MGiS 6 - Proportional Response - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It isn’t helping matters that the damn aliens aren’t bothering to try and conceal themselves. What’s the point of giving us all this time to plan and arrange things, if their ships just hang out within range of civilian telescopes.

If this keeps going, the disinformation campaigns that have been started will need to be stepped up even further. The cost for that isn’t going to be cheap. We may need to start considering a slow release of information.

I know that the politicians don’t want to be the one stuck holding the bag when this goes public, but someone is going to have to. The longer they stall, the fewer options they are going to have.

Huh… Wonder if that is why the aliens are doing this? Damn cunning of them. Rather wish that idiot Whitton hadn’t cut McLaughlin loose so casually. We could really use him onside for this…

~General Newton Travers, overheard on a phone-call, receiver unknown.

Privacy, at least true privacy, was a luxury that Desmond was rarely afforded. Given his position as an adept, he was never without his guards. Most of the other adepts that he knew would have their guards rotate through shifts, but the times when he wasn’t surrounded by all five of his girls could be counted out without requiring him to take his shoes and socks off.

When he’d first come to terms with the life of an adept amongst the Hegemony of Velvet Stars, Desmond had wondered if he’d be able to maintain his sanity while being surrounded by people so suffocatingly. It turned out that he didn’t really have much of a problem with it, since each of his guards was earnestly interested in looking after him.

Sure, there had been a brief disagreement when he’d tried to get them to take more time off, but the girls had convinced him that it was their choice, and they were choosing to keep that close to him. Desmond was also fairly sure that, for some of his girls at least, they were also working through some of their own hidden traumas around abandonment by keeping a close eye on him.

Sasha had lost her foster sisters, and Raegan had actually turned on her birth family when they crossed legal lines that she couldn’t turn a blind eye to. Chloe and Lila were both from loving and supporting families, but neither had any hesitation sticking to Desmond like rather fetching barnacles given the choice.

So when Audra slotted into their group and proceeded to cling just as close as the others, despite not being a part of his clan or a lover, Desmond could guess with relative certainty why that was.

Audra Lightweaver, a former pirate-princess from Castella, had nothing and no one she could rely on in the Hegemony. She’d fled her homeland and her family as a political refugee in a situation surprisingly similar to Raegan’s, in that her family was guilty of crimes that she couldn’t condone. Specifically, her mother. She’d found her way to Desmond while accompanying an imperial quester who had picked her up and provided her with political asylum and a hiding place. So when Desmond had offered her a permanent position on his team and the legitimacy and security that went with it, she’d jumped at it.

Just like she jumps at any chance to curl up with me, Desmond thought wryly. If it wasn’t for the fact I know she’s attracted to me, I’d worry she was sizing me up to eat me instead.

Given her size, the squad had been forced to switch up a few things to accommodate Audra properly. But the sweet Nagat woman had managed to endear herself to each of the girls without even trying, so no one had complained. This included adjusting their normal dining arrangements of ‘whoever gets there first can sit beside Desmond’ to have the Nagat woman taking up his other side.

Chloe always sat on Desmond’s left, something no one argued with the horned woman about.

Because of the sheer length of Audra’s scaled tail, she had to get creative in how she coiled up in order to not leak over into the aisles. Since Desmond always got a table with his back to the wall, it made the most sense to put Audra next to him so she could coil her tail under the table.

After accidentally kicking her tail one too many times and feeling bad, Desmond had told Audra to coil her tail around his legs so he could keep track of it. This had set Audra off into a fierce blush, but she’d shyly done just that.

Desmond knew that coiling around another was both a sign of affection and reassuring for Nagat. The second half was the primary reason why he had suggested it initially, and Audra had gotten used to casually twining her tail around either one or both of his legs when they were resting. It had even gotten to the point that she’d throw a coil or two around his ankle when relaxing in their rooms or during movie night.

But right now, Desmond was wrapped from ankle to hip as Audra leaned over him, indicating things on her data-tablet with her left hand while she ate with the right.

“So, these are my suggestions. Admittedly, my data isn’t as up-to-date as I would like since the Fist is under the standard communication blackout, but it’s enough.”

“Is it really that cheap to sponsor independent miners?” Desmond asked, taking a bite of the crisp flesh of the bright blue fruit in his hand.

The skin of the smooth fruit tore like a grape under his teeth. Desmond had to slurp quietly to ensure he didn’t have juice running down his chin, but the flavor was something he couldn’t get enough of. It reminded him of blueberry jam from earth, but with a tart tang to it.

“It is when you hit certain volumes,” Audra said, shrugging one shoulder and making her full breasts bounce in the tight black tank-top she was wearing under her uniform jacket, which she’d unbuttoned earlier while complaining about the heat of the mess hall.

“The guilds snap up people quickly, but also take a far larger share of the profits. By going for a pay-for-performance model instead of hourly, with a guaranteed minimum, will incentivize people to work hard, while allowing them to plan and be sure that their families will be taken care of.” Audra flourished one hand over the tablet before popping a wedge of purple tuber into her mouth and humming happily.

“Won’t that attract people who just work the minimum amount though to take advantage of that part of the contract?” Raegan asked from her spot on the other side of the table.

The Uth’ra woman was glaring down at her own food, specifically at the mess of bright yellow vegetables that she’d been prodding with her spork for the last five minutes. Doc Hestia had taken the time to check each of the girls over when Desmond had stopped by to get his numbers for the mana supplements, and Raegan had been taken to task for not getting enough yellow in her diet, a color that meat didn’t come in, much to her disappointment.

“It will,” Audra said with a shrug, covering her mouth with one hand while she chewed delicately. “But that is unavoidable. We just need to look at folk who have a good reputation and take care of their equipment. The kind of folks who work and stick with the minimums are more likely to take work at the guilds, as they’ll need to use guild equipment.”

“How are we going to interview independent miners for sponsored work like this? Also, aren’t the mineral rights in systems owned by the Hegemony?” Sasha asked from further down the table, the Hyreh-Taari woman already done with her meal and just sipping a steaming mug of caff while her striped feline tail flicked happily behind her.

“Yes and no,” Lila answered from Audra’s other side. “This was something that I was helping Audra with. We can apply for a general mineral license and set up a business to handle it, that way the license can flow down to the independents that we hire, or we can buy specific mineral rights once we have a survey done of the target area.”

“I’m half tempted to go with your first suggestion,” Desmond sighed, tapping on the bulleted list of items that Audra had worked up for him. “The idea of getting first crack at mineral rights in the Sol system, purely because of my rank as a Forerunner, would be hilarious. But I don’t want to deal with the political outcry.”

Audra and Lila had put that as the first and best option in the list of potential targets. Apparently, because of his status as a Forerunner, Desmond was allowed to survey and tap into the mineral rights of his home system as a representative of his species to help them gain a foothold in the stars.

A flat ten percent of profits would be expected to be sent back to his planet of origin. This was to help bring Hegemony Interstellar Credits—or just ‘credits’ as most folks called them—to the new species and smooth their integration into the greater galaxy. It basically allowed him to find and stake a claim as an individual on a section of the resources his home planet held in the Sol system, much like the old gold prospectors did when the United States was young, and would help fund the expansion of his homeland.

But Desmond was torn. The idea of getting to take a chunk out of the people who had all but offered him up on a silver platter in a panic to pacify an invading alien force was tempting, despite how things had actually turned out.

“I’d still prefer to leave that alone, if possible. Leave it as a backup option for now,” Desmond said at last and Audra nodded, understanding etched on her regal features. “Besides, we still have a lot of research left to do. And this is all moot if Monika gets back to me with a ‘yes’ from her family.”

“Also true,” Audra admitted, bouncing her head from side to side, which sent her topknot swaying as well. “I like having extra plans ready, and since we don’t know when we are going to make it back to port, I might as well take the time to plan now.”

“Oh? You hadn’t heard?”

The familiar voice drew the attention of everyone at the table as the speaker set her tray down on the far side of Sasha with a smile.

“Hey Bell!” Desmond said with a wave of welcome. “Been meaning to get hold of you, so it’s good to run into you already.”

“Oh? Anything important? I’m not in trouble, am I?” Bell asked, her button nose wrinkling cutely while she narrowed her pink eyes at Desmond playfully.

“No, not in trouble. I just needed to talk to you about something, but that can wait. What didn’t we hear about?” Desmond countered with a shake of his head. While he did want to discuss possibly joining his squad with Bell, the middle of the mess hall at the midday meal was not the right spot for that.

“Surprising,” Bell said with a roll of her eyes, “or perhaps not? The ship’s rumor mill is great at spreading useless information, but shit at anything important. The Fist is heading into port in the next few weeks.”

That news got a reaction from all of Desmond’s girls, though more mixed than would have been expected. Chloe and Sasha grimaced, Raegan and Audra were excited, and Lila looked pensive while Desmond grunted.

Bell had been around them all long enough though that she could immediately figure out what the issue was with their reactions.

“You know that not every time the ship rotates to leave will end up with you getting into trouble, right?” The Gaur woman said archly, her eyes widening and wings resettling behind her.

Since Gaur didn’t have any body hair, which meant no eyebrows either, Desmond had been learning that their wings acted as mood indicators instead. Bell’s wing-shuffle had been the equivalent of a raised eyebrow, so he shrugged in response.

“I don’t go looking for trouble, it just happens to find me,” Desmond countered, getting amused snorts from Chloe and Raegan while the other three giggled.

“Well you won’t have long to get up to trouble. Apparently, we are picking up a couple of new adepts and then shuffling back onto patrol. Won’t be long in port, but it will be long enough for the quartermaster to offload goods and for you all to get paid,” Bell said with a broad grin that showed off the other notable feature of the Gaur species, the square, black teeth of their kind.

Despite the fact that they reminded Desmond of gargoyles every time that he’d seen them, it still threw him whenever he saw one smile like that. They looked like they should be obligate carnivores at a glance and have teeth like Raegan’s, but reality couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, they were more frugivores and ate mostly fruits and nuts with only a little meat in their diets.

“That’ll be nice. And I am definitely glad that we are going to have some extra hands to help out with the Rifts,” Desmond said, pushing aside his concerns. “As long as we aren’t going into port at one of the last two stations we were at. Didn’t exactly leave a good impression there.”

“No, you don’t have to worry about that,” Bell said, picking up one of the bright blue fruits like Desmond was eating from her plate and snapping off a large bite without effort. She chewed busily for a moment, licking the bright juice off her lips with a matching black tongue before she spoke. “The border is a large place, and for security reasons there are quite a few stations along the border that we can stop at.”

“Any news on who the new adepts will be?” Audra asked curiously, leaning around Desmond to look towards the Gaur woman.

Desmond caught a brief flash of emotion that slipped over Bell’s face, but the winged woman’s features returned to normal almost instantly.

“Not one hundred percent sure, but I’ve got a feeling that it will be someone that most of you are apparently familiar with?” Bell said teasingly, taking another bite of the fruit while Desmond’s girls all exchanged looks.

Desmond’s mind immediately jumped to the very short list of adepts that he was familiar with and promptly dismissed most of them. The odds of any of the senior adepts he knew being assigned to a battlecruiser were small, so that narrowed the pool sharply to the cadet-adepts he’d interacted with. From there, he filtered that to the most obvious choice.

“I really hope it’s not Olianna,” Chloe grumbled from his side before Desmond could speak out loud.

“No,” Desmond asserted while watching Bell carefully. “I’d put my credits on Jorgia Tre’Unath being assigned to the Fist.”

“What makes you think that?” Bell asked teasingly, her pink eyes twinkling in amusement.

“We all know she’s related to the admiral, but there’s no way she’d accept a posting to her mother’s ship. Jorgia is too headstrong for that,” Desmond began to explain and got nods from four of his guards. They’d all met the independent Va’Aelfa woman and agreed in principle that she’d not want what she viewed as a handout. After taking a drink, Desmond continued.

“You add in the fact that Admiral Lo’Unath has said to me before that she wished I was a guard instead, so she could have gotten me assigned to her daughter, and the fact that she trusts and is close friends with Captain Skytreader, and that means that the admiral probably pulled some strings to get her half-daughter assigned close, but not so close as to smother her.”

“And why not one of your classmates? Surely there were other Terrans on the Valor’s Bid,” Bell asked, still keeping up an innocent look and Desmond rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, there were. Those two were good, but they are also a year behind me. If they’ve graduated already then there are some serious problems going on. No, I’d bet that it is Jorgia. To be honest, I was expecting it ever since we found out that the admiral was one of her mothers.”

“And it doesn’t hurt that the Fist needs replacement adepts on short notice, so it would have been easy enough to show the open slot for her to nudge her that way,” Lila said thoughtfully.

“Just speculation, but that’s my bet. I heard from Chief Powell that  the captain was grumbling about meddling admirals and made the guess myself,” Bell said with a shrug. “Either way, you’ve got help coming. Just gotta make it another week or two. Since security already knows about it, then I expect they’ll be making the general announcement soon.”

“That would make sense. Either way, thanks for the heads-up on it. You want to join us to walk the station again, Bell?” Desmond offered and Bell’s wings flared again in surprise, though she folded the webbed appendages back once more quickly.

“Sure, if you don’t mind that is. I’m still on the hunt for a secondhand scope with the right programs if you want to bum around the thrift stores with me…” Bell answered slowly, the tip of her button nose wiggling slowly as she considered the offer.

“Would appreciate your help in shopping for equipment again, too,” Desmond added. “Hopefully, Audra will have settled on her gear choices, or at least a style she likes so we can plan around that.”

“Sorry…” Audra said quietly, her head falling for a moment before she squealed and shot upright once more when Desmond poked her in the side sharply.

“Stop apologizing, Audra. Figuring out how you slot into a team takes time, and the practice helps you refine your skills after all,” Desmond said gruffly, getting a silent nod of acceptance from Audra.

“So mean to you girls, is he always like this?” Bell teased from the other end of the table, mischief in her eyes as she studied the Nagat woman. “Audra, if he keeps being so violent, I could show you a few tricks to level the playing field?”

The idea that Audra needed help ‘leveling’ the playing field with the sheer difference in mass between her and Desmond actually made the Nagat woman snort in amusement. That set off the other girls and soon they were all laughing at the idea.

“I don’t see what’s so funny,” Desmond pretended to grump. “I’m the one being picked on, not Audra.”

“Sure you are, Des,” Chloe said, her voice dripping with sarcastic empathy. “We bully you sooo much.”

Seeing her opportunity, Bell switched targets over without hesitation.

“Oh, well if that’s the case then, I’d be happy to offer you some tips as well, Desmond. Can’t have the clan Sire being bullied by his mates, after all.”

“Like any of us actually could bully the Little Boss,” Raegan crowed in amusement. “He could bench press any one of us with one arm, if there was a way to keep us from struggling too much.”

“Chief could bench press a shuttle if he wanted to,” Sasha added proudly, her yellow eyes slitting in happiness while her pointed feline ears flicked on top of her head.

“I appreciate the offer, Bell. But I have them under control,” Desmond said with a smirk.

“Well if that ever changes, you let me know, okay?” Bell offered and Desmond inclined his head in a nod of agreement.

Turning her attention to Sasha, Bell started peppering the Hyreh-Taari woman with questions about another project that had Desmond lost within seconds with how technical the terms got. His cognitive abilities were still boosted in the wake of his abuse of mental enhancements, but he just didn’t have the vocabulary to keep up with what they were discussing.

So instead, Desmond shot Chloe a questioning look and got a smile of agreement from her.

Later, Desmond mouthed with a tip of his head to the still-crowded lunchroom. Chloe nodded in agreement before nudging him back to Audra to finish their earlier discussion.

“Well,” Desmond said, turning to the shy Nagat at his side. “Since we have a better idea of the timeline now, we should see about making more concrete plans. We don’t have to rush, but I’d rather see our money earning something extra while we are deployed.”

Audra’s sheepish expression from being pushed out of her apology earlier transformed into a broad grin and she immediately launched back into the description of mining rights and different locations along the frontier that might be good choices that they’d been having earlier.

While Audra talked, Desmond snuck another glance back towards Bell as the Gaur sergeant joked and chatted with Sasha, Lila, and Raegan as easily as if they’d been friends for years.