Chapter 10.2 - Adaptation

There was still a lot of resentment to work through when dealing with those Asian nations under them, but the consensus was that everybody regardless of status was getting food, energy, resources, and protection. The hope that in the near future these countries would soon be independent helped to smooth over issues and get people thinking about how they could benefit the whole.

The largest thorn came by way of the Peoples Republic of China. To be fair to the communist state; Japan, who held a fellow Councilmember Representative, hadn't exactly been an advocate of fair treatment to their fellow Asiatic cultures. The deligates the Councilman had brought along were there specifically because of this issue. They explained to Micheal that China was doing everything within their considerable power to cause hinderances to any plans the Japan lead contingent were pushing forward. It came then as quite a shock that Micheal waved dismissively in the middle of their shpiel and told them that, "It would be handled."

Neither much liked the tone of dismissal they were being tarred with. They seemed about to argue but realised where they were and who they were sitting with and wisely shut up about it. After the meal, Takeshi reached out to hold Jennifer's hand before he turned to the assembled group and announced that they were getting married. The other diners broke out in applause while Aki, Rin, and Kat squealed and ran to hug their parents. There were jests and congratulations all around. Michael got some ribbing for not marrying anyone yet despite the beauties he hung out with. He smiled politely, not expecting people to understand what it was he and his girls shared.

Then, Jennifer surprised even Takeshi when she burst out with, "... and I'm pregnant. They just confirmed it this morning." Takeshi looked stunned and he shot a quick glance at his daughters to see if they held any resentment.

He needn't have worried though as the twins were dancing around in circles, hugging each other at the prospect of a baby sister to spoil and dote on. Slowly a smile spread across his face as he allowed himself to feel joy in a part of himself he'd closed off since the death of his first wife. Not prone to showing much outward emotion, he nevertheless jumped up and grabbed hold of his fiancée and spun her around in a circle laughing and crying as he celebrated the happiest day of his life.

Michael and Kat shared a look. After the invasion, when all of their parents had made it clear that they weren't going to stay aboard the Intrepid, Michael had given them all the nanite enhancements, though he had been vague beyond calling them anything other than supplements. The couple wouldn't have gotten pregnant unless both of them had truly wanted a baby. Michael was curious to see how the kid would turn out and made a notation to get with Pandora to do some digging. He would look for the safest options concerning the nanites, not wanting to turn the child into a science experiment.

As the merriment wound down, Takeshi looked like he'd been struck and turned pale as an idea hit him. Rin, ever the smart and observant one, noticed and grabbed her father, dragging him out of the dining room. Once they were alone, she slammed him against the wall.

"Now you listen to me," She demanded of her wide eyed father. "You are not going to let your fears ruin this."

"But-"

"NO!" Rin yelled, cutting him off before he could dig himself into the hole she knew he would. "You know how powerful Micheal is, do you really think he would ever let something like that happen to someone important to him?"

Takeshi frowned, his aged features working through the hidden meaning that Rin was hinting towards. "What are you saying? How can he ensure something that risky?"

Rin openly scoffed, rolling her eyes. She was about to scold him for being so naïve but caught the open expression of desperation she'd never seen in her father. Reaching up she put her arms around her father and rested her cheek against the lapel of his suit jacket. Surprised at the rapid flip in aggression, the Japanese Councilmember moved woodenly to clap a hand through her silky tresses.

"Micheal loves us father," Rin whispered. "I know its hard to explain, but he does. You're important to Aki and me, so you're important to him." Rin felt the tension build in his slight frame and worried what it would mean but when she looked up, she saw the watery sheen building in his gold-flecked brown eyes. "Micheal gave us nanites, tiny robots that will make sure we're always healthy and safe. He gave them to you and Jennifer too."

"If she ever has difficulty, she'll have the best doctors humanity can offer..., though I don't think she 'can' get into trouble with Pandora watching over us all." She smiled at that and nodded her head to confirm it. "There isn't even the slightest chance Jennifer will die during child birth," She continued in a firm tone. "It won't be like mother and you will NOT diminish the happiness you two felt with your fears."

Takeshi stammered a moment, mouth working to try and process everything his brain and heart was telling him. It only ended when he searched his daughters eyes and in them the bone deep assurance she felt for Micheal shone.

He swallowed, blinked away the remaining unshed tears and pushed a smile to his lips. "Your mother would be so proud," He eventually said. "And so am I."

They talked for a minute or two longer, he had a number of questions about the nanites and was delighted to hear that he could communicate with his daughters whenever he wanted to.

* * * * *

Stacey Whitmore trekked up the ramp leading towards the Intrepid the second and last day it was stopped at Tokyo. She stepped through the open hatch into the reception area and saluted the vessel. 'Really need to get with Aki and Rin to come up with a flag for Michael if he's going to insist on being separate from the Council,' She thought

After checking-in at a desk and updating her shipboard tablet, she walked towards the hatch leading to the interior of the ship. Her heart fluttered as she saw Michael and her friends waiting for her. He had a slight grin on his face, his arms crossed while he leaned against the bulkhead. She willed her face not to heat up and told herself that she had waited long enough.

Throwing her duffel over her shoulder, securing it to her back, she marched up to Michael and gave him her best hurt look, saying flatly, "They assigned me my own cabin."

Michael chuckled. "Well, I did want to at least give you the option to..." He trailed off as Stacey folded her arms against her chest and fixed him with an impatient glare. He didn't know what he found more attractive about the olive-skinned brunette: the cute, determined expression on her face or the way her arms raised and presented him with two glorious shapely mounds that looked like they would burst from beneath her blouse.

Michael took a moment to congratulate himself on his choice when they were designing the dress uniforms for the crew. It accentuated the wearers figure perfectly. Though, if he was being honest, he had been convinced it was the right decision when Aurora told him Kat's idea of having all the women running around naked. "It would likely decrease the number of female recruits," She had hedged with a crooked grin.

"Ah," Michael finally said, nodding. "Well, it would give me great pleasure to invite you to join me in our-"

"Who said anything about you?" Stacey teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief. She wrapped her arms around Aki. "Maybe I just wanted to be close to my girlfriends here." As she said 'close,' she gave Aki's boobs a playful prod, drawing a giggle from the smaller girl.

"Atta girl," Aurora grinned, "Don't make it too easy for him." Kat, draped around Michael, just smiled wolfishly at Stacey and gave her a hungry look. Rin gave Stacey a hug of her own and Dejah was happy to be adding to her new family.

The seven retired to their suite and Stacey got a look at where she would be spending a considerable amount of her time in the coming days. Having never visited Michael's rooms before, she let out a gasp of astonishment when she saw the bath complex. Rin and Aki quickly stripped out of their clothes and splashed into the steaming hot water. Clearly there wasn't a need for swimwear and any scepticism Stacey had about her friends 'complete' openness with one another went out the window.

Kat stepped behind their new sister and wrapped her arms around her, pulling at the buttons of her dress uniform. She nipped Stacey's ear and then there was a rush for everyone to get naked and join the twins. Stacey stumbled to a halt as she caught a glimpse of the 'size' of Michael's..., nakedness and her mouth dropped open. Kat smirked and startled the poor girl by giving her a hard smack on her ass. "Close your mouth or we'll find something to fill it with," She murmured in Stacey's ear, causing the younger girl to blush furiously.

Michael ran and dove into the pool of water, wrapping his arms around both of the twins trim waists, hauling them along with him as he came up. Shrieking Aki and Rin beat on his back as he carried them one over each shoulder. He spun around and dunked them repeatedly until Dejah came to their rescue, tackling him and driving all four underwater, distracting him long enough for the petite Asian nymphs to get away.

As they relaxed and lounged around they discussed how the new recruits were coming along, what the planet's defence situation looked like, and design ideas for a flag. Michael asked Pandora to give a rundown of any problems that had come up. She told them about numerous underground complexes around the world that were sprouting up with the purpose to construct their own Artificial Intelligences to close the gap on Michael's organization.

As Michael had given her permission to use a 'Scorched-Earth' policy regarding such matters, she confirmed that the lab facilities involved were destroyed, any evidence leading to them was removed, any work that came as a result of them was deleted, and the human backers were killed to dissuade others from having similar ideas. Pandora had suggested the policy, showing that when it came down to it, she didn't have humanity's best interest in mind, she had Michaels.

He agreed to allow it for two reasons. The first was completely selfish in that he didn't want to relinquish the advantages he'd wrought. Michael knew it was a slippery slope, but he simply wasn't comfortable handing the power and control he wielded to somebody else. The 'old guard' nations understood the concept in every respect. They had become and remained world superpowers by developing nuclear weapons and then ensuring that no one else could do the same and threaten their position. With so many new developments occurring, the power had simply shifted to that of gaining knowledge and the ability to process it

The second reason had to do with his concerns of rogue AIs. There was no way to be sure that the scientists and engineers in charge of the development would be as diligent as he in ensuring the AI's loyalty remained secure. As for why Michael deemed it necessary to kill the people involved, he'd decided long ago that he wasn't going to be a 'good' guy. He'd never given anything like Asimov's 'Laws of Robotics' to Pandora.

There was substantial danger in letting them live so he decided he wasn't going to risk it merely because modern humanitarian beliefs said it was the 'right' thing to do. Until such a time as humanity, the nations it consisted of and the Council were all working for the same singular goal as he was, it would only serve to divide. The people of Earth could call him insane, a tyrant, and a villain, but he would endure the labels and survive the critics if it meant his species wouldn't devolve into another Cold War. Besides, the only opinions he cared about were those of the few currently in the room with him.

"On another note," Pandora piped up. "We've started building all of our ships of destroyer-class or larger with Superliminal capabilities based off the B'Amuf technology, which, it turns out, they'd actually stolen themselves. With our reactors it is around 1/3 more effective."

"What does that mean?" Aki asked, resting against Dejah.

"In other words, our fleet could reach the B'Amuf home worlds in a little under six months," Pandora clarified. "Though, there are some scientists aboard that think the fields we developed for the tractor beams hold the key to wormhole technology. However, I predict that a workable drive is a long ways off."

"What do you mean by Superliminal?" Rin perked up. She'd been heavily involved in the development of their previous 'faster-than-light' set-up and put on a playful pout that her sister had kept this a secret.

"We're still using the magnetic forces to instil a minor gravity well on the leading edges of our vessels," Pandora explained, projecting the image into their heads to highlight her point. "But the B'Amuf stolen technology also expands the trailing edge of a ship to give the extra propulsion."

These impromptu meetings in the bath would soon become a daily tradition for the group. It was refreshing to come to the bath after a long day and unwind; to touch base with others about what they were working on. The fact that they were all naked and massaging each other just made it more..., enjoyable.

When they'd had enough of the heat and the tension had gone out of their limbs, they retired to the bedroom and a new tension began to mount. Stacey's breath caught as she glimpsed the size of the bed and any questions she had about where everyone slept were suddenly assuaged. Aurora and Kat each grabbed an arm and pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed. Dejah knelt on the covers behind her and pressed her big furry tits against the girl's back.

Stacey moaned at the blissful softness, never having had the occasion to feel Dejah properly. As the trio nipped and massaged the squirming girl, Aki and Rin moved in front of the group and began a sensual dance that weaved their bodies together in sinful patterns that had Stacey rubbing her legs together and putting up a half-hearted struggle, feverishly working to alleviate her frustrations.

While his beautiful sirens worked to prepare her, Michael prowled around the scene, taking in every angle and trying to burn it into his memory. There was a lull that occurred where Stacey appeared to be powerless to resist the others advances. As if that was the signal, the twins lunged forward and pushed Stacey backwards atop Dejah...

* * * * *

Michael and Kat stood in front of seven floor-to-ceiling vats inside a hidden room aboard the Intrepid known only to them. Staring through the glass into the center two tanks, he could just barely make out their cloned bodies. "Yeah, that's not freakishly disturbing at all..." He commented dryly.

Kat just nodded, eyes glued to her own face, half expecting to see the eyes open. "We need to give Stacey the nanites," She reminded him. "Not much use for her 'reserve' body to be here if Pan can't transfer her consciousness."

"Speaking of which, why did you call us down here, Pan?" Michael asked aloud.

"Well, the bodies are ready, but we still won't know for sure if the process works until we do a transfer and wake them up," Pandora said. "The quickest way to find out is to download into them a copy of everything your consciousness has uploaded to me. Then we measure brain activity, test mental acuity, and try and see if they would make the same decisions as you."

Michael shifted. "The part I'm uncomfortable with is essentially creating a new person whose purpose is to be destroyed after the test is completed. Is there a way to make it so they aren't aware of what's going on?"

There was a mechanical hum from Pandora. "I'll look into it, master. Most of the tests are easily done while the patient is under, but not all of them, and we really want to be sure about this before we leave our solar system."

"Of course, Pan," Kat told her. "Please keep us informed." Together, they left the isolated compartment and made their way back to their quarters. There, they found Dejah reclining in the leather chair and manipulating a holo-projector with her mind. She was surfing the internet, something she found fascinating when she'd first learned of it.

Going through the door leading into the bath they saw Stacey being doted on by Aki and Rin while she recovered from her ordeal. Her upper half was out of the water and the twins were giving her a massage and giggling about something. Michael figured Aurora was on the bridge. He and Kat stripped and joined the little gathering. He had just wedged himself between a pair of tits, contemplating that this must be what paradise felt like, when Pandora contacted them a few seconds before the alarm sounded.

"Ships, master. A little over 200. Not the B'Amuf. I have control of their vessels. One of the probes I sent out was patrolling near where they came into the solar system and I had plenty of time to worm my way in." She announced to his unasked question. "I don't know how long I can hold them though. Many of their systems aren't automated and there have been numerous attempts to remove digital access to much of their machinery. I took the liberty of sending one of the AI-controlled fleets that was in production around the Belt to guard them."

"Tell Aurora I give permission to head towards them. I want everything we have in a cone between us and their fleet formed up on the Intrepid, the defence fleet excluded, they're to take up position around the planet," Michael ordered, getting out of the water to get dressed. The girls rushed to help him. "And I guess we're going to be firing up the Aegis early."

"It will only be able to use 28% of its effective power at this stage," She warned.

Michael shrugged, "Better than nothing."

"Any ideas about who they are?" Kat asked Pandora.

"No, but most of the classes of ships don't show up in the B'Amuf database. Those that do are very old or heavily modified. It almost looks like the fleet was cobbled together from scratch."

"Pirates?" Rin asked.

"It's possible," Pandora replied. "Though, they did say something about coming in peace when I broadcasted the Council of Terra's default visitor message at them. Oh yes, a few of them speak English as well, master."

Michael just shook his head. If this was some prank he'd blow them up just on principle. "Has the Council been notified yet?" He asked, knowing that with the SLM capabilities of the B'Amuf they'd adopted to their communication systems, Pandora could communicate with her probes faster than it would take the light from the Kuiper Belt to reach Earth.

"They'll be waiting for you when you get to the bridge. 'Apparently' our ships can travel much faster than theirs so we'll be taking the lead on this," She remarked.

"Naturally," Kat stated. She glanced at Michael, "We may have to board their ships, as a show of strength if nothing else."

Michael buckled on his sword and shrugged. "Look on the bright side, if we don't make it back our new bodies are already spooling up." Then he gave a roguish grin and gathered her in his arms for what might be their last embrace. After they tried to convey everything they felt for each other in a single kiss, they backed away and turned as one: Michael, to lead an army, and Kat, to be his strength and make sure he never faltered.

* * * * *

JC here. I can't give enough thanks to how much support I've gotten for this story and others. I just wanted to let you all know that Path of the Necromancer - Origins is now available on Amazon. Link here:

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCBFYC

If you think I'm doing a good job on this story, please leave a comment. It is amazing to get votes, but hearing from you helps me improve. Do you want more detail on the science stuff, more interaction with the characters by dialogue? Do you want some more backstory?

Thank you one and all for your support.

James C Laird AKA JC_The_Continuer