Chapter Eighty Four - Ties of Twins

Myha Welhaven was the second daughter of the Welhaven household. Her father was a politician and her mother could only be considered a 'politician's wife.' The man was fairly influential and his wife a stunning beauty who was the perfect display piece and example of a refined lady. Myha had two brothers, one who was following his father's footsteps and becoming a politician and the other was learning planetary management as the world they were raised on was owned by the Welhaven's. Myha also had an older sister.

Jezmi Welhaven took after her mother in terms of beauty and there were no end of offers for her hand in wedlock, after all ties to a wealthy, influential house and holding the arm of a stunning woman were double the temptations. However, Jezmi was having none of that. This raven haired fey, with long legs and the figure that was the envy of many a socialite would not be bound by any planetside man. She was destined to fly amongst the stars. So despite protests from her father, she joined the space military and began to work through the ranks to finally be granted her own ship and the title of Captain.

Myha could not live up to her family's standards of beauty, in fact she was quite plain of face and of average height and figure. Her one redeeming feature was her long, silver-white hair, inherited from a distant grandmother and only revealing itself in her. She still felt that it appeared out of place on her head. Were it not for her hair, however, she would have been nothing but a wallflower.

One of the many men seeking her father's favour and her sister's hand was Aldon Krause, a handsome and stunning man who happened to be a high power within the military and seeking to be within government. Realistically, the Empire might have an Emperor and a government, but the true power lie in the hands of the military. That is why, unlike most of the men coming to him, Mr Welhaven took Aldon's proposal seriously. However, he could not offer him Jezmi's hand in wedlock, when the girl had flittered off to God knows where, so introduced him to Myha.

For Myha, it was love at first sight. The dark haired man before her was very handsome, though in a slightly detached way, with cold lines and little warmth in his black eyes. He was not particularly broad nor physically strong looking, but his aura declared him to be powerful. In an age where people sought psionic strength beyond the physical, he was a potent package. Aldon did not look so pleased, but accepted the arranged marriage with Myha and the two were wed in a small, private ceremony.

He was not the only person to not be happy with the marriage. Aldon had a little sister, Haellen Krause and she had always believed that due to the absence of a mother, she would be the one to chose Aldon's bride. She had cultivated several relationships with young women at the college she attended, each very beautiful, very talented, from good families and fairly grateful that she was giving them her grace. So Haellen was most displeased that her efforts had gone to waste when her older brother had suddenly returned home with a bride! A plain Jane at that!

Haellon took an instant dislike to Myha and belittled her whenever the chance arose.

"It is shame that your hair doesn't take to dye, at least if it were a plainer colour it would match you better and you wouldn't be so obvious at social gatherings."

"It is a good job you were born a Welhaven, otherwise who would wed someone so plain and talentless."

"Cannot even offer a guest Darjeeling tea, what sort of wife are you." No mention that the husband hates Darjeeling.

Of course she never spoke these words in front of her beloved brother, always perfectly sweet and caring when in his presence, so Myha simply had to endure.  But it was difficult, especially when after five years of marriage, she had failed to conceive.

"Your only task in this life is to produce children for my brother and you cannot even do that!  Pitiful.  It is a wonder Aldon does not divorce you and takes a better suited woman as wife!"

After the miscarriage, the taunts became worse and more frequent, especially as Aldon was away from home after joining a charity convoy to aid those suffering planetary disasters for his governing campaign.  Finally, after one passing night with her husband, she had conceived once more and carried the foetus to three months successfully, before seeking medical confirmation.  What she was told, began to break her.

"They share a sac," the doctor had informed her.  "I am sorry, there is nothing I can do."

Twins.  Identical twins.  It was very rare and very unfortunate.  Multiple pregnancies usually lead to abortions, just as with foetuses showing signs of disabilities that would hinder a normal life.  Generally, women could abort extra foetuses, leaving their bodies to carry just one child. It was the norm.  However, in the case of identical twins or even triplets, the babies shared a placenta and occasionally even the same waters, so they could only be aborted as one.

And then there was the other issue with identical children.  Just as they shared a close bond physically, they shared a closer bond mentally.  Whether they were talented psychically or not, they would be able to communicate with their twin as if they were.  They also shared the same feelings, emotions, pain and pleasure.  Even their lifespans would be the same.

"They cannot even be separated for long periods of time," Doc told Sly as they placed the babies into a makeshift cot.  It was actually the draw of a filing cabinet, but they had nothing else on hand.  "I'm not sure what this woman was thinking when she decided to carry the boys to term and of course now we will never know."

The woman's body had been treated fairly, especially considering she was a stranger to them.  However, her warning had come at an opportune moment, saving countless Pirates from being blown out of the sky or imprisoned.  They placed it in a preserving casket and jettisoned it into space, so she could sleep amongst the stars.  To a pirate, this was a form of honour.

"I still don't get it," the First Mate admitted.  He hadn't been born in the Empire and he had met a few twins in Alliance space across the border where he was raised.  None of them were identical, admittedly.

"In the Empire," The Doc explained, "extraneous embryos are aborted for the sake of the mother.  In the case of identical foetuses, they aborted for the sake of the children.  These two boys can never be apart from the other.  If one falls, the other will feel it.  If one has relations, the other will know and experience it as well.  Can you even imagine the lack of privacy or how a woman would feel knowing her body is pleasuring two men?  She would also always be secondary to his brother.  And when one dies, so will the other.  Both will always have to be wary of hurting themselves as they will hurt the other.  It's a very complicated situation for them, a hurdle that they now must endure."

Looking at the two, adorable sleeping boys, Sly decided that he still couldn't get it.  Still, he'd never been a smart one, he was probably only First Mate as Swab didn't want the extra responsibility of the job.  He was glad, though, when the Captain decided that they would keep the boys, Hall had even revealed that he had a small stash of formula in stock, preparing for the day Song dropped one, apparently.

"Did the Captain decide what to name them?" Doc asked.  He was the man in charge of the ship, so officially the Guardian of the two boys as well, whether he wanted to be or not.

"Law and Luck," Sly shrugged.  They were more nick than name, but no one questioned the Captain.

"Law and Luck," The Doc repeated with a soft whisper, stroking the older then younger boy upon the cheek in turn.

"Er...?  Can you tell them apart?" Sly asked.

"A little," Doc admitted.  "But only as Luck is a crybaby.  Look, his little nose is still red.  Give them a few years and I doubt anyone on board will be able to."

Sly nodded, sagely.

*****

Elsewhere, an angry woman was storming about the war room in a rage.  All of those Pirates had slipped through their grasp and there was not a single dust trail of any of them.  She had prepared months in advance for this operation and all for nothing!  It did not look good on her squeaky clean records and her superiors were very unhappy with her.  All she could fathom was that there was a mole amongst them, someone who had leaked out the details, let the Pirates know that they were coming for them.  But for the life of her, they could not find hide nor hair of the culprit and were left standing in front of a wall as far as the investigation was concerned.

She flopped about in one of the chairs and began to wonder how her sister was doing.  It had been a couple of weeks since she last spoke to her, but she had been busy with the operation and had cut their conversation short.  Her sister was due to give birth to her first child soon, but did not look as excited she thought she would.  The woman wondered if that bitch of a sister-in-law had anything to do with it.  With a sigh, she decided she would visit her sister, offer her support.  There was little more she could do here.  Until they got word of another Pirate hotspot, they would have to rock back on their heels or just do some old fashioned hunting; scour the skies until they lucked out!

"Captain!" One of her subordinates dared to snap her out of her daze.

Jezmi Welhaven let loose a grunt of dissatisfaction and went back to work.

Author's note; This arc has a mix of science and science fiction as fact, plus certain things like choice abortions are the view of the characters/galaxy, not the view of the author. If there are those that find this topic upsetting, I apologise in advance, but it was deemed necessary for this arc.