman, her tails settling from where they’d bristled behind her. “You’re probably right, Dustin. Your species has more experience with coups than either mine or Meli’s, so if you say it’ll be okay I trust you. I should probably head to the bridge to make some calls though - I want to help out with the efforts to get people to support us like you said.” Emely concluded, rising from her seat and heading to the door.

Dustin watched her go with a smile before turning back to his wife. “She really is working hard at this isn’t she? I need to give her a reward for all her efforts soon - but I think if I suggest it before the next weave-jump prevents her from using the long range comms she’ll probably bite me.”

Meli gave a gentle laugh at his words and nodded. “Yes, husband. Although… do you have any ideas as to how to reward her? I have a few suggestions in that regard that I think she’d probably enjoy a lot more than a medal or something.” As she spoke, the Velca’s ears shifted from amusement to a mixture of light arousal and anticipation that left Dustin under no illusions as to what sort of rewards she’d suggest he offer their Feliax partner.

At a nod from Dustin to go for it, Meli tapped her tablet before sliding it over to him. Glancing down, Dustin saw a spreadsheet with a list of names - the names of his lovers, he realized, some with dates or short notes next to them. Three stood out - Meli’s and Trea’k’s names were highlighted in green, while Sammie’s was highlighted red. “What is this?” he asked, frowning as he tried to figure out what she’d given him.

“Our tracker of who wants to…” Meli paused, rested one hand on her stomach and smiled before continuing “…take the next step with you. Rye suggested it, as she and I agree that we shouldn’t all be carrying offspring at the same time or the ship’s efficiency will be at risk. Especially so given the current dangers we face.”

Dustin blinked. “You made… a spreadsheet. For who I have kids with. And the green and the red mean…?” He said, trying his hardest not to both laugh and freak out at the situation. The harem’s rational for family planning was utterly sound, but the sheer surreality of having multiple women scheduling who he’d knock up and when was something else.

Meli smiled. “Green means you’ve already succeeded in giving us children. I assumed you’d be able to figure that out, given Trea’k and I are the only ones with our names in green. Red means no current plans - I suspect Sammie will change her mind in time, given a lot of her comments, but for the time being she doesn’t want to be thought of in that way.” Dustin nodded, before his wife continued “in any case, I gave it to you because I wanted you to look at Emely’s comment. The others all suggested dates, or asked to be before or after someone else; we had a couple of discussions about it to hammer out the full plan.”

Glancing back at the list, Dustin looked again at the column of notes - some quite detailed. Rye’s caught his eye as he scanned down - she’d put in a date some time in the future, with a note that if she finished a whole list of projects she’d want to move to an earlier slot. She’d actually listed all the things she was working on as well, which was both entirely Rye and also highly cute. As he thought that, he came to Emely’s record and paused. “Whenever Sir wants?” He said, glancing up at Meli.