A briefing

Sola smelt fresh, and not in a good way. The entire ship had been cleaned from top to bottom in the refit, the only areas that still smelled like normal were the gardens, and Naera’s kitchen about ten seconds after the shortstack got back onboard. Dustin frowned as he made his way up to the ready room, the others waiting for him.

It’d been just over a week after his meeting with Axworth before Sola had been cleared for flight, and even then they were under strict orders to remain in-system while Rye and Sammie ran her through some final shake-down tests of the new or replaced systems prior to jumping into Durathisian space. Not that Dustin minded - some downtime to process the events of the last few weeks was welcome, as was the opportunity to spend time with his children while they were in about as safe a place as anywhere in the galaxy.

The downtime also gave him a chance to check in on the health of both Rye and Emely. The gap in everyone’s memories concerned him, and while the focus might have been initially on Defia, as soon as the synthetic woman woke up worries about the others began to come to the fore.

Bleu was getting quite bored of his constant double-checking, to the point where she’d shooed him from the medbay earlier that day. As far as the medic’s scans could tell, the only person to suffer any kind of disturbance from their miraculous journey was Defia - and even she had made a full recovery by that point.

The door to the ready room slid open, and Dustin’s thoughts snapped back to the present. A sea of expectant faces welcomed him, along with the increasingly elaborate nest Emely had assembled. He was pretty sure the frame and fan system that were now built into the pile of blankets and cushions was Rye’s contribution; the grab handles on the edges looked like they were spaced to fit Sammie and Yaerwen’s hands perfectly which would make sense. The two had taken up the responsibility for moving the fox woman’s nest around, given Rye’s own situation. Bleu hadn’t expressly forbidden her from heavy lifting just yet, but the others weren’t taking any chances.

As for the bunny girl herself, she was currently tinkering with what looked suspiciously like a model of a weave drive. Sitting down, Dustin gestured at it. “Still trying to figure it out?”

Rye blinked, looking up. “Yea. I don’t get how we moved that far. And that thing ya said about not asking who the weaver was. Way I figure, the answers gotta be in here somewhere. And if not, maybe I can at least figure out how our tech and Fractal engines differ. Their drives are still smaller than ours ya know - smallest we’ve got are the ones in the fighters, nothing on the scale of that personal drive we saw way back.”

Meli sighed, settling Duv’an into the hovering pushchair-crib alongside his dozing brother and adjusting her clothes in the aftermath of giving her sons their meal. “Rye, beloved, you have been beating yourself with this problem since before Defia woke up. Take a break. We are not going to solve the secrets of the universe in an afternoon.”

Dustin nodded at his wife’s words. “Meli’s right, love. Besides, we have a mission briefing to go over. We’ve got maybe another week of shakedowns to get through, and then we’ll be underway again and I want to make sure everyone is on the same page before we make our next jump.”

That got the attention of the room. Trea’k glanced around then raised a hand. “Should Yril’k not be here in that case my mate? Surely our security chief should be involved?”

Dustin shook his head. “No - I’ve already spoken with her at length beforehand, given this next mission is likely to involve her work far more than the rest of us. She’s already preparing for what’s coming, and we’ll have further discussions with her once we’re underway.”

Pausing, Dustin glanced up at the ceiling before looking back down and around at his assembled lovers. “We’re going into Durathisian territory,” he began, allowing the hubbub to settle before he continued. “Yes, as I said, Durathisian territory. Not really any less dangerous than diving into Fractal space, if I’m honest, other than the fact we might be walking into a trap. Some of your father’s people have apparently made contact with rebels, Jaisyl.”

The princess blinked, having not expected to be particularly relevant to the conversation. She was still in the process of finding her way within their relationship - the sudden jump to Sol space, the collapse of Defia, it had all put a dampener on her marital bliss and exploration of her feelings for the others. “My father? I see” she managed in response, doing her best to focus in on the conversation properly.

“As I was saying,” Dustin resumed, “it might well be a trap. We have no idea how trustworthy this source is or isn’t; they’ve given us some solid intel, but for all we know it could be intel designed to lure us out. So, with that in mind, we’re going to be treating every single alien we encounter as suspicious until proven otherwise. That is not to say we won’t still be trying to make friends and influence people the way we always do… just we’re going to be more careful than normal. I’m sure none of us have forgotten the council chamber and the Durathisian use of concealed Fractal mass…”

All eyes turned to Defia at that point. The rogue Fractal had been somewhat withdrawn ever since waking up, seemingly dealing with internal questions that she was unwilling to share yet, despite several of the haremettes doing their best to draw her out of her shell. Despite her slight distance, she remained engaged with them all, and at the sudden attention her red eyes narrowed slightly. “Statement. I will be likely able to detect integrated or ingested units within close proximity. Addendum. I recommend you include me on any away team for that reason, Dustin.”

Dustin’s eyes immediately flicked to where Bleu and Rye were sitting, and the Fractal frowned. “Statement. I am not an invalid. I am capable of full functionality. I am… aware that I am more reserved than normal. Addendum. This is because I am trying to fully integrate my memories of what happened with available evidence. By our arrival in hostile space I will be returned to a ‘normal’ state. Inquiry. Would my working with unit Trea’k in the interim reassure you?”

The assembled women glanced at one another, before joining Dustin in nodding. Trea’k shifted in her chair and smiled at Defia. “It would reassure us all very much, dear one. I will clear my schedule at whatever time you wish for us to meet - while I am seeing several of the crew already to help them deal with the insecurities caused by the memory loss and fears around meeting aliens with such grand transportation capabilities, you and the others present here will always take precedent.” Then she sniffed and added, “unless my mate deems otherwise of course. Dustin is the captain after all.”

As it happened, Dustin was more than happy for Defia to jump the queue for some counselling. Whether her tale of a strange realm of gold and grey was true or the figments of a malfunctioning synthetic brain didn’t really matter - he wanted her to get the best care she possibly could, and that meant Trea’k talking with her at length. As he thought that, his eyes drifted to Rye’s model of a weave drive and he paused, glass of water halfway to his mouth.

There was a place that he’d been where his body and brain seemed disconnected. One he’d shared with Sammie. But there was no way Defia could possibly access it - she was synthetic, and synthetic life couldn’t join the weave, only follow premade flight paths laid down by biological creatures. Except… she’d said her hormone analogues had kept her mind intact, hadn’t she? Setting the glass down with a slightly shaky hand, his eyes flickered from Defia to Meli and Rye. “Ladies… a question,” he began quietly, before asking “…in all your scans, did you test Defia to see if she’d been subject to the same sort of mental disconnect from her body that Sammie and I get when we navigate the weave?”