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Interlude 3

Time: CY 9786 AD 4863
Location: the Hephaistos solar system

With two thirds of the empire in enemy hands, the Empress dead, and the capital totally cut off from the rest of the universe, the remaining forces of the empire launched a last ditch counterattack directed at their enemy's homeworld, only to be lured into an ambush. Outnumbered three to one, the forces of the empire fought with a fury that made up for their numerical inferiority. The resulting battle ended in the virtual annihilation of both side’s fleets. With no central government remaining, and reliable interstellar communications only a memory, the individual worlds that were once part of the empire were left to fend for themselves.

Chapter 3 Chapter 5

Alternity - Chapter 4

Trance's Question

Time: CY 10087 AD Jan 5164
Location: In transit

Trance’s Question

chapter illustration Trance fluffed her pillow, rearranged her covers, and settled back in her bunk trying to go to sleep. But sleep continued to evade her, as it had for the past two hours. Technically she was on her off time and resting up prior to assuming her duty shift, but while her body was tired, her mind was a frenzy of activity. She had a decision to make, one that would affect the life of everyone aboard the Maru. Her visions were of no use to her in this case, not that she had expected them to be, since she was rarely able to have visions concerning her personal life, and the decision she needed to make was a very personal one. All she needed to decide was yes or no, should she or shouldn't she. But the ramifications for herself and the rest of the crew could be enormous. She needed to make up her mind if she should yield to Harper's sexual advances.

Things had not been going well for the Maru and her crew lately. Ever since the Gerentex fiasco legitimate cargo-hauling jobs had become scarce, and what jobs they had found had been low paying ones. To make matters worse, the Maru desperately needed her engines and life support equipment overhauled. Harper might be a master engineer, but there were limits to what even he could do.

Beka was being forced to decide which of her father's creditors to fob off and which ones to pay, which repairs were absolutely critical and which ones could wait, and how she was going to continue seeing that her crew had food to eat and air to breathe. From a scrap of conversation she had overheard between Beka and Rev she knew that Beka was seriously considering accepting a gun running consignment, something which she would never have considered before. The Maru's captain was beginning to look tired and drawn and Trance suspected that she hadn't had good night's sleep in weeks.

The strain was telling on Harper as well. He was accomplishing miracles just keeping the Maru running, but his health, never good even under the best of times, was failing under the stress of trying to do everything with nothing, and from the injuries he had sustained on New Texas. The cost of the medicines that needed to be purchased to treat his illness was yet another drain on the Maru's finances.

Trance was sure that sooner or later Beka was going to have to decide if she could keep a full crew aboard. And that's where her decision on whether or not to have sex with Harper came in. Beka couldn't afford to let Harper go, and Rev had been with her for years. That left her as the expendable one. However, if she was Harper's lover Beka would be much less likely to let her go. There wasn't any pretty way to describe it; she would be selling her body for security.

She wasn't in love with Harper, how could she possibly be in love him, they weren't even of the same species, any feelings she had for him along those lines couldn't be anything more than lust. It wouldn't be as if Harper was undesirable as a lover. After the events on New Texas, she realized that he was as brave and loyal a man as any woman could want, and few would find. The constant sexual innuendos that he threw her direction were nothing more than his, admittedly annoying, way of hiding his insecurity around women. And of course he was good looking, with a pair of blue eyes that she could drown in. They weren't all that different anatomically either, living as closely together as they did she had seen him naked on more than one occasion, with a little bit of scooching around their parts would fit. The problem was that if she had sex with him their relationship would be irrevocably changed. In the months they had spent on board the Maru she had come to, if not love then at least care deeply for him, he was her best friend and she was his, but once they had sex that would change, and she had no idea if it would be for the better or the worse. If it was for the better all would be well, but if it changed for the worse she would have been better off if Beka had ordered her off the ship.

With a sigh of frustration, Trance gave up on her attempts to sleep She didn't have any answers, but maybe Harper could help her reach some. She got dressed and headed towards the engine room.

"What's up, babe?" the engineer asked as she walked into the room.

"I was just wondering if you needed any help, Harper."

"Depends on what you mean by help, my grape goddess. I know one way you can help me out."

There it was, he had given her the opening. It was time to find out how he really felt about her. It was an effort to keep her voice steady and tail in a neutral position. She didn't want him to realize just how nervous she was as she asked, "Is that what you really want, Harper, just sex, or do you want to have sex with me?" she said, emphasizing the 'me.'.

If she hadn't been so tense, she would have found the look on Harper's face comical. From his expression he wouldn't have been any more shocked if she had pulled out Beka's gauss pistol and shot him with it.

"Err, uh, that is uh, I'm always interested in sex with you, my twitchy tailed darling," he stammered.

"That's not the question I asked, Harper. When you can answer my question I'll give you my answer." She turned and walked towards the door suppressing her urge to run out of the compartment. If and when he answered her question, she would be able to answer hers.

Chapter 3 Chapter 5