It happened. I had been fantasizing about it ever since I stepped foot on the ship. But somehow, I was never sure that it would materialize. I was now the uncontested captain of the Arketa Koreta.
Thinking back over my short and ill-planned life, I had to admit that this was my biggest accomplishment. Of course, Strawberry could always change her mind. But something told me that she wouldn't. What we had just gone through together had removed a barrier between us. Her ultra-professional facade had been a protection, a defense mechanism. The deflating of her ego while struggling with her new duties as navigator had encouraged her to drop the veil.
My future was so bright that I should have to wear shades, quoting an old song from my time. That got me thinking. Did sunglasses still exist? If not, how many other basic items from my time had been forgotten. Could I reintroduce products from the past and make a gazillion dollars?
I chuckled to myself. I had just been officially named captain of a spacecraft and already I was looking for something new. It would probably be even harder to become a manufacturing guru. I should put those ideas out of my head and focus more on holding onto what I already had.
"So, what is your recommendation on how to handle the Sage issue at Teegarden?" I asked my first officer. "Can we put her in a crate and hope that someone opens it before she starves to death?"
Strawberry laughed so hard that she snorted. She was so embarrassed that she couldn’t answer, still laughing but perhaps more at herself than my joke.
"Maybe she'll be ankle deep in her own piss and shit by the time they find her," I continued.
"Stop," Strawberry demanded. "You are terrible!"
"Me? You were going to leave her on the planet to be killed by those monster girls."
"True," she responded, regaining some dignity. It was a very good thing that none of the other woman were present for her snort. "I've been thinking about what to do with Sage, actually. There are a few options, not including your crate idea."
"Clark's Station at Teegarden doesn't have the most respected government in the galaxy, I'm told. We could turn Sage over to them claiming that she is a criminal and they might not launch an investigation."
"What kind of criminal?"
"There are a few things that we could accuse her of," Strawberry explained. "The real question would be if we admit that she was one of the crew or pretend that she snuck aboard our ship at the last station. Or we could even claim that she was already at Clark's. The key would be to wait until we were about to leave before we unload her."
"They won't delay our departure if we dump someone on them like that?"
"I don't know," Strawberry answered, shifting in her seat to cross her legs. I could see her slowly recovering to her old persona. "This is honestly the first time that this sort of thing has come up. We might have to wait until we investigate the place before we decide. Remember, none of us have ever visited this station before."
"Would it be possible to just kick her out the door while we're firing up our engines?" I asked. "That way we wouldn't have to answer any questions."
"You better have the doctor sedate her if you try that," Honeysuckle said as she reentered the control room. Our mechanic was wide awake now, and her clothes were fitting properly. Still barefoot, though. "She didn't stop bitching, demanding and conniving the whole time that we were down there with the doctor."
I could visualize that for sure. "Was she badly hurt?" I asked.
"No," Honey answered with a smirk. "She probably banged her head against the pipe on purpose just to get Vanilla to come visit her. Sage obviously thought that the doctor would take her side."
"How did Vanilla deal with the situation?" Strawberry asked. She was surprised when I had told her that the doctor was fully onboard with the change of leadership.
"Surprisingly well. I was glad that Cinnamon was with me at first. One of us to watch Sage while the other made sure the doctor didn't do anything to help her. But she was fine. I don't know what kind of talk you had with Vanilla, but you really adjusted her attitude."
"He probably did more than just talk," Strawberry told her with a grin. "You know how Kash likes to make friends. With his cock."
I was shocked, but Honeysuckle just rolled with it.
"Kash," my green skinned lover said looking just as ornery as her crewmate. "Did you smack Vanilla in the forehead with your big pecker like you did me?"
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
There was a slight vibration in the ship when we reentered our normal universe. It was accompanied by a brief sensation of panic. I wasn't sure if I experienced that when we ripped the hole to enter the alternate plane of existence or not. It was already a frantic situation at that point.
Some lights flickered, but the most noticeable effect was my console coming alive and the locked notification being gone. Then Teddy began making gagging noises. A moment later he dropped down from his chair and ran from the room.
"I'll check on him," Vanilla said. "It's probably jump-nausea."
My stomach was a bit queasy too, since we entered Teegarden's space. Even worse than I felt a couple hours earlier. What I thought was an uneasy feeling may have actually been nausea.
"Where is the station?" I asked. I was prepared to fly us there on manual control if needed.
"Not close," Strawberry told me as she was fully absorbed with her screen. "I'm
