Leanne nodded, “Five years sounds about right, for such a complicated operation.”

  Daisy replied, “Megan Wilde’s motives remain unknown. We can find that out after we neutralize her fleet and take her main buildings. The data must be in there somewhere. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to someone like us, but perhaps her greed got the best of her common sense. Perhaps she planned to make as much as she could from Kingdom raids and then go underground and retire filthy rich. Who knows, I just know she has to be stopped.”

  “Agreed. Pirates first, then we return to Proposition and tear the roots out of this weed.”

  Two fleets would be enough, but they’d take some losses with numbers and talent being that close. But he doubted the king could afford a third fleet for the mission, even just two would be weakening two of the worlds more than he was comfortable with. It’s why he’d been so keen to hear Daisy’s explanation.

  He couldn’t make sense of Megan’s motives, but then he never really cared about money. He supposed arming animals with military strength vessels would be worth it to some, if they had no conscience and a powerful thirst and ambition for money. The suggested retirement also made sense, otherwise her whole plan was just suicide.

  “Do you still have a probe in system?”

  Daisy said, “Yes, I’ll let you know if the fleet there seems to be getting ready for a trip.”

  He nodded, that would have to be enough.

  “Okay, big picture aside. So, twenty ships? What else?”

  Daisy replied, “Unknown, we’ll have to look around when we get there. I know there’s a base, but the data on the ship didn’t go into that base’s armaments and shield capabilities. Nor did it mention permanent emplacements. All I have is the nav data, which tells me the base is on a space station orbiting a dead moon that’s circling a gas giant. The navigation path has us coming out of the space fold on the other side of the gas giant. Then we’ll round it under stealth conditions and take a look around passively.”

  “Good plan. Learn anything else of interest?”

  Daisy nodded, “Those kids were trained and conditioned for sex work. I have the programming employed on them, which will make them easier to deprogram. I’ll deliver it when we get back to Kingdom space.”

  “Sounds fair. So we have two days to kill, then five to be sneaky.”

  Leanne kissed his cheek, “I’m sure we can find a way to keep you entertained, sir.”

  He chuckled, and he patted her ass possessively.

  “Then let’s call the meeting, I really need a shower.”

  Leanne wiggled closer, and whispered in his ear, “I’m curious how she tastes on you, sir. I bet your very dirty, and a good fuck toy uses her tongue to keep sir’s thighs, balls, cock, and ass clean.”

  That… She’d sounded so depraved and needy, a deep desire to clean up his and Allision’s dried juices. Said in her innocent voice, that just raised it up another level of naughty. He couldn’t even think for a minute, through the lust that engendered.

  “Alright, shower second.”

  She sighed in contentment into his ear, as if he’d just given her a gift.

  Riesa snickered, no doubt her sensitive ears picked up Leanne’s naughty whisper. Gia must’ve heard too with her cyborg enhancements, if the bright blush was any indication. Not that Gia wasn’t just as turned on by the idea of watching that as Riesa, she just felt self-conscious about it, and perversely was as scandalized as she was aroused by the beautiful blonde’s kinks.

  That was okay, he really enjoyed watching the sexy dark haired beauty blush.

  They all got up, and then headed for the captain’s quarters. Thank the goddess he was a celestial, because Allison had worn his dick out by vigorously fucking him with all of her fun body parts for the last three hours straight, but a little magic fixed that right up and he was more than ready to satisfy his other lovers.

  Gia noted playfully, “We’re going to need a bigger bed, for when Allison gets back to us.”

  She wasn’t wrong, four was already pushing a king-sized bed a little too much, as it was there was no room left at all when they were all cuddled up skin to skin, and that was with at least two of them lying on their sides.

  They all laughed, when Daisy responded with a teasing tone, “I’m already fabricating one for six. It’ll be a little bigger than twice the width of a king size.”

  They arrived two days later, and the plan went wrong from the start.

  They were all on the bridge as they prepared to exit from the space fold. As usual, he was on the helm and had the shield controls routed to his console, Riesa was on tactical controlling the laser arrays and missiles, and Leanne was on communications, Daisy was handling the rest. Gia was supposed to be in sickbay, but she was just lounging with them on the bridge. Since that would only have her closer to them if something happened, he didn’t argue with his selfish desire to have her around more.

  He said, “Drop out in thirty.”

  Gia asked teasingly, “So is this what you do on bridge duty, make eyes at each other.”

  He snorted faux derisively, while Leanne giggled and said, “Yes.”

  Then Leanne winked at him and shrugged.

  He sighed, “We run simulations and keep our skills sharp too, but not when we’re about to drop into a system we know so little about. We only retrieved navigation data, we have no idea what we’ll be facing as far as ship count and defensive emplacements when we arrive.”

  Gia grinned, “Sure you do. Do you hand out spankings when they don’t score high enough?”

  Riesa mock sighed in sadness, and said dreamily, “If only.”

  Leanne giggled.

  He laughed, giving up, wondering what had gotten into Gia and liking it. But it was time to bring things back under control.

  “Five seconds,” then he counted down and they dropped out about two light minutes away from the gas giant opposite the moon and pirate space station base.

  There was some forward momentum, and they should be able to safely burn to an elliptical orbit that would take them close, but not too close to the station. They’d be on it and moving at a good pace and be able to shut down the plasma candle drive long before the gas giant stopped blocking the view.

  “Raising shields and activating course.”

  Leanne said loudly, “Wait! I’m detecting small cylindrical objects all around us, layered out in a pattern. They’re small enough the system would’ve ignored them as natural debris, if not for that last.”

  He frowned, “So, we just came out in a minefield?”

  He immediately used the console to initiate a full stop, using thrusters only even as he used his magic to cloak the minimal emissions.

  Luckily, they’d come out with all their EM emitting systems turned off, but he still felt the back of his neck tingle. If they raised the shields or hit the engines the closest mines would be drawn to them, but if they didn’t raise shields and a mine found them anyway, they’d be space dust.

  It also kind of made sense, the pirates would know a whole fleet could sneak up on them using the gas giant as a sensor shield. He just didn’t imagine they were that well equipped, and that they were using secrecy to keep hidden. Hopefully this was the last time he underestimated them, and he decided then to treat them as a major threat, like he would another government.

  No more assuming they don’t have every advantage of a modern space navy. If they had eighteen-centimeter lasers, state of the art missiles, and mines, they could have anything.

  “Tell me if any of those mines start moving our way. How far do they go out?”

  Leanne said, “A light second in every direction, it looks like they mined the area a ship would figure was the perfect place to come in for a surprise attack.”

  He sighed, “I could teleport us out, but if the mines detect it, they could report the anomaly back to the… oh fucking shit.”

  Gia raised an eyebrow, “Channeling Allison?”

  He chuckled, “It was justified. What do you think will happen in five days when two fleets exit here?”

  Gia bit her lip, “The admiral may decide to come out directly above the space station, so they can block any attempts of the pirates escaping to FTL as they come in.”

  He grunted, “Maybe. That’s even what I would likely do under that scenario, but are you willing to bet thirty-six ships and twenty-five hundred lives on that assumption? This minefield would tear the two fleets apart if they came in hot. For all we know there’s another mine field on the optimum approach as well, two light minutes from the other side.”

  Gia shook her head, “You’re right, but if we attack and there are too many pirate ships here, instead of out on raids, they’ll either scatter and escape, or overwhelm us.”

  He pondered that, “A scatter would actually be ideal, but let me think about this for a minute.”

  Gia looked confused by his comment, but he didn’t clarify.

  He needed to think.

  Daisy suggested, “You could safely teleport a probe off the ship. The ship’s hull would prevent the mines from seeing the exit point. We’ll send it a few light minutes out to the side, which should give us a full view of both sides of the gas giant. They might notice a small EM pulse, but they might believe it’s a malfunctioning mine with no other evidence of a ship sized event. Our probes are about the same size.”

  He nodded. It was a risk, but him having a better idea of what they were facing before he made a decision to move on it was definitely warranted. He really didn’t want to explain to the admiral of the fleet he’d made a tactical blunder, and the pirates were in the wind, and they’d made the trip for nothing. Granted, they’d still have Megan Wilde and her mercenary fleets to deal with.

  “Alright, let’s take a look,” not really happy with his decision but he did need more information, “The probe?”

  Daisy replied, “I’m removing it from the probe launcher assembly and moving it to the starboard landing bay now.”

  He nodded and got up, “Any of those mines start moving, raise the shields and start taking them out. Swat them like missiles, and put the lasers on automatic point defense.”

  Riesa said, “Aye, sir.”

  He’d had no choice but to do what he did. The king needed to be updated, the fleets needed to be called in, and those enslaved citizens needed to be taken to safety. But if Allison had been there, he’d have been almost three times more effective if all three of them shared power. Riesa and he linked was no joke, but they were no match for twenty ships, some of which were frigates.

  Gia followed him off the bridge.

  “Why would that be a good thing?”

  He smiled, “Teleport. Think about it.”

  She looked up, then chuckled, “If they split up, you’d have almost three hours to teleport to each of them within laser range, and then destroy them one at a time at our leisure. If they stick together and make for the FTL line, then we’d be overwhelmed trying to stop them.”

  He touched his nose, “That would be the one. Unfortunately, I don’t think their leaders will be that stupid. They’ll have learned by now a celestial knight is hunting them and that I can teleport the ship. They might’ve used that tactic but for that, because it is a sound tactic save my presence. So we’re likely going to have to do this the hard way. If you’re interested in command line subjects feel free to train on it between your sickbay duties.”

  She tilted her head, “I think I’d like that, though I don’t want to stop being a healer. I’ll just be a tactician and warrior when there’s a dire need.”

  “Sounds good. So, just to be clear, you are staying after this mission, right? I mean, we haven’t talked about it, but when you boarded the ship, you indicated you’d be leaving after the pirates.”

  She smiled, “Would you miss me?”

  “Especially those dimples.”

  She laughed, “Liar. I did say we’d see how it went, and I’m not requesting a transfer until I’m sure. So yes, I’m staying indefinitely until that breaks one way or another. The whole polyamory thing is… really hot and fun, but I never considered something like it before. Riesa is built from the ground up for that sort of thing, and Leanne is…”

  He chuckled, “Leanne.”

  She giggled, “Yes, that. Kinky, and so faithful to her goddess. She would do anything for you with a breathless and easy warmth in her heart and joy in her soul. I’ve never met anyone like her before. I don’t think that girl is jealous of us at all, just… really excited to share you and us. It turns me on too, and I get Leanne and Riesa too, but I still feel twinges of jealousy at times. I’m not really sure how that will shake out, once the honeymoon phase is past.”

  “Because the constant lust won’t be countering it.”

  She smirked, “Something like that, yes. But I have hope, you all pamper me and are giving. I’ve never had that, not really. In the beginning they all treated me well, but it only ever lasted until the guy got what he wanted. Plus, by then, love will either take over and reenergize that chemical need, or it won’t. And perhaps I’ll get past that jealousy as I get used to the idea of sharing you all with everyone else.”

  He nodded, “Good. That you’re staying, because I would miss you. And you do have a beautiful smile.”

  She sighed softly, “Thanks. I’m also a little flattered you asked in the midst of all this.”

  He shrugged, “You and I are alone, and there’s not much we can do until I teleport that probe and get that look around. Sometimes distractions are good as well, it allows the subconscious to process and make intuitive leaps at times. But you’re not wrong, I’ve been thinking on it more and more as we approach the end of the mission. Just two more objectives, two or three more battles.”

  She asked playfully, “What would you miss most?” although he knew she really wanted to know.

  He teased, “Those bright blushes when Leanne and I get pervy.”

  She gasped, which turned into a chuckle.

  He shook his head, “It’s all a part of it. You, who you are, your empathy and drive, your stubbornness, your sense of presence and the feel of your magic, and yes, even that sexy pear-shaped ass of yours. Not to mention those pertly generous sweater puppies. I’d miss you, all of it. There’s no separating it out in my head like that and rating it. You’re a complicated and delightful package, not parts.”

  She giggled, “That was kind of romantic, in a blunt disturbing way. Sweater puppies?”

  He winked, ogled said C cup breasts a moment which made her blush furiously, and the conversation ended as they entered the landing bay. To be fair, they were very easy to ogle, since the ship suits left very little to the imagination even if they did cover everything. Really, about the only part of his ladies’ bodies not outlined in the ship suits was their nipples and camel toes.

  It was amazing he wasn’t distracted a lot more than he was already.

  The bay was fairly small, just a couple of shuttles and some maintenance equipment, fueling station, and so forth. Daisy already had the probe sitting on the deck in a cradle, so it didn’t roll around.

  “Coordinates?”

  Daisy replied with a long string of numbers, as he built up the spell in his mind and channeled his magic into it. The probe disappeared with a bright flash.

  They moved back to the bridge quickly, their early casual walk had been more to give Daisy time to prepare the probe than anything else. Though he was glad he’d gotten that conversation out of the way. His inner caveman already thought of her as his, and he was liking the whole part about his affairs no longer ending quickly.

  Leanne said as he walked in, “Data coming in. The space station has eight banks of four eighteen-inch lasers, four on top and four on bottom. I’m not seeing any missile ports, but it does have shield emitters all over the hull. There are currently only four ships docked, so we can assume the other sixteen are out on raids. Lastly, there is another mine field on the other side, for any ships coming in on an optimal approach.”

  He grunted, “We can play it safe. Take out the two minefields fifteen minutes before the fleets expected arrival. Or we could take out the four ships and take over the space station. That would be riskier, but we could reprogram the mines if we had the station which must host the master console. Then their own minefield would take out the remaining sixteen ships as they returned from raids, and we’d be there to clean up whatever escapes.”

  The four ships might put up a fight in the black when fully manned, but they were docked with their shields down. It seemed likely their crews were aboard the station as well, or at least a part of them. Of course, the station had thirty-two lasers, and would more than make up for the ships offensive lack while in dock.

  Riesa said, “Plan B sounds more fun.”

  He chuckled, “True. Do you see anything on the moon’s surface, they could have some stationary defenses there?”

  Leanne shook her head, “No, and they’re not in a geosynchronous orbit. They’re orbiting the moon eight times a day. Once every three hours. It seems likely if they did have defenses on the moon, the station would want to remain directly above them at all times.”

  That was a good point, but thirty-two lasers were threat enough, nor did he know how fast those ships could undock and join the fight. Probably faster than they could take out the lasers, which would have to be their focus to start.

  He pondered a few alternatives.

  “If we teleport to point blank range near the bottom, only eight lasers, two banks, will have line of sight. We take them out, stay in the blind spot while we take out the ships. Then infiltrate and take the space station.

  “Once it’s secure we’ll leave a bot behind and return to the ship. Daisy can control the mines and remaining lasers on the space station, while we lurk in stealth to take out anything the mines don’t. Holes?”

  Riesa said, “The returning ships will notice two laser arrays are missing. They’ll also notice the four ships are now floating wreckage.”