A world at war

Dustin sat in the medbay, watching as Bleu ran a hand scanner over Meli and Trea’k’s abdomens. Emely leaned into his side, her eyes never leaving the three other women. It’d been over a week since he’d turned off her contraceptive, and despite some vigorous and lengthy efforts in the meantime she remained unimpregnated. “Jealous?” he murmured softly, stroking her shoulder before adding “It took a while for Meli and I to have it happen too you know.”

Emely gave a little snort of annoyance before nodding slightly. “Very jealous, even though I know it’ll take time Sir. Sometimes I wish I had Vex’ess or Queri biology so you could just fuck me once and I could be, like, ta-da I’m pregnant now for you.” She sighed, before giving him a playful glance. “Still, at least this way I get plenty of time with you filling me up…”

Dustin coughed in embarrassment despite the empty state of the medbay. “Well, you have the others to thank for that… everyone insisting we go at least one round every night - even on their date nights. You’re being well and truly rewarded for all your hard work trying to keep the galaxy from flying apart, aren’t you?”

As he finished speaking, Bleu concluded her scans. Seeing Dustin’s expression, the medic gave him a shrug and answered his unspoken question. “All perfectly healthy, and I can give you a more accurate reading on how long before we can expect them to give birth once I’ve had a chance to compare the results to their previous scan. If I remember right, then it’ll likely be about another six months, but I’ll let you know.”

Dustin nodded, moving to hug his two pregnant lovers before turning back to the medic. “Umm… Meli said that at this scan she’d be far enough along to…” he began, before Bleu cut him off with a wave of her hand.

“Six months, as I said, then you’ll be able to meet your daughter and sons.” Dustin blinked as the medic’s words echoed through his head. So stupefied was he by her words that he barely took in the rest of what she was saying - his ears seeming like they were full of static as the Queri calmly went over what she’d found. “Trea’k is, as expected carrying just the one daughter - even the hyper compatibility of Humans doesn’t seem to have overridden that part of Vex’ess biology. Meli on the other hand is having twins.”

The Velca smiled up at Dustin as he turned to her, his eyes wide. “Twins…?” he asked, before sinking down to kiss her stomach where she’d not yet rolled her top down fully from the scan as she nodded in confirmation.

“Two sons for you, Husband. Which means we can finally name them, if you are still agreeable to them being named after our fathers? Having twins means we don’t have to choose which name to grant the next generation first.” Meli said, smiling down at him. Moving her hand to entwine with his, she pressed them both to her abdomen and said softly “Duv’an and William.”

Dustin was still marvelling at the news of his sons when Sola concluded her shift out of the weave, a distant yellow orb glowing brightly on the main vidscreen. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he leaned forward in his chair. “Take us home, Sammie,” he ordered. As the pilot brought Sola onto an inner-system flight path and communicated in clipped navigational chatter with Star Command’s space traffic control, Dustin glanced over at Emely.

The fox girl was deeply engrossed in the business of processing all the inbound communications in the aftermath of them returning to real space. She glanced up briefly, saw him watching and gestured vaguely in the direction of their living quarters. “There’s a request in here from Axworth and Re’x to call them as soon as we get comms up again. Sounds like they want it to be a private conversation, Sir.”

Leaving his lovers and the bridge in his wife’s capable hands, Dustin walked briskly to his ready room. Inside, he took a moment to politely ask Aricia and Trea’k to leave; the butterfly had been showing his Vex’ess partner yet more of her photography, but if the General wanted privacy then Dustin needed the room clear.

Settling into his seat at last, he leaned forward and put the call through. He’d been expecting to wait while the two men were tracked down, but to his surprise no sooner had the line connected than the old man’s blustering voice crackled through the speakers. “Dustin! About time you got in contact, the last communication we had gave us an ETA for you to be back in Sol space half an hour ago. Re’x is around here somewhere, give me a moment…”

There followed the distant sound of a door being opened and Axworth yelling something inaudible, presumably to the Velcan ambassador who’s emotionless voice joined the General’s only a moment later. “Greetings, Dustin. I trust you and my niece are well?”

Dustin barely had chance to reply before Axworth cut him off. “Enough time for family catchups later on, ambassadors. We’ve got bigger things to deal with right now. I trust your comms officer has been keeping you informed about the galactic goings on, Dustin?”

After confirming that the crew of the Solar Ascent were in fact very much up to date on the latest galactic situation, the General allowed his Velca counterpart to get a word in. “Long range scans from Velca Prime indicate that the Durathisians are massing fleets in key sectors according to our predictions.” Re’x began, before elaborating. “It seems unlikely that they will get the council support they seek, at least while the Feliax, Rabyth and Vex’ess are in opposition. My government is also supportive, however we will be of less practical support by the nature of our species. We are researchers, first and foremost.”

Both humans acknowledged Re’x’s words; Dustin got in first with their reassurances that just having the Velca deploy their considerable long-range scanning technology to monitor the Durathisians was a huge benefit to the new alliance that was forming. “So, if they’re massing according to the predictions - what does that mean next?” Dustin asked at last.

“Hopefully, the blighters will stay put.” Axworth said with a snort. “They should be consolidating their control of the council; if they can threaten or intercept enough of the other members into voting for them, they could deploy their fleets to strike against ‘rogue states’ - that’d be all of us.”

Dustin winced at the old man’s words. “That’s… not great. If they get the council fleet onside, we’ll have a real problem trying to stop them doing whatever they like.” He said, drumming his fingers nervously on the tabletop.

Re’x interjected at that point. “It is unlikely they will be able to get permission to deploy the council fleet. Given the current situation, doing so might risk a mutiny they cannot afford; many species are worried about the information you have brought to light even if they think the Durathisians are in the right. Therefore, the most likely outcome would be that the only ships deployed against us are Durathisian, if it comes to it.”

Before Dustin could reply, Axworth’s tone came through, clear and sharp. “Get yourself back to Earth orbit on the double, ambassador. Once you’re here, we’ll go over the potential situations and our planned responses in person where there’s no risk of comms being captured. Re’x assures me that such a thing isn’t possible with the new equipment the Velca provided, but I reminded him that undetected Fractal-like synthetic life and weave-jump engines that would fit in a star-fighter were both considered impossible two years ago.”

Assuring the two men that he already had his ship taking a direct route back to the home of humanity, Dustin signed off. There didn’t seem to be much point in continuing a call where they wouldn’t be talking about the ins and outs of the upcoming months - not when it would be less than a day before they could meet in person.

Leaning back in his chair, he sighed and rubbed his forehead. This had all gotten significantly more complex than he could have imagined just a month or two ago. It was bad enough that they had the Fractal cluster - and behind it, the larger supercluster - to worry about, without the galaxy being divided by this coup. Reading between the lines, it sounded like Re’x expected the Durathisians to try and mount an attack on Earth eventually; the thought of that scenario made him wince.

Sure, humanity had over-equipped it’s exploration fleet to the point that they could match the warships of many of the galaxy’s minor species - but the Durathisians were another matter entirely. He’d read up on what data Emely and Meli had been able to provide, and the new vessels the hostile aliens were deploying were an order of magnitude stronger than the bulk of the Terran fleet. And all that was working on the assumption that what they were showing off to the galaxy was all they had. Given Dustin, Defia and Bleu were all in agreement that the Durathisians had at the least hijacked some Fractal tech, the idea that their warships were only as good as the council fleet seemed optimistic at best.

As those gloomy thoughts rattled around his head, the communicator chimed once more. “Sir? Axworth is calling - he says he needs to talk to you, urgently.” Emely’s voice sounded worried as she put the call through.

“Dustin? Sorry to inform you but there’s been a change of plans. Ongoing situation with the Durathisians will have to wait - you need to make your way urgently to Lemth space. A long range probe went dark, but before we lost contact it sent an image of a fleet heading in their direction. Sending the data to you now; the rest of the fleet that’s already in Earth orbit will meet you at the jump point, and the others will join you enroute. We can’t have our new friends getting steamrolled by the Fractals, and if the Rabyth or Vex’ess move their ships out from their home systems it’ll provoke a Durathisian response.” Axworth’s voice was strained, the pressure of the situation clearly telling on the General.

Dustin swallowed, then replied. “We’re on our way. We uplifted them - they’re our responsibility. Earth takes care of it’s friends.” With that they cut the call, and Dustin hurried to the bridge - and, it seemed, to war.