"I'm just curious," Cinnamon responded as she adjusted her position. Her lack of thick cushion in her rump nearly ruptured a testicle. "I do think of him as my man, but I'm quite sure that I am not his only woman. And for the record, I'm okay with that."
"Really?" Strawberry gave her a surprised look. She continued to glare as if she thought my girl was possibly deceiving herself. There was no doubt that my freckled partner was more in control of her emotions than most women.
"Where do you think we should go next?" I asked the navigator to end the awkward conversation.
"I actually wanted to talk to you about that," she answered as she swiveled in her chair to face me. Her quick study of the data screen eased her concern about potential threats that I might have missed. "The closest respectable station where we could sell our goods is Infinity Station Vega. That is where both of your girls were born and raised. However, considering the circumstances, I thought that we should avoid the normal stops in our trade route."
"I understand that," I said. "Where then?"
"In the other direction, and not far from here, is Teegarden."
"A tea garden?" I asked. Were we headed back to old England on Earth? I knew they loved tea there, and I remembered movie scenes of them drinking it in a garden. That was all my mind could conjure up at the sound of the word.
"That is the name of the star," she explained. "It was probably named by some scientist back in your time. There are three stations there, two of them largely residential. However, along the outskirts of the system is a trading post simply known as Clark's Station. To my knowledge, the Arketa Koreta has never docked there. Rumor has it, they don't follow Federation rules closely."
"Isn't that where King was planning on selling Teddy?" Cinnamon asked. That brought up a concern for sure. Was Strawberry trying to pull a fast one on me?
"I'm not sure," Strawberry answered. "That wasn't my department. But it makes sense."
"Sweetie," I said to the most wonderful spice girl on my lap. "Why don't you check and see if Honeysuckle is available for this conversation."
She didn't hesitate to follow my instructions. But she did ask if she should get Vanilla, too.
"No, she's fine whatever we decide," I informed her.
"Is she really?" the redhead whispered curiously.
"Yeah, we had a talk yesterday," I said in a low voice. "I've been waiting for an opportunity to share this with you. As long as we don't kill Sage and we give her plenty of time to study the alien creatures onboard, she's with us whatever we decide."
I could tell that was good news to my partner in crime. "I was worried that she might demand to leave us at the next station. That would have complicated matters. It's great that we don't have to worry about that."
"Why Teegarden?" I asked. When she hesitated, I said, "I hope that you are not planning on selling Teddy there."
"No, of course not," she acted mildly offended. "I didn't even know that was King's plan. As the systems analyst that didn't pertain to me. But it is good news if we want to unload the Savrad and the Tigritari. They might be the most valuable cargo that we have. Not counting our new friends, of course."
"Can you get us to this Teegarden place?" I asked.
"I think so," our new navigation girl answered. "I'm at the point in my study where pinpointing our next stop can help me, instead of dealing with theoretical target locations all the time."
"Is there a Nav-Hole at Teegarden?" Cinnamon asked as she returned to the control room with my sleepy green skinned lover. I felt bad about waking her up after only two hours of sleep. Her top had been thrown on haphazardly causing the connection to separate. Her glorious boobs stared at me for a brief second before she got them back under wraps.
"Yes," Strawberry replied excitedly, pointing at Cinnamon as she took a seat beside her. Honey slid into the next chair behind me. "I'll have to rip a hole here, but the data on Teegarden's entry points are included in our records."
"I'm worried about the ripping a hole here part," Honey spoke up. Cinnamon quickly agreed. I wished that they hadn't brought up the issue as it might offend our proud new navigator.
"I understand your concern," Strawberry answered, not looking near as offended as I had anticipated. "But now that I can focus primarily on that, we should be ready and competent much sooner. Trust me, girls. I won't let you down."
Cinn and Honey just stared at her blankly. Or just past her as if dazed by this revelation. They probably had never seen this side of her.
"I know that you won't let us down, Strawberry," I said to build her confidence. I was almost embarrassed by my two girls’ behavior.
"What is that?" Cinny then asked, pointing at Strawberry's monitor.
"Oh, shit," she replied. "One of the ships is coming around the moon."
"Do they see us?"
"Probably," the redhead responded in near panic. "There is no reason for them to be this close to us if they don't. Kash, I strongly recommend that you power up the engines before it is too late.
I was halfway through my preliminary procedures when Strawberry screamed out and scared the shit out of all of us.
"No! They're firing at us!"
CHAPTER NINE:
I barely got the ship moving before we felt the jolt. I nearly fell out of my seat from the brief moment of weightlessness followed by its return. That told me that the top of our ship had been struck with whatever they were shooting at us.
I originally thought
