Guardian (Complete)

Chapter 1

My name is Charles Samuel Knight and I am sixteen. My father started me on the life I have. He was an Archeologist and studied the thousands of derelict spacecraft in Grer system. My mom had been an Archeologist too, but had left us to teach at the college on Miros. There were only two thousand people in Grer, most were old and pretty much did the same thing as dad.

By the time I was ten, I knew everything about engineering from a dozens of different dead species. Since the planet was barely habitable everyone lived in biospheres in orbit. I had four girl friends the same age as me and we had made a pack when we were only six or seven. We swore that when we turned fourteen we would marry so that we would never have to part.

Anyway, when we were thirteen; Julie, Teri, Olivia, Jess and I sat down and used a computer to draw up plans for a large self contained biosphere. We had access to all the databases and knew of a thousand year old factory ship from the Silsi Empire. We were all checked and cleared for space work and that was the first place we went.

Using the collective knowledge of a dozen Archeologists we started making some repairs. It took us almost three months to bring it online. After that it was just a matter of bringing material to the ship. It took the factory robots and the production facilities another six months to build the biosphere to our specs in the ship graveyard where we were comfortable.

I guess you could say I was the Jack of all Trades. Jess was our protector, our gunslinger, our weapon specialist. Teri was the real engineer; she knew how everything ran and could fix it or build it in her sleep. Julie was our pilot and navigator, if we went anywhere, she flew or navigated and she could fly anything.

Olivia, well Olivia was the one we all protected. She had always wanted to be a doctor and had studied two dozen races medical practices and equipment. She was also the one that knew everything about hydroponics.

We got starter plants from everyones biospheres and even had several ships leave new plants or seeds. Jess was the youngest and the day she turned fourteen we announced our marriage and moved into the biosphere. Sure our parents were close by and still helped us a lot. They thought it was just a passing phase we would grow out of.

Almost from that first day we started planning to build a ship. Even though the system was not a registered system of the Empire of Mariss, we were still semi citizens and the Empire had been at war for almost twenty years. We took ideas from several dead races and combined them.

From the three Phase Reactors to the engines from the Avian race Altre. Jess was the one to insist on the weapons and she took a month just to decide on which weapons to use and what we needed for defense. Instead of the human weapons like lasers or missiles, she wanted three systems from three different races.

The other thing was the Alien medical equipment Olivia wanted, equipment any doctor would kill for. But the most important thing was the matter transmission that Teri and I studied and finally cracked. It took us over six months to crack it and when we did the limits to what we could do went out the window.

We built a small device and programmed it to take matter from our plants or protein from the protein vats. It would mix or combine them into food. We had to make the dish first and then scan its atomic structure before the synthesizer could reproduce it. Olivia took it over as soon as it proved reliable. Next was a synthesizer for clothing or other inanimate objects. Last was a much larger version that Teri tied into a computer.

We carefully designed our ship from the frame out. It took another year of careful planning and checking before we put the plans into what we called our ship builder. With the use of a nearby hydrogen reactor, the range of the matter transmitter was over a light hour, which reached into a nearby asteroid belt.

We continually monitored its progress but I turned to smaller concerns, like Olivia’s medical equipment and her hydroponics section. Jess got Teri to take time to build another smaller transmitter and quickly drew up plans for an assault shuttle and sets of combat armor. Julie spent her time buried in star charts and ship ID files. It took six months to build the ship.

We called her Night Scream. She was five hundred and twenty meters long, one hundred and fifty wide and one hundred tall. Her hull was over a meter thick, made of a metal alloy so dense it had no comparison in the known galaxy. In addition, it had chameleon like properties that we had further enhanced. We had also incorporated a screen and shield technology that was advanced beyond anything created in the last two thousand years.

The weapons were sixty of what Jess called energy torpedo launchers or torp launchers and they reached out a full light minute at full strength. There were six energy lances that had a range of almost five light minutes. Last was Jess’s main weapon, it was another concept she devolved from the matter transmission device and the phase reactor. She called it a phase transmitter. It had a scan range of one light hour but Jess said optimum range was half that.

Olivia had a large sick bay with a dozen stasis tubes and eight regen tanks as well as every piece of technology she needed. She also had a state of the art hydroponics section. Julie had found an old AI on an ancient warship and had insisted we needed it. She had been the one to go through its code line by line to make sure it would be safe.

When she finally brought it online, we were a little surprised at the way it behaved, as if it were… human. It took about five minutes to learn our language when Julie fed it into the connecting stand alone computer.

Even though the reactors were not online, the ship did have power from a single hydrogen reactor and we moved the AI into Julie’s prepared core aboard the Night Scream. Almost from the start it had a feminine behavior and voice. Jess was the one to name her Allie.

Everything was ready except that the three Phase Reactors were not fully online. Teri was still trying to balance them and we all spent time trying to help her. We had just turned sixteen and what we had accomplished was nothing short of a miracle. That was when the Talis Empire showed us why our Empire was fighting them.

I got the alert late and then the system communications went down. Our passive scan showed a Talis Battlecruiser in orbit around the plant. I knew that everyone was on planet today to help with a major find in the southern hemisphere, even Jess, Teri, Julie and Olivia were there.

I watched as all the biospheres were destroyed and four combat shuttles launched towards the surface. My fists were clinched in anger and I finally growled to myself, “I have a combat suit and the shuttle.”

I was thinking that the weapons on board the shuttle could take out the ship if I hit it by surprise. I was moving before I finished thinking. In the shuttle bay I suited up and boarded the shuttle. I used my remote access in the suit and undocked the shuttle. I put everything online from my suit, “Allie?”

The quiet female voice whispered in my ear, “Yes my husband?”

That was something else Allie had started doing. Since the girls teased me all the time by calling me their husband, Allie had started doing it and the girls only encouraged it, “Link with the shuttle and back me up. When we land on the planet I want you to bring the shields back up and shift the ship to stealth after I get off.”

“Yes my husband.”

There was a pause, “Be careful.”

I smiled, “As careful as I can.”

It was almost fifteen minutes before I was ready and nodded to myself, “Time for payback!”

The shuttle was twenty meters long and had two smaller lances and ten energy torpedoes. They all fired at once and the Battlecruiser I had been watching shattered and a moment later its hydrogen reactor exploded. I accelerated under the debris and then I was screaming down into the atmosphere. I was almost at the landing site of the launches when three took off.

They had barely left the ground when I engaged them with the lances and five torps. They exploded as more torps ripped past them to shred the fourth shuttle. I was down a minute later and the side hatched opened. Allie’s quiet voice echoed as I started through, “I have control.”

I hit the ground and headed into the find itself. Before I had gone a dozen steps a plasma bloom engulfed my suit. Each suit had a micro phase reactor for power which was unheard of. It was where we had gotten the idea for the reactors on the ship though. The suit had a built in shield generator. Each sleeve had a mini energy torp and a small lance as well as a non lethal stunner and they also each carried a larger torp caltrop.

I ripped the three combat armor suits firing at me apart and continued on. Five more times I was fired on by plasma guns or rail projectiles. When I shattered the door for the site and stepped through I stopped. Three lightly armored men were firing light pulse guns as I stared at the body of my father and two of his friends. I tore two apart with the lance and the third hastily threw his weapon down, “I surrender!”

I was tempted to kill him anyway but I wanted answers. I turned on my exterior speaker, “Who sent you and why?”

He stammered his name and rank before shutting up. I gestured to the torn apart body that had been my father, “That is my father, I will only ask once more. Who and why?”

His face paled and he looked around for a way out. When he did not see any he swallowed, “Marshal Thomas. He said you were working on some type of new chemical weapon.”

I checked my visor display and used a sonic stunner. I moved passed him into what I knew was the find. The sight of almost two thousand dead, torn apart by battle suits sickened me. I did not want to go any closer but I had to find my girls. I did find them and some times wish I had not. Eventually I did find survivors, almost two hundred.

I used one of my suit lance’s to rip a huge hole in the ground and we buried everyone. After getting a statement the one man I had captured was put to death for mass murder. I let the survivors use my biosphere and went back to work on the phase reactors aboard Night Scream. I sat with the survivors in the evenings and showed them how to use the factory ship which distracted them as much as helped them.

It was another few weeks before I finally got the reactors online and balanced. The amount of shear power was amazing. I left for Miros quietly two weeks after that. I had thought about it after things had calmed down and had decided that I would find this Marshal Thomas.

Chapter 2

I slipped out of the wormhole on the edge of the system and set course for the third planet. I switched on the com, “Fleet control, this is the starship Night Scream.”

I waited for the delay and watched as my active scans showed two battleships and four battlecruiser heading towards me. The comm came to life, “Night Scream, this is fleet control. State your allegiance and your home system.”

I smiled, “I am a citizen of Grer.”

There was another long pause and I saw my combat scan flash red. The warships had targeted my ship and I waited until the comm came back on, “Night Scream, state the nature of your ship.”

I snorted, “Fleet control, Night Scream is a warship.”

This time another voice came on, “Night Scream, this is the battleship Grendal. Come to a full stop and prepare for boarders.”

I looked straight at the display, “Grendal, this ship and its contents are classified eyes only. Do you have a flag officer that can meet me?”

There was a long pause while I brought the ship to a sudden stop that would be ringing bells, “Stand by Night Scream.”

Grendal came back on the comm a minute later, “A shuttle is on its way. You can speak to Admiral Peters when he boards.”

“Thank you Grendal.”

I looked at the glowing display that represented Allie, “Allie, light up the starboard docking hatch.”

Her display blinked, “Done my husband.”

I shook my head and headed towards the hatch. I knew when the shuttled docked, the whole ship shivered. The hatch cycled open and two armed men stood looking at me and started to step into the ship. I raised my hand, “You are not an admiral and you are not authorized to enter.”

They ignored me and kept moving only to freeze as my pistol stopped moving pointed at them. They did not even twitch as another man moved forward. He wore the uniform I recognized as an admiral, “Drawing a weapon on an imperial soldier is punishable by death.”

I smiled, “Entering a restricted eyes only area without permission or need to know is punishable by death.”

He looked at me and his lips twitched, “You have a point.”

I holstered my weapon and he nodded and gestured for the two men to step back, “I am Admiral Peters.”

I held out my hand and he shook it, “Captain Charles Knight.”

He looked at me and I smiled, “Allie close the hatch after the admiral and monitor the shuttle.”

Allie’s quiet voice startled the admiral, “Yes my husband.”

I shrugged, “Now I can show you to the galley and explain a little about why we are here.”

He nodded and I led the way while Allie closed the hatch. I used the synthesizer for two cups of coffee and sat across the table from the admiral. I took a sip while he did the same and cleared my throat, “first I am here because of what happened at home.”

The admiral did not even blink as he continued to look at me. I kept looking at him, “We had a Talis Battlecruiser destroy all the biospheres in orbit before launching assault shuttles to the planet. They killed seventeen hundred and ninety two unarmed civilians. I am here to see if you know the location of a Marshal Thomas. I want to return him to Grer for questioning and trail.”

He shifted and finally sighed before pulling a small comm device out, “Grendal this is Admiral Peters.”

There was a short pause, “Is everything okay sir?”

He chuckled, “I am fine. Patch me through to Admiral George.”

It was only a couple of minutes before… “What do you have out there Henry?”

The admiral kept looking at me, “A request for assistance in locating Marshal Thomas.”

There was a delay and then, “You know that is classified.”

Admiral Peters gave me a small smile, “You know his location is always changing. Captain Knight is here trying to find Marshal Thomas on a matter related to a mass murder in Grer.”

There was another delay, this one longer. Finally, “Our last report was that he was en route to Petel, but you know he will only be there a few days.”

I stood up, “In that case I need to get going.”

Admiral Peters sighed, “Captain Knight, it is a seven day trip to Petel. I had him tell you to show that there was very little possibility of you catching Marshal Thomas.”

I only looked at him, “I can be in Petel in four and a half days.”

He looked at me in surprise and I gestured for him to follow me. I led him back towards the starboard hatch, “Allie, open the hatch for the admiral. Plot a least time course to Petel and have it ready for me on the bridge.”

“Yes my husband.”

The admiral was quiet as he stepped through the hatch and turned to look at me, “You are not going to have a chance. You do know that don’t you?”

I looked into his eyes, “They tore my father and my wives apart. I will either take him into custody or kill him.”

I hesitated, “My mother teaches at the royal college. Tell her dad is dead.”

I closed the hatch and turned to walk back to the bridge. I felt the shuttle separate before I reached it and slid into my seat. Allie had the nav display up, showing her route. I checked everything and hit the comm, “Fleet control this is Night Scream. Thank you for your help. We are leaving on a direct course for Petel. Please keep traffic clear of our route.”

I brought up the drive and pushed it to max. I knew fleet control and every fleet ship was going to have bells and alarms going off since we were moving faster than any known vehicle could. We reached the heliopause minutes later and I opened the wormhole projectors and switched to jump drives. I sat back with a sigh, “Watch the systems Allie. I am headed to the shuttle bay to check out my combat suit and the shuttle.”

There was a pause, “Are you sure this is a good idea Charles?”

I smiled as I slid out of my chair, “Probably not. We will find him and bring him back if possible.”

The next four days were spent in quiet talk as I checked and prepped my combat suit and the assault shuttle. We came out of the wormhole on the edge of the heliopause. I switched on the stealth systems and headed in system at max. My passive scans had picked up six battleships, eight Battlecruisers, six heavy and six light cruisers and twelve destroyers, “Allie, look for fixed positions.”

“Yes my husband.”

It only took three hours to reach the fourth planet. I had pre plotted firing sequences for both fixed sites and any ship within range of our weapons. I made sure the battle screen was up along with the shield and shut down the stealth systems. I hit the comm, “Petel control, this is Night Scream. I am in high orbit and would like to speak with Marshal Thomas.”

There was a long silence before, “Enemy ship this is Talis fleet control, surrender now or we will destroy your ship.”

I only smiled, “Turn over Marshal Thomas and I will not destroy your fleet.”

All the ship alarms went off as they started targeting the ship. I glanced at the display and hit the fire button. Sixty energy torps fired as one as well as all six lances. While they started firing on my preplanned targets, I used the phase transmitter and destroyed all six battleships that were heading towards me.

Two minutes later the alarms were silent as all the close targets were destroyed. I put Night Scream back in stealth, “Monitor the comm traffic Allie. Let me know if you hear Marshal Thomas.”

It was a couple of hours before Allie told me she had the Marshal. There were several ships in range of my weapons and I fired. I watched as they exploded or shattered and slid out of my seat and headed for the shuttle bay, “Stay in stealth mode and monitor me from orbit.”

I suited up and made my way aboard the shuttle, “Remote access the shuttle and back me up Allie. Put the Marshal’s location on my display.”

I brought up my own remote access in my suit and undocked. I dropped away unpowered and then brought the shuttle to life. I took it to full power as I brought up the shields. Dropping into the atmosphere, Allie started adding sites that were highlighted in red. Meaning they were active weapon sites.

I brought the shuttle weapons online and started taking out sites, including a dispatch ship at the space port. After my third pass, I dropped to what looked like a small park. I moved to the hatch as the shuttle settled to the ground, “Take the shuttle into stealth and keep me up on any military moving in this area”
I dropped out of the hatch and started moving towards the green dot that was Marshal Thomas. Allie came on five minutes later, “My husband, I have a bio lock on the Marshal. I am sending it to your suit now.”

It was barely a minute later that I hit resistance. I did not hesitate and used my suit torp caltrop. It was a blur after that as I shattered every piece of armor that tried to engage me. I had landed two kilometers from where Allie had the Marshal located and it seemed to take forever to cover the distance. I shattered the front of the bunker as I walked towards it and let the caltrop drop to the rest position.

I walked through the smoking ruin and used my suit lance to open a thick armored door. There were a dozen combat suits firing at me as I walked through. By the time I finished taking them out, my shield was glowing even though it was only down ten percent, “My husband, I have multiple shuttle launches heading towards you.”

I used a lance to open the next armored door, “Thank you Allie.”

As I stepped into the next room several things hit me. First, everyone except three people was wearing unpowered body armor. Second, the three people not in armor had weapons held against them. Third, there was no other way out except through the door I was standing in. A richly dressed man stepped out, “Surrender or we kill them.”

I did not even hesitate, I brought up my stunner and shot all three unarmed people. As they dropped to the floor a stunned silence sweep the room. I pointed one of my lances at the man standing there with his mouth open, “Marshal Thomas I am detaining you for mass murder.”

Several of the men fired their weapons and I swept the room with torps. I shot the Marshal with my stunner and moved to pick him up by the back of his armor. I turned and started walking back the way I had come, “Allie? Where are the shuttles now?”

“Just reentering atmosphere now. ETA, ten minutes.”

I kept walking, dragging the Marshal behind me as I left the building and brought my caltrop up with one hand. Do you have anything on the ground?”

“Negative.”

I was halfway back to the shuttle when the assault shuttles swept over me. I had to smile as I realized they were landing further away. I approached the park, “Allie, sync the battle screen with my suit shield and bring the shuttle out of stealth.”

There was a shimmer and then the shuttle was suddenly right before me. The hatch opened and I went through tossing the unconscious Marshal into the tangle field I had prepared. I strapped in and put the shuttle back into stealth. I lifted and turned in one smooth move and then accelerated towards the upper atmosphere. Allie brought up a ghost display and guided me toward Night Scream.

A grav tractor reached out to grab us and suddenly we were slipping through the stealth field of Night Scream. I had seen over a dozen ships in near orbit before the bay doors closed. It was only moments before the bay pressure was synced and the hatch opened. I quickly stripped out of my armor and then shut the tangle field down.

I grabbed the groggy form of the Marshal and stripped him out of his armor and pulled him after me as I headed towards the sick bay. In the sick bay I stripped him and pushed him into the nearest stasis tube. I made my way to the bridge and slid into my chair, “Plot a course for Grer Allie.”
“Yes my husband.”

I checked the scans to see all the ships running active scans. I quickly set up a fire plan and as I turned the ship towards the outer system, I fired everything. All the remaining ships in Petel exploded or just shattered as I started accelerating at full speed. Allie cleared her throat, “Check your display for the new course.”

I glanced down and smiled as I realized I was heading out on the wrong vector, “Thank you my wife.”

Allie was quiet for a long time and then almost whispered, “Your welcome Charles.”

We hit the heliopause and opened a wormhole out. I did not see the small scout ship that came alive after the wormhole closed behind me. It sped into deep space and then another wormhole opened and it to was gone. I was tempted to drag Marshal Thomas out and question him but waited.

It took six and a half days to get to Grer. By the time I opened the hatch on the shuttle that brought us down to the surface the Marshal was begging and pleading for me to turn him over to the Mariss fleet. All the survivors were waiting as I pushed him to the edge of the mass grave. I let them question him under a truth scanner and when they were done he was shot in the head.

They pulled him away from the grave and dropped him in a hole to rot. I guess that was when it really hit me that my girls… my best friends and companions, were really gone. I retreated to Night Scream and had Allie put her into stealth.

I did not want to talk to anyone and only came out of my retreat when a squadron of cruisers crossed the heliopause. It took a minute to realize they were Mariss and I went back to brooding. The cruisers were in system for a week before they headed out and Allie got a call.

Chapter 3

It was the survivors and they said they knew I wanted to be left alone but I needed to get off my butt and do something so this never happened again. They kept repeating it and finally it broke through. I was sitting in Olivia’s hydroponics section tearing leaves apart and finally stopped moving, “Allie?”

There was a silent wait before she answered quietly, “Yes my husband?”

I smiled, “I need a holo board and interface.”

“Of course my husband.”

The board dropped into my hands and I thought for a minute, “Allie, display a common bio of a mixture of Jess, Teri, Julie and Olivia.”

The small holo display filled with a composite of all four girls. I concentrated on what I was doing and tuned everything out, “Change the hair color to a strawberry color and increase the bust slightly to match Olivia.”

It did not really look like Olivia or for that matter any one of the girls, “Darken the skin slightly, a bronze color.”

I smiled at the results and nodded, “That is good. What do you think?”

“She looks very pretty.”

I could almost hear a note of envy in her voice. I nodded to myself and went to work. First I pulled the skeleton out, “I need a composite to replace the bone. Something a little stronger than natural bone, it also needs to be as light or lighter in weight.”

I went through each and every system of the human body, replacing it with lighter and stronger composites. Last was the brain and I had thought about this very carefully. I just used the interface to draw what my mind saw, it was like an AI core but with a triple redundant phase receiver transmitter.

I sat back looking at the girl in my display, “Allie, would you analyze it for me?”

I grinned as she made her throat clearing noise, “Everything looks good but without…”

I held up my hand, “You will notice she has vocal cords.”

“Yes my husband but…”

I kept looking at the display, “Could you remotely access and use it?”

There was a long pronounced pause and finally, “Yes. I… I could access it but I would need time to learn.”

I smiled and my whole body seemed to relax, “Allie, all humans learn how to use their bodies over time. You are one of us, you call me your husband. Well, if you want I can give you a body.”

There was a longer pause then before. Allie came back quiet and almost timid, “I would like that very much my husband.”

I smiled and stood up, “Lock this into memory, name it Allie and get me a shopping list. You can put my holo board back in the workshop. Let me know if I can find everything here. I am going to get cleaned up and then we are going to Miros.”

“Yes my husband.”

I walked out of hydroponics feeling better than I had in a long time. I took a long shower and changed into clean clothes before heading towards the bridge, “Take us out of stealth Allie.”

I slid into my chair, “How is the shopping list look?”

“Everything you need is here, my husband.”

I started checking the course to Miros, “Unless it belongs to someone, bring it aboard and put it in the workshop.”

It was several minutes before an excited Allie came back, “Everything is waiting for you.”

I nodded and turned the ship onto the course and headed out system. Hours later we wormholed out and I stood up, “Keep an eye on the systems Allie.”

I headed aft and went to the workroom. I took a breath and brought the large display alive. I loaded the project listed as Allie and spent several minutes reviewing it. When I was satisfied, I fed it to the matter transmitter. It was a few minutes before the body appeared from the glow on my workbench.

I reached out to touch her, “Allie before you access your body, I want you to listen. This body is like a human body. Once you access it, you have to leave part of yourself in place, if you do not the body dies. You will find yourself in chaos. You will have trouble seeing, speaking, controlling your muscles and especially walking.”

I stepped back, “You will have to eat, drink and use the bathroom to get rid of waste. Until you have control I will have to help you feed and dispose of waste. You have to start with simple muscle movement, crawling and holding onto things to stand. From there you can move on to balancing on your feet and learning to walk or run.”

I took a breath, “Whenever you are ready, access your body.”

The body twitched and the ship speakers whined, “Charles I… I….”

I put my hand on the twitching body, “Relax Allie, let the chaos go and concentrate on one thing at a time. Use your ship sensors to watch what the body is doing.”

The body’s twitching slowed but its crocking continued. I smiled, “Allie, start with the letters of the alphabet. Try to pronounce each one clearly.”

I put my arms under her and lifted. I carried her light frame through the ship to the galley. I needed to get her to eat, I put her in a chair and she almost fell out. I finally set her on the floor and leaned her back against a wall while I considered. It took me almost a half hour to mash up some food to feed her. I described a diaper to Allie and had her make a few.

I left her briefly to check Olivia’s room for clothes and returned to put a shirt and pair of loose pants on. I carried her to the sick bay where I found a hover chair. I secured her to the chair and things seemed to calm down slightly. For the next five days I was constantly with her. She slept or at least lay beside me while I slept, everywhere I went, she went.

By the time we left the wormhole on the edge of Miros, Allie was walking in minimal gravity and was able to speak. Best for me was the fact that she no longer needed diapers, although I was still feeding her while she learned to eat. Her vision had improved dramatically and even though she had not gotten it down completely she was calmer.

She was seated slightly behind me as I brought the ship to a stop and opened the comm, “Fleet control, this is Night Scream.”

There was a pause as I watched ships scramble to meet us, “Night Scream, this is Fleet control.”

I smiled, “Fleet control, I would like to set course for Miros.”

Again the pause while I saw all but one ship turn away, “Stand by Night Scream.”

A moment later, “Night Scream, this is Grendal.”

I grinned, “How may I assist you Grendal?”

There was only a slight lag, “Admiral Peters requests permission to come aboard.”

I smiled as a shuttle separated from the battleship as it still closed, “Ask the admiral if he would consider having lunch with me.”

A moment later they came back, “The admiral said he would be delighted.”

I locked the controls down and stood to help Allie into her chair, “Kept an eye on things Allie.”

She smiled, “yes my husband.”

Those had been her first words from her body and I smiled as I heard the slight blur. She followed in her chair as I headed towards the starboard hatch, “Light up the starboard hatch Allie.”

Today she was wearing a stunning ship suit she had designed herself. I liked the way it looked even if she did have a habit of wearing reveling clothes like Julie and Jess. This time when the hatch opened there was only the admiral and another officer, a captain by his uniform. The admiral smiled, “This is Captain Janis, he is the captain of Grendal.”

I nodded and stepped back. The admiral stepped through and looked at Allie, “Who is this young lady?”

I smiled, “My wife Allie.”

He smiled and bowed, “My pleasure to meet you.”

The captain bowed as well and Allie smiled. I gestured and led the way to the galley. While they sat, I selected tea from the synthesizer and set their cups on the table before sitting beside Allie. She was still having trouble with hot or cold foods so I always tested hers before giving them to her. I ignored the two men and checked her tea, it was something she had developed a taste for.

I held it so she could sip and then set her cup down to look at the admiral, “I get the impression this is not a social call.”

He smiled and took a sip of tea before sighing, “No. We have the report of your… arrest of Marshal Thomas. It shocked and frightened quit a few people.”

I sipped my tea and gave Allie another sip before looking at him. I shrugged, “What can I say, I told you what I would do. I even warned you that this ship and its systems were… classified.”

The captain chuckled, “That is an understatement. Six battleships, eight Battlecruisers, six heavy and six light cruisers and twelve destroyers, not to mention all the fixed weapons.”

I let Allie have another sip of tea before standing and moving to the synthesizer. I pulled up the holo menu and looked at my two visitors. I selected appetizers and went back to the table to set them down and Allie smiled, “I like those.”

I grinned, “You have not tasted them before, how do you know you like them?”

She only looked at me, “Because they were Julie’s favorite.”

I sighed, she did this sometime, “You know what I told you. You have to taste something before you decide to like it. Just because Julie liked something, does not mean you will.”

Allie only looked at the appetizers, “please.”

I took one of the small spicy rolls and broke off a piece to feed her. I ignored the men again as they tried the rolls, she chewed slowly and carefully. I could see her expression change and let her sip her tea. She looked at me, “That was spicy?”

I nodded and turned to the admiral, “I was considering helping your fleet against the Talis but since I was born in Grer, I would need his majesty to… approve my alliance. I will also have to send a formal declaration of war to Talis.”

The admiral and captain looked at each other while I went back to helping Allie with another piece of spicy roll. It was quiet for several minutes until I went back to the synthesizer. I selected a small cold salad and brought them to the table. After the salad was a soup and then a main course of what looked like small steak. After that was small individual loaves of a special flavored bread and cheese. Last was small globes of fruit in a light pastry, I made sure to change the drinks every other course.

The admiral and captain stayed quiet the whole time and only watched amused as Allie ate each of the dishes. When we were done they sat back with a sigh as I gathered the last of the dishes and put them in the recycler. I turned to the admiral, “So, are you going to let me go to Miros?”

He grinned, “After feeding me a meal like that, how could I turn you away?”

The captain laughed, “I do not know how your machine made it but it was the best meal I have had in a long time.”

I led them back to the hatch and watched as it closed after them. Allie cleared her throat from a display speaker, “They seemed nice.”

I snorted as I turned to head to the bridge, “They were evaluating us the entire time. Speaking of time, time for you to go exercise and burn some of that meal off.”

Allie turned the chair and headed towards the gym and I slid into my seat, “Fleet control, this is Night Scream, permission to proceed to Miros.”

There was only a pause of a couple of seconds before they came back, “Night Scream, you are cleared to Miros. Contact Miros orbital control when you are ready.”

I switched the comm channel as I started the ship moving, “Miros orbital control, this is Night Scream.”

There was the expected delay, “Night Scream, this is orbital control. Maintain approach vector and recontact us at ten light minutes.”

I pushed the acceleration up to sixty percent and sat back. It would be almost six hours before I had to recontact orbital control. I turned on a remote display to watch Allie and grinned at her gliding steps, “You need to turn up the gravity slightly Allie.”

She hesitated and then started walking again. I could see the difference in her steps, she took longer to lift her feet and take a step. I grinned, “You should learn martial arts like Jess. It stretches the muscles and can help with your balance.”

Allie looked at the display, “I had not thought of that.”

I grinned, “us mortals sometimes think of things you do not.”

She smiled her sweet smile as she paused and closed her eyes before slowly bending in a stretch. I flipped off the display and sat back to think. I finally flipped the comm button and switched to the planetary net, “Miros central, this is Night Scream. Could you put a request into the palace for a contact concerning an alliance with Grer?”

There was a lag and then, “Night Scream, a request has already been sent in by admiral Peters.”

I grinned, “Thank you central.”

I switched back to orbital control and relaxed. Allie came in several hours later and moved up beside my chair, “My husband?”

I smiled as I looked at her, “Yes Allie.”

She looked at me and spoke slowly, “why have you not… made love to me like you did with Julie, Jess, Teri and Olivia?”

I sat back and frowned, “For one reason, you do not have control of your body completely. For another… I did not want to take advantage of you.”

She kept looking at me, “When will…”

I stopped her as my face reddened, “Allie, you are my wife. When you are ready, we will make love. Your body is as real as any woman’s. The only thing you can not do is reproduce like another woman. Just sleeping with me comforts me more than you know. Did you know that when the girls were alive, Olivia used to sleep on me when she knew I felt bad? Being with me keeps the sadness away.”

She smiled and seemed to relax. I smiled, “You know we are almost on Miros. I was thinking about going to a play or a nice symphony.