Good fellas

The women's plans for a welcome orgy for Defia, Aricia and Yaerwen would have to wait. Dustin frowned as he looked at the report from the Uil’l defence minister, then tapped his communicator. “Emely, would you come to the ready room please?” He set the tablet down and sighed. She was not going to like this at all.

After his bath-time entanglement with Aricia, he’d taken a moment to look in on his pregnant lovers who he found entangled once more, Emely having clearly decided that future orgy planning could wait in favour of returning to the one she’d just left. That gave him a chance to speak briefly with her and Meli, and although the women were both rather distracted by everything else that was going on, he did at least manage to press on them his desire for things to be planned out and not just immediately rushed that evening. If nothing else, he wanted to make sure he had both time and stamina to satisfy all his women, and his workload regarding the ongoing situation on the planet was not helping in that regard.

As the Feliax woman walked in to the ready room, she saw his face and immediately frowned. “You’re going to make me postpone the party again, aren’t you Sir?” Emely asked, glancing from his expression to the tablet in front of him. “Something to do with our hosts?”

Dustin winced at her tone and nodded. “I’m afraid so, kitten. The mobsters that got rounded up have talked; some of it’s obviously lies, but there’s enough in there to make it clear that our suspicions about Durathisian influence were correct. We’ve been asked to assist in the raiding party that’s going to hit the location our hosts think is the main base of operations because of our ‘experience with Fractal technology’. In other words, I’m gonna need Defia for this one, even if the locals don’t know what she is.”

The redhead pouted for a moment, then walked across the room and dropped into his lap, arms linking behind his neck. “Alright. I’ll speak with Naera and change up the plans then. Should I just postpone for the day, or do you think we’ll be leaving after this raid? It’d be easier if we’re in transit… though I’d need to pry Sammie away from the pilot’s seat,” she mused, wrinkling her nose as she thought things through.

Dustin leaned forward and kissed her tenderly. “I checked about our onward trip times back before we knew there was anything wrong here. According to Sammie, the jump point to Tho’unn space is quite a ways out of the system - if we don’t push the engines and just take an easy coast when we leave it’ll be a good ten to twelve hour flight to the point. That should be enough time, right?”

Emely wrinkled her nose again. “I’d rather have ten to twelve hours with you all to myself after we’ve welcomed the others, Sir, but… yes, that should be long enough. How much notice will we have before we leave orbit?”

Shrugging, Dustin gestured at the tablet before resting his hand just above her tails on the small of her back. “Once this business is done? However much you need, honestly. We could probably jump out straight away without seeming rude, but equally I doubt they’d mind if Sola keeps their landing pad full for another couple of days after everything that’s gone on.”

That seemed to appease the fox girl at least, one of her tails coming up to stroke along the back of his wrist. “Alright. Was that everything, Sir? If it was, I need to go and speak to the ladies about the change of plans…” She wriggled her backside in his lap as she spoke, and for a moment Dustin considered delaying her for a few minutes - and possibly however long it took for a shower afterward. Duty called first however, so reluctantly he let her rise, the redhead leaning down for a final kiss before heading for the door.

This time, Dustin overruled Yril’k when she told him to stay on Sola. The mission that the Uil’l had invited them on involved breaking through a mob safehouse, cracking open the tunnels beyond, and then pushing into what was believed to be Durathisian controlled territory. While the security team - and the Uil’l military - would be handling the bulk of the dangerous work, once they got into the deeper tunnels they could be at risk of who knew what kind of mishmash of Durathisian and Fractal technology. That meant they needed every specialist they could get their hands on, which at that moment in time meant Rye, Yril’k, Dustin and Defia.

As he rode the repaired maglev across to the meeting point, Dustin pondered on the party composition. Meli, Trea’k and Emely were obviously out of the question due to their pregnancy, Naera wasn’t combat capable, and Yaerwen hadn’t yet faced off against the things he was worried about finding in the dark. That left Sammie, Aricia who he wasn’t planning on forcing underground if he could avoid it, and Bleu. He’d left the pilot and medic behind, just in case this was a trap. He wanted to have at least a couple of people topside who knew what the situation was with their enemies, and the pilot and medic were both equally capable.

So, the Rabyth, Vex’ess and rogue Fractal would accompany him - or rather they would when he reached his destination. To help avoid their plans from being detected too soon, all four of the senior staff had opted to take different routes to the meeting point. The security teams (both human and Uil’l) were also winding their way into position. Sola’s crew had taken pains to look like tourists being escorted by local officers for their protection, a not uncommon sight after the attack on Rye. The only difference this time was that the “tourists” were carrying backpacks stuffed with pulse carbines, and their escorts were accompanied by smaller groups of military guards flanking them down nearby tunnels.

The maglev slowed, and Dustin rose from his seat. Beside him, the two senior defence officials who had been assigned as his bodyguard also rose; unlike his crew and their companions, these Uil’l carried their weapons openly - large, heavy duty shotgun-like firearms designed for high-impact **** in the narrow confines of tunnel battles. Dustin’s own weapon, meanwhile, was resting in the duffel-bag at his feet which he now bent to pick up as the doors slid open.

From the station, it was a moderately brisk walk down a curving set of tunnels and stairs to reach the large marketplace area that would be the starting point of their mission. Dustin drifted through the stalls, before waving when he recognised Rye’s form lounging at a café table. Walking over, he sank down next to her. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here, chief engineer,” he said warmly, the language a code they’d devised earlier that day.

“Lots of friends around at the moment.” Rye replied, smiling at him. “Ran into Yril’k earlier - think she’s shopping for new clothes, or maybe a hat?”

That told Dustin almost all he needed. The others had all gathered, and Yril’k was in place in a clothing store that gave a good vantage point overlooking the tunnelling supply shop that was believed to be the mob front. “The lighting here’s pretty strong. You can barely see your shadow,” he said in response, turning his hand over in the glow from the cafe’s table lamp.

Rye frowned, holding out her own hand theatrically to observe for herself. “Yea. Ya tried walking around? It’s easier to see ya shadow over by the fountain.”

Which meant Defia was in position as well. Right. Dustin turned to his escorts and gave them a vicious grin. “Why don’t we all get a drink?”

The code phrase kicked off the operation. A moment after the words had left his mouth, security forces across the market pulled concealed weapons. The cordon slammed into place instantly, passageways in and out blocked by Uil’l wearing high-vis tops. As Dustin retrieved his own weapon from his duffel and Rye pulled hers out of a nearby storage crate, the assembled shoppers realized something was up.

A panicked scream from a Uil’l market-goer echoed through the air a moment before Dustin’s escorts blew the lock off the door to the mob front. As the other teams worked to clear the square, Dustin moved to follow his guards inside. Rye flanked him, and as he reached the doorway Yril’k dropped down from an upper floor window into the alley that ran down the side of the building. Holding position by the entrance, Dustin risked a glance in through the broken doorway.

Four security team members - two human from Sola’s crew, two Uil’l defence staff - had already followed his escorts into the shop and were now spreading out to check the ground floor aisle by aisle. As Defia appeared next to Rye, the rogue Fractal seemingly flowing up out of nowhere, Dustin took the decision to move forward. Giving a quick hand signal to the others, he pressed past the doorway and into the cleared space beyond.